Now comparing

This week, I began collecting new information in hopes of comparing the LEED certified buildings to non-LEED.  As soon as I started, I realized I was going to have a few problems…to be able to see if LEED is actually more sustainable than non-LEED, I need two buildings, one LEED-certified, and one non, and I also need the measurements and data from both of those buildings to show the annual energy and water use. Problem one was that there aren’t two buildings that are as similar as I would like on campus. The buildings should be close in area/square footage, have the same number of stories and have similar uses. For example, I can’t compare a LEED science lab building to a residence hall, but I can compare conference space to office space because they have similar uses. So to overcome this I am going to compare 4 sets of 2 buildings, each set will be buildings with a specific characteristic in common, and each set will have different areas of focus, so in the end I will be able to take the data from each set as if they were of the same building.  Problem two, was that of the buildings I could possibly compare, NAU didn’t measure or monitor the energy and water used in the non-LEED building, just because there was never a need to accurately measure that annually. So to get around this problem I hope to get my hands on the energy bill of each building and be able to calculate how much energy and water it used. While I wait for information on the energy bills, I have been comparing the materials and the building methods of general LEED and non-LEED buildings. Which is pretty easy considering the LEED buildings are based on a point system. For example, here in flagstaff most of the LEED buildings have a majority of their windows facing the South side so the heat of the sun can warm the building so they don’t have to use excess energy. It is just a bunch of little things similar to this that make a building “more sustainable” overall.

A Whole New Direction

This week was a little slower when it came to physical work but I did do a lot of thinking about the direction of this project. As I said in my last post, I am moving away from materials and towards architecture, but now at a little faster pace. I have begun to rethink my project, and am starting to lean towards a different question. At the beginning of all this, my question was: what materials are the most sustainable? Now that I have looked into all the different kinds of materials and seen how they are used in different buildings, I noticed that it’s not the materials that make a building sustainable; it’s how you use the materials. But as I came across that realization, I started wondering why is this all relevant? Does the cost and time and effort of making a building sustainable worth it? That’s the problem most people have with anything environmentally conscious; our environmental problems are so large and occur over hundreds of years, it is difficult to believe that recycling one paper bag or designing a building to use just a little less energy can make any difference.  Working with something sustainable can sometimes feel as if your walking on a treadmill, you’re using up a lot of time and energy to just stay in the same place. 

That is why my new question is: what is the lasting impact of sustainable buildings? I want to see if LEED certified (the point system to measure sustainability) buildings have a significant impact on the environment compared to non-LEED certified buildings.  I want to know if being environmentally aware when building a structure is worth it and actually makes a difference. Of course I know recycling the one bag does make somewhat of a difference, but it is microscopic. I want to know what we can do in the field of architecture to make a difference that has a little bit more of a longer lasting effect.  I want to know why we should strive to be sustainable.