September 9, 2010
Residential Green Building (hint – principal Matt Macko built it…)
127 Rugg Brook Abridged from Awecast on Vimeo.
August 5, 2010
Ghirardelli Goes Green Case Study
EBS Ghirardelli Case Study
Today marks great news – 2 months in the making and 2 years of consulting have culminated in one great case study. Ghirardelli Goes Green is a case study highlighting the reduction in environmental impacts and reduction in costs that JMA Ventures and Ghirardelli Square have realized after systematically finding ways to affect both criteria.
Environmentally Ghirardelli Square educated tenants and reduced energy usage dramatically in key areas. Resulting from low initial cost and high value, the results have yielded impressive rates of return and present values using virtually any criteria. Working with Rita Hernandez and Jane Echlin we at Environmental Building Strategies were able to help them find ways to be better to both the bottom line and the environment.
Please feel free to share this case study with anyone looking to save money by engaging sustainability criteria in their everyday actions. Download here: EBS Ghirardelli Case Study
May 1, 2009
12 Steps to a Successful LEED Project
We are starting this weekend off with a new series. 12 Steps to a Successful LEED Project.
In an effort to get updated with LEED 2009 we are offering up a document we’ve compiled to educate building owners and developers on how to organize their LEED project.
We’ll start with the basics and describe in relative detail the importance of each step. The first one is called Delegate or Hire a LEED Manager. This is an important first step in any LEED project and it’s crucial to get started down the right path. See below for more details.
1. Delegate or Hire a LEED Manager
This person will be the point of command for all paperwork and communication throughout the LEED process – this person should be copied on all e-mails regarding LEED requirements, training, preparations, and questions. This person should have an openness to learn something new and should be at least fluent with the version of LEED you are working with and/or a LEED AP+ in the project category.
This person will primarily be responsible for herding and making sure the team is on track. Often this can be performed by the LEED Consulting firm that is documenting the project; however it is a good idea to have this type of person in house on the project so as to not have to increase the time the LEED Consultants spend answering tedious questions.
This person should also be in charge of spreading the word. LEED is something that we want to use as a market transformation tool. In order to transform, we must spread the word about our successes and challenges. This person should constantly keep updated by reading articles and books, making sure the project has an online presence, and attending green building conferences and USGBC chapter meetings.
If this is a LEED for Existing Building Operations and Maintenance project then this person with often be the lead engineer or facilities manager however doesn’t need to be. Sometimes Facilities staffs don’t have the interest or ability to keep up with the paperwork and requirements of LEED. That being said, he will need to develop a comprehensive strategy for gathering information at the beginning of the project, and throughout in order to stay current with documentation/scheduling requirements.
Check back next week for more tips for Successful LEED Projects
February 6, 2009
PGE building in San Francisco
For those of you in San Francisco interested in learning about energy efficient buildings go to the PGE headquarters on 5th and Howard. It is really one of the best resources to learning about all items related to green building. They have great demonstrations on lighting, windows, HVACs and many more. It really is a true hidden gem for our industry that is totally underutilized.
An example of a demonstration they have is two panels of glass one is LOW-E and the other is spectrally selective LOW-E glass. Behind the glass are about a 100 incandescent bulbs. When you turn on the switch you can feel the difference of the heat transmitted through the glass. It becomes very clear that for a commercial building it is crucial to have spectrally selective glass because commercial buildings are cooling dominated. Residential it is more important to have passive heating, so heat transmission is helpful, meaning that regular LOW-E glass is the right choice.
Just a cool little bit of information for all you green building enthusiasts.
— The EBS Team
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