Green buildings

I went for the tour of three green buildings in 2 campuses in Chicago yesterday. Today, its all about climate change. President Bill Clinton gave a keynote amidst tight security. He was selling climate change. Well, he was telling the audience all about how working to solve global warming can create millions of jobs and told them about various financial instruments available for universities planning on greening their campuses. Perhaps that's the significant factor in America. You really got to justify the costs. Someone said he was incredulous when one participant asked what is the payback period for the whiteboard in the classroom of the green building.

During the green building tour we visited two new residential halls and a retrofit of a lecture/class room complex. From various conversations, I gather that even if you say improve efficiency by 30% it may still not lead to sustainability. Because the reduction is based on a baseline which is really way too high in consumption of energy in the first place. Even geo-thermal is not really "free" because it involves a lot of pumping of the water to carry heat either into the ground or from the ground to the building (depending on summer or winter). Then there was a LEED certified practitioner (she certifies LEED buildings) who did not think that the current way is going to lead to sustainability because it lacks the social-culture elements, e.g. using local or indigenous knowledge or skills or materials. Another thing we talked about is that some of these green buildings are designed as a closed system. E.g. some buildings have floor to ceiling glass windows which cannot be opened. Why? Cause people opening the windows will screw up the smart building operating system.

One question which I put forth to several people is will tackling climate change lead to sustainability. Most agree it is a necessary condition but not sufficient. Climate change is only one part of the sustainability agenda. One lady say maybe 1/12th; one director sustainability at a Michigan university said maybe about half. Me, I don't know, but I think definitely not more than one quarter. So, why the focus on climate change and not the larger sustainability agenda? My take is that going carbon-neutral is much much easier to set targets, implement, measure and attain. So, it is good. We will learn from their success and failures.

Dinner was at the Cultural Centre. We had beef which was from a local source. (BTW, one of the criteria for green buildings is that the construction materials must come from within a 500 miles radius). And the guest speaker was Janine Benyus, author of Biomimicry. I bought the book two weeks ago in KL and is a must read for anyone thinking about doing sustainability. Her talk was really very good with some really lovely pictures (will try to get them). She actually walked passed about 10 or 15 minutes ago (it is pass midnight here) and she said Hi, as though she recognised me from somewhere (am sitting in the lift lobby; haha). I was busy being a keyboard monkey. Will try to go say Hi to her tomorrow if she is still around. I love what she said about the know should be available everyone, not patent. Just patent your products. Unfortunately, I am still in jetlag so though she was really engaging, I nodded off a few times. But I have read her book. Her talk just reinforce my respect for her work.

This seems to be a very historic hotel, with over 1,000 rooms. Clinton said he had his victory celebration. Of course, all hotels try to be green. They have card telling you, please reuse your towel by hanging them on the hook (put them in the bathtub if you want it changed). I having been hanging it up on the hook everyday. But everyday when I come back to the room, there is a new towel on the rack. And the air-condition is terribly cold, especially for us from hot climates. There's also a sign saying the try to be green by, amongst others, not using disposable cups and utensils. Well, disposal paper cups are available for the coffee breaks (along with the reusable porcelain cups). But the most telling thing is that probably about half the participants choose to use the disposable cups. So ... I guess we are a long way off from sustainability.

(p.s. this original post did not go through. This is a delayed posting)