To design for passive survivability, engineers are not designing for standard temperature measurements. Instead they’re using a "habitability zone," which includes relative humidity and other considerations very important to human physiology. For example, being in a building after a power outage on a 90-degree day in Phoenix will affect your body temperature and health differently from being in a building on a 90-degree day in Houston. New metrics for temperature require a new way to model buildings and will be a real challenge for the green design community.
Designing a new model
Wilson cites Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s (CBF) new Brock Environmental Center in Virginia Beach as probably the best model we have for resiliency.
CBF is a conservation organization dedicated to saving Chesapeake Bay from pollution. The Brock Center, completed in 2015, has resiliency features that include building efficiency, a PV system, wind turbines built to withstand hurricane force winds, natural ventilation, daylighting, rainwater catchment, composting toilets and recycled water. The building is also elevated, as it’s near the bay, to avoid storm surges. The Brock Center is targeting the strict standards of the Living Building Challenge, the rating system administered by the International Living Future Institute (ILFI). Before achieving Living Building status, the building must prove through its performance over a one-year period that it meets a standard of generating all its own energy and capturing or recycling all the water the building needs.
The Brock Center and the Bullitt Center in Seattle, a Living Building and home to ILFI, with renewable energy and potable water onsite, easily meet all the standards set by the new LEED pilot credits, except neither building has backup power. Wilson said this easily could be remedied with batteries. Hurricane Joaquin tested the Brock Center in October, and CBF building manager Chris Gorri captured photos of the building gracefully withstanding the severe storms and flooding that accompanied it.
The LEED pilot credits for resiliency will apply to all Building Design and Construction (BD+C) rating systems, along with Homes and Mid-Rise Residential rating systems. Once tested and improved through the pilot program, the credits will become a standard part of the LEED rating system.
Hurricanes show the risks we all face – and a more dangerous future if we don’t take actions now. More people and vulnerable infrastructure exposed to more frequent and intense hazards equals even greater risk for us in the future. The time to rethink the equation is now. Our team at Clearworld is happy to educate you on the Solar LED process, the installation, and what to expect from our products. ClearWorld, with the use of its RETROFLEX® and other related game-changing alternative energy technologies and solutions, proves time and again vast benefits for the environment, economy, and society.