GreenClips.41 02.14.96 GAP SPURS GREEN CONSTRUCTION Gap's year-old environmental mission statement says that their mere existence damages the environment. To lessen their impact, the $3.7 billion-a-year San Francisco-based retailer has implemented a number of energy efficiency and environmental measures in the design, construction, and operation of its 1,700 stores. With roughly one new Gap, GapKids, babyGap, Banana Republic, or Old Navy Clothing Co. store opening every business day, Gap uses its purchasing muscle to spur development of green building products. Recently, for example, Gap invited a small lumber supplier to provide certified sustainably grown wood for flooring at two stores. The wood itself worked fine, but the vendor could deliver only one store's worth and not in time to meet the construction deadline. Gap shifted the wood to another store, where a contractor refused to install it because it failed to meet Gap's standard specifications. Finally, the same contractor reluctantly agreed to install it at a third store. Gap knew from the start that working with a small supplier would be demanding, but they "wanted to support a vendor in an industry where we wanted to send a message," says Maria Moyer-Angus, Gap's director of environmental affairs. " And it did. After working with them, two of our existing suppliers are scrambling to get certified." - The Green Business Letter, February 1996, p. 1. PCSD'S CONSENSUS CHARTS COURSE While the existing system of environmental regulations can be improved, it must not be weakened. So says the President's Council on Sustainable Development (PCSD), a Presidential panel with members from both environmental groups and corporations such as Chevron and Georgia Pacific. After a year which industry and environmental groups have been at war over Republican-led efforts to roll back Federal environmental regulations, the PCSD has reached a rare consensus. The PCSD spent three years touring the country and debating how to balance economic growth and environmental protection. The panel will issue their report in the next few weeks. The panel calls for a new regulatory framework giving businesses more flexibility to prevent pollution- but only if they outperform the current system of strict safeguards. The report endorses financial incentives instead of dictates to discourage pollution and emphasizes results rather than how companies obtain them. The report calls for a comprehensive review of taxes and corporate subsidies, aimed at increasing taxes on pollution and consumption in exchange for cutting income taxes. - The New York Times, February 2, 1996, p. 1, by John H. Cushman Jr. NEW YORK REGION HEADED FOR ECONOMIC DECLINE, REPORT WARNS The New York metropolitan area faces long-term economic decline if residents and politicians do not improve transportation, reform education, and rejuvenate urban areas. As it had in 1929 and 1968, the Regional Plan Association, a private Manhattan research group, looked ahead 24 years – this time to the year 2020. To overcome current trends, its report concludes New York must improve transportation links with the suburbs, advocate full workforce participation, overhaul government bureaucracy, preserve space for work and play, and strengthen urban cores. Without coordination and planning, private developers built a fractured New York City subway system in the 1800s and early 1900s. The report estimates that only 25 miles of new track costing about $75 billion would interconnect the various systems allowing single-ticket travel. The planners also suggest refocusing industry and commerce, scattered during decades of suburbanization, into downtown areas. This would streamline handling of goods and waste and lessen the impact of human activities on surrounding green space. Their plan calls for creating 11regional reserves to protect and build on existing harbor marshes and the green hills running from central New Jersey across the Hudson Valley into western Connecticut. Strengthening urban cores by channeling growth into downtown areas will preserve open space, reduce transportation needs, and create jobs, the report says. The report also encourages moderate-income homeownership in downtown areas. - The New York Times, February 14, 1996, p. 1, by Kirk Johnson, Andrew C. Revkin, and Thomas J. Lueck. HONG KONG LAUNCHES ASSESSMENT PROGRAM The Hong Kong Building Environmental Assessment Method (HK-BEAM), the latest environmental assessment program for buildings, will be launched this spring.HK-BEAM offers more than 50 separate environmental performance criteria for air conditioned office buildings. Beyond building design, HK-BEAM gives credits for averting environmental impacts during the construction process and provides guidelines for tenant fit-out, commissioning, and producing an operations manual. The program offers a two-stage process - a provisional assessment during the design process and a final certificate issued after building completion. Other assessment programs in use include BREEAM in the UK, the Green Builder Program in the US, and BEPAC in Canada. HK-BEAM is structured like BREEAM, addressing global issues and use of resources, local issues, and indoor issues. For more information contact the Centre of Environmental Technology Ltd., PO Box 71296, Kowloon Central Post Office, fax 852.2788.7090. - Advanced Building Newsletter, January 1996, p. 3. ECOQUATICS RESTORES WATER HEALTH Shelley Solomon is usually called when an aquatic system is in trouble -filled with organic debris and chemical fertilizers. Southern California's warm climate heats this mixture to produce something other than clear, fish-filled lakes. "People have trouble understanding why a lake turns green," says Solomon, who holds degrees in biology and landscape architecture, but "you've got microscopic algae that assimilate all of these nutrients coming into the lake. You are feeding these little plants much as you would feed a terrestrial landscape." Her company Ecoquatics specializes in cleaning up lakes and artificial water features biologically. To restore and maintain aquatic systems, Ecoquatics first studies the water condition, including pH levels, dissolved oxygen levels, and introduced chemicals. They identify shortcomings in the water feature, its mechanical systems, the surrounding terrestrial landscape, and maintenance methods and materials. Ecoquatics then selects aquatic plant species to remedy the specific problems, and that provide habitat for aquatic life and pleasing aesthetics. - Landscape Architecture, February 1996, p. 60, by Jane Brown Gillette. DISMANTLING AND RECYCLING SAVES MONEY Erickson Air-Crane is dismantling and recycling the Port of Portland's container freight station building at Terminal 6, saving the port $60,000. Erickson, a helicopter manufacturer and operator, is paying a fee for the building's parts, reducing the port's expenses for removing the building. Erickson will reconstruct the 87,000 square-foot building near Medford, Oregon at a fraction of a new building's cost. About 3,000 tons of concrete from the building's foundation will be recycled as paving material. – The Green Business Letter, February 1996, p. 5. NIST VIDEOS EXPLAIN ENERGY ECONOMICS The National Institute of Science and Technology has produced a set of three instructional videos called "Least-Cost Energy Decisions for Buildings." "Life Cycle Costing" provides tools for discounting cash flows, computing life-cycle costs, and evaluating energy conservation projects ($19, 60 minutes). "Uncertainty and Risk" helps analysts establish an economic picture of project alternatives when faced with uncertain information ($16, 35 minutes). "Choosing Economic Evaluation Methods" looks at methods for evaluating energy conservation projects such as life-cycle costing and the savings-to-investment ratio ($16, 35 minutes). Supporting workbooks provide descriptions of the technical materials, a glossary of technical terms, and exercises in applying economic methods. To order call Video Transfer Inc., 301.881.0270. - The Green Business Letter, February 1996, p. 4.