GreenClips.112 01.27.99 DEVELOPER BUILDS GREEN MILLENNIUM Tower Companies, owner of the 12-story building at 1909 K Street Northwest in Washington DC, will expand the 27-year-old structure to 240,000 square feet using strict environmental standards. Tower's contractor Sigal Construction Corp. and Boggs & Partners Architects looked for ways to remove or reduce every environmental risk, says Jeffrey Abramson, a partner with Tower. Choosing such alternatives has added about 10 to 15 percent to the cost of the $40 million project, says Abramson, but that's not factored into rents. "The market will determine what your rents are," he says, figuring that at about $30 a square foot the building is priced in the middle of the market. Tower requires tenants to submit to the same environmental standards it does. Tenants say it's easy to comply, so they don't mind. "There were requirements on our build-out, but many we probably would have done anyway," says Bob Swart, a partner with Mayer Brown & Platt, a Chicago-based law firm whose DC office will move into the building. "We definitely saw (the environmental standards) as a plus when we rated the building." Cost-conscious developers don't often pursue this approach, says Abramson, especially on such speculative projects as this one, which began without any commitments from tenants. But he hopes the Millennium Building, as it will be named, will serve as an example of how buildings should be built in the 21st century. - Washington Times, 11 Jan 99, p D16, by Mike Cleary. VAN ALEN FELLOWSHIP FOCUSES ON ENVIRONMENT The Van Alen Institute Dinkeloo Fellowship is calling for submissions that "demonstrate an understanding that contemporary architectural design, in concert with technology, can be environmentally conscious." The $7000 fellowship funds a two-month stay at the American Academy in Rome, plus a month of additional travel. The institute will award it to a US citizen who graduated from an American architecture or related degree program between May 1990 and September 1999. The registration fee is $30, and the deadline for submissions is May 7. For more information, email <vanalen@vanalen.org>. - Metropolis, Feb-Mar 99, p 33. ON-SITE STORMWATER MANAGEMENT LAB The Water Pollution Control Laboratory in Portland, Oregon includes an experimental pond for research on how contaminants in stormwater affect water quality. The outdoor laboratory's concentric circle design expresses stormwater's innate beauty as a landscape form. Rain is a lifegiving element but a nuisance known as stormwater when it collects pollutants from roofs and pavement and dumps them through storm sewers into waterways. Portland's Bureau of Environmental Services, the laboratory's owner, urges local businesses, industries, and homeowners to manage their stormwater on site to improve water quality and decrease flooding. So when BES chose a six-acre derelict factory site for its new laboratory, it walked the talk, asking landscape architecture firm Murase Associates to design an on-site treatment facility. Instead of replacing a collapsed storm sewer that would whisk the site's runoff to the Willamette River, the firm created a one-acre pond to retain runoff for a period and allow pollutants to settle out. BES stormwater specialist Tom Liptan, tracks the flow of pollutants in the pond and documents the effectiveness of the pond in removing them. Portland landscape architect Mike Faha notes that transforming the wet pond into a landscape sculpture is a bold statement contradicting the local norm. "This project raises the bar significantly," says Faha, "in that it celebrates rainfall and educates us to its fate within the urban environment better than previous projects." - Landscape Architect, Jan 99, p 58, by J. William Thompson. CLINTON BUDGETS FOR GLOBAL WARMING The Clinton Administration's 2000 budget will propose $4 billion in spending and tax breaks to help combat global warming. Vice President Al Gore announced that the initiative represents "significant new investments to accelerate our aggressive, common-sense efforts to meet the challenge of global warming." The package of climate-related proposals includes a $200 million Clean Air Partnership Fund that will funnel grants to state and local governments to reduce greenhouse gases, mainly carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels. The White House says the money, which in many cases will be tied to promises of state matching funds, can be used for a variety of programs from retrofitting buildings to buying more fuel-efficient or cleaner-burning vehicles. The proposal includes credits of up to $2,000 for the purchase of energy-efficient homes and up to 20 percent of the cost of electric heat pumps, natural gas water heaters, rooftop solar electric generating systems, and other heating and cooling equipment that saves energy. Also included is a $347 million increase in government research and development programs financing industry efforts to produce more fuel-efficient vehicles, heating equipment, and energy production devices powered by solar, wind, geothermal, and agricultural waste sources. - The Wall Street Journal, 26 Jan 99, by John J. Fialka; and The Baltimore Sun, 26 Jan 99, by Associated Press. GORE ADVANCES LIVABILITY AGENDA A Clinton Administration budget request seeks to commit almost $10 billion to local governments and communities for programs that preserve open space, ease traffic congestion, and promote economic development in a way that some states are calling "smart growth". Vice President Al Gore has announced the Livability Agenda that draws together and expands programs from more than a dozen agencies, making it the largest commitment ever by the Federal Government to planned growth. The largest single item of new spending in the proposal is a five-year, $700 million program that will allow state and local governments to issue no-interest Better America Bonds to preserve parks and open spaces, protect water supplies, and develop abandoned industrial sites for commercial use. Another aspect of the proposal is what Gore describes as the largest ever Federal budget request for public transportation - $6.1 billion - to help pay for new projects that ease traffic congestion and reduce air pollution by fixing roads, expanding public transportation systems, and developing alternative routes. Environmental groups like the Sierra Club generally praised the proposal as did business groups like the National Association of Home Builders, whose members would seem to be affected by restrictions on development. Charlie Ruma, the incoming president of the home builders group, says the proposal would help by clearly defining zoning regulations. - The New York Times, 12 Jan 99, p A16, by Michael Janofsky. COLLINSWOOD FURNITURE AWARDS ANNOUNCED The Portland, Oregon-based Collins Companies - producers of CollinsWood - has announced the winners of its 1998 CollinsWood awards for fine furniture craftsmanship using sustainably harvested wood. Margaret Puckette of Corvallis, Oregon won in the Children's Furniture category with her A Tower of Shelves design, built entirely of pine mill scraps from the Collins Pine Sawmill in Chester, California. "I wanted to demonstrate three concepts with my entry," says Puckette. "One, that thoughtful design could add considerable value to a very low value material. Two, that certified wood producers could use scrap material for high value wood products. And three, that you can augment the goal of promoting forest ecosystem health using the whole tree." In the Home Furnishings Over $300 category, Gary Weeks & Company Furnituremakers of Wimberley, Texas won with a black cherry rocker. The winner in the Home Furnishings Under $300 category was Robin Tedeschi of The Joinery in Portland, Oregon, who made his bench titled Robin's Perch also of black cherry. Collins was the first privately owned forest products company in the US independently certified under Forest Stewardship Council rules. [To see the winning entries, visit <http://www.collinswood.com>.] - In Business, Nov-Dec 98, p 10. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GreenClips is free of charge thanks to these sponsors - EPA'S ENVIRONMENTALLY-PREFERABLE PURCHASING PROGRAM Working to make the environment a consideration in federal purchasing. http://www.epa.gov/opptintr/epp INTERFACE, INC. More than a carpet company. Much more. http://www.ifsia.com THE SMART GROWTH NETWORK Metropolitan development that serves economy, community, and the environment. http://www.smartgrowth.org WSU ENERGY PROGRAM http://www.energy.wsu.edu Providing objective research, information and solutions. Washington State University Cooperative Extension Energy Program in Olympia, Washington. To subscribe to GreenClips and/or other mailing lists related to energy and the environment, go to <http://listserv.energy.wsu.edu/guest/RemoteAvailableLists>. CALIFORNIA INTEGRATED WASTE MANAGEMENT BOARD http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov The California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB) offers contractors information on recycling and reusing materials from construction and demolition (C&D) job sites and how it can save them money. The Construction & Demolition Recycling Program fact sheet summarizes CIWMB programs that can help contractors in C&D recycling efforts. It lists other available fact sheets such as Asphalt Pavement Recycling, Drywall Recycling, Recycled Latex Paint, Why Use Recycled Plastic Lumber? and more. Also available is California C&D Recyclers, a list of approximately 500 sites in the state, sorted by county, that receive construction and/or demolition materials for recycling or reuse. To obtain any of these publications, call 916 255 2149 or visit <http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/ConDemo/> ENVIRONDESIGN3 http://www.isdesignet.com EnvironDesign3, slated for April 29 to May 1, 1999 in Baltimore, MD, is the premier conference on sustainable design and building practices for designers and architects. Workshops provide endless learning opportunities and concrete solutions to many of the practical challenges faced when exploring sustainable design issues. Keynotes include presentations by "Ishmael" author Daniel Quinn, architect Bill McDonough, the World Resource Institute's Allen Hammond, David Pearson, founder of the Ecological Design Association and David Gottfried, president of Gottfried Technology. Visit with manufacturers in the Product Learning Center to learn more about their environmental products and initiatives. In three short days, you will be exposed to a multitude of new ideas, break-through research and passionate encouragement that will change your life, change your aspirations, change your career . . . forever. Produced by Interiors & Sources magazine; co-hosted by the US Green Building Council. Call 561 627 3393 or visit <http://www.isdesignet.com>. US DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY http://www.eren.doe.gov/buildings Geothermal heat pumps can save schools up to 35 percent annually on utility bills and improve the learning environment. You can learn about heat pumps and other energy saving technologies during a February 9 teleconference, "Energy Smart Solutions for America's Schools." Teleconference sponsors are the US Department of Energy's Office of Building Technology, State and Community Programs (BTS), the Energy$mart Schools Partnership, and the Geothermal Heat Pump Consortium. Future teleconferences will focus on the successful financing and execution of school energy efficiency projects. BTS programs also include the Buildings for the 21st Century Lecture Series, focusing on programs that make buildings more energy efficient, environmentally sustainable, comfortable, and affordable. More information on BTS' efficient building programs is available on DOE's Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Network web site <http://www.eren.doe.gov/buildings> or by calling 800 DOE 3732. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ABOUT THE PUBLISHER Architectural researcher and environmental consultant Chris Hammer of Sustainable Design Resources publishes GreenClips in San Francisco. Ms. Hammer helps planners, developers, building owners, designers, builders, and facility managers practice sustainable planning, development, building design, construction, and operation. GreenClips is written by Chris Hammer and Chris Jervey. To CONTACT THE PUBLISHER Email GreenClips@aol.com or call 415.928.7941. 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