Sidebar: Design for Adaptation: Living in a Climate-Changing World
New Orleans, more than most places, has already been forced to confront the harbingers of climate change—Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath in 2005 was a case study in the consequences of failing to adapt the built environment to a predictable (and predicted) environmental threat.
Just months after the storm, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) convened a Gulf Coast Reconstruction charrette at its annual Greenbuild conference in Atlanta, Georgia. This meeting of minds resulted in “The New Orleans Principles”—ten tenets meant to guide the city toward a more sustainable redevelopment (see EBN Jan. 2006). Some of the principles focus on strengthening social and cultural aspects of community, while others deal with the more tangible aspects of the built environment, including an emphasis on adaptation through passive survivability—the notion that buildings should be able to safeguard basic human health and safety even without electricity or other utilities in the event of a natural disaster. (Many modern buildings are not—a problem tragically illuminated by events at the Superdome and elsewhere during the Katrina disaster.)
Now four years on, the organization Global Green, which helped organize the initial charrette and has since spearheaded a multi-pronged effort to rebuild a more resilient New Orleans, is putting these principles into action. Kicked off in 2006 with a competition to design a net-zero-energy affordable housing community for New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward (see EBN Oct. 2006), Global Green’s Holy Cross project involves both single- and multifamily residential projects designed for net-zero-energy and carbon neutrality, as well as plans for a neighborhood center designed to be responsive to the problem of buildings that become unlivable when utilities and services are cut off.
“We’ve done all we can to adapt to the realities,” said Matt Petersen, president and CEO of Global Green, “and a big part of that was incorporating passive survivability.” Plans in the works for the community center include a rainwater collection and filtration system that can provide drinking water and basic sanitation in emergencies, and solar power storage with battery storage to provide emergency refrigeration and meet other needs for residents who may not be able to evacuate. (According to Petersen, backup electrical power was not integrated into the homes so as not to encourage residents to ignore evacuation warnings, with the understanding that the community center would be available for those truly unable to leave.) “It’s about finding that responsible combination of [climate change] mitigation and adaptation,” Petersen said.
The first three homes have been completed and are producing 70%–80% of their electricity from photovoltaics on site. All the homes will be raised up four feet (1.2 m) for protection from floodwaters. The next two will begin construction soon, with an 18-unit apartment building breaking ground in November of this year and the community center to follow in early 2010.
