March 27 Meeting Agenda

SEAW – Sustainability Committee Meeting Agenda for March 27, 2013
Location: Coughlin Porter Lundeen, 413 Pine St #300, Seattle - noon
 
1.     Introductions (12:00).

2.     Disaster Resilience Mini-Seminar Rehearsal (Luke) (12:05)

3.     News & Education (12:45)

a.     Liaison Activity

                                  i.    SEI (Adam)

1.     LCA Top 10 Q&A, Blog Launch in April

                                 ii.    Cascade GBC

                                iii.    AIA+2030

b.    Recent Publications/Presentations

                                  i.    Living Proof: Developing the Bullitt Center, March 5, Seattle University

                                 ii.    Wood Solutions Fair, February 27 and CLT Symposium, February 28.

                                iii.    SEED Collaborative

c.     Guest Speakers/Tour Ideas

                                  i.    Project Haiti by HOK and USGBC

                                 ii.    Greenroads/Envision rating systems

d.    Upcoming Events

                                  i.    Capitol Hill Eco District Bike Tour, April 4.

                                 ii.    HOK’s Thomas Knittel, UW, April 4.

                                iii.    Biomimicry Puget Sound workshop, SLU, April 9

                                iv.    DECON '13 (Building Materials Reuse Association), Seattle, April 29-May 1

                                 v.    Living Future unConference, Seattle, May 15-17

e.     Open Announcements

4.     Next meeting (12:59)

a.     Wednesday, April 24, at noon

b.    Main Topic: Q&A on Life Cycle Assessments

c.     Location: Coughlin Porter Lundeen

5.     Adjourn (1:00)

Biomimicry Puget Sound Workshops

Here are some more current events on the study of biomimcry. 

An organization of biomimicry enthusiasts is coming together in Seattle for a project called Urban Greenprint.  Biomimicry, (also called biomimetics) is the examination of nature, its models, systems, processes, and structure to emulate or take inspiration from in order to solve human problems. 

The groups first meeting will discuss ways that design in Seattle could incorporate biomimcry to return Puget Sound to its historical biodiversity, water flows, and carbon dioxide absorption.  Their first of two workshops is Tuesday, March 26 at NBBJ.  This is a brainstorming session where participants come with ideas from nature that can inspire solutions to these three urban challenges.  Their follow-up meeting is April 9 at the SLU Discovery Center.

See Biomimicy Puget Sound's Facebook page for more details and updates.

Project Haiti and Biomimicry Presentation by Thomas Knittle of HOK

For those of you interested in furthering the discussion we had at our last meeting on Project Haiti, Thomas Knittle of HOK will be presenting his work on Project Haiti as well as projects in other parts of the world.  Much of the talk will be about biomimicry, the creation of man-made environments that model, mimic and incorporate natural systems.

From HOK's event announcement:

HOK’s Thomas Knittel will deliver the University of Washington’s annual Sustaining Our World lecture at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, April 4. His presentation, “Built Ecologies: Regionalism and Resource Integration in the Built World,” will discuss biomimicry and resilient design. Drawing on research and project examples from Brazil and Haiti to China, he will discuss how new design strategies and solutions, in order to be more resilient, must be integrated with sustainably produced regional resources—and how design informed by nature provides insights, from the nano to the macro, toward building a sustainable future locally and globally. The event, sponsored by the university’s College of the Environment and School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, is free, but advance registration is requested.  The lecture will be held in Kane Hall, Room 210, on the UW Seattle campus.  There is similar information on The School of Environmental and Forest Sciences blog.

February Meeting Minutes

Minutes from last meeting are here: SEAW SDC Minutes 2013-02-27.pdf

Next meeting is a week from Wednesday, 3/27. We will have our usual discussion plus Luke will practice his presentation on disaster resilience.

Environmental Product Declarations for Concrete

The following announcement was sent from NRMCA.  We are continuing work on our green concrete project, so the webinar will be discussed at our March meeting. NRMCA EPD Program Environmental Product Declarations Webinar March 21, 12:00-1:30pm EST Free Webinar! NRMCA will be presenting a free webinar on Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) on March 21, 12:00-1:30 pm EST.  EPDs are third party verified (certified) reports published by product manufacturers that provide quality assured and comparable information regarding environmental performance of their products or service. With the proliferation of eco-labels and green certifications worldwide, it can be confusing determining a product’s environmental attributes. Well established in other parts of the world, EPDs are starting to appear in the US as the common methodology for assessing the potential environmental performance of a product or process. The US Green Building Council’s LEED v4 Rating System and Architecture 2030 for Products are starting the demand for EPDs. Join us for an informative 1-1/2 hour as we offer a brief overview of EPDs, the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) that supports it and the Product Category Rules (PCRs) that sets the ground rules for it. In addition, the webinar will discuss NRMCA’s EPD Program, which enables concrete producers to meet the new requirements for EPDs. Click here to register for the Webinar.

Contact Tien Peng, tpeng@nrmca.org or 206-913-8535. Take a look at our Facebook page—it's actually quite informative! Like us on Facebook!

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