Sustainability Rating Tools for Existing Neighborhoods Rating tools - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

March 11, 2015 Eliot Allen, LEED AP-ND, TransformativeTools.org

Sustainability Rating Tools for

Existing Neighborhoods

• Rating tools overview
• 3 tools
• Local rating tools
• Tool selection criteria
• Q & A

Sustainability Rating Tools for Existing Neighborhoods

• Living Community Challenge
• 2030 Districts
• Community Wildlife Habitat

The World of Rating Tools

Tool Dimensions

• Topical scope & physical scale
• Primary users
• Rating procedure & criteria
• Tool maturity & market impact
• Costs
• User support
• Standards conformity
• Overall usefulness

Tool Family:

All Neighborhoods

Provider:

International Living Future Institute

Physical Scale:

Neighborhoods

Minimum Requirements:

Greenfields not eligible

Year Introduced:

2014

Onsite Verification:

Yes

Tool Training

Yes

Tool Credential:

Yes

Living Community Challenge

• Place
• Water
• Energy
• Health & happiness
• Materials
• Equity
• Beauty

L1 Habitat preserve L2 Rural agriculture L3 Village or campus L4 General urban L5 Urban center L6 Urban core

LCC Petals Transect

• All ‘imperatives’ are mandatory, no optional credits
• Two stages: master plan compliance, community certification
• Two cert levels: petals (min. 3), community (all 20 imperatives)
• Certification requires 12 months of actual performance data
• Fees by acreage & cert type: $7500 (master plan, petals cert),

up to $35k (community, full cert)

LCC Approach

• Integrated agriculture
• Net positive water, energy, and waste
• Sharing programs – tools, cars, books
• Disaster preparedness
• Maximum single-family dwelling floor area – 4,575 sq ft
• Equity offsets to charity – ½ cent for every dollar of project cost
• Public art – installations per capita
• Project team – at least two with ‘Just’ label

LCC Imperatives

JustOrganizations.com

Tool Family:

Existing Neighborhoods

Provider:

Architecture 2030

Physical Scale:

Neighborhoods

Minimum Requirements:

Multiple existing and planned buildings

Year Introduced:

2011

Onsite Verification:

Yes – best in class

Tool Training

Yes

Tool Credential:

No

2030 Districts

New Construction

• Energy: 60% reduction, carbon neutral by 2030
• Water & Transportation CO2e: 50% reduction

Existing Buildings & Infrastructure

• Energy, Water & Transp CO2e: 10% reduction, 50% by 2030

2030 District Goals

Members

• Property owners
• Professional stakeholders – designers, contractors
• Community stakeholders – non-profits, govt agencies

Benefits

• Shared assessment tools
• Common procurement
• Training/technical support
• In-kind professional services
• Packaged incentives, favorable financing

2030 Districts

Tool Family:

Landscape & Parks

Provider:

National Wildlife Federation

Physical Scale:

Neighborhoods, cities, counties

Minimum Requirements:

Existing habitat

Year Introduced:

Unknown

Onsite Verification:

No

Tool Training

Yes

Tool Credential:

No

Community Wildlife Habitat

• Flexible scale: HOA, neighborhood boundary,

municipality, county

• 2 to 5 years for certification
• Requirements:
• public outreach
• % of properties create habitat with: food,

water, cover, nesting places, and implement sound gardening

• Annual recertification required

Community Wildlife Habitat

• 1. Define project boundary.
• 2. Assemble team.
• 3. Register: $75.
• 4. Execute work program: % of properties with required

habitat.

• 5. Submit for certification.

CWH Steps

Sustainable Neighborhood Network

sustainableneighborhoodnetwork.org

NYSDOT Greenlites

dot.ny.gov/programs/greenlights

Chicago Green Score greenscore.es Louisville Green Living

louisvilleky.gov/government/brightside/ greenliving

National Neighborhood Indicators

neighborhoodindicators.org

Community Indicators Consortium communityindicators.net

Local Rating Tools

Regional Indicators Initiative regionalindicatorsmn.com

Type and scale of built environment

• New or existing
• Neighborhood or community
• Infrastructure network

Decision-making context

• Technical procedure
• Public process
• Advisory, celebratory, or regulatory

Tool Selection Criteria

Tool Selection Criteria

Comprehensiveness

• Holistic rating: environmental, social, economic
• Single-purpose or subset

Minimum elements

• Minimum quantities of land or buildings
• Prohibited elements, e.g. reclaimed land

Tool selection criteria

Suitability for intended users

• Technical expertise required
• Suitability for non-technical users in a participatory

setting Rating timeframe

• Preparation time, total overall time to obtain rating

Costs

• Membership, registration, filing fees
• Certification review fees
• Preparation of required documentation
• Participation in review process

Rating procedure

• Rating by: self-assessment, tool provider (2nd party),

independent reviewer (3rd party)

• Analog versus digital process
• Documentation burden
• On-site verification
• Periodic re-exam to maintain rating

Tool Selection Criteria

Rating criteria

• Participants in formulation, transparency of process
• Scoring and weighting basis
• Mandatory versus optional
• Prescriptive versus performance
• Periodic updating to maintain technical currency
• Locally-adaptable

Tool Selection Criteria

Provider history and user support

• Type of organization
• History with tools
• Dedicated staff & support services, e.g. training, credential

Conformity with standards

• International Standards Organization (ISO) standards
• STAMP – Sustainability Assessment & Measurement Principles

(IISD)

Tool Selection Criteria

Tool maturity and market impact

• Years of operation
• Current generation of tool
• Number of ratings performed

Overall usefulness

• Alignment of tool output with user objectives
• Value proposition
• Efficiency ratio: output benefits/input effort

Tool Selection Criteria

Rating tools with impact and endurance will:

• Be affordability and efficient
• Conform with standards
• Produce verified results

Looking Ahead

Questions?

Eliot Allen, LEED AP-ND eliot@transformativetools.org Twitter @TransformTools