http://greenbuildconsult.com/index.php/blog/ en jyudelson@cox.net Copyright 2008 2008-11-16T16:16:14-08:00 http://www.greenbuildconsult.com/blog/green-existing-buildings-using-leed-for-existing-buildings-to-upgrade-the-v/ http://www.greenbuildconsult.com/blog/green-existing-buildings-using-leed-for-existing-buildings-to-upgrade-the-v/ Canadian developers are seeing the benefits of using the LEED-EB standard to add value to existing real estate by creating a “green brand” while saving operating costs. According to a story last week, in Toronto, major developers and property managers such as Oxford Properties, Cadillac Fairview and Colliers are pushing for a Canadian version of the USGBC’s LEED-EB program. Oxford Properties’ King Tower in downtown Toronto became the first Canadian multi-tenant building to receive LEED-EB Silver certification, working with HOK‘s Toronto office. The 15-story, 472,000 sq.ft. building replaced all T12 fluorescent lamps with more efficient T8’s and also ran a pipe 83 meters (about 270 feet) below the surface of Lake Ontario to run cold lake water through the building’s heat exchangers, to provide year-round cooling energy. Green Building News 2008-11-16T16:16:14-08:00 http://www.greenbuildconsult.com/blog/yudelson-illuminates-green-building-in-entrepreneur-magazine/ http://www.greenbuildconsult.com/blog/yudelson-illuminates-green-building-in-entrepreneur-magazine/ In the November issue of Entrepreneur magazine, Jerry spells out three important tips for contractors wanting to get into the business. In the Entrepreneur magazine article, Yudelson says contractors who want to go green need to educate themselves about the latest trends in the market and get the word out. He suggests these tactics for marketing your green construction business: * Name it and claim it. Find something you can make your own. * Hit the green scene. Be visible to people who care about green buildings. * Green your own business. Green builders need to walk their talk. Consider hybrid cars and biodiesel trucks for transportation. The more sustainable vehicles will reinforce your green brand as you drive them around town. Company News 2008-11-15T14:15:32-08:00 http://www.greenbuildconsult.com/blog/as-green-building-speaker-yudelson-makes-the-business-case-for-green/ http://www.greenbuildconsult.com/blog/as-green-building-speaker-yudelson-makes-the-business-case-for-green/ As a green building speaker, one of the highlights of 2008 for me has been the opportunity to present the business case for green buildings in a number of keynote speeches to business audiences. Most people still believe that green buildings cost 10 percent more to build, with little additional benefit except energy savings. I show them there’s lots more to the business case for green buildings and green development.  When you consider that people costs are about 100 times energy costs and 10 times rent in a typical situation, any contribution that green buildings with daylighting and better indoor quality can make to increasing employee productivity have a far greater impact on the economics of green than saving even 100 percent of the energy costs. Most research studies are showing 3 to 5 percent gains in productivity, which means that the increased gain from employee well being is three to five times the entire energy bill. Throw in public relations, marketing and employee recruitment/retention benefits, all of which are demonstrably present, and you have a compelling business case for green buildings. There’s a lot more that I talk about; you can see and hear more on the website. 2008-11-11T16:51:04-08:00 http://www.greenbuildconsult.com/blog/carbon-footprint-tracking-and-sustainability-planning-go-hand-in-hand/ http://www.greenbuildconsult.com/blog/carbon-footprint-tracking-and-sustainability-planning-go-hand-in-hand/ Europeans are all over the carbon footprint tracking issue, requiring a certificate showing the carbon footprint for each new and existing building, based on estimated and/or actual energy use. Yudelson Associates is launching a new carbon footprint analysis as part of its sustainability planning services. Getting your carbon footprint to fit into a smaller “earth shoe” will likely become de rigueur in few short years. Here’s how to understand what a carbon footprint represents. More than 80 percent of the “Global 250” corporations are tracking greenhouse gas emissions, according to a 2008 study by KPMG. Many smaller corporations are also are beginning to account for and report their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Many expect that they will be subject to “cap and trade” regulatory requirements within a half-decade. Why are they doing this? It may be due to a sense of corporate responsibility. It may be due to increased interest from their stakeholders, customers and/or investors. It may be part of long-term risk analysis and strategic planning. And certainly the new political climate in the U.S. makes it ever more likely that GHG emission reporting and reduction will be required within a few years. Carbon Footprint Calculations There are three “scopes” of GHG emissions that are generally reported. The first two are generally required by most reporting programs, while the third is optional. Scope 1 - Emissions from company-owned or controlled equipment (e.g. power generation, boilers, furnaces, vehicles. Emissions from Physical or chemical processing. Scope 2 - Emissions from the generation of purchased electricity (emissions from both transmission and distribution), gas and fuel in company operations. Scope 3 - Indirect emissions, excluding those already included in Scope 2 (e.g. employee commuting/travel, leased assets, waste disposal, etc.). The variability of considerations in this scope is the reason that it is optional. Nevertheless, a good rationale for reporting on such activities is that this scope might provide the low-hanging fruit from which to start emission reductions (some possible scenarios include a reducing consulting firm’s employee travel-related emission and possibly those resulting from a mall owner’s waste disposal activities). To find out more of what Yudelson Associates can do for you, take a quick look at what we can offer. 2008-11-11T04:44:15-08:00 http://www.greenbuildconsult.com/blog/san-jose-california-adopts-strong-green-building-standards/ http://www.greenbuildconsult.com/blog/san-jose-california-adopts-strong-green-building-standards/ On October 7, 2008, Mayor Chuck Reed and the San Jose City Council followed the lead of San Francisco and Los Angeles in conceptually approving strong green building standards for private sector development in California’s second largest city, implementing a good portion of the City’s 2007 “Green Vision” policy. San Jose’s new ordinance requires commercial and industrial buildings exceeding 25,000 sq.ft. to meet LEED Silver certification standards of the U.S. Green Building Council. Residential developments of 10 or more units, or high-rises above 75 feet tall, must meet basic LEED certification standards. Residential developments of 10 or more units can also opt to achieve instead at least 50 points on the GreenPoint rating system. By 2012, the threshold for commercial buildings drops to 10,000 sq.ft. and residential units must achieve LEED Silver certification. According to one news story, the requirements take effect January 1, 2009, but will not apply to projects already “in the pipeline” until July 1, 2009. 2008-10-14T03:22:54-08:00 http://www.greenbuildconsult.com/blog/the-road-to-net-zero-gets-easier/ http://www.greenbuildconsult.com/blog/the-road-to-net-zero-gets-easier/ Cadmus Construction in Weatherford, Georgia, constructs eight single-family homes in an Atlanta suburb, all designed for net-zero energy use on an annual basis and seeking LEED for Homes Platinum certification. As reported in Professional Builder’s September issue, Cadmus Construction is building 2,500-square-foot semi-custom homes (4,000-sq.ft. with a finished basement) with PV on their metal roofs along with solar thermal for hot water. The home received the lowest HERS (Home Energy Rating System) score on record for the building envelope and systems, only 47, which means it saves 53 percent compared with a home built to the 2006 energy code (which would score 100). The owners plan to franchise their “EcoCraft Home” system. Let’s look at the details of Weatherford Place. The home’s solar electric output will be sold to Georgia Power at 18 cents/kwh and bought back off peak at 8 cents/kwh. The homes all have a rainwater harvesting system, with an 1,880-gallon cistern placed underground to catch rainwater for irrigation. The homes feature high-efficiency custom windows and doors with aluminum cladding exteriors, including Zo-e-shield glass (reduces window heat gain by 73%). Sales price is about $800,000. 2008-09-21T15:51:56-08:00 http://www.greenbuildconsult.com/blog/san-francisco-ups-the-ante-city-by-the-bay-goes-green-in-a-big-way/ http://www.greenbuildconsult.com/blog/san-francisco-ups-the-ante-city-by-the-bay-goes-green-in-a-big-way/ In a move that might be labeled the “green building consultants’ full employment act,” the City of San Francisco will require all new buildings and most major renovations to adhere to green standards by 2009. According to one story, the new ordinance modifies the city’s building code, requiring applicants for residential and commercial building permits, beginning in 2009, to follow a city-approved checklist and rating system,including one from local residential certifier Build It Green or the LEED rating system from the U.S. Green Building Council. My comment: with this ordinance, flawed though it might be in particulars, San Francisco has definitely raised the bar to all California cities and to the more than 500 other cities that have signed onto the U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Challenge. The new ordinance requires new projects to reduce the use of potable water for landscaping by 50 percent. (This is not hard in San Francisco, since temperatures are quite mild - a 65 degree day in mid-summer is not uncommon - and the fog and cloud cover also inhibit loss of soil moisture. The ordinance also speaks to higher standards for stormwater management, construction-material recycling and renewable energy applications. The standards apply to new residential buildings and new commercial buildings that are 5,000 square feet or larger. The rules apply to projects for new and renovated interior commercial space of 25,000 square feet or more, and to work that significantly changes the structural, electrical and mechanical systems of a commercial building that is 25,000 square feet or larger. My comment: like many other similar ordinances, this may have the perverse effect of holding landlords back from making such upgrades and renovations, if the costs of meeting the ordinance exceed the benefits of the tenant leases. New large commercial buildings would have to meet the LEED Silver standard beginning in 2009 and the LEED Gold certification beginning in 2012. They have the most stringent standards in the new ordinance. Look for this law to be strengthened by 2010 at the latest, as the data indicate that the costs for meeting the ordinance are not that high compared with the benefits and the consumer acceptance. Green Building News 2008-08-05T18:58:45-08:00 http://www.greenbuildconsult.com/blog/is-toyota-the-future-of-green-homes/ http://www.greenbuildconsult.com/blog/is-toyota-the-future-of-green-homes/ What if you could link up the quality control and mass production methods of auto manufacturers with the growing demand for green homes, and tie that in with plug-in hybrid cars? Aren’t we ready for a revolution in homebuilding, one that would embrace more modular and factory-built components? I’d buy a fireproof, soundproof, super-insulated, electronically modern home in a heartbeat, wouldn’t you? In July, the Wall Street Journal carried an amazing story about a small division of Toyota building homes with 60-year warranties. According to the article, “Toyota’s aspirations as a home builder are also gaining new importance with the planned launch by 2010 of its plug-in vehicles, gas-electric hybrid cars with powerful lithium-ion batteries that drivers will need to recharge at home. The car maker is testing an electricity-monitoring system in its homes that would charge the vehicle during off-peak hours to keep utility bills low, while the car’s battery can serve as an electrical backup, powering the home during blackouts.” Toyota has been building modular, factory homes for years, while the U.S. continues to rely on outmoded systems of site-built housing that meet no real goals for sustainability. The great housing “correction” (read crash) of 2007 and 2008 is likely to persist as we work off millions of unoccupied homes from inventory and foreclosure. Maybe the time has come for home builders to embrace the off-site factory, but with a green building twist. At this point, they’ve little to lose. Corporate Sustainability / Green Business Practices 2008-08-05T01:57:15-08:00 http://www.greenbuildconsult.com/blog/green-weenies-will-green-hotels-ever-come-of-age/ http://www.greenbuildconsult.com/blog/green-weenies-will-green-hotels-ever-come-of-age/ The New York Times article on green hotels points out some of the barriers to effectively greening the lodging industry, a combination of timid executives and guests who don’t want to sacrifice anything to save the planet. Most European hotels now have card keys that turn off the power in the room when you leave. Most Americans won’t accept them, because the A/C might take a few minutes to kick in, so the hotel leaves on the A/C all day for an empty room for fear of losing a guest. This might be a problem during the few summer months, but what about rest of the year? What will it take for hotels to put blue recycling containers in every room and compost their food waste, among a few mildly responsible measures? Other than the obvious ploy of not washing the sheets (at your option) for a multi-day stay (which saves water but also a lot of money for the hotel), what will it take to get the hotel industry to adopt green construction and operations standards? Consumer demand and economics are the obvious answers. If green hotels start showing higher occupancies and the cost of energy keeps going higher, we may start to see this nascent trend accelerate. But for right now, I wouldn’t bet on it happening very fast, because of the lack of vision and any sense of social or environmental responsibility in the lodging industry. The only thing that might accelerate change is if corporate travel departments and meeting planners start demanding LEED or Energy Star certification for hotels they patronize; that will be a message much harder to ignore. Corporate Sustainability / Green Business Practices 2008-08-04T18:21:18-08:00 http://www.greenbuildconsult.com/blog/energy-tax-credits-extended/ http://www.greenbuildconsult.com/blog/energy-tax-credits-extended/ The first existing hotel has received LEED for Existing Buildings certification; look for this to become a major trend as owners seek to re-brand older lodging properties. Portland’s Avalon Hotel & Spa has achieved the Northwest’s first LEED certification of an existing hotel building. The Avalon, a luxury boutique hotel and spa, joins the ranks of only nine other hotels in the world to have achieved LEED certification and is the second existing hotel building in the world to receive the U.S.Green Building Council’s (USGBC) LEED Silver rating. The Avalon is majority owned by RREEF Alternative Investments. The Avalon’s LEED Silver designation, ranking it higher than any other hotel among the mosteco-conscious in the U.S., builds on RREEF’s effort to reduce the environmental impact of its real estate portfolio. 2008-08-01T16:50:34-08:00