April 24, 2006

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Korky Koroluk

Architects outnumbered other industry players at conference

It was a surprising crowd attending the Green Building conference here in Ottawa recently — surprising partly in the numbers, partly in its make-up.

Scan the selection of two dozen or so seminars available, and I would have expected to see a fair cross-section of people from the various corners of the construction industry — architects, engineers, contractors, spec writers, developers, realtors, manufacturers and suppliers, and students. But from chance encounters in the hallways and snatches of overheard conversations, I felt that architects made up the largest group.

Then, on the second day, a speaker wanting to know who was in his audience of perhaps 100 souls, asked for a show of hands: How many in the room were architects? About 60 hands went up. Engineers? About 20 more hands showed. Developers? Maybe half a dozen. There were three other seminars under way at the same time.

There were, in other words, quite a few architects who spent two days immersed in the philosophy and practice of green building.

I found that both encouraging and discouraging: Encouraging because if the architects are taking the lead in this endeavour, it’s only a matter of time before the ideas of green building trickle down to everyone else. Discouraging, because more of the actual builders — the contractors — should have taken time for this conference.

Many ideas at the conference came up again and again but in different contexts. The integrated design process was one; energy and energy conservation was another.

Curiously, although it is an idea that is at the very heart of sustainable development, the concept of net zero got only one brief mention in the seven sessions I attended.

Net zero is simply the idea that buildings use zero net energy and be carbon neutral. And because we all live in the real world, they must also be commercially viable.

Can it happen? More and more people say it can, and so are more and more big companies.

At the end of last month, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development announced it is forming an alliance of leading global companies to determine how buildings can be designed and constructed so they use no energy from external power grids, are carbon neutral, and can be built and operated at market prices.

United Technologies Corp., the giant supplier of such things as elevators, cooling and heating systems and on-site power systems, is leading the push. Also involved is the Lafarge Group. Lafarge? You know them. Cement, concrete, aggregates, gypsum, roofing.

Then, along with other large companies in the alliance, they plan to produce reports that together “will form a roadmap to transform the building industry.” It’s an ambitious undertaking, but the two powerhouses are not alone. BASF, Dow and Dupont are others that have looked at green building and see a major marketing opportunity.

As the gospel of green building is being preached by believers, a lot of people are working behind the scenes on a rather lengthy list of technologies and techniques that must be developed before any meaningful numbers of net zero projects can proceed.

Among them, researchers at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in the United States have announced that thin films of “so-called thermoelectric materials could be used to convert heat . . . into electrical energy without producing carbon dioxide or other emissions.” And scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, also in the U.S., say they are trying to overcome barriers to the economic manufacture of new solid-state LEDs to produce “cool, economical home and commercial lighting.”

What is Canada doing? Well, right now, it’s hard to tell. The new government has said it will end some of the programs the previous government started. So something that is in place as I write might not exist by the time you read this column.

But there are a couple of websites I’d suggest — one run by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., the other by Natural Resources Canada. They are:

www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/inpr/su/neze/index.cfm and

http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/epic/internet/inrei-ier.nsf/en/nz00111e.html

Korky Koroluk is an Ottawa-based freelance writer. Send comments to editor@dailycommercialnews.com

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