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Session Title: The Evaluation of "Green Buildings"
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Panel Session 638 to be held in Capitol Ballroom Section 3 on Friday, Nov 7, 3:25 PM to 4:10 PM
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Sponsored by the Environmental Program Evaluation TIG
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| Chair(s): |
| Arlene Hopkins,
Los Angeles Unified School District,
arlene.hopkins@gmail.com
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| Discussant(s):
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| Steve Maack,
REAP Change Consulting,
smaack@earthlink.net
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| Abstract:
We humans live much of our lives indoors, in buildings. The design, construction, operation and maintenance of our buildings consume, by some calculations, an enormous 40% of our civilization's material and energy resources. The issue is that we need buildings that are more efficient if we are to achieve a sustainable quality of life for our civilization. Green building trends and technologies offer a solution to reduce the material and energy consumption of our buildings, and thus to increase the efficiency of our buildings.
This panel will focus on emergent evaluation standards and practices that are transforming the design, construction, operation and maintenance of our buildings into green buildings. In turn, our civilization's impacts upon our environment will lessen and our organizations' budgets will improve.
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Evaluating "Green Building" Performance: Building Commissioning
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| Arlene Hopkins,
Los Angeles Unified School District,
arlene.hopkins@gmail.cmo
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Ms. Hopkins will begin with an overview of the current technically oriented practices and standards in building evaluation. She will show how we can use the work of leading evaluation theorists and practitioners to frame a more systematic, rigorous approach for enhanced reliability and validity in building evaluation. She will then focus on 'building commissioning' as practiced by a growing number of agencies such as the United States Green Building Council, the Environmental Protection Agency, the California State Architect and the United Nations to evaluate 'green building' performance.
Ms. Arlene Hopkins is an architect and educator. As an architect, she has worked in technical evaluation of new construction projects for schools, some of which have been formally commissioned. Her consulting practice, Skye City, offers evaluation services for building projects.
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Methods to Evaluate Energy Efficiency in Existing Buildings
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| John Griffin,
Green Energy Consultants LLC,
johng@greenenergyconsultants.biz
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Rising oil prices and the current interest in energy conservation have given rise to a variety of evaluation methods for energy efficiency in existing commercial buildings. Evaluation metrics such as carbon footprint, ecological footprint, renewable energy credits, Energy Star Ratings measurement and evaluation standards that attempt to quantify energy efficiency. This presentation discusses these building evaluation standards with an attempt to understand their practical application and theoretical foundation.
Examples of building energy efficiency retro-commissioning projects will show wide variances in the practice of evaluation by different agencies and evaluators This discussion will conclude with a look at how evaluation methods might evolve so that building owners and tenants can rely on enhanced reliability and validity in the building evaluations, with a goal of more predictable and consistent energy efficiencies.
Mr. John Griffin is an energy management professional with an engineering degree, a law degree and an MBA. He operates Green Energy Consultants, LLC
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