Reduce your Carbon Footprint – don’t drive as much.

• Do not drive as much.  Only drive when necessary.  Turn your car off when waiting.
• Wait to run errands all at one time
• Ask your employer if you can work from home once or twice/week
• Carpool
• Begin purchasing Energy Efficient household items such as:  Light Bulbs, Washer/Dryer, Refrigerator, etc.
• Recycle
• Don’t purchase water bottles, use cups and reuse
• Don’t purchase as much to reduce your waste production

The following project was completed by Sustainable Services, a boutique LEED Certification company specializing in Existing Buildings.  To inquire on LEED Certifying your building, please contact Bryan Lauer at 813.349.8550 or bblauer@clwrg.com

Tampa’s tallest building just got “taller”

100 North Tampa recently received LEED Silver Certification from the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI) on October 19, 2009!  The results come from a year long effort by the staff of CLW Real Estate Services Group, lead by Calvin Buikema, and Sustainable Services, lead by Bryan Lauer, LEED AP.

The LEED (Existing Building) Certification entails all aspects of building management, operations and maintenance.  The LEED process “fine-tuned” building operations and maintenance enabling a more effective and efficient building.

The following are the results of a 12-month process.

Major Highlights

• 9 pre-requisites to qualify for LEED (EBOM) Certification were attempted
• 48 out of 52 Credit points were achieved – a Silver Rating
  • 2 Sustainable Sites (SS)
  • 9 Water Efficiency (WE)
  • 13 Energy & Atmosphere (EA)
  • 7 Materials & Resources (MR)
  • 10 Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ)
  • 7 Innovation in Operation (IO)
• The LEED team implemented no-cost/low-cost energy efficient strategies with very significant projected savings.
• The LEED team has developed an energy-efficient capital improvement plan for lighting retrofits and HVAC improvements.
• With building owner approval, the LEED Team retrofit – 140 toilets, 173 faucets and 14 shower-heads.
• Management improved the cooling tower operation and resulted in saving an estimated 1.1 million gallons of water and $7,300 per year!  The project cost was $11,000.
• Management discontinued irrigating the landscape as the plants are well established and native.  This will save an estimated 26,728 gallons of water per year and average savings of $102 per year over 10 years.
• Increased the property’s recycling program and now track the amount of materials leaving the building (outlined below).  The site generated 311,165 pounds of ongoing consumable waste of which 228,905 pounds (74%) were recycled during our performance period (3/1/09-5/31/09).
• The LEED Team created the following policies/procedures to ensure best management practices and the use of sustainable products:
  • Building Exterior and Hardscape Management Policy
  • Integrated Pest Management, Erosion Control, and Landscape Management Policy
  • Sustainable Purchasing Policy (Facility Alterations & Additions)
  • Solid Waste Management Policy (Ongoing Consumables, Durable Goods and Facility Alterations & Additions)
  • Light-bulb Purchasing Policy – to reduce the amount of mercury-containing light bulbs onsite
  • Green Cleaning Policy
  • Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Management procedures
  • High Performance Cleaning policy
  • Indoor Integrated Pest Management policy
• Management now has the following tracked and documented:
  • Light bulb purchases – to verify our goal of averaging 70 picograms per lumen-hour (mercury) or less
  • Ongoing Consumables – to verify and compare the amounts going to the landfill and amounts being recycled
  • Durable Goods – to verify all durable goods leaving the site are properly disposed of
  • Facility Alterations & Additions – to verify our contractor’s purchase at least 50% sustainable products and divert at least 70% of waste generated during build-outs/improvements
  • Cleaning products – to verify our goal of purchasing at least 90% sustainable products
  • Cleaning Equipment – to verify our goal of purchasing sustainable equipment from now on.  Currently, over 30% of our cleaning equipment is sustainable
  • Pest Management products – to ensure environmentally-friendly products are used within the building
• The LEED Team conducted a Waste Stream Audit to better understand the buildings waste streams.  The results conclude that building occupants, for the most part, properly dispose of “waste”.  (this credit was not earned even though attempted).
• The LEED Team conducted a 10-question Occupant Comfort Survey.  334 building occupants (30.6%) filled out the survey with over 75% either “Neutral”, “Satisfied”, “Mostly Satisfied” or “Very Satisfied” on all 10 questions.
• The LEED Team conducted a Custodial Effectiveness Assessment that audited:  office space, restrooms, corridors and lobby.  The average score was 1.18 – nearly perfect with 1 being the best and 5 being the lowest.

In conclusion, the LEED Certification process was a great success.

• The building is running efficiently and effectively
• The building occupants are satisfied
• Management implements best practices
• Vendors are utilizing environmentally-friendly products

For more detailed information, go to www.GoGreenCommercially.com and type in “100 North Tampa” in the websites search-bar at the top right of the site.

So What Makes Green Construction?

LEED Gold Certified – Tui Marine International Headquarters

The construction process can contribute significantly to achieving points in the LEED rating system.  For the Tui Marine International Headquarters, the strategies used in the construction process were directly responsible for pursuing 14 points, which pushed the project total to 40 points and a LEED Gold certification.  Let’s take a look at these LEED credits and the strategy used to achieve them.

“Construction Activity Pollution Prevention” – The LEED intent is to reduce pollution from construction activities by controlling soil erosion, waterway sedimentation and airborne dust generation.  For this project, an erosion and sediment control plan was created and implemented to ensure compliance with the 2003 EPA Construction General Permit.  The plan included providing a silt fence around the construction activities and providing filters around stormwater inlets.

“Fundamental Commissioning and Enhanced Commissioning of the Building Energy Systems” – The LEED intent is to verify that the building’s energy systems are installed, calibrated, and perform according to the owner’s project requirements, basis of design, and construction documents.  For this project, a commissioning authority developed and implemented a commissioning plan for the HVAC, electrical, and plumbing systems.  During construction, the plan was applied to review contractor submittals, verify installation, verify performance, develop a systems manual, and verify systems training.

“Construction Waste Management” – The LEED intent is to divert construction and demolition debris from disposal in landfills and incinerators and redirect reusable materials to appropriate sites.  For this project, 83.9% of the construction debris was sent to a recycling location instead of a landfill.  The recycled construction debris included concrete, asphalt, metal, wood, cardboard, plastic, aluminum cans, and paper.  These materials were selected due to the availability of local recycling stations.  For each material, a separate container was provided for collection and storage until full.  The containers included 20-yard dumpsters, 2-yard dumpsters, and trash cans.  All containers were identified with signage to help workers with placing waste in the correct recycling container.  Once the containers were full, the appropriate recycling company was called to take the materials to the appropriate sites.

“Recycled Content” – The LEED intent is to increase demand for building products that incorporate recycled content materials, thereby reducing impacts resulting from extraction and processing of virgin materials.  For this project, the materials used in the building contain a total of 15.0% post-consumer recycled content and 21.9% pre-consumer recycled content.  These materials included concrete, rebar, structural steel, bar joists, metal deck, laminate, roof insulation, caulk, aluminum framing, hollow metal window frames, hollow metal door frames, wood doors, door hardware, glass, drywall, metal studs, wall insulation, sound insulation, ceiling grid, ceiling tile, carpet, floor tile, vinyl wall coverings, and toilet accessories.

“Regional Materials” – The LEED intent is to increase demand for building materials and products that are extracted and manufactured within the region, thereby supporting the use of indigenous resources and reducing the environmental impacts resulting from transportation.  For this project, 17.9% of the materials were manufactured and extracted within 500 miles of the site.  These materials included concrete, drywall, and landscaping.

“Certified Wood” – The LEED intent is to encourage environmentally responsible forest management.  For this project, 75.3% of the wood products used in the building are certified through the Forest Stewardship Council’s Principles and Criteria.  These wood products included mirror frames and solid core wood doors.

“Construction Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Management Plan” – The LEED intent is to reduce indoor air quality problems resulting from the construction process in order to help sustain the comfort and well-being of construction workers and building occupants.  For this project, a Construction IAQ Management Plan was created and implemented during construction to improve the indoor air quality.  The plan included using low-emitting materials, covering all HVAC openings with plastic, placing MERV 8 filters on return air openings, placing MERV 8 filters in HVAC units, using equipment to reduce airborne particulates, using equipment to reduce odors, and using dehumidifiers for moisture control.  The plan also did not allow food, drinks, or smoking in the building.  The plan paid off after construction – and immediately prior to occupancy – as a third party tested and confirmed the concentration levels were acceptable for formaldehyde, particulates (PM-10), total volatile organic compounds, and carbon monoxide.

“Low-Emitting Materials” – The LEED intent is to reduce the quantity of indoor air contaminants that are odorous, irritating and/or harmful to the comfort and well-being of installers and occupants.  For this project, all adhesives, sealants, paints, and coatings used in the building met the requirements for VOC levels.  All carpets met the requirements for the Carpet and Rug Institute’s Green Label Plus program.  All composite wood and agrifiber products, such as particleboard, plywood, and door cores, used inside the building did not contain added urea-formaldehyde resins.

“LEED Accredited Professional” – The LEED intent is to support and encourage the design integration required by a LEED project and streamline the application and certification process.  For this project, the project manager for the general contractor was a LEED Accredited Professional.

 At Office Support Systems we are not just eco-talk, we are taking eco-action! When it comes to helping the environment, not only do we currently help hundreds of organizations recycle over 500,000 cartridges a year but we have gone one more step and created the Go Green Brand Print Cartridge. With this latest innovation we now combine Quality Recycled Products with Green Ideology along with a free recycling program that pays you to recycle your empties! Our Print Cartridges are up to 50% off the cost of manufacturers such as Hewlett Packard, Canon, Epson and Lexmark. Here’s the scoop…

For every green laser toner cartridge purchased we donate One Dollar to AmericanForests.org which in turn, plants one tree. For every green inkjet cartridge purchased we donate Fifty Cents  to  AmericanForests.org

Every dollar we donate plants a tree. Now how cool is that?

Green Rewards Program

Every Laser cartridge you send us earns a One Dollar credit toward future purchases. Every Ink Jet cartridge you send us earns Fifty Cents credit toward future purchases. We pay any and all FedEx freight charges to recycle your empties.

At OSS we are Eco Innovators. Not only does our Go Green Brand  ™  keep excess waste like used cartridges out of our planet’s landfills, but we take it to the next level and a tree is planted  for very cartridge used which creates a healthier and more sustainable environment for all of us.

Coupled with a free recycling program that rewards you is a win, win.

Interested In purchasing Green Cartridges for yourself or your organization? That’s wonderful news! Please Contact us at: www.gogreenbrand.com or 800.375.6816

Go Green!