What Makes Green Real Estate

The US Green Building Council, which is now the fastest growing non-profit in the world, has as its mission – Market transformation. Transformation of the building industry, to one that stands for sustainability, and the transformation to high performance or energy efficient buildings, both residential and commercial. The USGBC has largely been successful in accomplishing its goal in its brief 15 year history.

Sustainable building design begins with reducing loads through the use fo insulation, high-performance insulation, high performance glazing and exterior shading, good lighting deisgn and energy efficient appliance selection.

Next – heating, cooling, lighting and process loads are met using the most efficient systems available including waste-heat recapture, on-site generation, solar-thermal systems, sate-of-the –art HVAC equipment. Occupancy sensors and daylight dimmers are used to reduce lighting levels, and demand control ventilation save fan and space conditioning energy in both parking garages and occupied areas.

The result is buildings with reduced environmental footprints and operating costs. Green design supports efforts to develop buildings that are climate-neutral and/or net-zero energy, an important step towards full sustainability.

All federal building has to have a LEED Silver rating minimum. Now many states are mandating a LEED rating on their public works buildings. California now, since 2004, has a minimum rating of Silver on all state funded buildings. Additionally, in June 2008, there were 38 pending bills promulgated to change and fund green building in California. Not all of them will make it to law, but that is an impressive number. AB32, California’s “anti-global warming“ act will form the basis of a new agro/solar economy in California that will transcend to the remaining US in years to come.

Some of these bills would fund green job training, some would change building codes and one would allow local governments to require stiffer building regulations than state mandates. The city of Riverside, California is introducing a bill to fund all housing to install solar Pv generation.

There now exists an inventory of what is referred to as “green real estate” as a result of the work of the USGBC. This could refer to literally any building that has some form of green attribute (see list below). The headquarters and facilities of many organizations like Ford motors, Armstrong Floors, Herman Miller, Union Carbide, and many others have been built green because of the increased performance of the employees working in their buildings.

Hayward Lumber – built a 100,000 square foot building to house their truss manufacturing facility. Using only FSC lumber in their products, the plant is totally powered by solar.

Residential green building was pioneered by Build it Green. A California focused and financed organization to educate builders and contractors on the benefits and how-to of green homes. LEED for Homes is still in the pilot-public comment phase, but will be formalized later this year. Now there are many local green building certification programs located all over the US.

Green Design or high performance building is also being promoted by the ASID, who formally announced their strategic alliance with the USGBC in May 2008, using the “ReGreen” label. The American Institute of Architects also announced their partnership with the USGBC in June of 2008.

To be a green property there are not only green attributes needed, like a solar array of photovoltaic cells on the roof, but an audit as well. The audit performed by a qualified and certified third party agent, certifies for example: that there is little air lost through the air ducts, that a level of insulation exists to lower thermal bridging from inside temperature to outside temperatures or vice versa with the change from summer to winter. That there is a gray water capturing process to irrigate a drought resistant landscape, or a rain water catchment system to catch and hold scarce rain. Another qualification for green may be that it is located on infill property. Infill is a mechanism to fight Urban sprawl by forcing more concentrated occupation within existing municipal infrastructure.

SUSTAINABLE DESIGN PRINCIPLES:

• Generate renewable energy on site to reduce the impacts of conventional utility generation and transmission losses
• Purchase green power for remaining electrical needs
• Eliminate fossil fuels by substituting renewable fuels and use of solar thermal energy

After a building has been certified green it may qualify for an interest reduction of the mortgage rate. That mortgage may also be sold to a European financial organization that is required by European Law to have a percentage of green buildings in their portfolio.

There are many architects and production builders who wanted to build green when they got out of college, but the market wasn’t there. It is now! Many estimate the green buildings are a $90Bln/year industry and this while real estate is in the worst slump in 20 years.

Green building is going on all over the country at an accelerated pace due to rising energy costs. Landlords, property managers, leasing agents, the National Real Estate Board of America, the Mortgage Bankers Association, local realty boards, and many financial institutions are endorsing green real estate. Tenants see the lowered cost of the energy component reflected in their cost of doing business. The Los Angeles times ran an article in 2007 stating that even during the mortgage meltdown the only property changing hands were green properties.

SOME COMPONENTS OF GREEN - HIGH PERFORMANCE BUILDINGS

The installation of some of the items below can yield a reduction of building operating expense in excess of 20%, at current 2008 costs.

Courtesy of www.brightworks.net

SYSTEMS (for more than single family buildings)

• A combined heat and power system (CHP) uses renewable fuel such as biodiesel, biomass or even trash to produce electricity and heat including domestic hot water.
• Waste heat warms make-up and ventilation air and provides cooling with adsorption or absorption chillers
• Heat and cooling from the CHP and other equipment supply the cental heat pump or hot/chilled water loops through heat pumps, fan coils and radiant sustems.
• A ground-source heat exchanger accepts hat from or adds heat to a water loop at moderate temperatures and works best with ground source heat pumps serving space heating and cooling.
• Solar hot water, passive solar systems and photovoltaics provide space heat, hot water and generate electricity on-site.
• Roof-mounted wind systems can generate power for building use

SAVINGS

The addition of approximately $4000.00 in sustainability features could save over $15,000.00 over 22 years. All the while lending a better more comfortable and more productive environment for occupants.

ENERGY EFFICIENCY & RENEWABLE ENERGY

• Passive solar design
• Daylighting- light passing through interior walls, solar tubes, high level windows
• Insulated slab with thermal break at perimeter
• Insulated hot water pipes
• HVAC system and insulated ductwork installed in conditioned space
• Cellulose insulation
• Double-pane, low-E wood windows
• Energy performance testing of building and HVAC system
• Whole house fan; no AC
• Solar-powered garage fan or disconnected garage
• Double-pane, low-E fiberglass windows
• Low-E acrylic block windows
• Planted trees and installed trellis to shade west windows
• Kitchen lighting updated to Title 24 requirements or better
• Designed for daylighting and cross-ventilation
• Hydronic radiant-floor heat (insulted from earth slab)
• Efficient boiler for building heating
• Cool Roof – living roof, high emissivity reflective materials
• ENERGY STAR® bathroom fan
• Bathroom fan on timer
• Light shelves interior or exterior
• Electric vehicle charging stations
• ENERGY STAR® appliances
• ENERGY STAR® qualified home
• HVAC system designed to ACCA Manual J, D and S recommendations
• Duct mastic on all duct joints and seams
• ENERGY STAR® ceiling fans with CFL (Minka Aire)
• Solar pool heater
• Solar Thermal storage

RESOURCE CONSERVATION

• Deconstructed/salvaged and reused doors, windows, trim and siding
• FSC-certified interior doors
• Engineered lumber (OSB) for beams and headers: LVL, PSL and glullam, parallam
• 75% framing studs FSC-certified, 2x6 studs on 24” centers
• FSC-certified framing lumber
• 65% recycling of construction waste or better
• Deconstructed (adaptive reuse structure) like an existing paint factory or bank or market, on-site 95% recycling of demolition waste
• Construction Waste management & reduction program
• 24-inch overhangs with gutters
• 40-year composition shingle roof
• Recycled glass light fixtures
• Recycled-content countertops
• Wheatboard, bamboo, or other resource efficient cabinet boxes
• Urban salvage wood countertop and tables
• Recycled glass countertops
• Salvaged redwood wainscoting used for bookshelves and cabinet doors
• Salvaged materials (like car parts) used for railings and awnings
• Water-and energy-efficient washing machine (salvage rinse water cycle)
• Foundation drainage system
• Reused chimney and foundation brick in landscaping
• Plants grouped by hydrozone
• Planned rainwater catchment system and high-efficiency irrigation systems
• Native, drought-tolerant landscaping with no irrigation or turf
• High-efficiency irrigation with weather-based smart water monitoring system
• Native, drought-tolerant, less than 25% turf landscaping
• Turf replaced with low-water native bunch grass (Carex tumulicola)
• Maintained existing shade trees used strategically for shade in summer
• Infill mixed-use project near public transit and services
• Site remediation of contaminated soil and water
• 25% or better fly ash containing concrete in foundation and or walls
• Recycled-content steel framing, and rebar in foundation
• Fiber-cement siding
• Metal roof, or shingles
• FSC-certified tan oak flooring
• FSC-certified plywood sub floor
• Flooring options: natural linoleum
• Refinished existing/salvaged hardwood flooring
• Built-in recycling center (commercial/multifamily)
• Parking for bicycles (multi family/commercial)
• Multifamily development with increased density and efficient home sizes
• Recycled-glass fireplace surround
• Urban salvage sycamore mantle and Carolina cherry butcher-block (West Coast Arborist)
• Recycled stoplight glass pendant lights
• Salvaged furnishings (church pews for benches)
• Salvaged redwood fence boards and deck
• Salvaged wine barrel planters
• FSC-certified wood, bamboo, cork, wool carpet, recycled-content carpet

INDOOR ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY

• Wool carpet or short cycle harvest agro or agro waste based products – cork, linoleum, grass, Palm, cane, bamboo, etc
• No-VOC interior paint
• Interior fountains - commercial
• Low-VOC water-based wood finishes
• No construction adhesives used
• Low-VOC construction adhesives
• Low-emitting insulation; cellulose
• Ducts protected during construction, tested and cleaned before occupancy
• No added formaldehyde: fiberglass insulation, or MDF trim,
• Air barrier tightly sealed between garage and living area
• Kitchen cabinets/Case work with low formaldehyde emissions
• Earth plaster interior walls
• Planned crawlspace vapor barrier
• Connection to nature
• Fan air movement
• Sound mutation
• Low-mounted range hood vented to the outside
• Raised heel trusses,
• R38 insulation in attic
• 2x6 walls with R-19 insulation
• Header design that allows 2” (R-11) rigid foam insulation in header space
• R-19 blanket insulation on crawl space walls and in joist bays
• 2” concrete slab over 6 mil plastic sheeting on crawlspace floor
• One layer of ½” blue foam sheeting (R-3) over one layer of ½” OSB sheeting on exterior walls
• Edges of OSB sheeting caulked before being nailed to walls
• Exterior sheathing seams taped with building tape
• All building envelope penetrations sealed with sill seal, caulk, and or spray foam
• 50 cubic feet per minute of (CFM) continuous-run crawl space fan
• Gas range (optional) & dryer
• Front loading washing machine
• Programmable thermostat
• 90% efficient closed combustion furnace
• Tankless water heater
• Compact Fluorescent lights or LED lighting
• Continuous ridge and soffit vents
• Site and building elevation design to allow maximum solar gain whenever possible

Building’s use of all electrcity……………………………………………………65%
Building’s production of all green house gases……………………………..30%

A builder doesn’t just decide to build green. Education in mandatory. Green building is a process that goes on in the mind of a builder over time with various inputs. The end result is a synthesis of building design, materials, suppliers, siting and available land. If you’re in the real estate game at any level you need to know and understand the many incantations of green real estate, and value added green building.