Olympic Village snags LEED Platinum
- By
Image by Flickr / Patrick Doheny
Vancouver's Olympic Village achieves LEED Platinum certification, making it North America's greenest neighbourhood
What was once an industrial brownfield is now the city’s crowning jewel.
Today, Vancouver became home to the greenest, most energy-efficient and sustainable neighbourhood in North America—and possibly the world—as the Olympic Village was certified LEED Platinum by the U.S. Green Building Council.
"The LEED Platinum certification for the 2010 Olympic Village and Southeast False Creek is the highest ever for a neighbourhood this size," said Mayor Gregor Robertson. "Southeast False Creek is only the second neighbourhood in the world to receive this level of certification.”
The Olympic Village received high marks for its proximity to downtown, mixed-use design, affordable housing units, habitat restoration and a host of sustainable integrated design features, such as rainwater harvesting, sewer heat recovery, green roofs, use of recycled and low-VOC materials for building interiors as well as for maximizing the site’s Western orientation.
LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a North America-only third-party sustainable building certification program recognizing performance in five key areas of human and environmental health, including energy efficiency, water efficiency, sustainable site development, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.
Heated and cooled by renewable energy, the Olympic Village development’s most sustainable building is the Net-Zero Building, which will become affordable housing for seniors after the Games. It produces as much energy as is consumed through efficiencies in design as well as mechanisms for capturing and storing solar and waste heat.
The entire Olympic Village complex includes 1,100 residential units (including 730 market condos, 120 market rental apartments and 250 proposed affordable rental apartments), restaurants, a grocery store, community centre and daycare, plus 11 acres of redeveloped park and waterfront.
“Achieving LEED Platinum is a big feather in our cap, as we move towards our goal of becoming the greenest city in the world by 2020,” said the mayor, who sees the designation as one more reason for tooting Vancouver’s green horn—something he’ll continue to do throughout the Games while courting visiting business leaders in an attempt to build the city’s cleantech industry through "green capital."
“Being the greenest development in the world right now should … demonstrate to the rest of the world that we mean business here when it comes to the green economy,” Robertson said in a promotional video posted to the City of Vancouver's YouTube channel today following the announcement of the LEED Platinum certification.
I have enjoyed a lot less cars during the Olympics, but this is an unusual sunny dry spell for ANY season in Vancouver.
Let's all work together in moderation,
I am proud of how our fair city is making changes, but there are a lot more to do before installing moving sidewalks for the elderly and escalotos so they can get up the hill.
SE False Creek may not be the greenest development in the world, but the LEED Platinum rating shows the development is a step in the right direction. Now only if we can eliminate cars from downtown. I propose we convert the Robson-Granville-Davie-Denman corridors to something more pedestrian friendly. Let's add a streetcar, like the Bombardier that services Granville Island during the Olympics, and widen the sidewalks so that cafes and restaurants can spill out onto the street. Can you imagine how much more interesting that would make our city?
Take for example Vauban, Freiburg, Germany…
Vauban is completely car-free. SEFC is not.
Vauban has 100 units that meet Passivhaus standards. SEFC has zero (Passivhaus is a higher standard than LEED).
All units in Vauban meet the low energy standard of 65 kWh/m2. SE FC ?? (but probably not that low).
Vauban has municipal composting of food waste. SE FC – not yet.
Vauban has an organic food coop. SE FC – you might find some in Urban Fare.
Vauban has a working urban farm. SE FC has planned for a “demonstration” community garden.
Vauban has an efficient district heating system using bio-fuels. SE FC also has a highly efficient district heating system but still uses some natural gas (probably a higher ghg footprint).
Vanuban has onsite electrical generation (co-gen plants and photovoltaics). SE FC has none.
Leave Your Comment