"Green" buildings often use less energy, use less water, and are made with recycled materials. But leaders in the green-building effort say that's just part of the picture.
"Green is a good thing, but if it's in the wrong place or you have to drive to it or build big parking lots around it, it's a warning," said Doug Farr, president of Chicago architecture and planning firm Farr Associates, who led a committee that devised new standards for environmentally friendly neighborhoods.
One-third of greenhouse gases is produced by buildings, but another third is produced by moving people and things to and from the buildings, according to the Congress for New Urbanism.
With its new Ever Vail project, Vail Resorts is aiming for the new neighborhood certification, called Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, for Neighborhood Development.
Ever Vail is a $1 billion project that will be built in West Lionshead that will include a new gondola to Vail Mountain, condos, timeshares, a hotel, stores and restaurants.
The LEED neighborhood program encourages high-density, pedestrian-oriented neighborhoods, embracing concepts known as "new urbanism" and "smart growth."
Dense developments combat sprawl, Farr said.
"We're chewing up the countryside with low-density stuff," he said.
Dense developments also take cars off the road, and that means less pollution, Farr said.
"Per capita, environmental impacts go down," he said. "Ozzie and Harriet in Manhattan versus Ozzie and Harriet in a suburb, across the board (Ozzie and Harriet in Manhattan) consume less."
But benefits go further than that, Farr said.
Studies show that people weigh less, live longer, and even have more friends if they live in compact places where walking is a primary mode of transportation, he said.
Rehabilitating a 'brownfield'
But can these principles apply to Ozzie and Harriet's vacation condo in Vail? Farr said yes.
Ever Vail must make sure it is used "intensely." That means making sure that second homes don't stay unoccupied 11 months out of the year with heat and air conditioning running, Farr said.
He encouraged Vail Resorts to aim for a high level of certification. There are four levels: certified, silver, gold and platinum.
Vail Resorts chief exec Rob Katz said the company hasn't decided what level of certification it will seek. "We're going to be looking at all of the various categories," Katz said. "There are going to be some that are easier or harder than others."
Some ways in which Vail Resorts will work toward certification are apparent:
• The company plans to make all the buildings within the development LEED-certified. That will give them points for the neighborhood.
• The development will get some points because West Lionshead is considered a "brownfield" site since the old Amoco gas station contaminated the soil.
• It will also get points because it's an "infill" site that's already been developed. There are now offices, stores, a maintenance yard and the old gas station on the site.
• Vail Resorts plans to conserve and improve parts of Red Sandstone Creek and surrounding wetlands.
Old bricks, new dishwashers
The company would get points for affordable housing as part of the project. The company hasn't decided how affordable housing might be part of the project, Katz said.
The development would get points if homes are within a half-mile of things like a bank, a hair salon, a dry cleaner or a church.
As for the LEED certification of individual buildings, Vail Resorts plans to use things like recycled materials, special windows and low-energy appliances. Specific plans include:
• Salvaged products such as bricks, fixtures and lumber.
• Recycled materials such as pipe scrap to make shingles and iron-ore slag to make insulation.
• Energy-efficient water heaters, refrigerators, dishwashers and washing machines.
• Carbon monoxide detectors.
• Tubular skylights, special lighting systems and reflective ceiling panels.
'Better go green'
Vail Resorts has must be selected into the LEED neighborhood program, said Jennifer Henry, program manager for the U.S. Green Building Council.
But because as a ski resort it's a unique project, it's likely that it'll make the cut, Henry said. There have been about 10 applications for the program so far, she said.
The LEED neighborhood requirements were not made with resorts in mind, so a ski resort might be at a bit of a disadvantage compared to a big-city development when it comes to racking up points, Henry said.
LEED drafters aimed to make the requirements market-driven, Farr said.
For Vail Resorts, there's a public-relations advantage and the company may make more money off of real estate because young adults who are now entering the home-buying market expect greener homes, Farr said.
"If you want to sell to those people, you'd better go green," he said.