Question 1

Low-impact development (LID) comprises a set of strategies that address how:

Accepted Answer

Low impact development comprises a set of strategies that address how water enters a site, is stored, and ultimately leaves the site. LID minimizes impervious surfaces, protects soils, enhances native vegetation, and manages storm water at its source.

Question 2

Low-impact development (LID) strategies can be best coordinated and balanced with which of the following LEED rating systems?

Accepted Answer

LEED for Neighborhood Development is the LEED rating system that LID strategies would best be coordinated and balanced with. For example, LEED for ND encourages street grids to promote walkability and reduce auto dependence. However, a conventional street grid may increase total impervious surface area relative to potential alternative designs. LEED for ND encourages projects to balance small scale storm water management features with the regional benefits to compact development patterns.

Question 3

The main goals and principals of low-impact development (LID) are all of the following except:

Accepted Answer

Providing an improved technology for environmental protection for the natural habitat is not one of the main goals and principals of low-impact development. The primary goal of LID method is to mimic predevelopment site hydrology by using site design techniques that store, infiltrate, evaporate, and detain runoff to ensure adequate groundwater recharge. Since every aspect of site development affects the hydrologic response of the site, LID control techniques focus mainly on site hydrology.

Question 4

Low-impact development (LID) designs reduce development costs through smart site design by all of the following except:

Accepted Answer

Planning for steeper grades to increase the runoff travel time is not one of the LID design strategies through smart site design to control storm water runoff. LID's multifunctional site design elements include alternative storm water management practices as functional landscaping, open drainage swales, reducing imperviousness, and flatter grades.

Question 5

Elevated temperatures from heat island effect, particularly during the summer, have all of the following impacts on a community's environment and quality of life except:

Accepted Answer

Increased light pollution is not one of the impacts of heat island effect. Heat island effect is the formation of an "island" of higher temperatures in the landscape, which increases energy consumption due to an increase in electricity demand for cooling, elevated emissions of air pollutants through the higher usage of fossil fuel power plants to meet the cooling demands, and impaired water quality due to the heated water temperature affecting all aspects of aquatic life.

Question 6

The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is working on the Cool Colors Project to develop a roof product that keeps buildings cool. To achieve this, the likely factors used to determine the product performance include all of the following except:

Accepted Answer

Cool colors are not likely to be used to determine the product performance due to ambiguity. Cool colors is the name of the project and may be referred to as the measure for temperature, but is not a scientific factor in comparison to the information that is attainable through solar reflectance index, roof square footage, and local climate factors.

Question 7

The economical impacts of transportation affect the cost:

Accepted Answer

The economical impacts of transportation affect the cost to purchase and oil to fuel vehicles. Fuel cost represents a significant portion of a household's expenditures, ranking with electricity and clothing.

Question 8

The environmental impacts of site selection affect the destruction of:

Accepted Answer

The environmental impacts of site selection affect the destruction of wildlife habitats by threatening their ability to survive. The loss of land over time to development lessens the biodiversity of both plan and animal species.

Question 9

The community impacts of site design and management are most affected when:

Accepted Answer

The community impacts of site design and management are most affected when projects ignore the context around them. Location isn't everything; even if a perfect site is selected, there are still issues to consider of the local environment and surroundings to minimize impact as much as possible.

Question 10

The economical impacts of storm water management affect the cost:

Accepted Answer

The economical impacts of storm water management affect the cost of providing man made infrastructure to handle storm water. Such systems carry huge up-front installation costs, as well as ongoing maintenance costs.

Quiz 6: Sites