GreenClips.158 01.03.01 BATTERY PARK'S FIRST GREEN HIGH-RISE UNDERWAY For high-rise apartment building developers, building green often means expense and hassle, and if someone doesn't demand it, builders won't volunteer it. But what if building green was a requirement, not an option? At Manhattan's Battery Park City, construction is set to begin on the first comprehensive green high-rise residential building in the northeastand possibly in the nation. Albanese Development Corporation, the builder selected by the Battery Park City Authority (BPCA) to build the 26-story, 337,000-square-foot apartment building, will have to adhere to green guidelines developed by BPCA and Fox & Fowle Architects. The requirements cover energy efficiency, indoor environmental quality, resource conservation, operations and maintenance, water conservation and site management. Drafting the BPCA Residential Environmental Guidelines was a challenge, says Peter Weingarten of Fox & Fowle, because the document is the first of its kind. Guidelines in Home Builders Association (HBA)-sponsored green building programs proved inapplicable to Battery Park, and the proposed high-rise falls somewhere between the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) commercial rating system and the LEED residential system, which is being developed. The $95 million, 250-unit high-risethe first of six green apartment buildings slated for Battery Parkshould be finished in late 2002. BPCA has already sent out RFPs for the next two developments. More: http://www.batteryparkcity.org. Professional Builder, Nov 00, p 24, by Meghan Stromberg. ADVOCATES OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING RESIST ANTI-SPRAWL EFFORTS Increasingly, the debate over sprawl has turned to whether laws intended to fight it are playing a role in driving up housing prices. The success of anti-sprawl efforts is evident in the increasing number of communities that have adopted measures like moratoriums on building permits or voter-approved growth boundaries. Efforts to limit construction, critics say, can affect all types of housing, from apartments to mansions. Builders and other opponents contend that even when the limits mainly affect more expensive homes, the trickle-down consequences include rising prices for more modest housing. But environmentalists and other supporters of growth controls say that such measures have little impact on housing prices. A recent study in King County, Washington concluded that there is no proof that the state's rules restricting development outside cities is having more than a negligible effect on home prices, says Ron Sims, the county executive. He attributes the jump in housing costs to the region's tremendous prosperity and rising incomes. The New York Times, 26 Dec 00, p A18, by Richard A. Oppel Jr. ARE GREEN BUILDINGS WORTH MORE THAN CONVENTIONAL ONES? Green buildings have what investors want, says Christine Ervin of the U.S. Green Building Council. "Eventually, the superior attributes we find in green buildings should start getting reflected in things like lower insurance rates, better refinancing options or help getting a critical loan in place," Ervin says. A common appraisal methodthe income-capitalization methodcan help convince appraisers and lenders that green buildings, with lower operating costs, better indoor air quality and plenty of daylight, have a higher value. With this method, a building's asset value is the net operating income (NOI) divided by the prevailing cap rate. If the NOI goes up, the value goes up. Energy costs can significantly affect NOI. For example, according to a Rocky Mountain Institute analysis, if the cap rate is 10 percent and a building's NOI is $100,000, the building's capital value is $1 million. If a $40,000 energy-efficiency upgrade yields savings of $10,000 annually, the NOI increases by that amount and the capital value increases to $1,100,000. Thus, the $40,000 investment yields a $100,000 capital value increase plus the energy cost savings. Kevork Derderian of Continental Offices Ltd. agrees with energy-NOI valuation, but says that his Chicago-area projects, which offer energy efficiency, good indoor air quality and daylight and are fully leased, can't garner extra rent because of competition. And he points to a downside: higher value buildings ultimately pay higher property taxes. The solution to the appraised-assessed quandary may be green building or energy tax credits. Building Operating Management, Nov 00, By David Kozlowski. [Full text: http://www.facilitiesnet.com/fn/bom.] COLLECTION INFRASTRUCTURE KEY TO DRYWALL RECYCLING Gypsum drywall, which accounts for 30 percent or more of construction and demolition (C&D) debris, isn't routinely recycled in some parts of the country. Although markets for scrap drywall exist, including new drywall manufacturing, agriculture (gypsum can be used as a source of sulfur and calcium for crops) and cement manufacturing, an obstacle to recycling is the lack of a collection infrastructure. Several Florida counties recently received innovative recycling grants (IRGs) from the state's Department of Environmental Protection to look at the potential for recycling gypsum drywall from new construction activities. These projects revealed that drywall recycling from commercial construction sites, where multiple loads could be sourced from a single project, is typically more cost effective than recycling from residential projects. However, at the New River Solid Waste Association project, where the primary source of scrap drywall was manufactured housing, the economics of separating drywall were favorable because it was the major component of the waste stream. In a Citrus County project, where the majority of drywall came from new construction, contractors saw little or no cost advantage to separating drywall from the rest of the construction waste. In other parts of the U.S., successful drywall recycling programs often require the drywall subcontractor to remove and dispose of the drywall waste themselves. This gives the subcontractors an incentive to find the cheapest disposal option, which is often recycling. More about Florida's IRG programs: http://www.dep.state.fl.us/dwm/programs/recycling. Resource Recycling, Dec 00, p 34, by Timothy Townsend and Chuck McLendon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 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