Sustainability is constantly evolving, and buildings are getting greener. But how? Recently USGBC Colorado hosted a roundtable discussion about the region's path forward in sustainable growth. Here are 3 key takeaways.
1) Resiliency Is The New Sustainability
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The 2013 floods along the Front Range have brought the conversation about resiliency in green building to the Centennial State. Resilience is critical for the future of green building; it is about predictability and safety.
“It’s crucial that resilience factors are addressed in the pre-design stage, even before a site is selected,” said Walsh Sustainability Group's Valerie Walsh (above right), shown with The Rosen Group's Shawna McGregor.
2) Sustainability And Health
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The WELL Building Standard is a new program gaining the attention of those focused on the health and well-being of a building’s occupants.
“We incorporate a lot of daylighting and thermal comfort aspects into the design concept to see the energy impact, cost impact and health impact in the design stages,” said The Weidt Group's Julia Gauthier.
Pictured: RTD's Ignacio Correa-Ortiz; Julia Gauthier; and USGBC Colorado’s executive director, Patti Mason.
3) New Green Design Technologies
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New green design technologies are revolutionizing the way industry professionals are looking at building designs. That's the case even though innovations such as energy modeling can add time and costs to the design process.
“In the last four to five years, we've developed a software that can take basic information about a building quickly. This allows us to cut the energy modeling process from six to eight weeks down to a two- to three-week process,” Julia added.
