Green Building: Changing the Way Buildings are Designed, Built and Run

Last month we talked about VOC’s and regulations aimed at improving emissions and air quality resulting from Coatings. This month, we focus on another environmental topic – Green Buildings. Why should you care? Because you can hardly go anywhere and not hear about sustainability and environmental awareness! Simply put, more people are doing it! Where should we start – improve air quality, natural/renewable materials, waste minimization, energy conservation – this topic is complicated. Our goal here is to give you a quick peek with appropriate references, into this growing trend in construction.

Buildings and Their Impact
Buildings have a big impact on our lives and on the health of the planet. In the U.S., buildings devour more energy than cars do, accounting for 40 percent of our total energy use, compared to 28% for all transport combined. Yet buildings could be designed to use less than half the energy of today’s average U.S. building, and, over time, pay back the 10 percent more it may cost to build-in energy efficiency. In addition to high energy costs, environmental concerns and anxiety about indoor air quality and asthma are fueling interest.

Demand for Green Building is Growing
A McGraw-Hill Construction/National Association of Home Builders survey found a 20 percent increase in the number of home builders producing green, environmentally responsible homes in 2005 and that number is expected to grow by another 30 percent this year. Commercial property owners go green expecting to reduce running costs and legal liability, and boost property values.

About 2 percent of the U.S. construction market (commercial and residential) is green. That $7.2 billion share of the market is expected to increase to 5-10 percent of new construction starts by 2010 and this does not include remodeling, where consumer demand is ahead of the “green” contractors available.
Federal Agencies, and many state and local governments have begun encouraging (or requiring) Green Building in their own facilities.

What Makes a Building “Green”?
Green buildings use resources such as materials, energy and water efficiently, minimize demolition and construction waste and create healthy, comfortable indoor environments. A green interior is both healthy and functional. To achieve this, designers and specifiers consider longevity and quality of finishes, low-emissions materials, controlling growth of mold and fungus, harvesting daylight, and acoustics.

Rating Systems
Several systems can be used to rate green buildings, including LEED® and Green Globes^TM US.

LEED®
The US Green Building Council has developed a building rating system called LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) that evaluates building performance over a building’s life cycle from design and construction, through demolition. The LEED® standards provide checklists of criteria and award points in various categories, from energy use (up to 17 points) to water-efficiency (up to five points) to indoor environmental quality (up to 15 points). For example, points can be earned for use of low-emitting (low-Volatile Organic Compounds) paints, adhesives, sealants, caulks and carpets. Extra points can be earned by installing features such as renewable energy generating solar panels or geo-thermal heat pumps. The total can be checked and certified by professional verifiers and determines the building’s LEED® rating (minimum of 26 points=certified, 33=silver, 39=gold, or 52=platinum).

U.S. Green Building Council LEED® Points System

There are only about 500 buildings in the US that qualify for LEED® status today, but there are more than 4,000 under construction that will qualify.

Green Globes^TM

The Green Building Initiative^TM offers Green Globes^TM, a Web-based environmental design and assessment tool that can be used with any size building, but was designed to be easy to apply to smaller, lower budget buildings, to keep green building affordable. It includes US Energy Star target finder, calculates energy and energy savings and can be updated as improvements are made to the building. Points can be scored in categories similar to those used by LEED®, but are larger proportion of the total are awarded to energy. Although rating can also be professionally certified in this system, Green Globes^TM is mostly used for self-assessment.

Green Globes^TM Points System

Does it Cost More to Be Green?
Because green design looks at the long term environmental impacts of maintaining and operating a building, not just the initial cost of putting it up, it can save money by reducing long-term costs. Energy represents about 25% of a building’s operating costs and on average, green buildings surveyed used 30% less energy than comparable conventional buildings. According to the USGBC, the 2% increase in construction costs to achieve a LEED® gold rating can pay for itself in lower running costs within two years. Green Globes^TM reports similar additional up front costs of between 1% and 2%, but in regions with extreme temperatures, these can rise to 8%. Other estimates show that simple energy reduction of 30% result in net operating income of +5%.

How Does this Affect Coatings?
Whether customers are trying to score points in a formal system, or just looking for more environmentally responsible ways to meet their needs, they will be interested in building materials that:

• Are made with salvaged or recycled material
• Conserve resources because they are especially durable or have low maintenance requirements
• Are made from rapidly renewable resources such as plant oils
• Conserve energy and water
• Can be purchased from local or regional sources, rather than using energy to import over long distances
• Avoid toxic or other emissions and contribute to a safe, healthy built environment

There is little doubt that paints that are more durable; with better ability to stick to these new evolving substrates; that are more washable; with lower emissions; and that lead to easier clean-up would contribute positively to establishing a greener building.

More information can be found at:
The Green Building? Initiative and Green Globes
http://www.thegbi.org/gbi/

The National Association of Homebuilders Green Building Guidelines
http://www.nahbrc.org/greenguidelines/

The US Green Building Council and LEED®
http://www.usgbc.org/

Federal Agencies Green Building requirements
http://www.fedcenter.gov/programs/greenbuildings/

Building Materials: What Makes a Product Green?
http://www.buildinggreen.com/auth/article.cfm?fileName=090101a

Q and A:

Q: Where can I purchase low VOC paints today?

A: Almost all major suppliers offer low VOC paints. These paints are readily available through the major distribution channels (from company owned stores and Independent Dealers to Big Boxes like Home Depot and Lowes). The same rules apply with low VOC paints – make sure you get the right paint for the targeted job!

Q: How might low VOC paints impact indoor quality?

A: Today, water based latex coatings dominate the interior market. As we discussed last month, while water based paints are orders of magnitude better than solvent based coatings, even the water based coatings contain some VOC components. As formulators deliver paints to meet more demanding lower VOC specs, then emissions from paints will continue to improve. Note however that paint is only one source for air emissions in the home. In fact, when compared to other sources like carpets, and cleaners, paint contributes only a small percent of potentially hazardous material found in the home.

Q: How do I know that my paint meets the specification for LEED®

A: Specific paint formulations are submitted and tested independently. Paints must pass a GS-11 spec to qualify for LEED certification. Once qualified, paints can carry a Green Seal label on the cans. When necessary, you should check with paint suppliers to determine whether their paint(s) qualify for LEED points.

Q: To qualify for LEED points, does my paint have to carry a seal?

A: No, one can qualify for LEED points without having a label on the paint can. To qualify for LEED points, paints must meet the GS-11 spec prescribed by LEED. Meeting these requirements qualifies the paint formulation for Green Seal label, however NOT all paints that meet the GS-11 standard carry the seal.

Q: I am a commercial contractor and I am interested in redesigning and recoating a roof to optimize for energy efficiency. Can you provide me with any guidance here?

A: Please refer to http://www.rooftopics.com/. Here you will learn more about Elastomeric Roof Coatings. One approach for energy savings, specifically for low slope roofs, is to use white acrylic roof mastic. This technology affords superior solar reflectivity. In addition, this technology has excellent adhesion to other roofing materials and significantly reducing service cost by reducing energy expenses. What this means is that the old roofing material does not have to be replaced. Reduce energy cost and waste minimization – every consistent with the growing green trend in North America.