Michael A. McKay, AIA, Partner Morrison Kattman Menze, Inc. Architecture Planning Interiors, and a Member of the U.S. Green Building Council
119 W. Wayne Street, Fort Wayne, Indiana, 46802-2503
Phone: 260-422-0783, Fax: 260-426-4561, E-mail: mmckay@MKMdesign.com
Simply put, buildings have a fundamental impact on humans and the health of our planet. While consuming our natural resources, these buildings are also occupying more and more of our land, land that once provided valuable ecological services. How long can we continue on this path before our 'progress' leads to a rapid decline for all people on this Earth, including those of us who call Fort Wayne and Allen County home? We need to design toward a more sustainable future, and we need to begin building it today. >Link
MORRISON KATTMAN MENZE, INC INC.
A R C H I T E C T U R E P L A N N I N G I N T E R I O R S
119 West Wayne Street
Fort Wayne, IN 46802
Phone 260/422-0783 Fax 260/426-4561
www.MKMdesign.com
January 13, 2003
Designing toward a sustainable future, and Why we must build it today.
The building design and construction industry is one of the largest in our nation, if not the largest when compared as a percentage of the gross national product. In Allen County and Fort Wayne, it is the overall largest employer and one of the few that has continued growth, all be it small, through this recession. The products are buildings of all types: residential, commercial and institutional – both private and public.
Buildings also consume an incredible amount of our natural resources, both for their construction by using our natural resources and their occupancy through the large amounts of energy needed to heat and cool their interiors. The U.S. Department of Energy reports that buildings (both residential and commercial) consume over 65% of the generated electricity and 12% of potable water in the United States. Buildings represent over 36% of primary energy use in the U.S. and they are responsible for 30% of the total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Buildings generate over 136 million tons of construction and demolition waste while consuming more than 40% (over 3 billion tons) annually of the Earth’s raw materials. Simply put, buildings have a fundamental impact on humans and the health of our planet. While consuming our natural resources, these buildings are also occupying more and more of our land, land that once provided valuable ecological services. How long can we continue on this path before our “progress” leads to a rapid decline for all people on this Earth, including those of us who call Fort Wayne and Allen County home?
We need to design toward a more sustainable future, and we need to begin building it today. Sustainable design or green design and green architecture as it is often referred to is an emerging response to our over consumption within the building industry. Green design includes design and construction practices that significantly reduce or eliminate the negative impact of buildings on the environment and their occupants. How? By focusing the planning, design and construction of a building on five broad areas: 1. Sustainable site planning; 2. Safeguarding water and the efficient use of water; 3. Maximizing energy efficiency and using renewable energy; 4. Conservation of materials and resources; and 5. Indoor environmental quality. What are the benefits? There are several, both environmental and economic, and both local and global. The local and global environment benefits from protecting air quality, water quality, overall bio-diversity and Eco-system health. Economic benefits are experienced in lower utility and building operation costs, increased asset value, and higher worker productivity, which in turn benefits the local economy. Building occupants benefit from better health and safety features, which in turn alleviates the upward trend of risk management concerns. (The average American spends more than 90% of their time indoors according to the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. The U.S. EPA concurs, and adds that indoor air quality can be two to five times worse than outdoor air quality.) Community and municipal benefits include a lessened demand for large-scale infrastructure such as landfills, water supply, storm water and sanitary sewers, and their related development and operational costs (i.e. taxes). Locally, a building that integrates green design can expect lower utility cost (i.e. $0.60 to $1.20 per square foot versus $1.50 or more per square foot.)
Green building projects that are well planned, designed, integrated, and are comprehensive in their scope, can and do result in lower or neutral project development costs. Some examples of this approach include: Energy efficient building envelopes that reduce heating and cooling equipment needs – downsizing some equipment such as chillers or eliminating equipment, such as perimeter heating (the cost savings of which pay for the integrated green design). Using pervious paving combined with run-off prevention strategies can reduce the size and cost of storm water management structures or eliminate them entirely by allowing the building and the site to process all storm water on site. Building sewage can also be processed on site through ecological engines and constructed wetlands, with water as the outsource, which in turn can be used back in the building to flush toilets and water the landscape. Day-lighting strategies can reduce the use of artificial lighting (a huge consumer of power) for building interiors, and combined with other green technologies such as photovoltaic panels could eliminate the use of power from the grid for lighting of the building, even at night.
The result is a healthy building and site, one that does not harm its occupants or the environment. Employees in healthy building interiors have less absenteeism and tend to stay in their jobs, and that has a healthy impact on the bottom line. One example as reported through the U.S. Green Building Council, the Internationale Nederlanden (ING) Bank Headquarters in Amsterdam uses only 10% of the energy its predecessor and has cut worker absenteeism by 15%. The combined savings equal over 3.4 million dollars per year. Another example, the corporate headquarters for AT&T in suburban Chicago used their annual site maintenance budget (watering, fertilizing, mowing, and grooming) to replace their traditional green lawn and asphalt parking lots with a restored prairie landscape, pervious paving and on-site storm water management system. The result has been a landscape that is natural and beautiful, requiring very little maintenance other than an annual burn, and the complete elimination of storm water run-off infrastructure from their site. The yearly maintenance budget is now reflected in the company’s bottom line as profit rather than expense, with the initial capital cost paid from what was already budgeted for maintenance. Sustainable design and construction is entirely possible, and it is entirely affordable. To make it so with its successful application to the building process, sustainable design must be through an integrated approach to design and construction, where the full extent and possibility of sustainable design can be merged with the project’s goals, mission, and budget. Green design and construction is not a trend, nor an application, but it is necessary for a sustainable future. Michael A. McKay, AIA, Partner
Morrison Kattman Menze, Inc.
Architecture – Planning – Interiors, and a Member of the U.S. Green Building Council
119 W. Wayne Street, Fort Wayne, Indiana, 46802-2503
Phone: 260-422-0783, Fax: 260-426-4561, E-mail: mmckay@MKMdesign.com