Des Moines Register
04-08-07
Building green piques interest
Several new Iowa projects incorporate environmentally friendly principles
By WILLIAM RYBERG
REGISTER BUSINESS WRITER
Des Moines architect Kevin Nordmeyer expected about 20 people to show up for
the kickoff meeting of the Iowa chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council in
January.
Seventy showed up instead. There were real estate agents, architects,
engineers, building managers and interior designers - proof that environmentally
friendly, or green, building is picking up steam in Iowa.
"We're just seeing this incredible swell in interest," said Nordmeyer, a founder
and the first chairman of the Iowa chapter. He's a partner at RDG Planning &
Design, an architectural and design firm in Des Moines.
Green building principles - construction with environmental protection in mind are being used to design and construct buildings for governments, colleges and,
increasingly, for private businesses.
Nationally, a 2005 survey of architectural firms by the American Institute of
Architects showed a rise in the use of green design principles, driven by rising
energy costs and growing concern about the impact that construction has on the
environment.
Among architectural firms working on nonresidential projects, 34 percent
characterized some of their projects as green, according to the survey.
Championing the process is the U.S. Green Building Council, a Washington,
D.C.-based nonprofit building industry coalition. Its 7,500 members include
architects, engineers, companies such as Starbucks Coffee Co. and public
agencies such as state government departments.
The council began using an evaluation system in 2000 for determining a
building's level of environmental friendliness in design, construction and
operation called the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)
Green Building Rating System.
An estimated 6 percent of U.S. commercial construction is involved with the
LEED system, said Ashley Katz, a national council spokeswoman.
In Iowa City, construction is scheduled to start soon on a green building that will
become the new offices for Terry, Lockridge and Dunn, accountants and
business advisers, and World Trend Financial, a securities firm.
Tim Terry, chairman of the two companies, is a champion of green building. He is
president of the board of a private school that is on its way to getting LEED
certification for a building renovation.
"It's a fascinating process," he says.
About 800 buildings nationwide have been LEED-certified, including four in Iowa.
Another 5,500, including about 40 in Iowa, are under construction and on a path
toward certification.
Terry hasn't decided whether to seek LEED certification for the Iowa City office
building.
He estimates that it would cost about $40,000, mainly for the time that must be
spent documenting the building process in detail. For example, they must verify
elements such as the source of building materials and the manner in which waste
is handled.
Costs for the school certification are expected to be about $30,000, he said.
Nordmeyer said verification costs vary depending on the size of the project, the
location, the number of consultants that may be needed and the experience of
the project team.
Government buildings and buildings on college and university campuses were
among the first to seek LEED certification.
LEED, however, is spreading to private commercial buildings in Iowa and the
Midwest, following a trend already seen on the East and West coasts and
Southern states, Nordmeyer said.
In Dubuque, New York-based McGraw-Hill is constructing a four-story green
building that will become the headquarters for a division that develops textbooks
and digital products for use in teaching engineering and mathematics. McGrawHill is seeking LEED certification for its Dubuque building as part of its
commitment to corporate responsibility, said Tom Stanton, a McGraw-Hill
spokesman.
Katz said the national council has changed its approach in the way it tries to
create LEED interest for commercial structures.
The old way: touting the environmental benefits such as reducing impact on the
land, using less energy and water.
The new approach: emphasizing business benefits such as reducing utility bills
by 20 to 50 percent and reducing water use by 30 percent, Katz said.
Workers in green buildings, she adds, have fewer sick days.
These benefits can outweigh the costs of building green, which can add up to 5
percent to the cost of construction, although Nordmeyer says green features can
be built with no additional costs in some cases.
Up-front costs are more than offset by savings in energy and other operational
expenses, say Nordmeyer, Katz and others such as Mark Engelbrecht, dean of
the College of Design at Iowa State University.
An addition planned for the College of Design will be the first LEED-certified
building on the Iowa State campus. There are "environmental savings that may
not be easy to identify, but we know exist," Engelbrecht said.
Buildings don't have to be LEED-certified, however, to be environmentally
friendly.
The headquarters of the Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities, completed in
2000, was planned and built before the LEED system was in place.
The building is designed to consume 45 percent to 50 percent less energy than
conventional heating, lighting and cooling systems.
Chris Harrison, a vice president at Des Moines-based Weitz Co., a major general
contractor, estimates half of the company's clients ask for information about
LEED or green building, but only about 5 percent decide to go the LEED route.
Many others, however, want environmentally friendly features in their building,
although they don't want to go after LEED certification.
The new Wells Fargo campus in West Des Moines isn't LEED-certified, for
example, but includes many energy-saving features. The four buildings on the
160-acre campus include green features such as "daylight harvesting."
Photo sensors monitor the amount of light coming in through windows and adjust
the output of electric lighting.
The LEED system isn't only about the buildings. It's also a training system that
leads to LEED accreditation for building professionals, such as architects and
designers.
Mike Lubberden, director of facilities planning and management at Central
College in Pella, was Iowa's first LEED-accredited building professional. There
are about 200 now.
Two of Iowa's four LEED-certified buildings are on Central College's campus.
Features include catching rainwater runoff in a cistern and using it to water
greenhouse plants used for botany courses.
Lubberden became a champion of environmentally friendly buildings after being
inspired by a speaker at a conference.
The message: There are things that can be done to protect and preserve the
environment, and address issues such as energy use and global warming. "It
wasn't all gloom and doom and trying to bail out the Titanic with a teaspoon,"
Lubberden said.
Reporter William Ryberg can be reached at (515) 284-8104 or
bryberg@dmreg.com