Green Buildings Should Bounce Back, Says Resilience Report
By Erin Weaver
Historic Grafton, Vermont, was overrun by flooding from Tropical Storm Irene. Finding synergies between climate mitigation and climate adaptation is key to truly sustainable design, a new report argues.
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions—climate change mitigation—has defined much of the sustainable design approach, but a new report calls for a sharper focus on adapting our buildings to future climate extremes as climate change becomes a reality. The report, from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and the University of Michigan, highlights green building techniques (and corresponding LEED credits) that already contribute to resilience and adaptation; it also points out current practices that need to change.
“Green Building and Climate Resilience: Understanding Impacts and Preparing for Changing Conditions” presents a range of projected effects of climate change across the U.S., from regional to building-level concerns, and possible green strategies for resilience, defined as “the ability of a system to absorb a climatic event without failing or changing state.” Many such strategies are discussed in this month’s EBN feature article, “Resilient Design—Smarter Building for a Turbulent Future.”
Most building design takes into account a range of expected conditions, such as temperatures or flood levels, based on past climate trends. But climate change “has the potential to undermine some of these assumptions,” says Chris Pyke, Ph.D., vice president of research at USGBC, and we must plan now for a range of possibilities so that today’s green buildings will continue to meet their high-performance goals.
The report calls for climate scientists and building professionals to explain to the public the risks of inaction and to emphasize that adaptation and mitigation are complementary goals. The construction world has been slow to embrace resilience for two reasons, Pyke told EBN: first, what he calls the “super-size it” response (“If it’s gonna get warmer, get a bigger HVAC!”); and second, the green community’s concern that “adaptation is acquiescing” and we ought to focus on prevention. Pyke counters that a building requiring constant upgrades to adapt to climate change isn’t green by any measure.
Making clear the synergies between mitigation and resilience, the report presents adaptive strategies incorporating current green practices and based on projected regional changes. In the Northeast, for example, impacts are expected to include increased extreme heat events as well as both frequent short-term droughts and increased flooding. Such regional changes apply across scales, such as when urban heat islands or neighborhood stormwater runoff affect the performance of individual buildings.
The report presents 81 strategies for enhanced resilience. For example, one suggested adaptation to increased flooding and heat is the maintenance of natural and constructed wetlands to prevent erosion and cool the air. Meant to encourage discussion in the pre-design phase, the strategies cover the categories of siting and landscape; building envelope; heating, cooling, and lighting; water and waste; equipment; and process and operation. Identified as a high or low priority by region, each strategy is classified either as “resilient” or “no regrets,” the latter meaning that it “will generate social and/or economic benefits whether or not climate change occurs.”
Projected everyday changes include rising average temperatures and resulting increases in energy use for cooling. With HVAC systems designed to meet previous needs, it may be difficult to maintain comfort levels under new conditions. As a solution, the report recommends supplementing mechanical systems with cross-ventilation and stack ventilation. It also acknowledges that these strategies may hit a wall: as average temperatures increase, night flushing and other natural cooling could become less effective. In addition, as daytime temperatures rise, ground-level ozone concentrations may increase, causing more smog and making it increasingly difficult to open a window for fresh air.
While more research is needed, the report says, immediate adoption of resilient design strategies can help today’s built environment survive an uncertain future.
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions—climate change mitigation—has defined much of the sustainable design approach, but a new report calls for a sharper focus on adapting our buildings to future climate extremes as climate change becomes a reality. The report, from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and the University of Michigan, highlights green building techniques (and corresponding LEED credits) that already contribute to resilience and adaptation; it also points out current practices that need to change.
“Green Building and Climate Resilience: Understanding Impacts and Preparing for Changing Conditions” presents a range of projected effects of climate change across the U.S., from regional to building-level concerns, and possible green strategies for resilience, defined as “the ability of a system to absorb a climatic event without failing or changing state.” Many such strategies are discussed in this month’s EBN feature article, “Resilient Design—Smarter Building for a Turbulent Future.”
Most building design takes into account a range of expected conditions, such as temperatures or flood levels, based on past climate trends. But climate change “has the potential to undermine some of these assumptions,” says Chris Pyke, Ph.D., vice president of research at USGBC, and we must plan now for a range of possibilities so that today’s green buildings will continue to meet their high-performance goals.
The report calls for climate scientists and building professionals to explain to the public the risks of inaction and to emphasize that adaptation and mitigation are complementary goals. The construction world has been slow to embrace resilience for two reasons, Pyke told EBN: first, what he calls the “super-size it” response (“If it’s gonna get warmer, get a bigger HVAC!”); and second, the green community’s concern that “adaptation is acquiescing” and we ought to focus on prevention. Pyke counters that a building requiring constant upgrades to adapt to climate change isn’t green by any measure.
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