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Green Buildings Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Special Solicitation Workshop San Francisco Mar-23-04 Olof Hansen U.S. EPA Region 9 Waste Management Division Strategic Planning and Partnership Office

Green Buildings

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Green Buildings. Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Special Solicitation Workshop San Francisco Mar-23-04 Olof Hansen U.S. EPA Region 9 Waste Management Division Strategic Planning and Partnership Office. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Page 1: Green  Buildings

Green Buildings

Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)Special Solicitation WorkshopSan Francisco Mar-23-04

Olof HansenU.S. EPA Region 9Waste Management DivisionStrategic Planning and Partnership Office

Page 2: Green  Buildings

SBIR USEPA Region 92

Buildings in the United States have a significant impact on the environment and account for:

Energy– 37 % of primary energy use– 68 % of all electricity use

Materials– 60 % of non-food/fuel raw materials use

Waste– 40 % of non-industrial solid waste from construction and demolition debris

per year Water

– 36 billion gallons of water per day– 20 % loss of potable water in many urban systems due to leakage

Air Quality– 35 % of CO2, 49 % of SO2, 25 % of NOx, and 10 % of PM emissions

Page 3: Green  Buildings

SBIR USEPA Region 93

Green Buildings and EPA

Sustainable building is a priority under EPA's Resource Conservation Challenge

EPA is an active member of the U.S. Green Building Council

Federal statutes require green building practices Agency issued Environmental Quality Guidance

for Green, High Performance and Sustainable Buildings

Buildings have tremendous human health and environmental impacts

Page 4: Green  Buildings

SBIR USEPA Region 94

Environmental Impacts of Buildings

Indoor Air/Human Health– Americans spend 90% of their time indoors– On average, indoor air is 2-10 more

contaminated that outdoor air– 20% of workers suffer from indoor air

illnesses resulting in 11,400 premature deaths/year

– Health and productivity losses associated w/indoor air quality are estimated to cost tens of billions of $ annually

Page 5: Green  Buildings

SBIR USEPA Region 95

Environmental Impacts of Buildings

Air/Energy Impacts– Buildings consume one third of all energy– Consume 2/3 of all electricity in the U.S.– Buildings contribute

25% of all greenhouse gas emissions, 49% of sulfur dioxide emissions, and 10% of particulate matter emissions

Page 6: Green  Buildings

SBIR USEPA Region 96

Environmental Impacts of Buildings

Waste Impacts– Worldwide construction activities consume 3

billion tons of raw materials each year– Nearly 40% - 136 million tons/year - of waste

going to landfills in the US is building construction and demolition debris

– More than 30% of the mercury in solid waste is from building switches, thermostats, florescent tubes, and paints

Page 7: Green  Buildings

SBIR USEPA Region 97

Environmental Impacts of Buildings -Waste

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

Million Tons/Year

Hazardous Waste -RCRA

Municipal SolidWaste

Construction &Demolition Debris

Page 8: Green  Buildings

SBIR USEPA Region 98

Waste from Building Construction and Demolition Debris

136 M Tons =1.36 M Freight Cars =15,000 Miles

Page 9: Green  Buildings

SBIR USEPA Region 99

Federal Government Leading by Example

Owns 500,000 buildings = 3.1 billion sq. feet of floor space

Largest energy user in the country– 2% of building-related greenhouse gases in US– $3.4 billion/year– 23% reduction in energy (‘85-’01)– 100 buildings are Energy Star labeled– 10.5 million metric tons of carbon equivalent/year

Page 10: Green  Buildings

SBIR USEPA Region 910

Federal Green Building Materials Requirements

Building insulation Carpet & padding Cement & concrete

containing fly ash/slag Latex paint Floor tiles Flowable fill Laminated paperboard Patio blocks

Railroad grade crossing surfaces

Restroom dividers Structural fiberboard Compost & mulch Landscaping timbers Park benches & picnic

tables Playground equipment &

surfaces

Page 11: Green  Buildings

SBIR USEPA Region 911

Federal Law: RCRA 6002 and Executive Order 13101

Requires the purchase of recycled materials - Federally funded projects

Uses Federal purchasing power to promote recycling

EPA and State inspectors enforce implementation of RCRA 6002

TOOLS: – Screened vendor lists– Specifications

Page 12: Green  Buildings

SBIR USEPA Region 912

Aluminum– 95% less air pollution– 97% less water pollution– One can = energy savings of ½ a

can of gasoline

Paper– 74% less air pollution– 35% less water pollution– One ton = 17 trees & 7,000 gallons

water

Green House Gases = 25 million cars/year

Why Recycled Products?

Page 13: Green  Buildings

SBIR USEPA Region 913

Additional Federal Focus Areas

Energy Star Environmentally Preferable Purchasing

– Green Janitorial Products– Biobased Products (wheatboard, soy adhesives,

plastics) Construction & Demolition Debris

– Database of C&D Recyclers Green Leasing Waste Wise GreenScapes

Page 14: Green  Buildings

SBIR USEPA Region 914

The Challenge

Page 15: Green  Buildings

SBIR USEPA Region 915

The Challenge

Increase the efficiency with which buildings and their sites use energy, water, and materials, and

Reduce building impacts on human health and the environment, through better siting, design, construction, operation, maintenance, and removal

Assess the complete building life cycle

Page 16: Green  Buildings

SBIR USEPA Region 916

Green Building requires anintegrated design approach:

Focusing on only one component of a building can have unintended environmental, social, or economic consequences

Examples:– Poorly designed energy efficient building envelopes can

result in poor indoor environmental quality– Some recycled content latex paint could have higher volatile

organic compound (VOC) emissions than other environmentally preferable paints

Page 17: Green  Buildings

SBIR USEPA Region 917

Example of Green Building (1)

New GSA Federal Building in San Francisco

– windows that open, – shared spaces between

offices, – lots of natural light, – reduce energy costs by 45

percent, and– is expected to save

$500,000 per year in taxpayer dollars.

Page 18: Green  Buildings

SBIR USEPA Region 918

Example of Green Building (2) - Low Tech

Earthship– 4500 used tires– Round adobe bricks

Solar Panels Sinks

– Grease & particle filter– Garden grey water

Freshwater collection– Roof/rain > 4 cisterns– 40,000 gallons

Garden “gray water”

Page 19: Green  Buildings

SBIR USEPA Region 919

SBIR R&D for Green Buildings

Impacts of buildings are so tremendous Numerous research opportunities

– on buildings’ environmental effects and interactions and

– on technologies and techniques to reduce these impacts

We encourage new ideas/research

Page 20: Green  Buildings

SBIR USEPA Region 920

Research Needs

Water conservation and reuse, Recharging of groundwater, Construction runoff control, Use of green building products, Indoor environmental quality (e.g., day-lighting, ventilation, low

emitting materials) Design products to consider toxicity emphasizing natural, low-emitting

materials Effect on cost savings, worker productivity, and worker health Comparable information on the environmental impacts of building

products– life cycle assessment (LCA) and– building product life cycle inventories (LCI) tools and

protocols

Page 21: Green  Buildings

SBIR USEPA Region 921

Some Green Building SBIR Topics

Design techniques or equipment to promote building renovation/deconstruction instead of demolition

Design, construction practices or equipment to improve indoor air quality

Building materials development to reduce risks from persistent, bio-accumulative, and toxic (PBT) chemicals

Recycled content building materials development using local feedstock

Develop natural flame retardancy for building materials

Rapidly renewable/bio-based building materials development using local feedstock

Environmentally preferable building systems or materials with unique application to arid Southwest

Measurement/metering equipment for green building systems

Moisture control systems/materials/detection equipment for condensation, water intrusion, etc.

Page 22: Green  Buildings

SBIR USEPA Region 922

EPA Resources

Websites– Green Buildings:

www.epa.gov/greenbuildings– Recycled Products

www.epa.gov/cpg– Environmentally Preferable Purchasing

www.epa.gov/oppt/epp

Green Building Contact in Region 9: Timonie Hood– (415) 972-3282– [email protected]