CitiesGoGreen -September 2008 - (Page 31) High Performance Buildings, continued from pg 22 that these buildings need to be between 70 and 80 percent more efficient than current standards. The following initiatives support this goal. • Architecture 2030 is working to achieve a dramatic reduction in the global-warming-causing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of the building sector by changing the way buildings and developments are planned, designed and constructed. The 2030 Challenge is stating that all new buildings and major renovations reduce their fossil-fuel GHG-emitting consumption 50 percent by 2010, incrementally increasing the reduction for new buildings to carbon neutral by 2030. • Cascadia Green Building Council’s Living Building Challenge [http://www. cascadiagbc.org/lbc] uses a guideline of 20 prerequisites to support buildings as not only self-sustaining structures but as harmoniously giving back more than they take from the environments in which they’re built. The effort is comprised of six performance areas: Site, Energy, Materials, Water, Indoor Quality, and Beauty + Inspiration, and includes a Living Building Leader program that offers a series of intensive, advanced eLearning sessions in green building topics. • The World Business Council for Sustainable Development has developed a program called “Energy Efficiency in Buildings” that aims to produce a roadmap for reaching energy selfsufficiency in buildings by 2050, while being economical and socially acceptable. The project looks at all aspects along the “life cycle” of new and existing buildings and will comprise three phases, each producing reports that together will form the roadmap to transform the building industry. Performance measurement So how will we know when we get to our destination on the continuum? Green building advocates are talking a lot now about “performance measurement.” Recent studies show that the majority of high performance buildings perform within a range of what’s predicted, but many don’t. “Building owners need appropriate building performance feedback in order to verify that buildings meet their design targets,” said Anne Evens, Director of Energy Programs at the Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT). “Additionally, a feedback loop is necessary in the building lifecycle in order to quantify the true benefits of green or high performance building, whether it is dollars saved or avoided CO2 emissions,” she said. Cities serious about cutting their green house gas emissions through high performance building will have to use building performance feedback as a tool to understand how to make improvements. More importantly, this feedback loop will allow design teams to know what went right and what went wrong with the building design so practices can be improved upon for the next project and the one after that. Stacey Hobart is Communications Director at New Buildings Institute [NewBuildings. org], a national nonprofit working to improve the energy performance of commercial buildings. Kyle Rabin is director of the Network for New Energy Choices. Kyle holds an M.S. in Environmental Science from the State University of New York (SUNY) College of Environmental Science and Forestry and a B.A. in Environmental Studies from Binghamton University. Resources Freeing the Grid is an up-to-date analysis of statewide interconnection and net metering standards, including descriptions of both effective and ineffective state programs. The 80-page report includes detailed information about the current policies of each state, a grade of A to F for each state’s net metering and interconnections standards, and case studies of best and worst practices. Download from the Network for New Energy Choices [http://www.newenergychoices.org] DSIRE: Currently, net metering is offered in 42 states and Washington, D.C. The details of each policy vary significantly. DSIRE (Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency [www. dsireusa.org] offers detailed descriptions of state net metering policies and links to the authorizing legislation. .com 31 Fast Forward, continued from pg 32 4. Net metering enrollment limits that least partially offset by savings in adminare appropriate and not unduly reistration and accounting costs which, abstrictive. sent net metering, can easily exceed the Cities and counties can play a key role utility’s profit margin. Good policies in these areas encourage in urging state regulators and legislators distributed renewable energy generation. to address these issues. The city or county Customer-generated power at peak times can advocate for or endorse state legisladecreases the utility’s need to burn more tion. They can partner with local organizadirty fuel, in addition to stabilizing the tions engaged in this type of advocacy. The grid, and ensures that none of the renew- city or county attorney might intervene in able energy generated in this Local action is critical, but it needs support. way is wasted. How can your city, county or community influence your state’s net metering and interconnection regulatory proceedings before the state standards? First, understand the charac- public utilities commission. Net metering and interconnection teristics of effective policy, then become standards are important, effective comfamiliar with how your state stands on these issues. The core elements of a strong ponents of efforts to supplement the present fossil fuel-dominated grid with net metering policy include: 1. An individual system size limit of at clean, secure and cost-effective alternaleast two megawatts (2,000 kilo- tives. With stronger net metering and interconnection standards at the state and watts), 2. Availability of net metering to all utility levels, cities and counties can more classes of electric customers, includ- easily achieve their clean energy and caring residential, commercial, industrial bon reduction goals, while enabling their citizens to enjoy the related economic and municipal customers, 3. Carryover of net excess generation to and environmental benefits. the next monthly bill, and September 2008 http://www.architecture2030.org http://www.cnt.org/ http://www.wbcsd.org/templates/TemplateWBCSD5/layout.asp?type=p&MenuId=MTA5NA&doOpen=1&ClickMenu=LeftMenu http://www.cnt.org/ http://www.wbcsd.org/templates/TemplateWBCSD5/layout.asp?type=p&MenuId=MTA5NA&doOpen=1&ClickMenu=LeftMenu http://www.cascadiagbc.org/lbc http://www.cascadiagbc.org/lbc http://www.cascadiagbc.org/lbc http://www.cascadiagbc.org/lbc http://www.newenergychoices.org/ http://www.newenergychoices.org http://www.dsireusa.org http://dsireusa.org http://CitiesGoGreen.com
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