Design for Risk & Resiliency
In 2019 I was assigned to found the American Institute of Architects, Honolulu Committee addressing Risk and Resiliency. We named the committee the Design for Risk and Resiliency or DfRR for short. It's an important committee if you believe in self determination and independence for your team, company or organization. The DfRR continually looks for new ways of thinking about risk to our communities and how we can provide some level of resilience to the equation.
Regardless of the cause, climate change is happening. Whether you believe that humans are responsible, or that it is all part of prophecy - the simple conclusion is that our sea level in Hawaii is rising, and we just passed a law making an assumption that we must account for a 3.2 foot rise in sea level by 2050 or earlier. AND that residential sellers must disclose this as a material fact. How do you know if you are in a 3.2' sea level rise zone? click here to check your address.
Most of the costs related to SLR right now are in creating plans for review by the government. Since SLR occurs in the Coastal Zone Management Area of the state of Hawaii, it requires special permits prior to any building permit. So it's important to engage with the city early. A shoreline survey is not needed for minor permits less than 500K of value, but a site plan and elevations of the structures will be required.
Also check in with property insurance experts to see how the current market is pricing this condition.
In addition to SMA - check in on your needs for a cesspool upgrade. Cesspool upgrades are required before a building permit may be issued, and also need to and SMA permit... So these are first priorities prior to a building permit. Upgraded cesspools are a function of a bio-digester and leech field. Both of which need to be above the water table. So definitely check what is happening below grade before making any property purchases.
As an aside, our DfRR committee is working on discovering solutions and applying for grants to look for cheaper solutions to the bio-digester + leech field solution. Currently the Department of Health approves no other option, and their laws and calculations have not been updated since the 1970's - so we are focusing on trying to bring the DOH out of obsolescence. This simple fact alone stands in the way of cesspool and water table pollution abatement throughout our state. There are so many wonderful solutions that human-kind (with lots of help from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) has developed for these problems... but for some reason policy stands in our way. Grants to scope the issues and problems as well as lobbying code changes are underway... albeit too slowly for anyone's good.
The current trend that my practice is focused on is decentralized utilities in buildings. For homes and commercial buildings, it's important to detach from centralized utilities for a multitude of reasons - but the most important is to transform into entirely resilient cities. Imagine an entire city that is decentralized in terms of power, water and sewer treatment. A disaster may take down a few structures, but the rest of the city will be independent and able to continue business as usual instead of entire populations scrambling for water and energy. Raw waste will not pollute our oceans, waterways and communities with disease.
Imagine each building able to produce its own energy, treat its own waste, produce its own potable water - and efficient enough to share these services with neighbors... We call these systems decentralized utility grids.
Sea Level Rise will force us to consider this as our water supply, waste treatment, and power grids become flooded. The first to be impacted will be the sewers. Upgrading these systems currently will cost our City and County of Honolulu many times over (5x-10x) the cost of Rail. It is existentially unwise to continue down the blue-pill path of centralized utilities. It is probably better to use newer, cheaper technologies to create a greener city that can lead the world in Resilience and Sustainability technologies. The intellectual property, practices and products could actually be a true export for our state as we help other coastal communities around the globe and perhaps interplanetary travel.
If you want to learn more about Sea Level Rise and how to work with alternative decentralized infrastructure for your buildings click here. I'll be happy to chat with you about it.
Regardless of the cause, climate change is happening. Whether you believe that humans are responsible, or that it is all part of prophecy - the simple conclusion is that our sea level in Hawaii is rising, and we just passed a law making an assumption that we must account for a 3.2 foot rise in sea level by 2050 or earlier. AND that residential sellers must disclose this as a material fact. How do you know if you are in a 3.2' sea level rise zone? click here to check your address.
Most of the costs related to SLR right now are in creating plans for review by the government. Since SLR occurs in the Coastal Zone Management Area of the state of Hawaii, it requires special permits prior to any building permit. So it's important to engage with the city early. A shoreline survey is not needed for minor permits less than 500K of value, but a site plan and elevations of the structures will be required.
Also check in with property insurance experts to see how the current market is pricing this condition.
In addition to SMA - check in on your needs for a cesspool upgrade. Cesspool upgrades are required before a building permit may be issued, and also need to and SMA permit... So these are first priorities prior to a building permit. Upgraded cesspools are a function of a bio-digester and leech field. Both of which need to be above the water table. So definitely check what is happening below grade before making any property purchases.
As an aside, our DfRR committee is working on discovering solutions and applying for grants to look for cheaper solutions to the bio-digester + leech field solution. Currently the Department of Health approves no other option, and their laws and calculations have not been updated since the 1970's - so we are focusing on trying to bring the DOH out of obsolescence. This simple fact alone stands in the way of cesspool and water table pollution abatement throughout our state. There are so many wonderful solutions that human-kind (with lots of help from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) has developed for these problems... but for some reason policy stands in our way. Grants to scope the issues and problems as well as lobbying code changes are underway... albeit too slowly for anyone's good.
The current trend that my practice is focused on is decentralized utilities in buildings. For homes and commercial buildings, it's important to detach from centralized utilities for a multitude of reasons - but the most important is to transform into entirely resilient cities. Imagine an entire city that is decentralized in terms of power, water and sewer treatment. A disaster may take down a few structures, but the rest of the city will be independent and able to continue business as usual instead of entire populations scrambling for water and energy. Raw waste will not pollute our oceans, waterways and communities with disease.
Imagine each building able to produce its own energy, treat its own waste, produce its own potable water - and efficient enough to share these services with neighbors... We call these systems decentralized utility grids.
Sea Level Rise will force us to consider this as our water supply, waste treatment, and power grids become flooded. The first to be impacted will be the sewers. Upgrading these systems currently will cost our City and County of Honolulu many times over (5x-10x) the cost of Rail. It is existentially unwise to continue down the blue-pill path of centralized utilities. It is probably better to use newer, cheaper technologies to create a greener city that can lead the world in Resilience and Sustainability technologies. The intellectual property, practices and products could actually be a true export for our state as we help other coastal communities around the globe and perhaps interplanetary travel.
If you want to learn more about Sea Level Rise and how to work with alternative decentralized infrastructure for your buildings click here. I'll be happy to chat with you about it.
