Sustainability: Get Used To It
Anyone out there who still thinks sustainable building design, construction and operations are fads, should think again. Regardless of how you feel about climate change, sustainability is here to stay. And all signs point to a time in the not-too-distant future when retailers and other commercial building owners won’t have a choice—sustainability will be mandated, not voluntary.
Not surprisingly, California is leading the way. The state has approved the most stringent, mandatory green building code in the nation. Dubbed Cal Green and set to take effect Jan. 1, 2011, the new regulation is designed to create a single comprehensive code and clear up confusion over varying regulations. It will apply to all commercial construction and, among other things, require builders to install plumbing that cuts indoor water use; divert 50% of construction waste from landfills to recycling; and use low-pollutant paints, carpets and floorings.
Even more wide-reaching, green construction codes and standards are also beginning to appear in the national code arena. Folks that grumbled about previous energy standards, such as ASHRAE 90.1, won’t be happy. These new standards go beyond the scope of the previous ones, covering such areas as water efficiency (look for it to be the next hot button) and site sustainability.
Attracting the most attention is ASHRAE Standard 189.1, published by ASHRAE this past January. It is written so that it can be adopted by states and incorporated into building codes.
The new ASHRAE standard includes requirements relating to site sustainability, water use efficiency, energy efficiency, indoor environmental quality, the building’s impact on the atmosphere, materials and resources, and construction and plans for operation. Specific requirements include that architects design for the future installation of on-site renewable energy and that owners track energy consumption of the building on a periodic basis.
Meanwhile, the International Code Council (ICC) is working on its own green building standard, called the International Green Construction Code (IGCC). Scheduled for release this month, it will be the first International Code to address sustainable design and green construction practices for all commercial building types. It will be coordinated with existing International Codes and will cover everything from building construction and plumbing to fire safety and energy efficiency.
For most retailers, the opportunity to reduce energy is the honey pot of sustainability. Indeed, statistics from the U.S. Department of Energy confirm the enormous amount of energy used by buildings and the opportunity for savings therein. But there are also larger issues at play, and the good news is that these bigger-picture issues are in sync with retailers’ bottom-line concerns. For example, Office Depot recently announced the efficiency results of its first LEED Gold certified store, noting that it had lowered its carbon intensity by 23% through a variety of programs—programs which also decreased the store’s annual electricity costs by approximately 16%.
Yalmaz Siddiqui, director of environmental strategy for Office Depot, summed it up quite succinctly:
“The results prove how beneficial a green building can be from both an environmental and economic perspective,” he said.