Sustainable Design and Environmental Stewardship Flashcards
6 cards from real CLARB practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 6 Sustainable Design and Environmental Stewardship flashcards as text
Which LEED credit category most directly rewards landscape architects for reducing potable water use in irrigation?
Answer: Water Efficiency — Outdoor Water Use Reduction
LEED's Water Efficiency category includes credits specifically for reducing or eliminating potable water used for landscape irrigation through native planting, efficient systems, or captured rainwater.
What is the Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITES) primarily designed to do?
Answer: Provide a rating system for sustainable land design, construction, and maintenance of landscapes beyond buildings
SITES is a comprehensive rating system that evaluates the sustainability of landscape projects including parks, streetscapes, campuses, and other sites independent of buildings.
Which stormwater management approach is considered a green infrastructure strategy?
Answer: Installing a bioretention cell to capture and filter runoff on-site
Bioretention cells are a core green infrastructure practice that mimic natural hydrology by infiltrating, filtering, and slowing stormwater runoff through engineered soil and vegetation.
A heat island effect analysis is being conducted for a parking lot redesign. Which design strategy most directly reduces the urban heat island effect?
Answer: Replacing impervious asphalt with permeable pavers and adding tree canopy cover
Tree canopy shades paved surfaces to reduce surface temperatures, and permeable materials reduce heat absorption compared to conventional dark asphalt.
What does the term 'impervious surface coverage ratio' measure on a development site?
Answer: The percentage of a site covered by materials that do not allow water infiltration into the soil
Impervious surface coverage ratio expresses the proportion of a site covered by roofs, pavement, and other surfaces that prevent stormwater infiltration, which many municipalities regulate.
In xeriscape design, which of the seven principles most directly reduces supplemental irrigation needs after plant establishment?
Answer: Appropriate plant selection — choosing drought-tolerant and climate-adapted species
Selecting plants naturally adapted to the local climate's rainfall patterns is the foundation of xeriscape — once established, they thrive with little or no supplemental water.