Archive for the ‘LEED/Green’ Category

As an advocate of green living and environmental preservation, I’m also an advocate of new form based zoning laws that address the destructive effects of urban sprawl.

Which is why I’m excited about the U.S. Green Building Council of Alabama’s seminar on SmartCode, a model-transect based development code that helps developers create compact cities or communities that minimize cars, traffic, and pollution while supporting pedestrian and bicycle traffic. SmartCode is intended for local calibration to individual neighborhoods or communities, is meant to keep towns and developments compact and rural lands open, and could be put to good use right here in our own piece of the world.

The seminar will feature Faulkner Law Professor Chad Emerson, who is also a published author on land planning law, and will take place on Sept. 21 from 11:30-1:00 in Montgomery. To register, please visit http://www.usgbcofal.org/event.php?cn=136.

I’ve been talking a lot lately about the future of our industry. How we might see more “going green,” and more money from the government that funds environmentally friendly building and construction.

But how do we get there?

“Going green” isn’t just something that you do once and never think about again. If this is to be our industry’s future, and if we’re serious about it, then “going green” is a change in our mindset, the way we view our jobs from the ground up.
And it’s not just about us – our clients, manufacturers, and the general public has to understand the concept of “going green” as well. Of course none of this is easy to do. It’s hard work to shift our own ways of thinking, and even harder work to change the public’s view of what we do. We need to find a way to work together.

That’s why we’ve launched Sustain Alabama, www.sustainala.com, a new social online community for architects, builders, and others in the construction industry to interact both with one another and with the general public in order to promote environmentally friendly construction. People can log on, ask questions, gain information, and work together to find “green” solutions to their building and constructing needs. In other words, we can learn from each other, and we can learn together. And maybe even find a few new clients in the process.

We can “go green” together.

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the future of our industry. Obviously, we’ve all suffered some major setbacks and disappointments in light of the economic downturn, and we know that change is coming. So I came to the conclusion a few weeks back that the future of our industry might be a lot greener, and I don’t just mean more money.

It seems to me that the future might see a need and a desire for enhanced energy efficiency and buildings that are friendlier to the environment. It won’t apply just to new construction, but to existing buildings and structures as well.

This week, I came across an interesting report that gave credence to this idea.

According to Van Ness Feldman’s legal analysis, “Using Executive Authority to Achieve Greener Buildings: A Guide for Policymakers to Enhance Sustainability and Efficiency in Multifamily Housing and Commercial Buildings,” the Obama administration apparently has a current store of $72 billion that could be used to increase energy efficiency in commercial buildings and multifamily housing.

What’s more amazing to me is that this $72 billion is available right this minute, without going through Congress or the long process of approval. And it’s earmarked for energy efficiency, which could very well mark the future of our industry, and the start of its comeback.

Doors and school security go hand in hand, as every teacher, administrator, and PTA parent knows. Doors must be strong, durable, and reliable in order to keep schools physically safe, and Special-Lite doors have long met these key requirements. But Special-Lite goes a step further by manufacturing doors that protect students from the unseen risk of harmful emission.

For instance, Special-Lite doors were the first exterior entrance products to be GreenGuard Certified through the Greenguard Environmental Institute (GEI), which means they were the first to seriously address the impact that doors can have on indoor air quality.

Because doors can emit volatile organic compounds such as formaldehyde and phthalates, Special-Lite took action and eliminated the issue with its GreenGuard Certified doors. Special-Lite doors have stood up to rigorous testing, including GEI’s Children & Schools Standard, and have created a product that is safe for all, and especially for children. Special-Lite’s attention to safety, in every sense of the word, makes it a great choice for schools.

The International Code Council has partnered with the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) to create an International Green Construction Code that will guide the design and construction of green commercial projects.

The initiative seeks to develop a regulatory framework for sustainable construction that is consistent with ICC codes and standards nationwide.  The initiative was launched in June 2009, and the first draft of the regulations will be presented this year for public comment.

“This will be the first time code officials, owners and designers will have an integrated regulatory framework to put into practice that meets the goal of greening the construction and design of new and existing buildings,” said Code Council CEO Richard P. Weiland. “Only a code that is useable, enforceable and adoptable will have the capability of impacting our built environment in dramatic ways.”

I have to admit, I’ve been slow to catch onto the need for GreenFormat, at least until I read Paul Bertram’s white paper. Here’s part of what he wrote recently:

“The green building movement in the US is driven by green/sustainable rating systems, emerging standards, and building codes that incorporate criteria for environmental consideration in product evaluation. These efforts are now incorporating LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) as a scientific approach to building products environmental assessment. LCA includes multiple-attribute reporting as opposed to single attribute reporting to help generate a more comprehensive product assessment while reducing market confusion and ‘greenwash’.”

“Design firms seeking greater clarification of sustainable product attributes have further complicated the situation because they do not have a standardized way to request or report information about products. Designers waste time individually developing product information questionnaires, and manufacturers waste time responding to individual firm questionnaires. These un-standardized interactions produce inconsistent and non-comparable information, which wastes still more time.”

“GreenFormat is CSI’s response to the confusion of what constitutes a sustainable (or ‘green’) building product. It assists in the evaluation and purchase of sustainable building products.”

“GreenFormat is a web-based tool that allows design professionals to identify the sustainable properties of products. GreenFormat offers several search paths to access a product’s green attributes, as well as the manufacturer’s sustainable initiative, such as LCA, and end-of-life and climate-change reporting.”

To read more of Paul Bertram’s white paper go to http://www.csinet.org/s_csi/docs/17500/17458.pdf

FSC Logo With TruStile Door Certification Number

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an international certification system that recognizes the highest levels of environmental and socially responsible forest management.

Use of FSC certified materials is one of the most widespread environmental strategies employed by contractors, mills, manufacturers, distributors and wholesalers to demonstrate environmental performance across the supply chain. It is also a key factor in sustainability and green building standards such as the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED program.

To earn FSC Chain of Custody certification, companies must develop and implement procedures that cover all of the elements of the relevant FSC standard. These procedures include accounting for the purchasing, inventorying, manufacturing, sale and recordkeeping of certified materials as well as establishing protocols for determining appropriate FSC claims and the use of logos.

Door distributors, as well as manufacturers, must be certified by an independent third-party to participate in the Chain of Custody. Certification numbers may be verified at www.fscus.org/

C. R. Mayer & Company Inc. represents TruStile Door in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Western Tennessee and the Florida panhandle.

Why is it so hard to find durable exterior grade wood doors?  Manufacturers have not forgotten how to make them. The problem is a shortage of suitable high quality old growth timber.  In the past, old growth forests (forests that haven’t been logged for 200 years) covered large parts of the United States.  Those ancient trees provided the finest quality wood products.  Today the few old growth trees that remain are precious, protected by federal agencies, and largely unavailable.

So, now what?  My recommendation is not to use wood doors on the exterior of buildings.  There are lots of other great materials such as aluminum, fiberglass reinforced polyester (FRP), acrylic modified polyester (AMP), brass, bronze, etc.  Doors made of these materials won’t rot or rust.

However, if you have to use exterior wood doors, here are my recommendations:

• Limit door leaf sizes to about 3 ft. wide by 7 ft. tall.  Bigger doors cause more problems than smaller doors.
• Protect doors from the weather.  At a minimum, provide overhang equal to one-half the door height and extending three feet on either side of the opening.
• Seal and paint all six sides of each door leaf, including hardware cutouts.
• Be very skeptical regarding claims that wood composites are “as good as real wood”.
• Expect to do yearly inspection and refinishing.  Preventive maintenance is indispensable.

When creating sustainable buildings, many builders, architects and project managers look to the LEED green-building rating system. But because the credit-based system doesn’t have explicit specifications for entrances, decision makers must rely on general recommendations for sustainable doors and entrances.

One major requirement of a sustainable component is that the product be used in a way that prevents premature failure and unplanned maintenance and replacement. Other factors that work in tandem include:

Doors. The ideal door should efficiently distribute the stressful forces of motion by being rigid enough to keep the building secure. It should not be too heavy and rigid, but rather lightweight and flexible, so as not to quickly wear out the hardware. Doors will also need to be durable enough to withstand everyday abuses (kicks, shoves, bumps, etc.) as well as focused attempts to damage or breach the door.

Framing and Hardware. Keep in mind that the framing and hardware are just as important to sustainability as the door is. If the framing components and hardware wear out, the door may get out of alignment and fail to latch properly. This could create leaks that can affect weather resistance and thermal efficiency.

Thermal Efficiency. Exterior doors play an important role in the overall energy efficiency of a building, so be sure to select components that limit thermal exchange. Proper thermal doors will keep warm air in during winter and out during summer.

Glass. Though it is nice to incorporate into the facade, glass is not the most efficient thermal material. It does not limit thermal exchange (the transfer of heat from one side of the door to the other) very well. If you must use glass in doors, make sure it is insulated and at least one inch thick. You’ll be glad when the power bill comes!

VOCs. You may not think of exterior doors affecting indoor air quality, but part of every exterior door faces into the building. So choose products that have earned indoor air quality accreditations from a third-party verifier such as GREENGUARD or Scientific Certification Systems. By reducing formaldehydes, phthalates, VOCs and other pollutant emissions you’re helping to improve indoor air quality that can affect worker productivity and health.

Special-Lite’s doors are perfect for your next project because of their exclusive design. The FRP doors are manufactured from aluminum alloy, sized and configured for maximum strength without unnecessary, non-functional bulk. The result is a durable door able to withstand everyday abuses without excess weight on the hardware.

The doors also come with a poured-in-place urethane core that ensures impact resistance, flexural strength and thermal insulation. And if you want one with lites in it, Special-Lite offers 1/4″, 1/2″ or 1″ custom glazing.

As for improving indoor air quality, Special-Lite’s entire product line has earned the GREENGUARD Certification, including the stringent Children & Schools standard. This means any of the company’s doors, frames and panels can help buildings qualify for the low-emitting materials LEED credit for Indoor Environmental Quality under the Materials and Resources section. Click here for more information about Special-Lite’s certification.