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At the 2012 Maryland Quality Initiative conference, a technical session was presented to discuss the new Envision rating tool. Envision is the cousin of the "Green Building" LEEDS (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) criteria we frequently hear about for rating buildings.  The Institute of Sustainable Infrastructure, a non-profit organization founded in 2011, developed Envision as a framework to become the national Standard for Sustainable Infrastructure. It is a rating system developed to help designers, builders and infrastructure owners build and direct infrastructure projects toward increasing levels of sustainability. The founders of the Institute believe this is an urgent issue, because we are building the future now. Roads, railways, building sites, bridges, power plants and more designed by engineering firms today will be part of our environment into the next century.
The Envision rating system includes five primary criteria, Quality of Life, Leadership, Resource Allocation, Natural World, and Climate and Risk. Each criterion is rated based on a triple bottom line of economic, social and environmental attributes and their relative performance. The benefits of employing this rating system include provision of a decision support tool for engineers and other design team professionals to: reach higher levels of sustainability, evaluate environmental benefits, consolidate data and technology, and assess costs and benefits over the project's lifecycle.
Beginning in April 2012, credentialing certificates will be issued to design professionals who meet the required qualifications which include certain college degrees, completion of a computer based course on Envision, and passing an examination. To learn more about Envision, visit the Institute of Sustainable Infrastructure's website at www.sustainableinfrastructure.org. If you have a project you would like to be recognized by the Envision program, contact Kristin Barmoy at kbarmoy@hanoverlandservices.com.
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