Suzanne Abbott
by Suzanne Abbott
Envision is an emerging sustainability infrastructure rating system and planning tool co-founded by the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI) and Harvard University’s Zofnass Program. Launched in 2012 and created for Sustainable Infrastructure, it has been gaining popularity in infrastructure projects nationwide. ISI is an independent nonprofit organization co-founded by ASCE, the American Public Works Association (APWA), and the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC). According to the ISI website, Envision is “a holistic framework for evaluating and rating the community, environmental, and economic benefits of infrastructure projects.”
It can be applied to civil infrastructure other than buildings and can rate the sustainability of the project at any point in its life cycle. Envision also lets project teams evaluate, grade, and recognize these infrastructure projects that are using transformational/collaborative approaches. Much like the LEED rating system, Envision has a list of criteria for sustainability ratings. The Envision rating system is composed of five main categories: Quality of Life, Leadership, Resource Allocation, Natural World, and Climate and Risk. These categories are composed of 60 criteria that address issues like biodiversity, emissions, energy, materials, resilience, sites, and water. It can be applied to the following types of projects:
- Airports and hangars.
- Bridges and interchanges.
- Fiber optic communication installations.
- Mining, cement, chemical and manufacturing.
- Power plants.
- Rail facilities.
- Roads and highways.
- Sanitary sewer systems.
- Underground utilities.
- Water transmission and distribution lines.
- Water treatment plants.
- Water treatment projects.
In the past, these types of projects have been hard to certify in typical building rating systems due to their complex nature and lack of indoor occupant space. Envision has been developed to help public and private sector planners, engineers, contractors, and public administrators produce infrastructure that is both cost-effective and sustainable.
Projects can earn one of four achievement levels: bronze, silver, gold or platinum much like the LEED system. Unlike LEED, it doesn’t address the buildings themselves, but rather the protection of the natural environment and its restoration over the course of the project’s life cycle. The program centers in the collaboration of owners, design teams, contractors, policy makers, community organizers, regulators, and environmental organizations on the long-term needs of the community for infrastructure tempered by the environmental risk and resilience of the environment it’s built in. Envision departs from LEED not only on project type but also the rating itself, which is not prescriptive, has no minimum requirements, has no mandatory design elements, and can be started at any point in the project’s life cycle.
There is no cost to self-assess through the Envision program, which can be done through a simple, web-based checklist. Alternatively, a project can be verified and awarded an achievement level through an Envision Sustainability Professional (ENV SP) who has been certified by ISI. The ENV SP will help the team to achieve higher levels of sustainability, then document sustainability accomplishments and submit the project for recognition. An independent, third-party Envision verifier then works with the ENV SP to validate the project assessment.
This new system has transpired due to the LEED certification system’s enormous success in transitioning the built environment to a more sustainably aware market. The Envision system builds upon the LEED system’s fundamental building blocks to address a broader range of projects and locations. It takes green rating systems beyond sustainably constructed buildings and extends triple bottom line principles to infrastructure projects. This has the potential to greatly increase infrastructure’s role in contributing to a more sustainable future. Envision seeks to prove the point that “doing the right thing” can often be the most cost-effective thing for a community with a return on investment. Today there are over 3,500 ENV SPs worldwide in 20 countries and over 400 projects utilizing the Envision system.
Suzanne Abbott, LEED AP BD+C, is the business development manager of Gilbane Interiors in Boston.
