Sustainability Article Review

Climate Change Education in Worcestershire Schools
Green Teacher: Education for Planet Earth
Fall 2010

Worcestershire is rural area of a population of about 560,000. Increased flooding and other environmental concerns has led the City Council to begin investing in sustainable development.  They have developed a fifteen year plan and believe that small steps will and have helped to create a "connected, strategic and robust support structure".  Educational institutions have been the primary source for all of their current successes.  Their strategies objectives focus on:

• embedding sustainability in all aspects of the school experience
• curriculum development
• building confidence through active participation and involvement
• key processes
• putting schools, nurseries, youth clubs, colleges and the University at the heart of developing sustainable communities
• outdoor learning

The Council assisted schools that wanted to become "Eco Schools".  By July 2010, 65 of the 246 schools have been awarded the Eco Schools Green Flag Award. Worcestershire is now the county with the highest percentage of schools with Green Flags. 

The Council's strategy includes developing one new sustainable curriculum project per academic year.  Additionally they launched the Switch It Off project encouraging businesses, organizations, and households to switch off lights and appliances where they had a 10-20% savings.  This project spearheaded the creation for several other projects including:

• Change Week - a week long initiative for four k-12 schools educating them on climate change and how they can make a difference
• The King and the Draughty Castle - a play that launched an elementary school's Deign adn Technology Week focusing on energy conservation

Through examining these case studies it is apparent that success can be determined even in the smallest of initiatives.  It instigates conversations with the potential of educating more people and inspiring future change.  I agree with their philosophy that education is the key and they do a great job starting with children in elementary school. 

Afterthoughts

Places of interest during the UTA Fort Worth Center’s Sustainability Course in New Zealand & Australia.

Auckland:

The Iron Bank would make an excellent choice for the Sustainability course as it focuses on a mixed use building with a focus on “environmentally-sustainable design”. The system in place for the robotic car stacking design showcased is a recurring theme in several possible sights and can prove to be an innovative design with population dense areas within the United States.

Geyser Building is the first Green Star Office certified green building. Although currently under construction it affords the opportunity to see a design in progress and it’s possible affects on future construction projects.

Waiheke Island:

Waiheke Island is receiving a considerable amount of press with a recent project called the Lite House Show Home. The intrigue of this show home is due in part by the considerable measures the design company has put into the making of “New Zealand’s most sustainable mixed use building” With the opportunity to tour this facility, students and faculty will have the ability to ask pertinent questions and understand the current trends in sustainable development.

Te Whau Winery affords an excellent look at sustainable practices within New Zealand’s viticulture movement. This winery is considered on of the founding members of the movement whose future prospects include a conversion to organic and Biodynamic wine production

Rotorua:

As within the US sustainable development movement, hotels are taking a direct approach with reaching out to the budding “green” clientele. The Millennium Hotel, a Qualmark Enviro-Gold Accredited business, will allow for a general understanding of New Zealand’s hotel marketing strategy and implementation methods.

As with the Millennium Hotel, other businesses such as the Rotorua Aquatic Centre are trying to capitalize and lead the new “green” businesses in New Zealand. This type of “green” business is infrequently seen in the US and would provide a unique opportunity for students to see cutting edge design and question if such businesses are possible within stateside marketplaces.

Queenstown:

During this coursework it would be fascinating to compare New Zealand’s educational  advancements with sustainable education. Otago Polytechnic has created a school specifically for this purpose. The educational benefits for students currently enrolled in the UTA Fort Worth Center’s program would be greatly enhanced by understanding the current curriculum.

Sydney:

30 The Bond is perhaps one of the most interesting building design viewing opportunities for students within this sustainability program. The building is considered a leader in innovation with sustainable design and implementation. Its chilled beam technology is a point of interest. It also serves as the first 5 star Green Star office located in Australia.

Sydney also provides an excellent opportunity to understand sustainability practices within the food and hospitality services. Grazing and Sean’s Panaroma offer a new take on the “slow” food movement which has recently taken storm in America. These restaurants focus on not only organic ingredients but on growing or sourcing the ingredients within a hundred miles of their businesses.

Sustainability in Sydney, Australia - Day 4

Day 4 in Sydney took us to the development of 161 Castlereagh/242 Pitt. This project is being developed by Grocon, the largest private development and construction company, and is due to be complete in early 2013.  It is 50 levels of retail and office space.  Grocon has designed several sustainability elements to be incorporated in the building.  

Some of these features are:

·    Outside air is in 150% of the building 

·    High efficiency chillers with a 1200 kw trigeneration plant where the excess heat is used for heating the water

o   Building will be completely off the grid

·    Lighting is on timers and have plans to determine if they can make it the first LED building 

·    Automatic blinds

·    Rainwater harvested and test fire water collected for reuse

·    Reviewing the idea of installing wind turbines on the roof…they would like it to be the first building with their sign illuminated by wind

·    95% of the waste produced in the demolition process was recycled and 90% of the construction waste is targeted to be recycled

·    Trying to make it the greenest building in the world and plans to not only get Green Star rating but LEED as well

The building that started the sustainability journey for Australia was Bovus’ 30 Bond.  This development was by far my favorite to visit.  30 Bond received a 5-Star Green Star rating for design and as-build as well as a 5-Star NABERS rating for their operations.  It incorporated several green features, one of which was new to me, chilled beams.  This is a cooling system that uses chilled water to absorb the heat in the building.  Apparently water absorbs about 4x the amount of heat than air absorbs.  The ceiling tiles are perforated so the air can easily circulate throughout the building. Overall the building receives 90% of cooling from the chilled billed system and 10% from fresh air.  100% of building heating comes from fresh air. 

The design of the building is clean and rustically contemporary.  You walk into the atrium and are greeted by a beautiful, gigantic sandstone wall.  This wall provides a natural barrier to the elements maintaining a cool temperature in the atrium.  Cool air moves down the wall through grates on the floor to the basement.  The offices are huge open spaces where everyone has the ability to work together.  The windows have automatic shutters that regulate the natural to artificial light ratio in the building.  The community spaces including the kitchen and break areas are strategically placed in suspended pods throughout the building. They used goat hair carpet and bamboo flooring.  Additionally, they have a small rainwater tank, a green roof, and they send their “green” waste to a company that uses it to generate energy. 

Bovus plans to continue to incorporate sustainability features into future developments and do all they can to encourage their tenants to operate the building as designed.  An area of improvement mentioned by Matt Williams of Bovus was that they could track tenant energy and water better.    

Sustainability in Sydney, Australia - Day 3

Our sustainability journey continued in Sydney with a visit with Legacy Property.  A former Texan and native Australian formed this new company in May 2009.  Their business model was to focus on building up their consulting business for about 12-18 months in an effort to increase their client base and cash flow.  To date they have done work for 18 clients.

We were given an informative comparative analysis of the real estate differences between the US and Australia.  The biggest difference would be the fact that most of residential properties are sold at auction not by private treaty.  This process increases prices and extends the time taken to complete the deals.   

Regarding sustainable residential development in Australia, the government has mandated a set of general specifications called BASIX (www.basix.nsw.gov.au).  These guidelines provide regional solutions for reducing energy and water consumption.  This is definitely a step ahead of the US, where no such energy mandates exist currently.    

Our next stop was a discussion with Robin Mellon, Executive Director of Advocacy with the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA).   

The role of the GBCA is to rate, educate, and advocate sustainability building practices.  In developing the rating tools it was important to them to balance mandates and incentives.  They currently have 900 member organizations, which is the majority of the industry in Australia.  The GBCA has more rated buildings per capita than any other country. The rating categories include the following and can range from 1 to 6 stars:

·      Management

·      Indoor Environment Quality

·      Energy

·      Transport

·      Water

·      Materials

·      Land Use and Ecology

·      Emissions

·      Innovation

The future plans for the GBCA include:

·      Show government leadership and offer incentives

·      Make education and healthcare facilities greener

·      Concentrate on existing buildings

·      Widen the focus from buildings to communities

·      Embed green skills across the industry

Robin said they see a lot of buildings go for the design ratings in an effort to get the building sold, then later go for the as-build rating. Additionally, some green leases are put in place to ensure the builders go for the as-built to prove that they built what they said they would build.  He is starting to see buildings become producers instead of just consumers. 

The discussion ended with a tour of their office space.  They incorporated several sustainability features in their build out including:

·      Use 65% less energy than the other floors

·      No hot water

·      Greywater tank used to flush toilets

·      CO2 monitors to regulate fresh air flow (Copy room is on a separate unit)

·      Worm farming of green waste (food) used for plant food

Sustainability in Sydney, Australia - Day 2

I was looking forward to this day….after reading his book and learning about his innovative solutions for refitting his home to be completely of the grid…I knew it would be an exciting visit.  As we walked up to Michael Mobb’s Sustainable House, I wouldn't have believed we were in the right place if he wasn't standing in the doorway.  Mobb was previously employed as a lawyer and according to him, he has “rejoined the human race” with this new calling.  The house looked just like all the other houses on the street.   

He welcomed us in his home and provided an informal tour and overview to the key features of his retrofit.  The most prevalent feature was the rainwater collection and greywater recycling systems. The system starts off with covered rain gutters where the rain runs down a pipe with a leaf catcher.  The first inch of rain runs out of the system and takes with it all sediment and residue from the roof.  It then runs to his buried 10,000 liter concrete tank.  He uses the rainwater for all the faucets in the house or anywhere the water can be ingested. All water waste or “used” water is then recycled and utilized for toilet flushing, irrigation, and washing clothes.  Through trial and error he has created a wetland to handle the runoff and mosquitoes.  This trial and error has led to Mobb unselfishly opening his house up as an educational tool where many can learn from his mistakes.  Additionally, in keeping with outreach, Mobb and his neighbors have created a community garden along with compost bins which line the streets and are open to anyone who wishes to use them. 

Mobb has used his 14 year journey as the groundwork for his new job as a consultant.  He has assisted several developers and has provided information on how to go off the main water system. 

On our walk back from the tour and discussion with Micheal Mobb we walked past a new development called One Central Park (www.centralparksydney.com.au).  The showroom was impressive...all white doting a green wall of plants.  Each plant was tucked into a felt pocket.  Each of the showrooms were uniquely designed by very distinctly different architects.  This developer plans to implement several sustainability projects like the green facade, rainwater collection, energy efficient appliances, trigeneration plant, and solar panels with reflective mirrors to heat the pool.  They are striving to obtain the highest green star rating.  

This find is just proof that cities like Sydney are green examples for the rest of us.

Sustainability in Sydney, Australia - Day 1

We arrived in Sydney on Sunday, January 9^th and visited the Powerhouse Museum – Ecologic Exhibit the following Monday.  The exhibit existed of a variety of educational displays including statistics on CO2 emissions, water pollution, footprint analysis, recycled materials, and building products just to name a few.   

You are able to learn why it is important to minimize the impact on our environment as well as resources we can utilize to do it.  There was a model of the Sustainable House that we plan to visit on Tuesday. The museum is a great resource for educational institutions, the community, and is a great template for our Fort Worth Resource Center.

Sustainability in Auckland, New Zealand

The visit with Gary Caulfield of Stanley Group on Monday, January 3^rd proved to be extremely informative and educational.   

 Stanley Group has been in business for 87 years and is divided into 4 divisions:

·    Stanley Construction: boasts of only producing 0.5% waste on projects due largely because of bulk purchasing procedures, good designs, and utilizing pre-cut timber

·    Stanley Eco-Build: cladding and green building elements, hasn’t really gathered too much momentum to date largely due to the economy, they are currently working on a Green Modular Classroom.

·    Stanley Joinery: manufactures kitchens, tables, and other case goods

·    Stanley Modular: develops innovative solutions utilizing off site fabricated, fully finished and furnished pods

Stanley conducted a carbon emissions study 2 years ago for approximately $20,000 solely because they felt it was the “right thing to do”.  Stanley is known for providing innovative solutions to unique development issues and projects. It is apparent that Stanley works diligently to minimize their waste and be aware of their impact on the environment by their 0.5% recorded waste statistic and their willingness to understand their footprint.  One obvious disadvantage for Stanley and other New Zealand contractors is the transportation issue.  To reduce emissions it would make the most sense to buy local whenever possible but some items are overpriced and the contractors can get the products a lot cheaper if they purchase overseas.  You just hope that by being proactive and diligent on the controlled sustainable features, it will neutralize this existing transportation anchor.  

Gary touched on one of the major problems with New Zealand’s existing structures: leaky buildings. New Zealand utilizes approximately 99% timber and 1% steel in their developments and the timber used between the years of 1983-2005 was untreated.  This plus the monolithic cladding and temperature extremes inhibited the buildings to move thus causing them to leak.  Gary estimated this to be a $12-20 billion problem just in the residential sector. This problem has resulted in several lawsuits as well as many more to come in the future.  The saddest fact really is that contractors can still purchase and use untreated lumber.

There appears to be some disconnects between the results intended and the actions taken from the New Zealand government regarding sustainable initiatives.  There is a huge deforestation process going on right now in order to provide open land for dairy production.  However, this initiative only allows for more CO2 emissions to be generated by the methane-producing animals.  Sort of robbing Peter to pay Paul type of scenario.

Lastly, Gary provided some excellent insight into New Zealand’s Green Council. The interim council began in 2004 followed by the full council in 2005.  The green rating tool was modeled after Australia’s system. There are 4 areas of focus: Design, As-Built, Existing, In-Use.  The tools for each of these systems cost approximately $100,000 to develop and were funded by industry.  Green Star buildings have not been sold at a premium however, Gary, has seen these building sell faster than other non-Green Star buildings. 

The walk from Stanley Group to Iron Bank took us through the museum, park, University, and the hospital, and finally to its home in the newly redeveloped area of the “red light district”.  This walk allowed us to see a large part of Auckland’s CBD.  To date this redevelopment only consists of approximately 3 of 4 restaurants and the Iron Bank development.  The actual Iron Bank, a $35 million project, is currently unoccupied or leased apart from one restaurant.  The most impressive feature would have to be the parking garage with the automatic car stacker.  We watched the car pull through the glass doors onto the automatic rail system where it ushers the car in to the elevator stacker.  The garage stores approximately 133 cars and cost $18 million to build.  

We met with Sarah Ballantyne with Cooper and Company, the developer and owner of Britomart, as well as Terry Buchanan with Hawkins Construction who is building out the project.  The Britomart East Project development will consist of retail space on the first floor and was originally designed for high-end residential space on the top three floors.  There would have been 14 apartments costing approximately $3 million each.  However, due to the economic climate Cooper and Company decided to adjust the designs for commercial office space.  These designs provide the owner with the flexibility to move back to residential if the market opens up.  The construction costs for the East Project are about $210 million NZ and is about 40,000 square meters (roughly 400,000 sq ft).  

Cooper and Company has fully leased the building to 3 companies: West Pak, Ernst & Young, and Southern Cross.  Southern Cross occupies about 20% and will be the first to occupy by the first of March.  The building received a Green Star 5 rating for design – high-energy efficiency.  Some of the sustainable features incorporated in the design are:

·    High performance glazing to provide excellent insulation

·    High frequency lighting ballasts

·    Low VOC products

·    Utility energy metering

·    Close proximity to public transport, no car parking facilities on site

·    Construction waster recycling and minimization

·    Integrated finish out with tenants

·    Grey water retention, storage and reuse facility – collect rainwater for toilet  flushing

Although not originally intended as a mix use building, this like many development projects we have seen thus far, seem to benefit by the advantage of catering to residential and business customers. With the US housing market’s recent downward trend it would be interesting to determine if the success of recent projects such as Addison Circle (Near Dallas, Texas) has encountered success compared to single use buildings built during the same time period.