by aleida, on November 20th, 2009
Upon returning from Greenbuild 2009, I had to take a few days to reflect upon the event and look over my notes. Like Kevin, I also loved my time on the expo floor, and ended up skipping on a few of the sessions for which I had originally signed up so that I would have more time to meet the exhibitors. However, I still attended six education sessions, all of which I will review.
The first session I attended was titled Better Late Than Never: Rising Sea Levels and Adapting to Them. The speakers were: Tom Roper, President of the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council, and Board Member of the Climate Institute; Lynne Barker, a representative from the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI); and Alex Wilson, Executive Director of BuildingGreen.
Roper spoke about PlanNYC, which he described as a four-step approach to climate change adaptation. PlanNYC looks to: 1) quantify impacts, 2) identify solutions, 3) consider infrastructure/buildings, and 4) launch a citywide strategic plan. The mission is to look at all the likely impacts on New York City as a result of rising sea levels, and to develop appropriate responses.
Barker then walked the audience through the five milestones that ICLEI, through its Climate Resilient Communities Program, helps its member cities undertake. Milestone 1 is to initiate effort: identify stakeholders, assess regional and local climate changes, build support, and undertake education and outreach. Milestone 2 involves a resiliency study: assess regional and local climate impacts, conduct a vulnerability assessment by planning areas and sectors, and conduct risk assessments. Milestone 3 is then to develop an adaptation plan: analyze all results, establish goals, identify actions, prioritize, and draft a plan. Milestone 4 moves into implementation: update existing community plans and implement actions. Lastly, milestone 5 focuses on measures and updates: monitor implementation, report progress, take stock and evaluate focus, revisit climate impacts forecasts, and, finally, update the plan. You can read much more on this process, and about ICLEI’s plans and projects in general, here.
Wilson then spoke on adaptation strategies based specifically on the built environment. Stating that “many of the measures we need to implement to adapt to climate change also help to mitigate it,” he laid out a five-step process for adaptation: 1) design for warmer temperatures, 2) design for drought and water shortage, 3) design for more intense storms, flooding, and rising seas, 4) design for wildfires, and 5) design for power interruptions. In this system, building practices such as natural ventilation, orientation, paints, and overhangs become critical, and must be enhanced at every step. Rainwater harvesting takes on a much more critical role, but so does eliminating carpeting, even wood flooring, in preference for polished concrete or tile systems. Site-generated electricity obviously becomes necessary. He said buildings need to provide “passive survivability,” which he defined as buildings that are able to maintain livable condition in the event of a complete loss of power. Currently, buildings don’t have this capacity, but we could get them there by using super insulation, natural cooling, exterior shading, top-performance glazing, and daylighting, among other strategies.
All in all, a very detailed first session. I especially appreciated learning about the efforts that are including entire communities in the process. No one on the panel or the audience seemed to be gripped by fear of rising sea levels, but Roper summarized it best with his statement that while there is no reason to panic, there is also no reason for complacency. There are in fact many options available to us to ensure that our built environment shelters us appropriately through currently foreseeable climate changes.
Did you also attend this session? If so, what did you think?