Rutgers buildings to go green

Environmentally friendly construction now part of university policy

Nick Romanenko

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A new institute supported by the university’s Academic Excellence Fund is working with Rutgers officials to promote sustainable construction on campus and nationwide.

The Center for Green Building, launched in June 2006 with a $100,000 award from Rutgers’ Academic Excellence Fund, is a multidisciplinary institute whose activities are dedicated to fostering more green building nationally.

“There was no common umbrella or home to tie this type of research together. There is a tradition of doing this research at Rutgers,” said Jennifer Senick, the center’s executive director. “The center was formed in part to pull together all the different departments and schools and advance from there.”

The center already has had two major reports published making recommendations on industrial and residential green building management in the Meadowlands region and is working on a third study on affordable green housing. “In the New Jersey Meadowlands District, they have changed some of their building ordinances to be more green friendly,” Senick said.

Senick, who has private sector experience in planning and policy and is pursuing a doctorate in urban planning and policy development at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, said green building in New Jersey poses a unique challenge.

“Most green research is about new construction. But New Jersey is built out. We’re going to have to figure out how we retrofit,” Senick said. “For example, looking at the roofs on warehouses, we could use reflective roofs or something besides black tar roofs.”

Architects, planners, and utility and facilities experts at Rutgers are working together with faculty and staff at the center, located in the Bloustein School. University officials have taken several measures to ensure that capital projects at Rutgers are constructed under stringent design standards that yield more environmentally friendly buildings.

Automobiles are often singled out for emitting the greenhouse gases that cause global warming. But buildings are responsible for a significant portion of global warming. The energy services required by residential, commercial, and industrial buildings produce approximately 43 percent of carbon dioxide emissions in the United States, according to a report by the Pew Center on Global Climate Change.

“There is a growing realization that the built environment is responsible for a lot of environmental impacts,” said Associate Professor Clinton Andrews of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy. “Buildings last a really long time. If you build a mistake – you are stuck with it.” Buildings also contain materials – from Sheetrock to doors to ceiling tiles to carpeting – that eventually end up in Dumpsters and take up declining space in landfills, which are already an environmental hazard.

Faculty and staff at the center are starting locally, doing test evaluations on buildings at Rutgers to see how efficiently they operate. The Civic Square Building, which houses the Bloustein School as well as the Mason Gross School of the Arts, is one of the first pilot buildings.

Although the concept has generated much interest in the past couple of years, “green building” is not a new practice. Builders in the 1970s constructed environmentally friendly buildings – but not necessarily people friendly.

“What we learned is that if all you do is focus on energy-efficient buildings you use less energy but you have buildings that aren’t as nice to be inside of,” said Andrews, who is faculty adviser at the Center for Green Building. “They are uncomfortable, stuffy, and have poor indoor air quality. Today’s challenge is to enhance both the buildings’ performance and the occupants’ experience.”

The Office of the University Architect recently completed a final draft of the university design standards, written to comply with the U.S. Green Building Council Sustainable Design guidelines. All new buildings at Rutgers must comply with “silver” standards or above, according to the LEED green building rating system. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design – the system is overseen by the U.S. Green Building Council. LEED rankings are “Certified,” “Silver,” “Gold,” and “Platinum.”

The LEED system promotes sustainability by recognizing performance in five key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality.

A “silver” LEED rating means that a building project meets 33 to 38 of the 69-point rating system. As university planners rewrite design standards, new buildings will automatically improve their LEED ratings. The new Livingston Student Center will be among the first newly constructed buildings to be built to the silver standard, according to University Architect Jeff Livingston.

Another new standard is that recycling construction materials will take place during all new construction and renovation. Dianne Gravatt, director of environmental services and grounds for University Facilities Maintenance Services, is in charge of all recycling at the university. Gravatt found a way to recycle construction materials and save the university money at the same time. The College of Nursing building project, which began in 2005, is the first project for which all construction materials will be recycled.

“Typically, day-to-day recycling doesn’t cost the university anything,” Gravatt said, explaining that haulers receive money for bringing recyclables to plants and frequently give money back to Rutgers. “The same thing will occur when we begin to recycle things that are not used in a project. You always buy more materials than you need. Lumber, concrete, asphalt, soil, carpeting – that all can be recycled. The hauler takes the items to their recycling locations; they get the money and don’t pass the charge onto the construction company, and the company doesn’t charge the university.”

Incorporating “green” practices into the design process also saves money, said Michael Kornitas, a project design coordinator for University Facilities. “For example, by designing efficient HVAC (heating, ventilating, and air conditioning), lighting, and plumbing systems, you can realized energy saving and less water consumption.”

Livingston said the key to implementing green building standards is to get all involved parties at the table from the beginning. “Before we start a project, we may have an in-house charrette that includes people from transportation, planning and development, public safety, real estate, utilities, and other offices,” Livingston said. “It brings all parties that need to weigh in on the decision-making process together, and we can collectively evaluate what LEED points are attainable. That’s part of our implementation plan – to make sure we’re doing things efficiently and effectively.”

Livingston added that the most vocal people at the table are students. “Hardly a project goes by that we don’t have one of the students involved ask about green opportunities. To have sustainable practices get that level of attention from our clients – our students – gives greater credence to our efforts.”