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A first-hand account of all aspects involved in creating
a sustainable neighborhood development

In 1982, the Tucson Solar Village, which was eventually renamed Civano, was conceived as a solar project on the scale of a community rather than a single residence. The goal was straightforward - to build a housing project which showed how to use the abundant solar energy of the Sonoran desert to reduce grid energy use. Over the next decade the purpose of the project grew to encompass a complex blend of sustainable lifestyle ideals and to high efficiency green building techniques in community design. Today, Civano is the nation's largest sustainable mixed-use community located in the southeast part of Tucson, Arizona. It comprises four neighborhoods with the capacity to house approximately 2,500 families.

INSIDE THE CIVANO PROJECT: A Case Study of Large-Scale Sustainable Neighborhood Development (McGraw-Hill; September 2009; Hardcover: $69.95) by C. Alan Nichols and Jason A. Laros covers the planning, funding, building, and management of this development which integrates residential communities with shopping, workplace, school, civic facilities, parks, and natural open spaces. It discusses the zoning and building code guidelines, sustainable building materials, energy standards, and water conservation technologies that make Civano ahead of its time.

Civano was built under a special set of zoning and building code guidelines intended to substantially increase the performance of the buildings (reduce energy and water use) and the quality of the built environment (urban planning). Passive (daylighting) and active (photovoltaics) solar principles, sustainable building materials, and water conservation technologies are key elements across Civano and are all covered in this book.

Part of McGraw-Hill's GreenSource Series, Inside the Civano Project covers:
• Behind-the-scenes preconstruction discussions
• Site analysis, planning, and zoning
• The Congress for the New Urbanism
• The LEED-Neighborhood Development program
• Public/private land development strategies
• The Urban Lands Act
• The Integrated Method of Performance and Cost Tracking (IMPACT) System
• Challenges, pitfalls, and lessons learned throughout Civano's development, and more.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

C. Alan Nichols, P.E., LEED AP, who has more than 30 years' experience in heating, air conditioning energy systems, and plumbing, established Al Nichols Engineering in 1995. As a member of the Tucson Metropolitan Energy Commission, he was instrumental in writing the sustainable energy standard (SES) for Civano. Additionally, Nichols was part of a volunteer group that led the development of the building code guidelines that have resulted in Civano's 60% reduction of heating and cooling energy and 55% reduction in potable water usage. In 2002, he received the Energy Users News Award, Best Mixed-Use Facility for the Civano project and is Past-Chairman of the Tucson/Pima County Metropolitan Energy Commission. He has also served as Project Engineer at Western Electric, Process Engineer for W. L. Gore and Project Engineer for Tierney Manufacturing.

Jason A. Laros is Project Manager with Al Nichols Engineering. In his capacity as building superintendent at the University of Idaho, he managed the maintenance crews and contract construction projects for more than 300,000 ft. of university apartments and related building systems and acquainted staff and administration with material and energy saving concepts and practices.

About GreenSource
A mainstay in the green building market since 2006, GreenSource magazine and GreenSourceMag.com are produced by the editors of McGraw-Hill Construction, in partnership with editors at BuildingGreen, Inc., with support from the United States Green Building Council. GreenSource has received numerous awards, including American Business Media's 2008 Neal Award for Best Website and 2007 Neal Award for Best Start-up Publication, and FOLIO magazine's 2007 Ozzie Awards for "Best Design, New Magazine" and "Best Overall Design." Recognized for responding to the needs and demands of the profession, GreenSource is a leader in covering noteworthy trends in sustainable design and best practice case studies. Its award-winning content will continue to benefit key specifiers and buyers in the green design and construction industry through the books in the GreenSource Series.

INSIDE THE CIVANO PROJECT: A Case Study of Large-Scale Sustainable Neighborhood Development by C. Alan Nichols and Jason A. Laros. McGraw-Hill; September 2009; Hardcover: $69.95; 320 pages;
ISBN-10: 0-07-1599312; ISBN-13: 978-0-07-1599313

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