Rhode Island may be the smallest state in the country, but it is creating big opportunities when it comes to developing sustainable infrastructure. Oftentimes the emphasis is placed on greening buildings, while landscapes and open spaces remain underutilized and overlooked. Yet sustainably designed and managed landscapes – from plazas and streetscapes to commercial and residential projects – create more resilient communities. The Environmental Protection Agency has estimated that capital cost savings associated with green infrastructure can range from 15-80 percent compared to traditional site infrastructure.
An amendment to the state’s Green Buildings Act, H-5427, proposed by Rep. Christopher Blazejewski, D-Providence, would work to elevate the value of Rhode Island’s land by formally adopting The Sustainable SITES Initiative framework, a comprehensive program for designing, developing and maintaining sustainable landscapes. It would also make Rhode Island the first state in the nation to adopt the comprehensive green rating system.
The amendment proposes that all state-owned, operated and funded property, beyond the built infrastructure already covered in the Act, achieve certification under the SITES rating system, which is currently used by the U.S. General Services Administration. Reaching certification through LEED for Neighborhood Development, which was engineered to help create better, more sustainable, well-connected neighborhoods, would also be an acceptable standard under the amendment.
For Rhode Island, green construction is big business. Currently, the state has more than 7.5 million square feet of real estate that is LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) certified and is home to more than 400 LEED professionals. LEED is an internationally recognized green-building standard created, maintained and improved upon by the U.S. Green Building Council. The SITES rating system serves as a complement to LEED, extending the principles of sustainability beyond the physical building to landscapes, including parks, streetscapes, residential projects and more.
According to the 2015 Green Building Economic Impact Study by U.S. Green Building Council and Booz Allen Hamilton, from 2015-2018, green construction in the state will account for $2.14 billion in state GDP and support approximately 25,000 jobs.
This amendment would continue the outstanding work of the General Assembly in both the House and the Senate, including the January 2016 Rhode Island Senate’s “Grow Green Jobs – A Legislative Action Plan.” It would also increase demand for employment services, increasing the workforce, and providing economic-development opportunities.
SITES was developed through a collaborative, interdisciplinary effort of the American Society of Landscape Architects Fund, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at the University of Texas at Austin and the U.S. Botanic Garden. The rating system takes a systematic approach to defining, measuring and elevating the value of landscapes, waterways and other forms of green infrastructure through sustainable best practices that help create more resilient communities that are better able to withstand and recover from catastrophic events, such as floods and wildfires, which cost states money and resources.
The GSA adopted SITES in the 2016 version of Facilities Standards for the Public Buildings Service, and stated that it “allows land-based projects to better protect ecosystems and enhance the mosaic of benefits they continuously provide our communities, such as climate regulation, carbon storage and flood mitigation.”
Businesses, governments, universities and more are embracing sustainable landscapes and helping to create regenerative systems that foster resiliency and enable communities to better withstand and recover from catastrophic events.
By adopting best practices, projects can find cost-effective ways to conserve resources and promote human health and well-being.
Kenneth Filarski is founder of Filarski Architecture+Planning+ Research and chairman of the U.S. Green Building Council Rhode Island. Mike McNally is chairman of the U.S. Green Building Council and retired president and CEO of Skanska USA.
