GreenClips.121 06.02.99
ENERGY EFFICIENCY MEASURES RAISE PROPERTY VALUE
By improving energy efficiency, the real estate investment and management firm Scribcor significantly increased the asset value of a bank office building for sale in suburban Chicago last year. At about $3 per square foot a year, energy bills for the 108,000-rentable-square-foot building had been running at least $1 per square foot a year higher than normal considering the area's high utility rates. An energy audit by Sieben Energy Associates of Chicago included analyzing utility bills, interviewing building staff, and surveying the building on-site. SEA first focused on operations and maintenance measures like tweaking equipment based on existing problems or potential new operating strategies. Next, the auditor identified load reduction opportunities and finally looked at more significant and generally more costly retrofit measures. SEA identified ten no- and low-cost measures projected to save between $10,000 and $20,000 annually and seven more expensive retrofit measures costing $300,000 to install but saving over $100,000 a year. Of these, the largest and most cost-effective opportunities were a lighting retrofit and air handling system measures. SEA used an hourly energy-simulation model for what-if analysis and accurate sizing of capital equipment. In all, the energy efficiency measures Scribcor put in place reduced the building's energy costs to $1.90 per square foot a year, a reduction of about 40 percent or $130,000 a year. Assuming a cap rate of 10 percent, such an increase in net operating income may have increased the building's value by as much as $1.3 million. - Environmental Design & Construction, May-Jun 99, p 44, by Roger Hill and Helen J. Kessler. [More on SEA: <http://www.siebenergy.com>] [Full text from ED&C: <http://www.edcmag.com/mayjune99_toc.html>]
GLENDENING CALLS FOR SMART GROWTH BUILDING CODE
Hoping to make it easier for developers to build in existing communities, Maryland Governor Parris N. Glendening wants a statewide model building code that complements his Smart Growth program. "Design me a code any county can adopt" was the governor's plea to a symposium of builders, architects, and environmentalists meeting in Baltimore last month. Too often, says Glendening, strict building and safety codes make rehabilitating buildings in older communities difficult for developers. "In most parts of our state, you couldn't build a new Annapolis, or an Ellicott City or downtown Frederick," he explains. "No building code would permit that. Yet these are the most desirable cities in our state today." A task force from the state's Office of Planning and its Department of Housing and Community Development will study ideas from the conference and make specific recommendations for legislation in the next General Assembly session. - Baltimore Sun, 27 May 99, by Joel McCord. [More on the Smart Codes Symposium: <http://www.op.state.md.us/smartgrowth/news/smartcodes.htm>]
NYSERDA REQUESTS GREEN TECHNOLOGY PROPOSALS
The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority is now accepting proposals for residential, commercial, and institutional building projects that develop, evaluate, demonstrate, or introduce green technologies in New York State. NYSERDA has $500,000 available to support three types of projects: first, projects that develop and demonstrate innovative tools, protocols, and practices for designing or evaluating green buildings; second, projects that develop or demonstrate innovative green building products; or third, projects involving detailed engineering feasibility studies of commercially available energy efficient technologies to make new or existing buildings greener. NYSERDA will fund up to 50 percent of a project's total cost, but all proposed projects must yield energy, environmental, and economic benefits in New York State. NYSERDA is accepting short proposals through July 12 and, after review, will request full proposals due in September. For specifics, email Bob Carver <rmc@nyserda.org>. - Professional Builder, Jun 99, p 30, and a NYSERDA press release, 20 Apr 99. [Other NYSERDA opportunities: <http://www.nyserda.org/rddopps.html>]
THE ROAD TO NATURAL CAPITALISM
Business strategies built around the radically more productive use of natural resources can solve many environmental problems at a profit, say the authors of a forthcoming book titled Natural Capitalism. Such an approach properly values capitalism's largest category of capital - the "natural capital" of ecosystem services. Getting to natural capitalism involves four major shifts in business practices, all vitally interlinked. First, a dramatic increase in the productivity of natural resources. Through fundamental changes in production design and technology, farsighted companies are developing ways to make energy, minerals, water, and forests stretch 5, 10, even 100 times further. Second, a shift to biologically inspired production models. In closed-loop production systems modeled on nature's designs, every output either harmlessly returns to the ecosystem as a nutrient like compost or becomes an input for making another product. Third, a move to a solutions-based business model. Instead of resting on the sale of goods, the new model delivers value as a flow of services - providing illumination, for example, rather than selling light bulbs. Fourth, reinvestment in natural capital. Ultimately, business must restore, sustain, and expand the planet's ecosystems so that they can produce their vital services and biological resources even more abundantly. - Harvard Business Review, May-Jun 99, p 145, by Amory B. Lovins, L. Hunter Lovins, and Paul Hawken, coauthors of Natural Capitalism (Little Brown, Sep 99). [Download the full HBR article: <http://www.rmi.org/newindex.html>]
FABRICS WITH A GREEN THREAD
Knoll's 100-percent recyclable polyester fabric called Resolution by Suzanne Tick is dyed with nonpolluting minerals; $18 a yard. Carnegie offers Creation Baumann's textured ramie-cotton blend called Palazzo which carries the Eco-textile label for meeting Europe's strictest earth-friendly standards; $62. So does Carnegie's nubby wool blend Triton Stretch; $75. Also from Carnegie is Anne Beetz's Boxbeam in Xorel, a fabric made with reduced carbon monoxide emissions; $42. William McDonough's 100-percent organic wool and ramie Meander from DesignTex can be composted; $58. Donghia's Pilaster Stripe features Tencel, a biodegradable cloth made from wood pulp; $84. For more information: Knoll 800 343 5665, Carnegie 800 727 6770, DesignTex 800 221 1540, Donghia 800 366 4442. - Metropolitan Home, May-Jun 99, p 208, by Elizabeth Mahoney.
RETURN SWATCHES FOR REUSE
Clear your office of excess fabric samples the green way! The Association of Contract Textiles is placing sample-deposit boxes in hundreds of design firms' resource libraries. ACT asks designers to ship full boxes to a North Carolina nonprofit that sends the samples back to their manufacturers and mails the participating design firm a replacement collection box. The nonprofit Watauga Opportunities helps the hard-to-employ. More: <http://www.contract-textiles.com>. - Interiors, Apr 99, p 18, by Katherine Day Sutton.
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ALAMEDA COUNTY WASTE MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY Announcing the Resource-full Showcase! A traveling exhibit - built on a trailer - showcasing the best resource-efficient building materials has just hit the road in the San Francisco Bay Area. Funded by the Alameda County Waste Management Authority, the exhibit shows the best of recycled and recyclable materials (newspaper, plastic, tires, steel, fly ash), less toxic adhesives and finishes, appropriate use of agricultural waste (straw, hemp hurd, soy flour), and renewable sources (photovoltaic electricity from the sun). The colorful and graphically designed exhibit features building materials for office and home use that are available today, along with construction practices that increase efficiency, decrease waste and save money. The 8' x 25' trailer was designed by DeBoer Architects and constructed by Sun Light & Power and Vital Systems with graphics by Celery Design Collaborative. The Resource-full Showcase will be available for viewing at Clean Power Day 1999: Saturday, June 19, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. For more information on Clean Power Day, visit <http://www.cleanpower.org>. To have a look at the exhibit and its upcoming tour schedule, go to <http://www.stopwaste.org>.
ENERGY ASSESSMENTS - CA DEPT OF GENERAL SERVICES If you're a California state agency, city or county government, UC or CSU, community college, or K-12 school, Energy Assessments can help you find energy efficient facility solutions that incorporate sustainable design and environmentally responsible building practices. EA can insure sustainable and energy efficient design from the initial phases of your capital outlay projects; audit your existing facilities to identify, fund, and implement energy- and water-saving retrofits; represent your interests in the growing energy services marketplace; and procure a stable, long-term supply of low-cost natural gas and electricity. These project development and procurement programs have a proven record of success increasing energy and water efficiency while lowering utility costs. Using a variety of funding sources, including Energy Efficiency Revenue Bonds, EA has saved its California public sector clients over $520 million in life-cycle energy costs. EA also monitors regulatory and legislative activities before the California Public Utility Commission. For more information, call 916 323 8777 or visit us at <http://www.dgs.ca.gov/resd/html/oea.html>.
US DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY http://www.eren.doe.gov/buildings Many schools, homes and office buildings throughout the country will become more energy efficient due to nearly $17 million in Department of Energy grants to 45 states and the District of Columbia. State Energy Offices will use the grants for 168 special energy-saving projects to improve building energy efficiency and reduce utility bills. The grants, administered by DOE's Office of Building Technology, State and Community Programs (BTS), will also reduce the need for new electricity generating plants by promoting energy efficient technologies. More information on BTS' efficient building programs is available on the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Network web site <http://www.eren.doe.gov/buildings> or by calling 800 DOE 3732.
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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 James Richert.
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