How to Overcome the Split Incentive with Solar
By Rachel Mountain For commercial property owners with triple net leases (NNN), recouping the costs of a capital energy improvement can be a barrier to making sustainable investments. Typically, these improvements lower the tenants’ utility bills in NNN leases, so the owner is not financially incentivized to invest in those improvements. This is …
Pilot Program Launches to Support Sustainability and Affordable Housing
Denver Community Planning and Development (CPD) is launching a pilot program that will incentivize five 100 percent affordable housing projects and five projects that build according to the new Denver Green Code. The pilot was announced at Mayor Michael B. Hancock’s annual State of the City address on Monday. “With …
Stantec Designs Net-Zero Denver Water Admin Facility
Denver Water, Colorado’s oldest and largest water utility, recently opened its new six-story, 186,000-square-foot administration building, the central focus of its 35-acre operations complex. Global integrated design firm, Stantec, designed the building to both LEED Platinum and Net-Zero Energy standards as part of the public agency’s multiphase modernization project. The …
Water Conservation and Sustainability Initiative Launches at Centerra
McWhinney, a master-planned developer and investment firm, has launched an official Water Conservation and Sustainability Initiative for its Centerra community in collaboration with environmental nonprofit High Plains Environmental Center (HPEC), to enhance water conservation and sustainable practices in northern Colorado. Over the course of the next year, Centerra, HPEC and local community stakeholders including the …
USGBC Helps Cities and Communities Better Prepare for Pandemic Events
The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has released two new Safety First pilot credits as part of the LEED for Cities and Communities rating system. The new credits are designed to help local governments and development authorities better prepare for and respond to future pandemic events. The guidance includes strategies for …
Snowmass Resort Receives LEED Certification
The OZ Architecture designed Limelight Hotel in Aspen, Snowmass dubbed the “living room” of Snowmass, has given Snowmass Base Village the anchoring hotel and outdoor community gathering space it long needed. Earlier this year, the 99- room hotel joined the impressive list of buildings OZ has designed that meet the stringent standards of …
USGBC Launches Global Economic Recovery Strategy
Today, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) released a bold new strategy to support economic recovery as the country works to flatten the COVID-19 curve. Called Healthy People in Healthy Places Equals a Healthy Economy, the strategy outlines immediate and long-term actions to support buildings and communities in a post-pandemic world. It …
Understanding Sustainable Design: Different Practices Return Different Results
By Clif Dayton, PE, R&R Engineers-Surveyors, Inc. Though sustainable design practices have been around for centuries, in the last twenty-five years, sustainable design practices have been more prevalent in building codes. The 21st century phrase, & “sustainable design” is best defined by what it does: It reduces the negative impacts on the environment, while …
The Benefits of Denver’s Urban Forest Initiative
By Chris Geddes, associate at Design Workshop. With Earth Day upon us, Wednesday, April 22 – it’s a good time to share how the Downtown Denver Partnership (DDP), the City of Denver, and community leaders are working to be more sustainable and earth friendly. As landscape architects, Earth Day is every day …
Market for Smart Water Management Systems Projected to Increase 23% by 2029
An estimated 68 percent of the world’s population is expected to be living in an urban area by 2050, according to the United Nations (UN) World Urbanization Prospects 2018 report. To accommodate this influx in population, cities must ensure resources are available. Water is one of the resources most essential …