By Michael Dabney, Thomas P. Healy and Zachary Schalk
Photos by Rachel Rose

Bill Brown, currently an associate partner and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-certified architect at Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf, first got involved with green building in 1985.

Brown graduated from Indiana University in 1976 with a degree in biology. In 1985, he decided to study architecture after constructing his own home. From the beginning, he was interested in green issues. In 1992, Brown was involved with Ball State’s “Building to Save the Earth” symposium, which led to his participation in the American Institute of Architects’ National Committee on the Environment. He, along with about 100 experts from around the country, helped with the greening of the White House in 1993.

“Trying to bring that experience back to Indiana and moving folks in that direction was a challenge,” Brown says today.

Brown has promoted sustainable construction across Indiana. He is involved with several allied groups, including the AIA Indiana Legislative Affairs Committee and serves as chair of the Indy GreenPrint Commission.

Brown says that while Indiana currently trails more progressive with regard to sustainability, there is an opportunity for us to become a leader of the green revolution in a way that would not only help the environment but also bolster the economy, citing green building and wind energy as areas where the state is taking positive steps.

Brown also serves as vice president of the Indiana Chapter of the USGBC. Recently, he says, his organization has experienced tremendous growth. “Membership in the Indiana Chapter climbed from 80 at the beginning of 2007 to 232 by the end of the year, an increase of nearly 300 percent.”

He adds, “LEED-registered projects in the state went from 10 at the beginning of 2007 to 82 by the end of the year.” If all of those projects are built, Brown says, the construction value would exceed $2 billion.

But the value isn’t limited to monies spent. It’s also energy saved. “Potential reductions of waste and energy are 100 percent-plus,” Brown says. He notes that the goal for such “living buildings” is zero waste, zero net energy (carbon neutral) and zero net water use.

Reducing resource use in the built environment is crucial because recent U.S. Department of Energy figures show that commercial and residential buildings consume 40 percent of all energy produced in the country — more than industry and transportation. Additionally, structures use 72 percent of the electricity generated in the country and account for 38 percent of the country’s carbon dioxide emissions and 38 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions.

Brown says green building is “market-driven” in Indiana, spurred in part by rising energy costs.

“The biggest savings most developers of office buildings are finding is improved employee productivity, health and retention,” he says. “They are also seeing increases in building valuation and they can get higher lease rates.”

For those who think going green is an expensive proposition, Brown points to a recent study by Davis Langdon, one of the world’s premier providers of comprehensive construction cost management services. The report states, “There is no significant difference in average cost for green buildings as compared to non-green buildings”

—Thomas P. Healy with a contribution from Zach Schalk  

Local green  building development

Local development companies include Shiel Sexton, Castalia Homes, Casa Verde LLC and Aronson Custom Homes. And the trend has been carried beyond the private sector, with environmentally sound projects being completed at schools and universities across the state. Even Indianapolis’ new airport terminal has been constructed with an eye towards being green.

Here is a snapshot of how the green building movement has been integrated into society, both locally and around the state.

Castalia Homes

The Castalia Homes construction site is a $1.9 million Home-A-Rama in a nice neighborhood — apparently no different than hundreds of other houses dotting the area. But while the house may not seem particularly unique, it is a sign of our times: an eco-friendly mansion. Or that’s the idea, at least. 

Those in charge at Castalia see its green building strategy as equal parts business opportunity and ethical imperative. It was only a little over a year ago that Castalia’s president, Frank Redavide, began researching the green building process in earnest. While Castalia develops homes of almost any price range, the focus on green building has become its niche. “We want to be the premier green builders in the state,” Redavide says.

Much of the green building process actually comes in the planning and building stage, where efficiency is key. Redavide explains pre-construction meetings between electricians, plumbers, framers and other members of the construction team: “Before we even put sticks to brick, we’re getting everybody to go ahead and talk about efficiency,” he says. “Now we’ve got everybody working together.”

Ideally, products come from close to the work site, an emphasis Redavide says also helps the local economy, with as many recycled or recyclable materials utilized as possible. As a result, a green construction site produces much less waste than a conventional development of the same size.

“A lot of people say they’re ‘green,’” Castalia Home’s construction manager Mike McHale says. “But once you look closer they’re not really.” He points to misconceptions of what it means to recycle materials, and homes with only one environmental feature.

While the home is yet to be certified, Castalia expects it to meet LEED standards.
Once the building is in operation, the same efficiency that benefits the environment also benefits the owner’s pocketbook. Over a 30-year period, Castalia’s Home-A-Rama in Zionsville is projected to save $500,000 in utility costs because of features such as icynene insulation and a manifold water system.

Some argue that building green adds to the suburban sprawl that contributes to Indianapolis’ environmental issues. Redavide sees sprawl as inevitable. “These houses will be built regardless,” he says. “Why not do it responsibly?”
—Zach Schalk

Aronson Custom Homes

Other companies have taken a slightly different path along the new trend towards green building. A prime example in the Indianapolis area is Aronson Custom Homes, which has made the green remodeling of existing homes its priority.

The company was started about three years ago. Prior to founding the company, Arifah Aronson experienced firsthand the possible pitfalls of traditional construction during a home renovation project that left her entire family sick and one son with a severe case of asthma. Eventually, she discovered the source of her family’s problems were unhealthy chemicals in the new carpet and drywall of the family’s home. This experience led her to dedicate herself to the sustainable and healthy renovation of homes.

Because green guidelines for remodeling projects are just now appearing, Aronson’s projects have not been certified like new construction projects. “I do follow a lot of the [new construction] guidelines,” Aronson says, citing recycling and resource efficiency standards as examples. “In our planning of the projects, we’re using a lot of the methods from both USGBC and NAHB [National Association of Home Builders].”

Aronson believes that green remodeling is the most effective way to benefit our environment and the health of her customers. The company now completes between eight and 10 projects a year and she hopes to one day be involved with the construction of a home that is completely off the grid — in other words, a self-sustaining environment. “That would be a really fun project to be involved with.”
—ZS

Goshen College

A unique, green jewel of a building complex enhances a 1,150-acre natural sanctuary in Northern Indiana. Goshen College’s Reith Village is the first LEED Platinum Certified building project in the state.

A total of 52 points is required for platinum rating — the pinnacle of environmentally sustainable design. Reith Village received 55 points for including earth-friendly components such as passive solar design, cisterns to recycle rainwater, locally harvested tulip poplar siding, solar panels and a wind generator.

Luke Gascho, executive director of Goshen College’s Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center, says the building complex is an expression of the Mennonite faith. “We’re not doing this just because going green is the cool thing to do these days,” he said. “We’re doing it because we feel it has a direct tie to our faith. As stewards of God’s earth we are to take care of everything and bring rest and renewal to the land.”

Planning began nearly a decade ago, Gascho says, when the college began exploring ways to increase Merry Lea’s utility as an educational resource — both for K-12 students as well as for the planned expansion of the college’s environmental science programs.

“When we started working on those programmatic developments we saw that we were going to need additional facilities,” he says. “And as soon as we started talking about facilities we agreed they needed to demonstrate low-level impact on the environment.”

Gascho began researching environmentally-friendly building projects and arranged to visit them, including the Rocky Mountain Institute in Snowmass, Colo.
Gascho was impressed enough to invite RMI to Goshen in 2001 to lead a design charrette. “In all, 30 people worked at setting the objectives for the building design and construction,” he says. The group included students, faculty, college administrators and architects.

Near the end of the session, Bill Browning, head of green building at RMI, asked Gascho if they would like to compare their design objectives to LEED standards.
“We realized it was a no-brainer because we picked our objectives and found a rating system that will help verify that we are really meeting the objectives that we set out to follow,” Gascho says.

The entire design was completed and broken into two phases. “All of Phase I is about 9,000 square feet,” he says. This includes two student cottages (residences) and a third cottage that provides classroom and office space.

Located approximately 30 miles away from the college campus, the site serves as an ecological field station for Goshen’s undergraduate environmental science programs and graduate level environmental education students.

As part of the site plan, designers included a constructed wetland that treats wastewater for the 32 residents without using any chemicals and very little energy. “The water that comes out meets Indiana standards for treated wastewater,” Gascho says.

He added that state and local officials were supportive of the constructed wetlands and that students monitor the water quality. “It’s become a great case study for the students.”

The entire project also feeds growing interest in green building around the Hoosier state.
—TPH

Butler University

Butler University has also begun a green construction project: a $14 million addition to its pharmacy and health sciences building, a facility the university hopes will be LEED Silver certified. It will be the first LEED building on campus and just the second LEED Silver building in Indianapolis, joining the IDO Incorporated building.

While many paint the issue of green building as an issue related to global warming, an argument Mike Gardner, Butler’s vice president of operations, believes has its merits, he also sees it in a different light. “I can make a good economical and financial argument for building green,” he says. Gardner points out that green buildings are both more energy efficient and built with more sustainable materials requiring less upkeep than more traditional structures.

The decision to aim for LEED Silver certification is consistent with Butler’s goal for a greener campus. Green features in the four-story, 40,000-square-foot building, which was designed by Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf and is being built by Shiel Sexton, include traditional energy savers such as soft electric lights and natural lights to reduce energy usage, waterless urinals in the men’s room and recycled carpet and flooring. The building will be partially heated by heat generated from the university’s data center, which will be moved to the new facility. Also, bike storage and showers will be added to encourage the use of bikes.

A ceremonial groundbreaking ceremony took place May 8. Work began recently and Gardner is confident the facility will be up and running for the fall semester of 2009. Butler hopes to make LEED Silver certification mandatory for every new building constructed. “Everybody is real excited about it,” Gardner says.
—ZS

Keep Indianapolis Beautiful

When the decision was being made to move to a new location, Keep Indianapolis Beautiful decided to take a leading role in not only keeping the city beautiful but also in helping to spread the green building gospel.

KIB’s new site just southeast of downtown needed extensive reclamation work, but KIB President David Forsell says the group also wanted to obtain national certification that its building was environmentally friendly.

“We were trying to take a leadership position,” Forsell says of the $2.2 million project. “And it was the mother of all environmental challenges — to go from an environmental derelict to an environmental showplace. It’s a 180-degree turnaround.”

Keep Indianapolis Beautiful dedicated the building earlier this summer and is consolidating its operations on the site. The building, which is located at 1029 Fletcher Ave., has 25,000 square feet of space, with KIB using 7,000 square feet for office space and another 11,000 square feet for warehouse space. The remaining space is available for a future tenant.

From the beginning, the goal was to obtain LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.
Forsell says the goal was to demonstrate a commitment to urban renewal and environmental stewardship. As a result, the total cost of renovation was as much as 15 percent higher. “It costs a little more upfront but saves in the long term,” Forsell says.

The numerous details that aided the LEED certification included reuse of an urban lot and building, which saves natural resources; a 10,000 gallon cistern, which reduces storm water runoff for reuse in watering trees and plants; a “cool roof” system that reduces the heat from the roof and saves energy costs; a central atrium that captures light, reduces energy use and improves the quality of life; a paved parking lot that uses recycled pavement; and use of sensor-activated occupancy lighting, energy-efficient light bulbs and appliances to reduce energy usage and costs.  
—Michael Dabney

Indianapolis International Airport midfield terminal

When planning for the new Indianapolis International Airport began in earnest 10 years ago, sustainability and efficiency were certainly priorities. However, the green building mindset was still in its infancy — and the LEED certification that is the goal of most green building today did not even exist.

“When we first started, not too many people were really thinking about green building,” says Ted Givens, executive vice president of Blackburn Architects, who has participated in project planning from the start. “So there was a little bit of an education on the part of the builders and the designers about building green — ultimately to their benefit and to the community as a a whole.”

While many green building projects are on a relatively small scale — local homes or office buildings — the IIA project is anything but. With at least 133 separate construction contracts and over 50 designer firms involved, the logistics of the project alone make it unique. “Because of its scale, the project’s environmental benefits can be profound,” says Jon Clifford, Blackburn Architects’ LEED administrator for the project.

Other airports have had certain wings or concourses constructed with LEED guidelines, but the new Indianapolis Airport is expected to be the first new airport to be LEED certified from the ground up. And, while the certification process is expected to continue for over a year after the airport opens this November, those involved with the project feel confident in the results. “We always would like to go as high as we possibly can,” Givens says.

Even though there are no LEED guidelines specifically for the construction of airport terminals, the environmentally conscious construction practices recommended by LEED on other projects were easily followed by the construction team. And in a project so large, the advantages were clear: Saving energy by being efficient also saved money.

The construction process followed conventional green practices such as erosion and dust management plans, air quality protection and measures to ensure landfill diversion by recycling. “Before it’s all over, it’s  conceivable that rebar from runway demolition — recycled three years ago as work on the project began — actually could have been melted down and reformed into structural steel used in the completed building,” Clifford says.

Once the airport is complete, several features will be on display, making the new terminal an improvement over the old one environmentally and in convenience for those who use it. The terminal’s placement allows for reduced aircraft taxi time, as well as centralizing the parking and car rental facilities. Outside the airport, landscaping was planned to utilize native, drought-resistant plants that will not attract birds to the airport area and a state-of-the-art irrigation system will reduce water consumption.

Inside, the structure’s expanse of windows reduces demand for artificial light as well as offering a view of the city’s downtown skyline. Air quality will be bolstered by entryway dust control, a smoking ban and the limited use of Volatile Organic Compounds in construction materials. Heating and cooling in the building will be controlled by a new system that saves energy by only focusing on the temperature of the areas inhabited by patrons. The radiant floor of “Civic Plaza” may be the airport’s biggest innovation. Here, cooling coils in the floor of the terminal’s soaring public atrium will keep visitors cool and comfortable.

It is this combination of features that make Indianapolis International Airport a green milestone for Indianapolis, Clifford says. “That is one of the things about green building; you’re integrating all these things that each individually provide some environmental benefit but, taken together, may have benefit that goes beyond the project itself.”
—ZS

Government’s role

While Indiana is not considered to be on the leading edge of environmental policy nationally, local and state governments have taken recent steps to move the state in that direction.

In Indianapolis, former Mayor Bart Peterson announced in August 2007 the creation of the Indy GreenPrint initiative aimed at improving citywide sustainability. The Indianapolis-Marion County Green Commission drafted an action plan for helping the city protect the climate and improve energy efficiency and conservation.

Once Mayor Greg Ballard’s administration took office, some feared the GreenPrint initiative would be lost in the shuffle. But Mayor Ballard has continued to push forward with the greening of Indianapolis. “Mayor Ballard recognizes that environmental sustainability is a key strategy to make sure that Indianapolis continues to be competitive in a changing world,” Public Information Officer Steven Hardiman wrote in an e-mail interview, citing long-term cost savings and quality of life improvement for the community as key reasons for the mayor’s stance.

Environmental efforts made thus far under the Ballard Administration include the establishment of the Office of Sustainability “to drive environmental sustainability efforts within the city” and the incorporation of “green infrastructure” into the city’s long-term combined sewer overflow plan. In the future, the administration wants to pursue other environmental strategies, such as making the city’s 3,800 vehicles a “Green Fleet” to reduce emissions and save money on fuel, conducting energy audits, retrofitting city government buildings to reduce energy costs and to continue working with the GreenPrint Commission to implement their recommendations.

Bill Brown, chair of the Indy GreenPrint Commission, says that the next meeting of the commission will focus on four priorities: a center for sustainability (where citizens can go to find out necessary information about sustainability); suggesting incentives for green buildings that the city could put in place; Brownfield redevelopment; and accelerating and expanding the NeighborWoods tree planting program initiated by Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, Inc.

“I’m encouraged by what I’ve heard so far from the administration that they are serious about moving this stuff forward,” Brown says about the Ballard Administration’s work with the Indy GreenPrint Committee.

On the state level, the Indiana House of Representatives passed House Bill 1280 called “Energy Efficient Buildings,” requiring all taxpayer-funded public buildings to receive a LEED Silver certification. While it did not pass the Senate, the bill was moved into a “study committee,” where it will be studied this summer.

Brown, who was involved as a member of the AIA’s Indiana Legislative Affairs Committee, says the bill-making process also led to Executive Order 08-14 delivered by Gov. Mitch Daniels, which could pave the way for future legislation on the issue. “I think it’s a very positive development,” Brown says about the Executive Order. “I think there will be some legislation that will be new legislation to take the Executive Order and flesh it out in other ways.”

Brown also feels that more could and should be done to bring Indiana up to speed with other states. “I think we’d like to see more incentives to build green on both state and local levels … I think we’ve started down the path, and I hope we continue.”
—ZS

LEED certification

A detailed guideline and point system is laid out by the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating System. Points are given out in certain categories, such as sustainable site planning, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, material and resource efficiency and indoor environmental quality. The system has four certification levels: Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum, with Platinum being the most environmentally sound and requiring 52 points to be attained. While LEED is not the only certification system, it is generally accepted as the national benchmark for green construction.
—ZS

Resources

If you’re interested in further education about green building, here are a few Web sites worth a look:

www.hecweb.org:
The Hoosier Environmental Council Web site aims at educating those interested in Indiana’s environmental challenges while also offering opportunities to take action.

www.usgbc.org:
The Web site for The U.S. Green Building Council provides information about the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Rating System as well as connecting you to local information found on the USGBC Indiana Chapter’s Web page.

www.indygov.org/eGov/Mayor/GreenPrint/GP/home.htm:
provides information on the Indy GreenPrint initiative

www.frombrowntogreen.blogspot.com:
Bill Brown’s blog dissects several green issues, both of local and broader interest, as well as providing links to several other relevant Web sites.

www.greenwaysupply.net:
 Green Way Supply, located in downtown Indianapolis, is a home improvement retailer geared towards the environmentally conscious.

www,castaliahomes.com
www.aronsoncustomhomes.com
www.kibi.org
—ZS