Green Team
Thinking Integration
By Carol Park
Green construction and design is a hot topic and the future of the builder/architect industries. It is the next step in reducing our carbon footprint and saving our planet. Palm Springs-based Pro-Active Green Technology Land Development is leading the way in the movement toward sustainable design.
The company is raising the bar and setting the standards by reaching beyond Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification.
"I believe that LEED is not really a means of identifying efficiencies in the sense of building from ground up," Pro-Active President and Chief Executive Officer Ed Torres said. "LEED says if you insulate a house and you use double pane windows and save on waste you're building green. But I really feel that what [green] development and building should be moving toward is this building block scenario of technologies."
Commercial building using solar panels
The integration of environmental elements, spiritual and personal well-being, healthy practices, water and energy saving systems, architectural designs and non-toxic building materials under one roof can create a 100% energy savings called E-ZEH and E-ZEB; Engineered Zero Energy Homes and Engineered Zero Energy Building.
Pro-Active's "Green Team" recently participated in an RFP on an affordable green housing development in Riverside that used the integration method and "the efficiencies far surpassed LEED platinum certification," Torres said.
Pro-Active, which handles entitlement and land development, currently focuses on zero energy home and building consulting and design. The company's "Green Team," a group of environmentally conscious businesses, work together under the Pro-Active banner to create and design energy efficient buildings.
The Team "understands the importance of the integration of technology and their place in the technological building scenario," Torres said. "With the consolidations of efficiencies and technologies we realized it's possible to build a zero energy building."
The Team combines photovoltaic systems with geothermal systems, uses structural insulated panels and other green elements to create Pro-Active's ideal green home or building.
"Green technology takes everything into consideration," Torres said.
The players
Green INQ; PermaCity Solar; o2 Architecture; Stantec Consulting; Premier Building Systems and The Toro Co. make up the Pro-Active "Green Team."
This Team of architects, engineers, suppliers and consultants work together to create the most efficient green home or building possible. The Team uses more than just one element of green technology to achieve energy savings.
"If one starts to understand the natural rhythm of the climate and add onto it with things like photovoltaic and geothermal systems and other technologies, we can achieve significant energy savings," said Lance O'Donnell, AIA and Principal of Palm Springs-based o2 Architecture. "It's not just about using systems to overcome bad design; it's about using design to achieve amazing results in terms of energy reduction."
O'Donnell designs buildings to maximize and compliment the efficiencies of the team's green technologies. His designs take advantage of sunlight and wind and strategically places green technologies to maximize efficiency.
"It's a gift what Lance does," Torres said. "He sees all the technologies together, he understands the integration process and that's a critical component of building on top of green technologies"
O'Donnell is recognized by the California Energy Commission as an innovative leader for incorporating regenerative principals in design projects.
Elk Grove-based Green INQ provides planning, design and construction management for installation of geothermal pump systems in a home or building. The geothermal system reduces energy costs up to 60% and maintenance costs up to 50%.
The system can provide simultaneous heating and cooling, allows for individual room control, has no air quality or fire safety issues, reduces duct work, makes hot water and has no outdoor equipment.
"We basically use the earth to heat and cool a building," said Craig Hoellwarth, Green INQ principal. "The geothermal system doesn't burn anything and is carbon neutral. Either we're taking heat out of the building or putting it back in the ground. The system is quiet and invisible; it's installed underground."
Long Beach-based PermaCity Solar sells, leases, owns and installs and maintains environmentally sound distributed power generation systems including solar electricity and solar thermal products.
PermaCity is headed by Jonathan Port. The company provides turnkey solar solutions including design, engineering, permitting and installation.
Canada-based Stantec Consulting provides planning, engineering, architecture, surveying and project management consulting. Founded in 1954, the firm offers its services through more than 60 locations in North America and the Caribbean.
Bloomington, Minn.-based the Toro Co. is a leading worldwide provider of outdoor beautification products, support services and integrated solutions. The company is committed to providing environmentally responsible products.
These innovative members of the Pro-Active "Green Team" are at the forefront of the green building movement. Their combined skills coupled with green technology advancements, helps them create buildings with zero utility bills and zero emissions.
Green future
As environmental awareness increases, consumers are beginning to demand greener products. Green building will be worth up to $38 billion and make up to 10% of residential construction activity by 2010, up from $7.4 billion in 2005, according to Harvey Bernstein, Vice President of Industry Analytics and Alliances for McGraw-Hill Construction.
With that in mind, Pro-Active hopes to help design homes and buildings that are solar ready so that when an owner wants to retrofit he can do so with minimal costs.
"There's no reason not to pre-structure homes to be solar ready, it's not that expensive and the benefits are well worth it," Torres said.
Green homes use up to 20% less energy than homes built to California's exacting Title-24 requirements. For every green-built home, there is an annual reduction of 267,413 pounds of carbon dioxide and 70 pounds of nitrous oxide. Those homes also reduce water usage by at least 20,000 gallons a year when compared with non-green homes.
Structural insulated panels, known as SIPs, are the next step in the future of green building, Torres said.
"I believe 10 years from now no one should be building a home with sticks, or what builders call stick framing, it should all be engineered because when you use structural insulated paneling, all the walls are solid; the strength of the structure has become secure and all the plumbing has to be inside of the walls," Torres continued. "And if you're going to do that much work you need to put on solar and geothermal systems. It would be insane not to because you've dramatically changed the way energy efficiencies are used for that building. The building industry needs to make these types of changes."
The team "is not looking at solutions for just our time," O'Donnell added. "We're looking at the long term."
Green billing
As global warming, pollution and other environmental concerns gain more awareness, bills have been passed to help provide incentives to be green while other bills are still in the congressional queue.
House of Representatives bill 5351, the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax of 2008, seeks to extend the tax deduction for energy efficient commercial buildings through 2013. The bill also seeks to increase the residential tax credit to $4,000 from $2,000. The bill also calls for the removal of existing limitations that prevent public utilities from claiming the commercial tax credit.
The bill would also extend the tax credit for the production of electricity from renewable resources to 2011. It would also authorize the issuance of qualified energy conservation bonds to finance local government conservation and greenhouse gas reduction projects with a cap of $3.6 billion on the issuance of such bonds.
The bill, sponsored by Congressman Charles Rangel (D-NY), was passed by the house in February and was read by the Senate twice before it was referred to the Committee on Finance.
Should that bill pass, it would be a boon for builders and developers, homeowners and public utilities.
"It's a win-win for everybody," Hoellwarth said. "There's opportunity for developers to make money and for homeowners to save money."
But more needs to be done, Torres said.
"If someone asked what I would do, I would take a trillion dollars and invest it in renewable energies in the U.S.," Torres said. "We also have to prepare and pre-design buildings for conversion to green technologies down the road; that's where I think the government should start moving toward. The government should give the building and development community the incentive to include prewired and pre-designed homes so retrofitting is less expensive and more attractive."
History of excellence
Torres is no stranger to the building industry or green technology. Raised in Long Island, New York, he has more than 25 years of business development experience. He Co-founded Palm Springs-based Contempo Homes Inc.
Torres developed 72-acres sited for 170 in Palm Springs while he headed Contempo as Chief Executive Officer. Those homes incorporate distinct architectural designs and green technology known as ContempoGREEN and EcoModern.
Then, after someone bought Contempo in 2005, Torres sold his holdings in the company and was appointed Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Environmental Service Professionals in 2006. He also sits on the Building Industry Association Board of Directors and is the President of the Palm Springs Economic Development Corp.
Torres also hopes to get involved with Well in the Desert, a hunger fighting program in Palm Springs. He offered to help the charity build a 5,000-square-foot building for its program.
"I believe in empowering people," Torres said. "I believe in the law of circulation; the more that you can give is the more you can receive to give back."
Torres, who lived in Los Angeles for most of his adult life, moved to Palm Springs in 2001 to semi-retire.
"Los Angeles was getting to be a bit too much, too busy and too stressful," he said. But retirement didn't suit the active great uncle of 54-nieces and-nephews.
His foray into the home building industry and green technology movement began after he realized he owned a midcentury Alexander home in Palm Springs. His curiosity and love of the design spurred him to start Contempo Homes so he could recreate those Alexander houses.
Alexander homes are designed with high vaulted ceilings, slanted folded plate roofs and straight lines. The father-son team of George and Robert Alexander were the original architects of those beautiful homes that were once owned by Elvis Presley, Debbie Reynolds and Dean Martin.
But the problem, Torres said, was that Alexander homes used a lot of glass and they didn't meet today's energy efficient standards. So he looked around for a solution and found a flyer from the Department of Energy about zero energy homes.
After he read the flyer he knew he wanted to build a zero energy home.
"So I called the department and asked if they could direct me to a builder who was doing this and they said it was conceptual," Torres recalled. "So I started thinking...I called about 100 builders and some were only building solar and some used geothermal and not the other. Then I ran into Lance O'Donnell and told him that I believe we can have an indoor/outdoor midcentury home by using technologies to create efficiencies that will allow for that openness."
O'Donnell agreed. After that, Torres moved forward with building the Alexander homes.
"What I got out of that experience was that I discovered some technologies," he said. "So I started having meetings; I brought in geothermal, solar, and all of these guys and said 'okay, let's talk about building a zero energy home and how we can make it happen.'"
The reaction to his meetings, Torres said, was great.
So he took his green technology integration ideas and ran with them. He joined the Building Industry Association and began talking to people about green building. He went to conferences to promote his ideas and contacted potential members for his team. He researched and did his due diligence until finally he was met with enthusiasm from other builders and organizations. Today, Torres continues his innovative thinking and practices with his Pro-Active "Green Team."
"Green building wasn't new," he said. "But it was new when I brought them all together under one structure and magnified the efficiencies."
Torres is now focused on consulting on the development and design of green buildings. He hopes others will jump on the bandwagon and take up the green mantle.
"I would challenge that every new school to be built with all possible technologies to be a living classroom," Torres said. "I feel that every school should have solar and geothermal systems and be designed with the latest technologies so future generations can learn and understand and appreciate moving into that kind of environment."
Finished Green Home
June 2008 Issue