Building greener, building smarter: the winds of change are blowing through the building community, fueled by consumer demand and discerning practitioners

American Forests, Spring, 2005 by Cheryl Kollin

When Sarah Gutterman describes one of her environmentally friendly homes, she's doing more than selling recycled wood and a few shade trees. Her design/build company is creating sustainable homes that blend in with their natural surroundings.

"The best development intricately links nature with the built environment," Gutterman explains. "It doesn't make sense to install a hightech house that isn't energy efficient. Or one that is efficient inside but not outside."

It may be the best solution for homeowners who want their abode to reflect a commitment to nature--and the ecological services it provides. Trees, for example, help clean the air and water and cool urban temperatures. It's a philosophy Gutterman strives to capture in the work she and partner Ron Jones do in their design/build firm, Green Builder. Green Builder fosters responsible land use, ecosystem preservation, and habitat restoration through the use of sustainable products, materials, and technologies that return as many resources to nature as they take.

Their home designs use the natural landscape as well as permeable materials to capture and retain stormwater onsite. This replenishes the water table while it filters and reduces toxins that otherwise would be picked up from impervious surfaces and concentrated in stormwater runoff.

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Trees figure prominently in Green Builder's passive solar designs, along with efforts to make the best use of natural sunlight and southern orientation, skylights, and ventilation. These design specs boost energy efficiency in summer without blocking much-needed sun in winter in cooler climates.

Trees and other vegetation--collectively called green infrastructure--and their interaction with soil, air, and water play an important role at all scales of development, whether it's designing a single house, a neighborhood, or an entire community. And now, going greener has never been easier, thanks to several national movements, certification programs, and green building businesses that educate consumers and government officials alike.

Sprawl, the name for poorly designed growth characterized by long distances between home, stores, jobs, and recreation, has touched many U.S. communities. The negative environmental, social, and economic impacts are affecting more and more people on a daily basis. Long-distance commutes and traffic tie-ups contribute to worsening health-related issues, such as air pollution and increased asthma and other breathing-related illnesses. More impervious roadways, rooftops, driveways, and parking lots mean more flooding and water pollution, and runoff that has nowhere to go and plenty of toxins to pick up on its way.

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Yet unplanned growth and its effects are not high on the national policy agenda. "Many have the altitude toward [sprawl] development that we once had toward smoking: sure it's bad, but it won't be a problem for me," Anna Quindlen writes in Newsweek magazine. "Unchecked development ... doesn't surface as a national issue. It takes place town by town, building by building. And its net effect isn't usually noticed until it is already out of hand, when the wells run brown with mud."

Coming from the other end of the equation is The Care of Trees a national tree preservation company that specializes in land restoration, urban forest management planning, and site development.

"In conventional development, trees are thought of as a dot on a set of construction drawings, without regard to the soil and other natural systems that support the trees," says division manager David Zeitlin. "The goal is to preserve the entire habitat, most importantly the soil ecosystem."

The Care of Trees has worked to conserve mature trees on such prominent sites as the U.S. Supreme Court and Johns Hopkins University as well as in new developments.

"Our greatest success comes when we have a seat at the design table at the beginning of the process," Zeitlin says. "We can help shape the way the building is integrated into the landscape that the trees inhabit. Planning this way is most cost-effective and minimizes damage to the trees."

As good as that sounds, it will take more than just good intentions to change the status quo and drive the market to think and act greener. Both Gutterman and Zeitlin agree that the demand for greener homes is driven by people recognizing the value green infrastructure brings to their communities. Gutterman believes that demand comes when consumers learn more about saving old-growth forests, maximizing ecosystem services, and reducing climate change--and when they discover that sustainable building materials are readily available.

Preserving nature before it disappears is another important market force, Zeitlan adds. "As nature recedes from our communities, the value placed on bringing nature back and connecting it to where people live is in greater demand than ever before."

Anne's Choice, a 525-person retirement community in suburban Philadelphia, is a good example. A majestic stand of 75-year-old Chinese chestnut trees became the centerpiece of its courtyard design. The Care of Trees undertook a comprehensive approach to protecting the more than two dozen trees, starting by educating the construction crews before any work began. They also pruned tree crowns, removed dead limbs, conditioned the soil, and mulched tree bases. "On-going monitoring is key to the trees' health," Zeitlan says.