Questions have been swirling around the building industry about the new big thing, green building. Will it add cost, will it add time, does painting a building green count? These questions most often involve the sustainable design and construction process, which many people think as daunting.
To highlight some of the important aspects of the green building process and show that green building is not this totally new and confusing change in the way we design and construct buildings, I recently interviewed Doug Wittnebel, a principal at Gensler’s San Ramon office and design director for the interiors of the new AAA NCNU headquarters in Walnut Creek.Here some excerpts of that interview.
Me:
What sustainable strategies set the new AAA headquarters apart from similar sustainable offices?
Doug:
This project differed from other similar projects in three different ways.One of the ways was early in the process when AAA was selecting a site for the office; a very careful study was done on potential sites to determine the location with the closest proximity to mass transit, in this case BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit).The location of the office is in the newly planned Station Landing, where housing, retail and commercial buildings are being planned together in a very smart and sustainable way.This is how projects are going to be done in the near future in the Bay Area and around the country.
Me: Did you couple this strategy with an open office plan?
Doug:
Yes, we absolutely coupled it with an open office plan. In this case we designed the office to promote better collaboration and communication but also more access to natural light. The more access you have to natural light and the outside environment the better you feel, the better you work, the less sick days you take off and the less staff turnover that occurs.
Prepare to be shocked. Or at a minimum, informed. Occupancy behavior is holding us back from reaching environmental building performance goals. Not funding. Not awareness levels. Just behavior.
Every day, new Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified and energy-efficient facilities are built and/or modernized. But as eco-friendly a design may be, achieving performance goals is impossible without tenant participation. Therefore, methods and strategies to boost tenant compliance must become an integral part of green building, before and after occupancy.
Through interviews and “green” building research, I’ve compiled five ways to encourage behaviors that align with environmental performance goals.
Engage Occupants Before They Move In
In the design phase, architects, contractors and civil engineers work together to establish projections, calculate expected energy usage and determine environmental efficiency goals. Many high-performance buildings will host an eco-charrette, a kick-off meeting of sorts, including members of the design team along with the general contractor, maintenance staff, tenants and neighbors to collaboratively contribute ideas to the building’s design and functions.
By engaging tenants, as well as others involved in an eco-charrette, there’s a predisposition to understand the functionality and importance of established performance goals. Including future occupants, when possible, in planning processes is a valuable means to ensuring their commitment from the beginning stages.
Take A Holistic Approach
Josh Radoff, Principal at YR&G Sustainability, believes that a holistic approach to encouraging occupant compliance is ideal.
“There’s a mistake of focusing solely on energy and water. While they’re important for a lot of people, they’re abstract ideas. It’s hard to get too far only focusing on energy,” says Radoff.
Some organizations are having success by offering holistic programs that emphasize overall health and well-being. These may include cooking classes, composting, instruction on sustainable foods and more. By establishing holistic ideals in an organization, the occupants become more likely to participate in energy-saving campaigns.
“Communicating about sustainability isn’t only about austerity. A holistic view is far more likely to bring people in,” concludes Radoff.
Measure with New Technologies
One innovation that’s demonstrating a positive response is a software product from Lucid called Building Dashboard. It’s a social energy management tool that helps occupants compare their energy use with their peers. It sets reference points, or benchmarks, encouraging compliance and competitiveness among tenants.
Lucid’s journey began in 2002 at one of the nation’s first modern green buildings at Oberlin College.
“Our goal was to engage occupants and visitors by showing real-time environmental performance of the building and landscape,” says Michael Murray, Lucid’s CEO and Co-Founder.
Lucid’s Building Dashboard has several interactive applications that are both engaging and user-friendly. For example, attractive graphs display current trends in energy and water use. They reveal real-time energy use, measuring kilowatt-hours, BTUs, gallons, carbon dioxide emissions and the actual cost of energy.
Building Dashboard also integrates social networking, allowing a a seamless connectivity to Facebook and Twitter, which makes occupancy usage accessible and publicly visible. Facilities management software can be a valuable tool in managing environmental performance goals.
Provoke Competition
With social media integration and dashboard implementation, facility managers can create competitions between occupants, whether it be within a single building, among several buildings, or even between floors in a high-rise.
By clarifying goals, occupants are more likely to participate. For instance, a building may establish a goal to reduce the overall carbon footprint by 20%. With live data reporting in dashboard features, competitors can view up-to-date statuses on consumption levels in comparison to opponents.
Lucid shares an analogy that helps put this in perspective (and substantiates the idea):
“Consider the Prius Effect: when you can see how your car is performing in real time, you tend to fine-tune usage in order to improve, sustain and eventually surpass your current level of performance. This phenomenon is especially true when friends, family and spouses get involved, each competing to outperform the recent mile-per-gallon ‘winner.’ By analogy, the outcome of using Building Dashboard is like the social and psychological effect produced by using the energy monitor in a hybrid vehicle.”
Create Transparency
Energy usage and measurements can seem abstract. And a lack of understanding often results in a lack of interest. By making things clear, polished and simple, occupants are more likely to embrace the idea of energy conservation.
Radoff explains, “It’s sociology. People do not respond well to austerity measures, but they do if it’s packaged in a way that’s appealing. Then it’s more likely to be well-received.”
Encourage engagement by providing tenants with the actual costs stemmed from energy use and charts demonstrating usage patterns. Demonstrate exactly how their habits affect overall consumption-and how changes in behavior can make a positive impact.
Once occupants are familiar with performance expectations, they can act as allies-always keeping their eyes on things that may need improvement or to suggest ways to become more efficient. This provides the opportunity for occupants to provide valuable feedback to facility managers.
Truth be told, occupant compliance in green-initiative projects is new territory that’s still being fine-tuned and heavily researched. Keeping in mind that all properties are unique, there’s not one answer that fully resolves occupancy issues. But with collaborative effort, environmental performance goals become far more achievable.
Do you manage a zero-energy or sustainable building? What strategies have you put in place to boost occupant participation in meeting environmental performances goals? What strategies have proven successful and which ones have not? Feel free to share your comments below.
So I’m cruising around the internet deciding what to read before bed. I realize after a documentary last night that I don’t know enough about what they are talking about…. The movie was called “Food Beware” and I saw what they listed as food’s chemical makeup, I knew the name and types of chemicals but I didn’t truly know what those chemicals were and their true (unbiased) effect on humans and greater life.
I decided to do some research. What I found was some of what I expected but certainly something that deserves to be published again!
I started with “Endocrine Disruptors.” I know a bit about the endocrine system from 8th grand biology but what the fuck is an endocrine disruptor…. Well that research led me down the path. Unfortunately that path hasn’t stopped in the past 3 hours since I started googling! However I will say I am more informed.
Essentially here is my research as summated by Wikipedia:
Endocrine Disruptors: are chemicals that interfere with endocrine (or hormone system) in animals, including humans. These disruptions can cause cancerous tumors, birth defects, and other developmental disorders. Specifically, they are known to cause learning disabilities, severe attention deficit disorder, cognitive and brain development problems, deformations of the body (including limbs); sexual development problems, feminizing of males or masculine effects on females, etc. Any system in the body controlled by hormones, can be derailed by hormone disruptors.
PCBs: PCBs were used as coolants and insulating fluids (transformer oil) for transformers and capacitors, especially in components of early fluorescent light fittings and electrical transformers, and as plasticizers in paints and cements, stabilizing additives in flexible PVC coatings of electrical wiring and electronic components, pesticide extenders, cutting oils, reactive flame retardants, lubricating oils, hydraulic fluids, and sealants (for caulking in schools and commercial buildings[7]), adhesives, wood floor finishes (such as Fabulon and other products of Halowax in the U.S.),[7] paints, de-dusting agents, water-proofing compounds, casting agents, vacuum pump fluids, fixatives in microscopy, surgical implants, and in carbonless copy (“NCR”) paper.[2]
PBDE: Polybrominated diphenyl ethers or PBDE, are organobromine compounds that are used as flame retardants. Like other brominated flame retardants, PBDEs have been used in a wide array of products, including building materials, electronics, furnishings, motor vehicles, airplanes, plastics, polyurethane foams, and textiles. They are structurally akin to the PCBs and other polyhalogenated compounds, consisting of two halogenated aromatic rings. PBDEs are classified according to the average number of bromine atoms in the molecule. The health hazards of these chemicals have attracted increasing scrutiny, and they have been shown to reduce fertility in humans at levels found in households.[1] Their chlorine analogs are polychlorinated diphenyl ethers (PCDEs). Because of their toxicity and persistence, their industrial production is to be eliminated under the Stockholm Convention, a treaty to control and phase out major persistent organic pollutants (POP). Phalates: Phthalates, or phthalate esters, are esters of phthalic acid and are mainly used as plasticizers (substances added to plastics to increase their flexibility, transparency, durability, and longevity). They are used primarily to soften polyvinyl chloride. Phthalates are being phased out of many products in the United States, Canada, and European Union over health concerns.
So why only 4 concerns listed???? Well there are simply just too many. The fact is that you absolutley need to do your own research into what you put into and on your body. Most everything you regularly come to think of is probably chemically treated at a minimum. Search the Cosmetics’ Database at: www.ewg.org/skindeep for more information on just about anything and everything available.
It isn’t just cosmetics boys!
Their list includes sunscreens, body wash, shampoo, deodorant/antiperspirant, soap, mouthwash, etc so don’t be a woose – take care of your body and health. Do your research and make a difference!
EBS had the pleasure of working on this project over the past year and are very happy with the results we’ve seen. This project isn’t using greenwashing like some and while some of the stats are a bit skewed in terms of actual energy offset, the first year’s data will tell all.
They have a robust Measurement & Verification process in place to ensure they meet their targeted Power Usage Effectiveness (“PUE”) which I believe to be below 1.05 – impressive to say the least!
EBS services included energy modeling for LEED and for the Oregon Energy Trust Rebate program. We’ve experience great success working with Gensler and Logicalis on this most impressive Data Center – kudos to the team!
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