CityCraft and EcoDistricts Begin Strategic Partnership

It’s been a while since I’ve posted here on this blog.  We’ve been busy at CityCraft Ventures and I just hit my one year mark at the organization.  Time flies when you’re having fun!  We’ve been working on some exciting projects and I’ll be sharing more in the coming months.  Looking forward to blogging a little more.  There is no shortage of content, that is for sure!

An exciting project I’ve been working on is the strategic collaboration and partnership between CityCraft Ventures and EcoDistricts.  We’re going to partner together in select cities across North America and will bring on board several other national organizations as part of the larger collaborative effort as time moves forward (stay tuned for more on that).  Our first collaborative effort together will be a strategic collaboration as part of the EcoDistricts Target Cities Program.  This collaboration was announced last week at the Clinton Global Initiative in Denver.

Some history on me and EcoDistricts: I first became interested in EcoDistricts when I met Rob Bennett back in 2012.  Rob was at the time, the Executive Director for the Portland Sustainability Institute which later morphed into the EcoDistricts organization.  Rob is now CEO at EcoDistricts.  He was touring the Noisette Community with Noisette and CityCraft CEO, John L. Knott, Jr.  I was very much interested in learning more about the EcoDistricts concept.  I saw an opportunity to bring the idea and process to the Charleston region, helping cities accomplish sustainable development and deliver on a diverse set of sustainability initiatives.  In my role as Green Cities Program Manager at The Sustainability Institute (SI) I worked with municipalities to advance their sustainability goals.  I saw EcoDistricts as an opportunity to do so at the neighborhood level, allowing a geographic scale that was not too large and not too small, similar to the 3,000 acres of the Noisette Community.  I attended the EcoDistricts conference and was trained on the EcoDistricts framework in Portland Oregon in 2012.  (I previously blogged about this trip).  I came back to Charleston energized and full of ideas.  I introduced the idea to my team at SI for creating EcoDistricts in Charleston.  I subsequently presented the idea to the City of Charleston’s Department of Planning, Preservation and Sustainability.  The ideas were  pleasantly received and the decision to learn more and move forward was made.  We were focusing on the upper peninsula area of the City of Charleston.  I was project lead for the Charleston EcoDistricts team and worked to assemble a variety of city leaders to apply for and participate in the EcoDistricts Incubator program (we were successful and were accepted)  The EcoDistricts Incubator is a three-day executive level training program for leaders who are improving their cities from the neighborhood up. Through a mix of interactive plenary presentations and facilitated work sessions, the Incubator brings together experts in neighborhood planning, urban design, green infrastructure, project finance and public policy. The role of the Incubator is to curate and present the best ways to help cities work effectively with private, nonprofit and academic partners to implement sustainable neighborhood strategies for their community.

I left SI to become Director at CityCraft Ventures just before the Incubator team traveled to Portland.  It was bittersweet leaving SI as I was very attached to the project and to the idea of creating South Carolina’s first EcoDistrict in Charleston.  The good news is that the idea and hard work created a strong foundation of energy and support that outlasted my time at SI.  The concept and project lives on.  I am happy the idea and project has matured and evolved.  Today it is has taken root as Charleston UP ( Charleston Upper Peninsula Initiative).  I’m excited to watch the project progress.

When I joined CityCraft, I made sure to keep in touch with the EcoDistricts organization and we began discussing ways we may be able to collaborate and work together across North America.  CityCraft’s CEO John Knott is on the board for EcoDistricts, was keynote speaker for one of the first EcoDistricts Summits so there was some obvious synergy and opportunity for more collaboration.  I attended the EcoDistricts Summit in Boston last year and am now an Advisor for the Global EcoDistricts Protocol.  I’ll be headed to Portland Oregon in two weeks for our first advisory committee meeting and am looking forward to that.  Stay tuned for more in the coming weeks and months!

Update: March 17, 2015: Charleston UP EcoDistrict article from ULI http://urbanland.uli.org/sustainability/charlestons-upper-peninsula-sustainable-growth-knowledge-based-economy/

Noisette Journey to Sustainability Update Report Released

Earlier this month, I co-authored the Noisette Journey to Sustainability Update on behalf of The Noisette Company.  I’m proud to have played a role with Noisette and am happy to call the community home.

The Noisette regeneration launched in 2001 to improve the quality of life for residents in the southern section of North Charleston, SC. Covering a 3,000-acre area, a unique public-private partnership between The Noisette Company and the City of North Charleston resulted in the creation of an internationally recognized plan for revitalization. Over a twelve-year period, intense collaboration, a focus on triple bottom line principles, community involvement and strategic implementation resulted in over $500 million in public and private investment. Non-profit infrastructure was established and strengthened to address education, social justice and environmental health issues. Local capacity was established to continue the progression of the plan – a plan that continues to evolve.

The report can be viewed here.

The Sustainability Institute Completes $500k, 2-year Energy Efficiency Research Project

So today, we released the report for the CharlestonWISE Impact Project of which I was the Project Manager on for The Sustainability Institute (SI).  I came into the project after it started and focused on the executing, monitoring, controlling and close-out phases of the project.  Right now, we’re in the process of sharing the report with all the major partners.  The data, research, lessons learned and all of that good stuff is already being used by other programs at SI and will continue to play a role in the local residential energy efficiency industry.  Below is our wording from the press release.  Download the report here CharlestonWISE Impact Project Report.  I’ve also included 4 case studies that profile 4 of 17 homes that received energy retrofits via the project.  More about our Green Cities Program here.  Enjoy!

---

The Sustainability Institute Completes Energy Efficiency Research Project to Better Understand the Current Condition of Charleston’s Residential Housing

A $500k, 2-year Project funded by The Home Depot Foundation’s Sustainable Cities Institute

CHARLESTON April 29, 2013 – The Sustainability Institute (SI) today released their CharlestonWISE Impact Project report, sharing their findings regarding energy efficiency with the Charleston community.  The project conducted needed research and market analysis to better understand the current condition of Charleston’s single-family residential housing stock and the potential for energy efficiency improvements.  The Project provided valuable support for the growth and development of the ongoing CharlestonWISE program through data collection, community outreach, market analysis and workforce development.  The report can be found at http://www.sustainabilityinstitutesc.org/downloads/CWIP__Final_Report.pdf.  SI partnered with the City of Charleston and other key organizations to design a program that utilized a collective impact approach and delivered on goals designed to further advance energy efficiency measures in Charleston.

Outcomes of the Project Include:

• Implemented a city-wide energy efficiency partnership by conducting energy assessments on 152 single-family residential homes within the City of Charleston, including historic, low- to moderate-income households, and affordable housing units.
• Performed energy efficiency retrofits on 17 low- to moderate-income homes to achieve significant utility savings and improve health and comfort issues.
• Provided substantial and verifiable data on the current condition of Charleston’s residential building stocks, best practices for energy efficiency retrofits, and savings potential.
• Created a specialized curriculum to teach energy efficiency renovations for historic structures in hot humid climates; and enhance the City’s Green Collar Workforce and energy efficiency services industry through industry growth and job opportunities.
• Provided data needed to reduce the environmental impact of Charleston’s built environment, as well as arm Charleston’s building industry with the skilled labor force and resources it needs to integrate energy efficiency as a standard of building practices.

According to Bryan Cordell, Executive Director of The Sustainability Institute, “This significant investment from the Sustainable Cities Initiative has allowed us to collect data at an unprecedented level and has informed how we need to address upgrading our residential buildings across the City.  We now know the exact needs of buildings of various ages, designs and construction types in Charleston, and we’ve developed strategies now being implemented by our CharlestonWISE program.”

---

About The Sustainability Institute

The Sustainability Institute (SI) is an award-winning, nonprofit, 501c(3) organization with a mission of empowering South Carolina communities to transform our homes and workplaces to conserve energy and reduce our overall environmental impact.

For over a decade, The Sustainability Institute has worked one person at a time to achieve energy efficiency in our community and thereby produce positive effects locally as well as on the global environment. Our programs create a win-win-win scenario because they work together to save energy costs, improve the environment, and create jobs. Our urgent focus is creating energy efficiency in the ‘built environment’ — the buildings where we live and work.  Learn more at http://www.sustainabilityinstitutesc.org.

Project Case Studies:

Parks and Trails as a Catalyst for Revitalization

This Stuff Works

I’ve mentioned before that the Atlanta Beltline is one of my favorite projects in the country.  My connection to Atlanta spans a couple of phases in my life and I’ve been trying to keep up with the progress of the Beltline and also stay attuned to the challenges they face as they move the project forward.  Recent articles and videos have debated certain merits of the project (some are already complaining it is too crowded) and comparisons are being made to the economic development associated with the 1996 Olympics.  I was there during the Olympics (very fun times by the way) and saw first hand some of the development that occurred in and around Atlanta.  Some of that development was simply window dressing, hiding the undesirable underbelly of Atlanta from the prying eyes of the international community.  Some of the development was more comprehensive and community-based in nature and has had long-lasting positive effects.  Due to its sprawling nature and the lack of inhibiting geography, Atlanta has so many pockets of communities spread throughout the City (I’m talking ITP/inside the perimeter).  What intrigues me the most about the Beltline is the vision to connect many of these communities in ways that allow you to travel in a manner that does not involve a car.  As someone who spent 2 – 5+ hours a day in my car while working in and around Atlanta, I’ve come to appreciate the improved quality of life one experiences when transportation options are greater and commute times are less (Charleston, stop complaining about your “traffic problems”).

The way the Beltline utilizes systems of parks and trails to connect communities is not a new concept but one that if done right can do more than simply improve transportation.  It encourages investment and furthers economic development.  It creates healthier communities and individuals.  This rails to trails movement is strong throughout the country and now my very own Charleston has a great opportunity to make its own statement and along the way, add value to an area that is primed for revitalization.  I attended an Urban Land Institute meeting this morning and listened to Kate Nevin of Enough Pie and Tom Bradford of Charleston Moves introduce their ideas around the concept of a “LowLine” in the upper peninsula part of the City of Charleston.  I’m assuming the name pays homage to New York’s HighLine and maybe Atlanta’s Beltline but regardless the idea of a lowline in the Lowcountry is gaining momentum.  The connection that almost 1.5 miles of unused railroad tracks totaling close to 55 acres has to revitalizing an underutilized and geographic important area of the city is becoming more and more evident.  I look forward to hearing the progress of the LowLine concept play out and will pay close attention to the synergies created for revitalizing that part of town.  It is evident to me that parks and trails can transform  our communities and become not only a catalyst for revitalization but also a valued asset for many years to come.

My Beltline Visit Last Week

Map of Eastside Trail

I was in Atlanta last week for the Southeast Energy Alliance Conference (SEEA) and I had an opportunity one cold and rainy morning to explore a section of the Beltine that runs approximately from Piedmont Park to the Inman Park area.  It was great seeing the progress of the project.  The section I ran/ jogged/walked/splashed through included the Ponce City Market project (the largest adaptive reuse project in Atlanta’s history) by Jamestown who is also developing Mixson in my own backyard of North Charleston (The Sustainability Institute has an office there) and we enjoy the partnering our organizations have collaborated on thus far…but I digress…the path I took also winded through Piedmont Park, the Historic Fourth Ward Park, and a yet to be finished section of the Beltline.  Below are pictures I took along the way.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Energy Retrofit for a Deserving Veteran!

The Sustainability Institute’s Energy Conservation Corps (ECC) teamed up with South Carolina Association of Heating and Air-Conditioning Contractors (SCAHACC) – Lowcountry branch, for the retrofit on the home of a deserving North Charleston military veteran!

ECC members, who a part of an AmeriCorps supported workforce training program through The Sustainability Institute,  worked side-by-side with the top Lowcountry HVAC pros on this project – resulting in a projected 28% yearly energy savings  = $1,221 saved annually.

Check out the video! SCAHACC plans to implement similar retrofit projects, for deserving families, among the other 10 chapters across South Carolina-

Historic Structure Receives Energy Retrofit

As Part of the CharlestonWISE Impact Project, this historic Charleston home built around 1880 received an energy retrofit.  The CharlestonWISE Impact Project is a partnership program between the City of Charleston and The Sustainability Institute (SI), and funded through a grant from the Sustainable Cities Institute.  The Project provided valuable support for the growth and development of the CharlestonWISE program through data collection, community outreach, market analysis and workforce development.  I helped to complete the project as one of my first responsibilities at SI.  During 2011 and 2012 the Project performed 152 home energy assessments and 17 home energy retrofits on homes throughout the City of Charleston. These assessments provided much needed information on how our homes use energy and how we can better help all Charleston residents reduce their energy use and have healthy, comfortable, energy-efficient homes.  17 out of the 152 homes that received energy assessments also were chosen to receive various levels of energy retrofits.  More on the Impact Project here.

For the pdf click on CWIP Case Study 1

This home received a comprehensive energy assessment by a qualified energy advocate.  This assessment modeled energy improvements and recommended a scope of work specific to the house.  Subsequently, the home received an energy retrofit with projections of 55% improvement in energy savings.  We will revisit this home a year later to reanalyze the data and projections.  Improving an existing home is more sustainable then building a new one.  Improving a home that is historic helps to ensure that these treasures stay around for many more years to come.  The Southeastern climate presents some unique challenges due to its warmth and humidity.  If not done properly, irreversible damage can be dome to historic homes when a retrofit takes place.  That’s why we worked hard to deliver a curriculum for contractors, energy auditors and historic preservation professionals that focused on improving energy efficiency while maintaining historic integrity.  By replacing an aging improperly sized heating & air conditioning system in this home with mini splits and ductless units, we able to utilize new technology and minimize impact to the home.  By encapsulating the attic area with open cell spray foam in a removable manner, we improved the building envelope while preserving the historical integrity of the structure.

Another retrofit conducted as part of this Project can be found here.

 

Update 4/29/13: More on the Impact Project here.

Charleston Green Business Challenge

The Charleston Green Business Challenge (GBC) is wrapping up it’s second year and is now taking sign ups for 2013.  As part of the steering committee, I’ve recently been assisting with the scoring of about 50 businesses’ 2012 scorecards.  Green Business Challenges and similar programs have popped up around the country and are a great way to educate and really scale up city sustainability.  The Charleston program has helped a total of 135 businesses meet their goal of providing a healthier and more sustainable work environment. In the first year, businesses averaged over $6,000 in financial savings as they achieved their green business goals.  All participants are a part of a unique team of almost 7 million square feet of offices and businesses in the Lowcountry who each offer inspiring contributions to what it means to operate a green business.  Collectively the GBC as a whole implemented about 600 new green strategies throughout the year.

The goals of the voluntary Charleston’s Green Business Challenge are to improve environmental performance of commercial and institutional buildings and their operations. Three key elements are reducing energy, waste and water. Going green is not just the right thing to do for the community and the planet; it has many good financial and health benefits as well. Many building owners and companies have noted significant bottom line financial savings from their environmental and energy efficiency initiatives. Participating in the GBC will allow businesses, institutions and Charleston, to get a head start on these savings and these environmental benefits.

The GBC is led by the City of Charleston.  The primary interest for the City is to continue to assist businesses with ways to save money through practices that will both benefit their business and the community as a whole. The idea is to offer a program that provides an easy path to improvement that is both measurable and achievable. The twelve month program allows businesses to see results throughout the process. It rewards not only reducing waste and consumption, but also incentivizes community involvement and stewardship. The program is managed by the Planning, Preservation and Sustainability Department at the City of Charleston.

From the GBC Team:

On March 1st we start our new GBC year. We hope your team will join us.

Here’s what we know.

• The Green Business Challenge is a great way to get your team behind energy, water and waste reduction strategies as well as buying local.
• Your team will make your own goals.
• We’ll have trainings that will help connect you with resources as well as learn from each other.
• And we’ll have fun celebrating everyone’s successes-more on that in another paragraph.

To get started in this year’s GBC, click here to sign up for your businesses password and login.

Home Energy Retrofit Delivers on Cost Savings and Efficiency Improvements

Energy Efficiency (EE) is at the forefront of many sustainability initiatives and the opportunity to drive change at the individual building level and aggregate up to community, city, and regional levels is very promising.  This post gives a brief overview of a project I worked on that sought to improve the energy efficiency of a particular house while providing lessons learned and research for a larger city wide project.  It is but one example of many but initial results are very promising.

This home received an energy retrofit via the CharlestonWISE Impact Project.  The CharlestonWISE Impact Project is a partnership program between the City of Charleston and The Sustainability Institute (SI), and funded through a grant from the Sustainable Cities Institute.  The Project provided valuable support for the growth and development of the CharlestonWISE program through data collection, community outreach, market analysis and workforce development.  I helped to complete the project as one of my first responsibilities at SI.  During 2011 and 2012 the Project performed 152 home energy assessments and 17 home energy retrofits on homes throughout the City of Charleston. These assessments provided much needed information on how our homes use energy and how we can better help all Charleston residents reduce their energy use and have healthy, comfortable, energy-efficient homes.  17 out of the 152 homes that received energy assessments also were chosen to receive various levels of energy retrofits.

The homeowners first attended an educational workshop conducted by SI that taught them about basic energy efficiency concepts and how they can take steps at home to reduce their energy consumption.  Next, the homeowners received a comprehensive energy assessment on their home by a qualified energy advocate.  The advocate performed visual inspections on the hope, conducted performance testing and utilized energy modeling software to help craft a scope of work and recommended improvements to the home.  The performance testing include a whole-house blower door test to gauge building envelope air leakage and also a duct blaster test on the HVAC supply and return lines.  This assessment report was reviewed by a third-party quality assurance team before presenting back to the homeowner.  This particular house showed great potential for EE and was subsequently selected to receive an energy retrofit.  Projections showed the opportunity for a 46% energy efficiency improvement and a 47% cost savings improvement annually of $2,159 to the homeowner.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The home received comprehensive air sealing improvements to better seal the building envelope.  New insulation was installed in the attic and a brand new HVAC system and new air ducts were ran.  Performance testing and quality assurance work was conducted after the work was completed.  The air sealing on the home improved 49% and the HVAC duct leakage went from 21% leakage to 4.5% leakage.  We will come back to this house a full year after the retrofit was completed and analyze the utility data to see where we landed in regards to the initial EE projections.  We have received some preliminary information from the homeowner that is very promising.  Not only has their comfort level inside the home greatly improved but they are seeing dramatic reductions in the energy consumption and their energy bills year over year have been cut in half!  Good stuff!

 

Update 4/29/13: More on the Impact Project here.

The Classic City

In 2011, I attended an Alumni Leadership Conference at the University of Georgia in Athens.  (Go Dawgs)  The city ranks high on desirable places to live and near the top of my favorite cities.  The university campus has undergone a lot of change with a lot of upgrades since I completed my undergraduate studies there in 2003.  The infrastructure and layout of the University has expanded and been updated.  There actually is an Office of Sustainability at UGA now and while we were in town, we were given a presentation and tour of some of the newer buildings and checked out upgrades to some of the existing ones.  The students there today are spoiled.  The dorms, dining halls, student centers and various other places around campus are so much nicer today than when I was in school.  Importance has been placed on energy efficiency, walkability, transportation and a myriad of other factors that make the campus and therefore the city a great place to study sustainability in the South.  UGA set goals in the areas of ecosytems, water, energy, and the built environment.  They have articulated a vision and you can tell they are making good progress on their goals.  Below are some of the pics.  Enjoy!

Historic Fourth Ward Park

I visited the Historic Fourth Ward Park in Atlanta in 2011.  It is located behind the Ponce City Market redevelopment and is a part of the Atlanta Beltline, one of my favorite projects in the country of which I’ve been following the progress of ever since I lived in Atlanta and the idea first started to take root.  The Fourth Ward Park has so many sustainable features incorporated into the design but the hopes of helping to spur revitalization in the area is its most crucial function.  Providing an area for residents to gather and play and have a place they can be proud of is critical to the larger redevelopment efforts in the area.  I was impressed and pleased to see the progress on this visit.  More detailed info can be found here.  Enjoy the pics!