Environmental design, green building, LEED and sustainability are the current buzz words in the construction industry. What do these terms mean? How do they get included in the design process for a new building? And how do these considerations fit with the overall costs of a project?

The goal of environmental design is to minimise any negative impact on the larger environment caused by the construction of a particular project.  This approach requires consideration of the context within which a building is to be constructed and occupied.  This context includes the local geographic area of the project as well as the extended areas affected by the manufacturing process of the products used in the project.

Why Environmental Design - the larger view: The US has about 5% of the world's population and uses about 30% of the world's resources. Already some commodities have experienced world-wide shortages - not just oil, but concrete and steel as well. It is critical that we learn to use these limited resources more efficiently.

Why Environmental Design - the narrower view: Through the concern about the quality of the materials that go into a building, we can create healthier environments to occupy. Through the efforts to minimise the use of fossil fuel and other scarce resources, we can create buildings that cost less to operate.

Environmental Design Costs: Even though there may be increased costs associated with some aspects of this approach, there are considerations that will mitigate these costs.

Initial Cost versus Operating Costs: There are approaches that will reduce operating costs to ‘pay back' the added expense over time. A reasonable time frame is considered seven years.

Life Cycle Costs: Some products favoured by an environmental design approach may cost more initially, but over the lifetime of the building they will actually cost less due to less maintenance or a longer lifespan.

Rebates and Tax Credits: There are many national and state programs that will rebate some of the added costs for investing in products that use less fossil fuels or are more energy efficient.

2. LEED as a Guide for Environmental Design

LEED: LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is an internationally recognised certification program for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings developed by the USGBC, which is a non-profit organisation of construction professionals. Currently it is the only nationally recognised standard to verify a successful environmental design but it is not necessary to be LEED certified to have a successful environmental design.

The LEED process tends to favour a long term, life-cycle cost of view of a project. This is a good approach to animal hospital design as the durability and maintenance of the facility is a key consideration in the selection of materials.

LEED has developed a list of specific design and construction aspects that act as a guide for identifying and implementing practical and measurable green building solutions. These aspects are as follows:

·         Sustainable sites

·         Water efficiency

·         Energy and Atmosphere

·         Materials and Resources

·         Indoor Environmental Quality

·         Innovation in Design

LEED - the related costs: Design Solutions and Certification

1. Design solutions. Greater insulation, green-certified materials or other design solutions may add no additional costs or as much as 10% depending on the solutions selected.

2. Certification. This involves time of the design professionals and the contractor to document and submit many aspects of the project for certification. There is no standard for these costs, and they are very much dependent on the particular project.

LEED - when and who: The commitment to LEED must start early in the design process and will involve the owner as well as the full design team and contractors. There are LEED certified professionals who can assist in this process, and they may become part of the design team.

3. Building Systems as part of the Environmental Design

The Building and Energy Use: Buildings consume 30% of the United State's total energy usage and 60% of the electrical usage. Without gains in efficiency, operating costs would increase significantly. The design aspects to be aware of in this area include:

Building Envelope: The building envelope is the building shell- walls, roof, insulation, windows, etc. There have been significant improvements to the engineering aspects of two main components of the building envelope - the insulation and the glazing. These have improved the overall thermal efficiency of the buildings minimising the cost for heating and cooling.

HVAC (Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning): A priority of animal hospital design is to provide appropriate air quality throughout the facility. This generally requires a significant amount of fresh air be provided. Including an energy recovery system (ERV) as well as a control system that is responsive to both occupancy and climate is critical to creating an energy-efficient system.

• Interior Lighting: Due to the gains in efficiency and quality of artificial lighting excellent lighting design can also be a good environmental design choice.
• Fluorescent Lighting: This has been the standard for a number of years and is constantly being improved. Fluorescent lights are excellent in terms of energy usage for the light output.
• LED Lighting: This is considered the lighting of the future. Currently, it matches the efficiency of fluorescents  and should surpass them over the next few years. In addition there is total control of the colour spectrum and the light intensity.
• Controls: Occupancy sensors and daylight controls can reduce the electrical needs even further.
• Lighting Costs: Utilising fluorescent lighting is one of those few instances where the initial cost is less for the more energy-efficient and longer-lasting solution.

Solar Powered Systems: These typically are either photovoltaic systems to provide electricity or solar hot water systems to provide hot water for use within the building. These systems need to be designed as part of the overall design and will not totally replace standard equipment.

• Photovoltaics: Where greater amounts of sunshine is available, power from building mounted photovoltaic system is close to the cost of power from the public electrical grid.  Rebates and incentives from local utilities for power produced on site will also improve the economics of this system.
• Solar Hot Water: In most parts of the country, a roof mounted hot water array will pay for itself in about 5 years through energy savings for hot water. There are also rebate programs that will help to mitigate cost and allow payback to happen even sooner.

4. Public Support for Environmental Design

Tax Credits, Rebates and Public Incentives: There are many programs around the country to defray the added costs associated with environmental design. These programs should be considered during the design and construction phases to receive full benefits. Tax credits are obtained after completion but will require proper documentation and decisions during the design phase.

Utility Company Incentives: Public utilities have found that it is more cost effective to help their customers become more energy efficient than to build new power plants to meet a higher demand for power. These are all locally funded and should be researched in the area of a particular project.

The commitment to environmental design: In most cases the architect, mechanical or electrical engineer, LEED professional or other consultant will address the particular issues related to environmental design. However, this will not happen without a firm commitment on the part of the owner that addressing these issues is to become part of the design criteria for the project. The commitment to these issues needs to start at the beginning of the design process.

Source: Brad Rabinowitz Hospital Design Conference 2009