Green Building Strategies and Solutions – Trends in Sustainable Design

Special to Commercial Journal

by

Roy C. Wilson, PE, LEED AP
Vice President, GBA
Jennifer L. Gunby, PE, LEED AP
Chairman, GBA FocusGreen

During the past year the green movement has swept through corporate America. Ads proclaim it. Annual reports name it. From the boardroom and the corner office to the cube next door, companies are abuzz with all that is green. But what is corporate America really doing to green its offices and operations? What are the trends that are shaping the future of these enterprises, and our futures, along with them? As engineers and architects, we have an opportunity to work closely with clients to develop and implement sustainable strategies and solutions for the built environment. What we see today is a wide range of sustainable tactics designed to accomplish not just important environmental goals, but key strategic business goals as well.

Sustainability Audits / Plans

Many of our nation’s largest companies are taking the lead in the movement to green. Rising energy costs, mounting public expectations, and increasing awareness of and concern for the environment among shareholders have prompted companies to look closely at their operations. They are taking steps to calculate their carbon footprints and to develop and implement strategies for sustainability. To accomplish this, companies are conducting Comprehensive Sustainability Audits and developing Sustainability Plans. This inclusive process involves four important steps. The first involves learning, or taking an inventory of existing conditions and researching and understanding various sustainable alternatives. The second, decision-making, involves developing a plan for implementing sustainable solutions. Determining accountability is the third step and involves creating benchmarks and measurable standards of achievement. And, finally, step four involves creating and realizing value through sustainable efforts for all stakeholders, from employees and shareholders to customers and the general public.

The Public Sector Embraces Sustainability

Sustainability policies are on the rise in the public sector as well and will increasingly influence the nature of existing and future development. In Washington, D.C., newly adopted green building standards will require that private sector nonresidential construction projects of 50,000 square feet or more meet LEED standards, at the certification level, by 2012. In Greensburg, Kansas, which was nearly destroyed by an EF5 tornado on May 4, 2007, the City Council approved a resolution that all city building projects must achieve LEED Platinum designation. Throughout the U.S., municipal, state, and federal governments are embracing the green movement and making it a reality through local ordinances and design standards. In the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, communities have adopted ordinances designed protect our environment and guide future growth.

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) continues to be a leading force in the green movement, helping owners, designers, and contractors find and implement green strategies and solutions for building projects. According to the USGBC, every year buildings are responsible for 39% of U.S. CO2 emissions, use 71% of the nation’s electricity, and account for 70% of all landfill waste. To help change those statistics, the USGBC developed its LEED Rating System, a voluntary certification process that provides a definitive standard for what constitutes green. The USGBC continually updates and refines these standards to enable users to meet green project goals.

Today, LEED Rating Systems are available for a variety of building types, developments, and end uses including New Construction, Existing Buildings, Commercial Interiors, Core and Shell, Schools, and Homes. Still in pilot-programs are LEED Rating Systems for Retail, Healthcare, and Neighborhood Development, as well as a proposed new LEED Portfolio Program for companies with multiple facilities. Even if certification is not a goal, LEED’s definitive standards provide a checklist for companies seeking to green their facilities and operations.

LEED Portfolio Program

An important trend, the much anticipated LEED Portfolio Program deserves an even closer look. Scheduled to launch in mid-2008, this program is designed to enable owners to integrate the LEED Green Building Rating system into their companies’ entire building portfolio, including both new and existing buildings. “Volume certification” as it is called will enable owners to streamline the documentation and certification process for all of their facilities through the development of standard design, construction, and operations procedures. This unique program will also enable owners to better evaluate the overall environmental impact of their real estate portfolios.

In addition to addressing a company’s impact on the built environment, the LEED Portfolio Program encourages participants to work toward accomplishing even broader goals, such as the development of sustainable business practices and company-wide education. By creating a framework for change, the LEED Portfolio Program strives to transform the corporate mindset and foster a network of investors, developers, owners, and managers committed to greening their future impact on the environment.

Where Are We Going With Green?

Over the past several years, green design practices, technology, and construction materials have made significant advances; we expect to see the same in the coming years. Design teams are now sitting down with owners at the beginning of a project to outline goals for sustainability and incorporate green solutions. This collaborative effort to achieve sustainability can manifest itself in every aspect of a building project, from site selection and land planning to details of a building design including siting, materials selection, lighting, HVAC, and plumbing. At the same time, building systems commissioning has become an increasingly important part of the design process, even from the earliest planning stages, as owners strive to optimize energy efficiency and building performance.

We are also seeing companies moving from reusing and recycling to placing a priority on reducing consumption from the outset. In the planning stages, this may mean working within natural systems of a site, reducing sprawl with clustering and urbanization, utilizing resource conserving vegetation, implementing Best Management Practices (BMPs) in storm water design, and integrating land uses for walkable, livable communities. For the building industry, it may mean specifying low-flow water fixtures for new construction and renovation projects in place of installing a graywater system, which uses non-potable water that has been treated. It might involve daylighting and installing motion sensors to control lighting, as well as replacing incandescent lighting with the compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) popular today.

Even today, the green movement is not without its critics; implementing green strategies is not without its challenges. Companies must be profitable and efforts to achieve sustainability must align with and support this goal. But the future is looking greener than ever before. Corporate America is seeking to reduce its impact on the environment in a variety of ways, from simple measures such as initiating recycling programs and using energy-efficient light bulbs, to more sophisticated means such as implementing sustainability audits and seeking LEED certification. But most important, today companies aren’t just talking about going green, they’re doing something about it.

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