GreenClips.156 11.22.00 ASPEN SKIING COMPANY TAKES ENVIRONMENTAL LEAD Although the US ski industry--with its strongly pro-development culture--does not have a reputation for progressive thinking on environmental matters, Aspen Skiing Company has taken a different "piste." Pat O'Donnell, the company's president and CEO, says Aspen is "the only ski resort that has recognized global warming as a problem. And we're taking measurable action to reduce our emissions through efficiency and renewable energy." Aspen, whose resort operations--Highlands, Buttermilk, Ajax and Snowmass--are familiar to skiers around the world, was the only ski company in Colorado "to back a 20-year forest management plan that values biodiversity over development," says O'Donnell. In April, the company's Sundeck restaurant, built at 11,000 feet atop Aspen Mountain, received a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. The building's features include an energy-efficient design, a 3,700-square-foot deck made from recycled materials, and wind power used to provide 30 percent of the building's energy requirements. The company's Cirque ski lift was built "in an ecologically sound fashion to protect wildlife and habitat. Builders planned construction around wildlife mating and nesting periods; carried all equipment by hand; and prevented motorized equipment from touching the alpine tundra," the company reports. The lift is fully driven by wind power. The company is considering launching a green building consultancy to help other resorts follow its lead. Tomorrow, Nov-Dec 00, p 22, by Carl Frankel. [More: http://www.aspensnowmass.com/environment] AQUASPEC HELPS DESIGNERS CHOOSE WATER SAVING MEASURES AquaSpec, a software program designed by UK consultants ECD Energy and Environment, helps residential and commercial building designers compare water conservation products and assess their impact on a building's water use and water costs. The software looks at nine main areas of a building's water use, from toilets to rainwater and graywater use. For each area, AquaSpec gives a choice of conservation methods, and provides graphs and reports showing the water volume difference for each option, as well as information about each option's annual cost, savings and payback period. AquaSpec also contains a water products catalogue that provides specific product details and general descriptions of the different conservation methods. AquaSpec was funded by Essex and Suffolk Water, Southern Water, Thames Water and Yorkshire Water, and The Housing Corporation. To download a free copy, visit http://www.ecde.demon.co.uk/aquaspec. Building Services Journal, Oct 00, p 31, by Alison Luke. CHESAPEAKE BAY OFFICE RATES HIGH FOR GREEN DESIGN The new office center of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, a nonprofit group dedicated to protecting the bay's environment, glistens on the shore as a two-story utilitarian experiment in reprocessed wood, reclaimed metal and louvered panoramic windows. "Interestingly, it was the neighbors who asked us to buy the site because they were all worried about some of the plans housing developers had," said foundation president William C. Baker. The $11.6-million Philip Merrill Environmental Center, named for a foundation patron, has received a [platinum] Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. Designed by the SmithGroup, Inc., the [32,000-square-foot] building includes features such as recycled pickle barrels used as part of a cistern system to salvage rooftop rainwater, thereby reducing runoff that damages the bay's ecology. Louvers made from barrel staves screen out hot summer sun but admit needed winter warmth. A sensor system shuts down air-conditioning and signals workers to open windows when bay breezes are right. A heat pump system circulates 300 feet deep to 48 geothermal wells that tap into the earth's constant 50-degree temperature below the frost line, helping cool the building in summer and warm it in winter. Rooftop solar panels produce heat for wash water, and waterless compost toilets will produce fertile garden soil for use on the center's grounds. The New York Times, 15 Nov 00, p A14, by Francis X. Clines. [More: http://www.cbf.org] RAINWATER SYSTEM REPLACES POTABLE WATER FOR TOILETS In 1998, the UK's Inland Revenue department decided to reduce their reliance on potable water for its office in Shipley, Yorkshire, by putting in a rainwater collection system for flushing the building's 95 toilets. Installed in fewer than six weeks, the entire system was located in a previously empty area of the two-story building's basement, where two 30,000-liter glass-reinforced plastic tanks store rainwater. Rain landing on the building's roof seeps through a 50-mm layer of pebbles to a weatherproof protective foam sublayer. The water runs naturally over the slightly sloping surface to gullies distributed around the roof. Mesh filters at the entrances of these gullies remove debris such as leaves. Then the water falls by gravity through vertical drainpipes connecting to an existing 250-mm cast iron horizontal discharge pipe in the basement. It was a simple matter to tap into this main discharge pipe at the required places and install connections to the storage tanks. No alterations were needed to the original drainage pipework and changes to the building were also avoided. However, with the inconsistency of supply that comes from using rainwater, it was necessary to maintain the original supply mains from the cold water storage tanks at roof level. Building Services Journal, Oct 00, p 33, by Alison Luke. WASTECAP WISCONSIN HELPS BUILDERS TURN TRASH INTO CASH The nonprofit organization WasteCap Wisconsin helps builders save money on their waste handling costs by recycling. Builders interested in receiving help are first prequalified by WasteCap staff, who ask questions about the builder's business operations and goals. Then WasteCap brings in a team of experts to walk through the business operations with the builder and gather additional information. Typically the team consists of an architect with experience in drafting waste reduction and recycling specification language for construction documents, and a builder with real-world experience in waste reduction and recycling. WasteCap then develops recommendations that outline the builder's options, based on the amount of construction waste the builder will generate, hauler costs, and labor costs to recycle. WasteCap's successful efforts include the development of a recycling program for 10 home builders in the Milwaukee area; as a result, these builders recycled 46 percent of their total waste and saved 57 percent of their normal container costs. More: http://www.wastecapwi.org. Professional Builder, Oct 00, p 44, by Paul Sedan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 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