| Green Building in Oregon |
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| Promoting Green Building |
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What is green building?
Awareness in the building community has increased as to how building design, construction and operation affects the natural and human environment. Consumers have also begun to expect builders to be more sensitive to those effects.
The term ´green building´ refers to the philosophy of environmentally sensitive building practices, also known as ´sustainable construction.´ In 1987, the Brundtland Commission on the Environment provided a good working definition for sustainable practices, describing the concept as ´meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.´ Homes constructed using the green building concept typically involve fewer materials, less energy consumption, less pollution, less natural habitat loss and better indoor air quality.
How is OHCS Involved?
To help incorporate the green building philosophy into its activities, OHCS initiated a special project to identify the appropriate strategies to be implemented.
A green building task force including a broad spectrum of department partners studied the range of activities practiced nationally, and recommended department actions to encourage green building in Oregon´s housing arena. Several additional persons with special technical knowledge volunteered to serve on a technical resource group to assist this task force. The task force reported its recommendations to the department and OHCS has responded with its Recommendations Report (.pdf) in June 2000.
OHCS is furthering green building awareness through regional workshops and through publications such as the Green Building Source Guide (.pdf/2.42 MB) published in 2002. OHCS contracted with Rick Barnett, a green building consultant from Corvallis, to compile the guide. The guide provides helpful links to Web sites providing technical and philosophical information on green building.
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| Green Building Activities* |
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Expand Business Energy Tax Credit Use through Third Party Buyer Agreements for Nonprofit Partners
While the Business Energy Tax Credit (BETC) provides helpful incentives for energy savings, many of our nonprofit partners have been unable to take advantage of the incentives, as they have no state tax liability. The Oregon Department of Energy (ODOE) has a program to allow the credit to be transferred to a third party in exchange for cash.
The program, however, has still not reached many of our partners due to the difficulty of finding a third-party buyer. OHCS, together with ODOE, is developing a program where projects can be pre-approved for the BETC and pre-matched with a third-party buyer. The new agreement would potentially provide a third-party BETC buyer easily for any of our partners interested in making energy improvements. Once these agreements are in place, OHCS will help to advance the program through training and communication with our partners on the benefits and process for this third-party program.
More Effectively Highlighting & Encouraging the Use of Recycled Building Materials
Rather than simply demolish housing or commercial projects, OHCS is encouraging the recycling and reuse of existing materials in projects that use multifamily loans, grants or credits. In future funding cycles, we will be strengthening the Consolidated Funding Cycle process to educate and further encourage the use of recycled materials. Many partners are setting up recyclable building material sites to provide once used building materials for reapplication. OHCS staff has made onsite visits to the Roseburg recycling center and will continue to study ways of incorporating recycling into building practices, while still ensuring quality and efficiency.
Home Ownership
Home ownership activities are a key part of OHCS sustainability efforts. Helping low income and ethnically diverse people become home owners benefits families emotionally and financially, stabilizes neighborhoods and strengthens communities. Home owners are more likely to make home improvements and play an important role in sustaining neighborhoods.
The home ownership industry is a powerful economic force responsible for creating jobs, stimulating home improvement spending, and increasing property tax revenues to support counties, cities, and public schools. Innovations in the home building and rehabilitation industries are also making significant progress in minimizing its environmental impact by increasing energy efficiency, reducing waste, diverting run-off, reusing materials, and improving air quality. To further leverage home ownership investments, OHCS will continue to examine how the agency can further leverage its home ownership resources and partners to help make Oregon more sustainable.
Measurement of Weatherization Energy Savings & Emissions Reductions
OHCS has worked with independent consultants to develop a more comprehensive approach to measuring the energy savings and emissions reductions resulting from OHCS energy and weatherization programs. The emissions reductions information is proving useful to the Governor’s Climate Control task force. The task force is developing a report measuring the progress of 20 state agencies on the emissions reductions associated with their programs.
North Mall Office Building
OHCS recently moved into the North Mall Office Building, along with the Parks and Recreation and Water Resources Departments. The building has many green building features and serves as model for future state buildings. In similar fashion, future affordable projects supported by state funds will increasingly demonstrate sustainable building practices in their location, composition, and use in the community.
Read more about the North Mall Office Building.
Partnering with City of Portland & Others
OHCS is committed to furthering green building practices of its partners and will provide training and Web site resources that encourage the use of these practices.
Many of our partners have adopted sustainability practices. The City of Portland has established the Office of Sustainable Development with trained specialists in energy conservation, recycling, green building, and other sustainable technologies. OHCS must utilize the expertise of these trained partners to coordinate effective policies for OHCS programs and for housing and community services programs statewide.
Read more about Portland’s Office of Sustainable Development.
Prepackaging of Appliances/Alliances with ODOE and Energy Trust
OHCS, together with the Oregon Department of Energy and the Energy Trust, is developing a plan to bundle energy efficient appliances and other building components into designated packages. The packages will be reviewed for their projected energy savings, and will have pre-approval to qualify for the Business Energy Tax Credit, Energy Trust Conservation Funds, and weatherization funds. Packaging of these energy efficient components will simplify the application process for our partners and will encourage broader use of energy saving practices.
Updating of the Green Building Source Guide
OHCS is furthering green building awareness through publication of a resource guide on green building. After making this guide available online the guide has become one of the most visited sections of the Department’s Web site. The guide provides helpful links to Web sites providing technical and philosophical information on green building.
A challenge will be to maintain this resource and expand the site to include additional sustainability information over time as practices and technology in industry changes and improvements are made. Maintaining good communication with partners with specialized green building and sustainability expertise will be important in this effort. Download the Green Building Source Guide (.pdf–2.42 MB/16 pages).
During the biennium, OHCS will work with consultants, sustainability coordinators, and the Office of Sustainable Development to review current affordable housing practices to determine what other techniques could be encouraged. OHCS will then work with partners to update and expand the Green Building Source Guide and will make the revision available online. The agency will also develop a catalogue of successful green building practices in use by community partners.
* As of June 17, 2004
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| For More Information |
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Contact:
John Fletcher, Policy Analyst
E-Mail
503.986.6721
To talk with someone about developing affordable housing in your area, contact a Regional Advisor to the Director or call 503.986.2000.
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