"$185,000 Grant Program Aims to Cool City Roofs"
"JCPenney Celebrates Grand Opening of 22 New Stores"
"NewPage Facility Incorporates Environmentally Friendly Design"
"Affordable Apartments in Chicago Obtain LEED Certification"
"Bank With Grass Roof to Open"
"Some Macy's Stores to Get Solar Systems"
"Rana Creek Wins Contract to Design Green Roof on San Francisco Transbay Terminal Center"
"County Looking to Promote Green Roofs"
"Lumeta Expands Solar Roof Tile Production With Suntech"
"Solar Incentives Are Taking Hold"
"Maple Grove Writes a New Chapter With $28 Million Library"
"More Green Building Legislation Including Green Globes as Option"
"Safeway Plans Solar Arrays for 23 Calif. Stores"
"California Greening"

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley has taken the wraps off the city's latest environmental initiative, the Cool Roof grant program. A total of $185,000 in funding is now available to building owners willing to redesign their rooftops using special materials that reflect solar heat, thus reducing the costs of cooling. The program will provide 55 grants of as much as $6,000 each to help eligible landlords meet federal government standards aimed at reducing urban warming. The program comes a couple of years after Chicago's Department of Environment launched its Green Roof program, which focuses on using rooftop plants and soil to filter out contaminants, thus improving water quality.
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J.C. Penney Co. recently celebrated the grand opening of 22 new stores, putting the retailer on pace to deliver 50 new locations for the year. Since Jan. 1, the department store chain has opened 44 stores as part of the company's long-range plan to open 250 new and relocated stores between this year and 2011. The chain's newest store in Denver was selected by the retailer to pilot several green building features. Among them are R20-rated insulating white roof systems, LED lighting on signs, water-conserving appliances and plumbing fixtures, and recycled carpet. The pilot store is located at The Shops at Northfield Stapleton.
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NewPage's new headquarters complex in Ohio features a number of energy-efficient and environmentally friendly design features. The 75,000-square-foot structure took 10 months to erect at a cost of approximately $12 million. Among its features are a white roof that reflects thermal heating. Additionally, the building boasts tinted glass that reduces heat flow and concrete bump-outs and aluminum sunshades that keep heating costs down in the colder months and cooling costs controlled in the warmer periods of the year. NewPage's headquarters also holds the distinction of being the first building in the state to meet the Green Building Initiative's Green Globe standards. The Green Building Initiative is a nonprofit group that recognizes environmentally friendly building practices. NewPage is a leading maker of coated papers.
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The Wentworth Commons affordable apartment community in Chicago was recently certified by the U.S. Green Buildings Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program. The 51-unit complex contains a number of green features, including exposed roof trusses that support an integrated photovoltaic system; highly reflective paving and groundcovers, which reduce the urban heat island effect; and native plants. Through its roof-mounted photovoltaic system, Wentworth Commons is actually a producer of energy instead of just a consumer. Additionally, the building's white roof system cuts the project's need for cooling and assists in lowering the urban heat island effect. Susan King, principal of the firm that designed the complex, remarks: "The sustainable design approach creates a healthier environment for residents through the use of non-toxic, low-E building materials and a more affordable structure through energy efficiency measures."
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UMB Bank Colorado has opened a green banking center in the Denver suburb of Stapleton. The structure is only the second in the market to feature a green roof system. The other is the one atop the Environment Protection Agency's regional office complex in Denver, which features grass and other plants. Both roof systems are designed to absorb solar heat and filter stormwater runoff.
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Macy's Inc. is set to implement a program that calls for the installation of solar electric power systems at 28 of its California-based department stores. The systems will be designed and installed by SunPower Corp., a manufacturer of solar rooftop panels, cells and systems. In total, 8.9 megawatts of solar power systems will be installed at the 28 locations, with the retailer purchasing solar-generated electricity under the SunPower Access program for 17 of the properties. Under terms of the program, Macy's purchases only the electricity generated at the stores and not the actual solar power systems. At the end of the 10-year term, the company has the option to renew the deal, transfer the system to a new property or purchase the system outright. Macy's has already agreed to buy systems for the 11 other stores via an outright system purchase accord.
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In September, Rana Creek was awarded the contract to install a "living roof" system atop San Francisco's new Transbay Terminal Center. Using trees and native grasslands, the green roof system will treat all water from the adjacent 82-story Transbay Terminal Tower. In addition, it will filter and process the exhaust from the below railways. Kinetic fountains powered by the bus movement below will aerate the water for the rooftop wetlands. The green roof system will also contain a water drainage system and a root barrier. Rana Creek Executive Director Paul Kephart remarked: "Not only will this green roof provide the people of San Francisco with a much needed public park, it will protect the endangered species, such as the Bay checkerspot butterfly, that have all but disappeared from this urban area. Green roofs provide much needed green space for urban populations and allow companies to fight climate change while saving money." Rana Creek is a California-based firm that specializes in regenerative design and habitat restoration.
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In Florida, Hillsborough County officials are taking a close look at a new incentive plan geared toward increasing the number of green roof systems in the market. The new initiative would officially recognize the green roof system as an energy-saving feature, enabling building developers and owners to implement such a roof and apply it to the property's open space requirement. If this green roof system incentive is approved next month, more could be on the way by the spring of 2008. Kevin Palmer, an executive with General Works in Tampa, states: "If they can figure out a way to make [green roofs] a little more budget friendly, that could push people over the edge." General Works is one of the few companies in the Sunshine State that installs green roof systems, which help building owners reduce their monthly energy bills.
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Lumeta has inked a new manufacturing deal with Suntech, a leading Chinese producer of solar panels, for Lumeta's solar roof tiles. Under terms of the agreement, Suntech is set to supply solar modules for Lumeta's building-integrated photovoltaic roof tiles. The solar industry has embraced building-integrated photovoltaics as a way to slash the cost of solar electric installations. One of the main benefits of solar roof tiles is that they closely resemble regular roof tiles.
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More businesses in California's Inland Empire are installing solar panels. In September, General Motors Corp. announced a solar array that will sit atop its 300,000-square-foot warehouse in Fontana. The solar roof system will generate approximately 1.3 million kilowatt hours of electricity per year. Tesco, meanwhile, has inked a $13 million deal for the installation of what it believes to be the world's biggest solar roof system on its distribution facility in Riverside. Drew Torbin, a sustainability analyst for ProLogis, notes: "I think there's a couple factors to come into play. First is obvious environmental consciousness. Society is becoming more aware. Also, from an operation standpoint, there's a financial payback." Although the Denver-based industrial REIT currently has no solar panels installed at any of its Southern California facilities, several of its international properties are powered by the sun.
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In Minnesota, the Hennepin County Board recently approved the design for a newer and bigger library in Maple Grove. Construction on the $27.9 million facility could start as early as 2008's first quarter for a planned 2010 completion. The 40,000-square-foot library will replace the current one, which measures only 15,000 square feet. It will also feature a number of sustainable energy features, including a green roof system and an environmentally friendly stormwater runoff system.
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Kentucky and Illinois have joined the list of states with local legislation incorporating the Green Globes system for rating green buildings, bringing the count of such states to 11, said the Green Buildings Initiative. Kentucky has recommended that the Finance and Administration Cabinet follow either Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards or Green Globes, while school construction projects seeking state grants in Illinois must be certified either under Green Globes, LEED or the Illinois Capital Development Board's Green Building Advisory Committee Standards. Other states to add Green Globes to their local laws are Arkansas, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Minnesota, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Wisconsin. Legislators in many places have sought greater flexibility and choice in green building legislation, and Green Buildings Initiative President Ward Hubbell praised Kentucky and Illinois "for providing multiple options in the marketplace, which helps drive continuous improvement and encourages more people to design and build green."
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As part of a larger renewable energy initiative, Safeway Inc. has announced plans to install solar roof systems atop nearly two dozen of its grocery stores in California. Combined, these installations will generate approximately 7,500 megawatts of electricity per year—enough to yield a fifth of the stores' average consumption and almost 50 percent of usage during peak hours. Additionally, Safeway officials report the 23 installations will avoid 10.4 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions. Solar arrays already have been installed at Safeway's Lifestyle store in Dublin, Calif. Joe Pettus, Safeway's senior vice president in charge of fuel and energy, states: "Safeway is taking its green power initiative to the next level as we identify additional California store locations for its solar stores program."
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Although developers had argued in the past that green building certification is a practical impossibility for retail developments, several have managed to receive Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification since 2005. Such examples include Issaquah Highlands in Washington state, Northfield Stapleton in Denver, Atlantic Station in Atlanta and two experimental Wal-Mart stores in Texas and Colorado. Now, new state and local laws in California are positioning that state to take the lead in green development, including voluntary or mandatory rules in San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Calabasas that are now in place or soon to come. In Riverside, the city is planning incentives to encourage people to use photovoltaic solar rooftop panels, while the Inland Empire cities are looking at code changes mandating sustainable building. According to KTGY Group architect Mike Flynn, local governments are becoming more comfortable with requiring sustainable building practices as part of their building codes. He estimates that green building now only costs 2 percent more than conventional building practices. Increasing demand and greater availability of supplies for green building, such as building materials low in volatile organic compounds, have driven prices down while conventional building has become more expensive. Randy Jackson of The Planning Center says that code changes have many developers already adopting green practices even if they had not planned to, and he predicts that someday they will instinctively use green building practices because they will have become accustomed to them.
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