Green Products: Trends & Innovations  

As far as sustainable building is concerned, the future is now.

Solar-powered water faucets and flushless toilets, ultra-clear glass, sun-tracking window-shading systems controlled from your desktop computer, elevators that generate electricity on their downward run, shoelace-like carbon reinforcing fiber seven times stronger than steel, and just around the corner−zero net energy skyscrapers.

These are but a few examples of the new technologies driven by a snowballing green building movement. Traditional products, like zinc and copper roofing and cladding materials, have been given a "green" cast, and are undergoing a revival. Sustainable forestry, like "green" energy, is attracting disciples.

The Solaire Building is a LEED Gold residential high-rise in Battery Park, New York.

Every year, as much as 45 percent of the U.S. energy output is consumed by buildings; lighting, alone, accounts for roughly 20 percent of U.S. electrical consumption. It has been estimated that, if we could reduce overall electrical use for lighting by half, we could save more than $20 billion annually and decrease power plant emissions by millions of tons.

The Holy Grail of sustainable building is a structure that consumes nothing.

"Zero net energy buildings−that's the old Holy Grail," says Rick Fedrizzi, U.S. Green Building Council president and CEO. "Now, the idea is to create buildings that produce MORE energy than they consume. In the not-too-distant future we will see ‘restorative' buildings, which not only produce more energy than they consume, but clean air and water and make a positive contribution."

"A lot of what we are seeing today is stuff I was taught in school in the 70's, then, Post-Modernism got in the way. We got caught up in fashion. Now we are getting back to basics." says Gary Graziano, AIA, vice president of marketing for Denver, Pa.-based High Concrete Group, part of a four-member consortium of pre-cast concrete contractors now working with a carbon fiber reinforcing system that reduces the weight and improves the insulating capacity of precast structures.

Just as the "green" building movement has pushed designers to consider new strategies, it has pushed manufacturers to reconsider and refine the way their products work and, more importantly, how they interrelate with other building systems.

The Origins of Sustainable Development

The roots of the "green" movement can be said to have been planted in 1980 when the International Union for the Conservation of Nature produced a World Conservation Strategy (WCS), which not only attempted to ensure that the development agenda informed the environmental agenda, but also attempted the reverse, and drew attention to the need for development efforts to be based upon a respect for ecological processes. After the WCS, the concept appeared in 1981 in the book Building a Sustainable Society, by Lester R. Brown of the Worldwatch Institute and in Norman Myers' Gaia: An Atlas of Planet Management in 1984.

In 1992, at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), in Rio de Janeiro, which became known as the Earth Summit, two of the foremost scientific institutions in the world, the U.K. Royal Society and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, produced their first-ever joint communique which arrived at the conclusion that not only was our development process "unsustainable," but that "the future of our planet is in the balance."

The U.S. National Energy Policy Act also was signed into law in 1992, and a year later the World Congress of Architects meeting in Chicago under the umbrella of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the International Union of Architects, framed a Declaration of Interdependence for a Sustainable Future.

Its conclusions: that building materials should have a benign environmental impact, that buildings should be minimal consumers of energy and other resources throughout their life cycle, should have healthy and pleasing internal environments, foster community, be arranged with accessible green spaces in urban areas, and that they should enable a kind of transport infrastructure to be developed around them in a way that would discourage use of the automobile.

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) also started-up in 1993. It took a decade−and an alarming rise in energy costs− for the organization to reach critical mass. But in the past four years, the USGBC has grown from 600 members to more than 6,000, drawn 25,000 architects to take the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) accreditation exam and, by the end of 2004, was growing at a rate of 150 new members per month.

A crush of new building owners embraces green building as a means of differentiating their project, ensuring the well-being of occupants and achieving dramatic energy savings.

A peek inside the project, from a vendor's perspective, will help us appreciate the extent to which "green" considerations have become pervasive in today's marketplace. Nearly every project today, whether LEED-certified, or not, embodies green principles, and nearly every vendor has a green package.

Manufacturers Can "Green" Your Project

The USGBC certifies "green" buildings, but not "green" products. That role falls to certification organizations like Greenguard, Green Seal, Scientific Certification Systems and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

ISO certification ensures that facilities have a published environmental policy, a system of operational procedures in place to protect the environment, measurable environmental goals and trained personnel to carry out an "environmental management plan."

Sun control curtain wall, concealed vents and storefront at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy. Courtesy VistaWall.

"We believe ISO 14001 certification is critical," says Graeme A. Hendry, product development manager and environmental specialist for the commercial division of Tarkett.

"The market is changing dramatically today," Hendry says. "There is more awareness today among architects and designers with regard to environmental issues, but not everybody is on the same page as far as what is a sustainable product."

It has been a decade, Hendry says, since European manufacturers began changing processes to reduce environmental impacts and sought environmental audits to ensure that environmental controls were in place. That movement, he says, has been slow to come to the U.S.

"A problem for architects and designers in this country," Hendry says" is finding products with real (green) benefits, as opposed to what you could call ‘greenwash,' marketing jargon that sounds ‘green,' but may be a different color entirely.

"I think manufacturers will, before long, have to produce life-cycle analyses of products, from manufacturer to disposal," Hendry says. "Until that happens, architects, themselves, must ask harder questions when it comes to specifying ‘green' products."

He says it is responsible to specify wood-based products certified in accordance with the Forest Stewardship Council, vinyl and linoleum products with the highest possible recycled content, and materials that have undergone V.O.C.-testing and been found to be low-emitting.

High-strength Carbon eliminates weight

An innovative precast concrete technology with roots in aerospace design replaces conventional reinforcement with a shoelace-like, non-corrosive, high-strength carbon fiber grid that allows thinner precast sections, can reduce the weight of architectural and structural components by up to 66 percent while offering significantly improved corrosion resistance, durability and insulation value.

Developed by an Anderson, S.C.-based structural grid manufacturer, and marketed since early last year by a consortium of northeast precast concrete manufacturers, the new carbon pre-cast products use a resin-bonded fiber grid for secondary reinforcing and shear transfer, have superior tensile properties compared to steel and require only 1/4 inches of concrete cover to be effective compared with 3/4 inches to 3 inches for steel reinforcing.

A carbon-fiber version of a 30-foot-long, six-foot high architectural panel weighs less than three tons, about a third the weight of a similar-size precast panel. "Its reduced weight allows you to both transport and install larger sections than is possible with conventional precast panels, reducing the number of connections and driving down the weight of the superstructure," says High Concrete's Graziano, secretary of a consortium that includes Oldcastle Precast, Cretex Companies and Metromont Prestress Company.

Lower-weight, thinner carbon-based reinforced sections will not rust, surfaces will not stain or spall, and, because the carbon fiber mesh is thermally non-conductive, sandwich wall panels deliver 100% of the R-value of the insulation used between the outer and inner wythes of a wall panel.

At the same time, improved insulating properties of the new panels lead to more energy-efficient buildings with lower operating costs, making them a suitable choice for environmentally friendly designs and LEED certification, Graziano says. It also controls shrinkage cracks up to 50 percent better than steel mesh in panels and tees, and creates a 100 percent structurally composite section between the outer and inner wythes of insulated wall panels.

"You can make any shape with this material that you can make with precast," Graziano says, "bullnoses, several panes of depth within a panel. You can make a panel that looks 12 inches thick, when in reality it's 1 1/2 inches. Silica flume flyash and slag replace cement in production, reducing cement content to about 10 percent of the overall product."

Copper lasts for Centuries

If LEED has a shortcoming, says David Hunt, manager of architectural services for Rome, N.Y.-based Revere Copper Products, Inc., it is that there is no recognition of durability or product life-cycles.

Taking those factors into account would give long-lasting, wholly recyclable products a ratings boost.

"Copper roofing and cladding products, properly designed and installed, will last centuries," says Hunt. "And at the end of its useful life, it will find its way back into use, and will be used over, and over, and over, again."

Copper roofing at Tryg's Restaurant in Minneapolis, MN. Courtesy Revere Copper Products.

"It's not too far-fetched," he says "to consider that the copper in use today in somebody's roof may once have been carried as a shield by a Roman legionnaire."

Somerville, Mass.-based Charles Rose Architects Inc. incorporated copper roofing in his design of the Carl and Ruth Shapiro Campus Center at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass. San Francisco-based C. David Robinson Architects turned to copper cladding for the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center in Santa Rosa, Calif.

"Architectural copper, made in the U.S., is 90-95 percent recycled material," says Hunt. New processes, he says, have changed the look of copper. "Patinated" copper products, for example, offer designers a look of naturally aged copper, out-of-the-box.

Eliminating Volatile Organic Compounds

The release of the USGBC draft report Assessment of Technical Basis for a PVC-Related Materials Credit in LEED, and the council's refusal to take action on the PVC issue has created a tumult among its membership.

In its most recent newsletter, the Healthy Building Network (HBN), a national network of green building professionals, environmental and health activists, castigated the council for its failure to ban building products with that contain polyvinylchloride, which, when burned, is a source of dioxins.

"PVC wasn't on the radar screen until LEED began its assessment," says Howard Williams, General Manager of the Cranford, N.J.-based C/S Group of Companies, formerly Construction Specialties Inc. "We recognized the problems associated with PVC in 1964. Our customers (the list includes Kaiser Permanente and other hospitals, Williams says) have told us they don't want it, and we will not debate that."

PVC-free interior wall protection. Courtesy C/S Group.

A growing number of manufacturers are moving away from PVC-based and V.O.C. (volatile organic compounds)-emitting materials. Some of the changes are driven by LEED, others by heightened owner awareness that "healthy" buildings make economic sense.

Williams says the C/S Group abides by what he terms "The Precautionary Principle: if you have any doubt about a product, don't use it."

Wallcoverings, handrails, crashrails and corner guards, manufactured from harvested bamboo and FSC-certified wood, are PVC-free, and come with waterborne, V.O.C.-free finishes.

These products are now powder-coated, in an electrostatic process that eliminates the troublesome odor commonly associated with new paint.

"LEED rewards environmentally friendly materials with low-emitting paints and coatings," Williams says. "We search the world for better products."

Much of what LEED mandates today, C/S learned long ago, Williams says−that the benefits of sun controls reduce heat and glare, lowering a building's overall energy costs and increasing worker productivity; that permanent 12 to 18-foot mats at high-traffic building entrances can stop 98 percent of dirt from entering and reduce cleaning by up to 50 percent.

"Architects are probably saying to themselves today ‘Product manufacturers are finally starting to get it,' " he says.

Zinc Sustains Life

Zinc as a building material is relatively new to North America. It has been used for centuries in Europe. In fact, today 85 percent of all roofs in Paris utilize zinc.

Its durability, flexibility and malleability make zinc a great material to enhance the architectural pallette. Although relatively foreign to the U.S., it is being used today in a growing number of specialty projects in which designers are looking for striking effects.

Zinc sunshade at the University of Cincinnati. Gwathmey Siegel Architects/GBBN Architects. Courtesy Umicore.

The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, is partly clad in zinc. The renovated Herman Miller executive building, in Zeeland, Mich., a Gold-rated LEED project, and an AIA Top Ten Green Project for 2004, is clad in flatlock zinc panels.

Zinc is an environmentally friendly metal and has a unique allure that makes you want to reach out and touch it.

"Other products use a coating or paint to achieve what is natural to zinc−a rich, warm, gray color," says Norbert Schneider, president of U.S. operations for Belgian-based Umicore Group.

Zinc has a long history in building and is incredibly long-lasting. In all but coastal environments, zinc roofs may be expected to last for up to 100 years. It is this aspect of zinc that has led to the material's recent popularity with "green" builders.

It is an element essential for life and most organisms show a very high tolerance to zinc. Rainwater from zinc roofs can be used directly to water plants with no ill effects.

Its high metal content makes it practically 100 percent recyclable.

At Herman Miller, designers at Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Integrated Architecture worked closely with the owner to deliver a zinc-clad facility "that lives up to Class A standards without the marble and other high-end finishes typical of Class A buildings," says Michael C. Corby, executive vice president and design principal. "We basically tried to redefine, to some degree, what are considered luxuries in the office building environment. We placed a high value on natural light. We placed a high value on healthy finishes. We achieved an energy performance level which is about 45- to 50-percent higher than ASHRAE 90.1, which is the minimum that LEED sets as a prerequisite. That is a fairly extreme target to shoot for," Corby says.

Linoleum's durability and easy maintenance makes it a smart choice for classrooms and day care centers. Courtesy Tarkett.

"Zinc is malleable and flexible, and answers virtually every architectural demand," Schneider says.

"Its warm, gray coloring is natural and will not wear off, stain or discolor surrounding materials such as painted woodwork, light colored masonry, stucco, or brick.

"It is an excellent choice from both aesthetic and engineering perspectives, and is also a sound business decision. Because it is exceptionally durable and corrosion resistant, it offers life-spans that can be achieved with few other building materials. It is low-maintenance, and our production plants operate under quality management system certified according to ISO 9001.

A few precautions must be taken when working with zinc: it is important to remember you are dealing with a natural material and slight variations in color are common and expected.

In general, try to obtain a single batch of material since slight differences during production can alter the color slightly. If it is not possible to cover the entire building from one batch, make your installer aware of color variations so they may ensure that adjacent areas are taken from the same batch.

Even within a single batch there may be slight color differences. Installers should be aware that laying zinc is like laying hardwood floors.

Over time, color differential will be minimized by the continuous formation of a protective patina that causes a self-healing, "smoothing effect."

Certain heating emissions can also affect coloration. Sulphur from wood-burning stoves, for instance, may cause zinc around a chimney to take on a slightly yellowish color.

When applying zinc to a wooden substrate, care must be exercised in the type of woods used. Avoid woods with a pH less than five. They can have a corrosive effect on zinc in the presence of humidity.

Plywood as a direct support must also be avoided. It can be composed of acidic wood species or may contain tanins or phenolic glues that will aggravate the risk of corrosion on the underside of the zinc.

In general, zinc is most vulnerable from its underside. To prevent corrosion, a well-ventilated airspace is required, along with a protective barrier to separate it from incompatible supports.

An interesting aspect of green building is application of new technology and the subsequent revival of long-overlooked materials. Roofing can be produced from a number of products, including block tin, ingot copper, antimony, sheet zinc, sheet iron and tin-plated carbon steel, a widely-used sheet metal roofing product.

In the 1990s, metallurgical research and field testing was done to develop an alloy with extremely high corrosion resistance.

The result is a zinc/tin roofing material which is oxygen-reactive and which surpassed 5,164 hours of salt spray-testing with no visible rust.

A formulated combination of zinc and tin makes new tin roofs long-lasting and gives them unique visual characteristics. Alloy roofs are naturally reflective. New, high-tech coatings make alloy roofs even more resistant to ultraviolet radiation.

Coated, or uncoated, alloy roofs are designed to weather naturally to a gray patina and can withstand even severe corrosive conditions in industrial, coastal and salt-water environments, Thomas says.

Sustainable roof designs can range from a traditional standing seam roof to a vertical wall, barrel applications, shingles or customized sections in flat or spherical shapes.

A Good Hard Look at Wood Building materials don't get any greener than wood, the only building material that is renewable, recyclable and produced entirely by solar energy. Its performance in building projects has long established wood as a practical, affordable and efficient material, especially in home construction. Courtesy Sustainable Forest The growing emphasis on sustainable construction is spawning a wide range of co-conscious innovations in wood, from forestry and manufacturing practices to building design and new product development. Naturally, Jim Snetsinger, is an advocate for wood, particularly for sustainable forestry practices that promote diversity. As chief forester for the Province of British Columbia, he is responsible for setting the annual harvest of 223 million acres in western Canada, an area twice the size of California. "We are trying, here in B.C., to manage natural landscapes, and to keep those landscaped as diverse as possible," Snetsinger says. "Diverse forests are more resilient, more disease-resistant and support wildlife in ways that plantations cannot. We replant with trees native to the area and discourage mono-culture planting. Nor do we genetically modify our planting. We do collect the best seeds we can find so that we reforest with parent material that has the best chance of growing fastest and tallest." Specifiers today have many "green" options: formaldehyde-free composite wood panels, arsenic-free pressure-treated lumber, engineered products with high-recycled content. Medium density fiberboard (MDF) is manufactured from waste sawdust and is fabricated without formaldehyde. Oriented strand board (OSB) is made from relatively low-cost timber species that are fast-growing and non-controversial. Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL) is an engineered wood product manufactured with waterproof adhesives to pressure-bond wood veneers with grains running parallel to the long dimension of the lumber. LVL's demonstrate a greater ability than dimensional wood in long spans. They carry greater loads and do not shrink or deform, like dimensional lumber. For example, says Snetsinger, the University of Northern British Columbia, which utilizes Laminated Veneer Lumber long spans "has done a remarkable job of building with wood" and has achieved designs in which glue-lam beams substitute for what in the U.S. typically would be steel or concrete beams.

Owners build green to differentiate projects

The redevelopment of the former Atlantic Steel Mill at the intersection of Interstates 75 and 85 in midtown Atlanta, once a federal hazardous waste site, is viewed as one of the most significant developments in the city's history.

Development is billed as a "live-work-and-play" destination, a place that, unless you want to go to a ballgame, you never have to leave.

Zinc/tin roof, painted with solar reflective coatings. Courtesy Follansbee.

In October, at the National Brownfields Conference in St. Louis, Mo., Atlantic Station, ultimately projected to include 12 million square feet of retail, office, residential and hotel space and 11 acres of public parks, was named the best brownfield redevelopment project in the country.

Atlanta-based Jacoby Development, Inc., Atlantic Station's developer, is now seeking LEED certification.

Elevators Can Be Green

Early in project development, officials of Thyssenkrupp Elevator Corporation, the firm that built Europe's fastest elevator in the DaimlerChrysler building in Berlin and Europe's longest escalator in Prague's metro system, wrote to James Jacoby with the promise of a system that could save nearly half the energy cost of a conventional hydraulic system.

Cars would be double-tracked and run on newly developed kevlar cables, over plastic, or composite, sheaves, making them lighter and more efficient than steel systems. Cabs would be high-tech as well as high-style. Walls and ceilings would be constructed from high-strength, commercial aircraft-grade honeycombing to reduce weight.

A smaller machine would mean the system could be installed in either the pit or hoistway, eliminating the need for a machine room.

The system would include a "regenerative," variable-speed drive with the ability to turn the mechanical energy required to brake a DC brushed motor back into electrical energy, energy that otherwise would be wasted; and an energy optimization system that would constantly monitor elevator loads and run up to 30 percent faster using surplus horsepower−moving more people for less money.

Its 10K drive system, Thyssenkrupp calculated, could mean cost savings over a 25-year period of more than $257,000. The pitch won Thyssenkrupp the job, says Tim Isbell, Thyssenkrupp's U.S. national sales manager. "We are seeing more and more projects seeking LEED certification," he says, "and we look to contribute."

Hydraulic systems use biodegradable vegetable oil, the bulk of its cold, rolled steel is from recycled material. Emphasis on smaller elevator cores can save 300 tons of concrete over conventional cores.

"Regenerative drives can actually run the customer's electric meter backwards," says Wayne Valencia, the firm's West region president.

Replenished Materials Green NRDC

The Southern California office of the Natural Resource Defense Council, in Santa Monica, is which opened in 2004, remains the showcase for the latest in sustainable design. It is a Platinum building, the highest of the LEED ratings, one of only six to date in the U.S.

"The N.R.D.C. was a curious as we were to find out exactly what was achievable in terms of sustainability in architecture," says Elizabeth Moule, a principal with Pasadena-based Moule & Polyzoides, the lead architect for the project.

Moule set out to design a building that would use up to 75 percent less energy than a typical commercial building of the same size and consume in both its construction and its operation, only renewable resources. Flooring is made of replenished bamboo and poplar. Floor mats and tiles are from recycled rubber; countertops from recycled glass. Wood is from managed forests.

The roof is partly covered by photovoltaic solar panels that provide about one-fifth of the building's electricity.

Light wells and clerestories bring daylight into first floor offices, reducing the need for artificial lighting, and natural ventilation and operable windows meet most of the cooling and fresh air needs. Energy use is reduced through energy-efficient computers and equipment, dimmable electronic ballasts, occupancy sensors and lighting geared to specific tasks. Moule specified energy-efficient low-mercury lamps to reduce mercury emissions.

When air-conditioning is needed, a high-efficiency system uses displacement ventilation to focus cool air where it is needed. Toilets in the building use water recovered from showers, sinks and rainfall, and are dual-flush systems, permitting a half-flush of about 0.6 gallons or a full flush of 1.2 gallons.

"Every single drop of water that falls on this building is captured and harvested," says Moule.

For the rest of its energy needs, the N.R.D.C. buys renewable energy generation credits (wind certificates).

As a result, 100 percent of its energy is provided by renewable sources.

As efficient as it is, the N.R.D.C model already is being challenged.

Controlling Natural Light

A "green" building on the other coast, the Genzyme Center in Cambridge, Mass., was designed by Behnisch, Behnisch & Architects, Stuttgart, Germany, to be one of the most environmentally responsible office buildings ever built in the United States.

At Genzyme, all the interior lighting participants−those involved with active solar controls, interior lighting and lighting control−met very early in the project and continued to meet as a team, says Tom Myers, senior sales manager for corporate accounts for Coopersburg, Pa.-based Lutron Electronics, Inc., a manufacturer of lighting and shading controls and systems.

Genzyme project. Cambridge, MA Photo by Peter Vanderwalker

From the time its 350,000 square foot, 12-story, Cambridge, Mass. headquarters building was conceived, Genzyme was in pursuit of a Platinum LEED rating. The building is still under review by the USGBC.

Genzyme went to extraordinary lengths to maximize the benefits of natural daylighting.

A rooftop heliostat (which tracks the sun as it moves across the sky) is anchored above a 12-story atrium, and, combined with a network of mirrors, drives sunlight down through the atrium. Reflective motorized blinds and reflective ceiling panels drive natural light from perimeter windows to the floorplate.

Filigree concrete slab-construction provided cantilevered floors and wide spans, allowing for an extensive glass exterior, a third of which is a double-façade. More than 800 operable windows and a highly efficient glass envelope are expected to contribute to an overall 40 percent savings in energy costs.

Power from renewable resources and by-product waste steam provide all the building's energy. Water use is reduced 32 percent by use of efficient fixtures, including waterless urinals and dual-flush toilets. An electronic management system enables the building to respond to external conditions to control air flow and natural and artificial light levels.

More than half of all materials at Genzyme Center contain recycled content; more than 90 percent of construction waste was recycled. It was located less than two blocks from public transportation and was built on a former "brownfield" site, all factors influencing its LEED rating.

"What was especially important about Genzyme was the degree of integration of the vendors," Myers says. "In the past 12 to 24 months, all the major U.S. design houses have gotten their arms around electric lighting and daylighting control, but the architectural community, in general, still is very much in the dark with regard to the integration of what, until very recently, have been viewed as separate systems. This is new ground.

The concept of bringing control of the office environment closer to the individual, via, say, internet-activated, space-age, window shades−that also is new territory," he says.

As office tasks change, Myers says, optimal dimming systems integrate control of electric lights and daylight. Shading, lighting and controls now work either automatically, or remotely. State-of-the art systems are a hybrid of both.

State-of-the-art centralized lighting control systems now can accommodate up to 32 linked processors governing up to 16,000 lighting zones, 6,000 wallstations and 2,000 power panels for seamless integration of dimming, switching, window shading and daylighting to create incredibly sophisticated and comprehensive lighting control systems.

With the new tools, office workers can monitor and operate lighting and related systems from any computer with internet access and adjust fluorescent lighting levels with a mouse click. Facilities managers can log onto home computers to check and adjust security lighting.

"Daylighting, and daylighting controls, are the starting points for every sustainable project I can think of," says Myers. "The task, now, is to control that light. Sophisticated systems now attempt to bring control of the environment as close to the occupant as possible.

In the area of lighting control, we have moved light years beyond occupancy sensors. Dimming fluorescent ballasts are two-to-three-times as effective as they were just five years ago.

New Waterless Generation

"Waterless fixtures have been around for a dozen years, but it has taken the ‘green' movement to give waterless technology a jump-start," says Jim Allen, LEED-certified water conservation manager for Franklin Park, Ill.-based Sloan Valve Co.

David L. Lawrence Convention Center. Courtesy PPG Glass.

"Some users of early water-free fixtures were disappointed by their performance," he says. "Many of those same users have found success with new products. New technologies have been developed and new players have entered the game. There are, maybe, five players in the waterless game today. In a few years, it is likely there will be another five. As little as five or six years ago, sustainable building advocates were regarded as environmental zealots. Now, products and applications they were talking about have become mainstream items, and the number of ‘green' buildings has grown by leaps and bounds."

Allen says it won't be long before the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency adopts a long-discussed WaterStar program to parallel its successful EnergyStar program. "The concept of conservation has even been embraced by state government officials−Arizona's recent adoption of legislation mandating water-free urinals is an example."

Graywater reuse, an element of the water conservation strategy at Genzyme, "has yet to come into its own, but water reuse represents a huge opportunity," Allen says.

The World's Largest Green Building Saves Water

At Pittsburgh's 1.5 million square foot, David L. Lawrence Convention Center, the largest certified green building in the world, Rafael Vinoly Architects employed natural ventilation, daylighting and sensors for both light and air quality. David L. Lawrence also boasts a water reclamation system that reduces potable water use by more than 75 percent.

Skylights and engineered glass curtain walls are glazed with ultra-clear glass and newly-formulated coatings to admit natural light to 75 percent of the center's exhibition space. Zero-VOC, low-odor, Green Seal-certified interior paints contributed to LEED ratings.

Overall energy savings at the center, which received Gold LEED certification in 2003, have proven to be about 35 percent over traditionally constructed convention centers.

The center employs a graywater system that recycles water for use in toilets and urinals. Water is conditioned by an aerobic digestion and sub-micron filtration system, and a final step of ultraviolet light treatment that produces an effluent that is odorless and colorless.

The system recycles 50 percent of the center's water and saves an estimated 6.4 million gallons of water annually. Pulse-powered treatment of cooling tower water to eliminate bacteria without chemicals saves an additional 1.8 million gallons of water each year.

Sloan created the water conservation position Allen now occupies in 2003, partly in response to demands for greener products. "LEED registrants are pushing conservation further and further. We have a very aggressive development program for new products to meet that demand," Allen says.

On that list are automated "solar" faucets that draw their energy from fluorescent lights; highly efficient, "pressure-assist," one-gallon toilets that a Landsdale, Pa. hotel developer says saves nearly 565,000 gallons of water annually; rainwater catchment systems to reduce potable water consumption and dual-flush toilets−common in Europe, required in Australia−that vary water usage depending on the use; and composting toilets that do away with water use altogether, or "evacuation" systems, similar to those on airplanes.

"The cost of all these systems is dropping as we become more familiar with them," Allen says.

"What we have learned over the past four years, is that it doesn't cost a great deal more to construct a green building than it does to build a conventional structure," says Tary Holowka, USGBC communications manager. "Certified and Silver ratings, generally, can be achieved at no additional cost. The cost of reaching Gold certification is, on average, between three to five percent; Platinum from five to seven percent."

Daylighting the Key to N.Y. Times' Rating Run

The Renzo Piano-designed New York Times Company world headquarters building, under construction in midtown Manhattan, has been termed "the most ambitious lighting experiment in American commercial real estate."

It also expresses another emerging trend in U.S. architecture, the widespread use clearer, high-transmittance glass. The New York Times building will utilize an increasingly popular, low-iron, ultra-clear glass.

PNC Firstside Center. Courtesy PPG Glass.

Mark Fanelli, director of new products for PPG's Flat Glass business unit says the introduction of new low-E coatings in combination with ultra-clear glass represents "a significant breakthrough" because it allows architects to specify ultra-clear glass for vision glass, skylights, entries and spandrels without sacrificing energy performance.

"One of the prevailing trends in architecture today," Fanell says, "is a call for vision glass that exhibits the highest possible level of transparency and visual clarity. Unfortunately, the desire for that aesthetic is usually at odds with the architect's equally profound desire to design and construct buildings that are energy efficient and environmentally responsible. New products are engineered to give them the best of both worlds."

Glass Becomes Ultra-Clear

A double thermal-pane glass curtain wall will be screened by thin horizontal ceramic tubes anchored by a steel framework one to two feet in front of the glass. The irregularly spaced horizontal rods will bounce daylight up to the ceilings of the tower's interior, creating a high degree of energy efficiency in heating and cooling the building and taking on the changing color of the sky during the course of the day as light strikes them from different angles.

The New York Times daylighting scheme is so radical that the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, a project participant, commissioned a 4,500 square foot. mock-up in the parking lot of the company's printing plant in Queens to determine how the system will perform. "I can't begin to describe how much data Berkeley has generated in its effort to perfect the system," says Jan Berman, president of Long Island-based MechoShade Systems, Inc.

Turner Construction Co., the general contractor, dismantled the mock-up in November and is rebuilding it in accordance with new project specifications calling, among other things, for a "brightness override" that will fine-tune automated shading and interior lighting controls. Not only will the automated window shading system move to pre-set positions according to the angle of the sun, but 600 light sensors throughout the building will allow the system to react to factors like light reflecting from nearby buildings.

The Times project will also feature window shades made of a new two-sided, PVC-free fabric developed in concert with McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBDC). The fabric was designed specifically to meet Piano's requirements for a material that would allow the greatest possible light transmittance, permit views to the outside, and, at the same time, reduce glare.

"This project is the earliest we've ever been brought to the table under contract," Berman says, "but it was necessary in order to optimize the lighting control package. Steel hadn't even gone out when we began discussing lighting.

"It was essential," Berman says. "We are working increasingly with dynamic systems in which shading, lighting and controls all are part of an overall system designed to harvest natural light to the greatest extent possible, control solar heat gain and, at the same time, provide workers with the greatest degree of comfort possible."

The U of O's Colors? One of Them Is Green

The $40 million Lillis Business Complex, which opened in 2003 on the University of Oregon campus, even in predevelopment sessions, was envisioned as a building that would slash power bills, set new standards for environmentally friendly design and serve as a case study in sustainability.

Its classrooms, carefully positioned to maximize their exposure to natural light, can be used almost year-round without electric lighting; external shades and light shelves regulate room temperature; "smart" lighting adjusts to daylight levels; and sensors turn off lights and other non-essential items in unoccupied rooms.

Sun control curtain wall. Courtesy VistaWall.

An extensive ventilation system and extra thermal mass in the building's concrete structure enable it to retain more heat on cold days and stay cool naturally through most of the summer. Photovoltaic panels generate about 35 kilowatts of clean solar energy.

The building also saves water through low-flow fixtures and an "eco-roof," which uses rain to grow beneficial vegetation instead of draining to the ground.The university's Sustainable Development Plan, implemented in 2000, requires that the design principles expressed by Portland-based architect SRG Partnership, PC, in Lillis' plans be applied to all new campus building projects.

In its Lillis design, the university was shooting for LEED Silver. It has not yet been certified.

To maximize natural light, the university sought a translucent curtain wall system into which photovoltaic panels could be glazed.

"The project was designed and built to LEED Silver requirements, and the university employed curtain walls, glass entrance systems and skylights that provided diffused lighting," says Fred Grunewald, Vistawall research and development manager.

Recycling is the Heart of Steel The U.S. Steel industry underwent a transformation in the 1970s, and, today, steel manufacture takes less energy and is done with one-tenth the manpower it took 30 years ago. In 2003, almost 69 million tons of steel were recycled in the U.S. or were exported for recycling. About 88 percent of all steel products, and nearly 100 percent of steel used in beams and plates in construction, are recycled into new steel products at the end of their useful life. Courtesy AISC "We have achieved a very efficient production process and a very high level of recycled content," says Christopher Hewitt, a LEED-accredited staff engineer with the Engineering and Research Dept. of the Chicago-based American Institute of Steel Construction, Inc. "What we are saying today," Hewitt says, "is that steel is a good choice for sustainable projects." An emerging method of analyzing the environmental efficiency of materials is the use of embedded energy approaches, sometimes referred to as life-cycle analysis (LCA). The method involves calculating the total amount of energy associated with the production, manufacture, transportation and construction of materials, their components and by-products. Unfortunately, LCA is still in its infancy, and comparisons are difficult, not only in structural components, but in almost every aspect of construction. No credible study has yet been done, for instance, comparing the embodied energy of structural wood products to steel or concrete in the U.S. construction market, Hewitt says. LEED, he says, is moving slowly in the direction of life-cycle analyses that would award credits for durability and longevity, but it is unlikely that that meaningful data from such studies will be available soon. LEED, however "provides a snapshot of what is going on in the manufacture of building materials," Hewitt says, "and its emphasis on recycling and reuse means that framing with steel can earn owners ‘green' credits." The electric arc furnace (EAF) process, the primary method in the manufacture of structural beams, steel plate and reinforcing steel, now uses 95-to-100 percent recycled steel. "Recycling is second-nature for the steel industry," Hewitt says. Because it is produced to exact specifications, on-site waste is negligible. Material from construction and demolition is easily recycled, and, because it is dimensionally stable, steel creates a tight building envelope, leading to better HVAC performance over time. "To enhance LEED ratings," Hewitt says, "it will be important to know the percentage of recycled steel that is ‘post-industrial' and the percentage that is ‘post-consumer.'" That will require data from the mill where the material is obtained. To access that information, Hewitt urges users to contact the mill directly or to visit the AISC website for recycled-content templates from member mills. For a more thorough understanding of the recycled content of steel, Steel Recycling Institute (SRI).

Emphasis is on Thermal Performance

"Many of the products under development now focus on enhancing the thermal capacity of wall systems, and the result is systems capable of very high thermal performance," says Tony Evans, Vistawall national products manager. Some manufacturers, he says, have made exterior sunshades a part of standard wall packages.

"A lot of what we are doing today comes from the architectural community telling us what we need to do," Grunewald says. "The emphasis, of course, is on energy conservation, but today's jobsite has become increasingly collaborative, and one of the elements often overlooked is a manufacturer's ability to work as part of a team."

"The development of higher performing thermal products is part of our normal business practice," Evans says, "but we are also looking at life-cycle analyses that will help us create buildings that will perform at higher levels for a longer period of time."

Operable windows permit the 145,000 square-foot building to harness prevailing breezes for cooling and the sun for heat, light and electricity. Lillis is designed to be 50 percent more energy-efficient than state code requires.

The construction team utilized "green" components such as materials salvaged from the previous building, certified hardwoods and other sustainable resources. Lillis employs quiet, motorized shades, photo light sensors and a centralized computer that adjusts to changing light conditions.

Flipping a light switch in the classrooms, for example, activates sensors that detect the ambient light and decide whether to strike the lights to full power, adjust the shades to allow in more light, or both, depending on the weather or time of day.

"Green" is a new and different market," Evans says. "Window and wall manufacturers went through exactly the same exercise when hurricane resistant products began emerging a few years ago. We are being pushed to develop new products and systems that support sustainability."

The Tip of the Iceberg

Until recently, lighting controls for complex energy-saving strategies such as daylighting have proven difficult to commission in the field, and lighting controls and shading systems have sometimes proven unpopular with office occupants.

To a considerable degree, that is true because the U.S. lighting control market traditionally has been composed of manufacturers of components like ballasts, switches, controls and shading−not systems−and lighting control components historically have not worked well together.

That picture is changing rapidly.

From the perspective of Jason Warnock, marketing and sales director at Calgary, Alberta-based Nysan Shading Systems Ltd., a Hunter Douglas lighting control partner, major commercial developers are finding that early integration of construction teams and the involvement of vendors can pay big dividends.

The U.S. is Playing Catch-Up

"The U.S. is playing catch-up in that regard," Warnock says. "When we finally achieve full integration in design, when we achieve a real convergence of building technologies, the savings will be tremendous."

As more and more buildings are constructed with substantial areas of glazing, there is an increasing need to integrate design solutions with light and energy management techniques, Warnock says.

Hunter Douglas has long recognized the disconnect, he says, and is now moving toward "intelligent" integrated systems in the U.S. as it has done for years in Europe, where integrated solar control, lighting and shading systems have become routine.

Often overlooked, in discussions of the energy-saving potential of advanced lighting control systems, is the impact the systems have on productivity.

"Robert (F.) Fox (Jr.), told an audience at the Greenbuild conference in Portland, Ore. that a one percent increase in productivity translates into $10 million savings. The impact of what we are doing today in the development of ‘integrated' systems is huge," Warnock says.

"When the circle is completed, when systems can be shown to be effective, not only in terms of energy management, but also in terms of productivity gains, you will really see the ‘green' movement taking off."

That's the big picture. The micro-look at the shadings industry reveals its attention to detail. Like other manufacturers, Hunter Douglas is reforming window shades to eliminate PVC-based fabrics. "PVC has had a lot of advantages," Warnock says, "and it has taken a long time to find substitutes."

PVC also held its shape well, a crucial factor for success in shading. Some manufacturers now use a glass-fiber yarn that will remain perfectly flat and will not stretch or contract even under heat from the sun's rays.

The USGBC's Fedrizzi believes the efficiencies being achieved by sustainable builders with a finger on the pulse of new technology are but the tip of the iceberg, and that, within 10 years, building design will be dramatically reformed.

Green building, he says, has forced a closer look at what building material manufacturers can do. "In the process, we have found new technologies, new combinations of technologies, and we have forever changed our ways of looking at building construction."

"Today's projects have provided field-testing, if you will, for hundreds of new technologies in a building industry not historically known for research and development," says Christine Ervin, a former energy assistant to the Clinton administration and former head of the Green Building Council.

"There remains a disparity," Ervin says, between ‘the best in architectural design' and ‘the best sustainable design.' When sustainability becomes a criteria of the Pritzker Prize, it will be a bellwether for the architectural community."

What is leading-edge today, especially in the realm of lighting control, soon will be considered routine, says Lutron's Myers.

The scramble to build a better mousetrap is hastening, say "green" product manufacturers, because builders, finally, have begun searching for mousetraps.