Cruising Into the Future

June 23 , 2005 Vol. 1 Issue 3
The Business Case for Sustainable Design
LEED® and the Bottom Line

215 LEED Certified projects and 1,900 seeking certification in the 50 States, in 13 countries accounting for approximately 225 million square feet of green buildings.

High performance and sustainable design are among the founding principles of Workstage. Both values are integrated into the design of new Royal Caribbean Customer Service Center. LEED Certification for Royal Caribbean signifies their ongoing commitment to a healthier workplace and environment and equates to incentives from the state of Oregon. These incentives are commonplace nowadays, many state and federal programs are offering incentives for organizations that incorporate energy savings and use environmentally friendly materials.

The Royal Caribbean project was designed to qualify for LEED certification, the first level of the measurement tool’s scale. If everything goes according to plan the building could possibly attain Silver Certification, the next level up. The two higher certification levels are Gold and Platinum with Platinum as the highest, both levels Workstage is pursuing for other projects.

LEED® (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) has been gaining significant ground in a real estate industry full of confusing acronyms. As a sustainable building measurement tool introduced by the U.S. Green Building Council in 2000, LEED has reached CEOs, school boards, state and federal government officials, universities, and hospitals. These organizations and others are embracing sustainable design not only because it is good for the environment but also because it’s good for their bottom line.

LEED is the industry’s preeminent standard for defining green, sustainable facilities. Based on a point system, the credits come from one of six categories: Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy & Atmosphere, Materials & Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality, and Innovation & Design Process.

A Quick Point by Point Look at the Royal Caribbean Project Of the 37 possible LEED points attainable in the categories of Water Efficiency, Energy & Atmosphere and Indoor Environmental Quality, the design team has attempted to achieve 20 points. Most of these points are related to heating, ventilation and air conditioning, electrical, and plumbing systems.

The energy efficiency of the building was the focus of the points that were sought in the Energy & Atmosphere category. Energy modeling of the building and the HVAC and lighting systems show that the building is 34% more energy efficient than required by ASHRAE 90.1 and should secure 5 LEED points. It is anticipated that the energy savings should equate to $41,000 annually based on current utility pricing schedules. Utilizing a higher supply air temperature through the under-floor air delivery system saves energy by using smaller fans and requiring less outdoor air. Other factors that contributed to the energy efficiency of the building were energy efficient glass, an Energy Star roof, high efficiency heating systems, and high efficiency lighting systems.

Because the underfloor air systems are more effective at delivering ventilation air to the building occupants than traditional overhead mixing systems, we were able to gain points in the category of Indoor Environmental Quality. The design also calls for a ventilation control scheme based on the amount of CO 2 present in the space. When more people are in the space and the CO 2 level increases, more outdoor air will be introduced. This also helps the energy efficiency of the HVAC systems by not cooling or heating large amounts of outdoor air when the building is at lower occupancy levels.

Life cycle costs, energy savings, eco-sensibility, green incentives and healthier, happier employees are just a few of the benefits an organization will accumulate by building green.

“It is important for all of us to recognize the social and business rationale for High Performance Buildings” explains Jack Cottrell, President/CEO of Workstage, “there are hundreds of reasons – the fact that it makes good business sense is just one of them.”