RNLgreen

RNL Launches Sustainable Design Coordinator Workshops – First Session Gets Surprise Visit by Ed Mazria

RNL’s Sustainable Design Coordinators are an integral part of every project team and help insure progress toward meeting our project sustainability goals such as LEED and the 2030 Challenge. To learn more about the Sustainable Design Coordinator role refer to the Sustainable Design Coordinator Description on the RNL intranet and the blog posting The New and Improved Green Champion!

Friday, September 12^th, the Denver office conducted the first of a series of workshops to educate our Sustainable Design Coordinators on new RNL tools and resources for sustainable design. One of the major objectives of the workshop was to ensure that Sustainable Design Coordinators have access to our most current best practices and are effective at enhancing the sustainability of our projects.

 

The Sustainable Design Coordinator workshop combines team exercises, group discussion, concept presentations and a mock project.  The workshop agenda includes the following topics:

1. Sustainable Design Coordinator
2. Resources
3. 2030 Challenge
4. Energy
5. Carbon Footprint
6. Sustainability Goals
7. Integrated Design
8. Green Value Analysis
9. LEED
10. Beyond LEED

 

A core part of the session includes detailed information on how to meet the 2030 Challenge. The 2030 Challenge is a call for phased reduction in the consumption of fossil fuels in buildings starting with a 50% reduction today and getting to carbon neutral buildings by the year 2030. RNL has adopted the 2030 Challenge which is endorsed by the AIA and by the US Conference of Mayors. Provisions of the 2030 Challenge have been incorporated into the new US Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 which will require Federal Buildings to comply with a phased reduction of fossil fuel consumption. The 2030 Challenge is developed and administered by the non-profit Architecture 2030, founded by Ed Mazria, AIA. Ed Mazria paid a surprise visit to the training session while he was in Denver to deliver a keynote address on the 2030 Challenge for the US Green Building Council.

 

Sustainable Design Coordinator Workshops will be conducted in the Phoenix office September 16^th and 17^th. More sessions will scheduled and announced in the near future. The workshop is required for all those that want to serve as the Sustainable Design Coordinator role on projects. However, the workshop is open to anyone interested in learning more about RNL’s sustainable design process.

Two Recent Green Building Studies Confirm LEED and ENERGY STAR Buildings Deliver High Performance and High Value

Just over a week ago the U.S. Green Building Council put out a press release announcing the release of two new studies on LEED and ENERGY STAR buildings. The two studies demonstrate that LEED and ENERGY STAR buildings outperform conventional buildings in energy savings, occupancy rates, sales price and rental rates.

The National Buildings Institute (NBI) study compares the energy use of LEED and ENERGY STAR buildings to conventional buildings and found that on average LEED buildings generated energy savings of 25 to 30% compared to conventional buildings, with LEED Gold and Platinum buildings approaching energy savings of 50%. The complete NBI study can be found at: https://www.usgbc.org/ShowFile.aspx?DocumentID=3930

The CoStar study compares rental rates, occupancy rates and sales price of LEED and ENERGY STAR buildings to conventional buildings and found that LEED buildings generate rent premiums of $11.33 per square foot over conventional buildings with a 4.1% higher occupancy rates. ENERGY STAR buildings also generated value with rent premiums at $2.40 per square foot and occupancy rates 3.6% higher than conventional buildings. LEED buildings are selling for $171 per square foot MORE than conventional buildings and ENERGY Star buildings are selling for an additional $61 per square foot over conventional buildings. The complete CoStar study can be found at:
http://www.costar.com/partners/costar-green-study.pdf

Denver mayor announces green initiative

Mayor Hickenlooper yesterday announced his "Greenprint Denver" plan to make the city more sustainable. Articles outlining the plan are in The Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News, and both the Post and the Rocky published editorials on the plan.

What do you think of the plan? Is it enough? Is it too ambitious?

RNL’s New Green Building Blog

Welcome to RNL’s Green Building Blog! Use this blog as a source of news and information for all things green at RNL. Blog entries are displayed chronologically but are also organized by categories and archived by date for easy searching. Please feel free to add comments to blog entries or to email me with topic ideas or questions. We hope you enjoy this new feature and that it becomes a valuable resource for making our practice even greener.