Page 202 - The Green Building Bottom Line The Real Cost of Sustainable Building

180 CHAPTER 6

canopy coverage would be a low priority. We felt a better time for such enhancements
would be when the parking lot needed to be resurfaced or we had made a commitment
to a stormwater management project. We also recognized that we needed to push for
shorter-term payback opportunities, and we were concerned about losing parking
spaces since our parking lot contains fewer spaces than the county technically requires.
(There’s more about parking later in the chapter.)
Whether we are building or renovating, we make it a practice to review the poten-
tial to generate energy on site. Since Crestwood has over 15,000 square feet of
exposed roof surface, we explored the possibility of solar power. But after we evalu-
ated the cost and potential impact of implementing photovoltaics (PV), our prelimi-
nary calculations indicated we could generate approximately 260,000 kWh (only 20
percent of the building’s need) at an installation cost of $1.4 million. If our calcula-
tions were correct, the payback from PV would have been approximately thirty years,
not considering net present value (NPV) and assuming all the generated power would
be sold to the grid. Generating solar power was not a feasible option.
When all was said and done, we were able to earn 35 points on the LEED Score-
card—enough to meet the minimum of 32 points (out of a possible 85) for Existing
Buildings certification. In the Sustainable Sites category, five points were earned: two
points for the plan for green site and building exterior management, and three points
for alternative transportation (public transportation access, bicycle storage and chang-
ing rooms, and carpooling and telecommuting).
Three points were awarded for Water Efficiency, one point for reducing water use for
landscaping, and two points for a 20 percent reduction in water use. In the Energy &
Atmosphere category, four points were awarded for optimizing energy performance,
four for renewable energy use, and two for building operation and maintenance (one
point for staff education and one point for systems maintenance), for a total of ten.
Ten points were also awarded in the Materials & Resources category—two for
waste management in construction, demolition, and renovation; two for optimizing
use of IAQ (indoor air quality) compliant products; three for the use of sustainable
cleaning products and materials; two for occupant recycling; and one for using light
bulbs with additional reduced mercury content. The three points awarded in the Indoor
Environmental Quality category are all in the area of green cleaning—one point for
entryway systems, one for a low-impact cleaning policy, and one for using low-impact
cleaning equipment.
In the Innovation & Design Process category, three points came from innovation in
design—one each for educating occupants, for 100 percent green power (which is pur-
chased from renewable energy sources), and for being a partner with Georgia’s Clean
Air Campaign. An additional point came from having at least one LEED accredited
professional as a member of the project team. (Actually there were six: Trey Everett,
Crestwood’s building engineer; Rebecca Riggins, assistant property manager for
Melaver’s Atlanta portfolio; Angela Walden, the general manager of Melaver Execu-
tive Suites, which occupies the 4th floor of the Crestwood Building; Rhoda Brown,
head property manager for the company; Tommy Linstroth, Melaver, Inc.’s head of
Sustainable Initiatives; and I.). An overview of points earned can be seen in Table 6.3.