Washington Behind The Curve On Energy And The Environment
By Scott Kriner, Green Metal Consulting
The USGBC introduced LEED for New Construction in 2000. As most know by now LEED is an acronym for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. As a rating system for sustainable building design, it has been a huge success. The public is now well aware of how ENERGY and ENVIRONMENT are connected. Now if only our leaders in government would be able to understand the relationship as they look into the future.
No doubt that today, more than ever, the two buzzwords that have captivated our attention are ENERGY and ENVIRONMENT. Skyrocketing prices for oil and natural gas are hurting our nation’s economy and affecting our personal lifestyles. The future of our economy is uncertain without some form of drastic change. But some of the options to address our energy situation being debated on Capitol Hill are unacceptable to others because of the concern over their potentially negative impact on the environment.
We’ve heard the comment that we can’t drill our way out of the oil/gasoline problem. On the other hand, we’ve heard that the size of the geographical footprint of an oil drilling facility in Anwar would be the equivalent of one letter compared to the entire page of print in the New York Times newspaper. Some argue that drilling today won’t affect the price of oil or gasoline. Others argue that just the announcement of the US beginning to drill in the continental shelf could spook speculators and the price of oil could plummet. Some claim that we should ignore oil and focus our money and attention on developing renewable energy sources.
Yet, oil is the lifeblood of our economy when it comes to transportation and heating of buildings. A very large percentage of the oil that we use is involved in the enormous volume of fuel production needed for cars, trucks, ships, and airplanes. Wind, solar, nuclear, hydro-electric, and geo-thermal power may be great alternative sources of electricity, but they don’t address the immediate need for lower-priced transportation fuel. However, most would agree that our energy dependence requires short-term and long-term strategies. Unfortunately, it seems that Congress is focused only on what can be done today, rather than considering policies that will position our nation favorably in the next decade and beyond.
And in the midst of all the hoopla over the price of oil, gasoline, and natural gas, and the cry for improving fuel efficiencies of cars and trucks, the impact of buildings never seems to catch the eye of the network news media. Yet our construction industry knows that buildings account for 39% of the nation’s primary energy, and use over 70% of the nation’s electricity.
There are many initiatives and programs in place to boost the performance of buildings in terms of their ENERGY efficiency and their ENVIRONMENTAL impact. Energy conservation and efficiency improvements accomplish both of those concerns. Passive cooling from reflective metal roofing, natural ventilation from above sheathing ventilation, consistent thermal performance from insulated metal wall and roof panels, and cool surfaces on metal building envelope components all contribute to the “low hanging fruit” in terms of reducing the heat gain into a building.
Cool metal roofing itself may never lower the price of oil, but it is an available technology that can be put to good use in lowering the demand for electricity from our nations’ buildings. As technology evolves to change the way we can design roof assemblies and wall assemblies to maximize their thermal performance, the way in which we build will change as well. The construction industry, with the help of national laboratories and innovative entrepreneurs are leading us into the next decade with these types of changes. Now if only we could get our elected officials to think beyond their re-election date, and lead our nation into the future on the right path.
Scott Kriner 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.