Is This Home The LEEDing Edge Of Green?
In our segment Trouble in Paradise: U2 in Malibu, LA Times columnist Steve Lopez reports on a sizzling dispute between some Malibu residents and David Evans, the U2 guitarist otherwise known as The Edge, who has been trying to erect five state-of-the-art green homes on 156 acres of pristine California coast.
The project calls for a number of green building techniques and materials, including rainwater catchment, on-site graywater recycling, solar panels, a low profile that blends into the landscape, recycling of construction waste, and a technique called rammed earth, in which the builder employs the grit and soil excavated from the foundation to create the walls of the home.
A Web site has been set up to explain The Edge's housing development and to debunk the myths surrounding it.
But not everyone is impressed by The Edge's seemingly earth-friendly intentions. Local environmentalists and potential neighbors have protested rather vociferously in several newspaper reports and in Lopez's own column.
Many of the complaints have focused on the more than 70,000 cubic yards of dirt that will have to be trucked out in order to grade the access roads leading up to and around the property. But they also include claims that the homes will ruin local habitat and spoil others' view of the coastline, that the extra driving required to commute to and from such a remote site will negate any carbon savings associated with the home, and that the clearing of acres and acres of chapparal to prevent fire hazards will introduce another danger well-known to Malibu residents: landslides.
But the Edge is betting that his development, dubbed Leaves in the Wind, will win support by pushing environmentally conscious construction to a new level. Toward that end, he's aiming to be among the first to earn a LEED Gold certification for a private residence.
LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a nationally recognized rating system developed by the nonprofit U.S. Green Building Council. Up until very recently, only commercial buildings could be LEED-certified.
LEED standards are by many accounts tough to meet, and they factor in many of the very issues raised by the project's opponents. A LEED-Gold home has earned at least 75 out of a possible 136 points (platinum is the next highest level, and the highest attainable). A project can lose points in one area, such as site location, but make them up in another—say, in energy efficiency.
Whether or not The Edge's five dream homes are easy on the environment is a question open to public debate. Just about any new construction will inherently have a negative impact on native habitats, and you can't very well argue with an angry neighbor whose pleasant hilltop view has been suddenly replaced by a rooftop.
And then there's the plan. A plan is only a plan, and it's not unreasonable to question whether the project can actually win the gold, especially since there's no going back once it gets under way.
To give you a sense of how all this works (and of The Edge's chance for getting the LEED certification), we've pulled out a sampling of criteria from the LEED for Homes rating system and compared them with some of the green features touted on the project's Web site. While this exercise is by no means an expert analysis, we do hope it will help to inform any discussion as each side in this high-profile debate gets further entrenched. The full criteria can be viewed here.
Standard LL3 - Encourage the building of LEED homes near or within existing communities. (3 points possible)
Chances? Highly unlikely. The project would have to border previously developed land or be on previously developed land. The project site is completely isolated.
Standard LL4 - Encourage the building of LEED homes in developments that are served by or are near existing infrastructure. (1 point possible)
Chances? Not a chance. The site currently isn't connected to or near sewers or a water supply.
Standard LL5 - Encourage the building of LEED homes in development patterns that allow for walking, biking, or public transit (thereby minimizing dependency on personal automobiles and their associated environmental impacts). (3 possible points)
Chances? Highly unlikely. Again, the site is very remote. It would have to be within a quarter to a half mile of at least four community resources, such as a bank, convenience store, gym, laundry, medical or dental office, pharmacy, police station, restaurant, or school. The Edge probably won't find a supermarket lurking in the scrub brush on that ridge overlooking the sea.
Standard LL6 - Provide open spaces to encourage walking, physical activity, and time spent outdoors. (1 point possible)
Chances? Very likely. Each home clearly should meet the requirement of being within a half mile of an open, outdoor space.
Standard SS1 - Minimize long-term environmental damage to the building lot during the construction process. (1 point possible)
Chances? Maybe. Interestingly, to qualify at all for any level of LEED certification, the project must provide erosion controls during construction. That one point only kicks in if the builders go above and beyond.
Standard SS2 - Design landscape features to avoid invasive species and minimize demand for water and synthetic chemicals. (2 points possible)
Chances? Fair. Again, a no-point minimum requirement for all projects is to use only non-invasive plants. Points start accruing when you use native, drought-tolerant plants, which is part of The Edge's plan.
Standard SS6 - Make use of compact development patterns to conserve land and promote community livability, transportation efficiency, and walkability. (4 points possible)
Chances? Unlikely. The lowest possible award requires the average housing density of the project to be fewer than seven homes per acre. The Edge's plan calls for five homes on a little more than an acre of total developed space.
Standard WE1 - Use municipal recycled water, or offset central water supply through the capture and controlled reuse of rainwater and/or graywater. (5 points possible)
Chances? Good. The plan includes a rainwater catchment system and graywater recycling.
Standard EA1 - Improve the overall energy performance of a home by meeting or exceeding the performance of an ENERGY STAR labeled home. (34 points possible)
Chances? Good. The plan is to use ENERGY STAR labeled appliances, solar power and specially designed overhangs and windows to promote natural heating and cooling.
Standard MR2 - Increase demand for environmentally preferable products and products or building components that are extracted, processed, and manufactured within the region. (8 points possible)
Chances? Good. Builders will use eco-friendly paints, wood products certified to have low environmental impact, and the rammed earth technique, among other green materials.
Standard MR3 - Reduce waste generation to a level below the industry norm. (3 points possible)
Chances? Unknown. The standard for waste reduction appears to be very high, but the project does include plans to divert more than 75% of construction waste from landfills.
