GREENBUILD Show Brings Sustainable Construction Front And Center
By Scott Kriner, Green Metal Consulting
It’s that time of year when the leaves on the trees in the Northeast turn into a brilliant palette of colors and the air is crisp. It’s also that time of year when everything we talk about is green – green buildings that is. The USGBC’s GREENBUILD conference and expo is just around the corner. Since 2002 at this time of year, the world of green building ratings, products and systems turns their attention to the premier show for all things green.
This year is no exception. The keynote speaker for the Chicago venue is Gen. Colin Powell, keeping with the tradition of heavy hitter speakers such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Bill Clinton, and Al Gore.
The world of green is getting more complicated and more sophisticated. Critics continue to complain that the LEED program is flawed and does not always ensure an energy efficient building that lives up to the claims. There are also those who say that the cost of the LEED certification process is prohibitive. Others say that LEED is nothing but point chasing rather than design of truly green buildings. Say what you want, but it is clear that the USGBC did their part in transforming the market with the emphasis on green building practice. Since the first LEED program was introduced in 2000 the programs have not been perfect or without controversy, but they have made an impact on how we design, build, operate and maintain buildings.
As more green building codes and standards come onto the scene, some are questioning the future of LEED. In fact, the newly introduced ASHRAE 189.1 Standard for the Design of High Performance Green Buildings and the Public Draft version 2 of the International Green Construction Code come close to the stringency level of LEED Silver certification. So what will happen to LEED as these new green regulations are adopted by local jurisdictions as the new minimum green code criteria? The answer is simple – LEED will continue to do what it has done since its inception – stay ahead of the curve and above the code compliance. The LEED program has always focused on those types of buildings that would exceed code performance and perform above the basic acceptable levels. So as the energy codes become 30% more stringent than the 2004 versions, we can expect to see the next version of LEED become even more stringent itself.
It is clear that future versions of the LEED program will change away from the number of prescriptive credits to more performance-based efforts to comply for points. Many of the Materials and Resources credits that we deal with today may actually be removed from future versions and replaced with more of a life cycle assessment (LCA) approach, related to building products and the building.
Life Cycle Assessment is here to stay. And it goes well beyond a featured Pilot Credit in LEED, or its impact on LCA tools to define environmental impacts. Architects and designers are gaining interest in LCA data. Other countries around the world are seeing their governments taking an interest in LCA approaches. The data from an LCA are used in the Environmental Product Declarations (EPD), which are derived for specific types of products. We expect to see more use for EPDs in the future, making LCA even more important to our industry.
The metal construction industry needs to stay ahead of the curve in the field of LCA, EPD, and Life Cycle Inventories. The first step is to assess environmental impacts of the processes used to manufacture metal building components, and engineered metal building systems. LCA will likely evolve into assessing the environmental impact or burden of entire buildings. The impact will take into account the building use over time and that impact on the environment. Studies have already shown that the environmental impact of the operation of a building over its useful life is significantly more than the impact of the materials used to construct the building.
So the world is getting ready to travel to Chicago for GREENBUILD and learn more about the latest improvements in green building technology and hear about the trends that will re-shape this industry even more. Fortunately the metals industry will be present in many areas at GREENBUILD. Let’s not get lost in the shuffle to forget that metal is a sustainable product, long-lasting, energy efficient in its use on the building, recyclable, the best platform for renewable energy technologies and the moat recycled product in the world. The challenge to the industry is to maintain the level of promotion and information to keep this in front of the USGBC chapters, their leaders, the members and the design community that is looking at everything through the lens of sustainability.
Scott Kriner, MCA's Technical Director, is the president and founder of Green Metal Consulting Inc. He is a LEED Accredited Professional who began his career in the metal construction industry in 1981. His company is a member of the U.S. Green Building Council, the California Association of Building Energy Consultants and the Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET). Scott can be reached by email at skriner1@verizon.net, or by phone at (610) 966-2430. You can also visit him on the web at www.greenmetalconsulting.com.
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