Bryan Markkenson, AIA, Drift Studio When I imagine a healthy future for all Utah families, I picture neighborhoods that are safe and clean. Children are walking or biking to school and after-school activities. Neighbors gather for morning and evening walks. Trees provide ample shade and cool the neighborhood. You can hear and see the birds. Inside homes and businesses, people are breathing clean air and enjoy a quiet and efficient environment. Right-sized insulation provides a warm building in the winter and a cool house in the summer, without oversized equipment making up the difference. Sunlight is ample and uplifting through appropriately positioned window openings. In short, there are many ways to improve the lived experience in Utah and we should be paying attention to all of them. However, there are ways of watering this experience down or covering it in a coating of disingenuous green. Here are a few of the “green flags” to watch out for. Complying with a baseline for recently updated code versions and calling that sustainable is greenwashing. By not exceeding the baseline, you are doing very little for the homeowner or building owner to reduce future emissions or utility bills. Many developments may call themselves sustainable, claiming to be a step above when, in reality, they have just hit the next code cycle. Incremental improvements in code are great and necessary, but they don’t move the needle to where it needs to be, specifically for our state and our bowl of a city in Salt Lake. A truly green neighborhood or building would demonstrate values that far exceed the code and investigate the boundaries of how to make buildings perform on a higher level. Car-dependent design is inherently polluting. Suburban communities were originally imagined as an escape — quiet neighborhoods with green lawns and tree-lined streets — but in practice, that vision often trades peaceful living for hours spent in traffic. These areas are typically zoned in ways that separate housing from everyday necessities, increasing reliance on driving. In contrast, compact, higher-density development paired with preserved open space is a proven urban design approach. It supports meaningful access to green space and biophilic connections while also enabling more efficient, livable communities. Denser areas tend to cluster amenities, reduce the need for car trips and support viable public transit, helping people spend less time behind the wheel. In regions like the Salt Lake Valley, where air quality is a serious concern, small gestures like drought-tolerant landscaping do little to offset the broader environmental impact of car-dependent planning. Be careful what you’re signing up for when buying a home, but also consider how to purchase wisely and use your financial choices to further a healthier outcome for everyone. In general, the use of “green” or “eco” should be approached with caution. For many products, structures and even concepts, the labels used don’t mean much unless they’re backed up by structured verification such as lifecycle assessments, Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) or third-party certifications. Without that, the language can become more branding than evidence. Claims can also be used to gloss over the less sustainable aspects of a product. Take fiber cement board siding. The claim is that it’s durable, long lasting and maintenance-free, but the production process is carbon intensive. Diving into literature can make your head spin and at the end, you may find opposing levels of sustainability within one product and must decide which of your values you will lean on. 27
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