The Commercial Building Products editors have added a new Commercial Conversation podcast. The new discussion is with architect Amy Stein, MGA Partners Architects, Philadelphia, and focuses on education-facility design, how it’s being affected by technology, the demand for “green” facilities, security, power delivery, and several other factors that affect new and renovated school facilities. Stein is a talented and experienced architect who specializes in education and historical structures.
In addition, Commercial Conversation offers four other podcasts related to commercial-building design and construction. Look for a new podcast approximately every two weeks. Be sure to subscribe to Commercial Conversation so you’ll be notified when a new podcast is made available.
New Commercial Conversation Podcast on Education
Survey Shows Interest in Energy Efficiency High, but Barriers Remain
The 2011 Energy Efficiency Indicator survey showed a global increase in interest in energy efficiency, motivated by incentives and public image concerns in addition to energy cost savings. While interest is strong and savings targets are common, barriers still remain.
Seven in 10 executives said energy management was extremely important or very important to their organizations. The top three drivers for pursuing energy efficiency include energy cost savings, incentives and rebates, and enhanced brand or public image.
Although executives recognized the importance of energy efficiency, and many believed there were cost
savings opportunities, they reported significant barriers to pursuing investment. Barriers ranged from organizational structure, to technical capacity, to financial considerations. The 2011 EEI survey identified five key barriers to energy efficiency investments:
- Lack of awareness of opportunities for energy savings.
- Lack of technical expertise to design and complete projects.
- Lack of certainty that promised savings will be achieved.
- inability of projects to meet the organization’s financial payback criteria.
- Lack of available capital for investment in project
The survey was administered by the Institute for Building Efficiency in partnership with the International Facility Management Association (IFMA), the Urban Land Institute (ULI), and 30 strategic partners around the world.
The Institute for Building Efficiency is an initiative of Johnson controls providing information and analysis of technologies, policies, and practices for efficient, high performance buildings and smart energy systems around the world. The International Facility Management association (IFMA) is the world’s largest and most widely recognized international association for professional facility managers. The Urban Land institute (ULI) is a research and education organization with members in 95 countries, representing the entire spectrum of land use and real estate development disciplines working in private enterprise and public service.
Bayer Invests $17 Million to Create “Workspace of the Future”
Bayer's New Facility
Bayer Corporation recently announced a $17 million “Workspace of the Future” renovation project at its U.S. headquarters in Pittsburgh. The planned improvements focus on two buildings which house the largest number of employees, approximately 825 of the 1,500 employees at the suburban Robinson Township campus. After completion, expected by June 2013, the buildings will feature open-area workspaces designed to boost employee collaboration and environmental sustainability.
The new working environment will integrate and showcase Bayer MaterialScience products in the design. For example, Bayer invented polycarbonate, a synthetic thermoplastic resin used in a wide range of products. Bayer MaterialScience’s Makrolon MAK clear polycarbonate will be used at the workstations, allowing natural light to filter throughout the workplace. LED (light-emitting diode) light fixture lenses will be made of the polycarbonate material, as will lobby architectural panels displaying the Bayer logo.
Additional energy-efficient design features include: Energy Star-rated heating and cooling systems, low-flow plumbing to reduce water usage by 20 to 40 percent and GThurm windows, a line of energy-efficient windows, recently launched by Graham Architectural Products. The windows feature Graham glass-reinforced polyurethane technology, which employs a unique polyurethane resin supplied by Bayer MaterialScience LLC. In addition to stability and durability, the windows offer thermal insulation and environmental friendliness.
Bayer is pursuing LEED-CI (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design – Commercial Interior) gold-level certification from the U.S. Green Building Council for the project. LEED is an internationally recognized green building certification system. It provides official verification that building designs meet high energy efficiency and environmental standards.
Living Architecture Academy is an Online Green Learning Center
Green Roofs for Healthy Cities (GRHC) has just launched the Living Architecture Academy (LAA), an online portal to green roof and wall educational content from conferences and events, including the recent CitiesAlive, Green Roof and Wall Conference in Vancouver, BC. The LAA currently offers 24/7 access to 75 slide show presentations with streaming audio, as well as 70 papers from previous conferences for purchase and download.
The Living Architecture Academy will feature unique recordings of courses, webinars, and educational sessions – an ideal way for accredited Green Roof Professionals (GRPs) to earn continuing education credits. MP3 audio files can also be downloaded onto iPods for education on the go.
The Living Architecture Academy also offers archived versions of GRHC’s monthly Green Infrastructure Webinar Series, featuring subject matter experts from a variety of disciplines discussing topics of interest to green roof and wall enthusiasts. Past webinars include: New Fire and Wind Uplift Guidelines for Green Roofs, Principles and Practices for Integrated Design, Principles of Integrated Water Management Systems, and a case study of the Target Center Arena in Minneapolis.
Database Organizes Cluttered World of Eco-Labels and Certifications
BASF has launched SELECT (Sustainability, Eco-Labeling and Environmental Certification Tracking) Eco-Label Manager, a database created to help users navigate the maze of eco-labels, environmental claims, directories and ratings systems by allowing the user to search, analyze and compare these programs in a structured and consistent format.
Currently, the database includes 100 programs, primarily in North America, but BASF is continuing to add programs from around the world. Examples include Built Green Canada, a residential construction checklist and energy rating system; USGBC LEED programs, and the Green Guides, a set of guidelines established by the Federal Trade Commission to help manufacturers make clear and substantiated marketing claims.
Currently, the tool is available to all BASF employees and preferred BASF customers, stakeholders and members of the press. If you would like to gain access to the SELECT Eco-Label Manager or are interested in learning more about the database, visit the SELECT Eco-Label Manager website or call Mary MacLeod-Jones at (207) 929-4568.
Green Professional Earns Recognition
Zeftron® Nylon announces Julie Kelly as the winner of its second annual Sustainable Practices Award. The award honors architecture, interior design and facility professionals who incorporate environmentally responsible practices at home, at work and in their communities. With this program, Zeftron underscores its ongoing commitment to industry-wide eco-friendly practices throughout the year.
Julie is an interior designer at the Chicago Design Network and was chosen for her variety of innovative green practices, including reusing clothing items to make creative aprons and quilts then donating them to a local charity.
Green Roofs for Healthy Cities Congratulates First Certified “Living Buildings”
The International Living Building Institute announced the results of its first third-party certification audits, proving that “Living Buildings” can be designed and built to benefit the ecosystems they inhabit. In recognition of this achievement, Green Roofs for Healthy Cities (GRHC) will be profiling the program and sharing other ongoing project efforts at CitiesAlive, the 8th Annual Green Roof and Wall Conference in Vancouver, BC on December 1, 2010. The group will be conducting a special education session that introduces participants to the current Living Building Challenge standard.
The courses and workshops at CitiesAlive will emphasize integrated design practices including:
- integrated water management,
- rooftop urban agriculture,
- ecological green roof design, and
- collaborative design principles.
The Living Building Challenge is widely regarded as the world’s most rigorous green building performance standard and has redefined the design and construction process for more than seventy projects since its launch in 2006. A Living Building must generate all of its own energy through clean, renewable resources; capture and treat its own water through ecologically sound techniques; incorporate only nontoxic, appropriately sourced materials; and operate efficiently and for maximum beauty. Summary information about each certified project is available on the International Living Buliding Institute website.
Green, green, and more green
The October issue is one of my favorites because we get to focus as much editorial as possible on green/sustainable construction and energy-saving designs/systems. This issue also signals the upcoming Greenbuild show (Nov. 16 to 19 in Chicago), one of the more interesting shows I attend each year.
Our lead article for October describes a fascinating building that is on my list for a visit the next time I venture to St. Louis. The Living Learning Center, part of the Washington Univ. St. Louis, Tyson Research Center, is a zero net energy and water structure. The way the building was designed and functions is impressive, but even more so is that it meets the criteria for the Living Building Challenge. I had not heard of the Challenge until I edited this article and now I want to know more. If you read nothing else in this issue, spend some time with “LLC Goes Beyond Green”.
Since I know you won’t be able to put the magazine down after reading just one green article, I’ll suggest that you learn that there’s a lot more to light-fixture reflectors than meets the eye. That “lots more” is the difference between getting average, at best, performance out of your light fixtures and realizing their full potential in terms of light delivery and energy savings.
Now that you’re hooked, you’re ready to learn what factors are involved in specifying/purchasing “green” flooring for educational facilities. Next, go to our Building Power feature, where you’ll learn how rapidly rooftop solar-energy technology is advancing and an interesting new solar-cell design that makes use of all of the light that hits and reflects from a roof. The article will make you think twice about how those vast roof surfaces are used.
We also have some short pieces that have a green theme:
- a demand-response program that is saving two Hyatt properties $4,500/month;
- the savings being realized by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians by replacing high-pressure sodium fixtures with LED units;
- a tremendous improvement in the locker room at Franklin & Marshall College achieved, in part, by using environmentally friendly rubber flooring; and
- the wall of windows that helped The Environmental Nature Center in Newport Beach, CA, achieve LEED Platinum status.
If you like green, it should be clear that this issue has something for you. If you can, find your way to Chicago in November to attend Greenbuild and gain more green knowledge. But don’t leave town without stuffing yourself with some Chicago-style pizza.
NIST grants $1.5 million to develop energy-efficient buildings
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), Gaithersburg, MD, has awarded a grant of $1.5 million over 3 years to the Delaware Valley Industrial Resources Center (DVIRC), Exton, PA, and the New Jersey Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NJMEP), Morris Plains, NJ, to encourage expanded manufacturing of energy-efficient building technologies.
The grant complements a larger U.S. Dept. of Energy, Washington, project announced August 24, 2010 that provides as much as $122 million to the Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, for an Energy Innovation Hub. To be located at the Philadelphia Navy Yard Clean Energy campus, the Hub will focus on developing energy-efficient building designs that will save energy, cut pollution, and position the U.S. as a leader in this industry.
According to MEP, this project represents the first time that federal, state, and local public and private resources will be pooled to create a formal applied research/manufacturing cluster that spans from the lab bench, through production to implementation.
“Expanding the capabilities of U.S. manufacturers to respond to the market opportunities resulting from the development of new energy efficient building technologies is key to ensuring the linkage between R&D and commercial application,” said Roger Kilmer, director of NIST MEP.
DVIRC’s and NJMEP’s role will be to connect manufacturers, specifically small- and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs), to the project at all levels, including R&D; design and testing of new products, materials, technologies, and systems; and, more importantly, commercializing those opportunities for business growth and job creation.
The Energy Innovation Hub will pursue a research, development and demonstration program targeting technologies for single buildings and district-wide systems. These new building systems and components will need to be manufactured, presenting a unique opportunity for businesses in the area to get in on the ground floor.
The DVIRC, in collaboration with its sister-center NJMEP, will leverage their knowledge of and relationships with region companies to identify technologies such as sensors, new building materials, and computer-simulation tools developed by the Energy Innovation Hub, and translate them into components they can license, develop and manufacture.
“Our region is home to a significant asset and essential resource to innovate new products and technologies,” says Joe Houldin, CEO of DVIRC. “SME manufacturers are true innovators and contribute substantial value to the region’s economic prosperity, and will play a vital role in taking energy research and applied technology to market.”
“We hope that this effort will be a model for public-private collaborative partnerships across the nation,” said Aimee Dobrzeniecki, deputy director of NIST MEP.—Gary L. Parr
Show your building in YouTube competition
“Building a Better Tomorrow, Today” is a new YouTube video competition created to encourage innovation and advance the green-building industry. The competition is being sponsored by YKK AP America Inc., Austell, GA. Interested participants can submit videos showcasing their ideas for how America can enhance the built environment for generations to come, whether it’s through an energy-savings, green building, or sustainability perspective. Submissions are encouraged from architects, designers, contractors, manufacturers, students, and the general public, and can consist of a new or existing idea, design, product, or project. Winners will be announced at GreenBuild in Chicago in November.
To enter, participants can post their videos, which should not exceed 120 sec., to YouTube as a video response to YKK AP’s Building a Better Tomorrow, Today video. The grand prize winner will receive $1,500 in cash as well as a $1,000 donation on their behalf to support the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Philanthropic Programs. Two runner-up projects will be awarded an Apple iPad.
A panel of experts will judge each video on the overall message and relevance to the theme, creativity, and entertainment value. Judges include Jim Fausett, a previous architecture professor at Southern Polytechnic State University; Susan Ellis Proper, director of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Atlanta Chapter; and Sydney Roberts, PhD, Southface Home Services Program Manager.
“We created this video contest to foster the sharing of ideas and innovation in sustainable, green building practices,” said Oliver Stepe, senior vice president of YKK AP America. ”We’re always thinking ahead to what’s next and how we can better serve the industry and our customers. We want to encourage others to share their vision and ideas on how America can enhance the built environment. We look forward to reviewing the submissions, and we encourage all participants to make your video fun, smart and entertaining!”
The contest opens on Wednesday, September 1 and closes at midnight Eastern Time on Friday, October 15. For complete contest requirements and instruction, visit the competition web page.—Gary L. Parr
