We’re five years into the modern green building era—as defined by the birth of U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED rating system—and in that time America has seen exponential growth in green building, which has had a measurable impact on energy use, USGBC Vice President Tom Hicks told a packed house at Levin College yesterday.

Hicks talked about the impact of expanding LEED to encompass neighborhood development. Cities like Cleveland, as well as counties and states, are leveraging their pilot projects to blaze a path for more green neighborhoods. It begins with finding and removing the regulatory obstacles, but the larger goal, the big prize, is being an early adopter of green building standards, both in government buildings and community wide.

Read more.

We’re five years into the modern green building era—as defined by the birth of U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system—and in that time America has seen exponential growth in green building and measurable impact, USGBC Vice President Tom Hicks told a packed house at Levin College on Feb. 6.

Out of 9,000 projects that have registered for LEED in the U.S., only 1,200 have been certified, Hicks says, adding that more will be as the group catches up to demand. To do so, USGBC formed a new group, the Green Building Certification Institute, to run its certification process and deal with the rising demand.

Environmental benefits of LEED-rated buildings include a 35-50% energy savings, a significant figure for a country that pumps more than one-third of its carbon into the air from buildings, Hicks says.

USGBC, the largest green building group in the U.S., is expanding its reach to 55 countries including India and Canada. The U.S. needs to set the example and share its lessons, Hicks said, with developing nations like India and China.

LEED for Neighborhood Development will help: Northeast Ohio’s four LEED-ND projects join 240 from six countries in a pilot program where design in and between private and public spaces encourages biking and walking to work, shop and play.

Expanding the scale of LEED to neighborhoods is starting to have an impact on urban design, Hicks says. It’s influencing how cities and states are dealing with regulatory obstacles, and, in some cases, its leading to incentives, green building policies or new efforts to encourage green design.

The following comes from Forum Architects, designers for the Flats East project.

The Flats East development seeks to become a benchmark example of a sustainable neighborhood, aiming to be a participant in the U.S. Green Building Council’s pilot LEED-Neighborhood Development program. The city and community hope that this project can be a major element in Cleveland’s efforts to be known as a green city by a blue lake.

Low-energy/high-performance

Three strategies will be applied: the whole form and organization of the development will be shaped to be far less dependent on fossil-fuel energy; the mechanicals will be as efficient as possible; and the project and its environmental systems will connect to the city’s new, inherently highly-efficient, cogeneration network.

Potential LEED-ND credits:

Old River Road on the east bank of the Flats used to be Cleveland’s Bourbon Street. Bars and nightclubs lined the road, and pleasure boats docked four and five deep along the back patios of the clubs, clogging the Cuyahoga River.

A few years ago, however, the party died out as the scene of youthful drunkenness lost its charm and other areas of downtown began to compete with higher quality nightlife. Many bars closed, leaving the area with boarded-up buildings and a fraction of the vitality it once had.

But the Flats East district, framed by historic bridges near the mouth of the river, remains a spectacular urban location. Now, one of the nation’s leading developers, Scott Wolstein, CEO of Developers Diversified and a Greater Cleveland native, wants to realize its potential by turning it into a $225 million mixed-use neighborhood. The project, while early in the design phase, is planned to include 331 units of housing, 255,000 square feet of retail and entertainment, and a 450,000 square foot office building. And it will have many environmentally friendly features, from green buildings to pedestrian friendly public spaces (see link below for details on the green design elements).

Many government agencies — including the City of Cleveland, Port Authority, ODOT, and the Regional Sewer District — are assisting the project with financing or infrastructure investments. The Port is also helping with eminent domain proceedings to acquire a few remaining parcels of land. If this land acquisition process ends up in court, the planned 2009 opening of the development could be delayed.