(image: es74273 under Creative Commons)

When you think of green building in the last ten years, you think primarily of two verticals - housing and office space. So there is one massive vertical missing in the equation - retail.

Retail development has traditionally been the slowest to warm up to the whole concept of green building, but according to a recent article in Retail Traffic Magazine, retail developers are finally turning the corner.

In fact, green retail construction has moved ahead at an increasing pace, even despite the sour effects of the economy. Retail developers have recognized that not only is it the right thing to do, it can also help their bottom line, and that of their customers, in the long run.

LEED has gotten a boost in the retail market as well. According to the article, the USGBC reports that there are more than 2,600 projects registered for LEED in the retail sector. This is quite remarkable, especially when you consider that developers don’t even have a true LEED standard specifically for retail. After more than a half-decade of waiting, though, those standards should be released sometime this year.

The truth is, retail developers have always been looking to save money on water and power – after all, making money is what retail is all about. So they’ve been further ahead of the curve than even the USGBC.

There is still much work to be done, but another good thing is that the developers are not the only ones who see the value of LEED certification – so do the marketing guys, who now have a huge selling point for their customers. The savings get passed on to them, and thus, to the rest of us.

Now if we can only get them to ditch those darn plastic bags…

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By now, there should be little debate over whether going green can save you plenty of money in the short term, especially in the commercial real estate market.  Whether going green is truly the wisest long-term financial decision has been the subject of debate for some time.  Well, it shouldn’t be any more.  Witness this article from Rob Watson at Greener Buildings:

“The latest is from the Earth Advantage Institute in Portland, Oregon, which shows that third-party certified homes … command a whopping 18 percent price premium over non-certified homes … More interesting is that existing homes with green certification commanded an even higher premium of 23 percent compared with other existing homes sold, which indicates that the value of green grows over time. This value trend reflects the RealGreen Index data from the San Francisco Bay area, which shows that LEED Certified office and retail buildings have literally half the vacancy rate of non-certified projects.”

That’s backed up by the US Green Building Council:

“Executives reported that Green buildings have better financial performance than non-Green buildings in the following areas:

• Higher building values (72%)
• Higher asking rents (65%)
• Greater return on investment (52%)
• Higher occupancy rates (49%)”

There’s little question that going green can save you money on utility bills, for example.  But there have been questions as to whether green structures, particularly commercial buildings, make more money over the long term.  This should settle that debate.

The true value of any piece of real estate is its resale value.  The premium that green-certified buildings now demand should be enough of an impetus to get everyone on board, especially considering how brutal the real estate market has been over the past couple of years.  If commercial developers and property owners want to get back to the good old days of making serious money, they can do so in a hurry by arming themselves with this information.  So if you want to re-coup some lost green, you should go green.

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With mandates coming from states, cities and the federal government, companies are realizing that green building is no longer a fad, but a way of life. In the recent article, “How to use insurance to handle the risks of building to LEED standards”, Philip Glick stated, “Construction of environmentally friendly and sustainable buildings will represent a significant new market for the construction industry. However, it’s also likely that new risks are being created that can have an impact on the building owners, developers, contractors and design professionals involved in these projects.”

To combat these risks, a company preparing to move or even remodel their current space should utilize a consultant (always make sure this service is offered before signing on the dotted line) - ensuring they are following the most up-to-date standards throughout the entire design process.

An additional benefit of using a consultant is that they can explore the feasibility of potential sustainability strategies at a more in-depth level. Drawing on previous experience and knowledge in the field, sustainable design and LEED to help inform a building’s design, consultants can ensure the design process is successful and cost-effective.

At IES, we have a dedicated group of consultants who are available to instruct building managers and architects using IES’ software from the earliest stage of the design process. Without help, companies are often left to trust their vendors, which might cause issues when trying to obtain LEED or even government green building certifications.

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IES is sponsoring the show, and that gives us the chance to offer some extra training sessions to attendees.  We will be holding two workshops prior to the show.  Here’s the schedule:

• August 9 – Intermediate 3D Modeling, Daylighting, Loads Analysis, and HVAC Systems
• August 10 – Advanced and Building-Integrated Systems Modeling

Both workshops are from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., including lunch and breaks, and will be held on the NYU campus (exact location TBA). 

Timothy Moore, our Senior Consultant for Special Projects, will be on hand to direct the workshops and show you the expanse of things you can do with IES <Virtual Environment> Version 6.1, such as  importing from SketchUp and Revit, daylighting simulation and whole-building energy modeling for the LEED/ASHRAE-90.1 Performance Rating Method.

Cost for the workshops is $350 for one session and $600 for both.  Registration is open now, but seats are limited, so don’t wait!

We will also have a demo of IES <VE> at the show on August 12 from 10:30-11:45 a.m., and Timothy will be making a presentation at the show as well (details still TBD).

Of course, our activities are just a small slice of all the exciting things going on at SimBuild this year, from all the workshops and presentations to the banquet that closes everything out.  For more on all that’s going on, visit here.

It’s shaping up to be a busy week for IES at SimBuild 2010.  We hope to see you in New York City!

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I read an article last month about being a “green family”. The couple are raising their kid in a diaper free environment. Just a bit of fact, on average a baby will go through about 6,000 disposable diapers by the time he/she turns two years old, that means millions of diapers end up in the landfills every day, taking about 200-500 years to decompose. At first I thought this sounds a bit exaggerated, but now I do believe 6,000 diapers in two years maybe achievable.

So one solution for this is of course change to cloth nappy, and at best nappy-free. This sounds easy, but it does require quite a bit of effort. I do admire the couple’s effort getting their baby to use the cloth nappy all the while and turn nappy free after six months. We have tried using just the cloth when our baby was about 1 -2 months, but soon realised it is too much trouble and have then switched to disposable. After reading this, I think I should try using the cloth nappy again since she is now older and the frequency for toileting should not be as high as before. I was always hoping to see something like bio-degradable diapers (since we can have bio-degradable plastic bags, why not for diapers) in the market, but so far no luck, I think this will be a good product for the market.

I may not be doing so well on the diapers side, but I do try to help the environment in other area, i.e. after bathing our baby, will keep the water for flushing the toilet. There are also a lot of things parents can do or be aware of, for example, not to buy too many baby clothes as you will soon realise they can’t fit in them after wearing a few months as they just grow too quickly. Don’t buy too many toys, as they probably prefer parents playing with them instead (at least that what I have noticed). 

Let’s not forget our children’s’ future environment while happily raising them.

To read the “Green Family” article, please click here.

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Therefore, I thought I’d take this opportunity to expand on my recent Weather Design and Data blog.

IES cannot tell you what is going to happen, however there is huge consensus around a 3oC global warming target as you will have no doubt heard. What does this mean to building design?  It seems reasonable to assume investors and insurers will consider this target and what it might mean for buildings in the future.

Let us take the CIBSE published UK weather predictions for a medium-high climate change scenario, which represents about a 3oC rise, and consider London, by far not the worst location in climate change terms, over the next 70 years.

Just glancing at the headline information you see that:

• The summer is extending and getting hotter in the Mahoney analysis (monthly average);

• The reduction in heating degree days -31% from now to 2080;

• The growth in cooling degree days + 65% from now to 2080;

• The climate classification shift – mixed humid to warm marine;

• How built form design focus shifts to be dominated by summer issues.

Just from this brief overview you can start to see how selecting and comparing weather data, especially climate change impacts, can allow you to assess fundamental built form suitability and its ability to adapt to climate change over the long term.

For locations outside of the UK this analysis is possible using morphed data from any epw weather file; a free tool allows you morph climate change scenarios worldwide.

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In a recent article in Constructech Magazine, it’s mentioned that 5 new stadiums were built in preparation for the World Cup in Johannesburg, South Africa - 2 of them using BIM techniques and software.  The Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium and the Mbombela Stadium were both constructed using BIM since “arenas are typically unique structures, with complicated rooflines, curved beams, and heavy structural steel design.”  The Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium had to be devised and constructed within a very quick timeframe, since Africa had few arenas that could support the World Cup audience so the designers used BIM technology to streamline 4,200 drawings between multiple participants including designers, architects and building managers.

While BIM might not be an everyday word to most, high profile projects like these provide great proof points for the A/E/C community.  This technology has continued to grow over the years and continues to be a subject people want to learn more about, including the audience at the recent AIA convention in Miami.  According to Reed Construction Data, “BIM was the hot topic” at this year’s show.  The constant buzz around BIM just helps to further underscore its importance to the design process and longevity within the market.

As you watch your favorite team compete for the highly prized cup, keep a close eye on the stadiums, too. You’ll see that BIM played a pivotal part in the 2010 games.

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In the past, greatest interest in this theme has occurred at times of energy crisis and now with climate change high on the global political and social agenda, there is a real demand for solutions that are climate responsive and adaptive to climate change.  Some of this is taught in Universities and so has a familiarity especially to Architects.

The main reason why Bio-Climatic analysis has not been applied extensively in the past is due to the breadth and depth of the subject and the fact that the logic is somewhat fuzzy.  Manually doing it properly is complex, difficult and very time consuming.  Thus few have been able to master it and turn it to everyday use.  However, the desire to utilise Bio-Climatic analysis is still alive and kicking.

Over the past few years, IES have researched this subject globally and developed the logic to a level where we can automate it, and have consequentially developed a Bio-Climatic tool, which we recently launched.

As part of the evolving VE Gaia product, Bio-Climatic analysis is used in conjunction with other Gaia tools to provide a rich source of knowledge about weather / climate data and the built environment.  It delivers complex knowledge and analysis about what may be appropriate design strategies by providing a detailed list of suggestions appropriate to the specific climate data chosen.

It carries out a number of analyses that are very time consuming and difficult to do manually:

• Ashrae climate classification analysis live on the dataset
• Koppen Geiger climate classification analysis live on the dataset
• Mahoney comfort stress analysis (users in  hotter countries will be more familiar with this)
• Annual hourly weather stat analysis; which month(s) hottest, wettest, coldest, peaks, percentiles, diurnal range, degree data analysis etc.
• It includes an extensive rainfall database of over 2000 global locations
• It uses approx 220 separate multi-variable logic tests using these direct and derived metrics to produce design suggestions

The suggestions are provided in a hierarchy and include sections on climate, headline design priorities, urban design, external built form, internal built form and so on right down to the level of insulation, thermal mass and window arrangements.

How can it be used?

You can use the product to rapidly understand the impact of climate on built form at very early stages in design – you just need a weather file!  It is simply a matter of a mouse click!  It has been tested on many locations in Australia, India, USA, and Europe against independent and vernacular advice.  Here’s how we’ve been using it:

• To get to grips with new global locations / very different climates e.g. London and Bombay;
• To understand the differences between different locations in a similar climate e.g. London and Manchester;
• To understand the differences between urbanity and heat island effect e.g. city, suburbs, country, coast etc;
• To explore how climate change causes change in built form response. This is important as sustainable designs really must last 100 years plus and the basic building form must be appropriate and adaptable. This is increasingly going to become an issue as sustainable design matures – we expect to see this appearing in some sustainability rating schemes;
• To explore and understand vernacular clues;
• As a teaching tool.

Obviously the tool does not know your site or building, but its purpose is to provide a lexicon of ideas and responses.  It is up to the user to explore these and apply them further – to this end references are also given where possible to further detailed knowledge sources.

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It has long been established by psychologists such Erwin Schroedinger and BF Skinner that much of our behaviour is controlled by the unconscious mind, implying that we are driven more by our desires, instincts and emotions, as opposed to rational thought and our ‘civilised’ modern environment. (You only have to see the way that software developers descend on a fresh chocolate cake; akin to a pack of vultures!)  Many leading scientists strongly believe in the existence of ‘selfish genes’ inherent in every one of us, giving us a genetic tendency to “look after #1.”

If we think of that chocolate cake as a bountiful World full of natural resources, we can clearly see the same thing happening on a bigger scale. Entire nations clamour for the few fish left in our oceans (remember the cod wars?); global corporations compete for the ‘right’ to remove the remaining fossil fuels from the Earth only for energy providers to compete for their perceived right to burn as much of these resources as their considerable profit margins allow. If you wondered why the Copenhagen summit last year was such a failure, you only have to think about the human condition. We didn’t get to the top of the food chain by being considerate, sustainable and nice to each other.

As the developed World strives for a better quality of life and material values, the developing nations naturally want the same things. With the World population predicted to rise from 6.5b to over 9bn in the next forty years, there are already concerns about shortages in global food production and drinking water. How long will it take before we fully understand it is our greed-driven lifestyles and subconscious desires that form the root of the problem?

Schroedingers famous cat experiment described the nature of quantum physics, whereby the cat – sealed in a box with a deadly poison that would be released randomly at any moment – was technically both dead and alive at the same time (ironically, this is called the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics). Perhaps if Schroedinger could see our modern World, he would arrive at the same conclusion about the human race in our sealed, finite and fragile planet; whereby our collective psyche is the poison that will inevitably lead to our demise.

Schrödinger’s Cat: A cat, along with a flask containing a poison and a radioactive source, is placed in a sealed box shielded against environmentally induced quantum decoherence. If an internal Geiger counter detects radiation, the flask is shattered, releasing the poison that kills the cat. The Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics implies that after a while, the cat is simultaneously alive and dead.

If you asked a psychologist how we can prevent this happening, they might tell you that it would require a global change in behaviour, the way we perceive ourselves and our elevated sense of self-importance. This is without question the greatest challenge in tackling environmental issues, yet we have ignored this aspect in favour of easy quick-fixes like new technology and government legislation.

Interestingly, it is understood that the qualities that make us human are the strong values that we place on intangible human qualities such as love, affection and warmth. So perhaps it isn’t so difficult for us to stop pretending that material possessions and pay rises are the things that make us happy.

I know that I would be happier knowing that the next generation will inherit a World with a fighting chance, rather than watch it fall to pieces on my 42” flat screen TV.

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I believe this partnership will make a considerable difference on the impact of reducing carbon emission, and energy and water consumption throughout the world.  Why?  Well here are my top three reasons:

• SketchUp dominates the concept/early stages of the building design market worldwide.  The decisions taken at the early stages of a new design (or a refurbishment) have a profound impact on the energy, water and carbon usage throughout that building’s lifecycle.
• IES’ new plug-in for SketchUp offers significant new features that give SketchUp users much easier access to all the different levels of IES analysis software from VE-Ware, through VE-Toolkits and VE-Gaia all the way through to VE-Pro.  Hence SketchUp user can use our technology to quantify, optimise and verify the performance of proposed sustainable design options, across all stages of the design process and in different levels of detail.
• SketchUp are committing to promote sustainable design by offering IES VE customers an exclusive discount off SketchUp Pro if they download the IES SketchUp plug-in.

In essence IES have made it easier to use SketchUp for sustainable design and Google SketchUp has made a commitment to support IESVE analysis for low-energy design from their packages.  This is a massive gesture by a major corporation such as Google and they should be commended for helping promote the sustainable design agenda so openly on a worldwide basis.

Architects’ that we have introduced the IES and SketchUp integration to are already excited.  You can read in more detail about how Broadway Malyan has been piloting the use of this here.  Ian Walker, head of Environmental Engineering even went so far as to say; “Potentially, I think that this development could be as significant for the building design industry as the introduction of AutoCAD in the late 80’s – it might just be the catalyst to joining up environmental thinking between the architect and engineer.  The only successful way to approach sustainable design is through integration across the entire design process.”

Obviously, we are not just focusing on SketchUp as we are also continuing to improve our connections to Autodesk Revit and Graphisoft ArchiCAD as well as our gbXML links with other products, however with SketchUp we have managed to get deeper ‘under the hood’ which has made it much easier to do certain developments.

Furthermore, the IES/SketchUp partnership will greatly assist the many users of Revit, ArchiCAD, MicroStation and others BIM/CAD systems who use SketchUp at the key early stages of the design process before moving to the production phase.  Consequently they can ensure their design is as sustainable as possible prior to moving into another package, where more than likely they can still use the IESVE. 

To round up, I believe our partnership announcement is good for IES and SketchUp, good for our customers and will make a significant difference to sustainable design throughout the world.  Don’t forget that SketchUp and our VE-Ware and VE-SBEM modules are all available for free.  Just think of the energy and carbon emission savings being made worldwide with these alone!

I would also like to say a few things about working with the SketchUp guys over the last two years.  First it has been a pleasure working with them and anyone that knows the SketchUp team in Boulder, Colorado will agree that they are extremely professional and passionate about what they do; secondly they have been extremely helpful and supportive; and finally they have been one of the ‘easiest’ corporations we have ever dealt with – Wow!

You can read more about the partnership in the official press release.

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