• New Product News
• Industry News

In 1993, Rick Fedrizzi founded the US Green Building Council, and in 2009 there are almost 50 Green Building Councils or emerging groups around the world. One of the core offerings of the Green Building Councils in Canada and the US is education, training, and certification. If the green building industry is to grow, we need trained professionals, contractors, and tradespeople. Along with all the other chapters of the Canada Green Building Council, Cascadia has just witnessed its most intense uptake ever in memberships as LEED® exam-takers rushed to get in before the system changes. In addition, Cascadia has developed a new, more holistic system of accreditation.

Leed® AP

There are significant changes coming to the LEED Accredited Professional (AP) system that will affect current LEED professionals and those planning to pursue this designation. Three new specializations are being introduced as part of a tiered system that includes Green Associate, LEED AP+, and LEED Fellow, which will only apply to individuals becoming LEED APs after January 2010. Those who achieve LEED AP certification before the end of the year will not be required to take further exams in the future to maintain or upgrade their designation or obtain continuing education credits.

Professionals seeking LEED accreditation under the new system should be aware of new eligibility requirements, and know they will need to maintain their certification with continuing education. New LEED APs will also have to take two tests to achieve equal or greater designation, due to the introduction of the intro-level Green Associate designation, which is generalized. Existing LEED APs can opt in to the tiered system. Read more at: http://www.cascadiagbc.org/faq

The Living Building Leader™ Program

Professionals ready to move beyond LEED can take advantage of Cascadia’s comprehensive and deeper green option – the Living Building Leader program.

The aim of the International Living Building Institute’s Living Building Challenge™, developed by Cascadia, is the development of buildings designed and constructed to function as elegantly and efficiently as a flower – one that is informed by its bioregion’s characteristics, generates its own energy with renewable resources, captures and treats all of its water, and operates efficiently and for maximum beauty.

In the three years since LBC was launched in GreenBuild 2006 in Denver, the standard has become widely recognized as the most stringent and deepest green performance standard in the market. Living Building Challenge 2.0, which will be launched at GreenBuild this November, will include not just infrastructure and neighbourhood issues in this new standard, but also – of interest to those in the landscape industry  – agriculture and landscapes.

The Living Building Leader program provides thought and action leaders with the training necessary to design and construct Living Buildings. The program consists of three-hour intensive, advanced online learning sessions that are arranged in “Petals” to mirror the structure of the Living Building Challenge.

Experts from throughout the green building movement teach each session. In addition, each session is augmented by electronic resources containing in- depth, up-to-date research and analysis. The intent of the program is to impart skills and knowledge where they’re most needed to effect transformative change in the industry.

Classes can be taken individually to round out a specific skill set, or they can be taken as an integrated series. Building professionals who complete the full course (at least 36 sessions), pass each session exam, and have LEED® AP status will become certified Living Building Leaders – the highest level of green building accreditation found in the building industry today.

Living Building Challenge 2.0 Launched In Pheonix At Greenbuild November 2009

Living Building Challenge 2.0 is a cohesive standard – pulling together the most progressive thinking from the worlds of architecture, engineering, urban and rural planning, landscape design, and policy. It challenges us all in the building industry to ask the question: What if every single act of design and construction made the world a better place? If that sounds ambitious, it is.

What if every intervention resulted in greater biodiversity; increased soil health; additional outlets for beauty and personal expression; a deeper understanding of climate, culture and place; a realignment of our food and transportation systems; and a more profound sense of what it means to be a citizen of a planet where resources and opportunities are provided fairly and equitably?

The Living Building Challenge is comprised of seven performance areas, or “Petals”: Site, Water, Energy, Health, Materials, Equity, and Beauty. Petals are subdivided into a total of twenty imperatives, each of which focuses on a specific sphere of influence.
There are several projects that are aiming for Living Building Challenge that are completed and at least 60 more registered. However, the projects need to be in operation for at least a year before they can be certified by a third party.
Download the complete document to learn more at <www.ilbi.org/the-standard/version-2-0>.

Jessica Woolliams has been working to mainstream sustainable buildings through advancing critical policy, programs, and training with municipalities and other institutions for almost a decade. Jessica comes to Cascadia from Light House Sustainable Building Centre, where she was a founding director, and she brings extensive green building consulting experience in both the public and non-profit realms.  As a consultant, Jessica helped establish Green Buildings BC, Canada’s first green building program in 2000. Jessica has published both academically and professionally and has lectured at Harvard, BCIT, SFU, and UBC.