Building ratings and disclosure policies are a pre-requisite for scaling up building decarbonization, and there are a variety of tools, programs and resources that policy makers can use to implement building ratings in their jurisdictions. In this session, attendees will learn about innovations in residential rating systems, and learn about best practices and outcomes of commercial building rating systems.

Session Notes by Larry Strain

Moderated by Anu Natartajan from StopWaste the panel covered a range of approaches. Patrick Enright, City of Vancouver is developing policies to reduce embodied carbon. They are collecting data on where the big opportunities, i.e. mass timber and aligning with the materials credits in LEED V4, with the goal of adding new policies into the City’s overall Green Policy in 2021.

Prodipto Roy of Climate Works discussed procurement based programs in the Netherlands to encourage embodied carbon reductions. Focused on  design , construction and financing, it starts with prescriptive maesure, leading to performance based measures. Government program with private sector participation, costs did not rise.

Erin MacDade, Arch 2030 rolled out 2030’s new Materials Palatte, an attribute based approach to understanding and reducing embodied carbon. The Palette covers high impact materials and low carbon alternatives and a range of reduction strategies and resources.

Elizabeth Beardsley of USGBC discussed how rating systems such as  the materials credits in LEED V4 can align with and support with green codes, such as Cal Green and the IGCC.

The panel also discussed the Circular Economy, Buy Clean legislation and ways to make lower carbon materials more competitive.

Session Lead: Anu Natarajan serves as the Legislative Affairs Manager at Stopwaste.org, an organization that helps Alameda County’s businesses, residents, and schools waste less, recycle more, and use water, energy, and other resources efficiently. Anu has professional experience as an architect and urban planner in both agency and consulting roles. Anu has focused on community engagement and outreach by building a network of networks and using technology in innovative ways. As Director of Policy and Advocacy at MidPen Housing, she focused on creating awareness for the need for affordable housing in the Bay Area and focused on funding mechanisms. Anu was elected to the Fremont City Council where she served as councilmember/vice mayor for ten years. On Council, she was an advocate for sensible, sensitive and sustainable planning as the engine for economic growth and community building and focused on the importance of placemaking. She is the Chair of the Board of Greenbelt Alliance. Anu enjoys exploring new cities and their architecture. She and her husband are raising their daughter in Fremont.

Elizabeth (Liz) Beardsley is Senior Policy Counsel at the U.S. Green Building Council. Her portfolio includes green building law and policy issues across the international, federal, state, and local spectrum. Recently her work has focused on connecting building policy to climate mitigation and she has represented USGBC at three COP climate change conferences. Liz has written about green building policy and building-climate issues for outlets such as Governing, USGBC+ magazine, and the usgbc.org blog. She came to USGBC from the U.S. Government Accountability Office, where she was a Senior Attorney involved in evaluating government environment and energy programs. Prior to her legal career, she was an environmental engineer and Principal at Camp Dresser & McKee (now CDM Smith), where she focused on water issues and infrastructure planning. Liz has a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Stanford University and a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law.

Patrick Enright is the Green Building Engineer with the City of Vancouver's Sustainability Group, where he works on green building policy for large new buildings. Current priorities include the implementation of the Zero Emissions Building Plan, with the first step being the recent update of the Green Building Policy for Rezonings. Patrick is a professional engineer with years of experience in the building industry, including a number of years in Vancouver with a mechanical engineering firm in design and energy modeling. Prior to moving to Vancouver, Patrick worked in the national project management office of Defence Construction Canada located in Ottawa.

Erin McDade is a Program Manager for Architecture 2030 and the 2030 Challenge for Products Lead. She brings to the organization a background in architecture, with a focus on sustainable building research and analysis. She holds a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Washington and worked at the Integrated Design Lab in Seattle before joining Architecture 2030. While with the Integrated Design Lab she helped to develop Targeting 100!, a tool for deep energy retrofits and aggressively sustainable new construction in the healthcare sector. She also completed lighting and thermal analyses on the revolutionary Bullitt Center. She leads Architecture 2030’s Products Challenge and helps manage the development of each of Architecture 2030’s programs and initiatives with a focus on the AIA+2030 Series and the 2030 Districts Network.
Prodipto Roy is the Program Manager of the Buildings and Industry portfolio at the ClimateWorks Foundation. At ClimateWorks, he manages the portfolio focusing on and aiming to decarbonize the buildings and industry sectors in high-emitting regions by 2050. He focuses on strategies related to global supply chains, embodied carbon, electrification, low-carbon materials development, energy efficiency codes and standards, and unleashing the power of procurement in the public and private sectors. Prior to joining ClimateWorks, Prodipto worked at the Mayor’s office in Los Angeles. Prodipto holds a B.S. in Environmental Science and Environmental Policy from the University of California, Los Angeles, and is a current MBA candidate at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.