By: Wesley Holmes
APUS’ new Academic Center is being developed with a number of innovative technologies designed to reduce environmental impact and energy consumption. One of the technologies is an innovative new elevator operating system that promises to achieve significant energy savings and avoid the environmental threats of more traditional elevator systems.

Elevator from Kudda on Vimeo.

In the past, low rise buildings of only two to six stories utilized hydraulic lift systems. Hydraulic elevators function as a closed pressurized system, utilizing hundreds of gallons of oil to drive a piston which moves the elevator. The system has three basic components; A tank (the fluid reservoir), a pump powered by an electric motor and a valve between the cylinder and the reservoir. The pump forces fluid from the tank into a pipe leading to the cylinder. When the valve is opened, the pressurized fluid will take the path of least resistance and return to the fluid reservoir. But when the valve is closed, the pressurized fluid has nowhere to go except into the cylinder. As the fluid collects in the cylinder, it pushes the piston up, lifting the elevator car. According to relevant literature and product reviews, these systems suffer from some major disadvantages. Those being the size and space requirements of the equipment as well as the comparative inefficiency and potential environmental threat of hydraulic oil based technology.

Image provided by howstuffworks.com

As you can see in the diagram, the piston pushing the elevator is set inside a cylinder. The cylinder has to be a little bit longer than the piston, of course, since the piston needs to be able to collapse all the way when the car is at the bottom floor.  More stories mean a longer cylinder. The problem is that the cylinder structure must be buried below the bottom elevator stop. Meaning you have dig under the building slab to set in the cylinder. As systems age, hydraulic elevators can slowly leak oil from the cylinder into the earth, decreasing efficiency and contaminating the surrounding soil. This would be a particular issue for the Academic Center given that the buildings’ foundation is designed to cap the Brownfield contaminants underneath. Setting in a leaking cylinder would defeat the purpose of this cap.

The space requirements of a hydraulic elevator system are substantial. In traditional systems an additional room is needed adjacent to the elevator shaft to house the pumping equipment. Given that the Academic Center will have no basement, an elevator control room would take up substantial space on the first floor. Including a control room also involves a number of additional design and code specifications which translates to increased construction and design costs for the building owner. These costs can be compounded over the years given that hydraulic elevators are fairly inefficient. It takes a lot of energy to raise an elevator car several stories, and in a standard hydraulic elevator, there is no way to store this energy. The potential energy only works to push the fluid back into the reservoir. To raise the elevator car again, the hydraulic system has to generate the energy all over again.

Image Provided by KONE.com

To address the issues presented by traditional hydraulic systems, the Academic Center will utilize a new electric traction elevator system developed by KONE. KONE is one of the world’s leading elevator and escalator companies and the first in its industry to join the U.S. Green Building Council. At the USGBC Green Building Expo in Chicago in 2007, Vance Tang, President of KONE announced that they would discontinue manufacturing hydraulic elevators and introduced their new environmentally friendly EcoSpace Machine Room-Less (MRL) elevator technology. Machine room-less elevators are designed so that most of the components fit within the shaft containing the elevator car; and a small cabinet houses the elevator computer. In addition to the space savings, the traction rope is configured for force multiplication in a complex pulley system. In this configuration, the traction motor moves more rope per distance traveled, but works half as hard due to force multiplication factors of the pulley system.

KONE engineers find that these systems are up to 60 percent more energy efficient than traditional hydraulic elevators, potentially saving thousands of kilowatt hours per year for single elevators. KONE has seen through energy comparisons that the savings from a wattage and actual dollar value can be significant with a MRL elevator versus a hydraulic system. These energy comparisons have been conducted on several existing facilities to measure the “before” and “after” results of these two types of systems. For instance, at the Independent Bank facility in McKinney, Texas the results of replacing an existing in-​​ground hydraulic with a KONE EcoSpace elevator system resulted in the customer reducing 11,907 KWh and cost savings of $1,071 annually. These findings suggest a significant return on APUS’ investment in new elevator technology.

Useful Links

KONE elevator video

By: Wesley Holmes

Wednesday I had the opportunity to visit the Academic Center construction site and get a guided tour from the site manager. One thing I have come to learn about the construction industry is that there are a lot of players. As a laymen coming into this process I expected that Cox Schepp Construction was handling all the developments on the new building. It can be called handling, but perhaps wrangling is the more apt term. In this construction project, as with most projects, there are several companies working on the development of one building. All of these sub-contractors, “subs”, are private companies, independent from Cox Scehpp, who bring a wide range of expertise from many different fields. There are electricians, plumbers, steel framers, HVAC installers, brick layers, dry-wallers, and waste disposal technicians just to name a few. But all of these diverse companies, whatever their expertise, all operate under the guidance and organization of Cox Schepp Construction, the company charged with assuring adherence to the architects design and the owners expectations. On a day to day basis, responsibility for administering this guidance falls to one Ryan Boedicker.

Mr Boedicker makes for an imposing figure at well over six feet with the build of a football player. This sizable stature belies his easy going North Carolina accent and affable character. As the site manager for the Academic Center, Boedicker stays in high gear. If he’s not talking on the phone to a sub, rest assured he’s talking to one in person while texting another. He is the guy out at the construction site every day representing the interest of Cox Schepp and by extension the interests of APUS. Making sure deliveries are at the site on time, managing the work schedule, and monitoring the work of the multitude of sub-contractors, this is just some of the work of a project site manager. Mr. Boedicker jokingly sums up his position as a “babysitter of grown men”. But this supersized babysitter plays a crucial function, not only in bringing the building up, but in making sure its done in the most environmentally responsible manner possible.

While the USGBC LEED program is the largest and most well known sustainable development certification program in the United States, it is still a relatively new construction management paradigm and not all contractors are familiar with its guidelines and standard practices. On a day to day basis the site manager assures adherence to the guidelines laid out by the LEED rating system. He follows the work of each sub-contractor and assures that they are using materials with the appropriate amount of recycled content. He monitors the chemical sealants and adhesives being used to assure they are low emitting materials. He even makes sure that the tires on the trucks driven off site don’t track mud and other sediment out into the street where it can be washed into storm drains.

The United States Green Building Council has crafted a very valuable guide and certification system in LEED. But the real benefits to environmental quality and indoor environmental health can only be achieved if the professionals doing the job habitually follow the standards of practice outlined in LEED. In playing the part of babysitter and helping to engrain these green habits into building professionals, Mr. Boedicker provides an invaluable contribution to helping the Academic Center become the high performance low impact building APUS is striving for.

By: Wesley Holmes

One of the principle concepts of sustainable development is to avoid devouring unspoiled landscape and find ways to make our existing infrastructure more efficient and affordable. To avoid the continued decline of natural habitat and ecosystem services it is becoming increasingly necessary to take a fresh look at the homes we have already built and try to make them more affordable and attractive to first time home buyers. A new report, issued by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, finds that the weak economy coupled with an increase in government programs to support home renovation and first time homebuyers have made sustainable re-development the most promising growth sector in the housing market.

The State of the Nations Housing Report provides a periodic assessment of the nation’s housing outlook and summarizes important trends in the economics and demographics of housing. Predictably, this years report is short on good news. Fewer homes were started in 2009 than in any year since World War II. Census Bureau estimates show that construction permits totaled just 583,000 in 2009, compared with 2.16 million at the 2005 peak and an annual average of 1.32 million in the 1990s. This is the first time since 1959, when records began being kept, that annual permits have numbered less than 900,000. One of the most interesting key facts in the report is that while new home sales were down by 23-percent, the sale of existing homes in 2009 climbed five-percent. Much of the growth in existing home sales is credited to declining real estate prices, along with government tax credits marketed to first-time homebuyers. The report notes that controversial bailout programs helped spark a turnaround and drove all of the increase in existing home sales in 2009.

Experts note that the outlook for the housing market will continue to be rather bleak until employment and income, the leading indicators of housing development, begin to rise. One of the chief impediments to home ownership is the issue of affordability. All told, 40.3 million households spent more than 30 percent of their incomes on housing in 2008, while 18.6 million of these households spent more than half—up from 13.8 million in 2001. After holding steady at 12 percent in both 1980 and 2000, the share of “severely burdened” households (those spending more than half their incomes on housing) jumped by a third, to 16 percent, in 2008. More than half of the 4.5 million low-income single-parent households spent 60 percent or more of their incomes on housing in 2008.  Lower income households with children who dedicated more than half their income to housing had less than $600 per month left for all other necessities. Similarly burdened elderly and single-person households had even less (under $500) left over after housing expenses.

While the housing market and new home development face a long road to recovery, experts do see opportunity to make significant gains in energy efficiency for municipalities and reduction of utilities expenditure for homeowners. In a recent press release, Casius Pealer, director of affordable housing policy for the U.S. Green Building Council, noted that “As existing home sales begin to rise, there is a great opportunity to bring the energy and water efficiency aspects of these homes up to today’s standards,” The Housing Report found that if all pre-2000 homes were brought up to the same efficiency as post-2000 homes in their regions, residential energy consumption would fall by 22.5 percent! Indeed, the only sector to show growth in the 2010 Housing Report is in energy efficiency home renovation. In 2009, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) extended energy efficiency tax credits for homeowners and funded low-income home weatherization programs. The share of professional remodelers reporting that they had worked on projects linked to the energy efficiency tax credits increased from 39 percent in 2009 to 53 percent in early 2010. Mohsen Mostafavi, Dean of the Harvard University Graduate School of Design noted that “Today’s homeowner has the ability to significantly reduce home energy costs through environmentally-conscious building materials and design approaches”.

As home prices move consistently higher, the Housing Report predicts that some of the equity that owners lost over the last decade will be restored. But rising prices will also put additional strain on the already large number of households facing affordability challenges. One of the reports seminal conclusions is that tackling affordability issues while leveraging the potential of housing to anchor neighborhood revitalization and achieve energy savings will need to be national priorities in the decade ahead. Contrasting with oft heard calls for an end to federal domestic spending, the report calls for a continuation and expansion of policy implements like those found in the ARRA that will encourage efficient home and community design as a means to drive down housing costs and make homeownership more affordable. Longer-term federal commitments include HUD’s new Sustainable Communities Initiative, to encourage more energy-efficient and transit-friendly development patterns on a local level. Additionally, homeowners and builders alike continue to make homes more energy efficient, led by regional certification programs such as the USGBC’s LEED for Homes and LEED for Neighborhood Development programs, both of which offer credits for smart location and linkages and location efficiency. At stake are potentially large savings in the energy consumed to heat and cool homes, as well as in the number of vehicle miles traveled and related carbon emissions.

Projects like the APUS Academic Center are at the forefront of this growing development paradigm. The success of our project in Charles Town will serve as a guiding example of how we can utilize sustainable development practices to bring new vitality and much needed economic opportunity to communities across the country.  Simultaneously lowering the cost of property ownership through increases in efficiency and sensible project siting.

Links of Interest

HUD-DOT-EPA Interagency Partnership for Sustainable Communities

By: Wesley Holmes

Global Biodiversity Outlook 3

Today marks the launch of the third edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO-3, hereafter referred to as the Outlook). This much anticipated flagship publication of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is the product of close collaboration between the Secretariat of the CBD and the United Nations Environment Program-World Conservation Monitoring Center (UNEP-WCMC). The Outlook, an assessment of the current state of biodiversity, is being launched simultaneously in a multitude of cities across the globe. The report is based on scientific assessments, national reports submitted by governments and a study on future scenarios for biodiversity. The report, which is subject to an extensive independent scientific review process, is one of the principal milestones of the 2010 International Year of Biodiversity. Sadly, coming right on the heels of the BP gulf spill disaster, the report does not deliver good news. According to the report, world leaders have failed to deliver on commitments made in 2002 to reduce the global rate of biodiversity loss by 2010, and have instead overseen alarming biodiversity declines. In the preface to the report, Executive-Secretary of the CBD, Ahmed Djoghlaf laments “No country has reported that it will completely meet the 2010 target, and a few Parties have unequivocally stated they will not meet it.”

The Outlook warns that massive further loss of biodiversity is becoming increasingly likely, and with it, a severe reduction of many essential services to human societies as several “tipping points” are approached, in which ecosystems shift to alternative, less productive states from which it may be difficult or impossible to recover. Some of tipping points analyzed in the report include;

Brazilian Deforestation (UNEP-WCMC)

• The dieback of large areas of the Amazon forest, due to the interactions of climate change, deforestation and fires, with consequences for the global climate, regional rainfall and widespread species extinctions.
• The shift of many freshwater lakes and other inland water bodies to eutrophic or algae-dominated states, caused by the buildup of nutrients and leading to widespread fish kills and loss of recreational amenities.
• Multiple collapses of coral reef ecosystems, due to a combination of ocean acidification, warmer water leading to bleaching, overfishing and nutrient pollution; and threatening the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of species directly dependent on coral reef resources.

Bleaching Reef Systems (UNEP-WCMC)

On a positive note, the report does see progress in the creation of preserves, in particular in the number of protected marine areas announced in recent months, but the overall assessment of the Outlook warns that habitat losses have offset gains. Wetlands, salt marshes and habitats for shellfish seem to be suffering the most damage. The report notes that “the abundance of vertebrate species, based on assessed populations, fell by nearly a third on average between 1970 and 2006 and continues to fall globally”. The driving causes behind biodiversity loss (habitat change, overexploitation, pollution, invasive alien species and climate change) are either constant or increasing in intensity, the Outlook finds. Nutrients washing off farmland are turning waterways into biological “dead zones,” the report says, and ocean acidification and stormwater runoff have made coral reefs “vulnerable to collapse.” The report also sounds the alarm on overfishing, an area where government regulation has been particularly lax and which now threatens the impending collapse of important commercial fish stocks.

Disappearing Amphibians (UNEP-WCMC)

In a press release issued yesterday by the UNEP- WCMC, Djoghlaf warned “the assessment of the state of the world’s biodiversity in 2010 should serve as a wake-up call for humanity. Business as usual is no longer an option if we are to avoid irreversible damage to the life-support systems of our planet.” The Outlook points out that for a fraction of the money summoned up instantly by the world’s governments in 2008-9 to avoid economic meltdown, world governments could avoid a much more serious and fundamental breakdown in the Earth’s life support systems. UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program, Achim Steiner, notes that there have been key economic reasons why the 2010 biodiversity targets were not met. “Many economies remain blind to the huge value of the diversity of animals, plants and other life-forms and their role in healthy and functioning ecosystems from forests and freshwaters to soils, oceans and even the atmosphere. Many countries are beginning to factor natural capital into some areas of economic and social life with important returns, but this needs rapid and sustained scaling-up.” observes Mr. Steiner.

Desertification (Reeza, United Nations Convention to Comabt Desertification)

The report ultimately states that “New Vision” is required to address the continued dramatic decline of species biodiversity. In the forward to GBO-3, the United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon writes: “To tackle the root causes of biodiversity loss, we must give it higher priority in all areas of decision making and in all economic sectors.” Djoghlaf urges that “the CBD’s new Strategic Plan, to be adopted at the 2010 Nagoya Biodiversity Summit, must tackle the underlying causes of biodiversity loss. The linked challenges of biodiversity loss and climate change must be addressed with equal priority and close cooperation. Joint action is needed to implement the Conventions on Biodiversity, Climate Change and to Combat Desertification – the three conventions born of the 1992 Rio Conference.” Djoghlaf believes that this weeks’ (May, 15) Rio+20 summit in New York will provide an ideal staging ground to lay groundwork for this new strategic approach.

The Outlook will also be a key input into discussions by world leaders and Heads of State at a special high level segment of the United Nations General Assembly on September, 22. Its conclusions will also be central to the negotiations by world governments at the Nagoya, Japan Biodiversity Summit in October of this year.

Useful Links

Executive Summary in English:

http://www.cbd.int/gbo/gbo3/doc/GBO3-Summary-final-en.pdf

Global Biodiversity Outlook-3 Regional Factsheets:

http://www.unep.org/downloads/GBO/Africa.pdf

http://www.unep.org/downloads/GBO/LatinAmerica.pdf

http://www.unep.org/downloads/GBO/AsiaPacific.pdf

http://www.unep.org/downloads/GBO/WestAsia.pdf

BP Deepwater Horizon April. 20 (Image provided by Reuters)

Around the world, corporations, particularly publicly traded corporations, are gradually beginning to realize that environmental accountability and social responsibility play as large a role in attracting investment as any other economic indicator. The relationship between investor confidence and companies’ environmental impact was recently illustrated by the catastrophic failure of BP’s gulf coast oil rig, Deepwater Horizon. The disastrous failure of the rigs safety features has already taken a devastating toll on the ecology of the Gulf Coast, and is likely to have harmful ramifications long into the future. The magnitude of the Deepwater Horizon disaster and the immediate and long term costs it implies for BP seems to be sinking in with BP investors as well. According to the New York Times, BP’s stock has plunged more than 13% since the incident began on April 20^th. The company which

(marketwatch.com) BP Stock drop on April, 21

operated the rig, Transocean, has seen stock prices fall by more than 14%.

In 1989 another major environmental disaster shook public confidence in corporate America—the Exxon-Valdez oil spill. 10.8 million gallons of oil poured into Alaska’s Prince William Sound, devastating one of the world’s most pristine habitats. Suddenly, the environmental cost of doing business became painfully clear. In response to the Exxon-Valdez incident, a group of investors established Ceres.  Ceres, pronounced “Series”, is a national network of investors, environmental organizations and other public interest groups working with companies and investors to address sustainability challenges. The US based Ceres now manages the Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR), comprised of more than 90 institutional investors who collectively manage nearly $10 trillion in assets. In a very timely coincidence, on March 18, just weeks before the rig failure, Ceres and other institutional investors released new climate disclosure guidelines for the oil and gas sector. Identifying significant future investment value at risk, the investors said that levels of transparency from oil and gas companies are now needed to reflect the shift in regulation internationally because of climate change. Mindy Lubber, Ceres President and INCR Director said “Companies in the oil and gas sector face significant climate risks and should be assessing, managing and disclosing the impact of those risks on their businesses and supply chains. Investors want to know, for example, what return they will get from their portfolio companies that are pumping tens of billions of dollars into carbon-intensive Canadian oil sands extraction when low carbon fuel standards take hold.”

This need for full disclosure of environmental factors is also gaining acceptance at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In early 2010 the SEC issued guidance on how publicly traded companies should report on climate change-related risks and opportunities. The guidelines do not create new legal requirements, but they do say companies should account for the material impacts of climate change on their business, such as how it could affect their operations, or demand for their products or services. In a recent publication of Sustainable Industries, Sara Stroud wrote an excellent report on the state of corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts. As of spring 2010, investors had filed almost 100 climate change-related shareholder resolutions with U.S. and Canadian companies—a 40-percent increase over the total number filed in 2009, according to Ceres.

While the BP oil spill and Exxon-Valdez incidents represent extreme examples of potential environmental costs, it is important for all companies to examine their impact on the environment and examine the potential costs of mitigation and cleanup. Such preparation is becoming increasingly important as climate change and pollution control come under increasing regulation. Clark McKinley, a spokesman for California Public Employees’ Retirement Systems (CalPERS) notes that the heightened pressure from investors around CSR reporting largely boils down to managing risks; Risks which include risks to assets, infrastructure and operations, as well as legal, regulatory and reputational risks. “We believe the market will reward investors who see the climate change challenge as opportunity, and investors and companies that are slow to act will find themselves years behind the curve,” McKinley wrote in an e-mail to Stroud. “Those that focus on innovation as the world shifts to a low-carbon economy will go a long way in ensuring their viability and competitiveness.”  This is business paradigm that APUS has embraced for many years. As an active proponent of the Campus Sustainability Movement, APUS has committed much of its resources to adapting to the emerging clean energy economy.  The development of the new Academic Center is just another of the community oriented growth projects APUS has initiated.  As research has shown and the recent Gulf spill tragedy has illustrated corporate social responsibility does play a decided role in attracting investment and reducing perceptions of risk. As APUS continues to invest in a sustainable growth,  investor perceptions of security and risk reduction are likely to grow along with it.

Useful Links

2010 Investor Summit on Climate Risk

US Chamber of Commerce Business Civic Leadership Program

Yale School of Management: Program on Social Enterprise

Harvard Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative

Links Page

Manassas Park Elementary School (Image taken from AIA Top Ten Website)

Just in time for last weeks 40^th Earth Day Celebration, on April 21^st, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) announced its selections for this years Top Ten Green Projects. Each year the AIA accepts nominations for the greenest new buildings from across the country. The AIA’s Committee on the Environment (COTE) picks 10 buildings which demonstrate how design can reduce environmental impacts by reusing materials, connecting to public transit, conserving water and energy and improving indoor air quality. Apus-green-building.com is happy to announce that one of this years winners is an elementary school located just down the road from APUS offices in Manassas, Virginia.

Manassas Park Elementary School (MPES) is fundamentally designed around the premise that people, especially children, cannot be expected to preserve or protect something they do not understand; a theme which is echoed throughout the campus sustainability movement. As such, the school is conceived throughout as a teaching tool that shepherds children along a path of environmental stewardship. Inside and out, sustainable design is integrated with the elementary curriculum. Design decisions were made with the expressed goal of showcasing as many teachable moments as possible. Not only are children offered exceptional views of the schools surrounding forest, they are invited to use the numerous exterior break-out spaces and to explore the piedmont landscape directly. The principal bio-retention area, for example, is detailed to serve as outdoor classroom, performance stage, and parent pick-up queue. Additionally, a comprehensive signage program reinforces each teachable moment by highlighting green building facts, demystifying sustainable building systems, and describing flora and fauna found in the area.

The COTE Top Ten Green Projects program, now in its 14th year, celebrates projects that are the result of a thoroughly integrated approach to architecture, natural systems and technology. The criteria for submitted projects parallel the same design and process requirements outlined by the USGBC LEED program. As noted by the AIA Press Release the projects selected by the committee make a positive contribution to their communities, improve comfort for building occupants and reduce environmental impacts through sustainable design strategies. The MPES project and the  nine other winners will be honored at the AIA 2010 National Convention and Design Exposition in Miami. However, since this amazing project serves the communities that support APUS staff and their families, apus-green-building.com would like take this opportunity to congratulate and thank Manassas Park City Schools for taking an environmentally conscious approach to this development. APUS faculty and staff work diligently to equip adults with the knowledge and skills necessary to make our communities safer, healthier and more sustainable, but we learn our most long lasting lessons and habits as children. The lessons and ethics that can be garnered from schools like MPES are sure to make an invaluable contribution to realizing a greener future for our children and our communities.

By: Wesley Holmes

This week on Thursday, April 22, America will observe its’ 40^th Earth Day Celebration! In the spring of 1970, Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin created Earth Day as a way to focus attention on growing environmental concerns across the country and “force this issue onto the national agenda.” On that first Earth Day 20 million Americans demonstrated in different U.S. cities. To commemorate and carry on this historic call, Earth Day Network, the organization that coordinates all events for Earth Day, is holding a Climate Rally on the National Mall in Washington on Sunday, April 25th, with performances by Sting, John Legend, The Roots and many more acts to raise money and awareness for climate issues. Earth Day Network’s Campaign Director, Nate Byer, stated in recent CBS News Interview, “We want to make Earth Day a State of the Union for the environment.” Such demonstrations are scheduled across the country throughout the week. You can find an event near you at the Earth Day 2010 Action Center. But being pro-active about Earth Day doesn’t necessarily mean you have to grab your poster-boards and hit the streets.

Throughout the week, and every day afterward if you want, we can take this opportunity to make Earth Day about education and outreach. Earth Day is a time when we can celebrate what we’ve learned about our planet and share that information with a new generation who can help take on new challenges.  With this spirit in mind NASA is marking Earth Day’s 40^th anniversary on the National Mall in Washington beginning Saturday, April 17. The agency’s event includes 9 consecutive days of activities and exhibits open to the public. Included in the events is the ‘NASA Village,’ which contains three domed tents, and will highlight the use of NASA science and technology to advance knowledge and awareness about our home planet and sustain our environment. Not to be outdone, the EPA will also be at the National Mall. (Definitely a great opportunity for APUS employees in the area!) By no small coincidence this year also marks the 40th anniversary of the EPA. Throughout the year the EPA is helping provide resources and public outlets for average citizens to make their voices heard. One cool program is the EPA: It’s My Environment Video Project, where you can make your own 10-second video to be included in a national ad campaign. They also provide a great link for Earth Day Events in Your Area.

APUS is undertaking several initiatives in conjunction with Earth Day to engage in meaningful outreach and community improvement. For example, a local middle school, Charles Town Middle School (CTMS) is undertaking a beautification project on the school grounds.  APUS will be making a modest donation to the school to purchase the supplies needed to do the project. In addition to the donation, APUS employees will be volunteering their time to help with the project on Earth Day. Additionally, Earth Day also happens to be the same day as “Bring a Child to Work Day,” an event that APUS has hosted for the last couple of years.  The APUS Sustainability Committee will spend about 30-45 minutes with the group of children to explain APUS’ green initiatives while also providing the group with information on how they can be more sustainable in their own lives (recycling at home, using less water, etc.) We at apus-green-building.com  want to join our friends at apus-sustainability.com and encourage our readers to make a special effort this week to teach children about the importance of protecting our environment.

So as you go through the week, think about what you can do to make a contribution to our environment. You can join a local rally, donate to a environmental group, or take some stuff to a recycling drive in your area. If you’re short on time and money it can be something as simple as picking up a piece of litter or taking your kids out to see nature up close. Within this post and at the bottom you can find links on how to get involved and how to pass on information to those around you. Have a great week, a great Earth Day and lets keep working to build a more sustainable future.

Cool Earth Day Activities and Good Causes

EPA Pick 5 for the Environment

EPA’s  Earth Day: Learn, Teach and Share

The Nature Conservancy: Earth Day 2010

The World Wildlife Fund

National Audubon Society

National Parks Conservation Association

The Student Conservation Association

In last weeks post we discussed Commissioning of Building Energy Systems. The article outlined the intent of the process and some of the performance research that recommends it, but some readers still had questions about what exactly goes into the commissioning process and how it can improve the design and construction process. To help further explain this complex process we have asked Barry Jones, Commissioning Authority (CxA) for the Academic Center, to introduce us to KLG Jones and to describe his role in the commissioning process.

Barry D. Jones, PE, CCP, LEED AP

KLG Jones, LLC is a nationally recognized engineering firm founded in 1999 and dedicated to building commissioning, retro-commissioning, energy studies and energy consulting services. The senior staff is comprised of registered mechanical and electrical engineers, architects, Building Commissioning Association certified commissioning agents, energy management controls engineers, infrared thermographers, and LEED accredited professionals. The principals of the firm have been working together since 1993 providing commissioning and energy consulting services to the construction industry.

KLG Jones provides quality assurance services on a wide range of project types with critical mechanical and electrical systems. We are currently bringing quality assurance processes to federal, institutional and private development projects for state and federal agencies, universities, school districts and private developers. KLG Jones has provided commissioning services on hundreds projects since its inception.

What Exactly is Commissioning?

Building commissioning has been called the “Key to Quality Assurance” in building construction. Whether applied to existing buildings, retrofits or new building design and construction, it is the key to high performance operation that fully meets the owner’s needs and the design intent of the project. It has been demonstrated repeatedly that all parties in a project benefit from commissioning.

Commissioning is a formal quality process that involves the owner, architect, engineers and contractors. It is most often applied to the mechanical and electrical systems, the energy consumers in a building, but can also be applied to the total building. It ideally begins at the programming phase of a project and ends after the final completion of construction. It is a process that helps to ensure that buildings and systems are designed, installed, tested and can be maintained to meet the owner’s operational needs. A commissioning agent, who is preferably an independent, objective advocate of the owner without other project responsibilities, leads the commissioning team which is composed of representatives of the owner, architect, engineers and contractors.

The process begins at programming. The commissioning agent assists the owner and design team in developing and documenting the owner’s performance and operational criteria for the building and systems being commissioned. The criteria is incorporated into a design intent document and a preliminary commissioning plan is developed, which establishes the roles of all parties and defines the documentation, evaluation and functional performance testing that will be conducted during and after construction. Commissioning specifications are prepared which are incorporated into the construction documents. The commissioning agent reviews the construction documents as they are prepared to update the commissioning plan and help ensure that the owner’s functional requirements are fully addressed prior to bid. Site inspections are made during construction to check the installation for serviceability and compliance with contract documents.

Toward the end of construction the commissioning agent works with the contractors to observe, validate, and document the start up and specified operation of all equipment and systems. Functional performance tests are conducted to verify and document the proper operation of every control point and sequence of operation for each system and piece of equipment. Training sessions are scheduled and can be video taped for the owner’s maintenance personnel. Included in the training is conveying a full understanding of how all of the equipment should operate as a system rather than as individual components. At the end of the process a full report containing complete documentation of the commissioning is prepared. Finally, several post-occupancy visits are made to augment training where necessary, and to evaluate the ongoing operation of the systems during alternate seasons.

Useful Links on Building Commissioning

http://www.bcxa.org Building Commissioning Assn.

http://peci.org Portland Energy Conservation Inc.

By: Wesley Holmes

EA Prerequisite 1: Fundamental Commissioning of Building Energy Systems -Required

Intent- To verify that the project’s energy-related systems are installed, and calibrated to perform according to the owner’s project requirements, basis of design and construction documents.

EA Credit 3: Enhanced Commissioning – 2 Points

Intent- To begin the commissioning process early in the design process and execute additional activities after systems performance verification is completed.

Image Provided by OxBlue Construction Camera 3-27-10

Recently the Academic Center project achieved a milestone with the setting of the last steel girder. With the basic building frame achieved the project will now move on to prepping the building for its power and water needs. Beginning this week, electricians are installing conduit to the electric room and crews managed by Cox Schepp Construction will start building utility connections allowing the Academic Center to tap into the municipal grid. As the project advances into the utilities phase it seems an appropriate time to address Energy and Atmosphere (EA) Pre-Requisite 1, Fundamental Commissioning of Building Energy Systems. According to a study sponsored by the U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE) and conducted by the Berkeley National Laboratory, building commissioning maximizes the quality and persistence of energy, cost, and emissions reductions. The process ensures that building owners get what they pay for when constructing or retrofitting buildings. The benefits of commissioning include reduced energy use, lower operating costs, fewer contractor callbacks, better building documentation, and improved occupant productivity.

Inefficient building design can have a significant impact on the environment as well the building owners’ financial bottom line. The National Institute on Building Sciences reports that buildings in the United States annually consume 39% of America’s energy and 68% of its electricity. Furthermore, buildings emit 38% of the carbon dioxide (the primary greenhouse gas associated with climate change), 49% of the sulfur dioxide, and 25% of the nitrogen oxides found in the air. The DOE’S Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy reported in their annual Buildings Energy Data Book that space heating, lighting, and space cooling are the top three energy end-uses with water heating and electronics as the next top two end-uses. Deficiencies in the design and construction phase can have a host of ramifications, ranging from equipment failure, to compromised indoor air quality and comfort, to unnecessarily elevated energy use or under-performance of energy-efficiency strategies. The cost of mitigating early design and construction flaws can be substantial. The DOE report notes that in 2006 building improvements and repairs cost owners $438 billion.

The USGBC mandates that developers seeking LEED certification engage in a commissioning process to minimize these deficiencies and foster efficient building performance. Systems required to be commissioned include HVAC, refrigeration, lighting and day-lighting, domestic hot water systems, renewable energy systems and any associated control mechanisms. EA Pre-Requisite 1 requires, amongst other things, that the project team designate an individual as the commissioning authority (CxA) to lead, review and oversee the completion of the commissioning process activities. The CxA is independent of the project design and construction management and reports directly to the owner to assure that design and construction plans meet the owners intended performance standards. To help achieve optimum energy efficiency in the new Academic Center APUS has contracted the services of KLG Jones, a nationally recognized engineering firm dedicated to building commissioning, retro-commissioning, and energy consulting.

In an effort to make the building more efficient and ensure that APUS employees enjoy the greatest benefit from the commissioning process, the project team is also attaining EA Credit 3 Enhanced Commissioning. This enhanced process requires that the CxA be involved prior to the start of the construction documents and that the team develop a comprehensive energy systems manual and training program for APUS employees. To see that systems continue to function properly the CxA will also be involved in a systems review with APUS maintenance staff within 10 months of building occupation. This enhanced commissioning will aide in reducing operating and maintenance costs by ensuring proper functioning of design features and proper systems management by staff. APUS decision to engage in systems commissioning should aide in reducing both immediate and long term costs as well as increasing occupant health and comfort.

Links of Interest

Energy Star Portfolio Manager- an interactive energy management tool that allows you to track and assess energy and water consumption across your entire portfolio of buildings in a secure online environment.

By: Wesley Holmes

Value: 1 Point

Intent- To limit disruption and pollution of natural water flows by managing stormwater runoff.

Multiple Sources of Stormwater Pollution

Stormwater runoff is a rush, or more appropriately a flush of water that is capable of conveying large quantities of contaminants to waterbodies in a short amount of time. Storm events are typically discrete and relatively short (hours to days) and produce exposures to contaminants potentially lasting from only minutes to hours. Pollutants, including sediment, trash and construction debris from development sites are picked up and washed into receiving streams and other aquatic resources during storm events. Pollutants that accumulate on impervious surfaces (auto fluids, chemical spills) and on compacted pervious surfaces, such as lawns, parks and athletic fields (Pesticide, fertilizer, pet waste) during dry weather are picked up and transported into receiving waters during rainfall events.

In addition to gathering pollutants as it moves  through the developed landscape, stormwater runoff will also pick up a less obvious but still harmful additive, heat. Impervious surfaces, such as rooftops, roads and parking lots, tend to retain heat when exposed to sunlight. This is what is known as a heat island effect. As stormwater runoff moves over these impervious surfaces it absorbs the radiant heat and increases water temperature. Studies conducted by the Center for Watershed Protection and others have found that when this heated stormwater is conveyed into a river, stream, wetland or other aquatic resource, it can decrease the amount of dissolved oxygen contained within the water column, which reduces the amount of oxygen that is available to aquatic organisms causing damage even death to some.

To help prevent the flow of contaminants picked up by stormwater from reaching valuable natural habitats the USGBC requires that projects seeking certification implement a stormwater management plan that captures and treats the stormwater runoff from 90% of the average annual rainfall. The Best Management Practices (BMP’s) utilized for treatment must be designed in accordance with standards and specifications from a state or local stormwater management plan which is capable of removing 80% of the average annual post development total suspended solids (TSS) load (Dirt and other waste). For the project in Charles Town APUS is utilizing a BMP pond, designed by the Civil Engineering firm Dewberry, to capture and treat runoff from the site. Given that the project site is a capped Brownfield, this treatment pond plays a crucial role in containing and treating the runoff from the impervious site cap.

In a typical stormwater management (SWM) pond, a flow regulator is attached to the ponds drain pipe to reduce the size of the outlet. A smaller outlet causes the pond to collect excess flow and reduces the erosion potential of the initial pulse of water. These conventional stormwater retention ponds will release stormwater over 2-3 hours. In a BMP pond the flow regulator attached to the end of the pipe is even smaller. The smaller outlet forces the pond to hold the water for a longer period, allowing more time for the sediment and attached nutrients to settle out in a collection area. Whereas a conventional SWM pond will release stormwater over 2-3 hours, a stormwater management BMP pond may release the water over 2-3 day days allowing for optimum removal of sediment and nutrient loads.

The treatment approach APUS has selected will not only maintain the pre-development rate of runoff from the landscape, it will reduce the impact of the water on receiving ecosystems. This approach complies with the BMP’s of the state and the USGBC and will aide in improving water quality for the Ranson and Charles Town communities.

Images Provided by EPA Watersheds Site

Links of Interest

EPA Urban Stormwater BMP Performance Tool

EPA National Menu of Stormwater Best Management Practices

Center for Watershed Protection

West Virginia Stormwater Management Plan