The Greenest Building is the one that is already built

This elegant phrase by architect Carl Elefante is bolstered by an important new study, The Greenest Building:  Quantifying the Environmental Value of Building Reuse. 

National Real Estate Investor opines that the study, commissioned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Preservation Green Lab, empirically shows, “It is unequivocally greener to retrofit an old building than construct a new building, no matter how many high-tech bells and whistles are in the new construction.”

The numbers are startling:

                *It can take between 10 and 80 years for a new energy-efficient building to overcome, through

                  More efficient operations, the negative climate change impacts that come from construction.

 

                *Environmental savings from re-use are between 4 and 46 percent over new construction when            

                  comparing buildings with the same energy performance level.

 

                *The ROI on green retrofits average 19.2% versus 9.9% for new buildings.

 

Clearly there are occasions when new structures are greener than retrofitting.  And, after all, sustainability is not the only factor in building decisions—else we all return to cave dwelling.  Still, it’s important to always look first to reuse as the benchmark against which alternatives are measured.

Convective Heat Loss, a sneaky villian

Strategies to increase building energy efficiency typically focus on increased efficiency of the HVAC system and increased thermal resistance of the envelope and fenestration.    An oft- overlooked, but vital, path to efficiency is reduction of air-leakage.

Heat transfer in buildings occurs in three forms: conduction, convection and radiation. Of these, conduction and convection transfer most of the heat. Conduction occurs when one body transfers its heat to another with which it is in contact–in this case, the transfer between interior and exterior air. Convection occurs when a heated body physically transports itself to another location. In this case air physically moving through leaks in the wall. Thermal insulation prevents conduction but does little to prevent convective heat losses.

The results of my research at Michigan State University for the US Department of Energy on Residential Energy Retrofit showed the tremendous impact leaks had on energy efficiency. The research revealed that in an average American home, the aggregation of these leaks is an equivalent of a 1 square foot hole in the wall!

How can air-leakage be controlled? The solution is surprisingly simple. First, an energy auditor must measure and detect air leakage. They may use several tests to determine this. The blower-door test is a common method used in small and medium sized buildings. Once detected, they may be removed by either using an air barrier or by caulking and sealing them. Additionally, the use of foam insulation in place of fiberglass acts as an air barrier by itself.

The US Department of Energy’s Guide on Air-Sealing has some really good information to how to effectively air seal a building.

Air-tightening the thermal envelope is one of the most overlooked strategies for energy efficiency, yet is one of the most important and cost effective.

Green parking, chicken houses and bankers

Beginning in 2011, parking structures were deemed unworthy of attaining LEED certification owing to the fact that they are, after all, chock full of those pesky cars.

So great the sin of enabling the proliferation of hydro-carbon fueled vehicles that no amount of energy efficient lighting, designated stalls for alternate fuel vehicles,  reduction of heat island effect and countless other ways to make a parking structure more sustainable has lowered the upturned nose of the USGBC.

In defense of useful structures everywhere, SERF offers Frank Lloyd Wright’s aphorism to regard it as just as desirable to build a chicken house as to build a Cathedral.  Though speaking of design rather than sustainability (setting aside the sustainability inherent in his organic style) Wright spoke here one of his great truths.

To wit, there is nobility to all useful structures and there is a beautiful way to conceive buildings of any purpose.  There is also a sustainable and non-sustainable way to build them.  SERF will be a voice in recognizing structures of all types that choose the sustainable path.

We seem to have at least one soul in the blogosphere who joins in our giggle at LEED’s demonization of private autos.  “Anti-everything crap like this is why many people ignore the green movement. By this logic we should get rid of houses to curb over population. Hey! I bet if we got rid of all the landfills there would be no trash. And if we teardown all the jails there will be no crime too!”

A new sign went up by my office today announcing one of PNC Bank’s new green branches– part of their USGBC approved program for LEED certification by volume submittal.   So a structure filled with bankers is morally superior to a structure filled with the family car.  I wonder how that will go over with the 99%….

How do you like them Apples?

Apple recently announced it will not certify its products with EPEAT. EPEAT is a non-profit organization that certifies “environmentally preferable products”. It is also a program that is backed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

EPEAT would affect Apple’s sales to some governments and educational institutions which require EPEAT certification as a prerequisite for purchase. But how does this affect Apple? According to the blog Apple and EPEAT: What it means the sale of Apple computers to government and educational institutions is a tiny fraction of Apple’s total sales. The real market lies in the consumer market which demands products like their ultra-thin MacBook Pro. According to a Wall Street Journal blog Apple Removes Green Electronics Certification From Products, this laptop design requires the battery to be glued to the case, making disassembly and recycling difficult. This causes the computer to fall behind EPACTS stringent recycling requirements.

But does parting ways with EPEAT mean Apple products are not green?  Hardly.

According to CNN Apple abandons green certification Apple meets Energy Star 5.2 requirements for energy efficiency and lead the pack in reporting each product’s greenhouse gas emissions on their website and removal of toxic material.  Yet all these achievements go unrecognized in the eyes of an inflexible rating system.

What does this mean for buildings? Are conventional environmental certifications constraining design and end-user needs that buildings need to meet to qualify? We think so.  That’s why SERF affords some flexibility and rewards innovation in green building certification.

Bridging the Political Divide on Sustainability

The gulf between conservatives and liberals on the merits of sustainability may be lessened with a little history lesson.  So says SERF Scholar Colin Maguire in his paper American Stewardship:   A Path Already Laid,  which he is presenting at next week’s 2012 Environmental Justice and Global Citizenship Conference at Oxford University in England.

The study traces the Founders’ philosophies on private property rights, a core American principle, with the corresponding responsibility for property owners to be good and proper stewards of their land.  Sustainability is, it seems, not such a new concept in America, and should be embraced as an essential element of our nation’s founding.

My kind of (green) town…

Given the warm reception SERF has received and our growing operations here, it comes as no surprise to us that Chicago recently won the Siemens and U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Sustainability Large Community award.  Leaders from business, real estate and, not least, the City government are clearly unified in making Chicago a global leader in sustainability.

There’s a beautiful symmetry in Chicago’s leadership in sustainable buildings given its preeminent role in the creation of an American architectural style and its endless contributions to the world’s built environment ever since.

How fitting, then, that Chicago’s Soldier Field is now the first NFL stadium to have attained LEED status.  Now that’s putting your money where your mouth is.