One Firm's Journey to LEED Gold and Green Living Company president recounts how he cleared the path for a new green headquarters, leading his corporation to a more sustainable way of living By Steve Melink
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This is not your average case study about designing and constructing a green building. There are many articles on how to accumulate Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) points and achieve certification. Instead, this is a story of a company's transformation from selling energy efficiency for profit to buying energy efficiency for the larger cause of environmental stewardship. Melink Corp., based in Cincinnati, Ohio, provides national, certified, and independent HVAC testing-and-balancing services to national accounts in the retail and restaurant industries. It also is a manufacturer of automatic variable-speed controls for commercial kitchen-ventilation systems. The common denominator in both the product and service is energy efficiency. In early 2004, the company operated out of three separate locations because of incremental growth over the years. Eventually, it became apparent that a single larger facility was needed to improve operational efficiencies and provide room for future growth. Going green was not part of the plan. Then, in the summer of 2004, I attended the Engineering Green Buildings Conference and Expo, produced and managed by HPAC Engineering, and experienced an epiphany of sorts. Not only did I learn that the green-building movement is, in fact, a movement, I felt it to be a personal call to action. Suddenly, there was a greater purpose to the products and services we sell and a greater calling for us as an aspiring leader in the industry. Melink would not just move into a larger building; we would make our place of work an example of sustainable living. How can we tell our customers to save energy unless we do it ourselves? Therefore, in the fall of 2004, we bought a 5-acre parcel of land and hired a design-build contractor (Bunnell Hill) willing to climb a steep learning curve on LEED guidelines and best practices. Several pre-design meetings were held with Melink, the contractor, the architect (PDT), and a few subcontractor candidates. The purpose was to flush out a holistic and integrated set of plans as quickly as possible. This building would be a showcase for energy and water efficiency, as well as employee health and comfort. The initial emphasis was on building orientation, footprint, and profile. This evolved into discussions about the type of building envelope, the amount of natural light, and the quality of indoor air--all of which impacted the HVAC design. One idea built on another, and soon we were talking about indigenous landscaping, material recycling, and renewable energy. Next, Melink secured the services of a LEED-accredited firm, Heapy Engineering, to manage the LEED application process. When I learned there were fewer than 100 Gold-certified buildings in the world, that became the goal. Though LEED points were not the endgame, they served as a progress yardstick. The final design called for several leading-edge technologies: a geothermal heating and cooling system with heat pumps, variable-speed drives for the closed-loop water circuit, high-performance windows with operable vents for natural ventilation, a two-speed dedicated outside-air unit with energy- recovery wheel controlled by carbon-dioxide (CO2) sensors, occupancy- and light-level sensors, a building-automation system with sub-metering, and dual-flush toilets, no-water urinals, and faucets with infrared sensors and aerators for maximum water efficiency. In addition, a 10.9-kw photovoltaic solar-power system was installed, offsetting the total electrical load by at least 5 percent. This unit includes net metering, meaning that on weekends, when there is little usage, the meter spins backward, feeding up to 3,500 kwh of energy back to the grid every year. Construction began in March 2005 and ended in December. The product was a 30,000-sq-ft complex. There are three wings configured in a horseshoe pattern, with a courtyard in the center. The front wing serves as an office, the middle wing as a training and R&D center, and the back wing as a manufacturing plant. The front and middle wings have unfinished second floors to be used for expansion. The total finished area is 22,000 sq ft. The project went fairly smoothly; however, there were some delays, including site work taking longer than expected because of poor soil conditions, a late start by the geothermal drilling subcontractor because of personal issues, extended lead times on the heat pumps because of seasonal demand, and interruptions in the delivery and installation of windows because of improper sizing. In addition, the plumbing inspector required that I go before an appeals board to obtain approval for the no-water urinals as an exception to local codes, delaying the installation of the plumbing fixtures. The total cost was approximately $3 million, with $250,000 going toward the land and $2.5 million toward the building. The final $250,000 was invested in "going green" (i.e., high- performance windows, a geothermal heating system, etc.). This equates to $92 per square foot of total space, or $125 per square foot of finished space. The incremental cost to "go green" was about 10 percent of the building cost, with payback estimated conservatively at less than 10 years. The estimated return on investment is 10 percent, a better and more stable return than can be found in stocks or certificates of deposit. The anticipated life of the building and its systems is 50 years and 20 years, respectively. Melink moved into its new headquarters in December, and the general feedback has been extremely positive. The open views, natural daylight, precision-controlled temperatures, soft earth-tone colors, and outside scenery provide a greatly improved working environment. Collaboration and communication are much better across our various teams, and our employees feel a sense of satisfaction and pride working in such a state-of-the-art building. Since occupancy, the director of services, Darren Witter, and the buildings and grounds specialist, Jason Brown, have been tweaking the mechanical and electrical systems for optimal efficiency. In the first three months of operation, they uncovered two interesting and potentially significant findings:
These findings and the initial utility bills have intrigued us. Therefore, we plan to benchmark the facility's performance against other conventional and green buildings over the next several years. Melink also plans to benchmark building performance in the retail and restaurant industries, as well as in the residential market. Some of the ratios to be benchmarked will include: electricity cost per square foot per year, electricity usage per square foot, electricity demand per square foot, electricity cost per person per year, electricity usage per person per year, electricity demand per person, etc. Natural-gas and water consumption also will be monitored closely. Various building-performance and cost ratios should figure as prominently into our everyday speak as miles per gallon and dollars per gallon of gasoline. We can obsess over daily fluctuations in gas prices, yet be totally clueless about greater costs affecting our wallet for lack of home energy-saving strategies. Over the first seven months of operation, energy use averaged 15,000 kwh per month, while demand averaged 55 kw at an average cost of $1,450 per month. In terms of cost per square foot, this equals 58 cents per square foot of total space, or 79 cents per square foot of finished space. Water consumption also has been low. In the first two months, Melink used only 2,500 gal. of water, for a total bill of $57. According to calculations, this building is 50-percent more energy- and water-efficient than a conventional building. In May 2006, Melink was awarded LEED Gold certification. We celebrated this achievement during our grand-opening ceremony, which featured Kevin Hydes, chairman of the U.S. Green Building Council, as keynote speaker. More than 250 people, including customers, business partners, and elected officials attended the event. It was a day of education and celebration and an opportunity for us to spread the message of the green-building movement. Numerous visitors remarked that they were inspired to learn more about green buildings and have scheduled return visits to study the Melink building in more detail. Conclusion Walking the talk on environmental stewardship does not end with a new headquarters and some benchmarking ideas. We want to provide green leadership in as many areas as possible. For example, in the summer of 2005, Melink invested in a fleet of hybrid cars for its regional supervisors, who travel across the country. And in the fall, we hosted a meeting to provide employees with home energy-saving strategies and leadership training on spreading the green movement. Along the same lines, Melink is developing an equipment showcase of green technologies for the restaurant and retail industries; eventually, a green library will be housed on the second floor of the new headquarters. How far does Melink want to take environmental stewardship? The ultimate goal will be zero-energy buildings. Energy conservation and energy efficiency will be required, but renewable energy also will be key. We have to start now because the world's growing population and industrialization is quickly depleting Earth's resources and polluting our land, air, and water. Are we going to be the generation that solves this problem or runs from it? The emotional appeal of this story is probably as important as its technical value. Engineers typically like to operate with facts and numbers, but we have just seen that intangibles, such as inspiration, commitment, and leadership, also are part of the equation. These intangibles are what make the green-building movement sustainable until such time as pure economics become the primary driver. Following are five tips to help your company succeed in the green-building market:
Steve Melink is president of Melink Corp., a manufacturer of kitchen-ventilation controls and a provider of HVAC testing-and-balancing services. He is a licensed professional engineer and is certified by the National Environmental Balancing Bureau. He holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Vanderbilt University and a master's degree in business administration from Duke University. He has more than 20 years of HVAC-industry experience. |