credit Paul Petrone

Our latest LEED consulting project broke ground last week. Read all about the Waterford High School groundbreaking ceremony and see the video here. The project is pursuing LEED certification under the 2009 LEED for Schools rating system.

Our membership base is the area of the Glacial Lake Hitchcock region, which was formed 15,000 years ago when the Laurentide ice sheet began to retreat northward along the Connecticut River. At its maximum extent, Glacial Lake Hitchcock expanded from Rocky Hill, Ct to St. Johnsburry VT. Similarly , our green building community expands beyond the boundaries of the pioneer valley.

This winter we hosted a LEED Green Associate Study Group at UMASS amherst, and our first two graduates passed the LEED GA exam.  We will be announcing spring events and networking opportunities soon. Let us know if you’d like to be included.

By the way, Amherst College’s free Museum of Natural History has a neat exhibit on Glacial Lake Hitchcock.

Wall splatter below a dryer surface mounted on painted wall board.

I spend an inordinate amount of time talking about toilet rooms at work. I’ve had meetings and dedicated to waterless urinals, pressure assisted toilets, and a variety of toilet room smells. The latest round of conference calls has focused on high efficiency hand dryers in several projects.

First, high efficiency hand dryers are the new-ish models that are popping up in restrooms around the country. They are powerful yet efficient, and dry our hands in about 10-12 seconds. Excel and Dyson are 2 of the major manufacturers. Using dryers is more sanitary than paper towel dispensers or push button dryers, and cleaning staff no longer need to clean wet paper towels off of the floors. With lower annual costs when compared to paper towels and lower energy use when compared to standard dryers, there are clear environmental benefits and they are (finally!) becoming industry standard.

Some of my clients are becoming reluctant to install them because of occupant complaints about noise and appearance. In my own travels, I’ve seen many poor installations, and I’ve witnessed quite a few small children cry at the sound of the dryer. After too many conference calls, I’ve come up with this list of easy steps to include high efficiency dryers in toilet rooms without scaring the children or disturbing the adults:

• Include the noise reduction nozzle! This is an option when ordering the Xlerator dryer, and it significantly reduces the noise.  Without it, the device is likely to frighten small children or disrupt conversations in adjacent rooms.
• Inform your users. Excel has a simple online calculator that determines annual cost savings and environmental savings. Many users who complain about the dryers are not aware of their benefits.  Use the calculator and include a small sign that shows the actual savings for your dryers. A sign may read:

“By using these dryers instead of paper towels, we eliminate 550lb of waste, save 12,331 gallons of water, save 10 trees, reduce our carbon footprint by 1278.58 kgs CO2 eq., and save $1,260.00 each year.”

I always carefully consider the tone of any signage and I craft it to be appropriate for the building, client, and users. Most occupants will appreciate being “informed” but will resent being “educated” in a public toilet room.

• Ditch the paper towel dispenser. If you include both a dryer and a paper towel dispenser, many users will choose paper towels. This can negate the cost savings that you will realize if you only install the dryer.
• Pay attention to the wall material. Many small toilet rooms have dryers that are surface mounted on painted wall board. With these dryers, the velocity of air is greater, and water from hands will splash on the wall. Some occupants complain about ‘unsanitary conditions’ when in fact, what they are seeing is this unsightly wall splatter.  I recommend including a stainless wall panel, tile, or other cleanable surface at the location of an Xlerator dryer and training cleaning staff to wipe the surface. The Dyson Airblade is self contained and usually does not have wall splatter problems, but because it is accessed from the top, different mounting heights may be needed in toilet rooms that serve both children and adults.

This paper towel dispenser is conveniently installed on a partition adjacent to the sink.

The Dyson Airblade is on the opposite side of the partition. Shame on them!

Christoph Geilen's photo: Deer Crest II California, 2008

Chris Jordan: Depicts 11,000 jet trails, equal to the number of commercial flights in the US every eight hours.

I’ve read a number of transportation reports in the last few months, and this has me thinking quite a bit about my own means of transportation. Last week I attempted a trip on the local bus route, and it was an utter failure. It seems that I’m out of practice.

The American Public Transportation Association issued  a summary of the financial savings realized by public transit riders in 20 major cities. The findings include an average individual savings of $9,242.00 annually. The savings is even greater in cities such as New York, Boston, and San Francisco.

Earlier this week I reviewed a Sustainable Sites LEED credit with a client. They are looking to obtain a credit for low-emitting and fuel efficient vehicles. In order to obtain the credit, they are providing preferred parking for vehicles that are classified as zero-emission-vehicles (ZEV) and have a green score of 40 or above on the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) Annual Vehicle Rating Guide. The review brought out an interesting point that I often take for granted: Hybrid cars are not required to meet the credit. Many large hybrid vehicles do not meet the LEED requirements while many non-hybrid compact or even midsize cars do. For example, the 2010 Chevy Tahoe Hybrid CI500 has a green score of 29, while the 2010 Hyundi Elantra and Nissan Versa each score  43. This actually makes enforcing preferred parking more of a challenge because most users assume that hybrid = greener.

As some of my readers know, before I moved to the Pioneer Valley, I did not own a car. Most of my transportation was human powered: I lived in Philadelphia and biked to work every day. I walked around the city all weekend, and rarely had the need to use a car. Sure, I had a few awkward moments (carrying a new mop home, getting caught in the rain in a  suit), but for the most part, my $165 used Schwinn brought me to business meetings, museums, shops, the orchestra, and even happy hour without trouble. I also used a local printer for architectural drawing sets, and rolls of prints were delivered by bike messenger. When I moved to Western Mass, I made a choice to accept a job some distance away, and that required me to have a car. After 2 weeks of commuting, I thought to myself “how do people live like this?” Three and half years later, I found myself driving 1.8 miles to CVS.

I am now recommitting to using my bike. I’m planning a few adjustments and accessory additions for my bike so that it will be more useful for running errands and getting me to meetings in the area. This is inspired by not by the insightful transportation reports, but by 2 artists’ work: Chrostoph Gielen and Chris Jordan. Both artists have an incredible ability to translate difficult-to-grasp complex ideas or quantities into readable and compelling images. When I view Gielen’s work in particular, I’m determined to escape from the suburban maze. I invite you to check them out.

Chris Jordan’s work is on exhibit at the Boston Museum of Science. Running the Numbers: Portraits of Mass Consumption runs through May 9, 2010. Christoph Gielen’s show “Arcadia” was shown at Daniel Cooney Fine Art in New York  in 2008-2009.

Here are my top 10 quotes from Greenbuild 2009 in Phoenix. Some, inspiring, some technical, some witty, and some funny. Enjoy!

10. “People are starting to ask ‘Are we getting to much green tape?’” ~ Paul King, referring to regulations in the UK  and later, “If you stop someone on the street and ask them what they think of their gas condensing boiler, they won’t have a clue about what you’re talking about.”

9. “We are not going to build our way out of this we have to conserve our way out” ~ Richard Poe

8. “Real innovation will be in technology that turns systems off and allows natural processes to take over” ~ Vivian Loftness (sounding just like she did when I was a student in her class at CMU)

7. “We have insulated ourselves into ignorance” ~Daniel Wildcat

6. “Water is going to be more significant than energy.” - Bert Gregory of Mithun

5. “We can’t forget that this is all about the people inside the buildings.” ~ Rick Fedrizzi

4. “Most cities don’t want to be the first at something, but none of them want to be the last.” -Jeff Harlan, The Planning Center

3. “We’re going to solve the climate crisis… In 15 minutes. Hold on to your seats.” ~ Ed Mazria

2. “CFLs don’t have any ambiance. No sex. That is why we are going with LED” – Tony Gale, FAIA, Starbucks

1. “We are NOT going to let you down.” ~ Al Gore’s pledge to the children of our nation.

Note: Thanks to all of the Greenbuild attendees who contributed quotes by E-mail & Twitter  from sessions that I did not observe. If I’ve misquoted anyone, please send me corrections. See you next year in Chicago.

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Five years ago at Greenbuild, it seemed that everyone was caught up in semantics: Green vs. Sustainable vs. Eco-friendly vs. Bio-inspired. Various definitions were overly debated and argued, with no real outcomes. Since then,the arguments have largely been forgotten. What has emerged is some significant criticism of the LEED rating system, much of it centered on shortcomings such as a lack of robust metrics, exclusion of life-cycle cost measurements, and failure to adequately address zero-carbon goals.

While these criticisms are valid, the early goals of the LEED Rating System stated that certification should be “achievable” with a reasonable approach and level of effort and experience. I’m going to briefly revisit some of the old definitions.

Sustainable Building: A building that is

• CONSTRUCTED with environmentally benign and local materials
• OPERATED without adverse environmental or human health impacts
• Relies completely on RENEWABLE ENERGY and emits 0 green house gas emissions
• DECONSTRUCTS into 100% reusable or recyclable components at the end of its useful life

(my definition, adapted from an early USGBC definition)

Green Building: A building that

Uses design, construction, and operations practices that significantly reduce the negative impact of buildings on the environment and occupants through

• Sustainable site planning
• Safeguarding water and water efficiency
• Energy efficiency
• Conservation of materials and resources
• Indoor environmental quality

(from a 2002 USGBC training workshop)

Using the above definitions, “Green” is the weaker of the two, but the one that is behind the LEED Rating System. “Sustainable” is possible, but somewhat vague and more difficult to achieve. I’m of the opinion that over time, the definition of a “Green” building should have evolved to become synonymous with “Sustainable” building, and the LEED Rating System along with it. It is not there yet.

I generally tell my students and clients that LEED certified buildings are green buildings, which is not the same thing as sustainable buildings.

Back to Paul King and the Drexel University student’s question. He answered her by referencing the Brundtland Commission’s definition “one that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet thier own needs.”

Technically, the Aria and Vdara have 2 Gold Certifications for the hotel and conference center respectively. The casino itself was excluded from the LEED submission. (I wonder if the protesters know this). Even if the casino area was included, smoking could be allowed in designated areas with measures taken to avoid second-hand smoke in other areas according to EQ Prerequisite 2: Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) Control .

USGBC and GBCI allow project teams to define their buildings and sites in any way they choose, as long as the definition of site boundaries and building extents are used consistently throughout all credits. This is a crucial distinction, and a very important one. I myself am currently working on 4 LEED-CS registered projects on one campus. There is some game playing here, as one definition of a site boundary or building extents may be more advantageous for LEED certification than another. In the case of the ARIA, the casino floor is excluded from the LEED submission, a move that is completely legitimate, and yet somewhat misleading to visitors and employees. The building is advertised as a green building, and the company website proudly describes the LEED Gold certification, without any mention of the exclusion. Employees are taking issue with the green billing, and rightly so given that they will be exposed to second-hand smoke.

With over-the-top casino finishes, excess lighting, and of course, smoking on the casino floor, it is no wonder that the area was excluded. Imagine however a casino that does include the gambling floor: It could feature pleasant daylit spaces, healthier indoor air quality, green food and beverage services, innovative and energy efficient equipment for both building services as well as gambling,  and no second-hand smoke for visitors or  employees.

If any Greenbuild attendees or protesters want to chime in or provide more info, please share.

Architect: Silver Petrucelli + Associates

Centerpoint Connecticut

Cooper Green Design, with 4 Elements Group, is providing LEED consulting services for the Centerpont CT campus in Middletown, CT.  The campus includes 7 new 2-story buildings and one existing building renovation. Spaces are available for purchase or for lease in an “office-condo” arrangement. The first phase includes 3 new buildings that are registered under the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED for Core & Shell Rating System and targeting a LEED Silver Certification. A rooftop photovoltaic system will provide a portion of the electricity, and an energy-efficient building envelope will reduce energy use and utility costs for owners and tenants. Each space will be individually metered, allowing owners and tenants to monitor their own energy and water use and encourage conservation practices. Tenant and owner guidelines are being developed in order to support LEED Certification for Commercial Interiors spaces and to provide occupants with suggested strategies to maximize the performance of their spaces.

Developer: Tall Properties Development Company

Architect: Tyre Studio

Represented by: Regions Commercial

Back in 2007, Crow wrote a now infamous blog post during her Stop Global Warming College Tour where she proposed a limitation on the number of toilet paper squares allowed in one sitting. Apparently intended as a joke, the comment did received the desired effect: It got people talking! Comments flooded The Huffington Post, Rosie O’Donnell talked about it on The View!, it was reported on in the Washington Post, and on major network news.

I always enjoy watching musicians and celebrities tout their green and environmental activist activities. It is impressive when someone actually speaks intelligently on the subject and embarrassingly humorous if they are stick to the “Polar Bears and Prius” style of activism.  I hope that Crow’s Greenbuild performance will be the former – entertaining and with a positive message without trivializing the event.