ADVERTISEMENT
You will be redirected to your destination in 15 seconds.
You will be redirected to your destination in 15 seconds.
Go Terrapins
July 24, 2008
I taught a LEED workshop at the University of Maryland today but I’m the one who walked away with an education.
Bottom line – the Terrapins are greening themselves.
A diverse group from the university attended the workshop, LEED 101 – a basic introduction to USGBC and the rating systems –including vice-presidents, directors and staff from student affairs, residential life, dining services and other campus operations. Amazingly, not one person was there because they wanted to sit for the exam. This is a first for me – an audience without aspiring LEED-APs – most of my workshops are filled with ‘em.
Last year the university adopted LEED Silver green building standards for all new construction and major renovations. These folks are not the ones responsible for implemented this mandate – they simply wanted to learn about LEED.
Many were already informed about sustainability through wide-ranging campus initiatives. In 2002 the campus adopted a Facilities Master Plan establishing environmental goals to guide its activities. It’s an impressive document that’s been supplemented by a new initiative for becoming carbon neutral.
The university’s environmental bona fides were established last fall when its LEAFHouse took second place at the Solar Decathlon. Moreover, in 2007 the First Year Book Program chose The Ravaging Tide: Strange Weather, Future Katrinas and the Coming Death of America’s Coastal Cities by Mike Tidwell in order to promote discussion around global climate change.
This school does not shy away from controversial issues nor does it avoid tackling pressing environmental solutions. The Office of Sustainability was formed last year to implement a campus-wide mission to reduce the university’s adverse environmental impacts.
Do I sound impressed? You bet!
Posted by Penny Bonda on July 24, 2008 |
Comments (1)
Industries:
Green
March 24, 2013
In response to:
Go TerrapinsInna commented:
Hi Michael(s),I personally don't think that small nsaceserily equates to green or an ecologically small footprint.LEED certification, to my understanding, takes into account things like the use of local or recycled materials, total energy required to create and run the building but without specifying the degree of use of renewable energy, reuse of water, proximity to public transport etc. LEED certification can apply to huge buildings or small buildings but I'm not sure that small buildings nsaceserily have an advantage since it depends on so many factors.A poorly designed small house in a remote location may do worse that a well designed large building in a central location.If we all lived in tiny uninsulated, concrete houses, heated with electricity scattered over the countryside and each of us commuted to work in our SUVs to a large center, we'd likely be no better off than living in larger houses in the city and some of us walking or taking the bus to work and some driving.I think we have to realize that effective communities are a system. The design of the entire system is just as important as the design of the individual components which make up that system.The fact that a small house uses fewer resources and possibly has less embodied energy is almost a given and may not require any proof'. It may be intuitively obvious, in any case.But, I don't believe that the actual or perceived smaller ecological footprint of a small building is nsaceserily the compelling factor to living in a smaller house.Personally, what I think we are looking for when considering a smaller house is a return to simpler living, closer knit communities (living out of your house instead of living in your house) and a sense of comfort through human-scale design. All of this is missing from our suburban, monoculturally zoned, manufactured McMansions and it's ultimately unfulfilling.I think large houses are the embodiment of all that is wrong when a society is built around manufactured consumerism. Small houses are but an element in this progression back towards human values. That a smaller house happens to have a smaller ecological footprint is a bonus.
Advertisement
Advertisement
