Lexington, KY - The green building movement in Kentucky recently took a surprising leap forward with the governor's signature.
"If you'd asked me a year ago, I'd have said, 'No way.' I never would have guessed that Kentucky would make it a law," said Clive Pohl, a Lexington architect and a leader in the Kentucky Chapter of the U.S. Green Builders Council (USGBC). Pohl served on the High Performance Buildings Advisory Committee, which made recommendations regarding state building projects. In February, Governor Beshear signed House Bill 2. The legislation includes the requirement that new public facilities or renovations using 50 percent or more state funding be designed to qualify for certification by the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI).
The USGBC, formed as a membership organization in 1993, is bringing a sea change to building practices and their environmental impacts. Climate change, escalating energy costs and growing environmental awareness have been powerful motivators. In 2000, USGBC introduced its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) accreditation and certification systems. Building professionals can become LEED Accredited Professionals by studying green building principles and practices and then passing a rigorous exam. The USGBC funded the formation of the GBCI to have an independent and transparent certification process for buildings. Certification is based on a thorough and systematic evaluation of many facets of a project. Areas of concern for certification include site selection, materials and resources, energy and atmosphere, water efficiency, and indoor air quality.
Depending on the building's level of performance, determined through measurements of its efficiencies and environmental impacts, it may be rated as LEED Certified, Silver, Gold or Platinum. Kentucky HB2 requires that state building projects exceeding $25 million be certified as LEED Silver or higher; projects costing between $5 million to $25 million, certified as LEED Certified or higher; and projects between $600,000 to $5 million, designed using the LEED rating system as guidance.
"We're growing rapidly in all our metrics that we use to measure our success," said Ashley Katz, spokesperson for USBGC, based in Washington, D.C. Members at the national level number nearly 20,000. There are over 81,000 Accredited Professionals. All 50 states, as well as 91 countries, have LEED projects. There are 2,384 LEED certified buildings (commercial and institutional), with another 18,468 in the pipeline. The residential sector has been slower to take up the call, but there are 1,504 certified homes with another 8,993 in the pipeline. (LEED has become the standard bearer, but there are other green building rating systems out there.)
"Our membership has doubled in the past year," said Joan Pauly, executive director of the Kentucky Chapter from her office in Louisville. "Sustainable buildings are the wave of the future, and we're riding that wave here in Kentucky." The Chapter has 203 members. "Our membership is made up of architects, engineers, construction contractors, product manufacturers and citizens interested in a sustainable-built environment," said Pauly. Kentucky has over 500 LEED Accredited Professionals, 12 LEED certified buildings, and 76 projects in the pipeline.
A recent election increased the Chapter's board membership from seven to 20. A new advisory committee includes Charles Cash, Jr., director of Louisville Metro Planning and Design; Cass Harris, Louisville Metro environmental policy coordinator; Richard Levine, professor and architect, University of Kentucky; Martin Richards, economic development organizer; and Mohammad Nouri, transportation engineer and planning section manager for Metro Louisville. These developments show a robust growth, and the recent passage of HB2 with its embrace of LEED standards caught the attention of USGBC National. The chapter is one of six in the nation selected for special advocacy support from the National advocacy staff to increase green building education in the state.
As of this writing, about 250 architects, engineers and contractors had signed up to attend the Kentucky High Performance Building Standards Workshop on April 8 in Frankfort, according to Richard Polk, a Lexington architect, a panelist at the event. The workshop, sponsored by The American Institute of Architects, Associated General Contractors, and the American Council of Engineering Companies, aimed to further educate the Kentucky building industry about green building and the requirements of LEED certification. It brought together all the segments of the building industry that often work independently of one another. "It takes a team to make this happen (green building)," said Polk, "and that team needs to include the owner, architect, engineer and contractor."
Clive Pohl, chair of the Kentucky chapter's education committee, facilitates the development of programs to serve educational and professional needs of the membership. Current programs include Lunch and Learn events held each month in Lexington and Louisville. An hour-long presentation focusing on a greenbuilding topic is followed by lunch. A Green Scene networking event is held at different locations each month in both cities. It starts with a 10-minute presentation followed by a green social networking opportunity. The chapter sometimes offers technical training workshops. "One of our primary tasks is to increase diversification," said Pohl, "to introduce green job training programs, to reach deeper into the community with training for electricians, plumbers - to give them a stake in it. We're working hard to get that kind of programming in place." Pohl said that his committee is studying successful green job training programs in other states. "I expect a year or two from now, it's going to look very different. We're going to have a much more aggressive green jobs training program in place."