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We're
in the News!
The
Baltimore Sun's Business section, November 30, 2003:
Buildings
save when friendly to environment
What's
good ecologically can also be cheap to run, many are discovering
Boom
in sustainable development
Green,
green, green is busting out all over, even on Howard Street
By
JAMES SMITH HOPKINS
SUN STAFF
Going
green, getting green back
A small
but quickly growing portion of the private sector is putting environmentally
friendly features in buildings, in part because the owners are
convinced they'll save money in the long haul. A few recent and
continuing projects in the area:
RTKL
Associates Inc.
Its
year-old Baltimore office is a pilot project for green interiors,
with bamboo floors, a built-in shower for people bicycling to
work and air distribution through the floor instead of the ceiling
to save on energy.
Corporate
Office Properties Trust
Designing
an office building at the National Business Park next to Fort
Meade with a "white" roof made of material that radiates less
heat and low-emission glass that reflects heat instead of letting
it get in or out.
Architectural
Support Group
Renovating
an old farmhouse in Jessup to act as its office and a showcase
tbr green construction. Features include a rooftop garden, composting
toilets and enough windows in every room to give the electric
light a rest.
Black
Olive Development Co.
Building
the Black Olive Inn in Fells Point with an energy-efficient geothermal
heating and cooling system, no-fume paint and hot water courtesy
of solar power.
The
Tower Companies
Recently
finished a 78-unit townhome complex in Sliver Spring with certified
energy-efficient lights and fans; more man 40 percent recycled
content, from steel to carpet fibers; and hybrid cars on site
that residents rent by the hour.
A workman maneuvers
a spool of geothermal loop to be used in the heating-cooling
system of Silver Spring apartment complex.
Drills mounted on the back of trucks are making holes 600
feet deep that will house the geothermal loop for heating and
cooling system at the "green" apartment complex in Silver Spring.
Years of trying to get developers to build "green" has convinced
the environmentally conscious of the limitations of selling
people on saving the world.
Saving money, on the other hand, is proving to be a more potent
argument.
The so-called sustainable development industry is growing locally
and nationally as new studies show that ecologically friendly
buildings, almost always more expensive to build, are significantly
cheaper to maintain. Energy costs often plummet. A healthier
atmosphere indoors, some reports suggest, makes workers more
productive and less likely to get sick. And tax credits offered
by an increasing number of cities and states don't hurt, either.
Now government agencies, schools, universities – and a
small but growing number of developers building from the private
sector–are opting for plant covered roofs, fume-free paint,
bamboo floors, solar power and natural lighting in an unusual
marriage of idealism and the bottom line.
New environmentally sensitive buildings run the gamut from the
Dallas police head-quarters to the Detroit Lions' training facility
to a condominium mid-rise on 5th Avenue in Manhattan.
"It pays to be environmentally sound," said Lucien Salvant,
spokesman for the National Association of Realtors, which is
building an office tower in Washington designed to use 30 percent
less energy and 20 percent less water.
The U.S. Green Building Council has nearly 3,500 members, up
from 300 three years ago. Developers are trying to get nearly
1,000 projects certified by the group–a green stamp of
approval.
In Maryland, the council has certified a handful of facilities,
and more than 25 others are registered to be reviewed once they're
finished. They include the former Stewart's depart-ment store
on Howard Street in Baltimore being remade into offices and
stores, and a pair offices buildings soon to rise on the east
side of Anne Arundel County.
The state has $25 million up for grabs through a new green building
tax credit as an incentive or those balking at the extra upfront
cost.
All told, this is the sort of green–the cash register kind
– to which people can relate. Consultants trying for years
to promote sustainable development say the sudden interest seems
like a sea change.
"I used to feel like I was shouting into the wind sometimes,
and now the wind's changed direction. It's carrying the message
out there," said Janet Harrison, an Annapolis architect who
now counts environmentally sensitive projects as 95 percent
of her business. "It really is a market transformation."
Tom Liebel, an associate with Design Collective Inc., a Baltimore
architecture, planning and interiors firm, said the company
has seen more green-construction commitments and interest in
the past six months than in the previous four or five years.
It's telling, he thinks, that some practitioners have dropped
the "green" and started calling these buildings "high performance".
You reframe the debate," Liebel said. "You are talking about
the economic importance of it as opposed to ecological importance,
and it got people's attention. If you are in a decision making
position, you frequently have responsibility for your budget,
and you can be answerable for that. Very few people have responsibility
for the environment as a definition of their work."
30% less
energy
A study
conducted for California's Sustainable Building Task Force, released
last month, found that an average so-called green building uses
30 percent less energy than a conventional counterpart. A strategy
as simple as more windows means facilities are less reliant on
artificial lighting, which in turn keeps the indoor air cooler
– which means less money spent on air conditioning. Builders
can buy windows made of high-tech glass that keeps heat from seeping
in or out.
The Heschong Mahone Group Inc., a California consulting firm conducting
separate studies on the impact of the indoor environment, analyzed
73 stores of a retailer in a new report and found higher sales
in the locations with significant amounts of daylight – a
profit worth at least 19 times more than the energy savings.
The firm also reported that workers in a Sacramento utility's
call center who had an excellent view through a window worked
up to 12 percent faster than those with no view.
Green features added about 2 percent to the cost of an average
building, according to the California task force report, but it
calculated that the features will pay for themselves more than
tenfold over the life of the facility. Some Maryland consultants
say the "green premium" can rise to 10 percent, though they think
prices will fall as contractors get comfortable with new ways
of building.
The Federal Energy Management Program notes that some environmentally
friendly components actually save money up front. No flush urinals
that use cartridges with chemical liquid instead of water cost
about $280 less apiece and help lower plumbing costs. Some features
are pricey but allow developers to cut back on mechanical equipment.
Positioning a building to take greater advantage of sunlight doesn't
have to cost a cent.
Plan carefully, and "the first cost of a sustainable building
can be the same as or lower than that of a traditional building,"
the federal agency said in an August report – The Business
Case for Sustainable Design in Federal Facilities.
Some agencies–including the U.S. General Services Administration,
the nation's largest public real estate organization–are
requiring sustainable design in all new buildings. Several promote
certification through the U.S. Green Building Council's 3-year-old
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system,
the commonly accepted measure of "green-ness" that lets builders
pick strategies such as using recycled materials and renewable
energy sources.
Such mandates have helped buildings in line for LEED certification
jump to 5 percent of new construction, up from 3 percent, in the
past year. That's more than 132 million square feet – seven
times the commercial space in Baltimore's central business district,
according to CoStar Group. A significant portion is for government
agencies.
"They're a real market motivator," said Kim Schaefer, principal
of TerraLogos Eco Architecture in Baltimore.
She thinks the federal influence will spill over to the private
sector. Associated Builders and Contractors, a national trade
group, also considers the commercial side a future growth industry
for green.
So far the increase has been modest. The cost-benefit research
is still new, and a reduced operating bill is not the strongest
incentive for a development company that won't own the building
it's putting up.
"You're asking a lot for people to take on new and uncertain risks
that might jeopardize their profit," said Michael Furbish, who
worked in commercial real-estate development in the late 1980s
and early 1990s and just launched a sustainable development firm
in Anne Arundel County. "I think the hesitancy is perfectly understandable."
Charles Segerman, director of green development for the Tower
Companies in Bethesda, said the firm charges about 50 cents more
a square foot in rent than do its conventional office competitors
to help cover the cost of adding features such as a system that
replaces all the indoor air with triple-filtered outdoor air every
hour.
'The
right thing to do'
He's
found that relatively new decision-makers understand why the premium
is worth it. "It hasn't been told to the public or the CEOs or
the real-estate brokers, and so the majority of folk out there
aren't buying it" said Segerman, whose company also develops green
residential communities. "We're doing it because we know it's
the right thing to do. If we had it our way, it would be code."
Peter Z. Garver, director of development services for Corporate
Office Properties Trust, thinks everyone will be building that
way in another decade. The Columbia REIT is making its first foray
into the field with two green offices at the National Business
Park near Fort Meade. Construction will start shortly for one,
and next spring for the other.
"We're doing green buildings from here on out," Garver said. "It's
a trend that has really accelerated in the last few years....
We think, long term, people are going to expect it because of
the productivity and operating efficiencies "
In Maryland, green projects run the gamut.
Harford Community College will renovate and expand two buildings
next year with such features as a high-efficiency heating and
cooling system, a rooftop garden and rainwater recycling. Officials
expect that the extra green costs will be paid back in operational
savings in seven years, and after that, "it's gravy," said Gregory
A. Deal, assistant vice president for campus operations.
The owners of the Black Olive restaurant in Fells Point are building
an inn behind it that will be full of energy-conserving features
– including a solar powered water heater calculated to produce
at least $100,000 in savings a year.
"Any other type of building is a liability, I believe," said Dimitris
Spiliadis, co-owner of the restaurant and inn.
One of the Inn's components is a geothermal heating and cooling
system, which uses the 55-degree temperature underground as a
starting point to heat air in the winter and cool it in the summer.
It's more expensive to install than a heat pump but as much as
50 percent cheaper to operate.
Chesapeake Geosystems Inc., a Baltimore-area company that dug
the wells for the Black Olive's system, started life as an all-purpose
environmental drilling company. But geothermal installation has
eclipsed nearly everything else."It's become almost 95 percent
of our business," said Mike Huber, president of Chesapeake Geosystems.
"In the last two to three years it's really become popular."
Stan Sersen, president of Architectural Support Group in Glen
Burnie, which does construction management and administration,
is about to renovate an old farmhouse in Jessup for his new offices
– and a showcase for green.
Every room will have natural lighting. Part of the roof will be
covered by a garden. Solar panels, a boiler powered by biodiesel
and under-the-floor coils filled with warm water will heat the
building. He's also planning to install composting toilets that
use a pint of water per flush instead of 11/2 gallons.
The
EnviroCenter
Sersen
has dubbed it the EnviroCenter and is talking with other environmentally
focused businesses about their moving in with him and making it
a green incubator of sorts.
He estimates the additional cost at less than 10 percent and expects
it will be paid back in four or five years with operating savings.
He wants the building to attract converts.
"I'm going to focus all of my energy now on going green, basically,
because it's the right thing to do," said Sersen, who said it
accounts for a quarter of his business. "We need to build smart,
live smarter and have less of an impact on the environment because
we're all starting to feel it."
Furbish, who's working on two green firehouse projects, hopes
his fledgling business will end up demonstrating that sustainable
development is also good for the developer.
"My heart's in this," he said. "It feels right."
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