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.

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.

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

As APUS has grown and expanded it has consistently embraced an environmentally conscious business model. The decision to achieve LEED Gold standards of performance for the new Academic Center is a continuation of this sustainable philosophy and representative of a collective movement among colleges and universities across North America to make our educational institutions more environmentally sound and economically sustainable. A quick Google Scholar search of “greening our academic institutions” reveals that the idea of colleges and universities taking a lead role in environmental sustainability emerged in the early 1990’s and has been steadily gaining in momentum over the past two decades. The growth of this movement has manifested in organizations such as the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) and organized institutional efforts such as the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC). These collective efforts have come to be known as the Campus Sustainability Movement.

The origins of this movement within academia are best articulated by Leith Sharp of the Harvard School of Public Health and founder of Harvard’s Office for Sustainability. According to Sharp, the Campus Sustainability Movement was born out of frustration with the clear disconnect between the environmental threats and ecologic principles expounded upon in the classroom that were being largely ignored in campus facility design and operation. For many students and faculty the idea of teaching sustainability without demonstrating it is highly problematic. Students and faculty alike wanted to take a more proactive role on their campuses and turn theory into practice. It has been suggested that this drive for ecologic stability on campuses largely mirrors growing desires for sustainability across the country. Advocates for campus sustainability initiatives note that the higher education sector serves as an ideal proving ground for sustainable technologies and practices. These sentiments have helped fuel a movement dedicated to transforming our educational institutions into living laboratories for the demonstration and practice of environmental sustainability.

Over the last decade the Campus Sustainability Movement has made significant strides. According to a National Wildlife Federation Campus Ecology Survey conducted in both 2001 and 2008, of the 1,068 schools surveyed in 2008, 65% had some form of written commitment to address environmental sustainability or stewardship (or at least had a plan in place to create one), compared to just 43% of the schools surveyed in 2001. In 2007, the American higher education sector had approximately 285 construction projects underway that had been certified under the United States Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program (USGBC, 2007). At the time, this accounted for about 10% of LEED projects nationally. According to AASHE, between mid-2007 and March 2009, over 620 presidents of colleges and universities in the United States endorsed the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC). One of these signatories was APUS President Wallace Boston. President Boston on joining the ACUPCC.

Since signing the Commitment, APUS has taken several significant steps toward reducing its overall carbon footprint and working toward achieving carbon neutrality in its operations.  Under President Boston’s guidance, APUS has implemented a Sustainability Committee which is tasked with managing the various aspects of the Commitment.  Comprised of employees from nearly every department within the online university, the Committee is dedicated to addressing various aspects of the school’s operations in order to achieve greater sustainability.  The school has implemented a recycling program in both its Charles Town, WV and Manassas, VA locations.  Additionally, the school’s admissions process is now completely paperless, leading to a more streamlined experience for students and staff as well as a more environmentally sound operation overall.  The school is currently working to implement systems to create a paperless accounts payables process as well.  In late 2009, the university installed an environmentally friendly porous paving system in its Charles Town, WV location.  The system prevents storm water runoff by providing a compacted layer of stone beneath the pavers which serves as a filter for water prior to its absorption into the ground.  Nearly all buildings in both APUS campus locations have been outfitted with occupancy sensors which have greatly increased energy efficiency.  Members of the school’s Sustainability Committee have recently launched a blog, http://apus-sustainability.com, which will serve as an outreach mechanism for sharing ideas related to sustainability in higher education, in general, as well as a means of documenting and sharing APUS’ experiences as it works toward achieving a more sustainable future.

Links and Citations

LEED Certified Projects Directory

National Wildlife Federation Campus Ecology Program

The College Sustainability Report Card

Sharp, L. 2009. Higher education: the quest for the sustainable campus. Sustainability: Science, Practice, & Policy 5(1):1-8. http://ejournal.nbii.org/archives/vol5iss1/editorial.sharp.html.

United States Green Building Council (USGBC). 2007. LEED Registered Projects. https://www.usgbc.org/ShowFile.aspx?DocumentID=2313. (March 19, 2010)

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

By: Wesley Holmes

SS Credit 6.1: Stormwater Design—Quantity Control

1 Point

Intent

To limit disruption of natural hydrology by reducing impervious cover, increasing on-site infiltration, reducing or eliminating pollution from stormwater runoff and eliminating contaminants.

Requirements

Case 1-Option 1. For sites with existing imperviousness 50% or less implement a stormwater management plan that prevents the post development peak discharge rate and quantity from exceeding the predevelopment peak discharge rate and quantity for the 1- and 2-year 24-hour design storms.

When land is altered for development, the way stormwater moves through the landscape is fundamentally altered. In an undeveloped landscape, trees, shrubs and other vegetation reduce stormwater runoff volumes through various processes. When rain falls to the ground the leaves of branches and shrubs catch or intercept the rain. This process, termed interception, lowers the total amount hitting the ground and reduces impact on topsoil. Transpiration is a more complex process where water captured in root systems is processed through the plant and released through leaves. In addition, the topography of an area usually will have natural depressions which collect water allowing evaporation. Ultimately these processes work to reduce the amount of water flowing through collecting streams and storm drains. According to a 2008 report issued by the National Research Council on Urban Stormwater Management in the United States in addition to entrainment of chemical and microbial contaminants as stormwater runs over roads, rooftops, and compacted land, stormwater discharge poses a physical hazard to aquatic habitats and stream function, owing to the increase in water velocity and volume that inevitably result on a watershed scale as many individually managed sources are combined.

When land is typically prepared for development it is graded, compacted and in many places paved. Grading removes the native soils and natural depression areas that once worked to retain rainfall and stormwater runoff on site. Compaction reduces the infiltration capacity of the underlying soils and increases the amount of rainfall that is converted to stormwater runoff. The addition of roads, parking lots, rooftops and other impervious surfaces work to further increase stormwater runoff volumes and flow. In the end, much of the rainfall that was once retained in the landscape is now converted to a flow of stormwater runoff. This increase in flow rates can have significant erosion impacts on receiving streams and riparian vegetation.

LEED Site Selection Credit 6.1 requires that the peak discharge rate and quantity of stormwater after development does not exceed the predevelopment peak discharge rate and quantity for the 1- and 2-year 24-hr design storm (Really heavy and lasting rain). Essentially this requires that the Academic Center development to maintain the rate and amount of runoff from the site. The runoff control is being achieved through a retention and treatment pond which will be covered in next weeks post on stormwater quality control.

External Links of Interest

EPA Urban Stormwater BMP Performance Tool

EPA National Menu of Stormwater Best Management Practices

Center for Watershed Protection

NBC News4 Washington has created an interactive tool to help measure your impact on the environment. It takes about 10 minutes to fill out. Be prepared with a recent gas and electricity. You don’t have to calculate anything – the tool will do it for you – just enter information about your lifestyle.

By Wes Holmes
I was expecting to find a typical, inefficient office park complex on my first visit to American Public University System’s (APUS) offices in downtown Charles Town, West Virginia.  Upon my arrival, I quickly realized that President Wallace Boston and the academic community at APUS were already setting very high standards for responsible, community-oriented growth and sustainable development.

 The APUS offices have been created from historic homes and buildings, mostly within walking distance of each other. I am honestly impressed by the facilities of the University.  It makes me even more proud to be an APUS student knowing that the institution implements a community oriented and culturally conscious business model.

In keeping with this unique paradigm of business growth coupled with community development, APUS recently broke ground on an ambitious project to convert a former scrap yard into a new academic center. In this effort APUS, will turn a vacant patch of land into an environmentally sound and cost-efficient place to work.

In the selection of this site, APUS has conformed to the site selection criteria necessary for LEED certification. The certification system specifies that when selecting land for development, areas that are designated as prime farmland or which serve as valuable habitat for important species should be excluded from consideration. The criteria also call for developers to avoid any land on or near a floodplain, wetland or waterbody.

The LEED site selection credit is intended to reduce the amount of valuable natural landscape developed annually. The goal is to encourage developers to focus on land that has already been altered and preserve what remains of the natural landscape. According to the Natural Resources Inventory, between 1982 and 2001, 34 million acres of natural landscape were developed for human uses. That’s an area roughly the size of Illinois, cleared, graded or otherwise altered from its natural state. In Charles Town, West Virginia however, APUS is effectively adding 45,000 square feet of commercial work space to the city of Charles Town while adding zero square feet to the city’s landscape footprint.

Through adherence to LEED principles, APUS has managed to create new economic opportunity while preserving landscape integrity.  Thus, taking a significant stride in establishing their institution within the Campus Sustainability Movement.

My name is Wesley Holmes and I will be your guide through the LEED for New Construction and Major Renovations Project Checklist. Building developments impact the environment by changing the physical characteristics of the landscape and ultimately influencing the natural processes of the area.

In the coming weeks we will review the literature concerning how the environment is impacted by development and how the USGBC credit criteria are intended to address these issues. The checklist is broken down into seven broad categories:

• Sustainable Sites
• Water Efficiency
• Energy and Atmosphere
• Materials and Resource
• Indoor Environmental Quality
• Innovation in Design
• Regional Priority

Within each category there are a number of potential credits to earn based on a variety of design and policy elements. These credits are intended to reduce the environmental impact of traditional development practices. Each week we will address a credit and review the literature surrounding the environmental issue the credit is intended to address. With some exceptions, the Credit Checklist largely parallels the process of designing and constructing a new building.

As much as possible these blog postings and the credits they address will parallel the development of the new Academic Center in Charles Town.