My name is Nate Brodie and I have been with Landsystems for about 8 months. I’m  a LEED AP (standing for Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design accredited professional from the US Green Building Council).

The LEED rating system addresses the selection of sites for new construction that will support sustainable design principles. The system also addresses water efficiency, energy efficiency as well as sustainable materials and indoor air quality. The rating system was developed for the construction and renovation of buildings and also the building’s landscape and environment. There is a pilot program for residential projects, but there is also a Bay Area specific program for home construction called Build It Green. More information can be found at www.buildgreennow.org.  (Build it green is also less costly for “certification”.)

Although most credits address building construction, many overlap with landcape design practices. Water efficiency is obviously an area where landscape architects can make a big difference. Increasing permeabilty of a site (the ability of surfaces and soils to take in groundwater and recharge the water table) can take a lot of pressure off of our storm water systems as well as contributing to the overall health of the ecology. Also the reduction of irrigation has huge implications regarding reduction of water, which is often taken for granted. We live in a very dry region, believe it or not, and although we don’t pay high monetary costs for our water, we pay extremely high ecological costs. We can greatly reduce our water use in the landscape by using irrigation technology, reducing water intensive landscaping such as lawn and non-adaptive plant species, and storing rainwater for irrigation and other uses.

Other LEED credits that apply to landscape design include heat-island effect and light pollution. Heat island effect is caused by large areas of hard surfaces and particularly dark surfaces. This mostly applies to commercial projects with parking lots and expanses of pavement, but also is applicable to residential projects. We generally want to decrease hard surfaces such as driveways and patios and replace them with planting or light reflecting materials. Also the planting of trees can greatly reduce the heat-island effect. The reduction of heat will keep your home much cooler in the summer and reduce your energy use (and COSTS!)  Solar panels can also be used for shading to reduce heat while producing green electricity!  This works great for awnings, parking structures, etc.

Light pollution prevents us from seeing the stars at night and also has other ecological implications on humans and wildlife alike. We can reduce this pollution by using new light technology, such as LED lighting as well as reducing the amount of light that is directed out and up. Reducing light levels overall will also reduce our energy use levels. An LED light will last around 100,000 hours, a xenon bulb will last about 10,000 hours and a standard incandescent or halogen lamp will last at most, 2,000 hours (98% less lighting time than and LED – wow!).

The other LEED principles we can apply to the landscape is the use of sustainable materials and sources. We want to reduce the amount of energy that goes into supplying the finished products. Local materials and resources are great for reducing energy costs. Bluestone that comes from Colorado uses less energy from travel that Bluestone from Connecticut. And both of these materials use far less energy than Travertine stone that is generally shipped from Turkey. The closer the source, the better! We also would like to use recycled materials. These may be pre-consumer recycled materials (materials diverted from the landfills after the industrial process, such as scraps or byproducts) or post-consumer materials (materials that are being used a second time in the same form they were originally used, such as reusing an old door for a potting table design, or reusing brick that was saved from a demolished house).

The Bay Area is a particularly important region for the practice of sustainable design. We are in a very sensitive ecosystem, where rivers, streams, ocean and other waterways are in abundance, but also where the impact of development is extremely high. Anything we can do to reduce our footprints will be greatly appreciated by the environment and will ultimately increase our ability to sustain life here in this great place – with a very enjoyable Mediterranean climate.

These are just some of the methods we can use as designers to make our landscapes more sustainable. It requires the knowledge of a designer, but also the interest and willingness of a client to make it happen. Some of the costs involved in sustainable design are higher upfront, yet pay off in the long-run and some are cheaper from the beginning (recycling, water reduction, etc). In any case the environmental costs are always much, much lower.  Please let us know if you are interested in making a difference with your landscape project.