GREENING GUILFORD

Bryan YMCA wants to go green

The Bryan Family YMCA seeks support from members to implement a comprehensive environmental initiative, according to an August newsletter. The organization requests suggestions, fundraising ideas, professional advice and volunteers to green its building in downtown Greensboro on West Market Street. According to a statement by executive director Joe Hennigan:

"...We also believe our facility, with its already high profile, has the ability to be a catalyst for spurring environmentally responsible downtown development. We are convinced a public, concentrated, ongoing campaign to lesson our carbon footprint will engage our existing membership to be more involved with the YMCA and attract new, active members who are committed not only to environmental stewardship but the overarching mission of the YMCA."

I'll post more as I get more details. Know of any other organizations going green?

Hotel to share learning lessons on green building

The Proximity Hotel in Greensboro, the highest LEED-rated hotel in the country, will hold its first Sustainable Practices Symposium on July 9 to share learning lessons from its design and construction. Registration is free (but limited) and open to the public. Details: Wednesday, July 9, 2008, 2-6:30 p.m. at Proximity Hotel Presentation by Dennis Quaintance, President, Developer & Chief Design Officer Discussion of the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED (Leadership in Environment and Energy Design) process used for certification Tour of the hotel and restaurant's sustainable features.

There's a new green building sheriff (or two) in town

Green building efforts are slowly gaining momentum in the Piedmont Triad. Two groups have kicked off education and certification programs within the past two years. The Piedmont Triad Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council has more than 200 members now and the Greensboro Builders Association's Green Building Council, which launched in January, has about 55 members and has plans to expand to Winston-Salem and Burlington.

I spoke with Cheryl Collins of the Greensboro Builders Association and she said the National Association of Home Builders has a set of homebuilding guidelines that are similar to the LEED standards being promoted elsewhere.

Speaking of LEED, Greg Savage, chairman of the Triad's new chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council, said the Triad has 14 LEED-registered building projects, and more than 200 such projects are registered in the state. LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a national benchmark for sustainable green building and development.

Savage, who spoke last week at a Piedmont Real Estate Council meeting, said buildings will eventually need to meet new energy standards set forth in building codes now under development.

In a press release, Savage said: "The U.S. construction industry represents 20 percent of the U.S. economy, uses 30 percent of the nation's raw materials, uses 13 percent of all potable water, generates 40 percent of all landfill wastes and represents 70 percent of all electricity consumption. Everywhere we go, we see a vital need for construction to adopt green sustainable standards."

Cheryl Collins said the building industry is still resistant to these new practices because consumers purhase homes based on location and amenities, not energy efficiency. That's why the group is stepping up its educational efforts, including holding seminars and giving away 1,000 compact flourescent lightbulbs and reusable shopping bags at the Southern Ideal Home Show that was held in Greensboro this past weekend.

I wonder if Greensboro needs two groups to accomplish this task. I asked Collins if she was concerned about competition.

She said, "What we're encouraging is to take any action at all toward green building. They are both good programs."

National Preservation Institute to hold "green" workshop for architects

Following is an announcement I received from Benjamin Briggs, executive director of Preservation Greensboro Inc., about an upcoming local event:

"The National Preservation Institute is holding a workshop on Green Strategies for Historic Buildings here at the Blandwood Carriage House on April 10th. The session will be led by Boston architect Jean Carroon, AIA, LEED, principal of preservation at Goody Clancy, and will qualify for 6 learning units in the American Institute of Architects Continuing Education System.

This is the first such workshop of its kind held by the Institute in North Carolina and the Southeast!

The seminar will review practical applications of using green building strategies for historic structures. The environmental goal of "reduce, reuse, recycle" can enhance the cost competitiveness of preservation projects. Participants will review the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards used to assess building performance. They will also focus on preservation challenges relating to energy efficiency, windows, lighting, indoor air quality, HVAC, and local and national codes and regulations.

I hope that local architects will be aware of this unusual opportunity here in Greensboro! For additional information you can visit my blog or you can visit the NPI website or contact the National Preservation Institute directly by telephone: 703.765.0100 or email to [email protected] . They are organizing the workshop, and we have donated use of our Carriage House."

If any of you go, give me a shout out and tell me what you learned.

Shrinking our buildings' carbon footprints

There is no silver bullet.

Robert Powell, an assistant professor at N.C. A&T University, said this to me over lunch Wednesday when I asked him what Greensboro needs to do to address the challenges of climate change and peak oil production. He said we would need a multi-faceted approach with the city first establishing a baseline of how much fossil fuels it uses as part of its signing the U.S. Mayor's Climate Protection Agreement last year.

Powell (who also happens to serve on a construction advisory group with Guilford County Schools and was part of an initiative to help Glenwood neighborhood get a sculpture garden) has been promoting energy efficiency and sustainability measures for the past 30 years and believes we have reached a time when several groups working in silos are coming together around the same table to talk. But his passion is architecture and he and other professors at the university are working on an initiative, funded by the state energy office, to research programs and building techniques that can be applied commercially and residentially across the state. I'll have details on that initiative later.

Powell is also a fan of architect Edward Mazria, who designed the Mount Airy Public Library, which uses extensive daylighting. 

Mazria also established Architecture 2030, a non-profit, non-partisan and independent organization, whose mission is to rapidly transform the national and global building sector to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

According to the group:

"Credible scientists give us 10 years to be well on our way toward global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions in order to avoid catastrophic climate change. Yet there are hundreds of coal-fired power plants currently on the drawing boards in the US. Seventy-six percent (76%) of the energy produced by these plants will go to operate buildings.

Buildings are the major source of demand for energy and materials that produce by-product greenhouse gases (GHG). Slowing the growth rate of GHG emissions and then reversing it over the next ten years is the key to keeping global warming under one degree centigrade (°C) above today's level. It will require immediate action and a concerted global effort."

"Green" building has caught on locally, although some question whether the long-term savings are worth the short-term costs. Guilford County Schools is incorporating green features in its new schools, the new Proximity Hotel is LEED-certified and New Garden Friends School recently announced it is building a LEED-certified arts and athletics complex. I also hear the Greensboro Builders Association will promote green building on the residential level. (Via an Action Greensboro blog, check out Rivercane Village outside of Asheville, which the developer bills as the "largest residential application of solar thermal technology in the U.S.")

Powell said Americans need to stop waiting for government groups to initiate changes.

"It's not going to happen that way," he said. "If it happened (that) way it wouldn't work."