Green Buildings: More Efficient and Resilient Too?

Green buildings use less energy but are they ready for what Mother Nature dishes out?  A new report by the USGBC and University of Michigan’s Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning outlines ways to extend the resiliency of sustainable buildings.  The report provides adaptive strategies that green building owners can deploy to improve the durability and market appeal of sustainable properties.

The report, which identifies the deep synergies between green building and resiliency, advances several firsts in the field, such as:

• Demonstrating how consideration of climate resilience in buildings can increase the likelihood of achieving performance goals throughout the lifetime of a project.
• Examining the implications of climate change for green building and identifying opportunities for resilience through the design, construction and operation of buildings and communities.
• Analyzing how individual LEED credits support regional adaptation needs, such as enhanced water conversation in arid climates and water-sensitive regions.

“Every building is designed for a specific range of conditions, such as peak temperature, storm surge and average precipitation,” said Dr. Chris Pyke, USGBC vice president of research.  “Climate change has the potential to undermine some of these assumptions and potentially increase risks to people and property. Fortunately, there are practical steps we can take to understand and prepare for the consequences of changing environmental conditions and reduce potential impacts. This can help green buildings meet and exceed expectations for comfort and performance long into the future.”

The body of the report summarizes the most recent research on the likely impacts of climate change at various scales:  regional, neighborhood and site or building.  Predicted future characteristics in the categories of temperature, precipitation, coastlines, air quality, pests and fires are presented.

Western Governors Convene Summit on Industrial Energy Efficiency

The Western Governors Association (WGA) recently convened a two-day summit on industrial energy efficiency, which focused on improving energy efficiency and reducing costs at industrial sites in the West.  Idaho Governor Butch Otter, Chairman of the WGA, noted that 25 to 30 percent of the West’s total energy use is consumed by the industrial industry. 

While many states have incrementally reduced energy use by 2 to 3 percent, WGA is aggressively exploring reasonable cost-effective “opportunities” that will make more energy available to expand the economy and will allow for more capacity on the transmission grid.  The summit included breakout sessions intended to develop recommendations for adoption by the WGA at its annual meeting in Coeur D’Alene, Idaho, on June 29.  Additional information on WGA’s energy efficiency initiative may be found here.

The WGA is a non-partisan organization of governors from 19 Western states, two territories and one commonwealth where rolling blackouts, primarily in California, have occurred in the past.  The WGA recognizes that a reliable and sustainable supply of energy is vital towards meeting the demand for economic growth in the West and that reasonable, cost-effective measures can help relieve some of the pressure on supply as demand increases.

Department of Energy Strategies for Energy Savings in Large Office Buildings

DOE’s technical report evaluated the potential for new large office buildings in the United States to achieve 50 percent net site energy savings compared to the ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-2004 baseline.  The report was created by the Commercial Buildings Group at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), under the direction of the DOE Building Technologies Program.  While the energy goal for this study was defined with respect to net site energy, low-energy buildings were also evaluated.

New Green Case Studies Available

Need some examples of sustainable projects? Eight new case studies have been added to NAIOP’s collection of Green Case Studies. Find 43 case studies of office, industrial and mixed-use green buildings providing information on elements of design, energy efficiency and payback period from past winners and finalists of NAIOP’s Sustainable Development Award.

Free Tool for Calculating Performance of Carbon Neutral Office Building

The free mobile application 123 Zero build by The Weidt Group estimates the discounted payback for constructing a zero emissions office building in any U.S. location. The payback calculations include estimated first costs for a highly energy efficient building, photovoltaic costs, discount rates and user-specified fuel escalation rates. Federal tax incentives are also included in the calculations and local incentives to offset first costs can be added to the computation by the user.

Green Building Market Size Expected to Reach $135 billion by 2015

Non-residential green building activity is expected to triple in five years with the value of green building construction starts up 50 percent from 2008 to 2010, according to a report by McGraw-Hill. Green Outlook 2011 provides insights into key trends, perceptions and motivators in the green building space. To order a copy of the report, visit http://www.naiop.org/bookstore/