Shifting into the mainstream
Notes from the CaGBC Summit, Toronto June 11 and 12, 2008
Dr. David Suzuki delivers his keynote speech
The CaGBC’s first annual summit Shifting into the Mainstream, might equally well have been titled ‘Going Green 101′. Its focus was less on the design and construction industry that by and large are getting the message, than on those other decision makers who initiate, finance and approve building projects. In this regard the summit was particularly successful, attracting representation from all levels of government, financial institutions, utility corporations, and the healthcare, education and industry sectors.
A day of sector-specific seminars exposed delegates to case studies in best practice in their own areas of interest, and was followed on the second morning by a timely and characteristically passionate keynote address by David Suzuki.
However, of more direct interest to design professionals were the announcements by CaGBC of new and revitalized LEED programs to be launched in 2009. These include LEED for Existing Buildings [due January] and LEED for Homes [due April].
A new integrated version of LEED NC [due in February] will ultimately incorporate all the individual LEED standards into one omnibus certification system being referred to as the ‘bookshelf’.
Also announced were other initiatives aimed at streamlining the LEED certification process to make it faster, easier and less expensive. The CaGBC will collaborate closely with US Green Building Council on delivering certification through third parties - international certification bodies that will also operate in Canada. These organizations will also deliver portfolio certifications which have been piloted in the US on banks and other building types.
This approach will allow building owners, developers and builders to certify a large number of their buildings of the same type such as bank branches without having to go through certification each and every time. In order for this to work, owners will have to commit to meet a certain number of credits on each project, and to write LEED requirements into their building specifications.
While this approach is aimed primarily at larger institutions, CaGBC Presiden Thomas Mueller confirms that there are also initiatives in the works that should benefit smaller organizations.” We expect that LEED on-line, the bookshelf and a streamlined certification process will reduce the cost and time of certification for everyone,” says Mueller
This will be the case with LEED for Homes certification, which will be available on completion of the project through a new system of regional certifiers and on-site raters, who will monitor design and construction practices for conformance with the LEED standard. According to Mueller, this devolution of responsibility reflects the nature of the housing industry, which is highly localized in its organization, traditions of practice and technology. LEED for Homes will provide a new [and more comprehensive] certification alternative to existing systems such as Energy Star.
While the successful streamlining of LEED will be critical to CaGBC if the program is to maintain its momentum, in the greater scheme of things the most important announcement at the summit concerned the Green Building Performance Initiative [GBPI] whose potential implications are industry wide.
The GBPI will establish baselines for energy and water performance in buildings - ultimately for all industry sectors and climate zones in Canada. On the energy side, this will finally mean a move away from the qualitative and comparative measurement methodology of NMEBC, to a hard quantitative standard for annual energy consumption.
Figures will be derived from research currently being undertaken on hundreds of commercial office buildings, schools, and government and utility company buildings. Pilots with other building types will roll out over the next three years, and once complete, the energy and water performance benchmarks will be included in the Green Building Performance System [GBPS] which will be accessible on line.
As currently conceived, the GBPS will provide building owners and managers with a set of integrated energy and environmental management tools and resources, allowing them to compare energy and water use and GHG emissions against national and regional performance standards. CaGBC is relying on the accessibility and simplicity of this system to support its goal of certifying [by performance rather than by LEED rating] one million homes and 20,000 non residential buildings by 2015.
If Shifting into the Mainstream confirmed anything, it is that the green movement in Canada is both dynamic and diverse, and the demand for new information, tools and methods of measurement is almost insatiable. For those trying to meet this demand, it’s a bit like the traditional art of log-rolling - you have to move fast to stay on top of things, and it’s hard to appear graceful while performing this often frantic balancing act.
Under these difficult circumstances, CaGBC should be applauded for its tangible sense of urgency, for its ambition and for its focus on the future. There is considerable promise contained in the many newly unveiled initiatives, and while they might fall short of perfection (e.g. there is still no reference to Life Cycle Assessment) they will certainly be instrumental in moving us all forward.
Due to the undoubted success of Shifting into the Mainstream, the CaGBC will be hosting another national event in 2009. Dates, venue, and other details will be forthcoming in SABMag, or check www.shiftingintothemainstream.ca for more information. Transcripts of selected sessions of the 2008 summit are available at the same web site.
