In a first for Canopy, I recently attended a Summit held by the Association of Nature Center Administrators (ANCA). The host of the Summit, the Ecology School, had recently completed a beautiful main building that was “Living Building Certified.” Several other organizations at the conference had also built Living Buildings or were in the long process of designing and building one. One organization at the Summit – the Indian Creek Nature Center – was one of the first organizations in the world to successfully complete the Living Building Challenge.
Having worked with so many clients whose missions focus on conservation, sustainability, and saving the planet, I was surprised I had never heard of the Living Building Challenge or the International Living Future Institute that manages it. Like LEED or other building certification programs, the Living Building challenge recognizes the need to build and live more sustainably. However, unlike other certifications, the Living Building Challenge goes all the way – a Living Building is sustainable down to the “nuts and bolts”, is net positive on energy generation, and gives back to the environment and community in a number of ways outside of traditional sustainable building certifications.
Here’s a quick breakdown of the Living Building Challenge and how it approaches different aspects of sustainability:
The Living Building Challenge is not just about constructing buildings that use less energy or generate less waste. It’s about creating living, breathing structures that harmonize with their surroundings and contribute positively to the environment. This holistic approach is underpinned by seven performance areas, referred to as “petals” in the Living Building Challenge:
The Living Building Challenge: A Holistic Approach to Sustainability
Place: The first petal encourages projects to be rooted in a specific location, considering factors like site selection, urban context, and ecological boundaries. It emphasizes minimizing the project’s impact on the environment.
Water: This petal aims to achieve net-zero water usage, focusing on rainwater harvesting, water recycling, and efficient water management systems.
Energy: The energy petal challenges buildings to produce more energy than they consume. This can be achieved through renewable energy sources like solar, wind, and geothermal.
Health & Happiness: This petal emphasizes creating spaces that prioritize the health and well-being of occupants. It encompasses considerations such as indoor air quality, access to natural light, and ergonomic design.
Materials: The materials petal encourages the use of non-toxic, locally-sourced, and responsibly manufactured materials. It also promotes the reduction of waste throughout the construction process.
Equity: This petal focuses on ensuring that the project benefits the community and promotes social equity. It encourages fair labor practices, affordable housing, and community engagement.
Beauty: While often overlooked, aesthetics play a crucial role in sustainability. The beauty petal emphasizes creating spaces that inspire and uplift the human spirit, fostering a deeper connection between people and their environment.
If all of this sounds great – but a bit abstract – let’s take a look at what it really takes to build a Living Building.
Certification and the Living Building Challenge Community:
While the above petals certainly encapsulate all the aspects of sustainability, this high-level, rosy-eyed view of the process doesn’t really show how intense and comprehensive the process is. To gain a better understanding of the Living Building Challenge, I sat down with the Executive Director of Indian Creek Nature Center, John Myers, to hear his story and learn how difficult the process was.
With discussion settled on which building certification to pursue, John and his team dove head-first into the project. While the process sounded like a normal Master/Vision Planning process, there were some notable exceptions related to the certification process. Namely – each petal named above has an extensive list of requirements to be certified in that petal. The most burdensome petal – at least for John and ICNC during their process – was the Materials petal. Every board, nail, brick, and pipe must undergo an extensive vetting process to exclude unsustainable building materials and encourage local sourcing. The bar was so high, this was the one petal of certification the ICNC building did not get.
To top it all off, a building must demonstrate 12 consecutive months of performance that meet or exceed the program’s stringent criteria. This rigorous process ensures that LBC-certified buildings are true champions of sustainability. It also requires extensive monitoring equipment and staff time to collect and report the data to the certifying agency.
While the process is difficult, expensive, and massively time consuming, John left me with a thought that has stuck with me. “If we are the leaders in conservation and sustainability, then the Living Building Certification is the only certification that lives up to our values.”
But what does it cost?!
As a Business Analyst, this was unsurprisingly one of my first questions to John. The narrative above may make it seem like this sustainable building process – or any sustainable certification – must add an inordinate amount of expense to any project. I asked John specifically about the finances of it all.
From his initial estimates on a standard building, John estimates that the detailed requirements and extra burdens of the Living Building Certification cost an additional 40% on top of his “standard” building design. However, John was quick to also include that the building was such an exciting prospect for donors that they easily made their goal in the capital campaign. Then there’s the operating upside – ICNC has no utility costs. In fact, most Living Buildings generate net positive electricity and can pump that energy back into the grid. Some of Canopy’s clients have massive utility bills – losing any of these utilities costs immediately boosts your operating bottom line. It depends on the size and use of your building to calculate specifics, but those saved utility costs can, over time displace the premium incurred by building sustainably.
Plus, John noted that the process appears to be getting easier and cheaper. While it is still a hurdle, things like sourcing materials have become easier as labeling standards and other industry practices have decreased the burden of the Materials petal.
Given John’s compelling argument that it is our mission to build the most sustainable buildings on Earth because we are leaders of sustainability and conservation, his (and others’) success in raising capital for sustainable buildings, and the lifetime savings on energy and utility costs, the Living Building challenge costs look a lot less intimidating.
You can judge for yourself in this virtual walkthrough of ICNC’s building, or read the whole case-study on the International Living Future Institute’s website.
If John’s story has you thinking about a Living Building, I’ll share his final advice – “Go for it. It’s worth it and it’s the right thing to do if you truly are a leader in sustainability and conservation.”
