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Monday, February 23, 2009
LEED, Green, and Sustainability
A few words you might have heard a lot lately?!? Seems like I have been asked about them on an ever increasing basis. What are they all about? Are they the same thing? What do they have in common? These inquires have forced me to dig into these issues and have helped me to grasp what these words really boil down to, and it’s not what most people would initially think.
Let me try to get at this from a different way. This may be hard to believe, but I loved math as a kid; I am an engineer through and through. Anyway, one of the math subject matters I recall was a section on sets and subsets. If you don’t remember the math terminology let me state it in layman’s terms - If all engineers are geeks does that mean all geeks are engineers? The simple answer is “no” (as a matter of fact we are not even all geeks) and the same applies to the LEED/Green argument. I trust that this will become clearer through the examples and discussion provided in the next few moments. The LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) process is a voluntary rating system for earning green credits in six different fields: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials and resources selection, indoor environmental quality and innovation & design process. It involves a score card system, a formal application and an approval process to certify a construction project as LEED Certified (Just as a brief aside – the USGBC is to be releasing a LEED for Retail in 2009 after Beta testing throughout 2008). While this is a definable way to document that your project is certified green and that your project utilizes sustainable design features, it certainly is not the only way to go green. In light of the set/subset discussion above, I like to summarize like this – All LEED projects are considered green but you certainly can have a green project without being LEED certified. So why use the LEED process? What are the advantages? Well, the fundamental advantage to LEED is that it offers a formal stamp of approval to say, “Our project is environmentally friendly.” Another important plus about LEED is that it has allowed for a quantifiable way to define sustainable design - LEED is an established and accepted measure, which has shed light on the importance of environmentally conscious design. The hang-up that I (and many others) have with the LEED process is the impact it has on the time and financial resources of a project. While many claims are being made that the upfront cost of LEED is offset by long-term gain, I am a believer that LEED has been slowly adopted within retail construction because retailers and developers alike have to get maximum benefit from their upfront dollars. This places many designers between a rock and a hard place, desiring to be environmentally friendly while also offering the client the most bang for their capital buck. In a market where many retailers have strict construction and operating budgets, it seems to grow even more difficult to go with LEED. Until both of those sides can be reconciled with a solution that is viewed beneficial by both, LEED certifiable green designs will be difficult to make. Simply stated, I believe that there are rarely solutions that are cheaper upfront and cheaper in the long run. Either you pick the cheaper solution (incandescent track for example) and you pay the piper later through higher electric bills or you choose the higher cost options (in this case maybe LED or ceramic metal halide track heads) and you save on your long term energy bills. So what’s a retailer or developer to do? I would argue that while there are many components within the LEED process that are energy efficient, you do not have to decide to have a LEED certified building to make sustainable decisions that allow you to have a “greener” facility. As a matter of fact, I recently decided to do an informal survey on my own regarding the general understanding of green, sustainability, and LEED. While I’ll admit, as an engineer I would like a lot more scientific evidence for my argument, this brief study enforced what I had formerly believed. Outside of our industry (design and construction), very few people really understand sustainability and even less had heard of LEED. It seems to me that if this is the case, having a LEED certified project is not a prerequisite for customers to view you as green. I just read about a retailer who is displaying signs throughout their store pointing out areas where they are utilizing green technology and green construction methods. It appears that the average consumer is quickly becoming aware of what it means to be green and environmentally friendly. Recent trends show consumers are factoring sustainability into their decisions of where to shop and what to buy. All that being said, I believe there are ways to save long-term dollars and be environmentally friendly in order to appeal to your customer base. Below I have provided just a few of the many ideas which you could implement to save energy and gain the confidence of you customers. Lighting is a critical component of most retail design, so as we review new lighting technologies it is crucial that we not only save energy but that we maintain the color rendering necessary. The following are just a few examples of the latest technology - new fluorescent compact and T5 lamps, ceramic metal halide, new LED track fixtures and I am sure more is on the way. As an example, we have a grocery client who is currently making the change to LED track lights for many areas throughout the store and they are also installing skylights and daylight harvesting controls to maximize the use of sunlight within their store to reduce their energy usage during the peak demand hours. All of these current technologies have nice applications within retail design as long as they are utilized in the correct locations and the retailer can budget for the additional upfront cost. As I mentioned earlier, these added costs can be more than offset by long-term energy savings, especially when the installation is in a new application. Another large expense for most retailers is their HVAC systems. We typically recommend that retailers look at two key areas in order to increase the sustainability of their HVAC systems – unit efficiencies and controls. As I noted earlier, a retailer or developer must be willing to spend additional capital upfront in order to design systems with long-term savings in energy. Whether utilizing an applied system (ie – VAV, Water Source Heat-pumps, etc) or more efficient package units, the design of higher end systems will always lead to lower operating costs, and in many parts of the country, a quicker return on the additional investments. The other area which also provides for a reduction in long range energy costs is HVAC System controls. Many of the systems installed today can be viewed by a corporate system that can allow for load reduction at peak times, as well as ensuring systems are not left in a full load position during off hours. Another side benefit of these control systems is that they can be monitored for maintenance issues as well, which can often lead to additional reduction in maintenance cost and store down-time. The final mechanical system design which should be monitored for a sustainable design is the plumbing fixtures. Whether utilizing low flow plumbing fixtures (in some cases no-flow fixtures with waterless urinals) and insta-hot water heaters, there are opportunities for green designs and in the case of LEED a nice opportunity to gain some design points. So while many of the plumbing options might not save significant dollars for most retailers, there are many design features that will not break the bank. Plus these design features provide retailers and developers yet another opportunity to promote greener facilities to an ever more watchful consumer. The LEED process is a good thing, but a project does not have to be LEED certified to be green. The goals of LEED are to further the sustainable movement and encourage a shift in the focus of designers. However, if your project cannot afford to seek certification remember LEED is only a subset of Green and don’t let that keep you from doing what is best for you, your community, and your customers. Bottom line – we should all make green choices that are better for the environment and the future and we all win. Labels: Green Building, LEED, Sustainable Design |
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