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Friday, September 23, 2011
First LEED Gold Green Building in the Czech Republic
What once served as a dumping ground for hazardous waste is now the site of one of the greenest buildings in the Czech Republic. CSOB, a commercial bank, member of KBC Group, decided to consolidate its headquarters offices in southwest Prague, an area of the city that had not been redeveloped since it was destroyed during World War II. The former brownfield site is now home to the first LEED Gold certified building in the country. Prior to moving into the new headquarters building, the CSOB Group occupied several buildings in Prague’s old town. Many of these buildings were inefficient, out-dated and operationally expensive. Pavel Kavanek, chairman and chief executive of CSOB, explained one of main reasons for moving the bank’s offices, “So far, we have been scattered in various buildings in the center of Prague, so a lot of colleagues knew each other more from telephone calls than personally. At last, we will be closer to each other in the new headquarters. It is an important incentive for corporate culture of the entire CSOB Group.” Now more than 2,500 bank employees are located in one of the largest office buildings in the country. In addition to offices and workspaces, the five-story 900,000-square-foot building contains a public bank branch, a cafe for employees, a medical center, post office, hairdresser, dry cleaning and flower shop. Public, shared and non-work areas and amenities make up 35 percent of the net built area. The new building, located in Radlice, part of Prague, has also spurred urban redevelopment and stimulated local economic development in the area.
Download the CSOB Headquarters, Prague, Czech Republic Case Study
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Thursday, September 22, 2011
San Francisco Bay Area Ohlone College Leads the Way in Green Building
This is one of the case studies to be included in my forthcoming book, The World’s Greenest Buildings, Ohlone College in Newark, California. When a new college president, Douglas Treadway, took over early in the building program, he insisted that the building prioritize sustainability principles throughout the design, construction, and operation phases. This would offer several advantages to the college; it would signal their commitment to sustainability, boast a new environmental studies program, and reduce energy costs. “A college’s purpose isn’t just to distribute content. Its purpose is to develop knowledge workers,” said Treadway. “Once you look at it that way, then you shift the paradigm. You start asking, what kinds of environments are conducive to learning and discussion? Then you start thinking about the built environment.” Designed by architects Perkins+Will, the Newark Center for Health Sciences and Technology is a state-of-the-art research and teaching facility that houses laboratories, classrooms, offices, a library, and an exercise center. The Center serves 3,500 students in academic areas of health sciences and technology. Built on a former brownfield site adjacent to San Francisco Bay, the 130,000-square-foot, two-story building was completed in January 2008 and was awarded a LEED for New Construction Platinum certification.
Download the Ohlone College Newark Center for Health Sciences and Technology Case Study
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Monday, September 05, 2011
Sustainable Building Visit: Marketable 2000 Sq. Ft. Tucson Home is “Super Energy Efficient”
Last week, I had the pleasure of visiting with Tucson builder Michael Ginsburg (pictured below) of La Mirada Homes at his new Super Energy Efficient Design (S.E.E.D.), ENERGY STAR rated home (pictured below) in Tucson, complete with radiant heating AND cooling in the concrete floor slab and 3.4-kW of solar photovoltaics on the roof. Michael’s sustainable building design shows a HERS (Home Energy Rating System) of 20, meaning it uses 80% less energy than a conventional home.
A beautiful, 4 BR, 2 BA ranch style home that fits in perfectly with its central Tucson desert environment. Another plus, no internal load-bearing walls, so you can configure your own version anyway you want it. This sustainable green building is super-insulated, so it’s incredibly comfortable, even on the 103F, high-humidity (monsoon season) day that I visited. All the good green features: solar water heating, rainwater harvesting and a whole-house fan for fresh air ventilation, overhead fans and NO NEED for forced-air A/C (but it’s there if you really need it). Certified ongoing by Davis Energy Group, one of the nation’s oldest and best energy consultancies.
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Tuesday, December 28, 2010
My Top Ten Green Building Trends for 2011
I say that the green building industry will rebound strongly in 2011 in spite of the continuing economic difficulties in most developed countries, and I think 10 major trends support this prediction.
What we’re seeing is that more people are going green each year, and there is nothing on the horizon that will stop this trend. However, in 2010, the slowdown in commercial real estate construction in many countries put a crimp in the start-up rate for new green building projects. In putting together my Top Ten trends for 2011, I’m taking advantage of conversations I’ve had with green building industry leaders in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Australia as I’ve given green building keynotes and presentations all over the world during the past year.
Jerry Yudelson’s Top Ten Green Building Trends for 2011 include:
1. The worldwide green building movement will continue to accelerate, as more countries begin to create their own green building incentives and developing their own Green Building Councils. More than 70 countries, on all continents, will show considerable green building growth in 2011.
2. Green building will rebound in 2011, as measured by the new LEED project registrations as a proxy for this growth. The dramatic slowdown in commercial real estate construction in many countries was not offset by other sectors such as government, and so the growth rate of new green building projects fell dramatically in 2010.
3. Green building in the U.S. will continue to benefit from the Obama presidency with a continued focus on greening the executive branch. New announcements of a commitment to a minimum of LEED Gold for all new federal projects and major renovations confirm and highlight this macro-trend.
4. The focus of the green building industry will continue to switch from new buildings to greening existing buildings. The fastest growing LEED rating system in 2010 was the LEED for Existing Buildings program, and I expect this trend to continue in 2011. “My 2009 book, Greening Existing Buildings, documents the strategic components of this trend.”
5. Blue will become the New Green. Awareness of the coming global crisis in fresh water supply will continue to grow, leading building designers and managers to take further steps to reduce water consumption to increase sustainability. This will be done in buildings through the use of more conservation-oriented fixtures, rainwater recovery systems and innovative new water technologies. My latest book, Dry Run: Preventing the Next Urban Water Crisis, shows how to do this in green buildings all over the world.
6. Zero-net-energy designs for new buildings become increasingly commonplace, in both residential and commercial sectors, as LEED and ENERGY STAR ratings become too common to confer competitive advantage.
7. Performance Disclosure will be the fastest emerging trend, highlighted by new requirements in California and other states. Commercial building owners will have to disclose actual building performance to all new tenants and buyers.
8. Certified Green Schools will grow rapidly as part the LEED System. This trend will accelerate as understanding of the health and educational benefits of green schools grows. Already by mid-year 2010, green schools represented nearly 40% of all new LEED projects in the U.S.
9. Local and state governments will step up their mandates for green buildings for both themselves and the private sector. We’ll see at least 20 major new cities with commercial sector green building mandates. The desire to reduce carbon emissions by going green will lead more government agencies to require green buildings.
10. Solar power use in buildings will continue to grow. This trend will be enhanced by the increasing focus of municipal utilities as they need to comply with state-level renewable power standards (RPS) for 2015 and 2020. As before, third-party financing partnerships will continue to grow and provide capital for large rooftop systems such as on warehouses. However, we may very well see a slowing of large solar and wind systems, as federal grant support, in lieu of tax credits, is phased out.
I’ve added two “bonus picks,” strongly emerging trends, to this list: First, there will be a continually growing use of software and the Internet “cloud” in green building design, construction and operations; Second, the revolution in sustainable building materials is gaining momentum each year, one that gives higher performance at ever lower costs.
Let me hear from you. What are your picks for the Top Green Building Trends of 2011?
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