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Cascadia in the News
Size Matters
SIGHTLINE DAILY, 09/23/09
Height, bulk, and scale of buildings can make or break a project or proposal. But, when does a building get too tall or too bulky? When does a house become a McMansion? What factor decides whether my neighbor and I can agree on a house that’s just right? What size is right depends on who you talk to.
Valuing buildings' green features is a challenge
Oregon Daily Journal of Commerce, 06/15/09
If you want to compute the extra value that the LEED gold 200 Market Place building possesses because of its myriad sustainable features by comparing it to the similarly sized, but uncertified, Umpqua Bank Plaza . . .
Developers face green building challenge
Oregon Daily Journal of Commerce, 04/01/09
In tough economic times, developers and design teams must increasingly convince lenders that pursuing sustainable buildings pays off in the long run, according to a panel of experts who spoke Tuesday.
Green Dirt: A Collaboration to Build a Home at an Organic Farm Prioritizes Sustainability and Family Connectivity
Jason F. Mclennan, ED+C, 3/2009
Call it fate. Call it luck. I call it one of the most fulfilling examples of teamwork that I’ve enjoyed in my career. It all came about when Sarah and John, who had recently relocated from Seattle to Missouri, heard me speaking about green building on a Kansas City radio program. Interested in constructing their own sustainable residence, they contacted me at Berkebile Nelson Immenschuh McDowell Architects (BNIM), where I worked at the time. We hit it off immediately, and I committed to the project, inspired by my new clients’ determination to create an earth-friendly home for their family of five.
Read more...
Aiming for the Stars: A manifesto in the guise of a standard raises the bar
GreenSource, 03/2009
LEED has gained enormous influence because the U.S. green building council (USGBC) intentionally set targets that are accessible to the mainstream building industry. That penchant for realism has created frustration with LEED, however, especially among a more activist crowd. These green champions are concerned that, even when LEED buildings perform as advertised—something that we’re learning we can’t take for granted—that performance represents incremental improvements to the status quo, far short of the revolutionary reinvention of buildings that environmental and social imperatives demand.
That frustration inspired Cascadia Chapter CEO Jason McLennan to draft the Living Building Challenge (LBC), an uncompromising checklist for creating buildings for an Ecotopian world...
Habitat for Humanity homes in Portland aim for platinum LEED certification
Oregonian, 03/27/09
Janette Clark loves many things about her new home -- the airy, high-ceilinged rooms, the rich glow of natural light from south-facing windows, the warm floor beneath her feet.
Habitat for Humanity goes green in Portland
Oregon Daily Journal of Commerce, 03/06/09
Building energy-efficient homes is nothing new for Habitat for Humanity Portland/Metro East, according to executive director Steve Messinetti.
Study identified local barriers to green homebuilding
Vancouver Business Journal, 12/26/08
The city of Vancouver has released findings of an extensive study on barriers to green homebuilding in the city and Clark County, and will seek builders’ feedback on the study in early 2009.From Green Buildings to Living Buildings
Editorial by Cascadia Board member Dennis Wilde, ED+C, 12/02/08
When Gerding Edlen Development began to focus on green building 10 years ago, many of our peers thought we were wasting money and time — that sustainable development was a fad with little chance of being profitable.
Change? Start by Building Greener
Daily Journal of Commerce, 11/03/08
When an avalanche took out several electrical transmission towers south of Juneau, Alaska in April, Alaska Electric Light & Power Co. announced that the city would use diesel generators for electricity until the towers were fixed.
The generators restored power, but electricity customers suddenly faced a 500 percent rate increase. That got their attention, according to Jason McLennan, CEO of the Cascadia Region Green Building Council.
Pacific Northwest Leads in Green Building
Climate Change Business Journal 10/08
As anyone who has flown into Vancouver, Seattle or Portland knows, the coastal Pacific Northwest is very green. From the Cascade Range that runs from Northern California to Southern British Columbia to the big river systems that flow from the distant Rockies, the region is rich in forests, wilderness, salmon and other wildlife- and populated by folks who care deeply about the environment. This environmental consciousness has helped make the Pacific Nothwest- also known as Cascadia- the hands-down regional leader for green building in the United States.
Study digs into Living Buildings
Sustainable Industries, 10/10/08
A team of experts, including Portland-based SERA Architects, Gerding/Edlen Development, New Buildings Institute and Interface Engineering Inc., asked Beaverton-based Skanska USA Building to develop a feasibility study that would outline the costs associated with designing, building and operating a Living Building.
Province of British Columbia: Province Funds Green Building Education
Insurance News Net, 10/1/08
VICTORIA – The Cascadia Region Green Building Council will receive $100,000 to deliver education programs in B.C. that will encourage the development of more green buildings and support the greening of the province’s Building Code, Housing and Social Development Minister Rich Coleman announced.
A mud hut for the 21st Century
Calgary Herald, 09/30/08
They also have a $300 composting system that treats all toilet waste with heat-generating bacteria that pasteurizes the manure and kills human pathogens.
"Then we'll use it for gardening. We don't have waste," she laughs.
"The waste of one creates the food for another." The same goes for their electrical supply, which comes from 12 170-watt solar panels, which power their charge controllers and feed into the BC Hydro grid.
Their eco-efforts haven't gone unnoticed by Jason McLennan, the CEO of the Cascadia Region Green Building Council and the architect behind the Living Building Challenge.
Sustainable Today TV Station Interviews Cascadia CEO Jason F. McLennan
Sustainable Today, 09/13/08
Buildings of today called unsustainable
Kelowna Capital News, 09/11/08
Imagine sitting down to pay the bills and coming up empty-handed—no paperwork, no e-bills, nothing to mark in the ledger save the mortgage payment.
It’s one awesome benefit to truly sustainable development anyone could appreciate.
And according to Cascadia Regional Green Building Council CEO Jason McLennan, we’re drawing closer to this new reality by the day.
Tiny box of green ideas
Times Colonist, 09/20/08
Allison Ashcroft downplays her Rebecca Street home, one of four on next weekend's Green Skyline house tours organized by the Cascadia Green Building Council.
Read more...
Sustainable False Creek tours set for next month
Vancouver Sun, 09/02/08
Sustainability themed columns and the Dwell magazines of the world offer informative comment and inspiring eye candy. However, if you are eager to touch a real-life green building, or talk to real green homeowners and professionals, or if you just want to see -- up close -- what all the hoopla is about, then the Cascadia Region Green Building Council's ''Green Skyline Tour'' may be just the thing for you.
Structures so green they give back to the environment
Plenty Magazine, 08/19/08
The first green buildings were the first buildings, period. Mud brick huts, a kind of early adobe, were built in Hierakonpolis, Egypt, almost 5,000 years ago. They were built with local materials, near where people farmed or hunted, in sizes that made sense—maybe just big enough to dry out your goatskins. And these early dwellings were built in concert with the weather: Homes in hot, dry climates were ventilated to push air through, and those in cold ones were sealed with thick, heavily insulated walls, oriented toward the sun for natural heat. Architecture didn’t have much of a carbon footprint, and it was local.
Cracking the Code
Sustainable Industries, 08/04/08
The nation’s built environment is undergoing a revolution. There are almost 12,000 Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) registered projects, according to the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). Slowly but surely, builders and designers are moving toward “green” and sustainable construction techniques for both new construction and existing remodels.
Dream to be Green*
Kelowna Capital News, 08/02/08
Eight months ago, while most of us were merrily getting ready for the most all consuming season of our year, the environmental marketing firm, Terrachoice, signed off 2007 with a gift for the masses: A buyer beware guide entitled the Six Sins of Greenwashing.
*Please note the correction to this article
Throne off Course
Dwell Magazine, 07/08
From the gong famers of Tudor England, to the night-soil collectors of early 20th-century China, to the porcelain gods prayed to daily throughout much of the Western world, the indelicate matter of bodily waste disposal has been marked by a common philosophy: Out of sight, out of mind. And in the view of architect, writer and environmental evangelist Jason F. McLennan, that really stinks.
Climate crisis puts pressure on designers
Daily Journal of Commerce, 06/04/08
Scott Lewis can’t complain about the strength of his business these days.
As founder and principal at Brightworks, a Portland-based firm that offers strategic planning for sustainable building, Lewis said business has never been better. He’s hiring in his Portland office and also has offices in Los Angeles and San Francisco. His firm is consulting on 90 projects in 12 states, in addition to doing work in Mexico and Abu Dhabi.
The Unconference
BuildingGreen, 05/06/08
If I could adopt a conference, it would be the USGBC Cascadia chapter's Living Future 'Unconference'. As someone who generally prefers to stay behind the scenes talking shop, it was a delight to find myself surrounded primarily by the obsessed of the green building world. Even better, as presenters we were encouraged to bring our own big challenges to the table and get attendees to help us address them — which is exactly what we and many other presenters did. (More about that later, I hope.)
Portland home goes ultra-green
The Oregonian, 04/11/08
The house sags, as if it knows what's coming.
"It's all wrong," says owner Dustin Moon, 30, rattling off a list: Long, narrow design. Cramped rooms. Leaky foundation.
And so, Dustin and his brother Garrett, 22, will tear it down to construct something they believe is absolutely essential. They'll install solar panels to generate electricity and collection systems to capture and purify water. They'll put in composting toilets to deal with waste.
A moment with...Thor Peterson, green building specialist
Seattle Post Intelligencer, 04/11/08
Thor Peterson knows green.
He spent time as the city's residential green-building specialist. Then last year he became research director for the Cascadia Region Green Building Council, a nonprofit that promotes environmentally responsible, healthy buildings.
'Living' Buildings are 'true sustainability,' speaker says
Mail Tribune, 03/21/08
"Living buildings" can and must be built that draw all their energy from the sun, that capture, use and purify the water that falls on them, and they must be built only on land that's already been developed.
Coming in from the cold
Sustainable Industries, 02/29/08
Insulation manufacturers touted their products’ energy-saving attributes long before green building materials carved a niche in the construction industry. But as green building products garner increased attention from both venture capitalists and consumers, insulation companies are facing tougher questions about the overall sustainability of their products.
Green building programs bloom across U.S.
Statesman Journal, 02/12/08
The American Institute of Architects says an increasing number of municipalities are offering incentives to go green. And, according to the U.S. Green Building Council, more organizations such as architects and nonprofits are joining its group.
Alaska, Cascadia green building council merges
Alaska Journal of Commerce, 01/27/08
To meet the growing demand for building green in Alaska, the U.S. Green Building Council-Alaska chapter this month joined the Cascadia Region Green Building Council as its newest branch.
Habitat seeks materials, workers for first LEED house
Daily Journal of Commerce, 01/14/08
Portland Habitat for Humanity in March will begin an experiment to combine social responsibility with environmental stewardship.
Conference aims to building better green engineers
Daily Journal of Commerce, 12/14/07
Expectations for efficient, earth-friendly buildings are on the rise. For engineers working in a rapidly changing industry, staying on top of environmentally savvy design strategies means finding a fresh set of resources.
'Living Building' set to go
Portland Tribune, 12/11/07
It sounds like a cross between a college dorm, a California commune and the 1990s Biosphere ecosystem experiment.
In Kenton.
3 NW projects win awards for 'living buildings'
Daily Journal of Commerce, 11/28/07
The Cascadia Region Green Building Council and the U.S. Green Building Council announced the winners of the 2007 Living Building Competition, and three of the six are in the Northwest.
Can LEED Survive the Carbon Neutral Era?
Metropolis Magazine, 11/21/07
As China chokes on air pollution and the glaciers rapidly recede, green design in mainstream America takes on a boutique sheen. Eco-homes feature a bit of FSC-certified cabinetry, paints that don’t off-gas, fancy air filters. The sell lays the sustainable message on thick: the Web sites and brochures for these projects make the buildings seem like Zen spas, with the bathwater triple filtered and floor-to-ceiling windows opening onto patches of pesticide-free green roofs.
PVC: Bad for buildings, health, and architects want it out
Daily Journal of Commerce, 11/15/07
PVC is everywhere.
It’s in flooring. It’s in pipes. It’s in wall coverings. It’s in roofing membranes. It’s in window seals.
And as architects work to build healthier buildings, they’re trying to push PVC out of the process.
The cost of sustainability fame
The Oregonian, 11/13/07
CHICAGO -- If anyone doubted Portland's conviction that its brightest future is as the center of the sustainable development world, consider that City Hall flew at least 15 people to Chicago last week to a conference on green building -- and the Portland Development Commission sent another three.
The Living Building Challenge: How Limits Can Liberate
GreenerBuildings.Com, 10/31/07
While reviewing last month's press about President Bush's climate summit, I thought, "Here we go again." This administration was still rejecting caps on greenhouse gas emissions even as it celebtrated the role of new technologies and the need to protect our economy -- as though these concepts were contradictory.
FSC Certification Endorsed by Cascadia Region Green Building Council
Seattle Post Intelligencer (Blog), 10/21/07
Some of you may have heard that the Cascadia Region Green Building Council is officially endorsing FSC certification as the only responsible and sustainable standard for protecting forests. This was their official press release.
Sustainable communities conference focuses on good planning
The Bellingham Business Journal, 09/07
While people are often weary of too much planning, the CEO of the Cascadia Region Green Building Council thinks communities have more to fear from lack of planning.
Living Building Competition Launched - Awards to be presented at Greenbuild 2007
Environmental Design + Construction, 09/06/07
Washington, D.C. — The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), in partnership with the Cascadia Region Green Building Council (Cascadia), has announced the launch of the Greenbuild 2007 Living Building Competition based on Cascadia’s Living Building Challenge.
Out on a Limb
Sustainable Industries, 06/29/07
Most Northwest residents living in conventional homes can sail through the region’s dry summers without much heed to conservation. But for the future residents of North Portland’s Kenton Living Building, where energy and water needs are met entirely on-site, a lack of conservation could significantly rock the boat.
Mithun and Perkins + Will win green design Contest
Seattle Daily Journal of Commerice, 05/01/07
In an effort to push the sustainable building envelope, the Living Future Conference last week included a design contest. Perkins + Will's State Office Building and Mithun's design for the Center for Urban Agriculture walked away with dual best in show prizes for their concepts.
A LEED of Faith
Canadian Architect, 05/07
How many buildings are being built green these days? It seems every day there is another green development announced. But how much of the overall market is really producing sustainable architecture?
