Tag Archives: LEED/green design

A tale of 2 green roofs

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green roof

Chicago City Hall’s Green Roof

Two commercial “green” roofs have been in the news this week [Note: this article was originally published on February 17, 2011].   One involves a collapse; one involves energy savings.

Green Roof Collapse

The green roof at the Aquascape, Inc. warehouse in Illinois collapsed over the weekend, likely due to melting snow and ice.   A 50 foot wide section of th 256,000-square-foot roof (allegedly the largest sloping green roof in North America) collapsed on Sunday, although no injuries were reported.  A team of structural engineers from the building’s design firm is investigating the cause.  As noted in a company press release, St. Charles, IL, where Aquascape Inc’s head office is located, had been recently hit with a major snow storm where 20.6 inches of snow had fallen in less than 24 hours, followed by above freezing temperatures causing a quick thaw.  An ice damn at the base is suspected to have backed the water up over the parking structure causing its collapse.

Solar Roof goes “live”

While Aquascape’s engineers are investigating their roof collapse, there is some good green roof news closer to home.  Raleigh-based marble company David Allen Company has recently “flipped the switch” on a photovoltaic solar energy facility that  it claims is one of the largest rooftop photovoltaic systems in the Triangle, with  700 solar modules covering 23,000 square feet of the rooftop of the company’s warehouse.  The company hopes to offset at least 35% of its current electrical costs, and sell energy to Progress Energy as well, according to Triangle Business Journal.

Legal Implications related to Roof Design?

Both of these roofs bring up legal issues.  Was the Aquascape green roof designed appropriately to accommodate loads in a winter climate?

With so many roof collapses this winter (including, of course,  the Minneapolis metrodome) , is there, or should there be, a duty on the building’s owner/maintenance crew to proactively remove snow accumulations?

For new solar roofs, such as at David Allen Company, who assumes the risk if the expected cost savings are not realized?

Based on the sheer number of roof collapses this winter, and the number of green projects growing steadily, there is sure to be some litigation addressing at least some of these issues in the near future.  Stay tuned.

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Photo Courtsey Wikipedia/Creative Commons license 

wind turbine

NC Green Contractors & Professionals Directory (Tue Tip)

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wind turbineUpdate 3/9/2017: The NC Solar Center is now the NC Clean Energy Technology Center.  When last visited, the Professional Directory was no longer active.

Considering a Renewable Energy project?  Professional who specializes in green construction?  Either way, check out the North Carolina Green Professional Directory, published (with disclaimers) by the NC Solar Center.  The directory is searchable by professional type, by green technology, and by location, and professionals who qualify can apply to be added to the directory.

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Photo from NC Solar Center

What is “green design” ?

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What is included in “gPlatinum LEED signreen design”? Green design (also known as sustainable design or environmental design) is the concept of construction built with principles of economic, social, and ecological sustainability.  The most well-known green design, by far, is the LEED green building certification process of the US Green Building Council.

Yesterday, I had a chance to attend Phil Kabza (“SpecGuy”)’s presentation “Specifying LEED Requirements: The Best of Green from Masterspec” at the GreenNC trade show.

According to Phil, there are 4  general LEED credit requirements for construction, including:

1.  Refrigerant & clean agent removal

2.  Construction waste management

3.  Construction indoor air quality management

4.  Measurement & verification (post construction)

As Phil emphasized, LEED specs must be project specific, and should not simply be cut and pasted from previous projects.

Want to see a LEED specification in action?  Check out an example of a LEED Spec on Sustainable Design Requirements (01 81 13) here.

Interested in learning more about LEED and its requirements?  Check out the mother of LEED, the USGBC .

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Photo “Platinum LEED” by Seth Anderson via Flickr/Creative Commons License. 

LEED Credibility Challenged– UPDATE

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[This article was originally posted on June 10, 2010]

A group of local citizens, designers, and school board Building Committee members in Eagle Ridge, Wisconsin has issued a statement expressing their belief that LEED certifications are now suspect, following the failure of the USGBC to withdraw LEED Certification from the Northland Pines High School.  The group had appealed a decision to dismiss their claims that the LEED Gold certification for the school should be revoked, despite clear evidence which, they claim, shows that the building did not meet specific ASHRAE Standards, which are prerequisites to getting a LEED (green) building certification.

 They call into question the value of LEED certification if there is no verification of a purported building’s “green” credentials.

 You can download their statement of concern “USGBC and LEED Credibility Destroyed”.

  As previously mentioned on this blog, there is no clear idea of how the Courts would treat any LEED-specific claims.  Yet.  Stay tuned.

 UPDATE:  This afternoon, the USGBC has issued a statement standing by their findings:

LEED’s intent, and USGBC’s mission, is about helping people learn about and understand how to design, build and operate better buildings.  Buildings are complex systems of systems and any of the 100,000 of decisions associated with design, construction and operation can always be second-guessed. We are confident that our due diligence has been more than sufficient to put these issues to rest, and we are moving forward to focus our efforts where they do the most good — advancing the market uptake of green buildings and communities that is at the heart of our work

The full statement and commentary can be reviewed at Chris Cheatam’s article “Breaking: USGBC Stands by Its LEED Challenge Decision.”

Model Green Hotel—Putting the “Green” in Greensboro

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[This article was originally posted on June 7, 2010]

This Sunday’s N&O featured a piece on the Proximity Hotel in Greensboro, NC.  Developer Dennis Quaintance is the man behind the hotel, which is the first hotel in the country to obtain a Platinum LEED rating.  According to its website,  the Hotel was built to use 40% less energy and 30% less water than a comparable hotel.  Innovations include  a unique elevator design which captures and reutilizes the system’s energy expenditure as well as 100 rooftop solar panels to generate hot water.

In stark contrast to the recent Town of Cary decision  to forego LEED certification for its new fire department building, the Proximity Hotel has spent approximately 3% extra to obtain its certification.  Developer Quaintance expects to make the money back, through a combination of energy efficiency and state and federal tax credits, as early as 2012.

If more developers calculate that they can make more money through the LEED program, expect to see more LEED certified buildings in the future.  For now, however, two years after the Proximity Hotel first opened, there is only one other platinum hotel in the U.S.