| |
|
Do the Right Thing! (...But beware of Greenwashing)
May 2007
It seems like ever since Al Gore became a movie producer, you can’t
turn around without hearing the terms “Green Building”, “LEED
Certification”, and “sustainability” bandied about when discussing new
construction projects. Everywhere you turn manufacturers are eager to tell
how “green” their products are. There is definitely a groundswell building
over developing projects that are environmentally responsible, given the
dire state of the environment, especially when it comes to global warming.
It has become clear to everyone that we all need to do something about
reeling in this truly colossal environmental issue before it becomes a
world-wide catastrophe.
If your company needs to make changes to your facilities, because of a
growing staff or a need to relocate, you will be challenged to navigate the
myriad of necessary choices and decisions when planning your facilities
(such as identifying your space requirements, potential office location,
negotiating lease terms, etc.). But at the same time many people are asking
you to address the environmental impacts of the project, and its long-term
contributions to global warming. How can you ensure that the environmental
impact of your company is not only within the expectations of your
customers, employees, and the public at large, but that you have addressed
the global ethics of your firm’s impact on the natural resources of our
planet? It isn’t easy, and cutting through the hype is a good first step.
With advertisers putting a positive green spin on modern building materials
and systems going into a construction project it is difficult, if not next
to impossible, to wisely choose those that have the least impact while
keeping your costs in check and the project on schedule.
Global warming is here and it will get worse
The worldwide scientific community has weighed in and global warming is a
fact. There is little doubt among the scientists that humans (in particular,
those in developed nations) contribute directly to this phenomenon. It has
become increasingly clear to most enlightened people that the old ways of
building our world, equipping and outfitting it, and living cannot continue
unchanged without dire consequences. We know we need to change and most
reasonable people want to do the right thing, both at home and in our
workplaces.
Americans are among the biggest consumers of energy, and the production of
most sources of energy contributes directly to the greenhouse gas emissions.
According to the CIA World Factbook 2007 Americans consume 23% of the
world’s production of electricity, although we comprise only 4.5% of the
world’s population. So for every man, woman and child in the U.S. we consume
12.34 kWh of electricity, while the average world citizen consumes 2.47 kWh.
In other words we consume FIVE TIMES as much electricity as most everyone
else on the planet on a per capita basis!
We Americans also create a disproportionate amount of carbon dioxide,
arguably the biggest culprit in global warming. The U.S. Department of
Energy, Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports, “The United States
is the world's largest single emitter of carbon dioxide, accounting for
about 23 percent of energy-related carbon emissions worldwide.” Although
they go on to report that growth in the production of carbon dioxide has
been slowing in the U.S., “The worldwide growth in energy related carbon
dioxide emissions has come from rapid growth in the developing world.” So
off-shoring your staff and facilities needs may be controversial from both a
labor and an environmental perspective, if a developing country is home to
your remote operations, unless you make the environment your priority
wherever you locate your facilities.
Greenwashing is a term describing a tactic of manufacturers and others who
have found some green aspect or feature (however small) of their particular
product or system and then tout this as the main reason to include it in
your next project. Never mind that the green quality or feature may not be
verifiable, or actually lessen your environmental impact, or in the big
picture its contribution is so small it is not even worth studying its
affect. In other words, it is today’s snake oil in the superheated green
building products marketplace.
People are using the terms “green building” and “sustainability”
interchangeably when referring to the environmental impacts of construction,
but they are subtly different. The term sustainability means many things to
many people. It is a fuzzy concept that roughly means meeting the needs of
the present without jeopardizing future generations’ ability to meet their
own needs. The yardsticks for judging relative sustainability scenarios are
just as fuzzy. One persons “sustainable project” can be another’s “energy
hog”, but the sustainable bottom line to most Americans means reducing our
individual and collective impact on the environment.
How can we (both individually and collectively through our business) do
that? It’s simple in concept and a little more difficult in practice. Mies
van der Rohe was often quoted with saying, “Less is more.” and indeed this
is an excellent tenet of any sustainable project. It really boils down to
the tag line from years back “Reduce-Reuse-Recycle”. These days when
discussing global warming, reduce is the key concept.
You probably have heard a lot about the LEED (Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design) certification program sponsored by the independent
trade group, US Green Building Council (USGBC). This program is to quantify
green building practices and score the relative green accomplishments by
individual projects. Their consensus developed scoring system is weighted
towards more general environmental issues and not necessarily global
warming. This has recently proven somewhat controversial and many people are
concerned that the documentation requirements are laborious (read costly),
so that only the larger projects can justify this endorsement.
But you and your company can make major differences in your green footprint
when it comes to global warming. According to the EIA we produce about 20
tons per capita per year of carbon dioxide! Twenty tons for every man woman
and child in this country, and that is a lot of carbon dioxide! The two main
sources of carbon dioxide are electricity production (e.g. power plants) and
petroleum based fuel consuming vehicles. So it follows that if one wants to
make a real impact on greenhouse gas production you have to focus on these
biggest culprits. Our priorities should be, quite simply, use less
electricity and drive less - a lot less . If we can make significant
reductions in these areas we stand a chance of mitigating the global warming
trend. So a disproportionately large effort should be made by companies on
these two fronts. Other sustainable efforts are also important, but due to
the very planet-wide scale of global warming, these should be our top
priorities.
What can your firm do to contribute to reducing global
warming?
Reduce your electrical energy consumption by upgrading old HVAC and lighting
systems.
Electrical power is at the top of the list for carbon dioxide sources and we
need to cut back drastically in this area. Tenants are not typically in
direct control of the HVAC systems in a building, but they can put pressure
on landlords to modernize Base Building heating and equipment and controls
to conserve energy. And while this is important, the lighting systems within
the tenant’s space are typically considered part of your Tenant Improvements
and can be upgraded by the tenant.
You can make major reductions in electrical consumption when you install
energy efficient lights and controls. Incandescents lamps are notoriously
energy inefficient; compact fluorescents lamps can replace incandescent
downlight lamps and the main lighting should employ high-output T5 linear
fluorescent with electronic ballasts. Start with the majority of your
lights, if they utilize the old T12 fluorescents, retrofit them to take T5
lamps with electronic ballasts. Install the latest dimming and controls
systems that employ occupancy sensors and photocells to reduce light when
appropriate. Select indirect/direct linear fluorescent fixtures that utilize
the ceiling to diffuse and reflect the light from the fixtures. They will
give your space a more even glare-less light, while consuming significantly
less energy that the common 2x4 T12 parabolic or prismatic downlights. It’s
best to work with an architect on these systems to make sure you get
adequate lighting while keeping energy consumption to a minimum.
Work with your architect to find for opportunities to capture more daylight
such as adding skylights if your space is near the building roof, or adding
windows to exterior walls.
If you are metered and pay your own utilities, buy your electrical power
from a green energy provider, one that specializes in wind or
hydro-generated power.
Get out of our cars.
Let me repeat this one, get out of our cars. Transportation is right behind
electricity production on the list of greenhouse gas sources and although
hybrids are a good alternative to gasoline burning cars, they still only
represent roughly a 20-30% reduction in greenhouse gases over gas powered
cars . Considering that we produce five times the average amount of
greenhouse gases our goal should be to reduce much further. So encourage
everyone at your firm to use alternative transportation methods, with
bicycles being one of the best ways to commute to work (zero greenhouse
gases!). Or alternatively we should use alternative transportation methods
such as carpools (especially using hybrids), mass-transit, etc. One way is
to give your employees cash incentives or subsidies to those who use
alternative transportation methods to commute.
Consider buying company vehicles to be shared by employees for work related
travel, thereby reducing the need for them to commute in their own cars. If
you do make sure that they are hybrids that can burn ethanol, as it was
shown in a recent study by GM that these ethanol fueled hybrids are best for
the reduction of greenhouse gases.
Don’t build new offices
Have your broker renegotiate your lease and stay in place. Not only does
this keep from consuming more materials, but will probably also save you
money by keeping your relocation expenses at zero. Just make sure you
negotiate for some Tenant Improvement dollars from the landlord to retrofit
your lighting systems.
Consider installing more hoteling spaces (shared cubicles) for employees who
are highly mobile and utilize the latest mobile technologies to support
them. Or better yet, transition to an interior workspace model which
eliminates permanent individually assigned workplaces and replaces the
office environment with a variety of unassigned spaces, where each employee
(with their IP enabled laptop and VOIP phone) chooses their place each day.
This is what Cisco Corporation has deployed worldwide with significant
reductions in square footage per person, which translates directly into
savings in real estate expenses and of course, reductions in their
environmental footprint.
If you have to move the office
On the other hand, if it is imperative that the firm move its offices, the
relocation team should at a minimum make the following their priorities:
Locate the office close to your people
Move your office location to a building that is closest to the homes of a
majority of your employees (current as well as future hires). Use your Human
Resources department to develop a list of employees and their addresses and
then plot the locations on a map. You’ll quickly see where the best office
location should be to reduce everyone’s commute distance. This will
translate into shorter commutes and increase the viability of carpooling and
public transit options.
Keep your density up
This means keeping your office area square footage per person to a minimum.
Plan for fewer people in private offices, standardize on smaller cubicle
sizes, utilize more shared cubicles (hoteling) for those staff who are
frequently out of the office, and build fewer and smaller file rooms (deploy
electronic records systems instead).
Look for opportunities for re-use
Work with your broker and architect to find second generation building
spaces with existing in-place Tenant Improvements similar to your needs.
Sometimes it may be possible to find spaces that are offered with the
furniture systems, which can be reconfigured to suit your particular needs.
Install ultra-efficient lighting fixtures and controls
As noted earlier, this can provide a huge improvement in your energy
consumption. Also, work with your architect to organize the space to
maximize the available daylight, so that when coupled with daylight sensing
controls, artificial sources can be dimmed or switched off automatically
when there is sufficient available daylight
Acquire systems furniture that you will keep
If you have to buy systems furniture consider buying refabricated used
product. If that is not a viable option, then select a system that is not
only “green” based on the materials employed and the green manufacturing
process utilized, but select a system that is ultra-flexible and rugged, so
it can be moved and redeployed often as you grow or move to new locations.
Make sure you choose colors and finishes that will look attractive over a
long life.
When changing or relocating your office, it is easy to get caught up in all
the green hype that is sweeping the construction industry. It can be a real
challenge to not be swayed to purchase new green products. Indeed on the
surface this sounds like the very thing you should do when completing your
build-out, but one should be cautious. If you demolish existing in-place
improvements (that may be quite serviceable) and replace them with new green
products your net environmental impact may well be much higher than if you
reused those improvements! Remember the focus should be on making real
reductions not consuming more (even if they are green products).
Don’t be distracted by all the “green” noise out there. There is a lot of
greenwashing going on in the construction industry and many of the products
and systems are very good. But don’t be deceived; the biggest gains in the
battle against global warming can be had by cutting our use of fossil fuels.
This means quite simply cut consumption of electricity and automobile fuels.
If your company is successful in significantly cutting these two areas, we
will all benefit. So keep your focus on reducing your dependence on cars,
cut the amount of power you use, and don’t sweat the small stuff. And, as Al
Gore says, “Plant trees...lots of trees.”
© 2007 FENNIE+MEHL ARCHITECTS
|
|
|
