World GBC Updates

By: Sonja Persram, BSc., MBA, LEED® AP
Date: December 6, 2009
Source: Sustainable Alternatives Consulting Inc. (www.sustainable-alternatives.ca/testimonial.htm)

The WorldGBC has undergone tremendous growth in the past year: there are 15 established WorldGBC members, 10 emerging members, 13 prospective members, and 22 associated groups; France became the newest member in November. WorldGBC events in 2009 (the Summit at the Green Building Festival in Toronto, Ontario, and GreenBuild in Phoenix, Arizona) showcased best practices and a variety of international strategies for targeting markets.

At the Green Building Festival:

Keith Priest of the UK’s Fletcher Priest Architects presented highlights of his company’s Watermark Place on the river Thames in London; an 800,000 sf Oxford Properties Group office building. The river is evoked in many design elements including the city’s largest riverside square which enhances pedestrian access to the Thames; and high performance multi-purpose glazing that provides internal thermal protection, shaded river views, and enables viewers fromthe river to see the water’s image on the cladding via pixelated colours and dot-matrix glazing in the vacuum separation. The building is zero carbon, naturally ventilated with night purging, and has a 50kW peak output solar pv array. Priest noted that tenant Nomura’s officers decided on the building when they saw the green roof.

Dutch Architect Tjerk Reijenga of Bear Architecten described some of his firm’s sustainable buildings in Europe. He noted there are key market incentives for sustainability in the Netherlands arranged by Senter Novem, the Netherlands Agency for Energy and Environment. These incentives include: a subsidy on solar energy of 25-40%, green loans for sustainable buildings at a 1-2% lower interest rate – including to homeowners; the EPC – energy performance coefficient rating for buildings; and, a subsidy on sustainable residential houses (e.g. a maximum of 15% of investment expenses to €1,000,000/project based on amount of CO2 saved). As well, the Netherlands engages in covenants with industry including real estate developers to build sustainably.

Two market approaches were presented by Indian architect Karan Grover and by the youngest brother to US Vice-President Joe Biden. Frank Biden - who specified that he was stating his opinions only, and not those of the administration - noted that when speaking with people who are open to learning about green building benefits but not yet persuaded, it is important to include financial data and avoid describing potential catastrophic impacts of inaction. Karan Grover presented a 3-screen video opening with a segment of Dr. Martin Luther King’s speech at the March on Washington in 1963: I have a dream, which is still thrilling to hear. Dr. King’s words were followed by a poem Grover had written, entitled The earth has a dream, which was accompanied by hundreds of uplifting nature photographs; images of ancient, green buildings; and - heartbreaking videos including a polar bear swimming endlessly to reach solid ice.

At GreenBuild:

At this year’s WorldGBC Day, audience members heard from Maria Atkinson, Global Head of Sustainability at international property group Lend Lease. Atkinson is on the Board of the UNEP Sustainable Buildings & Constructive Initiative (SBCI) and participates on its Climate Change Think Tank. She noted that recommendations for the December Copenhagen talks do not utilize the known potential of buildings for nationally appropriate mitigation action. While many who have read prior IPCC documents have noted the absence of high performance buildings among the solutions, Atkinson’s observation indicates the COP 15 recommendations have not kept pace with our growing knowledge of the capacity of buildings to address climate change: ‘there is actually no mechanism which would allow energy efficient buildings to become part of the negotiations’ (although) ‘the (building) industry has the skills and technologies necessary for halving greenhouse gas emissions in our cities by 2020.’[1]She cites the April 2009 SBCI finding that ‘out of 4,500 projects in the (Clean Development Mechanism) pipeline, only 14 are targeting energy efficiency improvements in buildings.’ [2]

Atkinson stated that as much as 82% of service sector companies’ environmental impact per employee is related to their premises’ location, design and operation.[3] She noted an approach recommended by Lend Lease, in a RAND Corporation study supported by the US Real Estate Roundtable and BOMA.[4] This approach is an interesting ‘Efficient Buildings Scheme’ for commercial property owners which would require owners to meet government-established electricity reduction targets; those that surpassed the goals would receive ‘white certificates’ or credits, while owners of less efficient buildings would be required to either reduce their electricity use or purchase offsetting certificates from owners of efficient ones. Cooler climates may require a more complex approach given the range of energy sources and end uses.

Leaders of 11 WorldGBC members were highlighted for a few moments each in the opening GreenBuild plenary. It would be great to have a more in-depth look at WorldGBC members and groups’ initiatives.

Stay tuned for two more articles on my GreenBuild takeaways. They are on systemic approaches to: accelerating building greening, addressing social equity issues, and understanding living systems toward regeneration; and, conference kudos.

[1] Atkinson, Maria, November 10, 2009 WorldGBC Day presentation manuscript

[2] Submission of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Sustainable Building Initiative (SBCI) to the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-Term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA), 24 April 2009: http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2009/smsn/igo/044.pdf

[3] Seppo Junnila (2004), The environmental significance of facilities in service sector companies. Facilities, v22 (7/8), 190-198, in UNEP Finance Initiative Principles for Responsible Investment, Building Responsible Property Portfolios: A review of current practice by UNEP FI and PRI signatories, http://www.unepfi.org/fileadmin/documents/building_responsible_property_portfolios.pdf

[4] Ries, Charles P., Jenkins, Joseph, and Wise, Oliver, Improving the Energy Performance of Buildings: Learning from the European Union and Australia, Rand Corporation, 2009.