More than a ton and a half of obsolete, broken or spent technology – 3,592 pounds, to be exact – was brought in for recycling this month by the staff of ASCE and fellow building tenants the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, showing that employees are definitely embracing the sustainability spirit of LEED certification.

The effort went well beyond disposing of office equipment; employees were encouraged to bring in items from home. Because much of the old technology contained poisonous materials, including lead and mercury, a company specializing in e-repurposing and recycling disposed of the toxic electronics responsibly, so none of it ended up in traditional landfills. Many devices are disassembled, and the parts with practical reuse value are resold on the online market. Reusing electronics by selling the usable parts can save 5-20 times more energy than recycling alone.

LEED is more than just making building facilities more sustainable, it’s also about encouraging building occupants – typically employees of the tenant – to adopt sustainable practices. The employee transportation survey detailed in our December 22 post was part of that effort, as was this latest e-cycling campaign by ASCE and headquarters building manager, Akridge.

If you’re pursuing LEED-EB certification, consider including e-cycling campaigns. If you have had such efforts, what was your experience? Did you learn any lessons to share from their success or failure?

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

Making changes to qualify for LEED-EB gold certification has had an impact on many of the buildings operations here at ASCE headquarters – including the way we clean.   ASCE created a green cleaning policy that applies to the entire building, encouraging the use of only green cleaning practices and products.  The over goal is to reduce building occupants exposure to potentially hazardous chemicals and improve the overall indoor environmental quality. 

Included in the policy are requirements that state all cleaning products and equipment meet LEED standards, and that all cleaning personnel receive at least eight hours of training related to cleaning procedures. The training covers hazardous use, maintenance, disposal and recycling of cleaning chemicals, as well as dispensing equipment and packaging. 

The health and welfare of all building occupants is always a top priority.  Only hand soaps with anti-microbial agents are used within the building.  In addition, ASCE and our property management company Akridge our working together to develop strategies for promoting and improving hand hygiene that includes information on hand washing and the use of alcohol-based waterless hand sanitizers.

Has your company made the switch to green clean supplies?  Did you notice any difference?

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

Tags: American Society of Civil Engineers, ASCE, ASCE Foundation, Green claning policy, Green Cleaning, LEED Cleaning, LEED Credits

While the ASCE Foundation has made great strides in reducing the use of energy and water in the ASCE headquarters building , reducing employees’ carbon footprint from commuting to and from work is another important step in achieving LEED-EB Gold certification.  In order for the Foundation to follow the guidelines outlined in the LEED standards, it needed more information on employees’ usage patterns.

The first step was to develop a commuter survey to map the transportation habits of building employees. The survey evaluated employee commuter habits over five consecutive work days from Oct. 31 – Nov.  4; it included not only ASCE employees but also the building’s fifth-floor tenants, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.  Combining staff from both organizations, a total of 338 people took the survey for a 93.8 percent response rate, exceeding expectations.

The survey findings showed that on average, the majority of employees (78.8 percent) chose to drive alone to work during the time period surveyed.  Other transportation options included carpool, vanpool, public transit/metro/bus, motorcycle, bicycle, walking and telecommuting.  Drivers were also asked which types of vehicles they drove to work during this time period, to determine how many employees are driving conventional gas-powered vehicles versus low emitting fuel-efficient vehicles.  According to the survey, 5 percent drove hybrid electric vehicles and 20 percent drove vehicles that meet LEED standards for low emitting fuel efficient vehicles.

The Foundation added a question to the end of the survey, asking employees what would motivate them to use an alternative commuting method.  The top two responses were telecommuting and completion of the Dulles Corridor Metrorail.  Due to the building’s close proximity to one of the planned Metro stops (less than five miles), completion of the Metro extension has the potential to decrease our carbon footprint as more employees choose public transportation as their main method of commuting in the future.

Overall, the survey findings will help the Foundation track employee trends to determine if adjustments should be made in the future to further reduce the environmental impact of employee commutes.

Has your company instituted a telecommuting program such as “Green Friday” or bought carbon offsets? Do you think that these efforts have had a positive environmental impact?

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

This past Monday morning, a newly designated smoking area greeted ASCE staff as they entered the headquarters parking lot.  Creating a designated smoking area is another item to cross off the ASCE Foundation’s LEED-EB Gold certification checklist.

LEED-EB requirements state that for Gold certification, ASCE must prohibit on-property smoking within 25 feet of entries, outdoor intakes and operable windows. This requirement serves to prevent or minimize the exposure of staff, visitors, as well as indoor surfaces and systems to tobacco smoke.

While smokers might have to walk a bit farther before they light up, the new smoking area is located in an area of the parking lot that is easily accessible from one of the building’s main entrances, and includes an enclosed structure to shield them from the elements.  This small change will not only impact the Foundation’s certification efforts, but will also improve the overall air quality for ASCE staff and visitors.

Does your company or organization have a designated smoking area? If so, do you find it helps reduce the air pollution caused by tobacco smoke? How has it been received by your employees?

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

As the ASCE Foundation moves closer to achieving its goal of LEED Gold certification for the Society’s headquarters in Reston, Va., the building’s lighting system is the latest area to receive a LEED makeover. In late October ASCE and the office building management team from Akridge began the process of replacing all existing T12 lighting tubes and non-electric ballasts with T8 tubes with electric ballasts. This is a crucial step in achieving certification because LEED standards require ASCE to track and further decrease its energy footprint over time.

Throughout the building, the new lighting tubes have been placed on sensors. This has made turning off the office lights one less thing for staff members to check off their to-do lists before heading home after a busy day. Each of the ceiling-mounted sensors had to be engineered to fit their individual locations. Occupancy and hallway sensors had to be engineered to match conditions in the individual spaces. Through some trial and error, the team found that several offices needed a dual function sensor and ceiling-mounted sensor.

During the replacement process the installation team also paid special attention to lighting colors, so that the new tubes would comply with existing color range standards. Once all old tubes were removed, they were recycled to meet the remaining LEED requirements.

The only significant issue the team faced during this project, according to Akridge projects manager Steve Philips, was that the contractors hired to help ASCE meet its deadline installed ceiling sensors in the ASCE conference center and in select classrooms. As anyone who has attended a conference session knows, there isn’t a steady stream of movement throughout the event. This occasional lack of movement caused the sensors to turn off the lights without warning. To correct this, sensors were removed in those particular areas.

The Foundation, ASCE and Akridge are eagerly anticipating the next monthly electric bill so that the team can begin to document the savings the new lighting system will bring.

Has your company or building management made the switch over to a more energy efficient lighting system? If so, what was your experience? What challenges did you encounter?

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

First, welcome to “LEEDing the Way,” a new ASCE blog delving into the pursuit of LEED-EB Gold sustainability certification for the ASCE headquarters building in Reston, VA, a suburb of Washington, DC. Learn what is LEED-EB Gold and why we’re covering this effort by the ASCE Foundation in the “About” page, linked at left. Suffice it to say that ASCE’s impetus for seeking certification is to “put our money where our mouth is” when it comes to sustainability, one of the Society’s three primary initiatives, along with infrastructure and “Raise the Bar” competency. We hope you’ll come back to this blog regularly as we chronicle how an ’80s office building is retrofitted to meet 21st century sustainability standards. If you’re an owner or tenant of an older office building and would like to see it be sustainable, or perhaps you’re working on your own plans, we hope to inspire you here.

It doesn’t take much to realize that while toilets are one of the most mundane parts of a building, the amount of water they flush away in frequent use daily makes them one of the most critical components of any building sustainability effort. Indeed, the Foundation’s LEED consultants recommended a reduction in water usage throughout the building. The LEED standard mandates toilets that use 1.6 gallons per flush or less.

To satisfy the requirement, recently, the 44 toilets in ASCE’s six-story building were upgraded to auto-flushing Zurn, 1.28 gallons-per-flush HydroAdvantage assemblies, well under the LEED maximum, as building maintenance chief Steve Phillips explains. The old toilet assemblies used 3.8 gallons of water with each flush – thus the new toilets use a remarkable 66.3 percent less water! Another benefit is how they will be cost-effective over the long haul. “We chose those [Zurn assemblies] to lessen our dependence on batteries,” which the old Zurn assemblies used, Phillips says. “The cost was higher but over the years the cost of batteries and labor made them a better choice and we will see a payback.”

Installation of the new hardware posed some challenges. “A major setback was that the old Kohler 3.8gpf toilets would not flush properly with the new 1.28gpf assemblies. We went with a sample of the new Zurn, 1.28gpf toilet but found the footprint on the wall and the height was 1.5 inches lower,” Phillips says. “We then went to a Kohler, 1.6gpf toilet that matched the wall footprint and height requirement and married all 44 toilets with the Zurn, 1.28gpf HydroAdvantage assemblies which accomplished our goal.”

Got any questions about the toilets upgrade? Pose them in the comments below and we’ll get answers for you. As a civil engineer, office building owner or tenant, what’s your take on the upgrade?

Be Sociable, Share!

•