Chapter 18: Sustainable Development

The origin of the term “sustainable development” can be traced back to the World Commission on Environment and Development, also called the Brundtland Commission. In its 1987 report to the United Nations, the Brundtland Commission introduced the concept of “sustainable development” and defined the term as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

The application of this definition of sustainable development to land use practices embraces a range of actions including the remediation of brownfield sites, “low impact” land use practices, and green building practices. This transformation from “brown to green” is an excellent example of sustainable development—as it demonstrates how a liability (a contaminated property) can be turned into an asset (redevelopment), and how green building practices, renewable energy and greenhouse gas mitigation (carbon sequestration) can break the cycle of wasteful resource use, land and water pollution, and short-lived (non-sustainable) real estate development.

This chapter provides an overview of current trends and applications in sustainable real estate development. Sustainable development, as used here, refers to the transformation of real estate from brownfield sites to green redevelopment projects. The chapter also explains how real estate is being used for renewable energy and carbon sequestration purposes.

§ 18.1 Introduction
§ 18.2 Sustainable Land Planning and Low Impact Development
§ 18.3 Green Building and Sustainable Land Development/Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)
§ 18.4 Energy Efficient Buildings and Sustainable Development
§ 18.5 Renewable Energy in Sustainable Development
§ 18.6 Policy Support for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
§ 18.7 Climate Change and Sustainable Development
§ 18.8 Water Considerations in Sustainable Land Use
§ 18.9 Sustainable Development Examples

WILLIAM SARNI
DOMANI Sustainability Consultants, LLC

William Sarni is founder and Chief Executive Officer of DOMANI with nearly 30 years of experience in providing sustainability and environmental consulting services to private and public sector enterprises. His focus is on developing and implementing sustainability strategies that provide the greatest tangible and intangible (brand) value to organizations. His experience is grounded in providing services to US and non-US multinational companies across a wide range of industry sectors. He has led multidisciplinary teams in providing business and technical services to firms such as AIG, BASF, Vivendi, TNK - BP, NTT DATA, Invensys, plc, and Tomkins, plc. He has demonstrated the ability to integrate environmental, health and safety, legal, corporate communications, real estate, and operational issues to develop sustainability programs tailored to the unique needs of clients. Mr. Sarni’s current focus is on the integration of sustainability initiatives into business decision making processes, the development and application of sustainability management and metrics systems, and carbon management programs. He also has extensive experience in high visibility brownfields programs throughout the United States working closely with corporate legal and environmental teams and outside counsel. In addition, Mr. Sarni has provided testimony on a wide range of environmental issues representing private sector companies. He received his M.A. degree in 1981 and B.A. in 1976, both in Earth and Environmental Sciences from Queens College, CUNY, New York.


RENAUD DES ROSIERS
DOMANI Sustainability Consultants, LLC

Renaud des Rosiers is a consultant with DOMANI. He has a strong interdisciplinary background that allows him to play a broad role supporting the energy, carbon and greenhouse gas (GHG) management, strategic sustainability services, and green building teams. Mr. des Rosiers’ professional background is in energy and GHG strategy, marketing and brand management, and the integration of sustainability principles into business practices. He has broad experience implementing sustainability strategy in both the private and public sectors. His consulting engagements help organizations understand their environmental impacts and opportunities and help them develop practical, innovative, cost-effective action plans for addressing those impacts. Mr. des Rosiers’ interdisciplinary graduate work at the University of Colorado combined an M.B.A. with an M.S. in environmental studies, which allowed him to focus on market solutions to environmental challenges, integration of sustainability into business practices, marketing and branding of environmental performance, energy policy, and renewable energy market development. In addition to his business background, Mr. des Rosiers also has a strong policy, system dynamics and knowledge management background that he used to create the sustainability training program for the employees of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Mr. des Rosiers is a USGBC LEED v2.2 accredited professional. He received his M.B.A. from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2006, M.S. in Environmental Studies (Energy Policy) from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2006, and B.A. in Cognitive Psychology from Reed College in 1999.