Masonry Magazine November 2011 Page. 30
GREEN BUILDING
There is no hiding the fact that buildings are leading contributors to the environmental plight of the planet. Although Ware admits she is overwhelmed at times with the responsibility that she and the other sustainability directors of the world face, she feels that every little step forward can lead to a big difference.
Ware began her career in Silicon Valley startup companies, and some of her former colleagues question her decision to join a corporate bigwig in an environmentally damaging industry.
"I've heard everything from 'working with the enemy' to 'selling out' to 'manipulating the system," she says.
But she remains optimistic and finds inspiration through Adam Werbach, former president of the Sierra Club, who advises Wal-Mart on how to be the economic leader in environmental policies and product requirements. If Wal-Mart can do it, anyone can do it. Although Ware nostalgically believes that some of the best green ideas come out of grass-root organizations, real change cannot happen unless it does so in a big way.
"I can reduce heaps of greenhouse gasses emissions if I use Oldcastle's organizational leverage - more so than if I try to build something from the ground up," Ware says.
Consider this: In the United States, buildings account for 42 percent of total energy use; 67 percent of total electricity consumption; 40 percent of total carbon dioxide emissions; 13 percent of total water consumption; and 60 percent of non-industrial waste generation.
Since Bonsal American and Oldcastle are such large companies, a lot of paperwork sails across Ware's desk. Electronic paperwork, at least. She has yet to go through one pack of printer paper in her two years working at Bonsal. A sustainability director touches all areas of a company: operations, finance, legal, human resources, marketing, research and development and, of course, public relations. Even though green declarations are coming under increased scrutiny from the Federal Trade Commission, a mad rush still occurs to get green marketing out in the public eye, despite the level of accuracy. However, Bonsal American commits to only doing so when the stats are backed up.
Ware adamantly agrees with this policy: "We do not make green claims, or any claim for that matter, without being completely comfortable providing full transparency to our customers and shareholders. Bonsal's reputation, and my reputation as a sustainably director and scientist, rides on our accuracy with these facts."
Sustainability directors have the responsibility of organizing environmental audits and certifications, and Ware enjoys seeing the company's statistical progress. Oldcastle spends 35 percent of its environmental investment budget tracking and monitoring progress. Oldcastle reviews progress with third-party auditors annually.
Green Education
The Artist's Backyard Furthers Green Initiative
So it stands to reason that teaching green construction techniques to today's students also bodes well for the future of construction. That future will center on using sustainable materials within projects with a role to play in protecting the planet.
The Artist's Backyard is a joint project between N.C. State University's departments of Landscape Architecture and University Housing. It's a plaza and rain garden between two older dormitories, Owen and Turlington Halls. It uses a combination of StormPave permeable pavers from Pine Hall Brick, along with materials that were recycled from a building demolition. New benches anchor a gathering spot where students visit with each other, read a book or text their friends.
Andrew Fox, an assistant professor at the NCSU College of Design, says The Artists Backyard is an outgrowth of last year's renovation of Syme Hall on East Campus. Fox pursued a $20,000 teaching grant through the university to lead his students through a design-build exercise to improve the Syme Hall site from a muddy mess to a beautiful rain garden.
The success of that project prompted Dr. Tim Luckadoo, associate vice chancellor for student affairs, who oversees housing on campus, to talk with Fox about additional projects. Those discussions turned into $175,000 in funding and a five-year plan to improve the landscapes around several N.C. State residence halls.
It's a win for both sides. Students get the real-world experience of designing and helping construct natural common areas, and the university gets cost-effective improvements to its surroundings.
Before The Artist's Backyard was built, surging stormwater would carry leaves and other debris across the existing concrete sidewalk. The solution is to use Low Impact Development design techniques to slow, capture and clean stormwater on site. Cisterns and the permeable paver installation re-direct stormwater into the rain garden and the ground, effectively filtering it and preventing erosion.
Nine days after the installation was complete, Mother Nature handed the college students a pop quiz. Thunderstorms rolled across central North Carolina and dropped 4.69 inches of rain, amounting to a 100-year flood.
"The surface water drained into the rain garden and it was dry, no puddling," says Fox. "The rain garden had handled that huge pulse of rain water. After four hours, the test wells were slowly infiltrating and the water was not standing."