In
this recorded interview, Dale McCormick, executive director of
MaineHousing and a member of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston’s Advisory Council,
discusses the creation of MaineHousing’s new Green Building Standards.
We could see that energy consumption was becoming more and more
important. Many people were talking about reducing carbon emissions
and global warming. We work with buildings, and buildings represent
40 percent of this country’s energy use — which is a
proxy for carbon emissions. I said, “What can we do?”
My goal has always been to add value and be socially responsible.
Lowering energy costs lowers operation costs, which in turn allows
rents to be lower and conserves subsidy. We decided to propose green
building standards for all of the multifamily housing that we build.
Developing these standards required hearings and a formal proposal
to our board and stakeholders, which include developers, consultants,
lawyers, and contractors.
It was a fascinating process. Two years ago we formed the Green Task
Force and began to work on developing the standards. We thought there
would be some resistance from the stakeholders, but there wasn’t
much. We quickly expanded the standards to cover rehabilitations
and single-family housing in addition to multifamily housing.
MaineHousing’s Green Building Standards, which are available
on our web site at mainehousing.org, are consistent with state policy
and the policies of our governor, John Baldacci. The governor is
a supporter of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative for New England,
which sets goals for greenhouse gas omissions. The legislature recently
passed a bill to implement the initiative and the governor signed
it.
The standards are wonderful — very straightforward. We like
to call them “mainstream green” or “commonsense
green” or “light green.” We haven’t
done a big study, but we estimate that buildings constructed under
the standards in the last two years are using 30 percent less energy
than those constructed without them.
The standards fall into categories that include site, building design,
energy efficiency, inspection, indoor environmental quality, materials,
and construction practices. A few asked builders and developers to
stretch. For example, the materials standard gives builders a choice
of using either wood from sustainable managed forests, locally manufactured
goods, or durable materials. We gave them a choice because we knew
this requirement would be a stretch.
Other standards require compliance with 2004 International Conservation
Code standards for R-values (a rating system for insulation), and
use of low-VOC (volatile organic compounds) paints, adhesives, and
sealants, and Energy Star light bulbs, fixtures, and appliances.
Perhaps the biggest stretch involves addressing building-envelope
issues. Builders are offered a choice between using very high-performance
windows or using alternative building-envelope systems that make
use of advanced framing techniques. These techniques have the potential
to make a building more heat efficient.
The Maine standards also encourage recycling. Many companies have
shown leadership in recycling construction materials because it made
good economic sense. I said, “Well, if they are finding a place
to put this material, why don’t we add recycling to our green
standards?”
We currently have a committee looking at the 2030 Challenge — a
plan developed by the architect Ed Mazria to make buildings zero-carbon-omitting
by 2030. We know we can reduce carbon omissions (considered the primary
cause of global warming) by 50 percent by doing certain things, but
we need to start talking to our stakeholders about how we plan to
get there. Developers in New Mexico (where Ed Mazria is from) have
more days of sun and could probably get to zero carbon emissions.
Up here we may never be able to get to that, but we can probably
reduce our emissions by 50 to 75 percent just by building differently
and using alternative sources of energy such as solar panels. We
are also considering a solar hot-water requirement for our buildings,
which may be added to the standards as early as next year.
Other strategies include having a higher R-value standard for insulation.
Some of the dense-packed cellulose and foam insulations are more
effective at stopping heat loss than fiberglass insulation. This
year we are proposing a new standard for insulation used between
wall studs. A four-story building with triple and quadruple studding
on the first floor leaves about two inches for insulation. We’re
trying to stay away from telling developers how they can build, but
we are saying that a building can’t lose more than a specified
amount of energy. Requiring a specific R-value means the developer
would have to wrap that building with foam or use a different kind
of insulation. We haven’t heard any negative comments on the
planned change, which will be in place in the fall.
Basically anything we finance now has to be green. We are very proud
to be the first housing authority in the country to require green
building. There was some concern that the green standards would increase
costs, but we believe there isn’t a premium because we’re
doing straightforward commonsense green. The six or seven projects
built so far under our green standards have come in at or below their
estimates. There was no upfront spike in costs associated with the
standards.
While some studies show a green premium of 2.4 percent, green technologies
repay that initial investment. Much of the premium is due to a construction
learning curve. A building crew installing green features may initially
need to do some things differently, but they eventually learn the
techniques and reduce their costs after two or three jobs.
MaineHousing is also participating in the governor’s carbon
challenge to reduce our carbon footprint by 10 percent or less. We
replaced paper towels with Energy Star hand dryers and replaced our
coffee system with one that brews into air pots. We saved three percent
of the 10 percent we needed just by turning off those coffee pots.
We also removed a tube from every florescent light and plan to replace
our current computers with ones that shut down when not in use. We
are slowly replacing printers with ones that print on both sides
of a piece of paper. We also installed solar panels on the roof,
which generate 10 percent of our energy, and went to flex time, which
allows people to work at home one day a week.
I became a journey-level
carpenter in 1975, so I have been involved with building for 30 years.
During that time the country hasn’t
made much progress in conserving energy and reducing carbon emissions.
Today, we’re dealing with the same issues that were a concern
back in 1975. President Reagan’s decision to remove solar energy
tax credits in the 1980s was one of the country’s less wise economic
decisions. Who is making windmill blades today? Denmark. Who is making
photovoltaic cells? Japan. We missed out on developing an industry
because the government didn’t
want to take the lead. T
|
