Greening
the Heartland 2012 Recap
Most people in our industry have heard of the
U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), the Washington D.C. based 501(c)(3)
nonprofit organization that is "committed to a prosperous and sustainable
future for our nation through cost-efficient and energy-saving green
buildings".
As the current chair for our local Nebraska
chapter of USGBC, I feel that I can say with certainty that far fewer people
are aware of our local chapter, The USGBC Nebraska Flatwater Chapter. We have
around 120 professional members currently and our membership includes
architects, engineers, contractors, manufacturers representatives, salespeople,
real-estate professionals, interior designers, sustainability consultants, and
more. The function of our local chapter is to collaborate with other local
professionals and advocate for green building and sustainable design on a local
level.
And, did you know, that you as an individual are not actually a member of USGBC unless
you're a member of the local chapter? National USGBC membership is for
companies only... so even though your company may be a member, there's probably
a local chapter that would love to network with you on an individual level.
Why is this starting to sound like an advertisement
for local chapter membership? Well, along that same vein, most people have
heard of the behemoth National USGBC conference GREENBUILD. Of course
Greenbuild didn't start as a 23,000 attendee conference (last year’s numbers)
back when it began in 2002. At that time it was about 4,000 attendees.
Scaling it back down to a local level, there
is a regional conference that brings together 17 USGBC chapters and their
members for an opportunity to network, collaborate, engage and educate on a
much more manageable scale. This conference in the past few years has hovered
around one fourth the size of the original Greenbuild. But when 1,000
individuals invested in sustainable design from a diverse array of backgrounds
get together, some interesting things can happen on a much more realistic
scale.
This regional conference is Greening the
Heartland (www.greeningtheheartland.org).
Who hosts this relatively unknown entity?
Well this could end up being a much longer post if I tried to explain all the
background. Suffice to say that those 17 aforementioned chapters (one of which
is your USGBC Nebraska Flatwater Chapter) form a USGBC Regional Committee. This
committee is a structure for leadership development and initiative-driven work
by representative bodies from each chapter. Each chapter is represented by a
representative and an associate. And all of these individuals come together
once a year for a face to face meeting at Greening the Heartland (GTH) to bring
cohesion to a year’s worth of monthly conference calls.
But the conference is so much more than that.
Each year, a different chapter in our Regional Committee acts as host for the
conference, and takes on the tasks associated with planning three days of
speakers, seminars, tours and a product exhibition all relevant to green
buildings. And while I personally haven't been to Greenbuild, I can imagine
that it's a similar composition, but where GTH is different is the ability to
actually interface with the people presenting and learn about relatable project
experience from our Heartland region.
Next year's conference is already in
preliminary planning stages and slated to take place in Chicago. Based on my
experiences at GTH 2012 I can say that I will be attending (as a likely future
Regional Representative from our chapter it just makes good sense) but at the
same time it was a unique conference experience and I would advocate for this
format as well as encourage others to attend in the future.
The remainder of this post will attempt to
summarize some of my favorite experiences from GTH 2012, which was hosted by
the Indiana Chapter of USGBC and took place in downtown Indianapolis.
Appropriately enough I began my conference
experience with a $7 ride on the public transportation express city bus from
the airport to the downtown area. I will say that being car-less in downtown
Indy is similar to what it would be like in downtown Omaha... so on my first
night as I walked to the Nature Conservancy Efroymson Conservation Center to
meet up with the other Regional Committee members, I had completed the first 2
miles of what I'd estimate was over 10 miles of walking during my time in the
city (not counting morning runs along the very interesting, and thankfully
flat, canal walk 5k course near my hotel).
But walking everywhere, and sharing cabs
where appropriate, is in the spirit of the conference anyway, so even though my
feet are still a little sore a week later, it will probably come as no surprise
to those that know me that I'm happier for it.
The conference for me this year included:
- a tour of the aforementioned Efroymson
Conservation Center
- firsthand experience with the wonders of
pedestrian and bicycle-oriented signage and sidewalks.
- a seminar on Traditional Feng Shui and its
implication for Green Building Research Assessment
- a presentation on a large scale GSA
photovoltaic installation project
- two keynote speakers with very interesting
approaches to sustainability
- a discussion with the manufacturer of what
I can only describe as insulation ductwork
- a presentation on the sustainable design
strategies developed and implemented at a new Laboratory Complex on the campus
of Iowa state University.
- a seminar on quantifying electricity
savings and examples of methods to reduce power consumption and providing
guidance for measuring and calculating PUE in data centers.
- a presentation on the campus geothermal
system employed at Indiana Tech and a discussion on the steps undertaken to
renovate a historic 1857 building to LEED Gold.
- two lunchtime panel presentations and
discussions
- a seminar on why building consumption
measurement and verification is a lynchpin in the holistic movement toward
energy efficient, sustainable buildings.
- miscellaneous expo time to appreciate
innovative technologies in other disciplines
- wishing that the owner of the parked tesla
roadster would show up so I could ask for a ride.
- a presentation on planning,
budgeting/estimating tracking and ongoing performance results of several
recently completed LEED certified projects around the region.
- a seminar on retro-commissioning at Butler
University's health and recreation center and discussion of the results and
conclusions.
- a presentation on Green Fume Hood
Technology that utilizes a patented filtration system to allow the hoods to
recirculate air back into the laboratory.
Each of these items are discussed in more
detail below... it's the next best thing to being there!
Efroymson
Conservation Center Tour: The center is described by the Nature Conservancy as “a
bricks-and-mortar embodiment of our mission” and it really shows. The building
features a geothermal HVAC system, small scale wind turbines, pervious paving,
rainwater catchment and native landscaping that capture 100% of stormwater that
falls on the site, FSC certified wood and salvaged materials from TNC
preserves, raised floor air distribution, several tiers of green roof, etc. I
don’t think I can recall experiencing a more perfect fit for a LEED project
(pursuing Platinum certification). There’s even a 54 minute documentary on the
building available for viewing online: http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/unitedstates/indiana/greenbuilding/efroymson-conservation-center.xml
Pedestrian
and Bicycle-Oriented Signage: Downtown Indianapolis is pretty
pedestrian-friendly. And the signage that we just happened to come across was
part of the Indianapolis Cultural Trail (http://www.walkindianapolis.org/trail.html). The 8-mile trail
encircles downtown Indianapolis, passing through the city’s visitor and
business district, arts and cultural hubs, and neighborhoods. Where most saw
ordinary sidewalks, a group of progressive community leaders in Indianapolis
envisioned alluring, wide paths made for pedestrians and cyclists, lined with
distinctive lighting and landscaping, and enlivened by original large-scale
art. I wish Omaha had something like this... and am cheering on the many groups
currently working towards it.
Traditional
Feng Shui and its Implication for Green Building Research Assessment:
Presented
by Jiangmei Wu. Professor in the Department of Apparel Merchanding and Interior
Design at Indiana University
This was just too interesting not to attend.
And as I sat in the seminar, soaking up information, I couldn’t help but wonder
why more people haven’t made the connection between Feng Shui and sustainable
design / LEED rating systems. (Also, if you’re like me, you never knew that
Feng Shui actually extends outside of the layout of a room to include the whole
site and building design). The linkages are numerous and obvious for anyone
familiar with either one of these concepts. Concepts like bagua orientation, sky
wells and cold alleys, guobai, landscape and garden, interior layout, room size
and proportion and local/natural building materials are so relatable to passive
solar, ventilation, daylighting, outdoor views, indoor air quality, materials
& resources, etc that what originally seemed like a stretch became
interesting on a whole new level.
GSA
Photovoltaic Installation Project:
Presented
by Todd Reeder, Supervisory Property Manager for the GSA & Marcellus Byrd,
Construction Manager for Gilbane Building Company
This presentation focused on the U.S. General
Services Administration’s initiative to turn the Major General Emmett J. Bean
Federal Center into a high performance green building. The project was funded
by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and is thought to be the Midwest’s
largest rooftop solar panel installation. The array includes more than 6,000
Sunpower T5 318W panels and generates 2 MW of renewable energy. During
unoccupied periods, the array generates enough power to put electricity back
into the grid. HW solar water heating is also used at this project. The rooftop
acts as a living laboratory and weather station with four types of photovoltaic
technologies under testing for another 3 kW of power. Average monthly savings from
IPL were calculated to be $321,000 with 1,601,000 kWh generated and 23,973,000
kWh consumed (~6.5% of total consumption). More information on that at http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/212761.
Keynote
Speakers: First,
Charles Fishman, an investigative journalist specializing in business
innovation and social responsibility, spoke about how water resources will come
to define this century. The message of this presentation was essentially to
help change the way we look at water, our most essential but in many ways
misunderstood resource. Mr. Fishman’s facts that I thought were most
interesting included the following… 3% of all electrical generation in the U.S.
is attributable to water treatment, production & distribution and that
electrical generation is the largest user of water in the country.
The second keynote speaker, Jeremy Rifkin,
joined us via weblink from the IE EU commission, and discussed the convergence
of communication and energy. Mr. Rifkin is the president of the Foundation on
Economic Trends and the author of 19 books on the impact of scientific and
technological changes on the economy, workforce, society and the environment.
He discussed how the ‘power’ of the internet is lateral in nature and how this
caused a change in communication from the previous top-down distribution
network. Similarly, what if buildings become part of the electrical grid and we
modify the top-down distribution network and infrastructure to access on a public-wide
basis? Lateral information exchange and a third industrial revolution are
currently shaping the democratization of the energy grid.
Kingspan
KoolDuct:
This was one of the more interesting booths at the Expo, to me, for obvious
reasons. The company/fabricator onsite to introduce me to KoolDuct was
InSolution, based out of Indianapolis. But the technology itself comes from UK-based
Kingspan Insulation (http://www.koolduct.kingspan.com). It would appear though
that Delta Air Systems is the ‘official’ Kingspan KoolDuct System delivery
partner (based in Toledo, OH). Read up on the system here: http://deltaairsystems.us/koolduct_engineering.html. There are certified
fabricators and installers located all around the Midwest.
KoolDuct is a pre-insulated ducting system…
minus the sheet metal. Fabricated from CFC/HCFC-free rigid phenolic insulation
panels faced on both sides with factory applied siler aluminum foil, grip
flange and joining systems, KoolDuct is available with thermal conductivity
ratings of R-6.0 and R-8.1 and has superior resistance to burning and flame
spread. Plus, since it’s lighter than sheet metal it doesn’t require as many
supports, and doesn’t have exposed interior insulation like liner. It’s also
durable (like ‘see how many of us can stand on it without it breaking or
sagging’ durable). It’s also only 15%
the weight of insulated sheet metal ductwork and easily meets SMACNA’s Class 6 leakage
rating. Good for installations indoors or outdoors, the insulation’s closed
cell structure has excellent moisture resistance and is compliant with NFPA 90A
& B and UL Listed as a Class 1 Air Duct to Standard for Safety UL 181. Not
to mention that it’s been shown to save over 20% of total initial cost
(obviously mostly from installation cost savings).
ISU
Biorenewables Complex Project:
Presented
by Seamus Kelly, Project Architect at ZGF Architects & Kerry Dixon-Fox,
Capital Project Manager and Coordinator of Sustainable Design and Construction
at Iowa State University.
A two-phase project designed to incorporate
many sustainable building technologies. These included aggressive onsite stormwater
mitigation (rain gardens, permeable paving, onsite retention and reuse),
substantial reduction of potable water use, multiple energy recovery methods,
de-coupling of ventilation and heating/cooling airstreams, radiant heating and
cooling, integrated building control systems, natural ventilation and
daylighting. The project is certified LEED Gold (NC v2.2) and showed that
taking risks during design but not execution can yield some exciting results.
Data
Center Energy Use:
Presented
by Kevin Dennis, Territory Manager for Schneider Electric.
Presented by Schneider Electric, this was a
more product specific presentation that discussed the fact that electricity
usage costs have become an increasing fraction of the total cost of ownership
for data centers. The presenters discussed quantifying electricity savings,
examples of methods to reduce power consumption and provided guidance for
measuring and calculating data center PUE.
Indiana
Tech LEED Gold certification and Campus Geothermal:
Presented
by Terry Thornsbury, President at Viridian Architectural Design, Inc. &
Michael Lubbehusen, Principal at Primary Engineering, Inc.
The $3.5 million renovation of the historic 11,000
gsf Wilfred Uytengsu, Sr. Center (originally constructed in 1857) from a
pre-Civil War era building to a showcase of modern energy-efficient design,
materials and technology was no small undertaking. The design preserved the
exterior brick shell of the building, as well as windows, and door openings but
that was about it. An entirely new structure, floor and roof system was built
into the existing shell. A $1.34 million grant from the U.S. Department of
Energy allowed the university to partner with WaterFurnace International on
installation of a geothermal heating and cooling system as part of the
renovation. The project had an initial goal of achieving LEED Silver certification,
but achieved Gold instead (including all EAc1 points). Closed cell spray foam
insulation on the interior of the brick helped stabilize the fragile façade and
contributed in part to an overall wall assembly performance of R-24. A one-hour
PBS documentary chronicling the history of the building and the renovation
process was also created (you can watch a clip here: https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=190483610988875). The building is
currently performing around $0.70/gsf. Three flat panel monitors in the lobby
showcase the buildings’ data and dashboard interface.
The community geothermal system was designed
to be built in phases, with 55 wells (for approximately 124 tons of installed
capacity) completed in Phase 1 – the pump house was sized for 1,000 tons total.
This Phase 1 well field serves the Uytengsu building and the Zollner
Engineering Building, which had an existing 4-pipe HVAC system and was updated
to include water-to-water heat pumps. The 12” diameter horizontal mains that
connect these two buildings to the 3” mains of the well field loop add
approximately 80 additional tons of capacity. Originally directional boring was
planned to minimize impact to campus surroundings, but open excavation was
required in the end. Each well was sized at 2.25 tons (400 feet deep) and has
experienced temperatures ranging from 38 - 85°F. Total system volume is
approximately 40,000 gallons and no glycol is included in the water to prevent
contamination of the groundwater after what was considered to be inevitable
system leakage at some point. The design team spaced wells closer together to
help prevent freezing in the system.
Lunch Panels: Wednesday’s panel
discussion topic was ‘Environment/Ecology’ and covered topics related to the
GTH themes and the Sustainability ‘tenant of the day’. Panelists discussed
their organization and roles in this area and then moved on to related topics
in a moderated Q&A format, including such issues as local and regional
water concerns, waste concepts, energy, climate and ecological strategies.
Thursday’s panel was ‘Energy/Economy’ and included topics of local and regional
energy strategy/policy, ‘green’ economic development, transit and alternative
fuel/electric vehicles and related topics.
Speakers included Matthew Gutwein (President
and CEO of the Health and Hospital Corporation of Marion County), Dr. Lisa
Harris (CEO and Medical Director of Wishard Health Services), Michael Kaufman
(Director of Special Projects and Civic Investment for the Health and Hospital
Corporation of Marion County), Larry Clemens (Indiana Director of Conservation
for The Nature Conservancy), John Hazlett (Director of the Office of Sustainability
for the City of Indianapolis), Jesse Kharbanda (Executive Director, Hoosier
Environmental Council), Ann McIver (Director of Enrivonmental Stewardship,
Citizens Energy & Water Group), Scott Miller (Director of Sustainability,
Knauff Insulation), Brandon Pitcher (Sustainability Consultant, 5 Kingdoms
Development, LLC) and John Waters (President, Waters & Associates LLC).
Building
Consumption M&V:
Presented
by Sachin Anand, Principal for dbHMS.
As anyone who’s done a predictive energy
model knows, thousands of assumptions go into both the model and the building
design. Measurement & Verification (M&V) helps manage expectations for
the accuracy of the modeling compared to utility bills and closes the feedback
loop from enhanced metering and energy model calibration. A good M&V plan
should: Define Goals, Define Processes and Assign Responsibility. This all ties
back into making building data more accessible to our clients and those paying
the bills.
Purse
Strings, Planning & Performance of Successful LEED certification:
Presented
by Paul Todd Merrill, Director of Sustainable Construction for Clayco Inc,
Christy Cunningham-Saylor, Environmental Specialist with Vertegy & Glenn
Girardi, Project Director for Johnson & Johnson Sales and Logistics Co.
A panel discussion of three recognized
sustainability leaders that incuded brief presentations by each panelist on
planning. Budgeting/estimating, tracking and ongoing performance results of
several recently completed LEED certified projects (including a 1,050,000 gsf
J&J Consumer Distribution center in Mooresville, IN pursuing LEED Silver).
There was some good audience participation in this one (especially since my
USGBC Nebraska Flatwater cohorts from RDG Planning + Design and Kiewit Building
Group were sitting in the front row with me). Discussion included sustainable
planning, design and construction opportunities, benefits, risks and pitfalls.
Generally speaking, the mentioned cost add
for each level of certification could be around 1-2% of total project cost
(though at some level, depending on the starting budget, certification at the
lowest levels doesn’t necessarily have to cost that much). The purse strings
have to open at some point though, and each successive iteration of energy and
sustainability improvement in design can factor into answering the question of
‘how much?’ ENERGY STAR to LEED Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum to BREEAM to
NetZero Energy, Carbon, Water & Waste to the Living Building Challenge, to
Regenerative Design and Biomimicry.
Retrocommissioning
at Butler University:
The six-year-old Health/Resources Complex (http://www.butler.edu/hrc/about-the-facility/) was significantly
under-performing in terms of energy (project was not commissioned initially).
Retrocommissioning efforts provided a 15% energy savings and 0.7 year payback
with approximate cost savings of $0.18/gsf.
Green
Fume Hood Technology: A presentation on a specific product instead of a suite
of general ‘green’ options, GFH Technologies (http://www.greenfumehood.com/) is a packaged
filtration, detection and communication solution for significant energy savings
from recirculation of filtered fume hood air back into the space (not
necessarily the same as a recirculating fume hood). Obviously EH&S would
have to be involved in a decision to install these and they’re not applicable
for some uses (perchloric acid). There are four steps to decide if these hoods
are a good fit for the application (the short list, a questionnaire, a report
from GFH Tech, and programming).
