Finance & Commerce Article – April 13, 2010
Midwest Masonry Promotion Council
By Craig Hinrichs AIA LEED AP – MMPC Executive Director
BARRIERS TO “DEEP GREEN” SUSTAINABILITY IN CONSTRUCTION
Although masonry construction is recognized to include the most sustainable building systems available there has been a history of barriers to sustainability in the design of construction projects that does not account for the full life cycle cost (LCC) of a building’s life span. James Scott Brew of the Rocky Mountain Institute of Colorado recently addressed these barriers and their solutions in a “think tank” session with architects, builders and suppliers in Duluth Minnesota entitled “Barriers to Deep Green”. With the livelihood of those in the masonry industry at stake it is of great importance to MMPC members to have a voice in overcoming these barriers and to share our message about masonry’s role in sustainable construction.
Construction industry participants at the RMI session in Duluth first broke into either architect, builder or supplier “same-discipline” focus groups to identify a number of barriers to sustainable thinking in the construction process and then reassembled in “mixed-discipline” groups to propose potential solutions to those barriers. Each same-discipline group first identified ten barriers to sustainable construction that were then compared with the other same-discipline groups findings to identify the top 3 coinciding issues to be addressed by new mixed-discipline groups. A similar fact-finding and solution/proposal team-process has been successfully employed on a global construction basis by RMI to work with international clientele in drawing information from the client that becomes part of the solution.
The top 3 coinciding barriers to sustainability identified by the same-discipline groups were: Developer Market Mentality, Short Life-Span Construction, and Low Square-Foot Construction Costs. An outline of proposed solutions to these top barriers were proposed from the mixed-discipline focus groups as follows:
SOLUTIONS TO THE DEVELOPER MARKET MENTALITY BARRIER TO DEEP GREEN
1. Promote Change/New Models/New Financial Structures
2. Encourage More Permanent High Quality Buildings (100 Year Mortgages)
3. Movement towards More Sustainable Codes/Regulations
4. Encourage Energy Independence Through Taxes, Gas, Electr. Etc
5. Encourage Local Community Investment
SOLUTIONS TO THE DESIGNING FOR SHORT LIFE SPAN BARRIER TO DEEP GREEN
1. Change Values
2. Build Permanent Buildings. Start at State Level
3. Educate State on Appropriate Budgets for Class of Building
4. Encourage Robust Tax Incentives
5. Best “Value”
6. More Robust Adaptability
7. More and Better Standards for Counties and Cities
SOLUTIONS TO THE LOW SQUARE-FOOT BUDGET BARRIER TO DEEP GREEN
1. Reduce Square Foot Size/Design More Flexible Space (Work with Owners)
2. Timing: Wait Until $ Available to Design & Build/Use More Available Equity
3. Explain LCC (Life Cycle Cost). Justify Higher $/SF First Costs for Lower LCC
4. Encourage Higher Quality Buildings in this Economy (A Natural Historical Occurrence in Times of a Poor Economy)
Subsequent discussion about the viability of proposed solutions to barriers to sustainable construction noted that natural resources and space are relatively abundant in our region in comparison to the longer history and subsequently more progressive sustainability efforts in Europe and other world areas. Unfortunately we are now finding that business as usual is not working and we need to adopt change. For one of the best websites available on new ways to think and act in a changing world visit the Rocky Mountain Institute at www.rmi.com.
Posted: Monday, April 19, 2010
