Commissioning and Resilience

By Duke Graham

To couple sustainability and resilience feels like giving in a little. In a sense, sustainability is preventing things from going wrong. And resilience is being ready for when they do go wrong. These are not complete definitions of course, and the link between the two ideas is deep and significant. Since shocks and stresses to our communities and systems are inevitable, it’s clear that being prepared and responsive will facilitate our sustained safety and prosperity.

The commissioning process, a cornerstone of sustainability strategy in the built environment, resides in the Venn Diagram overlap between the sustainability and resilience. Like a fire drill, other critical systems should be tested periodically to ensure their readiness when needed. In addition to verifying energy efficiency and reduced emissions, commissioning on an ongoing basis is important tool for evaluating and managing risk from a variety of scenarios. Indeed, Retro-Commissioning is included as a key to Step 3 of the Building Resilience Los Angeles – A Primer for Facilities, a Project of USGBC-LA (link). To support resilience, the commissioning process should be applied to systems that will be critical during emergencies. These include not only fire and life safety systems, but energy generation and storage, water supply and purification equipment, and food supply systems, among others.

Particularly in large cities, the importance of connected resources and access to data is enormous. When emergencies happen, key buildings and infrastructure will play critical roles in supporting the community. Data and trend analysis is a key component of ongoing commissioning of systems. Real-time snapshots of actual operations under different conditions provide a more complete verification that a system is working as intended. “Big Data” is a charged concept, and many challenges lie in the creation of data frameworks for resilience. But it’s possible that valuable resilience data is already being, or could be, collected and conditioned to help make decisions during emergencies.

For example, an earthquake or fire could interrupt water and power supplies to many people. A database of stored energy and water with actual capacity, quality and accessibility data could be used to direct the resources to those who need them. Electricity infrastructure technology is probably closer to realizing this goal. Smart grids can isolate local grids and tap into local storage and renewables to provide stable power for critical systems. An analogous smart water “grid” could provide emergency water supplies by emulating the protocols of the electrical counterpart. And like, or even during, drills like the Great Shakeout, these systems should be tested and verified as part of routing ongoing commissioning.

The City of LA is already requiring buildings to benchmark their energy use. The EBEWE ordinance uses an existing data platform, Energy Star Portfolio Manager (link) to manage the data. This platform has fields for water and even waste management. With some minor additions, useful resilience data could be mined from this and other platforms. A simple list of certain building types with a minimum amount of renewable or stored energy/water could be a valuable resource to make us more prepared and responsive.

Commissioning provides confidence that systems will work right when called on. To be fully prepared to respond to shocks or stressors, commissioning should be integrated into resilience frameworks and policy.

Re•si•lience: the capacity of individuals, organizations and communities to survive and thrive in the face of stressors and shocks.

Resilience planning has become a hot topic lately. How can families, businesses, and communities survive and thrive in the face of disaster? Disasters come in many forms, but their effects can be similar in terms of loss of life, infrastructure, and economic activity. As LA is overdue for its next major earthquake, improving resiliency is of critical importance to our region.

A/G attended USGBC-LA’s Fundamentals of Building Resilience-LA workshop on July 18th, and came away with important strategies for increasing both building- and organization-level resilience. In order to be more prepared, organizations need to have a plan; and as workshop leader and director of USGBC-LA’s Building Resilience-LA initiative reminded us, a plan is not a document but rather a working process. Forming a team, mapping risks and assets, setting goals, developing a plan, and then implementing and maintaining it are parts of this process. Going through this planning process will touch on overlapping areas including built resources (such as back-up systems and seismic safety), operations (such as emergency and communications plans), and social systems (such as neighborhood resources and employee networks).

While the resiliency planning process may seem overwhelming, organizations who go through the resiliency process end up ahead. Businesses experience less uncertainty, better financing terms and insurance rates, and lower operating costs. If the team includes the right people, the planning process breaks down silos and creates efficiencies. And as 80% of businesses do not come back from a large-scale disaster like Hurricane Katrina, having a resiliency plan can make the difference between life and death on every level.

The LEED rating system does not currently address resiliency planning, but related pilot credits have been floated and may reemerge as communities across the country increasingly deal with disasters of human and natural origin. In the meantime, USGBC-LA’s Building Resilience-LA initiative is working with the City of LA and local non-profits to develop robust plans and networks. Check out their Building Resilience LA: A Primer for Facilities for guidance on how to increase your organization’s resilience.

LA Mayor Eric Garcetti and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Talk Climate Action

Earlier this week, A/G attended a discussion on the implications of the US withdrawal from the Paris climate accords with LA mayor Eric Garcetti and California's 38th governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger at the Creative Artists Agency (CAA). The bipartisan discussion, facilitated by Rachel Kropa, co-director of the CAA Foundation, covered a lot of ground.

Our key takeaways:

What are Garcetti and Schwarzenegger doing?

In the words of the former governor, we are "marching to a clean and green future" and "letting the world know America is in." Schwarzenegger's Regions of Climate Action is working with subnational governments to promote sustainable development and infrastructure, and Garcetti along with 338 Climate Mayors, is working to bolster efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in cities across America.

What do we do with the US withdrawal from Paris?

Leadership does not have to come from Washington. California leads. Los Angeles leads. We can lead. As Schwarzenegger said, "California has the strictest environmental laws, but at the same time we are number one in economic growth." Garcetti highlighted many of LA's successes including the fact that the city is home to the largest electrical vehicle fleet in the US and just last week celebrated completion of the world's most powerful rooftop solar array. In November, Measure M passed which will transform public transportation in LA. Each of us can also become sustainability champions in our own organizations and in our own personal lives.

Why doesn't climate change get the proper air time in elections and debates?

Both Garcetti and Schwarzenegger spoke to the importance of communication-- no one is successful in politics if you cannot connect to the people. Garcetti added, “if you don’t humanize what the impact is, voters will think, ‘Oh, this is just something that scientists and Democrats and greenies are talking about.’ You actually have to make this a human issue.”