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!

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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.”

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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.

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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-