In embracing the concept of sustainability through Whistler
2020, the Resort Municipality of Whistler has assembled information collected
from literally hundreds of sources into a single framework intended to guide
the municipality for the next 20 years. While the Whistler 2020 document is as
comprehensive as can be, the exercise of collecting all that information
revealed several gaps in the knowledge base — grey areas that the RMOW has
had to fill in to achieve social, economic and environmental sustainability.
One of those areas is sustainable design for detached
residential building. While there is no shortage of green building standards
for large-scale buildings, finding information applicable to single-family
homes, duplexes, and other complexes was more difficult.
Given the number of large-scale housing projects slated for
the next few years — the Rainbow project, the athletes’ village, Fitzsimmons
Walk — the RMOW took matters into its own hands and initiated the Whistler
Green program.
Whistler Green was developed by looking at the available
information, and meeting with local contractors to determine what was possible
for residential building in Whistler. Seven different areas of construction
were identified — Site and Landscape, Energy, Water, Indoor Environment,
Materials, Waste, Owner and Public Education — as well as a checklist for
architects and contractors. The goal is to reduce waste in construction, use
sustainable materials, and make homes more efficient. With hundreds of
additional dwelling units proposed for development or redevelopment in the next
5-10 years, the impact of Whistler Green could be significant.
The program will be brought to council in August, where
municipal staff will request permission to require all applicants for
residential development to complete the Whistler Green checklist. Initially,
compliance will be voluntary, but the municipality will research opportunities
for mandatory green building measures to be introduced in the years ahead.
Pique Newsmagazine caught up with municipal planner Guy
Patterson to talk about Whistler Green and how it can be used.
Pique: Where does Whistler Green currently stand, and when
will it be available to contractors and the public?
Guy Patterson: The
formal public review period has officially ended and we’re refining the program
based on feedback. We’ll provide it to council for formal endorsement in
August, and once it’s approved it will be available to anyone on the website
and at municipal hall.
Pique: Is Whistler Green in its current state being used for
any specific projects now?
GP: I know (consultant) Brent Murdoch is building his own
home using them as a guide. He’s not following them strictly, but he’s
definitely referring to them and we’re going back and forth to see how it works
in his projects. I know Fitzsimmons Walk has committed to using Whistler Green
in building the resident housing and market housing components of the
development, and of course Rainbow and the athletes’ village.
Pique: I know a lot of material has been drawn from other
green building standards, but how much is Whistler-specific, given our climate,
snow loads, that kind of thing?
GP: I wouldn’t say that a lot of it was Whistler specific,
the idea was to make the criteria fairly general but sometimes when something
requires calculations — like looking at daylight access, doing the insulation
for energy performance, that’s where the local climate comes in. The general
standards apply for the most part, but for Whistler we might require thicker
insulation than the next place, so there is some implementation that will be
Whistler-specific.
Pique: What standards did you use to produce Whistler Green?
GP: I’d say the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental
Design) and Built Green B.C. are the closest, but also the REAP program
(Residential Environmental Assessment Program) out of UBC, and a program in The
U.K. called BREAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment
Method). There are a host of different standards out there, but the one problem
is that they don’t all apply to residential construction, which is why we
started our own program with Whistler Green.
Pique: The Whistler Green standards have to comply with all
provincial building standards. Did that create any difficulties? For example, I
remember that city hall in Calgary had to remove waterless urinals because
someone found that they weren’t approved yet in the provincial standards.
GP: There have been a few issues. One example is that we
wanted to require points for composting toilets, but right now the provincial
plumbing code doesn’t allow composting toilets unless you get special
permission from the health inspector. But the provincial code is under review
at the moment… and it will likely be a lot greener when the new version comes
out in 2009. Having a provincial green building code would make it a lot easier
for us to require these things, but as it stands now you can do everything in
Whistler Green and you wouldn’t be breaking any rules. It’s compatible with the
current building codes.
Pique: As you mentioned, Whistler Green will be applied to
new developments like Rainbow and the athletes’ village. How do you encourage
those developers, and others in Whistler, to use Whistler Green?
GP: What we’re doing with those projects is going back and
forth in discussions with the developers, and when it comes to the stage of
awarding development permits we will be asking them to submit their Whistler
Green checklist prior to project approval.
Pique: Is that a lot of work, or a lot of extra expense?
GP: It can be a lot of work, it really depends on how
ambitious the developer is in terms of how green they want to be. It can certainly
add expense, but again that depends on the project. Installing a fairly
large-scale photo-voltaic system for solar power would add cost and design to a
project, but a lot of considerations are quite simple if you add them early on.
Things like solar orientation and shading are pretty simple, so you have better
placement of your windows, better windows, and thicker insulation. Dual flush
toilets are easy, same as low flow faucets and showers, and low flow irrigation
systems. These things are fairly simple to achieve, but we’re hoping that there
are a lot of developers who really want to push the envelope and be more
innovative.
Pique: Are there any projects that push that envelope in the
current list?
GP: We hope so. The energy system for the athletes’ village
that uses heat from the sewage treatment plant is a big one, and a significant
one when it comes to meeting the green criteria. That’s not Whistler Green
specifically, but in general it’s quite progressive.
Pique: Do you know what is going to be in the new provincial
building code?
GP: We’re not sure how the province is going to roll out the
updated code, but what we think they’re going to do is allow municipalities to
set their own codes and go further than the existing regulations. For example,
if you look at water conservation and plumbing regulations, it makes sense to
allow certain municipalities in areas that have droughts to require different
plumbing than in the provincial code. A municipality can say the building code
says “X”, but we’re going to require better than “X”. Right now those
exceptions only apply to water conservation, but if you look at the broader
model for green provincial standards there is a lot of potential for
municipalities to go beyond that.
Pique: How involved were contractors in developing the
Whistler Green program? Do they view green construction as a selling point?
GP: Builders played a
significant role in creating the standards, they had a task force to help
develop the plan, and have had an opportunity to review it and make comments
and suggestions. It’s very much a plan that they’re telling us they can work
with.
In terms of selling homes, there’s no question. There’s one
project in Langley that’s a whole green community, and they’re using green as a
marketing tool — healthier living, lower energy requirements, that kind of
thing. A lot really depends on the buyers, but I think we’re starting to see
educated buyers that are interested in owning green homes.
Pique: How easy is it to follow the Whistler Green standards?
GP: It’s quite user-friendly and many of the details are
really easy to follow. Some things take a little more work, like getting Forest
Stewardship Council certified wood, or tracking a construction waste management
plan. Some things require extra effort, but most are really simple and won’t
change your plans dramatically. And again, if you use the plans from the very
beginning it won’t cost you much more, and will probably save money in the long
run.
Pique: Can Whistler Green be applied to renovations? Say I
wanted to do some renovations at home, could I follow the guide?
GP: Definitely. At the moment everyone is encouraged to
access Whistler Green on the municipal website, and we’ve made a very simple
checklist that is easy to use and read. When you get into the details there’s a
little more depth and context, but everyone is welcome to use it, and municipal
staff is here to provide guidance, feedback and clarification when you apply
for a permit.
Pique: Are there other communities interested in the Whistler
Green program?
GP: We’ve seen a lot of interest from outside the community,
partly in the context that Whistler Green is similar to other standards, but
more because local governments are taking the initiative in creating local
standards. We’ve spoken with Revelstoke, we go back and forth with Vancouver,
we’ve talked to Canmore and Banff. I’ll be promoting Whistler Green at the West
Coast Green conference in San Francisco this September.
Pique: What are the benefits of building or renovating with Whistler
Green?
GP: One important one
is occupant health and comfort, through better air quality and more comfortable
environmental designs. Next would be financial savings through energy
efficiency and reduced maintenance costs. The last would be the environmental
benefits, like reducing waste, using sustainable materials, and having less of
an impact.
Pique: Most of these green projects seem to cost more up
front, but save you money in the long-run. Is that the case with Whistler
Green?
GP: There’s a huge range of estimates as to what the green
premium is, anywhere from two to 10 per cent of the cost depending on the
project. There’s so many variables obviously, but over time the premium is less
and less. I should stress that the earlier on that you consider it, the easier
it is to incorporate at no extra cost.
For example, if you design a home with north facing windows,
you may have to buy expensive new windows to get good energy performance.
However, if you choose a different strategy for placing those windows at the
beginning, you might not have to buy new windows to get better performance.
Pique: Can Whistler Green be applied to any size of
building?
GP: It’s definitely a residential standard. There is a
distinction between single detached duplexes and multi-unit developments, and
you have to make some refinement to apply (Whistler Green) to a multi-unit
project. Some things are equally applicable with large projects, like water
conservation, but when you look at something like the heating system there are
different calculations and different strategies you would take.