I'm a green building

I balance the internal biological clock in humans, increase healing times in hospitals, improve workplace productivity, fight depression and increase sales, I also inspire...I do this by encouraging views to the outside world that optimize the amount of natural daylight that can access me. These views are sure to be beautiful because I have planted native plants to repair and protect the environment around me, attracting an entire healthy ecosystem of birds, animals and beneficial insects. At the same time, in optimizing the amount of daylight that can access me I use less electric lighting energy.

On a daily basis I juggle energy efficiency and occupant comfort. I can prevent cancer, chronicasthma, and chronicobstructive pulmonary disease, acute reactions, such as eye, nose and throat irritation…I do this by ensuringmy inhabitants breathe fresh, clean, natural air, and have reduced exposure to harmful pollutants from off-gassing of materials, paints, adhesives, furniture, and insulation. I encourage occupants to take public transport and/or ride bikes to work by providing them with appropriate bicycle facilities. During my creation, I also protected my creators by ensuring their exposure to harmful pollutants was minimized through air filtration, minimization of dust creation and by selecting parts of my composition that would not harm them. 

Who am I? What am I?.....I’m a green building. 

By MECSD 

thom@mecsd.com

How to save 14461K gallons of water

How can 14, 461, 915 gallons of water, the equivalent of 231, 390, 640 glasses of drinking water, be saved? 

The answer is through smart water management practices and a proactive approach to indoor and outdoor building sustainability. With smart water management practices rainwater and greywater—defined as waste water expelled from household and office sinks, showers, baths and washing machines/dishwashers, water that doesn’t contain fecal matter—become resources instead of wastes. Instead of using fresh, clean drinking water, greywater can be treated and recycled to: flush toilets, landscape irrigation or for certain other industrial processes. Precious rainwater can also be captured and cycled back into a building indoor and outdoor system (i.e. landscape irrigation, flushing toilets). 

With smartwater management plans, water use is measured and analyzed in order to observe areas where water use can be reduced (i.e. water metering). Another way water can be intelligently managed and respected is by installing highly efficient water fixtures and fittings in bathrooms and kitchens (sinks, toilets, and showers). Through the guidance of local green building certification systems like ESTIDAMA PEARL and EHS and international green building certification systems like USGBC LEED, MECSD is able to provide expert consultation to owners of Gorgeous Towers, Data Centers, Schools, Luxury Residences, Hospitals, Retail centers and Warehouses and Offices throughout the UAE for how to properly manage water so that together, over 55 projects, we save 14, 461, 915 gallons of water, the equivalent of 231, 390, 640 glasses of drinking water.

 So, what will be the story of your building’s water?

Save water today - http://bit.ly/1UKtBu1

Green buildings help build a sustainable planet

Buildings consume upto 60% of the total global energy consumption. It is imperative that governments, businesses and citizens advocate for their energy efficiency. Governments around the world are encouraging green initiatives. With its vision for sustainability, the UAE has paved the way for environmentally friendly buildings by instituting green building regulations, guidelines and certification systems that foster energy and water efficient buildings.

Research from the United States Green Building Council show -

 ‘LEED-certified buildings are resource efficient. They use less water, energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. As an added bonus, they save money’

As a visionary in the UAE green building industry, MECSD works with local, national and international business organizations, private building owners and government entities to facilitate local green building regulations by providing expert guidance to ensure effective navigation of the following green building regulation and certification systems: Dubai Municipality, EHS, USGBC LEED and UPC ESTIDAMA Pearl in Abu Dhabi. Through MECSD’s expert guidance in employing green building measures and green building certifications.

The following companies have seen marked reductions in energy and water, reducing harmful CO2 emissions and decreasing building owner costs:

Project Name	Area (Sq. ft.)	Certification	Energy Savings %	Energy Saved (kWh/yr)	CO2 Saved (Tons)	Water Savings %	Water Saved (gal/yr)
ESAB	61,033	Platinum	51.68%	585,229	345.29	30.36%	55,728
TLM International	98,869	Platinum	44.58%	291,736	172.12	36.41%	16,305
Panasonic Avionics	185,637	Platinum	37.05%	1,144,483	675.24	21.32%	206,410
Walls & Floors	46,462	Gold	23.39%	148,936	87.87	42.96%	32,221
Scania	34,030	Gold	27.30%	574,109	338.72	66.53%	42,797
Modern Emirates Heavy Crane	8,194	Gold	28.09%	55,479	32.73	53.36%	105,431
Schaeffler	33,244	Gold	30.26%	133,905	79.00	31.31%	19,213

Not only do green buildings reduce water, energy, carbon emissions and cost, they are also much healthier for the individuals who occupy them and the environment that surrounds them. Take the Pacific Controls LEED Platinum certified green building for example. Here, employees have access to beautiful site views of lush and native purposefully planted here. The building site location is a beautiful oasis in Techno Park, enriching the land and the quality of life for the entire community. This is the essence of what Earth Hour is all about: not only reducing our impact, but proactively improving our surrounding environment, and therefore our earth.

RETROFITTING EXISTING BUILDINGS IN THE UAE AND QUANTIFYING THE RESULTS IN COST SAVINGS

Existing Building Data in the UAE

Much of the building stock of the 22nd century already exists.  In industrialized countries, the ratio of existing buildings to new is roughly 10 to 1. Conservatively, there are estimated to be over 250,000 existing buildings (exclusive of single family villas) in the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates. These buildings include multi-family residential, industrial, commercial, governmental, institutional, and educational facilities, among others. 

Many of these buildings have been constructed in the past without much regard for energy and water efficiency. To make serious impact upon the sustainability of our UAE built environment, this existing building stock must be brought up to new standards, particularly in energy and water efficiency. Water is included because most of the UAE's water comes from desalination, which is energy intensive in its production. Indeed, energy required for water desalination is projected to consume 20% of the total energy demand in the UAE by 2030.

Each Building is Unique

One of the most important concepts we have learned through our MECSD green building experiences that applies to existing buildings is that each building is unique unto itself in terms of its building systems and the behavioral aspects of its occupants. 

This uniqueness makes it very difficult or nearly impossible to compare the improvement of efficiencies achieved across a group of existing buildings - instead each building should be measured against its benchmarked prior-self, after the green building improvements (energy and water conservation measures) have been implemented, to achieve a targeted percentage in improvement that can and should be measured and verified.  

Dubai’s Existing Building Audit and Retrofit Regulation

Dubai is proposing to establish a “Building Audit and Retrofit Regulation” to be launched later this year that will require an ASHRAE Audit LEVEL 1 to be performed for buildings over an established  kWh/yr threshold, beginning the process with very large energy-using buildings. Audit Level 2 with specific energy and water conservation measures identified will be required if the initial audit reveals serious efficiency issues.

Stopping short of requiring any retrofit identified in the audit for these buildings, the Dubai program will be relying on market forces and exposure of the actual energy and water consumption levels of the building compared to established benchmarks for the building type, during building sales transactions or changes of occupancies/uses, to encourage the owners to implement the retrofits necessary, and measure the results over time.  

The new Dubai regulation will require buildings having multiple tenants to provide sub-metering to allow tenants self-regulation of their energy and water consumptions.

Certainty in an Established Target

Eventually it is my hope that the inefficient systems and operations of existing buildings be exposed at the time of required Audit reports and that a required target for improvement be established for the building owner to implement over a defined performance period of time. This would allow each building, in terms of efficiency for both systems and operations, to be continuously reviewed and upgraded over its lifetime. It has been our experience that most existing buildings can be improved by 10 to 15 % on energy and 20 to 30 % on water consumption. 

Also added peer pressure due to efficiencies defined at the time of real estate transactions will encourage building owners to make their buildings more efficient in both systems and operations.