Mammel Hall Becomes First Gold LEED Building at NU

2011.01.04 > For Immediate Releasecontact: Wendy Townley - University Relationsphone: 402.554.2762 - email: wtownley@unomaha.edu

Omaha - Mammel Hall, the new home to the College of Business Administration at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO), has become the first building within the University of Nebraska system to earn LEED gold certification for its green and energy saving features.

Developed by the U.S. Green Building Council, LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is an internationally recognized green building certification system. LEED provides third-party verification on construction projects that are built using strategies aimed at energy savings, water efficiency, carbon dioxide emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts.

Ground broke on the 120,000-square-foot Mammel Hall construction project, located at 67th and Pine Streets, in June 2008. The $34 million facility opened to UNO students, faculty and staff in August 2010.

Mammel Hall received LEED certification in 2010 based on the following features:

Development Density and Community Connectivity
The building’s design works to support connectivity between UNO and the adjacent Aksarben Village development.

Alternative Transportation: Public Transportation Access
Mammel Hall is located within a quarter-mile of one existing campus bus route and two existing city bus routes, thus promoting the use of public transportation and reducing pollution and land development impacts from automobile use.

Daylight and Views, Daylighting 75 Percent of Spaces
Daylight fills nearly 75 percent of the offices, conference rooms, open work areas, workstations, administrative areas and the dean’s suite. This feature provides students, faculty and staff a connection between indoor spaces and the outdoors, which, according to LEED standards, promotes productivity, comfort and wellbeing.

Water Reduction
The unique plant species used in the outdoor landscape design will reduce water consumed for irrigation by 52 percent.

Construction Waste Management
More than 97 percent of construction waste from Mammel Hall was diverted from landfills.

Thermographic Imaging
Infrared thermographic analysis of the exterior building’s envelope was conducted to insure the maximum thermal integrity.

Low Mercury and Energy Efficient Lamps
Mammel Hall construction crews established and maintained a toxic material source-reduction program to reduce the amount of mercury brought onto the building site and removed from the site in waste through the lamping of low mercury, energy efficient luminaires.

Optimize Energy Performance
Energy efficient light fixtures are used throughout Mammel Hall. Overall energy consumption has been reduced to 30 percent below the standard to reduce environmental impacts associated with excessive energy use.

Stormwater Management
About 20 percent of the rainwater that falls on and around Mammel Hall is fed to basins and allowed to percolate below ground to recharge the aquifer and reduce the demand on storm sewers.

“Many businesses have and are making the change to be more green, and many businesses are being created to provide green services and products,” said Rick Yoder of the Pollution Prevention Regional Information Center and the Nebraska Business Development Center at UNO. “What I think most of us are happiest about is that Mammel Hall – and the evolving initiative in sustainability – is representative of what can be accomplished through the great work of a team of many people from across the campus and the community. As nice as it is to be working in a great facility, it’s even nicer to have the collective efforts of campus and community working for future improvements.”

Among those community partners is Holland Basham Architects, who designed Mammel Hall.

“Mammel Hall not only serves as an iconic getaway to UNO’s Pacific Street campus, but also demonstrates a leadership attitude of doing ‘the right thing’ in terms of sustainability and positioning itself as a leader among peer institutions,” said Curt Witzenburg of Holland Basham Architects in Omaha. “With the College of Business Administration and Mammel Hall adopting a sustainable philosophy, the facility not only generates an increased level of interest within the community, but also has the potential to aid in student and faculty recruitment, as these groups become more aware of the positive effects these concepts have.”

Witzenburg added that designing buildings with an eye toward total “life cycle costs” makes good fiscal sense.

“A large percent of construction materials used on Mammel Hall were produced within a 500-mile radius, encouraging job growth while reducing transportation costs,” Witzenburg said. “Through creative daylighting strategies, innovating design of the building’s heating, cooling and lighting system, Mammel Hall is expected to see energy savings that result in less cost to taxpayers for the duration of the building.”

It is important to note that UNO is a campus that preserves its facilities. The oldest building at UNO – Arts and Sciences Hall, the university’s first building dedicated on Nov. 4, 1938 – is 73 years old.

College of Business Administration Dean Louis Pol said he anticipates Mammel Hall to continue serving students for the next 50 to 75 years, following the precedent set by older facilities on the UNO campus that are renovated and made anew for years to come.

BOD Election Results

The 2011 USGBC Nebraska Flatwater Board of Directors has been chosen. It was a very close election, and we're excited that those who wern't selected for the two available spots have committed to staying involved and helping lead the chapter within our various committees.

Congratulations to Shawn Parmley and Chad Johansen who will be joining the Board of Directors in 2011!

Thanks to our other candidates, and we look forward to working with you all in the coming year. Make sure to stop by our Holiday Sweater party at Noodle Zoo next Wednesday to congratulate the new board members and meet the other candidates.

2011 USGBC-NE Flatwater Chapter Board of Directors

Do you want to make a difference, expand your professional network, and help advocate sustainable design on a local level?

Candidates for the Board are being sought who can bring the membership diversity, leadership qualities, and other qualifications needed to assure strong and dynamic local leadership. The full election process and requirements as described in the Elections Fact Sheet, are summarized below:

• Nominations will be accepted for two (2) board seats. You may nominate yourself or someone you think would be a good candidate.
• Candidates will be selected based on their expertise, potential contributions, leadership experience, diversity and continuity for the overall board as outlined in the criteria.
• Candidate biographies will be distributed to membership and posted online prior to final voting.
• Additional campaigning by the candidate and supporters is permitted as according to the guidelines developed by the election committee.
• Application Form and Board of Directors Commitment must be completed in their entirety and submitted to Sarah Gudeman at communications@usgbcne.org no later than COB Friday December 17, 2010.

To apply, download the necessary forms: Nomination Application and Board Commitment Form

If you wish to nominate someone, please respond to this address, communications@usgbcne.org.

We hope you will consider this exciting opportunity to help shape the Chapter's future and that of the green building industry in Nebraska.

Second Iteration of International Green Construction Code (IGCC Public Version 2.0)

The second iteration is now available for review and comment. Click here to read the code or Click here to comment. Comments made via this form are due by December 15. As in the comment period for Public Version 1.0, providing comments via this form does not guarantee inclusion of same in the AIA's formal comments to the ICC. Members of the AIA Codes and Standards Committee, other interested parties, and AIA staff will review submitted comments and will coordinate the official AIA response to the ICC's code development process.

UNO's Mammel Hall goes green

By Matthew Hansen WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

The University of Nebraska at Omaha recently received word that Mammel Hall, the school's business college, will receive “gold” LEED certification.

LEED, formally known as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is the predominant way eco-friendly U.S. buildings are recognized. Several Nebraska colleges and universities have LEED “silver” buildings, but Mammel Hall is the first to receive a “gold” rating. Read more from the Omaha World Herald...

Norfolk area chamber of commerce promotes going green

NORFOLK, Neb. (KTIV)--Its an organization that promotes going green but its one many in Siouxland haven't heard of.

The Green Council of the Norfolk Area Chamber formed about 18 months ago and already has over 100 members.

Their mission to raise awareness of going green in their community, and today the council made a stop at Nebraska Public Power's new facility.

The building was constructed using recycled building materials, the newest energy saving lighting and windows and even utilizes wind turbines and a solar power.

Besides touring green businesses like NPPD, Norfolk Chamber leaders say the council also holds other activities.

"We have a variety of speakers on wind, renewable energy, recycling just the different things that are here local in our surrounding communities that families can do." said Monica Rortherham

The group will also hold their 2nd annual Earth Day Expo coming up in April.
Norfolk's Green Council agreed that having NPPD's new LEED green facility in town is a great attribute to the community which sets an example for many to follow.

Select Van & Storage Wins 2010 Wastecap Nebraska Award for Waste Reduction, Recycling and Reuse

OMAHA, NE – Select Van and Storage, an agent for Mayflower, has announced that it is the winner of the 2010 Waste Reduction, Recycling and Reuse Award at the WasteCap Nebraska Sustainable Business Awards. The award was presented at an October 14 ceremony in Lincoln.

As a two-year member of WasteCap Nebraska, a non-profit environmental organization, Select Van and Storage had made significant strides toward protecting the environment with its day-to-day business practices. The agency uses new, efficient warehouse lights, and e-boxes, which are reusable plastic totes. Select Van and Storage consistently retreads its truck and trailer tires, and more than 300 of its trucks are equipped with at least one fuel-saving device. Each driver is also trained on fuel efficient driving to reduce emissions on topics such as- reducing speed, keeping tires properly inflated, having the appropriate tractor trailer gap, practicing progressive shifting and using idle alternatives.

Through its efforts, Select Van and Storage has been able to eliminate over 110,000 lbs. of cardboard waste from landfills and 710 metric tons of carbon emissions and save over 65,365 gallons of fuel. The driver training has also helped improve the company’s MPG average from 4.8 MPG in 2008, to 5.5 MPG in 2010.

Select Van and Storage has been a very active member of WasteCap Nebraska by hosting Green Team Round Tables, and serving a drop-off location for Compact Florescent Lights to sponsoring the WasteCap Annual Meeting. Select Van and Storage’s participation in the organization along with its environmentally friendly practices gained them this recognition.

About Mayflower
Mayflower is America’s most recognized and trusted moving company. Together with its sister company Mayflower Containers, Mayflower Transit offers a full range of moving services from full-service to do-it-yourself moving and storage. With headquarters in suburban St. Louis, Mayflower maintains a network of 300 affiliated agencies. For more information about Mayflower Transit and its services, visit: www.mayflower.com.

About WasteCap
WasteCap is a member based, non-profit, environmental organization, dedicated to assisting businesses develop and adopt green practices - that improve profitability. WasteCap helps business with simple issues like setting up recycling plans and green teams to high tech issues dealing with energy, water, and air issues.