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Greening Existing Buildings is a practical reference for building owners, developers, and facility managers.
This new GreenSource book explains how to transform existing buildings into more energy-efficient green buildings on conventional budgets. You can follow the process, step-by-step, through each phase of project design, construction, and operations.
Greening Existing Buildings features proven technologies and design methods, and shows you how to select and work with design and construction professionals in a cost-effective, mutually supportive way. The book highlights ten best practices for greening existing buildings, and includes 20 U.S. and international case studies of successful implementations. The hard costs associated with efficiency upgrades and materials choices are also discussed.
From the Preface
I've been writing books about green buildings, green homes, and green developments since 2005; each has focused mostly on new buildings, with the objective of helping building owners, architects, developers, contractors, engineers, and homebuilders to understand and implement the business case for green building.
Green building growth appears now to be self-perpetuating, expected to achieve nearly a 20 percent market share of the new nonresidential construction market in 2009. Now, the time has certainly come to focus on existing buildings, which after all represent the great majority of all buildings and which contribute approximately 20 percent of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.
Similar conclusions hold true for other developed economies: in Canada, western Europe, Japan, and other countries; existing buildings are where we must look to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to ensure more livable places for people to work, live, play, and learn.
A seminal event, the election of President Barack Obama and an overwhelming Democratic Congress in late 2008, makes it almost certain that greening existing buildings will move up much higher on the scale, of national priorities. Over the next four years, the United States, the world's largest economy and second largest generator of greenhouse gas emissions (after China), will begin to tackle seriously the challenge of human-caused global warming and attendant issues of ameliorating rapid climate change. There is no way to do this without addressing the energy use of existing buildings.
In many ways, the challenges of greening existing buildings are far greater than greening new buildings; we are not starting with a blank slate, as with new buildings, but with an existing edifice and set of operating practices. In many situations, it's not easy or cheap to change the building envelope, it may not be economical to change out the HVAC, equipment, and a significant percentage of the building's energy use is already determined by scale, mass, and orientation.
Nevertheless, as this book demonstrates, there is still a lot we can do. On very large buildings, as you'll see with New York's iconic Empire State Building, it may even pay to replace all the windows. On many properties, the greatest savings will come from dozens of measures, individually humdrum, but collectively significant.
Beyond savings in energy, water, and waste management expenses, the real gains in greening existing buildings lie in the seemingly "soft" benefits: improvements in health, comfort, and productivity of building occupants; enhanced marketing and public relations; risk mitigation, improved recruitment and retention, and greater employee morale. As building owners look to make a business case for greening an existing building, whether a single-tenant or multitenant building, these other benefits constitute a strong part of the justification.
How should a building owner, building manager, or facility manager go about greening existing buildings? This book focuses mostly on using established green building rating systems, especially the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED for Existing Buildings (LEED-EB), but includes consideration of newer evaluation schemes for existing buildings from the U.K.'s Building Research Establishment's BREEAM rating system and the Green Building Council of Australia's Green Star program.
In this book I have chosen to emphasize use of the USGBC s LEED-EB rating system for three reasons. First, it is the longest established and most widely used of the existing building rating systems, having first appeared in a pilot program in 2002. Second, it offers a full range of options for greening existing buildings, measures duplicated in other rating systems so that by examining projects using the LEED system, you will understand how to use the other rating systems in countries where they are more widely used. Third, LEED-EB is the fastest growing of all LEED rating systems since 2007 indicating a growing market acceptance of the system.
Having decided to focus on LEED-EB I then decided to focus primarily on completed projects that have received the highest ratings in that system the Gold or Platinum designations. Interestingly, most of the completed projects are by private owners, corporate-owned and operated properties, commercial buildings owned by smaller local enterprises, and commercial buildings managed by large national and international firms. That private owners are willing to incur the costs of upgrading their properties to the highest standards, alone speaks volumes about the benefits of greening existing buildings.
I have not neglected the universities with strong commitments to greening their campuses or the government agencies, federal, state and local, with similar commitments and achievements. After all, collectively, government activity represents more than one-third of the total U.S. economy; moreover, government agencies, colleges, and universities expect to own and operate their properties for decades (if not centuries) to come.
The most significant "father" of the LEED EB program and its longtime champion, is Paul von Paumgartten, Director of Energy and Environmental Affairs for Johnson Controls, Inc. I recall a dinner meeting with Paul (or PvP, as he is widely known in green building circles) in Los Angeles in 1999, when he advocated passionately that the LEED rating system for new construction, then still early in its first pilot evaluation stage, should be expanded to include existing buildings. I asked this tireless (and very effective) advocate for upgrading the existing building stock to write the foreword for this book.
Greening Existing Buildings shows the way for anyone involved with building ownership and operations to upgrade the energy and environmental performance of almost any building. In the book, I focus on lessons learned in actual projects, profile more than 25 LEED for Existing Buildings certified projects and use interviews with more than 35 industry experts and building management practitioners. It's my fervent hope that you will take this information and put it to use in your own buildings, facilities, factories, hotels, hospitals, high-rise residences, schools, and campuses.
As a country, and as a world, we need to get moving quickly to dramatically reduce carbon emissions from the existing building stock. By profiling the large number of successful projects, by demonstrating the business case, and by showcasing the wide range of specific strategies for greening existing buildings, I hope to motivate you, the reader, to begin taking action now in your own spheres of influence.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: The Sustainability Revolution. Chapter 2: The Challenge of Greenining Existing Buildings. Chapter 3: Markets for Greening Existing Buildings. Chapter 4: Understanding Green Buildings and Rating Systems. Chapter 5: The Business Case for Greening Existing Buildings. Chapter 6: Costs of Greening Existing Buildings. Chapter 7: Meeting the Energy Retrofit Challenge. Chapter 8: Greening Site Management and Reducing Water Use. Chapter 9: Greening the Inside of the Building. Chapter 10: LEED Certification Challenges and Approaches. Chapter 11: Lessons Learned - Ten Best Practices for Greening Existing Buildings. Chapter 12: Greening the Future. Chapter 13: Project Profiles (Success Stories). Appendices (Certified LEED-EB Projects (All Versions); Energy Star and the EU's Energy Performance in Building Directive; Interviewees; Rating System for Green Existing Buildings; Resources for Further Information). Index.
About the Author
Jerry Yudelson PE MS MBA LEED AP is the Principal of Yudelson Associates, a green building and sustainable planning consultancy based in Tucson, Arizona. He holds engineering degrees from the California Institute of Technology and Harvard University, as well as an MBA (with highest honors) from the University of Oregon, and he is a licensed professional engineer (Oregon). Mr. Yudelson has spent his professional career engaged with energy and environmental issues, and has been involved on a daily basis with the design, construction, and operation of residential and commercial green buildings. He works for architects, engineers, developers, builders, and manufacturers to develop sustainable design solutions. His work on design projects involves early-stage consultation, eco-charrette facilitation, and providing LEED expertise and coaching for design teams. He works with developers and building teams to create effective programs for large-scale green projects, as well as with product manufacturers to guide them toward sustainable product marketing and investment opportunities. In addition to this general business and professional background, Mr. Yudelson served for 8 years as a LEED national faculty member for the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). Since 2001, he has trained more than 3500 building industry professionals in the LEED rating system. He has served on the USGBC's national board of directors and, since 2004, he has chaired the steering committee for the USGBC's annual conference, GreenBuild - the largest green building conference in the country. He is the author of Green Building through Integrated Design; Green Building Trends: Europe; Sustainable Retail Development: New Success Strategies; Green Building A to Z: Understanding the Language of Green Building; The Green Building Revolution; Choosing Green: The Homebuyer's Guide to Good Green Homes; and Marketing Green Building Services: Strategies for Success.
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