The U.S. Green Building Council (www.usgbc.org) Click Here created the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) principles to support green building design. LEED aims to make buildings pleasant and healthy places with a high level of indoor air quality. It also seeks to improve energy efficiency, conserve resources, and protect the environment throughout the process of constructing and operating the building. Green design addresses four basic aspects of a building: energy, water, materials, and air quality/chemicals. LEED principles were applied to ensure that this building provides a safe and healthy workplace for police staff, while minimizing utility bills and environmental impacts. Application is underway to certify the building at a "gold" rating, the second highest level. The green measures installed are listed below.
[Note: Photos (by Artistic Creations) are at http://mtrainierfol.org/roundabout_collection/new_pd.html]
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Energy
This aspect addresses the design of the building shell and the selection of equipment and energy sources. The shell includes a light-colored heat-reflective roof; high levels of insulation in the roof, walls, and floor; a natural daylight corridor (clerestory) in the roof; and high performance windows. These energy-efficient features reduce the need for heating, cooling, and artificial lighting. The equipment includes highly efficient lights and an air ventilation system that takes in outdoor air while conserving heat. Clean renewable energy sources include solar daylight and ground-source heat pumps that draw heat from underground soils. Altogether, these features cut energy use and utility bills in half. This, in turn, displaces oil or natural gas use for a furnace and cuts pollution from local powerplants.
Water
Low flow faucets and toilets were installed to reduce water use. Outdoor impervious surfaces are reduced so that on-site soils capture and filter storm water, which protects the Chesapeake Bay.
Materials
The adaptive reuse of the existing building contributes to historic preservation and conserves the existing building materials. More than 75% of the construction waste was salvaged or recycled. The lumber is certified by the Forestry Stewardship Council. Interior furnishings have a strong recycled content: wood paneling is made with recycled sunflower seeds; floor tiles are made with recycled automobile windshields (50%); linoleum is made from linseed oil, resin, and cork; and the carpet has 100% recycled backing. More than half of the materials were purchased from manufacturers within 500 miles, reducing the energy needed to transport them.
Air Quality/Chemicals
Indoor air quality is improved by choosing materials and chemicals that emit low levels of unhealthy gases (volatile organic compounds). This includes paints, carpets, composite materials (e.g. fiberboard), and adhesives. The use of operable windows and the outside air ventilation system also help indoor air quality. The heating, ventilation, and air conditioning equipment do not use clorofluorocarbons that contribute to the ozone hole and climate change.
Other Features and Benefits
The building and its systems were commissioned (subjected to independent validation for quality control) to ensure that the measures affecting indoor air quality, and other measures, perform as the design intended. The natural daylight improves the quality of the interior spaces. The light-colored roof and landscaping reduce the "urban heat island" effect. Night sky "light pollution" was minimized by focusing exterior lights downward. The site supports alternative transportation by its nearness to the bus station and by the provision of bicycle parking and a recharging station for electric vehicles. Even further, the building was designed to accommodate more green measures in the future. For example, the roof can support solar photovoltaic arrays to produce on-site electricity and the emergency diesel generator can be adapted to use biodiesel, a clean renewable fuel.
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