Green construction, sustainability, environmentally responsible. One cannot read a construction industry trade journal without finding a mention of sustainability or “going green." Despite memories of eco-friendliness fads from the past, this vibrantly green movement -- now approximately ten years in the making-- shows strong signs of staying power. Green structures have many benefits to the environment, economy and the community. New technologies reduce the environmental effects of natural resource consumption, improve the bottom line over the life of the building, improve employee productivity and tenant popularity by enhancing the occupants’ comfort and health, minimize strain on local infrastructures, as well as ultimately improve the community’s quality of life. Largely due to an overwhelming acceptance of green and sustainable practices in the design and construction industries, many in the concrete industry are taking notice and action.
New standards, initiatives and funding resources are consistently introduced, ensuring that sustainability will be a viable part of the future. The United States Green Building Council (USGBC), the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), and the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA) are currently working together to formulate a new ANSI-accredited green building standard entitled Standard 189P Design of High-Performance Green Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings. This standard is planned to replace ANSI 90.1, which is a current code enforced energy efficiency guideline. It is expected that the ANSI Standard 189P will also be enforced through building codes nationwide. When these sustainable principles hit the building code realm, green building will become a mainstream practice that transforms the overall construction industry -- and the concrete repair industry -- with great momentum. As an interest for green takes an imminent position on the horizon, many firms in the concrete repair industry are looking for solutions as to how their services will become involved in this ever-greening world.
Going Green
The USGBC defines a green building as one that is “designed, constructed and operated to boost environmental, economic, health and productivity performance over that of conventional buildings.” Further, a building’s resource depleting impact on the environment is significantly reduced or eliminated in the following areas: sustainable site planning, water preservation and water efficiency, energy efficiency and renewable energy, conservation of materials and resources, and indoor air quality. In order to quantify the level of sustainability and to ensure a building is indeed green, the USGBC developed a third-party verification rating system called Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). The USGBC defines LEED as “a voluntary, consensus-based national standard to support and validate successful green building design, construction and operations.” LEED provides specific programs for each of the following: New Commercial Construction and Major Renovation Projects, Guidelines for Multiple Buildings and On-Campus Building Projects, Existing Building Operations and Maintenance, Commercial Interiors Projects, Core and Shell Development Projects, Homes, Neighborhood Development, LEED for Schools and LEED for Retail. Furthermore, new categories are frequently being introduced such as LEED for Healthcare. Buildings are ranked as Certified, Silver, Gold or Platinum based on their performance level in essentially three areas: natural resource conservation, healthy environments both interior and exterior, and reduced building maintenance costs.
Fortunately for the concrete repair industry, repair work can garner points in a wide assortment of LEED's platforms to help achieve the Certified level at a minimum for the building and/or site. Owners and developers can achieve green rating points just by preserving and restoring a structure as compared to building a new building. The natural properties of concrete, used as a main part of a building's structure, have the ability to cause a mass cooling effect. During the evening hours, the concrete will cool down several degrees and will then emit coolness throughout the day until the outdoor temperature reaches the "critical point" at which time the concrete then begins to store heat. In most environments, concrete will keep its coolness until the evening hours. The mass cooling effect is applicable to the energy efficiency category in any LEED program listed above. The use of recycled materials in concrete, such as recycled aggregate and different admixtures that come from post-consumer waste can contribute to LEED points. Construction waste management is a program that establishes the enactment of recycling on a building site both during and after the project is built. Recycling falls under the Materials category in the LEED program. If the concrete repair project uses coatings, then choosing coating systems low in Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) can contribute to an increase the indoor air quality, which is also a measure recommended by the LEED program. As a building material, concrete has low "embodied" energy characteristics. Concrete uses a relatively small amount of energy from extraction of recycled and raw materials and to manufacturing transportation localities. For certain applications, pervious concrete for walkways, driveways and parking lots retain storm water runoff and surface pollutants from flooding the nearby retention areas, thereby contributing to an overload on the sewage system. Structures built with concrete tend to last two to three times longer than buildings constructed with other common building materials. In some cases, concrete restoration and repair projects reduce the need to build new buildings.
The Green Light
Now that you’re ready to go green, how do you get started? Begin by talking with your clients, engineers, architects, manufacturers and contractors that have both an interest and some history with green projects so that you can learn from their experience and expertise. Become more educated about sustainability, the USGBC, LEED and other general environmental knowledge. Survey your clients for what services they might be looking for that have yet to be offered. Most suppliers to the concrete repair market have-or are developing- products that meet green criteria. Be sure to do research on all new green products available in the marketplace. The green movement has built such momentum, that even big-box retailers like Lowe’s and Home Depot stock a selection of green construction products.
Be sure to review how others in the industry are tackling green and learn from their best practices. Promote your green efforts, purchase reading materials and send employees to LEED workshops to elevate green awareness among the entire staff. In addition to design and construction practices, look for other opportunities to be a green leader such as recycling paper waste, using recycles products and committing to energy efficiency. Let your employees as well as prospects know your changed world view is a long-lasting theme in your company’s approach.
Sustainability has moved beyond fad stage to an established sector of the U.S construction industry. A growing number of grants and other funding programs are available for green construction and restoration projects. At the end of 2006, more than 5,000 projects had registered to try to obtain LEED certification. More than 20 states and 50 major cities already have policies in place that dictate sustainability for their own building projects. Now is the time to start focusing on your green approach to maintaining existing buildings, repairing the old and investing wisely in future construction projects.
Resources:
The Environmental Council of Concrete Organizations
http://www.ecco.org/
United States Green Building Council
http://www.usgbc.org/
GreenSpec
http://www.buildinggreen.com/index.cfm
PCA: Building Green With Concrete
http://www.cement.org/buildings/green_leed.asp
CIM MBA Program
