Green Building
Vermont Builds Greener
“VSJF had faith that Builders for Social Responsibility could successfully develop the VT Builds Greener standard and was really the only funder to step up and make a significant contribution. We would not have even gotten off the ground except for the VSJF.”
- Richard Faesy, project participant
During the 1990’s, many people became concerned about the quality of the built environment and began connecting the dots between the spaces we occupy, human health, and the vitality of the natural landscape. Issues related to indoor air quality, energy efficiency, land use, and environmental sustainability began raising challenges for builders and designers. As more people pointed out the many “bads” in the market place, small groups of far-sighted innovators saw ways to meet human needs for shelter and work space that improve the quality of the built environment and the natural environment. Thus was born the green building movement.
One such group, Building for Social Responsibility (BSR), organized in Vermont, began raising the bar for commercial and residential development. At the national level, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) focused its energy on creating the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standard (LEED) for commercial structures, which until recently did not apply to residential design. BSR took on the challenge of creating such a standard to guide residential development in Vermont.
The group approached VSJF in 1998 for initial funding to build a residential green 'score card' to help builders get a clearer picture of what green housing should be. The program promotes the construction of homes that are healthy, durable, and have a reduced impact on the immediate environment and the global resources that support our built environment. LEED’s rating system offers several credits for the use of certified wood for building construction and interiors.
Over the past five years, VSJF provided more than $37,000 in grant funding to Vermont Builds Greener (VBG). Like most of VSJF’s early stage projects, the participants used that funding to generate more than $134,000 in additional funds since May 2000.
In October 2004, VBG officially unveiled its first home built using the VBG scorecard in Plainfield. Currently there are more than 15 new Vermont homes nearing completion or in the design process. Houses built to the VBG standard are energy efficient, reduce the use of toxic chemicals, and use products manufactured in ways that help keep forests healthy.
As a result of its pioneering work, the VBG standard is now referenced in green housing construction in Massachusetts, and the VBG was recently combined with the USGBC's national residential benchmark. Significantly, the positive changes in attitude nationally about green building are showing up in Vermont, where builders associations are now seeking the assistance of VBG.
Examples of LEED-certified green buildings are starting to multiply in Vermont, from the ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center, to NRG Systems headquarters, and the new Forest Center at Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park. The Forest Center presented a real ‘win-win’ situation since all of the wood used in construction was harvested from the Park’s FSC-certified forests. The Vermont Green Building Network and the Yestermorrow School are also championing green building through educational activities and network development.
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