35 Facts for CNT’s 35 Years: Each week we’ll expand on one fun fact. Enjoy!

#18 CNT’s LEED Platinum Building

Mayor Daley with Scott Bernstein and Kathryn Tholin

When you first walk into CNT’s office at 2125 W. North Avenue in Chicago, you might not “see” the LEED Platinum status, but as you look deeper, it’s uncovered. In 2005, CNT was the second building in Chicago and 13^th in the US to receive the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification of “Platinum” by the US Green Building Council (USGBC).

CNT relocated from downtown Chicago to an old weaving factory on the Northwest side in 1987. First, the top two floors of the three story building were renovated with energy-efficient objectives. After the first round of renovations was complete, we had the first non-toxic building in Illinois and were given an award for being the most energy-efficient building in the state.

The second renovation focused mainly on the first floor and began in 2000. We chose to design in line with the high standards of the LEED Green Building Rating System™ Version 2.0. LEED’s integrated approach to building design and renovation has confirmed and expanded upon many of CNT’s design principals and policies. In December 2005, LEED officially certified the building as “Platinum,” making it one of the country’s most high performing buildings; LEED had previously certified only twelve other buildings as Platinum.

If being one of the first Platinum certified buildings wasn’t enough, the CNT design and renovation was unique and innovative in comparison to others. Most buildings that the USGBC was awarding LEED status to were new construction. CNT took an existing building and rehabbed it using readily available products.

Here are a few examples of how CNT achieved the highest LEED certification:

• Repurposed materials such as, old marble bathroom partitions from a school were used as board room tables.
  

  Cryogel Ice Ball Thermal Storage Unit

• Interface recyclable carpet tiles with no VOC (volatile organic compound) adhesive exists throughout the building
• Rapidly renewing, biofiber wheatboard was used in place of particleboard for structure of counters and desks. Emission-free glue adheres the laminate.
• Cryogel ice ball thermal storage unit installed beneath the side yard to sustainably heat and cool the building.
• Native plants and a super rain barrel prevent flooding and provide an aesthetic garden.
• Permeable pavement and native plants in the parking lot absorb stormwater and minimize suspended solids and phosphates in any run-off.

John Katrakis, Mayor Daley, Sharon Feigon, Jonathan Boyer, Kathryn Tholin

There are many more aspects and design elements that went into creating a healthy, aesthetically pleasing, and sustainable office space. The renovation of our office building is parallel to the research and programs we execute.  Please support CNT’s innovative work by making a tax-deductible gift. To schedule a tour of CNT’s LEED Platinum office building, contact Anjuli Koentopp via email at anjuli@cnt.org.

We’re celebrating CNT’s 35 years of impact on sustainable urban development through 35 weeks of posts like this one. If you have a story or picture from our past, please share it with Anjuli@cnt.org. Thanks!

CNT’s work is made possible, in part, through generous support from individual donors. Please click here to make a gift in honor of our 35th anniversary.

Next week: #19 Real Time Pricing. Power Smart Pricing. Energy-Smart Pricing Plan.

#17 Wireless Community Network (WCN) Project

Bridging the Digital Divide. That’s what CNT began doing in 2002. CNT recognized that the revolution of the Internet and the near ubiquity of computing left too many low- and moderate-income communities shut-out of the market for broadband because of high costs and de facto redlining. This left them behind as the economy transitioned to one where the medium is bytes and bits, not textiles and steel. Wireless broadband technologies, however, offered the potential to bridge this digital divide because they can be inexpensive to deploy and more adaptable than wired networks.

CNT established three pilot projects to deliver very low-cost, high-speed broadband access to homes, small businesses, and community-based institutions in Chicago’s Pilsen and Lawndale neighborhoods and West Frankfort, in a former coal mining town in Southern Illinois. Using off-the-shelf wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) equipment—the same found in any computer retailer—in conjunction with leading edge, open source mesh networking software developed by the Champaign-Urbana Community Wireless Network, CNT deployed pilot networks in these communities with high speeds and at a low cost.

Building Wi-Fi Nodes

A community wireless network is a reflection of the social networks inherent in every neighborhood. The nature of this network is one of community ownership, where the infrastructure resides in homes, schools, churches and businesses. Community residents participate in the maintenance and operations of the network and reach out to each other to provide help and seek advice. In North Lawndale and Pilsen, community residents became engaged in the actual building and deployment of wireless networks. CNT’s community partners had node building parties where, at different events, ex-offenders and youth respectively learned about crimping cable and installing radios in weatherproof boxes that run the network and help to repeat the signal.

The community wireless networks were intended to be tools for economic development. Participants had access to employment training, job postings, education and literacy resources. The very first participant in Lawndale, Danielle Riley, was a nineteen-year-old student at Loyola University. Her family had a computer, but prior to our project, could afford only an unreliable and slow dial-up connection. Through WCN, she regularly accessed the web-only resources that her university provided, and learned to more effectively use the internet for relevant academic material.

CNT recognized that the technology and household savings were meaningless, however, without the knowledge to use it effectively. This is why CNT partnered with community organizations—the Gads Hill Center in Pilsen, Homan Square Community Center Foundation and Neighborhood Technology Resource Center in North Lawndale, and John A. Logan College in southern Illinois—to provide training and support for participants through extensions of computer education programs they already offered.

About the time that the project funding ended, the City of Chicago announced plans for a ubiquitous municipal wireless network with low-cost access in disadvantaged communities. At the time, it looked like a victory, but ultimately this system was never created.

While the Wireless Community Network was a three year experiment, limited by resources and time, our work made a big impact.

In 2005, two of CNT’s community wireless technicians, Paul Smith and Rogers Wilson, traveled to southern Mississippi and Northern Louisiana to assist with disaster relief for Hurricane Katrina. With a team of volunteers from around the country, they helped to restore communications for people displaced by the hurricane. Our technology, designed for urban neighborhoods, proved itself to be useful and flexible far beyond our expectations. You can read more about CNT’s efforts after Hurricane Katrina in The New York Times article “Talking in the Dark.”

To share our experience, CNT wrote a series of three reports: “Community Wireless Networks: Cutting Edge Technology for Internet Access;” a lessons-learned report, “What We Learned;” and a do-it-yourself manual, “Building Community Wireless Networks.” All three are available to download here.

We’re celebrating CNT’s 35 years of impact on sustainable urban development through 35 weeks of posts like this one. If you have a story or picture from our past, please share it with Anjuli@cnt.org. Thanks!

CNT’s work is made possible, in part, through generous support from individual donors. Please click here to make a gift in honor of our 35th anniversary.

Next week: #18 LEED Platinum Building

#16 IGO CarSharing

In the late 1990’s, CNT’s Jacky Grimshaw visited Germany. In lieu of the usual souvenirs, she brought back an idea: car sharing as an alternative to car ownership.

Popular in Europe for some time, the concept of shared vehicles had yet to catch on in the United States. There was no such service in Chicago, so CNT researched what it might take to get one started.

Early IGO logo

With early support from partners and funders across North America, CNT initiated a pilot project with just a few cars and a very low-tech reservations system. Despite the usual growing pains of a startup, and stories of misplaced car keys, the service proved its value. Interest and membership grew, and IGO CarSharing was born.

As one of the first car sharing operations in the United States, IGO created a market in Chicago where none existed, expanding year-by-year from a few neighborhoods to a diverse mix of 40 (and four suburbs), and into the only car sharing service with 100-percent low-emission vehicles. Under the leadership of Sharon Feigon, IGO flourished into a 15,000-member car sharing community—a group of Chicagoans who proactively changed their behavior to rely less on personal vehicles and more on biking, walking and transit. As a result, IGO members helped reduce emissions and contributed to an improved quality of life throughout the region.

On May 28, 2013, in a move to accelerate the expansion of car sharing in Chicago, IGO was acquired by Enterprise Holdings, Inc., the company that also operates Enterprise, Alamo, and National Car Rental.

“This is good news for Chicagoans, and represents a great investment in our region and our communities,” CNT’s CEO, Kathryn Tholin, said at the time. “That an industry leader like Enterprise is embracing car sharing in Chicago speaks not only to the foresight of our pioneering plan and years of success, but to the growing market for consumer choices that are both eco-friendly and economical.”

Checking out an electric vehicle at an IGO member event

Indeed, as a nonprofit we are especially proud of what IGO accomplished and the leading role we played in the development of the car sharing industry. We’ve delivered many products, tools, and advances to businesses, governments, and municipalities, but Enterprise adding IGO to its Enterprise CarShare network is perhaps the largest-scale example.

CNT, along with our affiliate organization, Alternative Transportation for Chicagoland (the nonprofit that operated IGO), will continue to explore and develop new ways to meet our shared mission of making it possible for people to live well without having to own a vehicle. We will do this because we will continue to be an innovator: advancing ideas, testing strategies, offering solutions. It’s in our DNA.

What will our “next IGO” be? Stay tuned …

We’re celebrating CNT’s 35 years of impact on sustainable urban development through 35 weeks of posts like this one. If you have a story or picture from our past, please share it with Anjuli@cnt.org. Thanks!

CNT’s work is made possible, in part, through generous support from individual donors. Please click here to make a gift in honor of our 35th anniversary.

Next week: #17 The Wireless Community Network Project

President Obama presented his Climate Action Plan yesterday, asking Americans to take seriously the threat of climate change and adopt behaviors and policies that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions. CNT applauds the president’s leadership.

As the president knows, having served on our Board of Directors, CNT has helped cities and their residents make these kinds of sustainable choices for 35 years. We’ve also challenged and overturned the conventional wisdom that cities are the biggest carbon emission culprits. CNT’s research actually shows that cities can be the most efficient places to live, with their lower per capita greenhouse gas emissions due to efficient land use and transportation alternatives. For many reasons, cities offer the greatest opportunities to help solve the climate crisis.

From our perspective, many of the solutions lie in a system we call the resilient, efficiency-driven economy—a framework that leverages the inherent competitive advantages of cities and metropolitan regions, an economy that reduces household and business expenses at the same time that it reduces emissions.

A resilient, efficiency-driven economy re-imagines America’s cities in a way that capitalizes on four key characteristics:

• Resource efficiency – Using the least amount of energy and other resources to create a good and productive quality of life for all citizens
• Location efficiency – Smart development that concentrates housing, transit, jobs and amenities in a way that delivers fast, convenient, equitable and affordable connections
• Landscape efficiency – Adjustment to urban terrains and land-use patterns that can productively absorb rainfall, avoid flooding, and recharge the aquifer
• Distributed infrastructure – Decentralized and redundant systems, especially energy and transportation, that focus on local supply and demand

Urban economies are already more resource efficient and location efficient than the economy as a whole, but more can be done to make cities work better for all residents. Regional planning and design has focused too much on concrete, glass and steel, as opposed to community building, permeable surfaces and conscientious construction. Critical systems are highly centralized, making them inefficient and vulnerable to climate and other shocks. Still, opportunities abound.

In Chicago, CNT has turned the resilient, efficiency-driven economy approach into tangible programs that benefit residents:

• We retrofitted 12,643 multifamily units, saving owners nearly 30 percent on average on natural gas bills, and reducing CO₂ emissions by 17,607 metric tons since 2008
• We pioneered car sharing in Chicago, creating a market for an affordable alternative to private car ownership where none existed, providing an economical option for residents and reducing emissions in the region
• We constructed a Green Infrastructure Portfolio Standard to guide planners and communities in the multiple benefits of green infrastructure investments to capture the value of stormwater, and reduce emissions

The president’s call to action is not a choice between environment and economy. It’s an investment in both. And, it shows that smart strategies, especially the prioritization of place-based initiatives, can empower Americans to reduce expenses and emissions. The result: a lean, clean, resilient, and resource-efficient economy that works for everyone.

Scott Bernstein is President of the Center for Neighborhood Technology. Scott served on the President’s Council for Sustainable Development in the Clinton Administration, and co-chaired its task forces on Metropolitan Sustainable Communities and on Cross-Cutting Climate Strategies. More recently, Scott helped create the Chicago Climate Action Plan at the request of former Mayor Richard M. Daley.

CNT Water Program Director, Harriet Festing, addresses homeowners at the Gross Gathering, as representatives from MWRD, FEMA/IEMA, and Perma-Seal look on

CNT continues to stand in solidarity with flood victims, and plans to organize more Gross Gathering events that allow property owners to connect with each other, with municipal and state officials, and with organizations that can help mitigate flood damage.

The first Gross Gathering on June 13 drew approximately 100 people to CNT’s offices in Wicker Park. Homeowners shared stories with other flood victims on the “Soap Box,” met with contractors and officials, and discussed community-led solutions. David St. Pierre, Executive Director of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District; Tom LaPorte from the City of Chicago; Ron Davis from FEMA; and Sara Echols from the American Red Cross also addressed the gathering. Government agencies, nonprofits and private sector contractors were represented with trade stands and displays.

Homeowners discuss the impacts of urban flooding at CNT's "Gross Gathering"

The Gross Gathering convenings are inspired by CNT’s ongoing work on the prevalence and cost of urban flooding, and on community-based approaches to solve the problem. Recent CNT research identified 177,000 property damage claims for wet basements across 96 percent of Cook County ZIP codes between 2007-2011. The equivalent of one in six properties in Cook County submitted private insurance or FEMA claims totaling $660 million in damage payouts.

In response to this increasingly widespread problem, CNT is piloting the nation’s first wet weather retrofit service for Cook County communities. Wetrofit®, as the service is known, is designed to reduce the cumulative impact of urban flooding from wet weather events by coordinating public and private investment in swift, low-cost, preventative solutions.

In the City of Chicago, CNT also manages the Chicago Sustainable Backyards Program, a City initiative that incorporates elements of green infrastructure to both beautify home landscapes and capture rainwater before it goes into municipal stormwater systems.

The next Gross Gatherings are planned for the south and northwest of Chicago, as well as the south suburbs.

Flooded? What can you do now?

• If you’ve been flooded recently at your home or business, tell us your story and send in your photos.
• Join other flood victims at the next Gross Gathering.
• Stay tuned for updates from CNT on policy updates and other solutions.

The environmental price of urban sprawl and highway construction is often the destruction of key ecosystems like wetlands and streams, which provide homes to important species and benefits like clean water and recreational activities to people living nearby. Encouraging development in areas that are already urbanized, known as infill development, spares ecosystems and the services they provide. This is a major advantage of TOD—by designing attractive and easily navigable urban areas, people will be more willing to live in the city center instead of the surrounding suburban communities. The savings they experience in shorter, easier commutes and more convenient neighborhoods translate to savings for fragile and significant ecosystems.

In Chicago, an estimated 67 percent of the population growth expected by 2040 will be infill development. As a result, Chicago has a prime opportunity to undertake significant TOD projects to serve these new households, which would create construction jobs and reinvigorate disadvantaged neighborhoods.

Transit-oriented development translates to long-term economic and environmental benefits as well. In general, residents of areas with high population density tend to drive less. Doubling an area’s population density could reduce its residents’ vehicle use by five to twelve percent. Designing communities specifically to encourage public transit use, as with TOD, can create an even bigger impact: residents of areas with TOD are two to five times more likely to use transit for their commutes and general travels than residents of areas without TOD.

Residents and the environment both benefit from improved transit.

• Drivers will face less congestion as fewer cars will be on the road.
• All residents, especially those with respiratory health concerns, will benefit from improved air quality.
• Fewer greenhouse gases from vehicle fuel combustion will enter the atmosphere, aiding in the fight against climate change.
• Residents without cars will be able to travel to previously inaccessible job markets and recreational activities.
• An extended transit network will create quick and reliable ways for those already living in suburban communities to commute to work or experience the city without depending on a car, saving them money on gas and time in traffic.

Investing in transit-oriented development now will create cities that are equipped to handle the coming population rise without severely harming important natural resources.

Improving the efficiency of these small multifamily buildings means less energy is required to maintain comfortable living spaces. Reducing energy consumption can help building owners and their tenants save money and contribute to a healthier environment.

Despite the prevalence of this building type, energy efficiency programs geared for small multifamily buildings have historically been lacking. In addition, building owners often don’t have the opportunity to identify the best ways to improve their buildings, and often lack the capital or access to financing to invest in money-saving improvements.

CNT Energy’s new Small Multifamily Energy Savers program gives owners the assistance they need to recognize, implement, and finance energy efficiency improvements for their building. As part of the Small Multifamily Energy Savers program, experts from CNT Energy and a qualified contractor will conduct a detailed, comprehensive building assessment to improve the energy and water efficiency and health and safety of the building.

The Energy Savers team will identify the most cost-effective improvements that give the best return on investment and assist building owners throughout the entire construction process, from soliciting contractor bids to inspecting the work that is done. We also connect building owners to low-cost financing, rebates, and incentives to help pay for the recommended improvements. For example, now through August 2013, home owners can save 70% up to $1750 off the one of the most cost-effective energy efficiency improvements: air sealing and insulating the home.

It’s an easy process for small multifamily building owners:

1. Apply online.
2. Schedule the assessment. The Energy Savers team will contact you to set up a free walk-through.
3. Review the results and work proposal. We’ll help you decide the best improvements for your building.
4. Schedule, install, and inspect work. Our team will help you get the most competitive bids.
5. Save energy, money, and have happier tenants!

Since 2008, CNT Energy, in partnership with Community Investment Corporation, has delivered energy efficiency upgrades in more than 13,000 apartment units in larger apartment buildings (those with 5 or more units) in northern Illinois. We’re excited to extend our expertise and experience to the small multifamily building sector and help preserve affordable housing in our area.

The Small Multifamily Energy Savers program is open to owners of residential small multifamily buildings located in the City of Chicago. For a limited time, applicants may also qualify for a free assessment, valued at $400 to $600. Apply now to schedule your small multifamily building assessment or call us at (855) 372-8377.

#15 Location Efficient Mortgages (LEMs)

Location efficiency. This term, coined by CNT’s president, Scott Bernstein, is at the core of our work to build more sustainable communities. Run a web search for the term and you’ll find CNT’s fingerprints on nearly every result. You’ll certainly find a generally accepted definition of location efficiency, which can be boiled down to this:

“Compact neighborhoods with an interconnected street network, access to transit, mixed land uses, and concentration of retail and services are highly efficient communities. When brought together, these elements enable an efficiency of scale.”

The concept of location efficiency drives our thinking around the Housing and Transportation (H+T®) Affordability Index, our innovative and widely adopted tool to measure the true affordability of housing based on its location.

It also inspired the development of the Location Efficient Mortgage® (LEM), a revolutionary financing tool that recognized and accounted for the savings available to people who live in location-efficient communities.

The LEM was a joint endeavor that began in 1995, starting with a three-year research program led by CNT, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Surface Transportation Policy Project. Together, we formed a new nonprofit organization called the Institute for Location Efficiency (ILE).

On the basis of ILE’s research, in 2003, Fannie Mae, the nation’s largest source of home mortgage funds, sponsored a market test of the LEM. In consultation with ILE, Fannie Mae defined the guidelines of the LEM mortgage product, agreed to invest at least $100 million in LEMs, and authorized lenders to issue LEMs in four metropolitan market areas: Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

LEMs offered a way for potential buyers of households in urban neighborhoods to increase borrowing capacity based on the premise that they would spend less on transportation, and therefore have more disposable income, than the national average. Standard loan underwriting is based on a buyer’s ability to afford to spend 28 percent of gross monthly income on a mortgage payment, whereas the LEM increased this to up to 39 percent by factoring in transportation-related cost savings. For example, a household earning $50,000 a year could qualify for a $163,000 mortgage under standard lending practices. But, if a household in a compact, transit-accessible and pedestrian-friendly neighborhood could save $200 per month on transportation in relation to the national average, they could qualify for a $213,000 loan.

Despite the inherent economic and environmental benefits of LEMs, the product was not in the market for very long. The mortgage industry began introducing competing products, and in 2002, Fannie Mae introduced SmartCommute, which gave borrowers extra credit to household budgets for living near public transportation, allowing them a slight edge in qualifying for loans. LEMs, as developed by CNT and our partners in the Institute for Location Efficiency, were discontinued in 2008.

The legacy of LEMs lives on, in our work, in the work of other like-minded organizations, and in the increasing awareness of the value of location efficiency. It is this awareness that will help our cities create neighborhoods that require less time, money, and greenhouse gas emissions for residents to meet their everyday needs and live well.

We’re celebrating CNT’s 35 years of impact on sustainable urban development through 35 weeks of posts like this one. If you have a story or picture from our past, please share it with Anjuli@cnt.org. Thanks!

CNT’s work is made possible, in part, through generous support from individual donors. Please click here to make a gift in honor of our 35th anniversary.

Next week: #16 IGO CarSharing

Flickr photo by Steven Vance

Earlier this year the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released findings that global CO₂ levels have surpassed 400 parts per million (ppm). This new peak in CO₂ concentration represents the continued impact that human activities are having on the environment. Climate scientists around the world agree that actions must be taken immediately to reduce CO₂ and other greenhouse gas emissions if we are to avoid drastic consequences of climate change.

The United States is one of the largest producers of pollution that contributes to climate change. The Environmental Protection Agency reports that 14 percent of all greenhouse gases emitted in the US come from cars and light-duty trucks. In other words, some of the key contributors to pollution are sitting right in front of our homes. The average American drives 12,000 miles per year, pumping over 5 metric tons of CO₂ into the atmosphere.

Proposed projects to improve existing public transit systems and create new routes to serve suburban communities can alleviate this type of pollution. According to the American Public Transportation Association, the average mile traveled in a bus produces 33 percent fewer emissions than the typical car. Include a ride on a subway or metro train and emissions are cut by 76 percent.

Public transit has the potential to reduce the United States’ annual CO₂ emissions by 37 million metric tons. That’s the equivalent of over 7.2 million cars off the road and 4.2 billion gallons of gas saved each year. In Chicago, the CTA estimates that its buses and trains keep 400,000 cars off regional roads every day. And, demand for public transit in Chicago is increasing: total CTA ridership jumped by 2.4 percent in 2012, with rail ridership increasing by 4.2 percent.

The benefits of expanded transit aren’t just reserved for train and bus riders. By taking cars off the road, public transportation reduces traffic congestion, saving motorists time and money. Support for new transit projects comes at a time when the economic and environmental advantages of transit are clear. At this pivotal moment in the fight against climate change, meeting the needs of commuters in Chicago and around the country with more sustainable transit is a smart investment in our future.