The First Facility Management Blog

Nine million tons of carbon dioxide. $600 million in energy costs: that’s the potential savings represented by 100,000 copies in the Advanced Energy Design Guide series now in circulation. More than 88,000 of the publications have been obtained via free download since January 2008.

The series includes publications on small retail and small office buildings, K-12 school buildings, and warehouses and self-storage units.  The books provide guidance on how to achieve 30% energy savings over building code minimums based on ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-1999.

Calculations show that if every guide downloaded resulted in a single building designed to save 30% beyond code minimum, the estimated energy and carbon savings would be 52 trillion btus and 9 million tons of carbon dioxide. With an average cost of electricity of 5¢ per kwh and gas at $7 per mmbtu, the estimated cost of energy savings is over $600 million.

The guides are developed by ASHRAE, the American Institute of Architects, the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America, and the U.S. Green Building Council, with support from the U.S. Department of Energy.

“ASHRAE is committed to energy optimization and producing guidance that will help move the building industry toward market-viable net-zero energy and carbon neutral buildings,” ASHRAE President Kent Peterson, P.E., said. “The call for these high performing buildings is transforming our industry, and the guidance in the Advanced Energy Design Guide series is useable technology guidance to help owners, architects, and engineers in accomplishing high-performing buildings.”

“This is proof positive that there are substantial economic benefits to green building strategies,” said AIA President Marshall E. Purnell, FAIA.  “Hopefully this will help convince skeptics of the value and payback of green building design and that practitioners will take advantage of this excellent resource so that we can move closer to reaching our shared goal of carbon neutral buildings by 2030.”

Upcoming publications in the series include 30% guidance books for highway lodging, existing buildings, and small health care facilities.

Olympic athletes were prepared to don respirators and China was forced to seed clouds, idle factories and ban vehicles to temporarily lift a pollution fog that enveloped Beijing as recently as last month.

Very interesting (albeit ironic) for USGBC to award their “gold medal” for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design to a country recognized as one of the planet’s top polluters.  

Thus proving that the politics of “green” have circled the globe and that lucrative consulting proposals can be generated in multiple languages and paid in a variety of currencies…

Poor Richard

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Beijing Air Improves, Olympic Village Earns LEED Gold

BEIJING, China, August 13, 2008 - Beijing’s air quality has improved, with the sky clearly visible today after rains on Sunday and Monday reduced the air pollution, heat and mugginess that made Olympic athletes, visitors and residents uncomfortable for days. 

Weather officials measured an Air Pollution Index of 32 on Tuesday, far below the benchmark API 100 set by the Chinese authorities. An Air Pollution Index of 50 and below is considered excellent by the World Health Organization.

To read the rest of this article, courtesy of Environment News Service, click this link.

The U.S Green Building Council (USGBC) is soliciting input on the rating system during this second public comment period. LEED 2009 is a new version of the rating system that delivers against key environmental and human health impacts, and puts in place a transparent framework for weighting credits accordingly, based on the best available science.

The first public comment period for LEED 2009 ran May 19 to June 22, 2008, and received 5,800 comments. The second public comment period opened yesterday, August 19, and will be open through 5pmPT on September 2. The shorter time frame reflects the fact that only changes made in response to the first public comment period are now up for comment.

All technical comments from the first period that were within the scope of the proposed credit changes under LEED 2009 were reviewed by the LEED Technical Advisory Groups (TAGs) and are now reflected in tracked changes to the credit language. Even though a comment may have been made on only one rating system, it was applied across all rating systems to keep credits aligned where applicable. Technical comments that were outside of the LEED 2009 scope will be discussed as part of the next LEED development cycle, which will happen at regular intervals going forward. 

Following is a sampling of the revisions most frequently suggested or most technically changed, by credit category. More are listed on the USGBC site.

Sustainable Sites

Credit 2: Development Density & Community Connectivity – If the project is mixed use, it may be considered one of the ten basic services that are required to be located within ½ mile, as long as the service is open to the public.

Credit 4.3: Alternative Transportation: Low Emitting & Fuel Efficient Vehicles – The language that said one low-emitting/fuel-efficient vehicle must be provided per 8 people should have said 267 occupants.

Water Efficiency

Credit 1: Water Efficient Landscaping: Reduce by 50% – Groundwater language was moved from the Potential Technologies & Strategies to the Requirements section.

Energy & Atmosphere

Prerequisite 2 & Credit 1: Optimize Energy Performance – Additional ASHRAE Advanced Energy Design Guides are now included under the prescriptive path for compliance. Additional point thresholds have been added in EAc1.

Credit 5: Measurement & Verification (M&V) – Corrective action is now required if the results of the M&V plan indicate that energy savings are not being achieved. 

GE Consumer & Industrial’s new online Environmental Information Center examines and sorts lighting and electrical industry information in an all-encompassing Web site that business customers can tap for one stop information gathering and learning about salient sustainability trends and issues.

Launched in June, the site goes in depth on legislation, laws, compliance codes, technology, specification information, EPAct, and a variety of sustainability topics, including the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) voluntary LEED Certification programs, GE’s lighting products of ecomaginationSM, and how specific GE lighting and electrical products contribute to various LEED certifications, including LEED-NC (new construction) and LEED-EB (existing building).

GE designed the site with a compilation of information for architects, lighting designers, engineers, facility managers, construction managers, contractors, real estate professionals, government officials, end user customers, distributors, and OEMs.

“Visitors to our Environmental Information Center will notice that we’ve gone not just a mile wide, but also a mile deep in terms of what’s presented,” says Heather Wilson, ecomagination marketing manager, GE Consumer & Industrial. “This extension of our customer education effort brings calm and order to the storm of information that our customers face every day about sustainability and the environmental and financial benefits of energy efficiency.”

One of GE’s motivations in creating the site was to anticipate growing interest in LEED certification. The USGBC expects the number of LEED certified buildings will climb 20 times higher between 2006 (4500 buildings) and 2010 (100,000 buildings). LEED is a voluntary building standard created by the USGBC, an independent environmental advocacy organization in Washington, DC.

Nine million tons of carbon dioxide. $600 million in energy costs.

That’s the potential savings represented by 100,000 copies in the Advanced Energy Design Guide series now in circulation. More than 88,000 of the publications have been obtained via free download since January.

The series includes publications on small retail and small office buildings, K-12 school buildings, and warehouses and self storage units. The books provide guidance on how to achieve 30% energy savings over building code minimum based on ANSI/ASHRAE/ IESNA Standard 90.1-1999.

Calculations show that if every guide downloaded resulted in a single building designed to save 30% beyond code minimum, the estimated energy and carbon savings would be 52 trillion btus and 9 million tons of carbon dioxide. With an average cost of electricity of 5 cents per kwh and gas at $7 per mmbtu, the estimated cost of energy savings is over $600 million.

The guides are developed by ASHRAE, the American Institute of Architects, the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America and the U.S. Green Building Council, with support from the U.S. Department of Energy. The downloads are available at www.ashrae.org/freeaedg.

“ASHRAE is committed to energy optimization and producing guidance that will help move the building industry toward market viable net zero energy and carbon neutral buildings,” ASHRAE President Kent Peterson, P.E., said. “The call for these high performing buildings is transforming our industry, and the guidance in the Advanced Energy Design Guide series is usable technology guidance to help owners, architects and engineers in accomplishing high-performing buildings.”

“This is proof positive that there are substantial economic benefits to green building strategies,” said AIA President Marshall E. Purnell, FAIA. “Hopefully this will help convince skeptics of the value and payback of green building design and that practitioners will take advantage of this excellent resource so that we can move closer to reaching our shared goal of carbon neutral buildings by 2030.”

“IES is pleased to part of the team developing these important guides, whose success demonstrates that collectively the collaborating organizations are raising awareness about how to achieve energy savings and developing a receptive audience for future guidance on net zero energy and carbon neutral buildings,” said Rita M. Harrold, IESNA director of technology.

“The green building movement offers an unprecedented opportunity to respond to the most important challenges of our time, including global climate change, dependence on non-sustainable and expensive sources of energy, and threats to human health,” said Rick Fedrizzi, President, CEO & Founding Chair, U.S. Green Building Council. “Working with ASHRAE, AIA, and IESNA on the Advanced Energy Design Guide series is part of a critical collaborative effort to provide the industry with the tools it needs to make an immediate and measurable impact.”

Upcoming publications in the series include 30% guidance books for highway lodging, existing buildings and small health care facilities.

If you’re beginning to ponder your 2009 facility budgets and if you’re worried about how you’re going to fund significant cost increases from electricity to toilet paper, perhaps you’ll consider signing a petition asking those responsible for the nation’s “energy policy” (i.e. the US Congress) that we, the people, (you know, the folks they’re supposed to represent) are asking, NO - WE’RE NOW DEMANDING that oil companies be allowed to produce more oil and natural gas from North American sources.

What — did Poor Richard say North America? How can this be possible?

On a planet that’s 8,000 miles in diameter, do you really believe that the ONLY oil and natural gas reserves are under that tiny patch of desert in the Middle East? Puh-lease….

Look, our facilities budgets are becoming “victims” of US energy policy! If you think your facility is not being victimized because you have a fleet of hybrid cars or solar panels on the roof — think again. What about every product and service your facility will purchase over the next 12 months? It’s time to wake up and recognize that energy is a component of EVERYTHING - EVERYTHING. Facility managers everywhere should send a message to the pin heads in Washington who are driving up the expenses in our buildings and our vehicle fleets!

By the way, I hope you don’t have misguided anger or resentment toward the oil companies. If you do, please answer this question: If asinine government policies forced YOUR organization’s product or service to have limited supplies combined with steady and growing international demand - would YOUR stockholders refuse the profits? Would you give back the bonus awarded to the facilities department? Would your organization consider a 5 - 10% profit margin to be obscene?

Last point — we need to remember that crude oil and natural gas are renewable resources that are also 100% organic & all natural. Tell that to the next hippie burnout that complains about the styrofoam coffee cups in your break room. Watch his eyes get wide as his brain struggles to comprehend what you’ve just said.

This is a call to arms! We’re getting ripped off by OUR government, not the oil companies. Write to your elected representatives and to learn more about the petition, go to:

Poor Richard

Disgruntled FM, Taxpayer and Voter

The U.S Green Building Council (USGBC) has put proposed improvements to the green building rating system up for comment through June 22.

LEED 2009 represents a reorganization of the existing LEED rating systems for commercial buildings, combined with a series of major technical advancements focused on improving energy efficiency, reducing carbon emissions, and addressing other environmental and human health outcomes.

“Continuing to seek the right balance between technical advancement and market transformation was a driving force behind the LEED 2009 work,” explained Scot Horst, chairman of the volunteer LEED Steering Committee, which leads the technical development of the LEED rating system. “The ‘big ideas’ we’ve proposed include transparent weightings of LEED credits so the highest priority credits achieve the most points, a new mechanism for incorporating bioregional credits, and a more nimble framework that supports rapid response to emerging environmental and human health issues.”

The LEED Green Building Rating System was developed by USGBC to drive market transformation in the building industry by defining a consensus metric for leadership in green building that forms a basis for continuous improvement. The evolution of LEED is based on technical, scientific, and market-based advancements.

“When it was introduced in 2000, the LEED Green Building Rating System helped to spark a revolution that is changing the way we build and operate our offices, schools, hospitals and homes,” said Rick Fedrizzi, president, CEO & founding chair, USGBC. “LEED 2009 resets the bar for green building leadership because the urgency of our mission has challenged the industry to move faster and reach further.”

LEED 2009 is the product of thousands of hours of volunteer time and expertise provided by representatives from all areas of the building industry who serve on the USGBC member committees and oversee the development of LEED. LEED 2009, coupled with an expanded third-party certification program and enhancements to LEED Online, make up a multifaceted initiative referred to as LEED Version 3.0.

Detailed information about specific proposed technical changes to the rating system can be found in the number of background documents that accompany the public comment forms on USGBC’s Web site. Further information about the expansion of the certification process and improvements to LEED Online as well as future technical improvements, including the integration of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) into LEED, will be forthcoming in late summer.

About the Public Comment Period
The public comment period is a critical part of the consensus process by which LEED is developed. During public comment, all stakeholders are invited to review all proposed improvements and offer technical or market oriented perspectives through USGBC’s Web site on the slate of changes represented by LEED 2009. All public comments are reviewed by the USGBC volunteer committees that oversee the LEED rating system. USGBC will respond to all comments and post the comments and responses (without commenter names or organizations) to the USGBC Web site. If changes to the LEED system are made as a result of comments, a 15-day second public comment period will be undertaken. The resulting draft will be sent to all USGBC member organizations for ballot prior to release.

The public comment period will be open for 30 days, from May 19 through June 22, 2008, at 5 PM Pacific Time.

A new caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives has formed to raise awareness of and promote the benefits of green schools and their ability to foster learning, protect students’ and teachers’ health, save school districts’ money, and reduce their impact on the environment. The goals of the Green Schools Caucus are to raise awareness of the benefits of green schools, lead the policy discussion on the topic in various forums, create legislative opportunities for the collective efforts of the caucus members, and provide members of Congress with constituent outreach resources.

The Caucus was created in October 2007 by founding co-chairs Rep. Darlene Hooley, D-Ore.; Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas; and Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah. Caucus members and their staff will participate in educational programs to learn what is going on nationally and in their districts, including site visits to green schools and educational panels with teachers, architects, and school officials from across the country.

“As a former teacher, I am thrilled to lead the way in Congress in forming the Green Schools Caucus,” Hooley said. “Through collaborative partnership with the U.S. Green Building Council, we will work to raise awareness among the public and members of Congress of the benefits of building green. By using alternatives to toxic chemicals, pursuing green building and maintenance practices, changing resource consumption habits, serving nutritious food, and teaching students to be steward of their communities, we’ll help put future generations at the forefront of sustainable development.”

“Schools are vulnerable to the sky rocketing costs of energy,” Matheson said. “When their energy budgets take a hit, kids’ education suffers. By encouraging green school buildings, we help save money, demonstrate the latest technology, and increase educational opportunities for the kids who spend much of their day in that building.”

“The Green Schools Caucus is an outstanding opportunity to help our schools save money, help society save the environment and, ultimately and most importantly, help make sure our children are attending classes in the safest indoor environments possible,” McCaul said. “As a father of five children, making sure our children can learn in safe, clean, and efficient schools has always been and always will be a top priority.”

Fully 20% of Americans go to school every day. Too often, the schools they attend are unhealthy, inefficient, and not as conducive to learning as they could be.

Green schools create a nurturing learning environment, decrease student and teacher absenteeism from respiratory and other illnesses, and provide models for teaching the world’s future leaders about sustainability to benefit communities for generations to come. They create new hands on learning opportunities for students. And they save money through reduced water and energy bills.

A 2006 study sponsored by the American Federation of Teachers, the American Institute of Architects, the American Lung Association, the Federation of American Scientists and USGBC found that building green would save an average school $100,000 each year in energy costs alone – enough to hire two additional full-time teachers, purchase 5,000 new textbooks, or buy 500 new computers. According to “Greening America’s Schools: Costs and Benefits, 2006,” it costs on average less than 2% more – about $3 extra per square foot – to build a green school rather than a conventional school. The payback occurs within one year based on energy savings alone.

For more information on green schools, including their benefits, resources for promoting green schools, and case studies of schools that have already gone green, visit this link.

Two recently released studies, one by the New Buildings Institute (NBI) and one by CoStar Group, have validated what the green building community has known all along: third party certified buildings outperform their conventional counterparts across a wide variety of metrics, including energy savings, occupancy rates, sale price, and rental rates.

In the NBI study, the results indicate that new buildings certified under the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) LEED certification system are, on average, performing 25% to 30% better than non-LEED certified buildings in terms of energy use. The study also demonstrates that there is a correlation between increasing levels of LEED certification and increased energy savings. Gold and Platinum LEED certified buildings have average energy savings approaching 50%.

To download a PDF of the study, click this link:
NIBS.pdf

Energy savings under EPA’s ENERGY STAR program are equally impressive: buildings that have earned the ENERGY STAR label use an average of almost 40% less energy than average buildings, and emit 35% less carbon. But beyond the obvious implications of reduced energy use and reduced carbon emissions, the results from both studies strengthen the “business case” for green buildings as financially sound investments.

According to the CoStar study, LEED buildings command rent premiums of $11.24 per square foot over their non-LEED peers and have 3.8% higher occupancy. Rental rates in ENERGY STAR buildings represent a $2.38 per square foot premium over comparable non-ENERGY STAR buildings and have 3.6% higher occupancy. And, in a trend that could signal greater attention from institutional investors, ENERGY STAR buildings are selling for an average of $61 per square foot more than their peers, while LEED buildings command a remarkable $171 more per square foot.

The group analyzed more than 1,300 LEED Certified and ENERGY STAR buildings representing about 351 million square feet in CoStar’s commercial property database of roughly 44 billion square feet, and assessed those buildings against non-green properties with similar size, location, class, tenancy, and year-built characteristics to generate the results.

Applications for the one year fellowship are due May 1, 2008.

The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) have joined forces to sponsor the one year fellowship in Washington, DC that will allow the participant to work in the federal government in a technical advisory role. Members of ASHRAE or USGBC may apply.

Possible placement areas include Congress; a federal agency such as the Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency or the General Services Administration; or the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

“Federal government fellowships provide a valuable public service to the nation while at the same time providing engineers and scientists with a unique opportunity to participate directly in the policy-making process,” says Doug Read, ASHRAE program director of government affairs. “This is an exciting, rewarding, and educational period in their professional careers. This enriching experience enables fellows to bring back to their employers an insider’s perspective on government decision making that can contribute significantly to the mission and vision of the organization.”

“The fellowship is designed to educate participants on the inner workings of federal policy-making,” said Jason Hartke, director of public policy, U.S. Green Building Council. “The fellowship is an opportunity to provide scientific guidance and analysis to decision-makers, and to increase the visibility and involvement of scientists and engineers in the public policy arena.”
The fellowship runs from September through August 2009, and an orientation is conducted through the American Association for the Advancement of Science. A $50,000 stipend will be provided to the selected fellow.

Candidates should possess a doctoral or other terminal degree in engineering or another building-related scientific discipline. Final placement of the selected fellow depends on the needs of the government offices and agencies at the time as well as on the skills and experience of the applicant.

The deadline for applications is May 1, 2008. ASHRAE or USGBC members interested in applying for the fellowship should contact Doug Read, ASHRAE program director of government affairs, at 202-833-1830 or dread@ashrae.org.