Green Construction Trends

by Jonathan McGaha | September 5, 2011 12:00 am

By Administrator

greenbuildingtrends

The construction and design industries are still dealing with the effects of the nation’s economic situation, and according to the most recent Consensus Construction Forecast[1] by the American Institute of Architects[2], spending for nonresidential buildings will have a modest recovery in 2012 of 6.4 percent. While overall business has been down for many architectural and construction firms recently, the number of LEED and sustainable projects continue to grow.

“I think it’s a testament to the perception that green buildings are better buildings. And in times of scarcity, when you have limited resources, those firms that were able to build during the economic downturn obviously wanted the most bang for their buck and recognized the relative value of green buildings. Our observation was anybody that was building during [2007 to 2009], was continuing to build green because it was a better product,” says Michael Deane, LEED AP BD+C, vice president, chief sustainability officer at Turner Construction Co.[3], New York City.

The Push for High Performing Buildings

With green building on the rise, clients are not only looking for LEED certified projects, but are pushing the boundaries of sustainability by aiming for buildings that are net-zero energy and water, and are even carbon neutral.

Mark Kranz, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP, design principal at Phoenix-based SmithGroup[4], notes that their firm is seeing more RFPs for zero-energy buildings popping up in the marketplace and that some of their clients are even writing performance criteria for energy and daylighting into their contracts. “We’re seeing our most sophisticated clients expecting higher and higher levels of sustainability on all aspects of their projects,” he says. “The fiscal side of sustainability continues to steer the boat, but clients have started to get the fact that it’s about energy consumption, and that’s what impacts their bottom line. More energy-efficient buildings cost less in the long run and we’re being asked to prove that our buildings are doing what we say they’re doing.”

Tony Cosentino, project design coordinator at Perini Building Co.[5], Henderson, Nev., agrees, saying: “Most clients want buildings that are less expensive to build and operate. To achieve that we look to the design professionals to design structures that uses less materials and will consume less energy. Sometimes it’s a matter of in-depth design exercises to determine how to frame a structure using fewer connections, less parts and less labor. These become leaner building than their cousins.”

 

“One of the things that we’ve noticed over the years is that when people set out to meet some sustainable benchmark-whether it’s LEED certified or LEED Gold or net-zero energy-the people who are leading the market-the early adapters and the high achievers-are going for higher achievement, and today those things are carbon-neutral, net-zero for energy and net-zero for water,” explains Deane. “As those benchmarks are achieved by the early adapters and the benefits become manifest, then more people in the mid-range of the building market will begin to adapt those higher standards. And that’s how we evolve a better building over time.”

Looking Beyond LEED

The U.S. Green Building Council’[6]s LEED certification program is the most common performance benchmark for energy efficiency. However, throughout the recent years of the recession, many architects and builders have noted that while energy efficiency is still at the top of the list for client wants, many are opting not to go through the LEED certification process.

 

“Most clients today aren’t interested in the plaque on the wall, but they are interested in reducing energy use and ongoing expenses,” Cosentino explains. “Clients recognize the need to reduce operational costs, and to some extent provide for a better living and working environment, but they are not interested in the certification.”

“I think that the main thing that LEED has done is they developed a key awareness of everybody-from the people that use buildings to rent building to the landlords, owners and developers-that energy efficiency and sustainability are important things that should be done in buildings,” explains Ron McKenzie, president of COMPASS Consultants Corp., Bloomingdale, Ill.

“LEED attempts to take a holistic approach to sustainability that goes beyond energy efficiency,” says Kranz. “Energy conservation has become the single most critical aspect of sustainability because of its impact to affect climate change and one where there can be tremendous financial benefits to an owner to pursue. We should never ignore the holistic approach but put a greater emphasis on the energy side because that is where we can affect the greatest change.

“Working toward designing net-zero energy buildings or even energy positive buildings is about the reduction of energy produced by fossil fuels and it goes beyond the financial aspects to owners and towards creating buildings that have a positive contribution to society and the environment in terms of climate change and the health of our planet.”

“When you say that you’re goal is to achieve net-zero energy, you don’t abandon LEED and then suddenly do something else, you try to achieve that level of energy efficiency within the context of LEED, and in fact, I think LEED is a good way to keep track of how you’re doing because in the energy and atmosphere category there are specific strategies and then specific benchmarks that you must demonstrate and document for increasing levels of energy efficiency as you approach net zero,” Deane says. “I think they’re sort of synergistic. Net zero is a goal that can lead you to a high level of achievement within the LEED system.”

Performance Benchmarks

While LEED is currently the largest green building certification system available, the USGBC also stands behind the Living Building Challenge[7] and Architecture 2030[8]‘s 2030 Challenge[9].

 

Comprised of seven performance areas that address development at all scales, the Living Building Challenge is a performance-based standard that requires buildings to be net-zero energy and net-zero water, amongst other advanced standards for materials for a goal of lasting sustainability. Certification is achieved after a building has performed as modeled for one year. (To learn more about the Living Building Challenge, see the sidebar).

“One of our clients is pursuing [LBC], and has asked that all of their new facilities subscribe to that set of guidelines,” says Mark Dewalt, AIA, principal at Valerio Dewalt Train Associates Inc.[10], Chicago. LBC goes even further than just energy efficiency, “because it talks about not just buildings, but the site that they sit on, the landscaping, the communities that these buildings are in. How do we design buildings to be more in harmony with their site? It’s a more holistic approach.”

 

Also adopted by the American Institute of Architects[11] and the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the 2030 Challenge looks to dramatically reduce the climate-change-causing greenhouse gas emissions of the building sector by changing the way buildings and developments are planned, designed and constructed. This is accomplished by meeting energy reduction targets through 2030 and beyond. (For more information on the 2030 Challenge, see the sidebar).

“Since energy and building performance can have such a critical impact on climate change and the fact that buildings are the major source for contributing to that picture through energy generation and the fact that we as a firm are part of the global community, we cannot sit back and not be engaged in that effort,” Kranz explains. “This is why we have committed to the [2030] Challenge and why we are involved in organizations such as the AIA and their commitment to the challenge, working side by side with other firms to find solutions to the challenge and the future. We are attempting to understand how every design decision we make affects energy consumption and starting to inform those early decisions more and more through modeling.”

 

Energy Conservation

While net-zero and carbon-neutral are becoming goals for more and more buildings nowadays, architects and builders are striving to make decisions to design the most energy-efficient buildings they can.

“Whether the client wants to pursue [LEED] or not, we use our best thinking and our best strategies to make the buildings as efficient as possible,” Dewalt says. Kranz agrees, saying, “We strive to approach all of our projects from a sustainability mindset whether or not there are any project related requirements.”

“This isn’t just about changing criteria, or new and innovative technologies, or new materials,” notes Dewalt. “It’s about changing the way that fundamentally people think about the uses of energy as they relate to buildings, and the use of water as it relates to buildings.”

“Building energy efficiency is not a new unexplored territory,” says Kranz. “Energy efficiency has always been a design driver. What is new to the arena is that owners and the building community are becoming more aware of how their buildings are performing.”

The Living Building Challenge

Launched in 2006 by the Cascadia Green Building Council[12], the Living Building Challenge goes beyond LEED and other programs by providing a strict standard for creating buildings that are restorative and balanced. In May 2009, Cascadia created the International Living Building Institute[13] to oversee the Living Building Challenge and its auxiliary programs. The International Living Building Institute was renamed the International Living Future Institute in April 2011, and became the umbrella organization for both the Living Building Challenge and the Cascadia Green Building Council.

The Living Building Challenge is a philosophy, advocacy tool and certification program that addresses development at all scales. It is comprised of seven performance areas-site, water, energy, health, materials, equity and beauty-that are subdivided into a total of 20 imperatives, each of which focuses on a specific sphere of influence.

Viewed as the most rigorous green building standard in the world, the Living Building Challenge brings together the most progressive thinking from architecture, engineering, planning, landscape design and policy. The program defines the most advanced measure of sustainability in the built environment possible today and acts to diminish the gap between current limits and ideal solutions.

The program features a red list of chemicals and materials that cannot be used in any LBC building. The list include products such as mercury, asbestos, PVC, formaldehyde and lead that through studies have been linked to unhealthy indoor air quality.

To be recognized as a Living Building, a project must be self-sufficient for energy and water, in addition to meeting advanced standards for material use and indoor environment quality. Before becoming certified, a building must perform as modeled for one year and have requirements proven through a third-party audit.

The program is fully recognized and endorsed by the U.S. Green Building Council as a national program and is not viewed to be a competitor with the LEED Green Building Rating System.

Learn more about the Living Building Challenge at ilbi.org/lbc[14].

2030 Building Challenge

Issued by Architecture 2030, a non-profit, non-partisan and independent organization that was established in response to the climate change crisis by architect Edward Mazria in 2002, the mission of the 2030 Building Challenge is to rapidly transform the U.S. and global building sector from being a major contributor of greenhouse gas emissions to becoming a central part of the solution to the climate change, energy consumption and economic crises.

The goal is to achieve a dramatic reduction in the climate-change-causing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of the building sector by changing the way buildings and developments are planned, designed and constructed.

The 2030 Challenge asks the global architecture and building community to adopt the following targets:

These targets may be accomplished by implementing innovative sustainable design strategies, generating on-site renewable power and/or purchasing (20% maximum) renewable energy.

The 2030 Challenge has been adopted by the American Institute of Architects, U.S. Green Building Council, U.S. Conference of Mayors, American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, American Society of Interior Designers and many more universities, businesses, professional offices and organizations nationwide.

For more information, visit www.architecture2030.org[15].

Endnotes:
  1. Consensus Construction Forecast: http://www.aia.org/practicing/AIAB090310
  2. American Institute of Architects: http://aia.org/
  3. Turner Construction Co.: http://www.turnerconstruction.com/
  4. SmithGroup: http://www.smithgroup.com
  5. Perini Building Co.: http://www.perini.com/
  6. U.S. Green Building Council’: http://www.usgbc.org
  7. Living Building Challenge: https://ilbi.org/lbc
  8. Architecture 2030: http://www.architecture2030.org/
  9. 2030 Challenge: http://architecture2030.org/2030_challenge/the_2030_challenge
  10. Valerio Dewalt Train Associates Inc.: http://www.buildordie.com/index2.htm
  11. American Institute of Architects: http://www.aia.org
  12. Cascadia Green Building Council: http://cascadiagbc.org/
  13. International Living Building Institute: https://ilbi.org/
  14. ilbi.org/lbc: http://ilbi.org/lbc
  15. www.architecture2030.org: http://www.architecture2030.org

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