Greening the Planet, Beginning at Greenbuild
Posted by johnsoncontrols on November 5, 2007 05:14 PM
By: Gerrit Reinders
October 14, 2007
I recently read Doha and Dalian, Tom Friedman’s column in the New York Times about a recent trip he had made to Doha (capital of Qatar, a tiny state east of Saudi Arabia) and Dalian (city in northeast China and is one of China’s Silicon Valleys). Neither of these cities are well known in my circle of friends, many of whom had never heard of either, and that’s what scared me about the article. The problem is that cities around the world are growing so quickly, and their skylines are being shaped by buildings and skyscrapers, and roads and highways filled with vehicles. All of which will consume more energy then we can conserve with our green movement in the USA. This global movement is an opportunity to rally everyone together to pursue a common goal – to save the planet. This may well be the rallying cry that allows all of 300 billion world inhabitants to work together to ensure a livable place to live for the generations who follow us.
As the rest of the world is reshaping its skylines we will need to figure out a way to accelerate this movement into hypergrowth and ensure it’s not just a U.S. movement. The drive has to be global – everyone is clamoring to do the right thing, so let’s make it easy for these organizations to get started. After all, getting started is the hardest part. One of the best places to get started is through the US Green Building Council, one of the fastest growing non-profits in the country. Its annual conference, Greenbuild will take place Nov. 7-9, 2007. Organizers expect about 20,000 people to descend upon Chicago to network with other professionals, learn from their experiences and discover all the newest technologies and tools to help buildings become green. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of global visitors are expected to attend Greenbuild. What are we going to collectively do to make it easy for them to learn from the experiences we have acquired in the US? The business case for green buildings is compelling and when combined with education can propel this movement globally. Green buildings should be the standard - globally.
To make green buildings the global standard will surely require a lot of leadership - people with courage and a strong backbone - because the status quo will fight the change; it always does. People are creatures of habit and generally prone to take the easy solution because it’s familiar and well … easier. Nevertheless, I’m hopeful, because over the centuries humans have proven to be a resilient species, one capable of incredible things when motivated by a common cause. Personally, I think saving the planet is such a cause, and I find it almost criminal to not adopt the off-the-shelf solutions that exist on the market today. Off-the-shelf solutions that can dramatically improve the indoor environment of our buildings and at the same time significantly reduce the amount of natural resources these buildings consume and the pollutants they emit. There will be winners and losers in dealing with climate change. I believe that we will have more carbon constraints in the future then we do today, and we will also be paying more for our energy than we do today. Given those two things alone, designing and constructing buildings that are energy and water efficient, produce less waste and simultaneously deliver a far better quality indoor environment. What’s not to like? Many people are amazed that a law hasn’t been passed already to mandate it.
Let’s take a look at some simple math and the potential impact on the green movement. What if each of the 42,000 people who have been accredited by the USGBC were to commit to help one existing building go green and to recruit one more professional to take the test and become accredited? And what if each of the more then 10,000 organizations that are members of the USGBC were to commit to green at least one of their own buildings and one of their suppliers’ buildings each year? The transformation could accelerate more quickly – these simple goals would achieve 62,000 buildings in one year. If the average building is 100,000 sq.ft. and saves a very realistic $0.85/sq.ft. the savings alone would exceed $5 billion per year.
Imagine doing this on a global basis. The price is well worth it and may well be funded out of existing operating budgets.
I have faith that this industry can be transformed.
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