Resiliency means the ability to endure. In green building, this translates to designing and building for longevity, withstanding extreme weather, and consideration for social equity. 

In recent years, resilient building has become the response to major environmental stressors. It is about building in harmony with the environment but also about how community wellness is affected. Resilient design is the process of designing buildings, landscapes and entire communities to mitigate the impact of extreme weather and other external threats.

Resilient design focuses on practical and realistic solutions with

• Robustness
• Resourcefulness
• Rapid Recovery
• Redundancy

Climate change and extreme weather have propelled resilient building design to the forefront of green building conversations. Extreme weather events such as power outages and wildfires are fueling the resilient design movement.

Resilient building design applies to projects of all scales and is best when synched with local climate action plans and disaster preparedness. What is unique about resilient building design is the anticipation of challenges and the careful consideration for the use of locally available, renewable, or reclaimed resources. 

Where to turn for more information

• LEED Climate Resilience Screening Tool is popular for its practical framework.
• Reli Rating System, which is similar to LEED, can be helpful because it is very prescriptive and assumes emergency response.
• The U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit is particularly helpful with making decisions because it explores hazards, vulnerabilities, and risks.
• The World Bank Resilience Rating System offers tools at the country level.

The movement to resilient design is exciting and complex. Best practices for a successful resilient design project include designing for flexibility and future adaptability, designing for disassembly, and always remember to consider risk and vulnerabilities. For more information about resilient building design check out our webinar: Resilient Building Design Strategies.

We recently attended the League of California Cities annual City Managers Conference. There were many topics on the agenda, however, conversations steered to preparedness and concern for municipalities’ ability to deploy and manage the influx of funding from the massive national infrastructure package. In particular, the expansive vehicle charging infrastructure. 

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law includes $5 billion in funding for states with a goal to build a national charging network. The total amount available to states this year is $615M. Additionally, 

• 10% is set-aside each year for grants to states to help fill gaps in the network
• $2.5 billion is available for communities through a competitive grant program

At ID360, we have worked with cities to structure and deploy complex local EV Charging Policies. Here are a few things to keep in mind for this upcoming influx of funding:

• EV Infrastructure Deployment Plans must be submitted at the state level before funds become available
• California is slated to receive the second highest amount of state funding for 2022
• More green jobs and knowledge of green codes will be necessary to successfully implement these projects

The Joint Office of Energy and Transportation is providing data, tools, and technical assistance to city and state officials via DriveElectric.gov. For those interested in getting current at the state and local level, we offer several online, on-demand courses through ID360 Academy. 

The Infrastructure Law also includes funding for many areas of green building and sustainability. To stay current on changes impacting California subscribe to our newsletter The Green Scene or contact us for more information.