Eco Via Blog

The NW is just jumping with firsts right now. Two weeks ago, we talked about Seattle’s first Living Building, and this week we’ll share the scoop about our region’s first LEED Platinum grocery store – the Edmonds PCC – is also only the second in the nation to hit the platinum bar.

Velocipede Architects has been designing PCCs for many years, and each new store has just kept going greener. Tne Edmonds store features rainwater harvesting, with a 4500 gallon tank. Projected water savings is 160,000 gallons annually, roughly equivalent to water used by four homes.

There are some great photos on the Velocipede’s website, check it out!

As I scan recent articles and announcements on corporate green building commitments, I’ve noticed a new wave of big names signing on for LEED and energy efficiency programs. Even better still, some of these companies aren’t just talking about a singular project, but portfolio scale changes. It’s likely no coincidence these announcements come after the USGBC completed the piloting of the LEED for Retail program in November last year. With a green building rating system tailored to retail realities, companies have an easier time navigating the system and can gain third party validation of their green building efforts.

LEED Silver Enterprise, Chicago O’Hare Airport

Enterprise Rental Car: With over 1,000 new and renovation projects projected over the next 5 years, Enterprise will be implementing their new Sustainable Construction Protocol. The protocol includes features that will reduce energy and water consumption by up to 35% and incorporate a minimum of 10% recycled content materials.

FedEx Express: After installing the largest US solar roof last April and earning LEED for Existing Buildings Gold certification on their Memphis Headquarters, FedEx expanded their green practices to their other facilities. After a Las Vegas facility earned LEED Gold, the company has committed to pursuing LEED certification for all new FedEx Express locations. For a full run down, see the full article at Environmental Leader magazine.

Albertsons: Zero-waste grocery stores are going mainstream. Seattle-area Puget Consumer Co-op (PCC) was a pioneer in organic waste reduction, but at last they are joined by national chain ranked #24 out of the top 75 US Food Sales Chains. Two new stores in Santa Barbara recycledall non-contaminated waste, through a combination of recycling, reuse and composting. This results in actual landfill diversion rates of 95-96%; not quite “zero waste” but I think I can let that slide… Albertsons partnered with the City of Santa Barbara to establish a city-wide composting program. It’s nice to see corporations using their leverage for good. Santa Barbara joins an exclusive composting club, as similar programs are just starting to gain wider traction. Other cities that have similar programs include Seattle, WA, Portland, OR, San Franscisco, and Austin and McAllen, TX.

These three companies join a host of other retail giants that have been adding green and LEED building programs, including Walmart, Best Buy, and Starbucks.

Last Friday the Bertschi School Science Wing opened, drawing a large crowd, of teachers, students, design team members and local green building afficianados.  As Seattle’s first completed Living Building, the science wing sets the new bar for deep green, restorative sustainable design. The school has a great overview of the project on their website. The Science Wing was designed by a unique collaborative called the Restorative Design Collective. A host of local firms, architecture, engineering, sustainability, came together and approached the Bertschi School with a proposal. If the school would agree to pursue the Living Building Challenge, the RDC team would donate their design services. The Berstchi School agreed, the RDC delivered, and now the kids have an amazing space in which to learn about science, and the power of design!

Green building interest stops traffic.

Bronze fish "swim" along runnel for reclaimed water.

I attended the opening, and, yes, all the tech is cool.  Water reclamation and treatment, daylighting, efficient electric lighting, solar panels on the roof of the adjacent existing wing. But what really impressed me was the aesthetic aspects of the project. The Living Building Challenge is a unique rating system, not only in that it has only prerequisites and no points, but in that it has a category for Beauty & Spirit. If it’s ugly or even just uninspired, how can a building be sustainable?

The project’s artistic touches provide a visual link to the technology, in a very appealing way – for adults and children. Additionally the native and edibles garden create a living laboratoty for learning. The keynote presenter, Ciscoe Morris of Gardening with Ciscoe, talked about the importance of nature in hands-on teaching for children. I only wish my kindergarten had been so cool!

Ciscoe Morris of "Gardening with Ciscoe" and landscape architect Mark Sindell.

The Bertschi School Science Wing will soon be joined by another Seattle Living Building. The Bullitt Foundation’s Cascadia Center for Sustainable Design & Construction is targeted for completion in December of this year. I look forward to seeing many more!

Interior Living Wall. [designed by GGLO/RDC

As someone who has worked in a large organization, managing access to the USGBC member account has had its challenges. On the one hand, one person is the primary contact and can therefore update member profile information, manages renewal and send the membersip ID to employees so they can access member benefits.

On the other hand, especially during recent economic upheavals, if the primary contact left the company, the firm could be left with a bit of a hurdle in then accessing the management rights to their own account. Help from the USGBC would generally solve the issue, but it wasn’t always as immediate as day to day architecture business requires.

So, starting February 15th, all employees of a member company can update profile information and renew company membership. Beware though, if you renew, you become the new primary contact. The primary contact remains the only person who manages employee access to the account and monitors account usage.

Having more than one person with access to overall account management would be helpful. However, assigning a primary and secondary contact to manage the account would probably be sufficient. Maybe a third. Redundancy can be very helpful – staff may be away for vacations, business trips or illness – and things need to continue running.

However, the new acccount management approach gives ALL employees the ability to change the member profile. This is a bit troubling and could create a hassle for the true primary contact. The flow of company messaging and data should follow a clear communication chain. It will be nice though to allow marketing staff easier access to editing the profile, since often the information comes from them anyway.

Yet, the new approach doesn’t actually make it any easier for employees of a member company to access the membership - access to the corporate ID still must come only from the primary contact. So we may get some benefits with broader management access, but if you’re the primary contact, be on the look-out for unexpected changes to your profile or renewal.

Architecture 2030′s Ed Mazria has been on the phone with the White House today. And that could be good news for the green building industry. If the current discussion turns into action, then the existing $1.80/sf tax deduction for energy efficient and LEED construction could turn into a tax credit of $1.80/sf instead. This “Race to Green” plan would basically double the incentive, being roughly equivalent to approximately $3-$4.50/sf of tax deductions.

With all the talk of green jobs, this could be a real boost to the green building industry. Over 80% of the U.S. total building stock is comprised of older buildings ready for energy, code and amenity upgrades. However it remains to be seen how commercial real estate loans will fair over the next few years. As long as values are down, so are chances for refinancing or renovation loans. Ed Mazria advocates for any tax credits to be transferable – so bank loans aren’t the only financing option.

In October, the first 3 Living Buildings earned their Petals. It seems one of the biggest challenges is materials – avoiding “red list” items really pushes the limits of the building industry. No formaldehyde, neoprene, asbestos, mercury and host of other “no’s” make this rating system a true Challenge.

Developers and designers alike though are out of the gate and trying to add a LB to their portfolio asap. It’s the next differentiator, now that LEED is almost a must for new buildings. The first 3 Living Buildings are, not unexpectedly from the non-profit and single family residential sector. The Omega Center for Sustainability, the Tyson Research Center at Washington University and the Eco Sense home are the first projects certified under the Living Building Challenge, launched over two years ago by the Cascadia Green Building Council.

The Omega Center transformed the need to replace an aging septic system into an indoor yoga and education center that also treats waste water with a series of indoor plant based treatment tanks and 3 outdoor lagoons. The design team, led by BNIM in Kansas City, took what could’ve been a strictly utilitarian project and elevated it into an eco system services masterpiece. That’s the kind of thinking that will actually get us out off the carbon track, with net zero energy use, natural materials, minimal finishes, total on-site water treatment, daylighting and natural ventilation.

The Omega Center, Rhinebeck, NY

I won’t even pretend that I saw most of the exhibit hall, dubbed the “500 Mile Pavillion”. It may not have literally been 500 miles, but my aching feet might disagree. Along with many familiar names and products, there were a host of new products. I did my best to ferret out at least a handful of the new or improved products. In no way comprehensive or in any particular order, I offer up a selection of my favorite finds.

Think Eco’s Modlet

I didn’t even catch their booth, but met their rep at the Turner Construction party (a wondrous shindig at the new LEED Silver modern wing of the Art Institute of Chicago, built by Turner).  I have tried alternate “smart” power strips, where when a master appliances is off, power is shut off to other items plugged into the same strip. It never seemed to work, as I’d want to be able sometimes have the computer on without or without the lamp and vice versa, so which is the one that always has power running to it? These standby losses, the electricity used by applicances that are plugged in but turned off and still draw a small amount of power, can represent 10-20% of your total utility bill!

Ah, sweet relief, enter the “modlet” by ThinkEco. The MODern outLET plugs into a standard wall outlet. The modlet automatically shuts off power to appliances plugged into it when those appliances are powered off, eliminating standby losses. Additionally, you can monitor electricity consumption for your modets wirelessly via the internet. The company says the modlets should pay for themselves within 6 months for the average residential user. However, the product is not available yet, so I guess we’ll have to keep an eye out at the home improvement store…

Tate Floors Demand Cooling

I’m not sure how new it is, but it’s new to me; Tate’s in-floor demand cooling fan increases cooling air flow to the front of computer equipment. The air is draw toward the back of the equipment where the highest heat output is, and then rises toward the exhaust system. By providing cooling closest to the heat source and reducing air mixing, the hotspots are cooled with less energy. What I liked even more was the flexibility. Reconfiguring the rack space? Just lift up the grate, unplug the fan unit, and transfer the set to the new spot. Plug and play much like the standard floor diffusers.

Lutron Lighting Controls

No, lighting controls aren’t new, but I was impressed by the comprehensive suite of options Lutron presented this year. From residential to commercial, for new and rehab conditions, the Lutron lines are covering a lot of ground. Particularly as existing building renovation and energy reductions become an increasing focus, retrofit, wireless controls are very appealing. Imagine adding an automatic sunlight or occupancy sensor, without knocking holes in the wall, that can be programmed to dim or shut off specific fixtures in your office, break room, or even at home, in the mud room, entry or porch.

QAS

I’m one of those people that actually enjoy analyzing energy data. But, for many building occupants and other building professionals, it’s just not top of the list. But, if the display is interesting and easy to read, more focused on communicating the magnitude of the results than rows of numbers, energy savings might just become cool for the masses. The QAS Building Energy Dashboard has simple but effective energy data – showing how many equivalent trees would need to be planted or cars taken off the road, stats more understandable to the general public. As LEED now requires projects to share energy data, and many jurisdictions move to require energy consumption disclosure, having a user friendly front end will potentially become de riguer. Their online demo has more of the basics but hopefully they’ll add the rest soon.

Those are my top picks, with the caveat that 1. I spent only about 2 hours in the exhibit hall and that 2. I didn’t spend much time looking at things I’d already seen. But, if you have a favorite pick I missed, please share in the comment section.

My head is just swirling with news! So much happens at this conference every year I feel like I’ve gone through a wirlwhind. It’s a good thing though. Here’s all the news “that’s fit to print” as they say.

LEED for Retail

Well officially it’s a rating system now, not a reference guide, but not that much has changed since the early application guide of 2004. However, as a rating system more retail-specific adaptations were added, such as changing Environmental Quality credit 6.1-6.2 for controlability into just one credit 6 for lighting and comfort control in administration spaces. A subtle but useful distinction.

LEED Volume

The pilot was enormously successful, with 100′s of LEED projects certified with the streamlined process. Pre certify a new prototype design, document it once and then build, build, build. 3-7% of projects get audited, with good consistency results so far. Interesting note, does this actually encourage non-site specific buildings? Some prototypes have site-based building adaptations, others don’t.

LEED Automation

Third party LEED management software providers can now link directly to LEED Online to save time and improve the LEED experience. Now that LEED Online is available, third party tools may not be as applicable, but often do have additional features such as scheduling, guidance information, or even credit language embedded for easy reference.

LEED Fellow 

At last, after 2 years of anticipation, some details on what a LEED Fellow is have been revealed. Building professionals who have been a LEED AP for 8 years or more are eligible for nomination. The nominator much fill out a form describing their candidate’s accomplishments and contributions. If a nominee accepts, they pay the $225 application fee. Nominations are open until December 15th, reviews planned for early 2011. The next cycle won’t begin until next Greenbuild, so if you have someone you think would be a LEED Fellow, get cracking!