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Exit Motion Sensor

The XMS Passive Infrared Request to Exit Device is a motion detector specifically designed to reliably release magnetic locks. A person approaching the door is “seen” by the motion detector just before reaching the door. Securitron recommends that an emergency exit button be used in conjunction with the XMS to meet applicable building codes and specific life safety issues.

Securitron
www.securitron.com

1600 PowerShade™ Sun Shade System

Kawneer’s Photovoltaic (PV) cells in the 1600 PowerShade™ Sun Shade System convert light energy from the sun into electricity, which can be fed into the building’s system. It is designed to effectively reduce solar heat gain with its exclusive dual-position pivot system, which provides optimal angle and extension for shading a façade at almost any geographic location.

Kawneer
www.kawneer.com

Essence

Essence is both an essential money-saving machine and a work of art. Ranging from 8 to 14 feet (2.4 to 4.3 meters) in diameter, Essence was developed to excel both indoors and out. With its high-efficiency, direct drive motor, Essence provides the air movement needed in large spaces like lobbies, pavilions, and music venues to seaside dining and open-air theatres.

Big Ass Fans
www.bigassfans.com

GAF Solar Roofing

For over 125 years, GAF has been helping people improve and protect the value of their homes by optimizing their roofs. A Solar System from GAF can help optimize your roof even more. Sustainable, renewable solar electricity reduces pollution in the air and carbon emissions worldwide. A typical 5-kw system eliminates more than 4.8 metric tons of CO2 emissions every year.

GAF
www.gaf.com

XLERATOReco® Hand Dryer

The high-speed, energy-efficient XLERATOReco® Hand Dryer uses new “no heat” technology to dry hands in 12 seconds using only 500 watts, making it the most energy-efficient and environmentally friendly hand dryer on the planet. With a maximum draw of four and-a-half amps, multiple XLERATOReco units can be installed on one 20-amp circuit, which significantly reduces installation time and costs. The XLERATOReco Hand Dryer can be ordered with an optional 1.1” Noise Reduction Nozzle or HEPA Filtration System to create a quiet and clean air flow, and is available with the industry’s most complete line of accessories.

Excel Dryer
www.exceldryer.com

Human Nature Collection

Interface’s Human Nature Collection is designed in our Skinny Planks format—a 25 cm x 1m rectangular shape—these multifaceted, multihued carpet tiles may be mixed and matched to create interior spaces that echo the infinite variety of the natural landscape as one type of topography gives way to another. Human Nature Collection is made of up to 81 percent total recycled content, including 100 percent recycled content nylon face fiber and our highest post-consumer recycled content backing. At the same time, these products can be recycled via Interface’s ReEntry® recycling process.

Interface
www.interface.com

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Resident Robert Smith says sustainability is harmony…to live in harmony with one another, within a community, and with the environment.

Making this feel like a special community was a key goal,” says Susan Roeder about Habitat for Humanity’s Eco-Village in River Falls, Wisconsin. As director of public affairs at Andersen Corporation (one of the project’s many partners), Roeder, like all involved, played a very hands-on role from the start.

The idea for a residential neighborhood based on the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for Homes benchmarks originated with a small consortium of people from the city of River Falls, the University of Wisconsin (and its Sustainability Institute, which focuses on large-scale applications of sustainable building practices), Frisbie Architects, and St. Croix Institute for Sustainable Community Development, among others. The design phase got underway in 2011; they broke ground in 2012; and the last home was completed this past December. Eco-Village encompasses 18 homes on 7 city-donated acres and represents a growing number of progressive community building projects put forth by Habitat for Humanity.

“Andersen has had a long relationship with Habitat for Humanity,” explains Roeder, who together with her colleagues, came on board during the design phase. “Habitat had the land but didn’t know what they were going to do with it in terms of housing.” In fact, the plot could have served any number of purposes. Once a city composting site, it proved a viable (and valuable) resource, as it borders a large green space with walking trails and is close to an elementary school. “It was a beautiful chunk of land,” recalls Roeder. “Habitat was pretty thoughtful, knowing they could have a big impact on the city.”

Architects, business owners, and area residents joined a series of community meetings to sketch out a plan. “That’s a really special way to develop a plot of land,” says Roeder, noting the unique role the St. Croix Institute for Sustainable Community Development played. “They had college professors and students all dreaming about what components could really be part of a community development of this sort.”

As Roeder describes it, the residents in this village have helped build not only their own homes but also those of their neighbors. They have worked side by side literally building their community—both physically and socially. “It’s very empowering to hammer in nails on your own home,” says Roeder. “And to be part of a new effort with Habitat for Humanity takes it to the next level. The homeowners are cognizant of that and really proud. They understand that it is a model that is much bigger than just them.”

Resident Robert Smith says, “The big word is sustainability but you need a dictionary to go along with that word. It’s about harmony…to live in harmony with one another, with a community, with the environment—to me, that’s natural, and that’s the idea of Eco-Village.”

Dave Engstrom of Habitat for Humanity.

Further savings measures included sourcing in-kind donations of building materials. With so many projects to their credit, Habitat for Humanity is highly skilled at finding the best product for the best price when they do need to purchase supplies. For this project, Roeder says, they chose “products at the right price point that provided the right level of energy efficiency and performance.” She notes, too, the misconception that being green requires sizable discretionary incomes. “You can always go to the ‘Nth’ degree, the top-of-the-market, highest-performing products, but they didn’t need over-the-top to get these homes to be net-zero,” she explains. “That’s really one of the most compelling pieces about this project. Habitat has demonstrated that, with the right approach, it’s not necessary.”

Those cost-savings efforts and informed choices directly affect residents like Mark Tamminga, who is grateful to be able to live in a home where he can afford to turn the heat on. “I think most people take that for granted, but for me, it is heavenly—it’s about having dignity.”

In the three-year time span in which the homes were completed, it’s interesting to note that while house No.1 was the model when they began, it’s house No.18 that will be the usable template. “We learned so much along the way,” says Roeder, noting how things constantly evolved as the project unfolded. For instance, the roof pitches in combination with the solar panels on the first few homes were not volunteer friendly. By the time they got to the last group of homes, however, solar power panel technology had improved such that they could change the roof pitch, which made it safe for volunteer builders, which saved money since they no longer needed subcontractors to perform the work.

A zero-interest, 30-year mortgage is Habitat for Humanity’s model. They serve the working poor—people who make too much money to qualify for government aid but not enough to qualify for a traditional mortgage. Primarily first-time home buyers, Eco-Village residents learn some basic skills, like how to manage their homes once they are in them, how to track their budgets, how to maintain the grounds, etc. “Habitat serves those families and education is absolutely key,” says Roeder. Beyond that, part of the agreement is that residents let their homes be monitored by Habitat for the first five years.

There is also a behavioral piece to the program. “Behavior is such a big component of how you make your home perform at its best,” notes Roeder. Locking windows and closing doors when running out to the mailbox are examples of activities that will be monitored to watch for spikes in usage. “The homeowners are all in on this effort, which is pretty special,” says Roeder, adding that the residents’ shared focus has (happily) shifted from having a home to live in to achieving lower energy bills. Some of them don’t owe anything on their electric bills; others are putting energy back into the grid. “What’s unique about Eco-Village,” explains Roeder, “is the technology behind these homes and how empowering it is for these families to be taught that up front, and then engage in it over time and really see the benefit to the bottom line.”

Habitat International staff have visited this site to better understand and potentially replicate it elsewhere. “Net-zero building is a keen interest for Habitat,” says Roeder. And, with Eco-Village, they have a highly informative, user-friendly model to share. From beginning to end, the entire project was very well documented. And, as it’s not proprietary, it’s adoptable, which bodes well for future buyers, builders, communities, and the environment. As Roeder puts it: “The more folks we can get into homes like this, at an affordable price, the better.”

The Eco-Village is the largest LEED Platinum and net-zero affordable community by Habitat for Humanity in the U.S.

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Roger Platt

U.S. Green Building Council

In early December, some of the brightest minds in government, business, and civil society gathered in Paris to discuss perhaps the greatest threat of our time: climate change. At the COP21 talks, USGBC’s voice was central in showcasing green buildings as critical solutions to climate change, and I was honored to lead our delegation to the conference.

COP21 was about more than a commitment to change or a concern for the environment, it was about leadership and transformation, two concepts we are very familiar with at USGBC.

In the months preceding the negotiations, we called on our base of member companies, many of which operate in industries or sectors directly impacted by the effects of climate change, to come together as one voice in support of a global agreement in Paris. More than 150 major companies, a third of which are USGBC members, signed on to the American Business Act on Climate Pledge. Additionally, a growing number of companies in our sector joined the Building and Real Estate Climate Declaration, a collaborative effort among USGBC, the Carbon Leadership Forum, and Ceres, spotlighting the role of green building in climate action.

USGBC was proud to partner with the National League of Cities, the World Wildlife Fund, and ICLEI to support a contingent of mayors from cities and towns across the U.S. who proactively address and mitigate climate impacts. The voices of these local leaders were heard on the international stage in France, and their efforts provided examples of the power and purpose of leadership on every level.

COP21 concluded with 195 countries signing on to the Paris Agreement, marking the broadest global consensus on the need for individual and collective actionon climate change to date. At USGBC, we continue to advance green building as a viable solution to the monumental challenge of climate change mitigation. Studies show that green buildings measurably reduce greenhouse gas emissions from water consumption, solid waste, and transportation, as compared to conventional buildings. Moreover, green buildings are designed and built with the full life cycle in mind and actively influence inhabitants in ways that support the climate.

Our commitment to climate action focuses on large-scale transformation. Specifically, we have pledged to scale up to support the LEED certification of more than 5 billion square feet of real estate over the next five years. Additionally, we will work to support the adoption of EDGE as a key tool for energy efficiency in developing countries.

We will work to expand non-English educational offerings. We will use the holistic LEED framework to boost net-zero building programs. And we’ll support carbon reductions through better integration of demand-side technologies and supply-side modernization, including the application of the Performance Excellence in Electricity Renewal (PEER) system.

There has never been a more critical moment for our industry to lead and to transform the status quo into something greater. Two decades ago, green building was a vision for the future; today it is a reality across the country and around the globe. It is a tool we can leverage for a still greater good. The challenge of climate change mitigation demands our best ideas, our best intentions, and our best efforts, and the green building industry is poised to respond.

LEED ON,

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“[Cronkite’s report] kind-of hurt our feelings,” says David Wade, COO of EPB. “As a community, we decided to change that, and it’s been a multi-year, multi-faceted approach. The recent changes we have made here are just a continuation on some of those building blocks that were established as our community looked forward so many years ago from being a dying community to becoming a sustainable community.”

An agency of the City of Chattanooga, EPB was established in 1935 to provide electric power to the greater Chattanooga area. Today, EPB is still one of the largest publicly owned providers of electric power in the country, serving more than 169,000 residents in a 600-sq-mi area that includes greater Chattanooga, as well as parts of surrounding counties and areas of North Georgia.

Today, EPB is still one of the largest publicly owned providers of electric power in the country. EPB is building a smarter energy grid, which will reduce power outages and eliminate waste.

“Chattanooga has done a lot of, in some cases, risky and bold work on itself,” says Danna Bailey of EPB. “The work that has been done by those who came before us has been a platform to add to—and an inspiration to us to step up our game and make sure we are working to make the city the best asset it can be with the best infrastructure.”

At EPB, that meant building a smarter energy grid, which would reduce power outages and eliminate waste while improving response times and customer experience. “Several years ago, we started looking at what a next-generation electric system should be,” says Wade. “We realized that it looked much different than it was. We defined it as three things: intelligent, interactive, and self-healing.”

But before an electric grid can achieve that triumvirate, Wade says, it must be able to communicate. So in 2008—thanks in part to a U.S. Department of Energy grant—EPB began construction on a 100 percent fiber optic communications network to support its Smart Grid project. “We looked at building a communications network that would not just have us make a one-time investment that was limited to that improvement, but instead to facilitate improvement over time.”

From there, the utility layered sensors and smart devices in the field and, using software, has improved efficiency and drastically changed the reliability of the system through automation, says Wade. Initial projections estimated a 40 percent improvement in reliability, but Wade and his team often see about 50 percent and sometimes nearly 70 percent.

EPB also earned its PEER certification—a rating process that aims to define, assess, and verify the performance of power grids—from third-party administrator Green Business Certification Inc. Modeled after the LEED green building rating system, PEER also serves as the driving force behind the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) vision to transform power systems.

“What I really like about the PEER certification is using validation, looking at hard data, and putting some standards around it,” says Wade. “We appreciate that USGBC and PEER have created a model that can validate and measure performance.”

A reduction in both number of outages and the duration of outages has even broader impacts. “Of course, we haven’t stopped any cars from hitting poles—we still have the same number of accidents,” says Wade. “But instead of having trucks drive around to find out where that car hit the pole, radio back where they are, have someone looking at a map and telling them to drive to this location and open switches, then drive to that location and close switches, we have automated it.

“The system routes power around that outage without having to have folks in trucks driving around to do that,” he adds. “All of a sudden not only does that improve the service we provide our customers, it saves us hundreds of thousands of miles of driving.”

One of the biggest wastes you can have as an electric utility is from an outage—not just at EPB, but at the customer level. “That sounds like an odd thing,” says Wade, “but if you think about all of a sudden when there is an outage there are businesses out there that lose sales or must throw products away. An important piece of waste and sustainability is how you use power.”

The flow of that power through the entire utilization cycle is something EPB focuses on. “It doesn’t stop when we hand off electricity to a business,” Wade says. “They are using it for some need. If we interrupt it and it causes them to have waste products and uses more electricity to get back to where they were, then we have a whole layer of waste that we don’t talk about much.”

The waste is significant in terms of dollars as well. A recent study by the University of California, Berkeley, found that a utility in the Southeast the size of Chattanooga’s—which serves a 600-sq-mi urban and rural environment comprising 175,000 homes and businesses—would waste approximately $100 million annually due to power outages. “That is a lot of waste down the system,” says Wade. “That is a huge deal.”

But before EPB could change its grid, it had to change its culture; work that started long before the first fiber optic cable was strung. “We have put significant emphasis on and energy into really looking at and changing our culture over the last 15 years,” says Wade.

EPB also earned its PEER certification, which is modeled after the LEED green building rating system. PEER also serves as the driving force behind the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) vision to transform power systems.

“There was a point in time where we were not an easy company to do business with. We acted very much like a monopoly. If you wanted to do business with us, you had to jump through our hoops and we would install service when we felt like it.”

It was an internal problem as well. “It becomes very difficult to leverage communications across our electric system if we can’t communicate across the hall with each other,” Wade says. The major culture shift has created a more collaborative EPB, where employees are more engaged and committed to a mission to serve and improve their community and their customers. “As a municipal that is a huge privilege and responsibility,” he adds.

“We had to make that culture,” says Bailey, “and culture work is never done. But it is faster and easier to get where we need to go because we have this in place.”

New initiatives include a community solar project and leveraging the power grid while learning to use all of the information the new electric system provides in ways “we didn’t see two or even five years ago,” Wade says. That includes identifying pieces of equipment in need of service before a major incipient failure that would have previously gone unnoticed.

EPB has also started leveraging its fiber optic system by selling video, voice, and data products. Because of this, Chattanooga currently has the fastest Internet in the country, known as the “Gig” for its 1-gigabyte per second speed (about 50 times faster than the U.S. average), which has become an economic selling point for the city.
“Giving the ability to add communications and collapse time and space gives our community the opportunity to think differently and act differently,” says Wade. “We are one part of that as our electric system.”

EPB, along with several partners, recently started a relationship through which a microbiology class at a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) school in Chattanooga is taught from the University of Southern California. “Streaming live microscopic images from 1,800 miles away is drastically changing the learning experience of these students in Chattanooga,” Wade says. “We don’t have that type of microscope or instructor. It’s an extremely different learning environment.”

All of this appears to be catching the attention of other utility companies. EPB gets multiple requests and visits a week from those who want see firsthand what Chattanooga is doing.

“One of the coolest things about that, if they come to visit Chattanooga, by interacting we have the opportunity to learn from them,” Wade says. “That must be the best thing about it. We aren’t done learning and there is a lot of value in those conversations.”

LEED Certification

EPB’s downtown headquarters was the first building in Chattanooga to receive LEED certification for Existing Buildings, Operations and Maintenance. This certification focuses on the long term, cultural and operational processes that occur within commercial building. EPB must follow rigorous environmental guidelines in all areas of business, from energy use and recycling to cleaning methods and pest control to help protect our environment. It’s just one of many ways that EPB works to increase the quality of life for the people we serve.

• The LEED Project has an ROI of less than one year.¹
• To date, the Project Building’s occupants saved 5.7 Million kWh. This kWh translated to $420,640 and 4,054 metric tons of CO2. This CO2 reduction is equivalent to the carbon sequestered annually by 3,323 acres of U.S. forest.²
• So far in 2013, the Project Building’s occupants saved 336,374 gallons of water. This translates to $6,701 and is equivalent to saving the amount of water to fill roughly 15 standard-sized U.S. swimming pools.³
• During the LEED Process, the building’s occupants recycled 712 cubic yards, the equivalent of keeping 59 standard dump trucks’ waste out of landfills.⁴
• During the LEED Process, Corporate CSA Program participants bought 3,500 pounds of sustainably grown local produce.⁵
• During the LEED Process, Clean Commute participants avoided an estimated 248,420 miles of conventional travel, an amount equivalent to traveling to San Francisco from Chattanooga 102 times.⁶
• During the official LEED Process, 69 people representing 26 organizations worked over 4,000 hours to make this project happen.⁷

1. Approximately $125,000 spent / $131,650 in annual recurring energy savings = ROI less than one year. This calculation doesn’t include other benefits, such as water savings.

2. 5,746,450 kWh x .0732 (losses rate) = $420,640. CO2 and equivalencies calculated using the US EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator.

3. Data is from EPB’s TN American Water bills. Standard Pool calculation referenced by Ask.com & WikiAnswers: 336,374 gallons/ 22,000 gallons = 15.3 US standard pools.

4. Data is from Internal Recycling Records independently gathered by Reliable Building Solutions. 712 cubic yards/12 cubic yards = 59.3 standard dump trucks.

5. Data from Crabtree Farms delivery records.

6. Data from Internal records; data utilizes employee zip codes for estimated miles and considers travel method. Chattanooga to San Francisco miles calculated using GoogleMaps.

7. Data from internal and external records. Hours include administrative and operational activities, but do not account for time spent outside the LEED Performance Period.

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It’s not just anyone who would drive by a bus depot parking lot in downtown San Jose, California, and think: I can build a garden there. But a “For Lease” sign had ecological designer Alrie Middlebrook thinking just that. In 2000, her musings gained momentum and ultimately led to the formation of the California Native Garden Foundation (CNGF), a public-benefit corporation of which Middlebrook is founder and president. In time, CNGF developed the site to support its Environmental Laboratory for Sustainability and Ecological Education (ELSEE) program. Indeed, that lowly parking lot made way for the Middlebrook Center—headquarters for both CNGF and Middlebrook Gardens, its namesake’s for-profit garden design/build business responsible for funding the educational programming.

TOP: The Middlebrook Center is headquarters for both CNGF and Middlebrook Gardens, a for-profit garden design/build business responsible for funding the educational programming. MIDDLE: Middlebrook is an outdoor classroom and has become a significant part of children’s learning. BOTTOM: The “Big Red,” is a play structure that grows food.

Nestled in the heart of Santa Clara Valley, the center is surrounded by the Santa Cruz Mountains and Diablo Range, and enjoys a subtropical Mediterranean climate. The focus of Middlebrook’s work is protecting air quality, improving the health of onsite soils, conserving and cleaning water, restoring local plant communities, and recycling materials. The SITES certification process (administered by Green Business Certification Inc.), she explains, is quite rigorous and includes over 200 benchmarks for sustainable urban land use. “We organized the gardens to meet that criteria and created program development throughout the garden.”

All those SITES initiatives have made Middlebrook Gardens, the second green business in Santa Clara Valley, very successful—so successful she was able to bankroll ELSEE, with some additional outside funding. ELSEE, a model for active outdoor learning, teaches environmental education, eco literacy, sustainability and science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) education to pre-K through eighth-grade students using Next Generation Science Standards. The programs are run primarily by college interns and volunteers, which keeps costs down, and demonstrates how schools can build a sustainable garden education program without the need for hefty financial backing.

As a visitor walking through the Middlebrook compound, one first encounters the entry gate above which “the tools of the gardener” (shovels, rakes, pots, etc.) have been arranged in a cheerful aerial configuration. Also at the entry stands “Elsee,” a female tule elk and their beloved mascot, who symbolizes, in part, Middlebrook’s idea that “if we are going to eat large mammals, we should probably be eating animals native to our local ecosystem.”

Native plants, edible crops, and species of other value are grown all over the property in myriad ways.

Take, for instance, “Big Red,” a play structure that “recycles itself and grows food.” Built with all found objects and recycled materials including old playground equipment, panels of recycled waste, and pallets, it supports multiple crops. Plants grow from the tower top, from “living walls” made with the pallets, and they trail in vines down the structure’s sides. It even features a solar-powered fountain made of tires. “It’s really mirroring how a plant recycles itself and stays in one place,” explains Middlebrook. “We thought, ‘Why can’t a building do the same thing a plant does?’”

In the Mariposa Meadow, students learn how it replicates the natural grasslands of the valley, as it is full of plant species that have grown in those environs for over 20 million years. It is now habitat for 16 types of butterflies, which are depicted on stepping stones located throughout the garden. As a teaching tool, the meadow exposes children to the concept of preserving local ecology, which is Middlebrook’s primary objective. In the middle of the meadow stand two food towers—9-foot tube slides turned on end—hosting 30 plants each (mostly native edibles or perennial food crops, which are harvested regularly). Like Big Red, they are there to demonstrate how food can be grown vertically and without tilling soil, which is ecologically damaging. “Some of the plants have been growing in there for six or seven years and produce food every day without fertilizer, except compost. That’s a very efficient way to produce a lot of food with minimal input,” says Middlebrow.

Collard greens, one of the top superfoods, and native quail bush are among the crops grown. The latter is a favorite bird habitat as well as an edible species most often used as “a salt substitute,” as it draws salts from the soil. CNGF’s Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) partner collects quite a lot of this plant’s leaves for its produce boxes. “I’m working on some projects that will demonstrate our methods for growing food [using] urban food technology,” says Middlebrook. “I think, in coming years, we will be able to grow more food on the site than people can eat.”

Left: The chicken coop traces a chicken’s ancestry back to the age of the dinosaurs. Middle/Right: Native plants, edible crops, and species of other value are grown all over the property in myriad ways.

The chicken coop, aka the “Dino Coop,” traces the everyday chicken’s ancestry back to the age of the dinosaurs. It was created by a group of elementary-aged art students, who studied the evolution of the chicken going back 260 million years. They created a timeline starting with the Jurassic Era and the plants that comprised that landscape. “We always say we are eating dinosaur eggs,” jokes Middlebrow.

The summer Nature Camp, possibly the most popular program, includes lesson plans to go with the whole garden. Middlebrook drew a diagram of the grounds with a key that indicates 26 different educational elements. Among them is an aquaponics farm featuring a large tank whose finned tenants’ waste helps nourish the plant community, which in turn filters the water. Their CSA partner also collects edibles from this unique ecosystem to include in their weekly offerings. Middlebrook views it as a tool for teaching chemistry, physics, water management, conservation, and nutrition. “It provides lots of opportunities for children to learn STEAM education—that’s one of our goals. We want the outdoor classroom to be a significant part of children’s learning.”

Currently, 10 to 20 school groups benefit from the Middlebrook Center’s programming each academic year, though its founder intends to increase those numbers. She also dreams of transforming 10,000 California schoolyards into teaching gardens; this in response to how deficient current playgrounds are in terms of learning. For Middlebrook, a schoolyard should be a place where students learn about climate change, reduction in biodiversity, and nature deficit disorder—her major concerns as an ecological designer and educator. “We try to address all three of those things in every decision we make with respect to how urban land is being used.”

Native plants, edible crops, and species of other value are grown all over the property in myriad ways.

The ELSEE model is the result of work Middlebrook has been doing for the last 40 years. Her interest in native species led her down a path that started with her design/build business at age 30. Nurturing her love for native species, she spent 15 years hiking all over California to study its native plants kingdom. Today, she refers to herself as an amateur ecologist trained as an artist. “The more you see how nature organizes itself and how the cycles of our planet play out, the more you realize the elegance of [it all].” In her ultimate mission to steward the planet, she now designs to protect nature’s cycles. Until the universal model is one that disrupts nature as little as possible or, conversely, mimics it as much as possible, Middlebrook believes we fall short of true stewardship.

The ELSEE project team believes that any healthy land use model should also support profitable sustainable businesses. Unlike conventional businesses, “eco-businesses” value the protection and perpetuation of ecosystems. “I’m thinking this year we are going to get a lot of support from local developers,” says Middlebrook. “We really see development following these natural principles of an ecosystem.” Noting Santa Clara Valley’s rich agricultural past and its leading role in technological advances, Middlebrook talks of marrying the two to develop sustainable building practices that will have business-model appeal. Beyond that, she is also interested in teaching SITES benchmarks to the local service sector. “I’d like to generate income by helping other building and landscape professionals learn these ecological methods for construction and landscaping.” Given the gumption with which she tackles all of her project ideas, it will likely be another that comes to fruition before long.

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By Mary Grauerholz

Tampa becomes the first city in the world to introduce a WELL Certified district.

When green building began to sweep the country in the 1970s, it came with a red alert: Construction with toxic components was harmful to the environment. A correlation between the effects of traditional construction and human health increased the urgency. Now, a group of stakeholders is breaking new, higher ground by establishing the world’s first WELL Certified city district in Tampa, Florida.

Paul Scialla helped launch the International WELL Building Institute. He oversees the work to ensure it will meet WELL Certification.

The project will be the first district-wide application of the WELL Building Standard, the world’s first building standard focused exclusively on human health and wellness. WELL fulfills a 2012 Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Commitment to Action to improve the way people live indoors, and this new commitment builds on WELL and tackles the even greater challenge of creating city-scale developments built for health and wellness. “Today more than half the global population is already residing in cities,” former President Bill Clinton said as he announced the latest commitment at the 2015 CGI Annual Meeting. “The physical spaces where we live, work, and play influence our level of physical activity, social interaction, and our health.”

The philosophy of WELL and its application to the Tampa project is straightforward: Better air and water, greener construction, and more healthful options for food and fitness—presented in the framework of a connected community—intend to help improve the physical and emotional health of the people living there. Research shows that people who live in walkable, connected neighborhoods have lower rates of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease.

The city district of Tampa, Florida, will be the first district-wide application of the WELL Building Standard, the world’s first building standard focused exclusively on human health and wellness.

The 40-acre development, due to break ground in Tampa’s downtown waterfront area this year, will be a walkable, sustainable, healthy environment for residents, workers, and visitors. Overseeing the effort is a starry convergence of figures in the worlds of business and not-for-profits: Jeff Vinik, owner of the Tampa Bay Lightning ice hockey team; Cascade Investment, LLC; and Paul Scialla, who launched the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI).
Vinik and Cascade Investment are building the development under the name of Strategic Property Partners in concert with the city of Tampa. Scialla will oversee the necessary work to assure the certification of the district and that the project’s individual buildings meet WELL Certification. The intent is that each building also will attain Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification.

The Tampa project came together last winter. “I was in Tampa last February for a meeting regarding the WELL Certification of another project,” Scialla says. “Jeff [Vinik] and I talked, and it completely gelled. As he became more familiar with the WELL Building Standard, he and his team saw this as a wonderful opportunity to become the first pilot community.”

The development is anchored around Amalie Arena, home of the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Tampa Bay Storm professional football team. Phase one will include 1,000 residential units; a new 400-500–room luxury hotel; a 650,000-sq-ft office tower; 200,000 square feet of retail, restaurants, and entertainment venues; the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine and Heart Institute; and an adjoining office building for health-related businesses. Green space, dog parks, and water features will be woven throughout.

With a $1 billion price tag, phase one is expected to be built out within five years. When all three phases of the project are completed, the development will encompass 6 million square feet of commercial, residential, and retail space, with a total investment of more than $2 billion. The first step, planned for mid-2016, is construction of a reconfigured roadway network and new infrastructure.

The project, informed by the WELL Building Standard, will reflect seven categories that relate to health in the built environment: air, water, nourishment, light, fitness, comfort, and mind. The overall aim, Scialla said, is to create a community that promotes nutrition, fitness, mood, sleep patterns, and performance for residents and visitors.

Scialla is also the founder and CEO of Delos, the company that pioneered Wellness Real Estate™ and WELL. Delos launched IWBI in 2013 after pledging to share WELL globally in the Clinton Global Initiative Commitment to Action. Delos Advisory Board members include Dick Gephardt, Deepak Chopra, and Leonardo DiCaprio.

The district will feature wide sidewalks that allow for more walking, bike lanes for cyclists, abundant public green space to encourage outdoor living, access to healthful foods, green infrastructure, and all the amenities of an urban waterfront.

Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn is happy to see sustainability and health polishing the city’s profile. “Tampa is proud to be the first city in the world to be home to a WELL Certified District,” Buckhorn said. “Our city will demonstrate that city design, not just building design, can be healthy and sustainable, and it will position our community as forward thinking.”

As the first of its kind in the world, the Tampa development will set a global example of how a built environment can promote health and wellness, so its measurement system must be impeccable.

The WELL Building Standard is third-party certified by Green Business Certification Inc., which administers the LEED certification program and the LEED professional credentialing program.

Scialla says the rating systems are a seamless fit. “The WELL Building Standard is a perfect complement to LEED and all green rating systems,” he says. The project is setting another example, as well. IWBI, the driver of the Tampa district’s health and wellness goals, is a public benefit corporation, an emerging type of structure in the U.S. for corporations that are committed to balancing public benefits with profitability. IWBI, Scialla says, has committed to direct 51 percent of net profits generated by WELL Certification project fees, after taxes, for philanthropic purposes and investments focused on health, wellness, and the built environment.

Vinik sees health and wellness as one of the major social movements of our era. “In a competitive marketplace,” he says, “employees and employers both desire the quality-of-life investments that will make our district WELL.”

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