GreenClips.216 06.04.03 TOYOTA'S NEW CAMPUS: GREEN GOES MAINSTREAM Toyota Motor Sales' new South Campus, a 624,000-square-foot complex in Torrance, California, was designed to demonstrate that green buildings do not necessarily have to cost more than ordinary office developments. While it will take the company seven years to recoup the cost of rooftop photovoltaic cells, the company saved money with a simple type of tilt-up construction commonly used to build warehouses. What results is a "very mainstream" campus that could be emulated by just about any company, according to Sanford L. Smith, Toyota's manager of real estate and facilities. The campus, which opened in April, is the largest project ever to receive the U.S. Green Building Council's gold rating. Ninety-six percent of construction waste was recycled, with the wall panel casting molds, for example, turned into landscaping pavers. Mark Yamauchi, Toyota's facilities operation manager, said the complex exceeded California energy standards by 20 percent. Designed by LPA, the $87 million complex will eventually house about 2,500 employees. David Seastrom of Turner Construction Company, the project's general contractor, said the buildings were built for about $63 a square foot -- within the range of $54 to $76 of most Southern California office parks. He calculated the interiors' cost at about $26 a square foot, compared with $22 to $40 for other complexes. The New York Times, 4 June 2003, p C6, by Terry Pristin. [More: http://www.lpainc.com ] NEW YORK CITY TRANSIT ON TRACK TO SUSTAINABILITY New York City Transit's department of capital program management (CPM) has begun promoting efficient use of energy and natural resources in its $2.5 billion a year capital program. Under CPM's Design for the Environment program, the agency's capital projects are systematically evaluated to determine whether they incorporate environmental considerations. CPM is also developing metrics that quantify the success of its initiatives. In 2001, the agency recouped $2.2 million through its green initiatives. The agency's first project to take advantage of a whole-building design approach was the Corona Yard and Maintenance Facility in Queens. For the wetlands site in the Flushing River, deep pile foundations minimized excavations, soil disruptions, and yard runoff. A 100-kilowatt rooftop photovoltaic system and a 200-kilowatt fuel-cell system will help power the maintenance shop. At the Roosevelt Avenue/74th Street Station in Queens, automated window louvers allow rising heat to escape, cooling the station at track level and eliminating the need for air conditioning. At the Grand Avenue Depot and Central Maintenance Facility in Queens, bus washing systems will recycled 85% of wash water and will store rainwater in underground storage tanks to be used during droughts. With its integrated, long-term program, New York Transit is putting the city on track to sustainability and providing a clear model for other transit systems to follow. Urban Land, May 2003, p 88, by Joyce Lee and Nancy Egan. VINYL INDUSTRY WITHDRAWS CHALLENGE TO GREEN BUILDING REGULATIONS The vinyl flooring industry has withdrawn a lawsuit challenging New York State's Green Building Tax Credit regulations. The industry wanted vinyl floor coverings included in the list of flooring materials, along with cork, concrete, recycled wood, and linoleum, whose use qualifies a building for a tax credit. In May, the Attorney General's Office responded to the industry's petition with a stack of affidavits from state and federal environmental and regulatory officials, which all basically rejected the idea that vinyl is an environmentally benign material. Bill Hall, the attorney representing the Resilient Floor Covering Institute -- which represents Armstrong Floors, Congoleum, Amtico, Vinylasa, Mannington and Domco Tarkett Inc. -- said the industry backed away from the lawsuit because the state indicated that some vinyl flooring could be used in green buildings. Under the regulations, as long as 50 percent of a building's floor coverings are composed of a listed material, the building qualifies for a tax credit. So some vinyl flooring can be used, said New York Department of Environmental Conservation's spokesman Michael Frasier. But that standard was in the original regulations, a fact that had been pointed out to the industry. The Business Review (Albany, NY), 2 Jun 2003, by Eric Durr. [Full text (free registration required): http://albany.bizjournals.com/albany/stories/2003/06/02/story4.html ] NEW TOOL FOR ASSESSING GREEN POWER PROJECTS The World Resources Institute has introduced a new tool to help corporate energy, environment and facility managers make decisions about green power. The Green Power Analysis Tool, an Excel-based set of spreadsheets, is a free tool that allows managers to assess the financial characteristics of green power projects and the contribution those projects make to clean air and climate change goals. It quantifies the reduced emissions of carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide associated with different green power projects and calculates the cost of achieving those reductions in standard metrics such as dollars per ton of emission avoided. Users can input data about their own green power projects or learn more about green power markets by exploring several green power projects pre-installed into the tool. Download the tool at http://www.thegreenpowergroup.org/gpat The Green Business Letter, May 2003, p 2, and the Green Power Analysis Tool website. TWO MINNESOTA COMPANIES PARTNER TO PRODUCE ECO-FRIENDY FURNITURE Baltix Furniture's EcoBuzz product line, which includes workstations, filing systems, tables and partitions, is made from materials such as wheat straw, sunflower hulls, soy flour, recycled plastic, newsprint and aluminum. No harmful adhesives, formaldehydes or VOCs are used in its manufacturing process. Baltix, a design, sales and R&D company located in Long Lake, Minnesota, has its products manufactured by JonTi-CrafT of Wabasso, Minnesota. JonTi-CrafT recently launched its own line of "earth-friendly" furniture for kids called Sproutz. Baltix owner Tom Heerman originally saw JonTi-CrafT products in a daycare center and liked what he saw. "They were using primarily Baltic birch, as was I at the time. But after working with them on some design ideas I had, as well as the sustainable and recycled material goals I had in mind, we worked out a relatively seamless way of producing our office furniture." Baltix's client list continues to grow, and includes the University of Minnesota, whose Dean of Architecture, Thomas Fisher, says, "We're very pleased with the quality and durability of the Baltix desks and see them as a teaching tool for our students as we prepare them to work in a world in which sustainability has become a critically important issue." In Business, March/April 2003, p 15. . [More: http://www.baltix.com ; http://www.sproutz.biz ] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GreenClips is free of charge thanks to individual members and these sponsors: BUILDINGGREEN, INC. 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