Green Mechanical Contractor

MOVING SLOWLY INTO
A POST-LEED WORLD

EnginEEr and author Jerry Yudelson (Green Building A to Z, The Green Building Revolution) has written about our eventual move to a “post-LEEd world.” We won’t need a green building rating system because constructing energy-efficient, water-efficient, sustainable buildings will become the normal course of doing business. We’re happy to see how quickly green is catching on as reflected in the stories in this issue of Green Mechanical Contractor and in our coverage in our sister publication, ContRACtoR Magazine.

in Chicago, the Sears tower will undergo a $350 million greening. all of the building’s 16,000 windows are being replaced, which could save up to 60% of heating energy. Energy-efficient mechanical and lighting systems are being installed, and the building’s 104 elevators and 15 escalators, along with its plumbing systems, are being modernized. also planned is on-site renewable energy. Solar hot water panels will be installed on the 90th-story roof, which already houses an experimental garden, and several varieties of roof-mounted wind turbines will be tested for their performance. Water conservation is projected at 24 million gallons annually, or as much water as flows over the american side of niagara Falls every two-and-a-half minutes. The project is expected to take five years to complete, and building management is hoping for a Leadership in Energy and Environmental design Platinum certification from the u.S. green Building Council.

Serosun Farms, an agricultural preservation community south of the Village of huntley in the exurbs of Chicago, announced that it has assembled a “green building team” for its 410-acre conservation community. high-performance, sustainable homes will be built to the stringent design guidelines of the community and will meet the requirements of nahB green Building Program, uSgBC LEEd,

EPa Energy Star and american Lung association health
house programs. The green homes built on the farm estate
will range from smaller country cottages to mid-sized farm
homes and larger country estates.
the Port of Portland (ore.), which operates Portland
international airport, is building a $241 million adminis-
tration building at the airport that crosses the final frontier
of water conservation – blackwater. While the settling tank
will remain out of sight, four planters in the lobby of the
building will act as filters and introduce oxygen to speed
up the work of microorganisms in gobbling up the waste
material. after the “Living Machine” finishes its filtra-
tion, the water will be zapped by ultraviolet light and then
be used to flush the toilets. the building also features a
ground-source heat pump system, green roof, radiant ceil-
ing panels and daylighting. The port authority is shooting
for a LEEd gold certification.
in South Lake tahoe, Calif., Embassy Suites Lake tahoe
hotel & Ski resort has undergone a $200,000 greening that
was so effective that it will pay for itself by this fall. Chief
Engineer david hansen bought a Web-based building auto-
mation system and installed occupancy-sensing thermostats
in each room. hansen installed enthalpy sensors to use 100
percent outside air to condition public spaces for seven
months out of the year. ozone purification in the laundry has
slashed the use of hot rinse water by half.
We’re all for hansen’s economical approach. one of the
most sensible statements we’ve heard about green was from
actor and environmentalist Ed Begley Jr. When he was a
struggling actor in the ’70s, Begley said, he went green by
doing whatever little thing he could afford at the time, an
incremental approach that he still espouses.

at the other end of the spectrum, we’re developing a story about a house in Chicago that will be at least LEEd Platinum and may be the greenest house in the country once the points are tallied. our complaint is that the house reportedly cost $1.6 million, an amount that perpetuates the stereotype that going green is out of reach for most people.

Are you already involved in green mechanical contracting or do you want to see more examples of a specific type of work? Do you have a green project that would make a great case study in the next Green Mechanical Contractor?