Accreditation
St. Charles’ whole-building approach meets the highest green building and performance measures, promotes human and environmental health, and provides business and homeowners with the lowest ongoing costs of operation and ownership.
Our Goals
- 1. LEED certification or equivalent for all neighborhoods and buildings, helping to lower operating costs, increase value, reduce waste sent to landfills, conserve energy and water, and reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions
- a. Lower operating costs and increase asset value
- b. Reduce waste sent to landfills
- c. Conserve energy and water
- d. Reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions
Water Conservation
The preservation of water sources and water quality returning to the Chesapeake Bay causes a community to approach conservation on various levels including residential, commercial and office use.
Rainwater harvesting, for instance, is just one way to do this. Roof runoff is collected into a cistern where it can be reused to water plants, and flush toilets.
Our Goals
- 1.LEED certification or equivalent for all neighborhoods and buildings, helping to lower operating costs, increase value, reduce waste sent to landfills, conserve energy and water, and reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions
- 2.Develop and implement existing community retrofit plan
- 3.Landscape with drought resistant trees, plants and grasses
- 4.Community-wide rainwater collection and re-use
Resources
Conservation and profitability are maximized when we take full advantage of resources. Building local and buying local keeps dollars within the community.
For example, dirt aggregate from the land can be used for driveways and roads, and trees can be sold for lumber. Everything is considered, nothing is wasted.
Our Goals
- 1. Protect the Chesapeake Bay, receiving streams, and wetlands by exceeding existing stormwater management practices
- 2. Utilize recycled construction materials for roads (asphalt and sub-base material), stormwater management (infiltration media), soil for aggregate, and homes and buildings
- 3. Institute comprehensive forest management and wood re-use plan
- 4. Utilize integrated Project delivery (IPD) and Building information Modeling (BIM) programs to increase productivity and reduce errors
- 5. 100% participation in community wide recycling and composting programs
- 6. Recycling construction site materials
Energy
Energy conservation becomes a reality for every person living or working in St. Charles. The answer lies in looking at how energy is being produced and providing easy, everyday solutions for conservation.
Energy conservation at the residential level, for example, is a Green Switch that turns off all power when nobody is home, eliminates phantom lights and saves each home an average of $500 annually.
Our Goals
- 1. 50% energy reduction for all buildings.
- 2. Utilize clean natural gas power and 25% renewable energy (solar, biomass, geothermal).
- 3. Develop and implement a green retrofit plan for an existing community.
Technology
Working in partnership, we will seek to create a common technology platform for the entire community that enables greater productivity, higher rates of conservation, improved public safety, and creates a greater sense of community.
Our Goals
- 1. Capture data from all stakeholders to develop intelligence that will enable our smart city
- 2. Use a technology backbone to create public-private partnerships that improve traffic patterns, public safety, education, planning, and environmental stewardship
- 3. Deliver these services to residents, businesses, and the public sector at a lower cost with higher performance
- 4. Increase fiber optics capabilities for homes and businesses and increase telecommute options for major employers
- 5. Real-time energy and resource management systems in all homes and businesses, including retrofits
- 6. Provide wi-fi and social networking structure
Transportation
Jobs, shopping and leisure become easily accessible to everyone thanks to an intelligently planned and pedestrian friendly transportation system. In addition to having schools and shopping centers all within walking distance, the existing infrastructure is expanded to include commuter bike trails and a light rail and rapid commuter bus.
Our Goals
- 1. Reduce Vehicle Miles travelled (VMt) by 40%
- 2. Rapid commuter bus transit networks and light rail system to major employment centers
- 3. Improvements and increased use of county’s VanGo System, ZiP cars, and conversion of fleet vehicles to natural gas
- 4. Reduce required individual vehicle ownership by 20%
- 5. 8% reduction in total household expenses
- 6. Pedestrian and bicycle-friendly networks in neighborhood designs
- 7. Schools and shopping within walking distance
