codes – Sustainable Benefits by Emerald Skyline Corporation

By Julie Lundin, NCIDQ, LEED AP ID+C, ASID
Founder, Director of LEED Process Management for Emerald Skyline Corporation

Emerald Skyline Corporation, in conjunction with Golden Spiral Design, is designing, renovating and repurposing an unoccupied industrial building located in Boca Raton, FL. This distinctive commercial building will include many sustainable features with the intent to obtain LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) certification from the USGBC. LEED certification recognizes performance in five key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality. It is a whole-building approach to sustainability which will enable us to save on utilities and maintenance while improving the well-being of our personnel and our clients.

LEED is a third party certification program and the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings. The LEED Green building rating system encourages and accelerates global adoption of sustainable green building and development practices through the creation and implementation of universally understood and accepted tools and performance criteria.

We continue to modify the design of the building in preparation for submission to the City of Boca Raton Development Services Department. In preliminary meetings with the Planning Department and Traffic Engineers it was determined that the building occupancy will require a minimum of 8+ parking spaces per the existing (dated) Municipal Codes. The limited space for parking on the site will make it difficult to meet these requirements.

Based on our plans intended use of the building, our parking needs for the building are much less than the codes require. Both Emerald Skyline and Golden Spiral employ sustainable business practices which encourages personnel to spend the majority of their time working remotely.

Boca Raton’s current parking requirement is not congruent with sustainable thinking which encourages “hotelling” or “hot desking”, the use of public transportation and alternate commuting methods such as riding a bicycle. In meeting with representatives the City of Boca Raton, they have indicated that they might help us on this initiative as they have special exemptions for sustainable buildings. Our goal is to have the minimum number of spaces necessary to satisfy our needs.

Further, as a LEED certified project, our design goals are to minimize paved surfaces as solid surfaces contribute negatively to our environment. Our vision is to utilize permeable pavers for the parking spaces we will have on-site. Here is why:

Permeable pavers help the environment by:

Improving the quality of storm water runoff as it is returned to a ground water source;
Providing a solution to soil erosion by allowing grass to grow within the spaces of the block and blend in with the surroundings.
Reducing or eliminating storm water runoff, decreasing flooding and relieving sewer system demands while still providing a sturdy surface for vehicle and pedestrian traffic; and
Reducing heat that is transmitted into the atmosphere from hot pavement by providing a vegetative and reflective surface.

Rating systems like LEED are critical proving grounds for building strategies that address an inclusive set of risks that require our attention beyond fire safety, disability access and other crucial areas.

Building codes have presented barriers to the application of more forward-looking technologies, materials and methods. Building green requires a multi-disciplinary approach to break down the walls between planning, design and construction. The existing codes have been a factor in the business-as-usual construction process. As the viability, cost-effectiveness, and many benefits of green building continue to prove their worth, code safety needs to evolve to incorporate a broader scope of responsibility that are now expected. We are hopeful that building codes, including those of Boca Raton, will begin to encompass sustainable building needs.

USGBC – Build Better Codes

http://www.usgbc.org/Docs/Archive/General/Docs18641.pdf

8/30/13

View the original article here

In a world faced with an evolving array of challenges – economic, environmental, security, and social – the bar for building performance is continuing to rise. High performance buildings go beyond the basic requirements of codes and standards to significantly reduce energy consumption, increase use of renewables, have a minimal environmental impact in material use and site selection, enhance human comfort and safety, and improve occupant productivity.

High performance buildings also create the flexibility necessary for open-plan space and respond efficiently to inevitable changes within the building. High performance buildings achieve these performance objectives in a cost-effective manner throughout the lifetime of a facility.

According to Legrand, a provider of infrastructure solutions, a host of factors are driving a paradigm shift in performance expectations within the built environment. Key factors include:

Market and Economic Forces: In recent years, institutional investors and building owners have sought out energy and other efficiencies in building portfolios to reduce risk and improve asset value.
Homeland Security & Natural Disasters: Today’s buildings are faced with a more diverse and rising number of man-made and natural threats, ranging from terrorism to flooding and earthquakes.
Energy Security and Climate Change: In the United States, buildings consume nearly 40% of all national energy and significant amounts of natural resource, putting the sector under increasing pressure to become more energy and resource efficient.
Social Equity: The aging of the American population and the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act are driving building owners and managers to redefine and redirect the traditional understanding of design for accessibility.
Changes in Building Design, Delivery, and Management: New information management and modeling tools, such as Building Information Modeling (BIM), have created the ability to simulate and manage building performance across a wide array of attributes.
Information Technology: The Internet, with all its associated devices and applications, is changing the functioning of the building and the activities of its occupants. This creates demand for new levels of embedded intelligence, communications, and interoperability of systems and products.
Codes and Standards: A new generation of building codes and standards are a reflection of new market expectations, and they have become a driving force for higher levels of building performance.

The federal government formally defined high performance buildings in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, but in practice, it is building owners and managers and the design teams they commission who define and embody high performance on a day-to-day basis.