Central California Green Builder

Home

The official newsletter of the U.S. Green Building Council - Central California Chapter

Inside the June 2007 issue:

  • Message from the President
  • Membership Update
  • LEED for Retail– New Construction Public Comment Period Now Open
  • UC Merced earns gold star for 'green' building efforts
  • USGBC Final Report: PVC an Unhealthy Building Material
  • InPro's Vinyl Recycling Program celebrates five years
  • Valley Press Clips

Want to submit an article for the Green Builder? jhofer [at] pesc [dot] com (Click Here).

The Green Building movement is alive and flourishing in the Central Valley. It seems you can’t pick up a newspaper without reading something about the positive influence of sustainability in the built environment. This was further validated by the success of our “Chapter Celebration” in early May at the Downing Planetarium. The turnout exceeded all expectations and was standing room only. It was a great opportunity for the members, and non-members, to socialize and celebrate a great achievement as well as explain why the Central California Chapter is so important.

The response from the event has been tremendous and many THANKS go out to people that put the event together. I would like to personally thank Tom and Cynthia Downing for the donation of the facility, Councilman Henry T. Perea for his words and continued support and our Executive Director Jeremy Hofer for pulling everything together. This was another huge step in our efforts to promote our thriving Chapter.

We look forward to seeing you at our June 6th event that will cover Green Lighting Initiatives and will be held in the showroom of Contract Interiors, formerly California Business Furnishings. We will not have a meeting in July due to summer and vacation schedules. The August event will be held at Fresno’s first LEED Certified building, Unitarian Universalist Church and will be an event you won’t want to miss.

As always, we appreciate the support and continue to be committed to Green Building in Central California.

Best Regards,

Jerrod M. Jensen

The USGBC – Central California Chapter is actively seeking new members. Currently, membership in our local chapter is free with the submission of our membership form. This will change in the next few years when we move from provisional to regular chapter status. We are an open organization and invite anyone who is interested in networking with green professionals in the area to create more efficient buildings that provide a better atmosphere to work, live and play in.

If you have not filled out our new membership form in the last few months, then you are not currently considered a member of our provisional chapter. Download our membership form and email back to us.

In the coming months, it is our intent to have a membership directory that will list members by name, company and industry. It is our hope that this will be a resource for anyone in the local area looking for “Green” products and services. We will only be listing USGBC-CC members so please take the time to fill out the application and email back to us to be included in the first USGBC Central California Green Builders Directory!

If you have any questions feel free to contact me directly.

Regards,

TJ Bell
Membership Chair
USGBC – Central California Chapter
559-271-4625 x1108

USGBC invites the public to comment on the draft LEED for Retail – New Construction rating system, which has recently completed pilot testing. LEED for Retail was developed to meet the unique needs of retail design and construction projects, including lighting, sites, security, energy and water concerns

Any member of the public can comment on the draft rating system. The public comment period will be open for 45 days, starting Monday, May 14, 2007 and continuing through Wednesday, June 27, 2007 midnight Pacific Standard Time. USGBC will respond to all comments, and post the comments and responses (without commenter names or organizations) to the USGBC Web site. If changes are made to the draft, a second public comment period will be conducted on those changes. The resulting draft will then be sent to the USGBC membership for balloting.

Visit the public comment page for more information and to participate. (Note that a site user profile is required to submit comments. If you have not already created a profile on the USGBC Web site, you will be prompted to create one on the log in page.) Please contact leedinfo [at] usgbc [dot] org with any questions. USGBC invites the public to comment on the draft LEED for Retail – New Construction rating system, which has recently completed pilot testing. LEED for Retail was developed to meet the unique needs of retail design and construction projects, including lighting, sites, security, energy and water concerns.

For more information:
LEED Development and Balloting Process
LEED for Retail

Modesto Bee—March 15, 2007 By Michelle Hatfield

MERCED — The University of California at Merced is trying to set the standard when it comes to environmentally friendly buildings.

UC Merced's central plant earned a gold certification under the category of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, a prestigious distinction sought by many universities and companies across the nation.

The central plant is composed of three buildings — a three-story facility that includes most of the campus's power operations, a telecommunications building and a 2-million gallon water-storage tank.

The LEED certification is handed out by the U.S. Green Building Council.

In each of four categories, the 10-campus UC system strives for at least a silver on all new construction. UC Merced's gold is one tier above silver.
"We want to be a model. We're trying to figure out how to set the standard without having to drain natural re-sources," said Mark Maxwell, LEED coordinator at UC Merced.

The only other UC building to get a ranking above silver is at the University of California at Santa Barbara. Bren Hall earned the top ranking of platinum in 2002. The building is the lab for UC Santa Barbara's School of Environmental Science and Management.

The idea of making sustainable buildings a priority has garnered a lot of interest among UC Merced students, who have established a green club, Maxwell said.
"It's a big movement. It's a big concern for future generations. We want to keep the planet alive as long as possible," Maxwell said.

The central plant was recognized for its efficient energy management, water-use reduction, recycling, waste management, lighting and landscaping.
The complex earned marks for using recycled materials. For instance, the building's ceiling tiles are 77 percent recycled newspapers and phone books. A third of the carpet material comes from recycled soda bottles and 30percent of the insulation is made of recycled glass, Maxwell said.
UC Merced also uses its water tank to cut energy costs. The water in its tank gets chilled at night when electricity demand is lowest, and then is circulated through campus buildings during the day. The system helps UC Merced beat state energy-conservation guidelines by 12 percent to 14 percent, said Maxwell.
The campus's ongoing construction also is environmentally minded.

"We divert a lot of construction waste from landfills," Maxwell said. "Seventy-five percent of all construction debris gets diverted."
Metals and wallboard are recycled and wood is sent to a chipper.

Maxwell is submitting LEED applications for UC Merced's library, science hall, classroom building and dorms.
While building for environmental sustainability can increase upfront costs, long-term energy savings usually cover the extra startup expense.
"It can get costly, but it can save money in the long run," Maxwell said.

For more information on UC Merced's environmental sustainability efforts, visit www.ucmerced.edu/about_ucmerced.

Washington, DC. The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), the nation’s largest green building organization, yesterday released its long-awaited assessment of the health and environmental impacts of polyvinyl chloride plastic (PVC) building materials.

The report makes clear that PVC, also commonly known as vinyl, is not a healthy building material. A proper accounting of the human health impacts of PVC across its lifecycle, including disposal issues and occupational exposure, finds that PVC leads to the release of dangerous quantities of dioxin and other carcinogens. The report authors found that, “When we add end of life with accidental landfill fires and backyard burning, the additional risk of dioxin emissions puts PVC consistently among the worst materials for human health impacts…”

The report concludes the work of the USGBC’s Technical and Scientific Advisory Committee (TSAC), which conducted the PVC analysis in order to inform the USGBC's LEED Steering Committee on a PVC-related credit within the LEED® Green Building Rating System™.

Citing data uncertainties and mixed environmental performance of some of the alternatives studied, the report did not recommend a specific credit on PVC. Instead the TSAC recommended issue-based credits, specifically suggesting “comprehensive approaches to issues such as bioaccumulative pollutants” and incentives for continuous improvement of materials. It suggested areas for further research and acknowledged the Precautionary Principle as a fundamental principle for the USGBC in guiding decisions based on their findings. The report will now go to the LEED Steering Committee to determine next steps.

”This report affirms concerns that the environmental health community has long held about PVC that are already driving substantial market shifts,” said Tom Lent, Policy Director for the Healthy Building Network. “The report makes important contributions to materials analysis with its accounting of human health and end-of-life impacts of building materials. We are confident that an appropriate application of the Precautionary Principle to this body of work can help the USGBC produce sound policies and practices to encourage the development of healthier materials.”

For more information:
The “Assessment of the Technical Basis for a PVC Related Materials Credit for LEED” dated February 2007 can be found on the USGBC’s web site at:
http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=1633 The human health impacts quote is from the Summary of Findings section of the main report on p. 88, line 24.

To learn more about PVC, dioxin and other chemicals of concern in building materials and for reports and discussion of emerging events as the USGBC process for addressing them moves forward, visit the Healthy Building Network and Pharos Project websites at www.healthybuilding.net and www.pharosproject.net

Article courtesy of Jon R. Dougal, www.greenbuildingnews.com

Returning approved materials means credits toward purchase, and LEEDR MR credit.

MILWAUKEE - In April 2002, InPro introduced the industry's first vinyl recycling program. While the company is proud of the pioneering drive it's shown in sustainability, there have been only a handful of customers who have taken advantage of its recycling program.

InPro's Vinyl Recycling Program (VRP) offers generous credits to building owners and contractors who return items like old vinyl handrails, wall guards and other interior protection products - if the old products are from InPro, the sender receives a 25 percent credit of the original purchase price off new InPro product; if the returned PVC is from a competitor, they receive a 10 percent credit toward new InPro materials.

Just as it does with all its PVC scrap, InPro regrinds the old vinyl and either remolds it into new InPro products, or brokers it to other plastics manufacturers. The key is that no PVC is ever sent to a landfill. Better still, recycling old PVC may qualify the project for USGBC LEEDR for New Construction credits under MR 2.1 and 2.2, which encourage diverting construction waste from disposal.

"We think our vinyl recycling program is unique and clearly shows we do our part to keep PVC out of the landfill," said Larry Dronek, InPro's vice president of marketing. "We wish more contractors; facility managers and building owners would take advantage of the available financial incentives we offer as well as the available LEEDR credits for recycling old vinyl."

To receive a free copy of InPro's Vinyl Recycling Program kit, call 877-780-0034 or e-mail service [at] inprocorp [dot] com For more information on InPro Corporation, visit www.inprocorp.com.

Article courtesy of Jon R. Dougal, www.greenbuildingnews.com

Platinum Sponsors

 

Gold Sponsors

and Loren Aiton

 

Silver Sponsors

© U.S. Green Building Council - Central California Chapter | Website Developed by PESC
Privacy & Security Notice | Refund Policy
...