Boulder Green Building Guild Industry News

10 Things I've Learned from Leaders in Sustainability By William McDonough

Meagan Forney — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 04:46:31 GMT

The things I've learned in the last 10 years are things I've learned from my colleagues, especially Michael Braungart and the people I work with every day at MBDC and William McDonough + Partners, as well as those at Cherokee Investment Partners and VantagePoint Venture Partners. I have also been learning from my amazing clients - large and small companies and governments, including cities such as Amsterdam and San Francisco, and the state of California. I have learned, too, from the new leaders of the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute. To all these amazing people and organizations, I am grateful for their wisdom, vision and spirit of collaboration.

1. I have learned that design is the first signal of human intention and that our urgent design brief is to design for nine billion people on a thriving planet. This is something that Michael Braungart and I talk about every time we are together, and I find that the enormity of it helps focus me. What a task we have - what innovation, creativity and collaboration it will take. The opportunity embedded in this lesson is amazing: Love all the children of all species for all time, instead of simply thinking that any child born is part of a “population problem.”

2. One of the most important revelations I have had in the last decade was quite recent, when California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger asked Michael and I to gift our Cradle to Cradle Certification program to a new non-profit institute, what is now the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute. We had been searching for a way to share our work for global benefit and the governor's request opened the door to this opportunity. He admired what we had done using design and science. He pointed out that we used no regulations and foundation funding, but simply “plowed our row” as a small consulting business advising small and large manufacturing businesses and achieved astonishing results. We hadn't seen it quite that way, and that was a lesson provided through his lens.

3. When Herman Miller and Steelcase, both competing in the office furniture business, became renewably powered companies while performing on our Cradle to Cradle criteria, another lesson became clear: Businesses can lead the way on climate change with velocity and scale. Governments have been unable to lead. Environmentalists are up against huge vested commercial forces. The only human enterprises large and powerful enough to effect this transformation would be commerce itself, acting in society's best interest based on the simple notion that the first job of business is keep your customers alive and thriving.

4. I think we've learned in the last 10 years that many enterprises we work with have hit the wall and now realize that being less bad is not being more good. Being less bad is a great thing to do and has the right trajectory but it is insufficient to the task of a creating sustaining world. Many of our clients have come to us because of this recognition that simply reducing the things we don't want, like carbon, won't achieve the results we do want, like renewable energy.

5. Speaking of carbon, here's a revelation from Michael Braungart: We don't have an energy problem, we have a material problem. It's carbon in the wrong place. Carbon belongs in the soil; that's nature's design. It does not belong in the atmosphere or the oceans.


6. Renewable energy is dramatically approaching grid parity from a cost perspective in many places. For example, recent maps published by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory show that solar energy, even at the residential level, will be cost effective in most of the U.S. by 2015. Now that the rebate program has been extended to 2016, the cost of equipment and deployments are dropping and new financing models are being developed. This is most promising and absolutely thrilling to me.

7. I have learned about the power of the LED technology. The LED lighting revolution is upon us and promises to be a tremendously potent platform for our product of service concept as technical nutrients. One of the fundamental issues that must be addressed is our rare mineral scarcity, however. As indium and gallium will, at some point, potentially be quite rare. Michael tells me there that some people believe there is probably only enough indium to light two billion people. We need to keep inventing new systems while we assure future cultures that we will be designing systems to recover LED lights for all their materials for future use. In this way, we will be able to imagine safely giving nine billion people access to energy effective light by mid-century.

8. I have been reminded over and over again that we haven't begun to mine the power of conservation. We need to continue to dramatically optimize our use of energy and materials in ways that are delightful and cost effective. I am learning from innovative solutions coming on the market - windows that are thermally as good as walls (Serious Materials: R-10!), LED light fixtures that can run in parking lots off solar energy, control systems that can assure we don't light or heat people who aren't there (I call them ghosts) in buildings. We realize how far we still can go to mine the economic benefit of conservation while producing jobs.

9. In 10 years I've seen tremendous inventiveness and creativity in all sectors - what lessons they have taught us all. We're beginning to deploy in our designs new greenhouses that have 16 times more plant production than open land; air conditioning systems that don't require ducting; plants using photosynthesis as the engine of toxic cleanup for sites; small, silent, and beautiful wind turbines; and technologies that can remove minerals from sewage and cost-effectively turn cities into fertilizer factories.

10. I have discovered, to my delight, that executives are hungry for a clear vision of the future other than the reduce-our-badness vision. They are looking for strategies and methods to inculcate their new positive visions throughout their organizations. We have been developing tools for our clients' master plans, buildings and products as well as for their and organizational structures and processes. These tools are becoming hugely popular with our customers as Cradle to Cradle's positive message spreads and more and more examples of profitable deployments are occurring.

Over the last 10 years it has become profoundly clear to me, through the successes and failures that come with our inventive activity, that it is essential to have clients who are aligned with the deep nature of the undertaking of sustainability. Single-minded or prejudiced actors do not help create the territory and the projects where our sustainable intentions can thrive. We have been blessed with clients who have vision, clarity, alacrity, tenacity and the deep enjoyment inherent of doing great work that is required.

I have been lucky to learn and learn in the last decade. Moving forward, I see the pace of change quickening and Cradle to Cradle ripples widening. What a delightful journey we are on together.

William McDonough is an internationally renowned designer. McDonough and German chemist Michael Braungart co-authored Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. McDonough is founding partner in William McDonough + Partners, an architecture and community design firm and founding principal of MBDC, a firm that assists companies to innovate new products and services. McDonough is a venture partner at VantagePoint Venture Partners, one of the world's leading clean technology investment firms.

Source URL: http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2010/09/07/10-things-ive-learned-from-leaders-in-sustainability

Property Assessed Clean Energy Financing (PACE)

Meagan Forney — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 13:31:51 GMT

Federal Action Grassroots Toolkit

We need your help now to ask Congress to take immediate action by passing “The PACE Assessment Protection Act of 2010” so that our nation can use this innovative local government tool to unlock investment in clean energy and create jobs. There are three main activities that you can engage in to help out.

RES Americas Green Vehicle Push Wins Plaudits

Meagan Forney — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 13:02:46 GMT

- Colorado Energy News - http://coloradoenergynews.com -

Broomfield’s own Renewable Energy Systems Americas Inc [1]. (RES Americas) has been recognized by Enterprise Fleet Management for Environmental Stewardship for the purchase of 58 fuel-efficient vehicles to be distributed among approximately six construction sites. The announcement comes on the heels of a rooftop solar installation at RES Americas’ Broomfield, CO headquarters and is part of the company’s continued efforts to be sensitive to energy consumption on the corporate level. The hybrid cars have been delivered throughout the country.

The company is a national leader in the development and construction of renewable energy projects, including the Cedar Point [2]wind farm under construction in eastern Colorado.

Enterprise Fleet Management will supply and maintain 42 Ford Escape Hybrids and 16 Ford F150s with carbon offsets for RES Americas. As a division of Enterprise, Enterprise Fleet Management is a full-service fleet management company, specializing in providing businesses with mid-size fuel-efficient fleets. With 57 fully staffed offices nationwide, Enterprise supplies most makes and models of cars, light and medium duty trucks and service vehicles to businesses across the United States.

“RES Americas is committed to implementing environmentally friendly business practices beyond the national development and construction of renewable energy sources. Replacing aging service cars and trucks with cleaner, fuel-efficient vehicles is a progressive step toward the environmental stewardship our company pursues,” said Andrew Fowler, Executive Vice President of Construction, of RES Americas. “We are dedicated to protecting our planet by providing renewable energy and incorporating cleaner energy consumption into our company model.”

For more than a decade, RES Americas has been developing, constructing, owning, and operating renewable energy projects across the United States, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. The company employs 240 full time professionals working throughout North America, has constructed or has under construction more than 4,800 MW, and is working on a development portfolio of more than 12,500 MW. RES Americas is dedicated to securing a sustainable energy future.

Article printed from Colorado Energy News: http://coloradoenergynews.com

URL to article: http://coloradoenergynews.com/2010/09/res-americas-green-vehicle-push-wins-recognition/

URLs in this post:

[1] Renewable Energy Systems Americas Inc: http://www.res-americas.com/

[2] Cedar Point : http://coloradoenergynews.com/2010/06/res-americas-mega-wind-project-in-weld-county-gets-owneroperator/

Click here to print.

Copyright © 2009 Colorado Energy News. All rights reserved.

YKK AP America Launches Green Building Video Contest

Meagan Forney — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 13:13:14 GMT

AUSTELL, GA — Architects, designers, contractors, manufacturers, students and others interested in green building innovation and showcasing their ideas on video have a shot at a $1,500 grand prize and bragging rights in a contest sponsored by YKK AP America.

Winners of the YKK AP America "Building a Better Tomorrow, Today" YouTube video competition will be announced at the U.S. Green Building Council's annual Greenbuild conference in November.

"We created this video contest to foster the sharing of ideas and innovation in sustainable, green building practices," Oliver Stepe, senior vice president of YKK AP America, said in a statement announcing the competition yesterday.

Contestants have until 11:59 p.m. EDT, October 15, 2010, to submit a video of no more than 120 seconds that features "an idea, design, product, or project on how America can enhance the built environment for generations to come from an energy-savings, green-building, or sustainability perspective," YKK AP says.

In addition to $1,500 in cash, the grand prize includes a $1,000 donation on the winner's behalf to USGBC Philanthropic Programs. Judges also have the discretion to award an Apple iPad to two runners up. Specifics on the contest rules are available from YKK AP.

YKK AP America is the U.S. arm of the global manufacturer of architectural products, YKK AP. Its contest is the latest focusing on green innovation and the built environment.

Others with deadlines this month include the International Interior Design Association-Metropolis Magazine Smart Environments Awards, which requires registration by September 23 and entries by October 6, and General Electric's Ecomagination Challenge, which is accepting entries until September 30 for its $200 million competition conducted in partnership with VC firms Emerald Technology Ventures, Foundation Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and RockPort Capital.

Source URL: http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2010/09/02/ykk-ap-america-launches-green-building-video-contest

Spotlighting the Green Benefits of LEDs

Meagan Forney — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 13:12:18 GMT

The capability to provide artificial sunlight has dramatically expanded the boundaries of time and space, adding hours to the day when we may see and illuminating where sunlight was unable to penetrate. Since the first humans carried a torch to provide light, heat has been a by-product of producing light.

Traditional electric lights continue to give off more heat than light. An incandescent light bulb uses a paltry 10 percent of its energy to create light. Fluorescent lighting -- which has been the green standard in energy efficiency -- still wastes nearly half of the electricity it consumes in generating heat. All of this lost energy is significant considering that lighting devours more than a quarter of a typical commercial building's electricity, as reported by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

LED, or light emitting diode, fixtures, in comparison, are twice as efficient as fluorescents at converting electricity to light and hence generate very little heat. In addition to improved energy efficiency, LED fixtures are nearly maintenance free and provide high quality of light. They are also dimmable, contain no mercury and tolerate frequent on/off switching without degrading their lifespan.

LED Case Studies

Since UCSF Medical Center replaced some of its surgical lighting with LED fixtures, doctors and nurses no longer complain about the heat from the light fixtures when performing surgical procedures.

"Previously we had to chill the OR [operating room] to offset the heat generated by the old fixtures," UCSF Project Manager John Lewis explained. "The new LED lights do not radiate heat and the OR medical staff is comfortable at standard OR temperatures."

Quality of light is an important issue to adoption of any new lighting technology. Fluorescents were unable to replicate the incandescent bulb's soft and pleasing glow and disappointed both professional lighting designers and the cube dwellers who toiled under their unnatural glare. LEDs hark back to a more basic light source, the sun. The spectrum and color rendition come closest yet to natural daylight.

An LED is a semiconductor that creates light by releasing energy from electrons. It is frequently referred to as "solid state" or "digital" lighting. Because LED fixtures generate light over an area using thousands of tiny light sources, the fixtures also provide a clear, shadow-free light field that is ideal for task work, whether an accountant, engineer or surgeon.

"The most important criteria for our application is the quality of light. After an early test, we eliminated fluorescent fixtures since fluorescents render colors poorly," Lewis said. "The medical team found the quality of light provided by the new LED lighting was superior to the existing incandescent lighting."

While quality of light is important, CFOs, facilities managers and contractors also want to understand the financial benefits of LED fixtures. LED lighting providers emphasize the lower total cost of ownership offered by LED lighting to justify the higher upfront investment.

Much of the savings stems from the improved energy efficiency of LED lighting; up to 70 percent less energy is required to produce light. An added benefit is reducing heat generated, which saves on air conditioning and is noticeable in an operating room, office or data center.

Adding to the cost benefits, LED manufacturers promise an exceptionally long life of 10, 15 or more years. Shifting from disposable to durable lighting eliminates the maintenance costs such as tube and ballast replacement that are standard with fluorescents. Adding to replacement costs is proper disposal of the mercury-based fluorescent tubes.

The Pittsburgh International Airport found the ROI compelling. The airport is installing more than a thousand LED fixtures to cover over a million square feet in its garage (pictured below) and passenger loading and unloading area. The project is believed to be largest single installation of LEDs to date.

"Not only does the LED technology reduce our energy costs, it also reduces maintenance," said JoAnn Jenny, director of communications for Allegheny County Airport Authority.

To further improve ROI, there may be grants and incentives available. Pittsburgh International Airport is taking advantage of a state grant to subsidize installation of LED lighting. With the grant, the pay-back period is cut by half.

Barriers to Adoption

Although LED fixtures offer compelling advantages, there are barriers to adoption. Kim Parsley, a principal for IA Interior Architects, which focuses on sustainable commercial building design, commented, "We are still recommending T5 fluorescents for office and retail spaces. We are cautious about the claims of LED lighting providers and want more case studies. The upfront costs are also off-putting to clients."

To overcome these early adopter risks, Pittsburgh International Airport first completed a small pilot and then negotiated guarantees from its vendor that the LED fixtures would achieve the advertised light output, efficiency and life expectancy.

LEDs are starting to light standard commercial installations such as offices and retail. Last year, Unilever's new 400,000-square-foot headquarters (pictured above) used LEDs as primary electric light source. Starbucks also announced last year its plan to retrofit all of its 8,000 company owned stores with LED fixtures and is on-track to roll-out by the end of this year.

Costs are expected to decline with continued improvement in performance. Sandia National Laboratories completed a LED study in 2001 [PDF] to develop a price / performance model. In that paper, Drennen, Haitz and Tsao described LED improvements over the previous thirty years, "In a Moore's-law-like fashion, [light] per unit has been increasing 30x per decade ... Similarly, the cost per unit … has been decreasing 10x per decade." Improvements in this decade have been consistent with the model.

Implementation Considerations

The most favorable ROIs are for those applications where the lighting is expensive to operate:

Energy intensive -- Where there is long hours of operation, inefficient technology such as incandescent, halides, or halogens. These applications include garages, hospitals, retail, airports and other transportation hubs, decorative lighting, signage, elevator and restaurants.
Costly maintenance -- Frequent replacement required. Expensive to replace parts when using traditional fixtures. Examples are signage or outdoor lights.

Even when the ROI satisfies the company's hurdle rates, other complications may limit the realization of benefits. Since many commercial buildings are leased, if the installation pay-back period is longer than the lease or the tenant does not pay for electricity used, then the tenant has no incentive to make the investment. In these types of scenarios, the tenant and landlord need to negotiate to determine an equitable way to share the costs and benefits of an LED installation.

When selecting LED providers, the Department of Energy (DOE) has established a certification program to test and compare various LED products. Since technology advances continue, DOE and other industry groups should be checked periodically for latest insights.

No matter the lighting technology selected, the first step is to reduce the lighting required and then find the most efficient technology for the remainder. Incorporating day lighting reduces the need for artificial lights. Presence detectors and automatic dimming to maintain correct level of light will eliminate waste.

LEDs Ready for Expansion

The newest use for LEDs, developed by NASA, is to provide light to grow plants for oxygen and food in space. The research from this space application has been transferred to medical uses in the treatment of cancers (see picture, right).

The nonprofit Light Up the World Foundation is developing and distributing solar LED lighting to poor people in remote areas who still rely on kerosene lamps and wood fires. This old style lighting creates toxic emissions that debilitate the health of those exposed; especially vulnerable are the young and chronically ill. The new LED light is appreciated for its bright illumination as well as its clean and frugal operation.

The quest to provide artificial light has always been about discovering more efficient and safer lighting technology. LED lighting is the next step in that evolution. LEDs have already expanded from niche lighting to standard commercial applications in the last few years. And LED technology is helping to open new frontiers because of its low energy requirements and ability to mimic sunlight.

Project and Other References

UCSF Mount Zion OR Project -- Design: Mazzetti, Nash, Lipsey, Burch. LED Solution: Maquet Gmbh & Co

Pittsburgh Airport -- LED Solution: Appalachian Lighting Systems

Starbucks Retail -- LED Solution: GE Consumer and Industrial Lighting Systems

Unilever Headquarters -- Design: Licht 01 Lighting Design. LED Solution: Nimbus Group.

Light Up The World Foundation -- Strategic Partners: Phillips, Nemalux LED Lighting.

Resources

ROI Calculators: There are many on-line calculators available from suppliers. Ensure that the calculator considers maintenance and number of hours of operation. Although helpful that a calculator provides default values for energy costs, existing lighting and other parameters, it is best if these can be updated to reflect more accurately the ROI for a particular installation.

DOE LED Testing Program (Caliper): www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/ssl/caliper.html

Unique Characteristics of LED DOE: As identified by the Department of Energy, LEDs have several unique characteristics that make them ideal for specialized applications. For example, LEDs perform better in cold temperatures making supermarket refrigerator cases a good use. They also do not emit UV light. UV light will damage archival materials and can be irritating to skin and eyes. For more LED applications, the DOE created an excellent publication. (Download the PDF here.)

Claudia Girrbach is a senior director in the IT department at Gap Inc., as well as a member of the company's EcoCouncil and Employee Engagement Team. She also authors the blog Going Green - Tips for Business. William Dinkel, an avid blogger on green technologies and energy efficient solutions, contributed to the reporting and research for this article. William works at Hewlett-Packard and holds a BS in computer engineering from California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo.

Source URL: http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2010/09/02/spotlighting-green-benefits-leds

Time to Update the Energy Star Program?

Meagan Forney — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 13:10:53 GMT

The government’s Energy Star ^[1] system, used to rate products and retrofitted buildings for energy efficiency, could use a fixer-upper of its own, a legislator said this week.

The voluntary program uses relative instead of absolute ratings, comparing subjects to others in the same field, according to Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.).

For example, consumers are told that a certain Energy Star-rated washing machine uses 30% less energy than a traditional appliance but aren’t informed just how much energy is used or how much money can be saved in energy bills, Maloney said.

Energy Star ratings should be updated, she said in a letter Monday to Secretary of Energy Steven Chu and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, whose agencies run the program.

The congressional Joint Economic Committee, which Maloney chairs, considered potential flaws in the Energy Star setup during a July hearing. In the meeting, Empire State Building owner Anthony Malkin voiced concerns about the famed structure’s energy use being compared to smaller, less-high profile ones.

The Empire State Building, which is undergoing a major energy-efficiency retrofit, uses the same amount of power as roughly 40,000 single-family homes, Maloney said in the letter.

Out of about 5 million commercial buildings in the country, fewer than 10,000 have landed the Energy Star rating. Los Angeles had the most. More than 1 million residential homes have earned the rating.

But the program suffers from shaky credibility, Maloney said, referencing a test from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. The investigation found that Energy Star approval was granted for 15 of 20 bogus products, including a fictional gas-powered alarm clock.

Energy Star administrators responded by saying ^[2] that they “have started an enhanced testing program and have already taken enforcement actions against companies that have violated the rules.”

source: LA.Times

Article printed from Colorado Energy News: http://coloradoenergynews.com

URL to article: http://coloradoenergynews.com/2010/09/time-to-update-the-energy-star-program/

URLs in this post:

[1] Energy Star: http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=home.index

[2] responded by saying: http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=news.gao_report_response

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California sues Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac over green loans

Meagan Forney — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 18:57:17 GMT

This story is taken from Sacbee / Business: wwwsacbee.com

California Attorney General Jerry Brown sued federal mortgage lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for blocking green financing programs around the state, saying the agencies' actions put more than $100 million in federal stimulus funding at risk.

In a filing in U.S. District Court in San Francisco on Wednesday, Brown said the federal housing agencies have effectively shut down the programs, which provide homeowners with financing for solar panel installations and other energy retrofits.

The move has forced clean energy companies to lay off workers and is hampering the state's economic recovery, the suit said.

"As the nation struggles through the worst recession in modern times, California is taking action in federal court to stop the regulatory strangulation of the state's grass-roots program that is spreading across the country," Brown, the Democratic nominee for governor, said in a news release.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, said it has no plans to change course despite the lawsuit.

"In keeping with our safety and soundness obligations, the Federal Housing Finance Agency will defend vigorously its actions that aim to protect taxpayers, lenders, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac," said Edward DeMarco, FHFA's acting director.

Pioneered in the last few years by Berkeley and Palm Desert, the Property Assessed Clean Energy, or PACE, programs allow homeowners to borrow money from local governments for energy improvements, and pay it back through their property taxes.

According to the New York Times, the PACE approach has now been authorized by 22 states using $150 million in federal stimulus funds.

Problems arose in May when Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac issued warning letters saying the arrangements may violate their rules because – like other property tax assessments – they have a payback priority position over mortgage loans.

The two agencies expressed concern that counties would be paid before they would whenever a homeowner with a PACE loan defaults on a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loan.

The agencies' concerns prompted Placer and Sonoma counties to temporarily halt their programs, with hundreds of pending applications left in limbo.

On Tuesday, Sonoma County's Board of Supervisors voted to go ahead with a PACE program anyway.

Sacramento and Yolo Counties were set to kick off their PACE plans later this year but have also been stalled by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

"That had a chilling effect on the programs since we don't have robust or innovative credit markets right now," said Martha Amram, a senior fellow at the Milken Institute and CEO of Mountain View-based Ennovationz Inc., which specializes in residential energy efficiency programs.

Brown unveiled details of the lawsuit in San Diego, which had planned to launch its PACE program this summer.

Brown noted that San Diego was forced to suspend its program indefinitely, leaving more than 100 people trained in energy retrofits out of work.

Brown's lawsuit said that the federal agencies mischaracterize the green financing programs as loan programs.

Instead, they should be considered tax assessments such as those used by local governments to build schools, roads and other community projects, the suit said.

These assessments should be given priority over liens held by institutions such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the suit said.

The suit calls for a federal judge to issue an injunction or a temporary restraining order barring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from taking adverse actions against any homeowner with a PACE loan.

Martin Chavez, executive director for the 600-member ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability, applauded the state's lawsuit, saying the federal agencies essentially are intruding into local governments' authority to issue tax assessments.

© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.

Sierra Club: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Must Stop Blocking Home Energy Program

Meagan Forney — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 18:54:36 GMT

Washington, D.C--(ENEWSPF)--July 30, 2010. The Sierra Club filed suit against the Federal Housing Finance Agency ("FHFA") for blocking participation in Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs by any of Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's mortgage holders. The FHFA has oversight over the Federal National Mortgage Association ("Fannie Mae") and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation ("Freddie Mac").

PACE programs allow local governments to finance the initial costs of residential clean energy projects by providing upfront funding to homeowners to pay for improvements, like installing solar panels and upgrading homes with energy saving measures. Local governments then recoup these costs by adding special assessments to homeowners' properties. The program is similar to those already in use across the country to finance community-scale improvement projects - such as putting utility lines underground or repairing roads or sewers. PACE programs seek to use this proven financing approach to overcome the financing obstacles to small-scale clean energy projects.

Statement from Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are overstepping their bounds by preventing Americans from using these programs. PACE programs provide middle class Americans a means to invest in affordable energy upgrades that will in turn create thousands of clean energy jobs. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac need to stop blocking participation in these programs.

By providing upfront funding for clean, renewable energy and energy saving improvements, PACE programs benefit Americans by enabling them to conserve energy, dramatically reduce their utility bills, increase their property values, and decrease the overall impact of global climate change by reducing their individual carbon footprints.

Once established, PACE programs will need no federal funding, yet will create thousands of jobs in renewable energy and energy efficiency manufacturing, installation, and construction. PACE-program enabled investments will develop a workforce in manufacturing, building trades and other occupations necessary to deliver a new generation of higher performing, smarter, greener buildings.

PACE programs further benefit Americans by reducing the effects of climate change and other air pollutants that result from our reliance on fossil fuel energy sources. Reducing reliance on these polluting sources improves human health, aesthetics, property value, recreational opportunities, and the environment.

Background: On May 5, 2010, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac issued advice letters to all lending institutions stating that mortgages for homes participating in PACE programs are not allowed. The letters wrongfully mischaracterized the PACE program as issuing "loans."

On July 6, 2010, the Federal Housing Finance Agency and Edward DeMarco echoed the policies stated in the May 5, 2010 advice letters by issuing a statement that directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to adjust their practices in a manner that will severely restrict, if not completely eliminate, the availability of PACE programs for homeowners.

Source: sierraclub.org

      For those of you who have an opinion and who would like to share your sentiment about the PACE decision, you can reach these key decision-makers at:

      Charles Haldeman Jr.
      CEO
      Freddie Mac
      8200 Jones Branch Dr.
      McLean, VA 22102-3110
      Toll Free: 800-424-5401
      703-903-2000 Fax: 703-903-4045
      www.freddiemac.com

      Michael Williams
      CEO
      Fannie Mae
      3900 Wisconsin Ave. NW
      Washington, DC 20016-2892
      202-752-7000
      Toll Free: 800-732-6643
      www.fanniemae.com

      Edward DeMarco
      Acting Director
      Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA)
      1700 G Street, NW 4th Floor
      Washington, DC 20552
      Email: director@fhfa.gov
      202-414-6923
      www.fhfa.gov

2 Tools for Cities Crafting Green Building Laws

Meagan Forney — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 14:48:13 GMT

By Shari Shapiro: Published on GreenBiz.com (http://www.greenbiz.com)

This week, the EPA released its Sustainable Design and Green Building Toolkit for Local Governments. The EPA says:

The Toolkit is designed to assist local governments in identifying and removing permitting barriers to sustainable design and green building practices. It provides a resource for communities interested in conducting their own internal evaluation of how local codes/ordinances either facilitate or impede a sustainable built environment, including the design, construction, renovation, and operation and maintenance of a building and its immediate site.

The toolkit can be downloaded here.

The Toolkit was developed by EPA Region 4, and we are very excited to have Karen Bandhauer, an Environmental Scientist at EPA Region 4 for an interview about the Toolkit on August 4.

Yesterday, the Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School issued for comment a draft model municipal green building ordinance. The Model Ordinance is available for download here. According to the Center for Climate Change Law:

Unlike other model ordinances that detail technical specifications, this ordinance presents a framework for the implementation of existing technical standards and a streamlined procedure for their compliance and enforcement. The model ordinance accommodates the rapidly developing field of substantive green building standards by allowing for the adoption of new standards within the ordinance’s framework.

Notably the Model Ordinance attempts to deal with the issues related to preemption, non-delegation, and antitrust, and a separate analysis document is available on the site as well.

I look forward to working through these documents and commenting on them further, and looking forward to hearing your thoughts on these resources.

Shari Shapiro, J.D., LEED AP, is an associate with Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel LLP in Philadelphia. Shari heads the company's green building initiative. She also writes about green building and the law on her blog a www.greenbuildinglawblog.com, where this post originally appeared.

Image CC licensed by Flickr user america.gov.

GreenerBuildings Buildings Government Policy & Regulations
Source URL: http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2010/07/23/2-tools-cities-crafting-green-building-laws

Boulder's new Casey Middle School building to be unveiled

Meagan Forney — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 14:41:59 GMT

By Amy Bounds Camera Staff Writer: Boulder Daily Camera

What: Casey Middle School open house

When: 6 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday

Where: 1301 High St., Boulder

The first thing students will see as they stream into Casey Middle School's new building on the first day of school later this month is an open commons area designed as the school's hub.

Directly ahead, a new library. To the left, counseling and administrative offices that have staff members gushing over all the space. To the right, a three-story classroom wing plus a shiny gym, state-of-the-art 350-seat auditorium and spacious art and band rooms.

Throughout, there's streaming daylight, views of the foothills and pieces of the old gym floor used in benches and along walls. The design also preserves a piece of the 1924 building's history, using the west and south building facades as the back wall of the library.

"I can't wait to see the kids in here," said Boulder Valley School District project manager Lou Novak.

The new Casey will be officially unveiled at an open house Thursday.

The $33 million rebuild of the central Boulder school is part of a $296.8 million bond issue approved by Boulder Valley voters in 2006. The Boulder City Council also gave the district $1.8 million, which comes from an education excise tax levied on residential development, for green upgrades to the design plan.

Casey students and teachers were moved to Platt Middle School during construction. Demolition of the old building started in January 2009. Construction started in March 2009 and finished earlier this summer.

Casey teacher Val Wheeler called the new building "a huge gift to the whole city, and especially the students and community of Casey."

As a teacher who spends most of the day in her classroom, she said she appreciates the natural light and good views. She also likes all the details, like pieces of the old gym floor, that keep it from being "a cookie-cutter piece."

"It has just a little funkiness left over from the old Casey," she said.

Principal Alison Boggs said the best feature is "everywhere you stand, you can see outside."

She and other school district officials also hope the district's investment in the building will help convince more families to enroll their students at Casey.

Enrollment for the fall is expected to be between 375 and 400 students. The school, which is designed for 600 students, also is expecting its biggest sixth-grade class in years, with about 175 students.

The main shortcomings of the old building were small learning spaces that didn't support the middle school curriculum, accessibility issues and a foundation on expansive soils, members of Casey's design team said.

The new building creates classroom wings for each grade level that include a mini-commons area, lockers and teacher workspace. One safety feature is interior doors at the entrance that can be locked during the school day, requiring parents and other visitors to sign in at the main office to gain access to the rest of the school.

Other highlights include more staff parking -- located underneath the gym -- and a separate entrance to the auditorium and gym so both can be used for community events without opening the whole school.

Designed as an environmental showcase, the school is going for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design gold certification. The certification level is expected to be announced in October.

"Green" elements of the school include a geothermal heating and cooling system, energy-efficient appliances in the kitchen, solar panels and "solatubes" that direct light into classrooms. A section of roof is covered with plants to reduce the "heat island" effect of development.

Automated classroom lights also adjust based on the level of light in each classroom, while slanted ceilings direct outside light deeper into each room. There's even a food pulper in the kitchen, which compresses food waste that will then be composted. The pulper replaces garbage disposals.

Casey Middle School's new building by the numbers

106,458 -- total building square feet

20,000 -- how many more square feet in the new building than the old one

8.4 acres -- size of the site

134 -- number of "solatubes" used to light the building

34 -- number of classrooms

43 percent -- total estimated water reduction using "green" fixtures

54 percent -- total estimated energy reduction

$26.7 million -- construction cost

$33 million -- total cost for project

Congress Passes Formaldehyde Limits for Composite Wood Products

Meagan Forney — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 14:19:38 GMT

Newsbrief from Environmental Building News

August 1, 2010

Supported by industry and environmental groups alike, the U.S. Congress has passed a bill limiting the amount of formaldehyde in hardwood plywood, particleboard, and medium-density fiberboard. Introduced in late 2009, the bill bases formaldehyde limits on limits developed and enacted by the California Air Resources Board (see Diverse Interest Groups Support National Formaldehyde Standard, EBN Dec. 2009). Limits become effective as soon as 2011 and become more stringent over time; these dates are dependent on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, however, which must develop regulations for enforcing the standards. The bill covers only some composite wood products—it does not cover structural plywood or hardboard—and does not apply to other products, such as fabrics or insulation, that contain formaldehyde. Having passed through Congress, the bill awaits the signature of the president.

Chemical Regulations and the Modern Mattress: The Stuff of Nightmares

Meagan Forney — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 14:12:53 GMT

By Barry Cik: Published on GreenBiz.com (http://www.greenbiz.com)

I’ve spent the last 30 years as an environmental engineer, but it wasn’t until I became a grandfather that I fully understood the extent to which industrial chemicals had invaded the American home.

My rude awakening came when my wife sent me to buy a crib mattress for our first grandchild. I was appalled by what I found; the crib mattresses were full of industrial chemicals. Because of my environmental engineering background, I knew how harmful these chemicals could be to a developing child.

No one sets out to make toxic baby mattresses; it just evolved that way. As just one example, nearly all baby mattresses are covered with polyvinyl chloride (PVC) to make them waterproof. Because PVC is rigid, manufacturers mix in a class of chemicals called phthalates to soften the PVC. When added to PVC, phthalates don’t stay put; they leach into the air, making children more vulnerable to asthma, reproductive harm and cancer. One short-sighted decision leads to another and, before you know it, you’ve got a very unhealthy baby mattress.

The good news is, Congress is considering legislation that requires chemical manufacturers to show that their products are safe before they end up in products. Called the Safe Chemicals Act in the Senate and the Toxic Chemicals Safety Act in the House, these proposals have the potential to improve Americans’ health and restore consumer trust in American businesses and products.

Now it is up to our elected officials to make sure these bills become law. Yet they will only succeed if we can all stand firm in the face of chemical industry lobbyists who will argue that more regulation will hurt small business. My story demonstrates that just the opposite is true.

Back at the baby store, I told the salesperson, “My grandfather slept on straw. I’ll have my grandchildren sleep on straw before I let them sleep on these mattresses. This is not progress.” That shopping trip six years ago spurred my sons and I to start our own business, Naturepedic. It took some work to find the right combination of materials and the right manufacturing process, but I’m proud to say that today we offer waterproof baby mattresses made with organic and non-toxic materials. Yes, you can make a baby mattress without toxic chemicals.

Today, businesses like mine are thriving thanks to rising consumer demand for non-toxic products. But there still is a problem: It’s hard for companies like Naturepedic to be fully certain which suppliers do and do not use toxic chemicals. Most of them do, whether they admit it or not. The blame rests squarely on our outdated system for regulating chemicals, the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 (TSCA). Under TSCA, chemical manufacturers don’t have to demonstrate that their products are safe for children, nor do they have to disclose all the ingredients.

This lack of transparency puts businesses like mine in a bind. We’re forced to foot the bill for what chemical manufacturers don’t provide, spending our own resources to independently assure safety.

By reforming TSCA, we can create a new marketplace where chemical safety information is easily available to all and businesses can make informed choices about what brands and materials to use, making it easier to avoid exposing workers and customers to harm.

I know from experience that once people realize that their kids’ beds, mattresses, toys and bottles may contain toxic chemicals, they start reading labels and put their trust in brands that can demonstrate safety. But not everyone can afford to act on this knowledge. Consider families living paycheck to paycheck that can’t always afford to buy the least toxic choice. Our next challenge is to turn frustrated consumers into vocal citizens who will support Congress in making non-toxic the norm, not a market niche.

I never expected to be a mattress maker. Honestly, this industry doesn’t have a great reputation. At the turn of the century, mattresses were frequently stuffed with garbage. It took individual states to enact laws that require mattress manufacturers to provide labels. Today, we need Congress to take action on an equally outrageous problem. My hope is that in 10 years our grandchildren will ask, “Really? They used to make crib mattresses with toxic chemicals?” And then, when toxic chemicals in crib mattresses are a thing of the past, I’ll be ready to finally retire and really enjoy my grandchildren.

Barry Cik is a Board Certified Environmental Engineer and founder of Naturepedic, an organic mattress company, based in Cleveland, Ohio.

Source URL: http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2010/08/11/chemical-regulations-and-modern-mattress-stuff-nightmares

Obama signs bill trimming DOE renewable energy loan total

Meagan Forney — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 13:57:57 GMT

US President Barack Obama on Tuesday signed legislation that would fund emergency assistance to various states, partly through the trimming of $1.5 billion in funding for renewable energy loan guarantees. The US House of Representatives approved the bill (H.R. 1586) hours earlier, largely along party lines.

The Senate approved an identical version ON August 5. The bill would provide $26 billion to states to pay for thousands of teachers, policemen, firefighters and other government workers. It would offset these expenditures with a number of revenue increases and spending reductions, including the cut to the Department of Energy's loan guarantee program. Federal budget rules allow the $1.5 billion to support a maximum of $15 billion in loan guarantee authority.

Renewable energy groups have protested the rescission since it was unveiled last week by leading Senate Democrats as part of a broader compromise aimed at securing the support of Maine Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins. The two Republicans' support allowed the measure to pass the Senate. But renewable energy advocates say that $2 billion was borrowed from the same $6 billion fund in 2009 to pay for another unrelated program--the so-called "Cash for Clunkers" rebate program for vehicles. The money was never replenished despite promises from lawmakers and the White House it would be. "These two cuts will significantly undermine the DOE loan guarantee program," said the heads of five prominent renewable energy associations in a joint letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the eve of the vote.

Renewable groups estimate that loan guarantee dollars spur up to 10 times the value in investment. The letter was signed by the leaders of the American Wind Energy Association, the Solar Energy Industries Association, Geothermal Energy Association, National Hydropower Association, and the Biomass Power Association. The renewable energy industries had hoped to see both chambers of Congress approve a renewable energy standard for electric utilities this congressional year, but it stalled because of insufficient support in the Senate. The five used their letter to Pelosi to plug an extension of a Department of Treasury grant program approved as part of 2009's economic stimulus law, saying that it and other pro-renewable policies would reduce greenhouse gas emissions and create jobs.

--Jean Chemnick, jean_chemnick@platts.com Similar stories appear in Inside Energy. See more information at http://www.platts.com/Products.aspx?xmlFile=insideenergy.xml

Xcel in Concentrated Solar Deal with Cogentrix Energy

Meagan Forney — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 13:51:08 GMT

The 20-year contract with Cogentrix Energy LLC is to get 30 megawatts of power from a new concentrating solar power facility to be built in the San Luis Valley.

By Ann Rascali: - Colorado Energy News - http://coloradoenergynews.com -

The announcement Monday came from Cogentrix, a solar power developer based in Charlotte, North Carolina and a subsidiary of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Terms were not disclosed.

The new solar power plant is believed to be the largest of its kind in the world and will cost between $140 million and $150 million to construct, according to Jef Freeman, spokesman for Cogentrix. Once up and running, the facility should generate enough power to supply 6,500 homes.

“Our focus has always been on developing quality power generation facilities that deliver reliable power to our customers,” said Tom Bonner, President of Cogentrix Energy. “We’re pleased that our Alamosa Solar Generating project continues in that tradition. We have enjoyed a long relationship with Xcel Energy with other electric generating projects on their system and are excited at the opportunity to now be in position to assist them in meeting their renewable portfolio requirements.”

Construction on the Alamosa Solar Generating project is expected to get underway in the first quarter of 2011 and will employ an average of 110 people per month during the 15-month construction period. Construction jobs will peak at 140 people at the height of construction, Freeman said.

Once operational, the power plant’s employment role will be a modest five to 10 people.

This latest move from Xcel Energy fits with its aggressive deployment of solar and wind resources to meet Colorado’s mandate of 30% of power to come from renewables by 2020.

The solar power generating facility will use concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) systems supplied by Amonix, Inc., a leader in the design and manufacture of CPV systems based in Seal Beach, California. Amonix CPV technology uses optics and a dual-axis tracking system to focus large amounts of sunlight onto very high efficiency photovoltaic cells. As a result, CPV solar is more efficient, producing more energy per acre than any other solar technology making it well suited for utility-scale applications in sunny and dry climates. The system will produce up to 30,000 kilowatts of solar energy for the customers of Xcel Energy, providing enough electricity for approximately 6,500 homes.

Financing of the 225-acre plant has yet to be completed. Freeman says Cogentrix is seeking a combination of public and private financing and does not anticipate any problems securing the financial support. The company has already applied for loan guarantees from the U.S. Department of Energy for the project.

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Colorado Firms Launch Home Energy Audit Software

Meagan Forney — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 13:59:50 GMT

- Colorado Energy News - http://coloradoenergynews.com -

A Colorado firm located in Berthoud is launching new software to support the explosion of state and federal programs aimed at improving home energy efficiency. EnergyLogic, Inc [1]. is a home energy rating, training and software development firm which has has come up with the OptiMiser software, in partnership with OptiMiser, LLC [2]. The program is designed to make home energy audits easier, more accurate and customizable.

The company has some solid experience behind its latest effort. Founded in 2006, EnergyLogic has completed more than 10,000 home energy audits and trained more than 400 energy raters and auditors across the country. Helping to boost the New Energy Economy, the firm hired 40 more employees in 2009 and expects to hire another 60 over the next three years. It is currently partnering with Veteran’s Green Jobs, a Denver-based nonprofit organization, to provide weatherization services to 1,800 income-qualified households in Denver and Jefferson counties. The $9 million program is funded by the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act and administered by the Colorado Governor’s Energy Office. Nationally, the $5 billion program will provide weatherization services for about 15 million eligible households.

“OptiMiser is groundbreaking energy analysis software for conducting the most accurate on-site and customizable energy audits possible today,” said Steve Byers, principal, EnergyLogic. “It is especially appealing to public utilities and government agencies under pressure to control costs and deliver highly accurate results. We expect OptiMiser to capture a significant share of the burgeoning energy efficiency software industry.”

Energy auditors work for government agencies, utilities, nonprofit and private firms. A home audit includes a visual inspection of the home, diagnostic tests and a follow-up report with recommendations that can reduce monthly utility bills by 20 percent or more.

Using the OptiMiser software, an auditor can analyze utility bills against weather data, evaluate appliance upgrade savings and provide the homeowner with the final report on site, resulting in cost savings and more immediate consumer action. OptiMiser also supports institutional users with large groups of auditors. It works in conjunction with iRate®, an industry specific system for managing and operating all aspects of an energy auditing program. iRate®, also developed by EnergyLogic, won the 2008 RESNET (Residential Energy Services Network) Industry Innovation Award.

Article printed from Colorado Energy News: http://coloradoenergynews.com

URL to article: http://coloradoenergynews.com/2010/08/colorado-firms-launch-home-energy-audit-software/

Turn Off, Tune Up and Zero Out to Achieve Greener Buildings

Meagan Forney — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 19:08:09 GMT

Published on GreenBiz.com (http://www.greenbiz.com)

By Rob Watson

Created 2010-07-30 16:12

Although my sensibilities aren't fully in tune with the good Dr. Leary, I definitely resonate with much of the creative ferment -- the music in particular -- of the '60s. Since I'm celebrating the last birthday in my 40s on Saturday, I guess blasts from the past are on my mind right now.

I also thought it provided fodder for an interesting theme this week. "Turning off'" is about behavior, "tuning up" is about better design and operations, and "zeroing out" is the goal we hope to achieve for the undesirable side effects of providing goods and services for our daily lives.

I decided to turn the broader social commentary context of Leary's original quote, "Turn on, tune in, drop out" on its head because more than ever we need to pay attention to something other than our own personal needs. Ironically, by paying attention to the larger context in which we live, we can achieve our goals without taking down the planet.

While Leary's statement was about disengagement or disintegration, the theme of this piece offers a 21st-century take on solutions that are about engagement and integration. While the 20th century was about taking things apart and understanding how the parts work, this new century is about putting things back together and understanding how the whole thing works so that the whole exceeds the sum of its parts.

Not only do our design and engineering practices need tuning up but also our regulatory, economic and contractual frameworks. Two GreenerBuildings.com articles in the past week deal with the latter:

Shari Shapiro writes about the new Sustainable Design and Green Building Toolkit for Local Governments from the U.S. EPA and the recently issued draft model Municipal Green Building Ordinance by the Center For Climate Change at Columbia Law School. The model ordinance is more of a framework that can be tailored to the individual requirements of the jurisdiction, rather than a detailed technical or policy prescription.

On the private sector contractual front, the Greenprint Foundation and Jones Lang LaSalle have brought together leading building owners and large corporate tenants to develop a Green Lease Action Plan that will help overcome some of the structural barriers preventing cost-effective sustainability measures in energy and water from being implemented in commercial office space. Together, the organizations convened in this process own or lease in excess of 350 million square feet of office space. This new effort adds another option to the Model Green Lease developed in 2009 by The Model Green Lease Task Force, which can be found here.

On the green design front, Office Depot just achieved another landmark, opening its first LEED CI registered store, which is part of its commitment to certify its entire portfolio of projects, both new and existing.

Next Page: How the U.S. Postal Service saved $400 million.

 Office Depot's storefront design, approved as part of the USGBC's Volume Build certification program, integrates a number of energy- and water-saving features -- such as Energy Star-labeled HVAC equipment, low-energy lighting and low-flush sanitary fixtures -- that will reduce energy and water consumption by 20 percent and 30 percent, respectively. In addition, the number of sustainable materials and indoor environmental quality features such as low VOC emitting materials and finishes and in-store recycling.

This week we also have a couple of pieces from EDF Climate Corps fellows Brian Hartmann and Sarah Will who are out greening Bloomberg L.P. and REI, respectively. Hartmann emphasizes the importance of tailoring recommendations to fit the culture of the client -- 100 percent of nothing is nothing -- while Will tries to make the process of retrocommissioning more accessible by likening it to giving the car a tune up. Readers of GreenerBuildings.com know that retrocommissioning is one of the most effective -- and cost-effective -- measures an existing building can implement.

Finally, in the "zero out" category, Pike Research estimates that more than $41 billion of annual energy cost savings could be implemented within the next decade for a yearly average investment of $22.5 billion, which is equivalent to an ROI of about 180 percent. As I've written before, I believe this figure to be low by around a factor of four. But, no matter how you cut it, $41 billion is a big number and if we could even get that level of savings achieved in the next decade it's sure as heck better than doing nothing. So what's a few billion dollars in energy savings estimates between friends?

This week's Look-Grandpa-I-picked-up-the-$20-bill-you-said-was-fake-but-it's-real! award goes to the U.S. Postal Service for saving over $400 million in energy costs since 2007 in part by implementing cool measures such as New York's largest green roof.

I've always really liked green roofs because they satisfy my green design criteria of solving multiple problems with a single solution. In the case of the USPS, its 2.5 acre green roof at the Morgan mail processing facility in Midtown Manhattan is exceeding most predictions of its performance.

The green roof is a key feature in the package of energy saving measures that have resulted in 40 percent energy savings and 15 percent energy bill reductions on top of site runoff reduction of 75 percent in the summer and 40 percent in the winter. The green roof itself is expected to save about $30,000 in energy costs, while all energy-saving measures have reduced costs by approximately $1 million, exceeding initial projections. Not only is the green roof saving energy and reducing runoff, it is also expected to last for 50 years, twice the life of the previous roof.

The Morgan mail facility is one of many projects that have helped the U.S .Postal Service reduce its overall energy intensity by 21 percent since 2003, putting it ahead of its goal of a 30 percent energy intensity reduction by 2015. If USPS continues its current energy saving trends, its energy intensity reduction could exceed 35 percent by 2015.

Rob Watson is the executive editor of GreenerBuildings.com. You can reach him at rob.watson@greenerworldmedia.com and follow him on Twitter @Kilrwat.

Source URL: http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2010/07/30/turn-turn-and-zero-out-achieve-greener-buildings

Revive America's Construction Industry

Meagan Forney — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 18:43:01 GMT

by Laura A. Hutchings
President, Populus Sustainable Design Consulting

Like many small business owner in the energy efficiency and construction industries, I have spent months writing letters to my senators in support of the home energy retrofit legislation called Home Star. Tomorrow, Congress will determine whether the Home Star Retrofit Act of 2010 will make its way to the Senate floor as part of the Small Business Jobs bill. As the Co-Chair of Efficiency First Colorado, I am writing with an urgent call to action from Efficiency First Chairman Greg Thomas and Policy Chair Matt Golden:

    The American construction industry, fueled not so long ago by new housing developments and urban renewal, has come to a crashing halt. Unemployment in the construction sector has climbed to nearly 25 percent, greatly impacting the nation's rate of unemployment at 9.3%.

    Fortunately, a viable solution to this ongoing employment crisis is now moving through the United States Senate. The Home Star Retrofit Act of 2010 would make direct consumer incentives available to American homeowners for residential energy efficiency upgrades, reducing household energy waste by 20-50 percent. By boosting demand for skilled home improvement work that cannot be outsourced overseas, Home Star would create good, living-wage jobs for tens of thousands of construction workers who have been sidelined by the recession--and get domestic assembly lines rolling again to provide the insulation, sheet metal, heating and cooling equipment and other manufactured goods that are used in energy upgrades.

    This bipartisan legislation, which passed the House of Representatives in May and now resides in the Senate, has the potential to create an estimated 168,000 new jobs in construction and related industries over the next two years. Much of the hiring would be done by small business owners in all 50 states who are already engaged in saving American homeowners money on their energy bills. The program has strong support from a broad spectrum of business leaders, trade associations, environmental groups and nonprofit organizations, ranging from local contractors and HVAC services to the Sierra Club and the United States Chamber of Commerce.

    America's Home Performance industry is poised to take on the task of retrofitting America's existing housing stock with cost-effective energy efficiency upgrades, but now that word has gotten out about Home Star, we've seen a 15-20 percent drop in business over the past two months as consumers wait for the Home Star incentives to become available. The sooner we get this law enacted, the sooner we'll be able to get hardworking Americans off the unemployment rolls and back in productive jobs that are good for the nation and the environment.

    To ensure rapid near-term job creation in the construction industry, we call on Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to bring Home Star to the Senate floor this week as part of the Small Business Jobs bill.

Source URL : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/laura-a-hutchings/revive-americas-construct_b_653430.html?view=print

Boulder City Council: Uncertainty looms over Xcel franchise

Meagan Forney — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 17:47:35 GMT

Decisions on ballot questions expected after Aug. 3 public hearing

By Heath Urie Camera Staff Writer

Boulder Daily Camera

Posted:07/13/2010 10:27:39 PM MDT

Boulder's nine elected leaders found themselves in something of a pickle Tuesday night, after a consultant told them voters likely wouldn't approve a renewed franchise agreement with Xcel Energy or a utility tax that the company would collect from customers instead.

The City Council left a study session titled "Boulder's Energy Future" without giving any clear indication what that future will look like.

"We've got some conundrums here," Councilwoman Suzy Ageton said.

The council is considering whether to ask voters to extend the city's franchise agreement with Xcel for another 20 years. The current voter-approved agreement, which is set to expire at the end of this year, allows the utility to use city rights of way to provide electricity and natural gas to Boulder residents. In return, Xcel pays the city a franchise fee, which it collects from customers.

In case voters don't approve a franchise agreement, the City Council is also considering putting a back-up plan on the November ballot.

That second question would ask voters to approve imposing a utility excise tax on Xcel, which would only go into effect if the agreement fails, replacing the franchise fee already being collected from customers.

But a survey commissioned by the city showed that if the election were held today, neither the franchise agreement nor a utility tax would likely pass. If that happened, the city would be out $3.9 million a year.

The loss of revenue, as Councilman George Karakehian put it, would leave Boulder in "dire straits."

"This is not a slam-dunk either way," he said.

Jonathan Koehn, Boulder's regional sustainability coordinator, said the city's negotiating team is "very close" to reaching final language on a potential franchise agreement. The final draft could be publicly available by the end of the week.

The council is scheduled to hold a public hearing Aug. 3 to decide what to ask voters. A third and final reading could be held Aug. 17.

"We are where we are," Mayor Susan Osborne said. "It will be up to public comment on the third, and our deliberations, to see if it's far enough."

The council on Tuesday heard presentations from representatives on both sides of the issue.

Steve Pomerance, a member of the city's Decarbonization Tech Team, asked the council not to put a new franchise agreement on the ballot.

"Signing a franchise for 20 years is simply too long," he said. "Change in the energy business is happening extremely fast."

Instead, he pushed the council to once again consider becoming a municipal utility.

"We can innovate really fast," he said, and provide lower utility rates than Xcel.

The City Council considered such a move for several years, but shelved the idea in favor of continuing Boulder's relationship with Xcel. An outside consultant found that becoming a municipal utility is financially feasible for Boulder, but not without risks.

Craig Eicher, Xcel's community and local government affairs manager for the Boulder area, asked the council to put a new franchise agreement on the ballot.

"It really is time to allow the voters in Boulder to decide this very key issue," he said.

State of Green Business 2010

Meagan Forney — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 15:14:58 GMT

In this third annual edition of our State of Green Business report, we continue our efforts to measure the environmental impacts of the emerging green economy. This year’s effort was colored by the Great Recession and its myriad of impacts on individuals, companies and governments around the world. Would the economic downturn nip the green economy in the bud?

Of course, 2009 also was a time of political transition in the United States, the principal arena of our focus. How would regime change affect companies’ environmental policies, performance and progress? Would companies envision a new era of environmentally activist government? If so, would that compel them to become more proactive or to dig in their heels?

The answers aren’t simple, and therein lies the foundation for this report. As in previous years, it shows a mixed bag of encouraging and discouraging news and trends.

On balance, however, we were pleasantly surprised by what we found. First and foremost, green business activity did not go away amid the harsh economic environment. It survived — and even thrived. In some cases, such as with energy efficiency, the recession provided a stimulus, as the need to cut operating costs in order to maintain competitiveness became ever more valued by executives, their boards and their shareholders.

Our quest for information gathering for this report isn’t an end to itself. As in previous years, we try to provide context to the robust green business taking place and to help answer the question: Is all of this activity actually moving the needle? That is, did all of the hundreds of environmental announcements and achievements by companies during 2009 actually result in their doing better, environmentally speaking, than the year before?

Clues to the answers can be found in our annual GreenBiz Index, in which we look at 20 measures of green-economy progress, from energy use to e-waste to employee commuting habits. In many cases, progress is evident, though not necessarily at the scale and speed needed to effectively address climate change, water shortages, resource scarcity and the toxicity of consumer products, among other pressing issues.

Definitive answers to our questions can be subjective, often in the eye of the beholder. We’ll leave it up to you to decide for yourself whether all of this amounts to good news or bad or, more likely, something in between.

How will all this play out as the recession ebbs and the economy rumbles back to life? Will newfound efficiencies and sensibilities fall by the wayside, or have things indelibly changed?

How the green economy fares during the economic recovery will be the subject of another year’s report. Hopefully, the next one.
— Joel Makower, Executive Editor, Greener World Media, Inc.

DOWNLOAD REPORT HERE

Linking Green Buildings, Productivity and the Bottom Line

Meagan Forney — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 14:55:28 GMT

By George Boué

Created 2010-07-08 03:00

Can promoting green initiatives and certifying the workplace as green increase productivity? And if so, what is the impact to the bottom line?

A review of scientific literature and studies indicate quite conclusively that the answer is yes on productivity, but the challenge is in quantifying those gains in relation to profit.

Let's first look at what is meant by a green workplace. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) in a 2009 poll, "Green Initiatives, What has Changed in One Year," defined a green workplace as one that is environmentally sensitive, resource efficient and socially responsible. This definition can be viewed from the perspective of a corporate strategy, easily fitting under the concept of sustainability.

There are plenty of surveys linking corporate sustainability practices to employee engagement.

In a recent "LinkedHR: Green" on-line discussion, website manager Liz Pellet referenced a Harris poll that found that 33 percent of Americans would be more inclined to work for a green company compared to an organization that does not make a conscious effort to promote socially and environmentally friendly practices. She wrote, "There are a lot of benefits and measurable Return on Investment to going green and increased employee engagement is one of them."

To be more tactical, it is important to analyze the physical work environment. It helps to understand what goes into making a workplace or building green. A good approach is to look at the LEED system.

LEED is the international benchmark for buildings that are environmentally friendly and healthful. According to the U.S. Green Building Council, a LEED-Gold building has 50 percent less negative impact on the environment, and a LEED-Platinum building has at least 70 percent less negative impact than a conventional building.

Buildings that become LEED certified will typically have these features:

Advanced ventilating systems that increase air flow (decrease carbon dioxide levels and dilute contaminants) and maintain optimal temperatures.
Selection of building materials and furnishings that have low toxicity (prevent airborne chemical contaminants).
Elimination of sources of pollutants: paints, cleaning products, pest control, etc.
Increased use of daylighting (reduce energy, improve mood).
Use of high quality, energy efficient lighting (reduce glare, increase readability)
Promotion of wellness activities.

On the surface these green elements intuitively would be expected to contribute to productivity. However, as any HR professional in the service industry knows, objectively measuring productivity is difficult. White-collar jobs are knowledge intensive and qualitative, rather than task oriented which is easier to measure. The output of knowledge work is difficult to quantify. How can you measure the value added by thinking through a particular project?

Many scientific studies have been conducted in various workplaces and educational facilities to gauge the impact on human performance as defined by reading speed and comprehension, learning, word memory, multiplication speed, signal recognition, time to respond to signals, and typing speed. Obviously, these tasks could all contribute to productivity.

Here are some of the findings:

There is a strong link between the quality of the indoor air and the incidence of allergy and asthma symptoms. This is significant as 20 percent of the U.S. population has environmental allergies and 6 percent have asthma.
Higher concentrations of carbon dioxide, which indicate a lower rate of ventilation, can cause fatigue, headaches and increased risk of Sick Building Syndrome. Also, tests have shown poorer performance in computerized tests of reaction time.
Temperature matters. Performance increases with temperatures up to 60-72 F (21-22 C) and decreases with temps above 73-75 F (23-24 C). The highest productivity is at 71.6 F (22 C). (The optimal environment is one where the individual occupant can control the temperature.)
While studies of lighting with office workers has had mixed results, a study performed in a school showed improvements in standardized test of 16-26 percent in classrooms with the most day lighting or window area, respectively.
Health care maintenance has been shown to have a strong correlation to an employee's productivity level. Successful wellness programs in particular improve future productivity.

There are also surveys that address this topic, but being surveys, they have to be considered more subjective. Many of these tend to focus more on the productivity elements of absenteeism, turnover, retention and engagement.

In the previously mentioned SHRM poll, on a question regarding positive outcomes as a result of green programs, "increased workforce productivity" ranked No. 8 of 11 choices. But "improved morale" ranked No. 1 in both 2008 and 2009.

That is interesting because most, if not all, HR professionals link morale to engagement, and engagement to productivity. This discrepancy may likely be due to the challenge of quantifying productivity.

Deloitte Consulting conducted a survey of large employers in 2008 that had implemented green retrofits. Here are some of the results:

93 percent of respondents reported a greater ability to attract talent;
81 percent saw greater employee retention;
87 percent experienced an improvement in workforce productivity;
75 percent reported improvements in employee health;
100 percent experienced an increase in goodwill/brand equity.

Several studies, including the 2003 Report to California's Sustainable Building Task Force (pdf), which involved 33 green building projects, calculate small percentage increases in productivity. The 2003 report recommends attributing a 1 percent increase in productivity and health to LEED-Certified and LEED-Silver buildings, and a 1.5 percent gain in LEED-Gold and Platinum level buildings. Those benefits resulted primarily from better ventilation, lighting and general environment.

In a five-year company case study, Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University measured a 3.2 percent productivity gain, or $1,600 per employee per year, on lighting improvements alone.

So how does 1 percent to 3 percent productivity gain impact the bottom line? The literature suggests multiplying annual payrolls times these increases. In such a case, the annual savings are substantial.

Indeed, the 2003 California report found average annual employee costs to be 10.25 times larger than the cost of space per employee. The author extrapolates these findings to calculate that a 1 percent productivity increase would therefore have a financial impact over time roughly equal to reducing property costs by 10 percent.

HR professionals should understand the correlations between sustainability, green initiatives that improve the work environment, and productivity.

At the 2008 SHRM corporate sustainability Executive Roundtable Symposium, participants -- global HR and sustainability leaders -- generally agreed that HR should have the knowledge required to take the lead in the people dimensions of sustainability.

It will help the environment, get employees more engaged, and contribute to the bottom line.

George Boué, SPHR, LEED AP ID&C, is vice president of human resources for Stiles, a commercial real estate services company in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

Published on GreenBiz.com (http://www.greenbiz.com)

Source URL: http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2010/07/08/linking-green-buildings-productivity-and-bottom-line