Page 17 - Green Building Through Integrated Design

PREFACE

I started this book with one important question in mind: how can building teams
design, build, and operate commercial and institutional projects that are “truly
green”? In particular, how can we deliver buildings that will save at least 50 percent
of energy use against standard buildings, that is, those built just to meet local build-
ing code and energy code requirements? In my experience, the building design and
construction industry is not sufficiently equipped to achieve these goals in most proj-
ects. The disparate incentives and rewards, along with the industry’s inherent conser-
vatism, make achieving even minor decreases in energy consumption, measured
against prevailing standards (currently the ASHRAE 90.1-2007 standard), difficult.
The industry’s intense focus on minimizing initial costs, coupled with a short-term
mentality among building owners and developers, results in the development of many
projects that do not make cost-effective investments in energy savings, even when
justified using a 5-year or 10-year investment horizon.
Can we achieve these results with current industry approaches to design and con-
struction? Based on personal and professional experience over the past 10 years, I
have concluded that answer is a resounding “no.” I decided to write this book with the
following simple thesis: we must change the way we design and construct our build-
ings if we’re going to have a chance to reduce overall carbon dioxide emissions below
1990 levels, the current Kyoto target. Otherwise, we may have to live with the conse-
quences of a 37 percent increase in U.S. primary energy use between 2000 and 2020,
as predicted by many experts. While a strong case can be made for putting energy con-
servation in existing buildings first, the fact is that most of today’s new construction
will still be with us 50 years from now, with energy use built into the building fabric
and difficult to change. So, it’s good to focus significant attention on new building
design, construction, and operations.
Can we achieve these high-performance results with design and construction indus-
try’s current structure of incentives and methods? I have observed that the design and
construction industry, for the most part, is stuck in a linear, risk-averse mode for deliv-
ering buildings, with multiple handoffs between the various parties, and many missed
opportunities for doing a much better job. The result is buildings that cost more and
perform worse than they need to. Conversely, I’ve observed a few projects that
employed an integrated design process that produced buildings that performed better
and cost the same as similar projects. After interviewing dozens of architects, engi-
neers, builders, building owners, and developers, I’ve concluded that we can do a
much better job, but we really need a fuller understanding of the integrated design
process. This book is an attempt to answer that need.

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