The Princeton Environmental Commission is planning a regional forum to discuss possible applications of new national construction standards.
By: David Campbell
The Princeton Environmental Commission is organizing a regional forum to discuss possible applications of new national "green building" standards in local building application reviews.
The commission last week discussed plans to organize a forum to be held around September bringing together environmental and planning officials from Princeton and surrounding municipalities to hear a presentation on the national Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System.
Certifications under the system are administered by the U.S. Green Building Council, a national coalition of building industry leaders.
LEED is a self-assessing system for rating new and existing buildings in which credits are earned for satisfying criteria in five categories: sustainable sites; water efficiency; energy and atmosphere; materials and resources; and indoor environmental quality.
Princeton University now requires "green building" standards in all of its new construction projects.
In December, the Princeton Regional Planning Board unanimously approved the university’s 93,000-square-foot Ellipse dormitory, which will use renewable resources and innovative energy-conservation technology to reduce environmental impacts and cut long-term costs. The Ellipse dorm has a mid-level LEED ranking of "silver."
Heidi Fichtenbaum of the West Windsor architectural firm Ford Farewell Mills and Gatsch, who is a member of the Green Building Council helping to form a New Jersey chapter, said she and fellow council member Scott Chrisner, who works in the construction business, will be leading the fall seminar, probably in September.
Ms. Fichtenbaum said she and Mr. Chrisner, being from the architectural and building industries, respectively, highlight an important aspect of LEED, which is inclusiveness.
"It is so inclusive of people from a variety of fields, which gives it such power," she said. "Different people involved in developing a project have been traditionally in separate roles. The whole concept behind sustainable development is to work as a team."
Nancy Wittenberg, director of environmental affairs with the New Jersey Builders Association, said "It’s in everybody’s best interest to do everything that’s technologically and economically feasible to minimize the ecological impacts of any development.
"There would not be an across-the-board objection as long as the economics are taken into consideration," she said.
Ms. Wittenberg noted that stringent environmental standards already are in place at the application-review stage and indicated LEED standards could apply to existing buildings or be used to encourage upgrades.
Environmental Commission member Rosemary Blair said the forum in the fall and its objectives are still in the early planning stages, but she indicated it will seek "to heighten the consciousness of those in a review capacity to consider energy-efficient features in design."
Ms. Blair said possible actions by Princeton and participating municipalities could include master plan amendments or other regulatory changes indicating partiality for development applications that seek the voluntary LEED accreditation.
"It’s not compulsory. It’s not the kind of thing that has strictures," Ms. Blair said. "It’s the reverse. It’s encouragement to architects, builders and clients to include energy-efficient features in their design.
"I think it’s very important that we take a leadership role in this," she added. "It has been our experience that when Princeton adopts a policy there’s a ripple effect."
Ms. Blair said Princeton is seeing "enormous" growth with construction of the new library and the expansion of school facilities. She noted, "We would be remiss if we ignored the importance of sustainable building."
Environmental Commission Chairman Anthony Lunn, who is organizing the fall meeting with Ms. Blair and commission member Scott Carver, said the first step will be to "get people aware and interested. How that will be done remains to be seen."
"I think certainly the environmental benchmarks would be very useful in terms of reviewing planning applications," said Princeton Township Deputy Mayor William Enslin, who is committee liaison to the Environmental Commission and to the Planning Board, which would be the body implementing any innovations associated with LEED.
"I think there needs to be some education sessions and discussions about how best to integrate it into our activities," Mr. Enslin said. "I think the first step on LEED is to run some seminars and get everybody up to speed on it."