Excellent student 10
Excellent student
Kellie Fischer
English 102
23 November 2009
How Green Do We Need to Build?
Construction is an essential part of human activity. It was born over millions of years ago, when people began to develop their caves in order to make them more suitable and comfortable.need to check the recent speculation on how long humans have inhabited the planet. It’s not in the millions of years. J It has come a long way since that time, and now, our caves are totally different. Obviously, construction has gone through many stages of improvements, persecuting I’m sure this is not the word you mean to use here the simple goal to satisfy the user of the building. As a result we have a whole diversity of buildings. Intro elements need a comma. Some of them are one-story buildings whilewhen others reach high in the sky; some are made from wood whenand others from steel, glass and concrete. They are all different, but they are all designed to protect us from the environment, and give us the comfort of home. However, in the last decade some things have changed in construction. When we realized our bad influence towards the environment, we started designing our building not only to protect us, but also to protect the environment from us. Many government and private studies were done to create a way for green building, and the variety of laws were enactments to make sure the green way is followed. The systems like LEED (The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) were formed to guide engineers and contractors through this. Although the first step in developing green building has been taken, it is simply not enough to stop at this point; therefore, the minimum requirements should be raised for better protection of our environment and to increase our benefits from it.
LEED is a manual for engineers which they need to follow in order to make the building process and performance of the building more environmentally friendly. Designed by U.S. Green Building Council, LEED has become the most adopted and world recognized system for rating green projects. It has a variety of faces developed to maximize its influence on the specific building project. Among them are LEED for commercial building and LEED for homes, LEED for existing buildings and LEED for new constructions. They all have the same purpose - to reduce environmental impact from the buildings and construction process. LEED focuses on several factors: sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, indoor environmental quality, innovation in design and regional priority. Within each section, buildings can earn points which are totaled to one hundred and tenpunctuation?Depending on quantity of points earned the building can be certified at four levels: certified, silver, gold, and platinum. Platinum buildings are much more environmentally friendly compared to the buildings certified at the lowest level, and achieving platinum level of LEED certification isn’t something impossible. There are already many platinum buildings, and U.S. Green Building Council headquarters in Washington DC is one of them. U.S. Green Building Council not only develops LEED, but also shows what truly green building is, and proves that it is possible to build.
Neglecting opportunities developed and showed by U.S. Green Building Council, the federal requirements for green building remain trivial:
The following are required to be considered in plans, drawings, work statements, specifications, or other product descriptions, as appropriate: elimination of virgin material requirements, use of biobased products, use of recovered materials, reuse of product, life cycle cost, recyclability, use of environmentally preferable products, waste prevention (including toxicity reduction or elimination), ultimate disposal. (“Green Construction”)
As you can see avoid direct address, there are no strict regulations. These are not the requirements; it only has to be considered. When it comes to federal buildings, the regulations get a little stricter. President Executive Order 13423 actually set some goals for federal buildings to achieve within the next few years. Among them:
Reduce energy intensity by 3% each year, leading to 30% by the end of fiscal year 2015 compared to an fiscal year 2003 baseline; reduce water intensity (gallons per square foot) by 2% each year through fiscal year 2015 for a total of 16% based on water consumption in fiscal year 2007; ensure that at least half of all renewable energy required under EPAct 2005 comes from new renewable sources. (“Executive Order 13423”)
However, it only applies to large federal buildings, which are just a small part of our big cities. , and To meet these requirements the building needs to earn only forty points to be certified at the lowest LEED level.
Raising the bottom level of LEED certification is a necessity for saving our environment. Buildings are taking up a huge space of the United States land, and their influence on the environment isn’t friendly. Every year U.S cities are becoming bigger, pushing their borders farther into the natural areas. “Total land area in the U.S., excluding Alaska and Hawaii, is 1.983 billion acres. 107.3 million of those acres are developed, representing an increase of 24 percent in developed land over the past 10 years” (“National Resources Inventory”). Assuming that the increase will stay the same, simple calculation shows that in little more than one hundred years all natural areas filled with trees (which are responsible for cleaning our atmosphere) will be gone from United States land. This is going to be a catastrophe, pattern 6because now “buildings in the United States contribute 38.1 percent of the nation’s total carbon dioxide emissions,” and this percentage grows together with a percentage of developed land (“Emissions of Greenhouse Gases in the United States 2007”too much in this ( )). From 1990 to 2007 total carbon dioxide emissions raised from 5,021.4 to 6,021.8 million metric tons carbon dioxide equivalent, and one of two primary factors for this increase in 2007 was “unfavorable weather conditions, which increase demand for heating and cooling in buildings” (“Emissions of Greenhouse Gases in the United States 2007”).While developing new areas, we are increasing the amount of greenhouse gases and simultaneously, run-on—comma splice we are reducing environmental cure for the atmosphere. New topic needs a new paragraph. You even have the transition already in place. Together with atmosphere pollution construction generates lots of waste. “Building-related construction and demolition debris totals approximately 136 million tons per year, accounting for nearly 60 percent of total non-industrial waste generation in the U.S,” and only 20 to 30 percent are processing for further recovering and recycling (“Buildings and the Environment: A Statistical Summary”). The way we construct buildings now, not only destroys our atmosphere, but also transforms our land into a huge garbage field. If we don’t change anything soon, instead of natural areas filled with trees we will have fields of waste surrounding our cities, and no clean air to breathe.
LEED is a cure for our damaged environment from the construction, and when the disease went tense so far pat 5 the dosage needs to be increased. Based on the years of experiments and combined with the latest technological innovations, LEED has all the necessary knowledge to build sustainable, cost efficient buildings and minimize the negative impact to on the environment during construction and further use of the building. It is a manual that engineers must use to save our damaged environment, and following it as close as possible will maximize the result. Right now over sixty percent of this manual is optional and a building needs to get only forty points to be certified at the lowest LEED level. However, forty out of one hundred and ten possible points is a really weak percentage to get any kind of certification. Can you imagine students, getting a passing grade with a forty percent score, or a doctor who gets his license with a forty percent score on his MCAT? Sounds more like a joke and many realize it. Many state laws have overcome federal laws and required a higher level of LEED certification. For example, in Washington State “all major facility projects of public agencies” and “any entity other than a public agency or public school district receiving any funding in a state capital budget must be designed, constructed, and certified to at least the LEED silver standard” (Wash. Rev. Code). Some organizations, such as Community Colleges in Washington State, made silver the minimum level of approval for the construction of their buildings, even though certification isn’t required. We are trying to build green now, but we need to build truly green to make up for what we have already done to the environment. The green way of building is to “enhance and protect ecosystems and biodiversity, improve air and water quality, reduce solid waste, conserve natural resources” (USGBC: U.S. Green Building Council). All these can be achieved just by following LEED closely, and instead of getting forty points try to get as many points as possible. It will result in buildings with higher level of LEED certification - truly green buildings. Only these buildings can work as a cure for the environment in construction field. However, any cure is unnecessary I don’t think this is the word you want here unless it is required.
On the other hand, changes from building green to building truly green will cause construction costs to go up. To achieve higher level of LEED certification, more money is needed to be invested in the building process. According to the contractors, LEED certified building brings the cost up 2 to 5 percentpat 3 and the higher the level of certification, the bigger an increase in prices. “LEED gold and platinum increase cost the most,” says David Pearson, project manager at Callas Contractors (Pfoutz). One of the main reasons for this increase is that green building is a still new way of building. In most cases it requires materials and equipment which are new to the market. Those things are not widely produced, and that is what keeps their prices high. When the demand on green materials and green technologies raises, more and more manufacturers will look into it, and that will definitely make the prices to go down. Sounds like a new topic Another problem is the lack of LEED certified engineers. Green Building Council offers classes, but not many engineers are willing to voluntarily attend them. They cost money and take a lot of time. For the people who have many years of experience in the field, this looks unnecessary. The minimum level of LEED isn’t difficult to reach. They can make some self-improvements to make their projects LEED certified, but if the minimum level is raised, they would definitely need some professional help. This will turn them to these classes and within a short time period, the lack of engineers will not be a problem.
Fortunately, every green building comes with a set of benefits which can make up for price increase, and cover the a cost of solving any problem. Green is only one factor of LEED attention. “Buildings that satisfy or exceed the green requirements posed by the LEED system are formally certified by U.S. Green Building Council as sustainable” (Gambatese). Thus, environment isn’t the only one who gets benefits. Sustainable buildings directly benefit us – building’s owners and building’s users. However, truly green and sustainable buildings benefit the most. So this is a transition paragraph? Nice.
Even though green building requires more money for the construction stage, within the short period of time, the building will pay off all the difference. The study done by the U.S. Department of Energy shows that a green building consumes 30% to 50% of energy less less energy than a regular one, and saves up to 70% on waste output. Another study shows that these buildings consume 26% less energy (Fowler, and Rauch). These numbers depends on the level of sustainability which is directly linked to the level of LEED certification. All the little things such as extra containers for recycled materials, extra window in the ceiling for the better daylight use, sensors to turn on and off light and equipment when needed, all add up and save a lot of money. Also, it’s also not only the things you need to buy that make the building save money. For example, if engineers will make the project in consideration to position of the sun during the hours the building will be used the most, it will benefit the building with more daylight and save money on the energy bill without any investment. The amount of these money-saving tricks will determine how much money will be saved, and how fast the difference will be paid. The higher this amount, the higher level of LEED certification the building gets. Energy savings are much more significant when it comes to buildings which have achieved LEED platinum or even gold reverse the order here. For example, new Heifer International Center in Little Rock, AR, which has achieved platinum LEED certification, uses 55% less energy than similar buildings (“Building Green”). The Environmental Nature Center, located in Orange County, CA, which also received LEED platinum, “produces more energy than it utilizes” (“An Educational Tool in Itself”). This means that gold and platinum buildings which cost the most will also pay off the difference the fastest. The numbers, according to Bryna Dunn, the director of environmental planning and research at Moseley Architects in Richmond, VA, the Third Creek Elementary School in Statesville, N.C., which was the first to achieve LEED gold certification, “saved $100.000 to $150.000 over five years. That has paid back everything green that we did” (Kennedy). Within the lifetime, savings gained from this gold certified building will probably cover the costs of entire construction. It is another, economical reason to raise the level of LEED certification.