http://greenbuildconsult.com/index.php/blog/ en jyudelson@cox.net Copyright 2008 2008-10-14T03:22:54-08:00 http://www.greenbuildconsult.com/blog/san-jose-california-adopts-strong-green-building-standards/ http://www.greenbuildconsult.com/site/san-jose-california-adopts-strong-green-building-standards/#When:03:22:54Z On October 7, 2008, Mayor Chuck Reed and the San Jose City Council followed the lead of San Francisco and Los Angeles in conceptually approving strong green building standards for private sector development in California’s second largest city, implementing a good portion of the City’s 2007 “Green Vision” policy. San Jose’s new ordinance requires commercial and industrial buildings exceeding 25,000 sq.ft. to meet LEED Silver certification standards of the U.S. Green Building Council. Residential developments of 10 or more units, or high-rises above 75 feet tall, must meet basic LEED certification standards. Residential developments of 10 or more units can also opt to achieve instead at least 50 points on the GreenPoint rating system. By 2012, the threshold for commercial buildings drops to 10,000 sq.ft. and residential units must achieve LEED Silver certification. According to one news story, the requirements take effect January 1, 2009, but will not apply to projects already “in the pipeline” until July 1, 2009. 2008-10-14T03:22:54-08:00 http://www.greenbuildconsult.com/blog/the-road-to-net-zero-gets-easier/ http://www.greenbuildconsult.com/site/the-road-to-net-zero-gets-easier/#When:15:51:56Z Cadmus Construction in Weatherford, Georgia, constructs eight single-family homes in an Atlanta suburb, all designed for net-zero energy use on an annual basis and seeking LEED for Homes Platinum certification. As reported in Professional Builder’s September issue, Cadmus Construction is building 2,500-square-foot semi-custom homes (4,000-sq.ft. with a finished basement) with PV on their metal roofs along with solar thermal for hot water. The home received the lowest HERS (Home Energy Rating System) score on record for the building envelope and systems, only 47, which means it saves 53 percent compared with a home built to the 2006 energy code (which would score 100). The owners plan to franchise their “EcoCraft Home” system. Let’s look at the details of Weatherford Place. The home’s solar electric output will be sold to Georgia Power at 18 cents/kwh and bought back off peak at 8 cents/kwh. The homes all have a rainwater harvesting system, with an 1,880-gallon cistern placed underground to catch rainwater for irrigation. The homes feature high-efficiency custom windows and doors with aluminum cladding exteriors, including Zo-e-shield glass (reduces window heat gain by 73%). Sales price is about $800,000. 2008-09-21T15:51:56-08:00 http://www.greenbuildconsult.com/blog/san-francisco-ups-the-ante-city-by-the-bay-goes-green-in-a-big-way/ http://www.greenbuildconsult.com/site/san-francisco-ups-the-ante-city-by-the-bay-goes-green-in-a-big-way/#When:18:58:45Z In a move that might be labeled the “green building consultants’ full employment act,” the City of San Francisco will require all new buildings and most major renovations to adhere to green standards by 2009. According to one story, the new ordinance modifies the city?s building code, requiring applicants for residential and commercial building permits, beginning in 2009, to follow a city-approved checklist and rating system,including one from local residential certifier Build It Green or the LEED rating system from the U.S. Green Building Council. My comment: with this ordinance, flawed though it might be in particulars, San Francisco has definitely raised the bar to all California cities and to the more than 500 other cities that have signed onto the U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Challenge. The new ordinance requires new projects to reduce the use of potable water for landscaping by 50 percent. (This is not hard in San Francisco, since temperatures are quite mild - a 65 degree day in mid-summer is not uncommon - and the fog and cloud cover also inhibit loss of soil moisture. The ordinance also speaks to higher standards for stormwater management, construction-material recycling and renewable energy applications. The standards apply to new residential buildings and new commercial buildings that are 5,000 square feet or larger. The rules apply to projects for new and renovated interior commercial space of 25,000 square feet or more, and to work that significantly changes the structural, electrical and mechanical systems of a commercial building that is 25,000 square feet or larger. My comment: like many other similar ordinances, this may have the perverse effect of holding landlords back from making such upgrades and renovations, if the costs of meeting the ordinance exceed the benefits of the tenant leases. New large commercial buildings would have to meet the LEED Silver standard beginning in 2009 and the LEED Gold certification beginning in 2012. They have the most stringent standards in the new ordinance. Look for this law to be strengthened by 2010 at the latest, as the data indicate that the costs for meeting the ordinance are not that high compared with the benefits and the consumer acceptance. Green Building News 2008-08-05T18:58:45-08:00 http://www.greenbuildconsult.com/blog/is-toyota-the-future-of-green-homes/ http://www.greenbuildconsult.com/site/is-toyota-the-future-of-green-homes/#When:01:57:15Z What if you could link up the quality control and mass production methods of auto manufacturers with the growing demand for green homes, and tie that in with plug-in hybrid cars? Aren’t we ready for a revolution in homebuilding, one that would embrace more modular and factory-built components? I’d buy a fireproof, soundproof, super-insulated, electronically modern home in a heartbeat, wouldn’t you? In July, the Wall Street Journal carried an amazing story about a small division of Toyota building homes with 60-year warranties. According to the article, “Toyota’s aspirations as a home builder are also gaining new importance with the planned launch by 2010 of its plug-in vehicles, gas-electric hybrid cars with powerful lithium-ion batteries that drivers will need to recharge at home. The car maker is testing an electricity-monitoring system in its homes that would charge the vehicle during off-peak hours to keep utility bills low, while the car’s battery can serve as an electrical backup, powering the home during blackouts.” Toyota has been building modular, factory homes for years, while the U.S. continues to rely on outmoded systems of site-built housing that meet no real goals for sustainability. The great housing “correction” (read crash) of 2007 and 2008 is likely to persist as we work off millions of unoccupied homes from inventory and foreclosure. Maybe the time has come for home builders to embrace the off-site factory, but with a green building twist. At this point, they’ve little to lose. Corporate Sustainability / Green Business Practices 2008-08-05T01:57:15-08:00 http://www.greenbuildconsult.com/blog/green-weenies-will-green-hotels-ever-come-of-age/ http://www.greenbuildconsult.com/site/green-weenies-will-green-hotels-ever-come-of-age/#When:18:21:18Z The New York Times article on green hotels points out some of the barriers to effectively greening the lodging industry, a combination of timid executives and guests who don’t want to sacrifice anything to save the planet. Most European hotels now have card keys that turn off the power in the room when you leave. Most Americans won’t accept them, because the A/C might take a few minutes to kick in, so the hotel leaves on the A/C all day for an empty room for fear of losing a guest. This might be a problem during the few summer months, but what about rest of the year? What will it take for hotels to put blue recycling containers in every room and compost their food waste, among a few mildly responsible measures? Other than the obvious ploy of not washing the sheets (at your option) for a multi-day stay (which saves water but also a lot of money for the hotel), what will it take to get the hotel industry to adopt green construction and operations standards? Consumer demand and economics are the obvious answers. If green hotels start showing higher occupancies and the cost of energy keeps going higher, we may start to see this nascent trend accelerate. But for right now, I wouldn’t bet on it happening very fast, because of the lack of vision and any sense of social or environmental responsibility in the lodging industry. The only thing that might accelerate change is if corporate travel departments and meeting planners start demanding LEED or Energy Star certification for hotels they patronize; that will be a message much harder to ignore. Corporate Sustainability / Green Business Practices 2008-08-04T18:21:18-08:00 http://www.greenbuildconsult.com/blog/energy-tax-credits-extended/ http://www.greenbuildconsult.com/site/energy-tax-credits-extended/#When:16:50:34Z The first existing hotel has received LEED for Existing Buildings certification; look for this to become a major trend as owners seek to re-brand older lodging properties. Portland’s Avalon Hotel & Spa has achieved the Northwest’s first LEED certification of an existing hotel building. The Avalon, a luxury boutique hotel and spa, joins the ranks of only nine other hotels in the world to have achieved LEED certification and is the second existing hotel building in the world to receive the U.S.Green Building Council’s (USGBC) LEED Silver rating. The Avalon is majority owned by RREEF Alternative Investments. The Avalon’s LEED Silver designation, ranking it higher than any other hotel among the mosteco-conscious in the U.S., builds on RREEF’s effort to reduce the environmental impact of its real estate portfolio. 2008-08-01T16:50:34-08:00 http://www.greenbuildconsult.com/blog/california-adopts-green-building-code-but-requirements-are-modest-and-volun/ http://www.greenbuildconsult.com/site/california-adopts-green-building-code-but-requirements-are-modest-and-volun/#When:02:24:00Z In what is being trumpeted as the country’s first statewide green building code, the California Building Standards Commission adopted a code requirement that all new buildings be 15% more energy efficient, 20 percent more water efficient and use 50% less water for landscaping, but it’s still voluntary… On July 17th, the Commission adopted standards to go into effect on July 1, 2009, but they have no teeth. What is significant is that all buildings, including homes, in all jurisdictions, will eventually be affected, perhaps by 2011 or 2012. But looked at objectively, this is a really modest beginning. For example, a home with 15% less energy use is basically an Energy Star home, one that thousands of builders nationwide are already building. There is no requirement for a comprehensive “green” rating such as the LEED system and no attempt to deal at all with the land use, materials use and indoor environmental quality issues that are found in green buildings. The rules are the first step, however, in what will be a long battle in California to implement 2006’s AB 32, requiring the state to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2020. The real key now is how the state is going to deal with existing buildings, where most of the energy and water use is taking place and which will not be affected by last week’s action. 2008-07-20T02:24:00-08:00 http://www.greenbuildconsult.com/blog/are-green-homes-obstacles-to-homebuilders-or-a-path-out-of-the-current-wild/ http://www.greenbuildconsult.com/site/are-green-homes-obstacles-to-homebuilders-or-a-path-out-of-the-current-wild/#When:04:20:00Z Reported to me from the Pacific Coast Builders Conference a comment by an experienced homebuilder: “Our conventional business model is obsolete.” Is it possible that building green homes could offer homebuilders a pathway to a more financially and ecologically sustainable future? With home prices far outpacing growth in family income, it’s obvious that the business model of “bigger, faster, more expensive” doesn’t work for single-family housing any more. We’ve had a doubling of home size in the past 30 years and a 10 percent decrease in household members. Do we really need 2,400 sq.ft. for two people (my current home, albeit with a home-based business)? Would we be less happy if we actually were forced to share space with other family members? Would we be any worse off if we weren’t spending 40 to 50 percent of our disposable income on housing? Shouldn’t we be asking for builders to build healthier, more energy-efficient homes? Other countries, especially those in the EU, get by with much smaller homes, serviced by better public transportation, in more compact, walkable neighborhoods. My new book, Choosing Green: The Home Buyer’s Guide to Good Green Homes (Island Press, 2008), shows both builders and home buyers the way out: build better homes that people can afford and you won’t have any trouble selling them. Why not focus instead on the long-term value of a home that’s quiet, comfortable, cheaper to operate and healthier to live in, rather than the quick profits of buying and flipping? The game of musical chairs is over, and a lot of people are left standing, without a home they can afford. A new acquaintance told me of his sister, in southern California, who has successfully traded up to a home ten times the value of her first home, in a little over ten years. Now she has a $5 million home. But I wonder, how will she now afford the $25,000 monthly mortgage, especially if there are no buyers to allow her to trade down to a more affordable home? In my Choosing Green book, I document more than 50 great new home developments all over the US and Canada that show what builders can accomplish, when they marry their business acumen with a new approach to designing and building sustainable homes. So, I ask once again, does green building represent a pathway out of the dark woods in which builders now find themselves? Green Building News 2008-07-18T04:20:00-08:00 http://www.greenbuildconsult.com/blog/can-green-building-help-lifestyle-centers-succeed/ http://www.greenbuildconsult.com/site/can-green-building-help-lifestyle-centers-succeed/#When:20:54:01Z “Too many malls swamp developers” trumpets the Wall St. Journal headline today, citing the slowing economy for the failure of many lifestyle (open-air) centers to fully lease their premises. I’m wondering if a focus on green buildings and green development would help developers and retailers gain an advantage in a more difficult economic circumstance. With so many major retailers building green (Kohl’s, Office Depot, Home Depot, Best Buy, Coldwater Creek, to name a few), wouldn’t it make sense for shopping center developers of these large lifestyle centers to build to LEED standards and offer prospective tenants the prospect of an easier certification, by supplying 8 to 10 “LEED points” for retailers? Just yesterday, I was in on a project meeting for a national retail chain that is specifically aiming at a green building certification for a new store located in such a “green” shopping center. The interest is clearly in marrying the two concepts: green retail and green development. Wouldn’t it make sense for developers to use this market slowdown as an opportunity to explore green building concepts and the value of using those as marketing tools for major tenants? Corporate Sustainability / Green Business Practices 2008-07-17T20:54:01-08:00 http://www.greenbuildconsult.com/blog/jones-lang-lasalle-acquires-green-globes-developer-strategic-move-or-desper/ http://www.greenbuildconsult.com/site/jones-lang-lasalle-acquires-green-globes-developer-strategic-move-or-desper/#When:15:46:00Z In a story widely followed last week, Jones Lang LaSalle (NYSE: JLL) acquired the developer of the Green Globes rating tool. Is this a clever strategic move or a desperate attempt to catch up to or circumvent the move by the largest industry player CB Richard Ellis (NYSE: CBG) to dominate the LEED for Existing Buildings system? According to the story in the CoStar Green Report, Green Globes for Existing Buildings was adopted in 2004 by the Building Owners and Managers Association of Canada (BOMA Canada) and renamed “Go Green Plus.” JLL plays the acquisition of Green Globes as a way to quickly assess its real estate portfolio in sustainability terms and then to determine whether to pursue LEED certification for individual properties. JLL also talks about linking Green Globes to the ENERGY STAR rating system. However, if one really wants to benchmark sustainable operations, and particularly to consider other issues than just energy use, there is no better tool than LEED. I don’t think that the marketplace is going to see this as a credible move, particularly large corporate real estate departments who are seeking green office space. What I do think the acquisition demonstrates is that green building operations are the next frontier in the green building movement. This is seen also in the rapid growth of LEED for Existing Buildings (LEED-EB) registrations in 2007 and 2008. From a 2006 year-end total of 244 project registrations, by the end of May 2008, LEED-EB projects underway numbered 1,277, a fivefold increase in less than 18 months! As part of this growth, CBRE has itself submitted more than 200 LEED-EB project registrations, according to company sources. Corporate Sustainability / Green Business Practices 2008-07-13T15:46:00-08:00