In This Issue:

Green Advantage® Training Program & Certification
Virginia Tops Region in ENERGY STAR® Buildings
VA Climate Change Commission Convenes
WBC Green Seminar Offers Building Team Recommendations
Myth of Green Costs Debunked

Green Advantage^® Training Program & Certification

The GA training program was developed by the Delaware Valley Green Building Council in 2004 with the input of construction managers and general contractors with years of experience in green construction. The goals of the training are to help contractors:

• Think independently about the applications of sustainable concepts in the design and construction process
• Evaluate various green building products, processes, and technologies in context of environmental, cost, logistical and functional criteria
• Successfully complete the Green Advantage certification test

Certification is based on an established set of standards and is judged the GA Certification Board. In order to achieve GA Environmental Certification, you must demonstrate a basic knowledge of green design and construction concepts, materials and practices by passing the exam with a score of 75% or higher.

Training: April 8, 2008 7am-4pm
Exam: April 15, 2008 7:30am-9:30am
Location: JATC Facility
Cost: $275 per person
Contact Thang Nguyen for more information

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Virginia Tops Region in ENERGY STAR^® Buildings

Virginia building owners, many of them in the jurisdiction of the Electrical Alliance, are regional winners, with 290 ENERGY STAR-qualified buildings representing approximately 25.6 million square feet of space and saving an estimated $1.3 billion annually in lower energy bills, while meeting industry standards for comfort and indoor air quality. These buildings also prevent 473.6 million pounds of greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent to the emissions from more than 39,363 vehicles.

Top-performing buildings can be found in every state in the nation and the District of Columbia. States that are home to the most ENERGY STAR-qualified buildings are California, Texas, North Carolina, Virginia, Colorado,and Ohio.

Started in 1992, ENERGY STAR is a government-backed program helping businesses and consumers protect the environment through superior energy efficiency. Last year alone, American consumers and businesses, with the help of ENERGY STAR, saved $14 billion and prevented greenhouse gas emissions equal to those from 25 million vehicles.

The Energy Star program is a project of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It certifies and recommends products for energy features objectives. For more information and a complete list of certified buildings and their locations, please visit www.energystar.gov/labeledlist.

News from the Virginia Sustainable Building Network, visit www.vsbn.org. [top]

VA Climate Change Commission Convenes

The Governor's Commission on Climate Change held its first meeting on February 1, 2008 as part of Gov. Timothy M. Kaine's pledge to combat global warming in Virginia. By December 2008, the 39-member commission will recommend measures to reach Kaine's primary goal of reducing greenhouse gases by 30 percent by 2025—or roughly the same amount of emissions released into the atmosphere in 2000.

"I don't need to tell you that climate change is THE environmental issue of this and the next generation," Kaine told the group. According to estimates from the state Department of Environmental Quality, Virginia ranked 17th in the nation in 2004 for amount of combustible fuel emissions. Texas was No. 1.

“Energy use of fossil fuels is by far the largest source of greenhouse gases in the state, at about 89 percent, according to estimates. Of that total, about 36 percent comes from power plants and 31 percent from cars, trucks, ships and tractors,” said Tom Ballou, a state air-quality expert who tracks such trends.

Under the governor's energy plan released last fall, Virginia will achieve about half of the goal of 30 percent greenhouse-gas reductions through energy conservation and efficiencies. The commission is supposed to recommend ways to get the other half. For information on members and meeting dates, visit www.deq.virginia.gov.

Information from The Virginia Pilot, February 2, 2008. [top]

WBC Green Seminar Offers Building Team Recommendations

On February 27, 2008, Washington Building Congress members heard remarks by a panel of experts on green building happenings in the metro DC area. Speakers discussed the strategies for creating mandates and incentives by the governors of Maryland and Virginia and the DC mayor for increasing the momentum towards development and construction of more sustainable buildings. In December 2006, the DC government passed a bill requiring all future buildings, public and private, to meet green standards- a first for a major city. All new public and private buildings in DC more than 50,000 square feet must be LEED certified by 2012. In November 2006, Montgomery County, MD required that all new and renovated facilities more than 10,000 square feet must meet LEED or equivalent sustainable standards after September 1, 2008. While the Federal, state, city, and local political strategies vary, there is little doubt that LEED projects will continue to grow.

Typical projects described were the LEED gold certified office buildings by Louis Dreyfus at 1101 New York Avenue, 801 Seventeenth Street, 700 Second Street and its new condo development at Capital Place.

The LEED green building certification program is a proprietary and copyrighted method of ranking buildings after commissioning with the following point system: Certified 26-32 points, Silver 33-38 points, Gold 39-51 points, Platinum 52-69 points. There are different LEED reference guides for commercial new construction, renovation of existing buildings and for residential neighborhoods.

The hallmark of a green building is the efficient use of energy and water as well as environmentally friendly concepts in the materials used and siting among the surrounding area and landscaping. As such, electrical contractors should expect new and different materials and methods becoming involved. Whether or not they achieve LEED certifications through formal commissioning, new buildings likely will include more design for sustainability as concerns for energy and related environmental issues deepen.

Among the recommendations WBC seminar speakers made for the building team were the following paraphrased remarks:

• Developers must organize a professional team experienced with achieving the numerical credit standards of the USGBC to assure a successful project, including a LEED accredited consultant.
• Project planning must factor mandated rules and incentives by area governments with the ongoing leasing and rental market conditions to assure a profitable outcome.
• Architects and engineers must work together for making tradeoffs in design options in order to reach LEED goals in a timely and economical manner.
• Specifiers must include all the LEED related work and documentation required in the project contract documents and specifications and assign various LEED credits specifically to members of the contracting team to assure they are not blindsided with unestimated costs or undefined responsibilities.
• Suppliers of products and services must reduce costs while helping assure the best quality of materials and workmanship are obtained.
• Project managers must be coordinated and kept informed to keep the project on schedule and budget.
• Consequences of delays, omissions and failures to meet LEED goals must be settled through binding arbitration of all the parties in the development and building process.

The LEED credits grant an extra point to projects with a sufficient number of managers who are certified by the GreenAdvantage training program centered on the contracting team. This training is included in the project management education course offered by the NECA Washington, DC chapter. The Electrical Alliance is promoting the green qualifications of all members through new advertisements targeted to developers and general contractors touting the benefits of hiring IBEW/NECA contractors. For additional information call 703-658-4383. Download the advertisement in PDF format here. [top]

Myth of Green Costs Debunked

A new study just issued by Capital –E, a Washington based strategic consulting firm, debunks the notion that sustainable buildings cost too much. Contrary to this perception, and using real world examples, it shows that green buildings can be completed for an average of only 2% or from $3 to $5 in upfront costs. Projects illustrated are located in Pennsylvania, Oregon, and Washington. This report should help to overcome the perception that markets are not ready for the additional costs incurred in building green. The full ten-page report is available for download in PDF format here. [top]