Extra costs of “building green” balanced by savings

By Laurie Drukier

Building to the highest environmental standards costs more up front, but pays off over time, say University of Calgary experts.

At a panel discussion recently, a team from U of C and its building partners explained why the university has made LEED® Platinum the goal for all new university buildings.

The first campus building to be constructed to Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (LEED®) Platinum standards is the Child Development Centre (CDC).

Considerations necessary to earn this rating may have added six to seven percent to the building’s budget, but initial benefits include lower environmental impact and less waste during the building process.

The bigger payback, however, will be seen over the long term with a 55 percent energy savings and a 56 percent reduction in water use.

University of Calgary architect Jane Pendergast says sustainable building is the right thing to do. “It may appear to cost more to install a system to reuse stormwater, for example,” she says. “But when you realize the thousands of litres of water we’ll save per year, we’re not just saving money over the life of the building, we’re also conserving a precious, limited resource.”

The university is creating space for 7,000 more students by 2010 by building a number of new facilities, all of which will be designed to achieve the highest certification standard for green building in Canada.

The CDC’s budget of $32 million includes a premium for specialized sustainable features such as water reuse systems and extensive metering to verify building performance. It will also have the largest photovoltaic array connected to the grid in Canada, using sunlight to generate some of the building’s electricity.

Jim Sawers, the U of C’s infrastructure engineer and an accredited LEED® professional, says the university will be able to model a new way of operating the building.

“Once building occupants and visitors feel the difference in air quality, for instance, we’re sure they’ll see the benefit of building this way,” he says. “And air quality can have a direct impact on productivity.”

Other features will include occupancy sensors to turn off lights and reduce ventilation in empty rooms, as well as sensors that will dim the lights when daylight is available. Regional materials are used whenever possible.