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Although many of the concepts of sustainable design and construction have been around for decades, the recent awareness of the general public has stimulated rising interest and responsive actions.
Sustainable design and construction seeks to avoid the depletion of energy, water and raw material resources, prevent environmental degradation caused by facility and infrastructure development over their life cycle, and create environments that are livable, comfortable, safe and that promote productivity. Here are some of the latest green developments.
Green Organizations Become Standard Setters
The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has been recognized by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) as an official standards developer. USGBC has been working with the ANSI processes through its partnership with the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers and the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America on the development of a standard baseline for high performance green buildings in the commercial marketplace. In 2006, USGBC applied to become an ANSI-accredited standards developer. More information about USGBC is available at www.usgbc.org.
USGBC is not the only green organization that will be setting standards. More than a year ago, ANSI approved the application of the Green Building Initiative (GBI) as a standards-developing organization. GBI was the first sustainable building organization to become accredited to develop consensus standards. Its environmental design and rating system is known as Green GlobesTM. Information is available at www.thegbi.org.
Mechanical Contractors Form Green Organization
“Saving the world, one mechanical system at a time” is the slogan of the newly established Green Mechanical Council, or GreenMech. The organization has stated that it hopes to work with the USGBC and GBI to further sustainability by developing its own rating system and creating educational programs for the trades that design, install, and maintain mechanical systems.
GreenMech was formed by a group of mechanical industry manufacturers, educators, and associations, including the Mechanical Contractors Association of America. One of its goals is to develop a 100-point standard for mechanical equipment based on the energy used and pollutant produced. A system that uses zero net energy and produces no carbon dioxide or pollutants would achieve a perfect score of 100. Eventually, the GreenMech website (www.greenmech.org) would index mechanical systems by their ratings as a source of information for designers and clients.
GreenMech also hopes to package educational material from universities, suppliers, and others in forms that are easy for technicians to access. The organization has estimated that there are 130 million mechanical systems currently in place that could be made more efficient to reduce their “carbon footprints.”
USGBC Moving Forward on Life-Cycle Assessment
The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) Green Building Rating SystemTM that is the basis of the USGBC effort on sustainability gives points to everything from appropriate landscaping to bicycle racks. Now, the USGBC is attempting to simplify life-cycle assessments so that they become another component of the point system used to assign sustainability credits to projects. The incorporation of life-cycle assessments would assist in both documenting actual energy use as well as “embodied energy” in a product or system.
Homebuilders Lead Effort for ANSI Green Homes Standard
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) has joined with the International Code Council (ICC) to create an ANSI standard for green homes. Residential units in the United States are estimated to create about 21 percent of the nation’s carbon dioxide emissions, which are known to be a major source of global climate change. In 2005, NAHB published its Model Green Home Building Guidelines, now a nationally recognized green building certification tool. ICC has been promoting green building requirements through its widely adopted family of international codes, which set minimum standards for energy efficiency and sustainable building practices for the construction industry.
Schinnerer's Resources
Policyholders can access our Management Advisory on green design.
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