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Is Green Sustainable?
Thursday, August 27, 2009

Washington and California state governments are the leaders of LEED implementation. Washington currently has 34 LEED certified correctional facilities. California, with plans to retrofit 16 facilities to become more green, is home to the country's first LEED gold certified jail. Green, LEED certified facilities have been given the reputation of environmentally friendly and more efficient--contrary to the old concrete-box approach. But how sustainable is green?

While projected numbers and figures of cost savings derived from green tactics may be thrown around, sustainable solutions to operational cost reduction cannot be determined by the check list offered by LEED or predetermined solutions such as solar and wind. Sustainable design solutions that offer cost savings through efficiency need to be customized to each individual project based on the needs of the facility, requirements of the government and opportunities of the location.

LEED certified does not completely mean the facility is sustainable. We do not fully discredit LEED, however. Using LEED as a guide to designing a sustainable building is one aspect of creating an environmentally friendly facility and is not a one-size-fits-all program. Prison architects and designers need to work with the guidelines to build a strategy that works for the long-term sustainability of each unique prison.

 Sustainable design solutions are derived by:

• 1. Listening and fulfilling the operator's goals for the facility: approaching a project to first fulfill the needs of the facility and improve its processes-so entity itself survives and thrives
  
• 2. Understanding the location: certain alternative energy solutions are proven to be more effective in certain geographical regions
  
• 3. Determine a sustainable strategy with operator: not coming on project with predetermined solutions

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About This Blog

This blog is a collaborative effort of the Justice group at Performa Inc. It is a platform for dialogue and the exploration of issues impacting correctional facilities, detention centers, homeland security facilities and more. The group is led by David Robillard, President of the Performa Justice Team.