Office Building Possibilities Availabalble Now (Then, 2008)

Saving the Earth Inside the Office
Discovery Turns Its Spotlight Inward

By Alejandro Lazo
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, February 25, 2008

Larry Laque, an executive with Silver Spring-based Discovery Communications, felt something amiss last year as his company began gearing up to announce a 24-hour television channel devoted to an all-green lifestyle.

Discovery would be preaching environmental awareness around the clock on its Planet Green network, but Laque thought the company was not doing all it could do to recycle, conserve energy and pollute less.

So when the company's chief executive, David Zaslav, requested ideas to help market the new channel, Laque proposed an initiative to "green" the two-building headquarters.

Walking through those two buildings last week, Laque pointed to several changes the company had made. Green-handled, low-flush toilets had been installed in every restroom. Three 400-gallon tanks in the garage stored rainwater to irrigate the company's lawn. And numerous unnecessary light bulbs had been removed, such as vending machine lights.

"I do believe it is a lot of little things that add up," Laque said last week, standing in one of several sun-bathed conference rooms. "We are a big part of the problem, but we are also a big part of the solution."

Discovery ultimately decided to seek the highest level of certification possible through the District-based U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program -- platinum status. Only 62 buildings in the United States have won the designation. Two are in the Washington area: the Sidwell Friends School, on Wisconsin Avenue in Northwest D.C. and the Green Building Council's headquarters, on Massachusetts Avenue NW, just south of Dupont Circle.

The council's rating system has become the commercial real estate industry's benchmark for the design, construction and operation of environmentally friendly buildings. Businesses have rushed to embrace the system as fears of global climate change have become more prevalent and green credentials more marketable. Buildings are considered to be major energy consumers and big contributors of carbon emissions.

But even those who praise the LEED system say it is far from perfect. Developers get the same credit for taking steps that require relatively little effort as for those that require significant expenditures of time and money.

Nevertheless, the rapid acceptance of the Green Building Council's system has led to a transformation of the commercial real estate industry. New buildings are being erected to meet the new standards while real estate brokers seek accreditation from the council to better market existing office space to prospective clients. Green investment funds have been created by major real estate companies to pay for upgrades to existing buildings.

"I don't think any initiative that we have seen has been so quickly adopted and embraced in this business," said Mitchell N. Schear, president of Vornado/Charles E. Smith, a commercial real estate firm with a large presence in the Washington region.

The District and Montgomery County are among several local governments that have passed ordinances requiring that new construction adhere to the green standards.

The LEED system rates buildings by the number of points achieved in sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, indoor environmental quality and innovation.

The certification process is typically conducted via the Internet. To certify a project, a developer or owner must first register the building with the council.

Once the building is ready, the owner works through a checklist and submits documentation to back up the claims. A decision is typically rendered in one to three months. The average cost of certification is about $2,500.

Certain minimum requirements must be met to achieve certification. For example, pollution from construction sites must be controlled, certain minimum energy requirements must be met, recyclables must be properly collected and stored, and smoking must be prohibited.

To achieve LEED certification, a builder or developer must earn at least 26 points out of 69. Achieving higher designations such as silver, gold or platinum requires more points. While a builder or owner is free to choose which points are pursued, reductions in both energy and water usage are often necessary to advance. Discovery, for example, reduced its water usage by 25 percent and electricity consumption by 26 percent as it strove toward platinum certification, according to Laque.

Company representatives declined to disclose how much the green initiative cost because Discovery is in a quiet period before an initial public offering, expected this summer.

For new construction, the push to achieve top certifications can lead a developer to embrace a collaborative design process in which architects, engineers and contractors discuss from the onset what is desired, what is possible and what is economically feasible.

The early discussion is important, analysts and builders said, because one design change can often affect another. A building's orientation, for example, may affect what kind of windows are installed, which may then influence the type of lighting employed or what heating or air conditioning system may be required.

Such collaboration is intended to consider these trade-offs to create a more efficient building, developers and analysts said.

"Really that line between architecture and construction has become blurred," said Marnie Abramson, a principal with the Tower Cos. "You have to have a more comprehensive approach."

But some see flaws in the way points are doled out. Bill Oatey, owner of the Oatey Co., a Cleveland plumbing supplier and manufacturer, had one of his company's distribution centers certified under LEED. What perplexed him was that he earned one point for building the plant on a cleaned-up industrial brownfield site and one point for installing a bike rack on the premises.

But if the system is not perfect, for Discovery's Laque it at least allowed his company to set energy-saving goals, foster a team spirit and engage in ruthless self-evaluation. And as the year drew to a close, Laque's ambitions grew.

"We are going for platinum, we are going to do it," Laque recalled telling his staff. "We are going to do this, or we are going to die trying."

The Green Building Council awarded Laque and his team the platinum certification this year.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/02/25/ST2008022500790.html

Green House Event - Somewhat Hype

This is a good example of what can be done if you have money but to me this is basically a gimmick when they say carbon neutral. Gimmicks got us into this mess trhough and it will probably take a few gimmicks to get us through it. Green wash hype none the less - this house has nothing on what was going on at the Mall in the Solar Decathlon.

A Green Scheme
House Built and Designed With the Planet In Mind Shows 'Eco' Can Be Beautiful

By Jura Koncius
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 8, 2009

Yes, the exterior siding is made from recycled materials, the roof of recycled metal and the floors of reclaimed wood. And there are dual-flush toilets (that will each save 6,000 gallons of water annually) in the five bathrooms of the CharityWorks GreenHouse opening Saturday in McLean.

But beyond the usual building blocks of green living, 18 local design firms have made the area's first carbon-neutral show house a stylish delight, using Earth-friendly furnishings such as sleek kitchen countertops made of crunched-up landfill materials, burnt-bamboo architectural molding, milk paint and a pair of shed antlers used as curtain tiebacks.

A team of builders, architects and designers created an upscale yet cozy Craftsman-style family home that will be open to the public for three weeks. It's a green trophy house, expected to use 80 percent less energy than a comparable new one, that's overflowing with ideas for an increasingly eco-aware population.

The brainchild of developer West Group and Green Spur, a Falls Church builder of energy-efficient projects, it was conceived as a model home of sustainable living. Builders took apart a worn-out 1960s brick ranch house (recycling virtually all the building materials elsewhere) and used the corner lot to erect a two-level, 4,000-square-foot house with four bedrooms, a spa and a lap pool. It also has a geothermal heating and cooling system, two green roofs and a "smart home" system that informs the homeowner via iPhone of how much energy is being consumed.

"A lot of people think that a green house has to be some sort of exotic spaceship," says Ralph Cunningham, a principal at Cunningham/Quill Architects, the D.C. firm that designed the home. "This house is an embassy for the green movement because it's in a fairly typical suburban setting and is full of basic solutions."

To bring the green-is-the-new-black message of the house to a broad audience, the organizers decided to turn the project into a show house. They asked local designers to participate and chose CharityWorks, which raises money for community organizations, as the beneficiary.

Designers received 10 pages of guidelines for shaping spaces that would enhance the "health, safety and welfare" of the home's future occupants. They were asked to use sustainable products and reuse, reduce and recycle. And they were cautioned to choose ecologically sound woods and paints with low levels of volatile organic compounds. The project called for energy-efficient appliances and fabrics colored with no harmful dyes or chlorine bleach. Extra points were given for using antiques or repurposed pieces with no shipping involved.

The result is a functional house that is full of surprises. Designers had to dig to find the greenest solutions. They reused curtains, scouted mattresses with vegan batting and uncovered hemp rugs. There's even a virtual golf room with a High Definition Golf simulator of iconic golf courses around the world such as Pinehurst No. 2, Troon North and Casa de Campo: Golfers never have to leave the house to play (thus saving energy), though this version will set you back $58,000.

"The main message of this show house is you don't have to sacrifice comfort or luxury to live a carbon-neutral existence," says Barry Dixon, who chaired the house's design committee. Dixon also decorated the large, open kitchen and family room space, creating a pantry full of honey and jam put up at his Warrenton farm (a nod to eating locally).

Participants took up the cause with newfound relish. "It was challenging and was a learning process for me," says D.C. designer Gary Lovejoy, who did the library. "It convinced me that this is the direction that everything should be going: recycled and natural."

"Green is a learning curve on the residential side," says Washington's Victoria Neale, who did the dining room in lime and olive. "You have to ask a lot of questions, because the first thing [manufacturers] say is, 'No, I don't have anything green.' "

According to Bethesda designer Skip Sroka, who created the home office, doing a green project costs about 10 to 15 percent more, but he hopes costs will lower as eco-consciousness is raised. Sroka said the experience was different from any show house he has participated in. "Remember when we just used to say about a room, 'Isn't it beautiful?' Now we can say, 'Isn't it biodegradable, recyclable, sustainable -- and beautiful?' "

If You Go

The CharityWorks GreenHouse is at 1310 Calder Rd., McLean, and will be open Saturday through Oct. 30. Hours are Tuesday through Friday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday noon to 5 p.m. Tickets are $25 online and $30 at the door.

The house is within walking distance of downtown McLean. Visitors traveling by car should use the official parking lot at 1320 Old Chain Bridge Rd. and take the free shuttle. There is no on-site parking. For more information, call 703-286-0758 or visit http://www.charityworksgreenhouse.com.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/07/AR2009100700850.html