Transitions - Sustainable Design: The Science of Sustainability and Green Engineering - page 105

innovation and are increasingly offering incentives in the form of tax relief to
those willing to reinvest and bring abandoned properties back into productive
use. These incentives include the waiving of property taxes for a number
of years to allow recovery of the cleanup costs and protection from future
litigation associated with the contaminated property.
In the summer of 2004, the U.S. Conference of Mayors announced a joint
effort with Cherokee Investment Partners (Cherokee) to fast-track the cleanup
of contaminated properties by providing access to the expertise and resources
that many cities and towns lack. Cherokee, headquartered in Raleigh, North
Carolina, began acquiring contaminated real estate in 1990 and has since ac-
quired over 300 properties in the United States and Western Europe and has
begun the process of transforming these brownfield properties from a commu-
nity albatross to a source of economic stimulus for redevelopment. In addition
to the rehabilitation of once environmentally damaged sites, development of
these sites also serves to reduce the pressure on undeveloped land, preserving
natural areas that provide habitat and promote biodiversity.
Admittedly, cleanup has been based strongly in chemistry. We have looked for
ways to make contaminants less toxic. New thinking must be more biological.
We must emulate nature. See the next sidebar on living machines.
Sidebar: Applying the Synthovation/Regenerative Model:
Living Machines
Compost is very useful. Not too long ago, much of what is now compost was
considered solid waste. However, as shown in Figure 3.16, compost can be used
as a renewable substrate for beneficial microbes. The lesson here is that when
designing buildings and developments, it is quite possible to think about by-
products of human habitation as not always being wastes but sometimes being
valuable resources. We can harvest these resources on-site and use them there.
The living machine built into the Lewis Environmental Studies Center at
Oberlin College demonstrates application of the concept “waste equals food”
and the ability to create a continuous regenerative cycle (Fig. S3.1). Wastewater
enters the living machine system and is treated by biological organisms that
break down the wastewater into nutrients, which are then fed into an adjoining
constructed wetland. The process is accomplished by use of anaerobic and
aerobic tanks housing bacteria that consume the pathogens, carbon, and other
nutrients in a process that cleanses the water. This seems similar to biological
treatment at the municipal wastewater facility. However, as Kibert notes in
Sustainable Construction , a living machine differs from a conventional wastewater