The full citation for the article is: Barnes, Laura L. (2012). “Green Buildings as Sustainability Education Tools.” Library Hi Tech 30(3), 397-407. (Online at http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/07378831211266546). I’ve also deposited a version of this article at http://hdl.handle.net/2142/34138 for those who don’t subscribe to the journal.

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of green building technologies and practices and illustrate how public libraries can use them as tools to teach their communities about sustainability and foster behavior change.

Design/methodology/approach – Through literature searches, case studies analysis, and individual phone and e-mail interviews, the author identified ways that public libraries can use their buildings to demonstrate green technologies and practices and show their patrons how to apply them at home, at work, and in the community.

Findings – Education is a component of LEED certification. Many LEED certified libraries publicize a list of the green technologies used in their building projects. Some sponsor programs related to the green building and include permanent displays in the library to explain how the technology works. The Fayetteville Public Library went beyond these basic techniques to not only improve the sustainability of their operations but also become a community test bed for a renewable energy project.

Originality/value – This paper sheds light on how building projects can be used not only to educate the public about green technologies and practices, but also inspire others to begin using similar techniques at home, at work, and in the community.

In order to serve the ever-growing professional development needs of the green building community, over the past year, the USGBC Knowledge Exchange team has collected and cataloged over 400 free digital resources that relate to green building.  The USGBC Resource Catalog includes a wide variety of resources on green building topics, including energy efficiency, materials, affordable housing, best practices, business cases, etc.  This collection, which is limited to free, educational, non-promotional resources, aims to inspire a commitment to lifelong learning and sustainable building practices and behaviors.

The USGBC Resource Catalog can be found at http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=2175.

Content suggestions are always welcome!  To recommend an item for the Resource Catalog, please email KnowX@usgbc.org.

According to the U.S. EPA, “Green roofs provide shade and remove heat from the air through evapotranspiration, reducing temperatures of the roof surface and the surrounding air. On hot summer days, the surface temperature of a green roof can be cooler than the air temperature, whereas the surface of a conventional rooftop can be up to 90°F (50°C) warmer.” Benefits of green roofs include: reduced energy use; reduced air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions; improved human health and comfort; enhanced stormwater management and water quality; and improved quality of life.

The following resources provide a weath of information on green roofs:

• Greenroofs.com: An information-rich portal on green roofs. In addition to news, job listings, events, and an extensive section on the basics of green roof technology (Greenroofs 101), the site offers a student forum where students involved with green roof research can post projects and papers, and network with each other and companies. The Greenroofs Student Projects Database is an international searchable database of green roof case studies; an online form allows you to submit information on your own green roof project for potential inclusion in the database. The Greenroof Directory is an online guide to manufacturers, suppliers, organizations and students involved with green roof technology or promotion. The Research Links section provides information on green roof studies being conducted by universities, private companies, and public or governmental affiliates. The Marketplace is a listing of products related to green roofs and roof gardens. The site also features columns, such as the “Ask Ed” plant Q&A column.
• Green Roofs for Healthy Cities: The mission of Green Roofs for Healthy Cities is to increase the awareness of the economic, social, and environmental benefits of green roof infrastructure across North America and rapidly advance the development of the market for green roof products and services.
• Green Roofs Tree of Knowledge: An extensive searchable database provided by Green Roofs for Healthy Cities on research and policy related to green roof infrastructure. Contains information on: the performance of different species of plants and growing media; the full range of the social and biophysical benefits from green roof implementation; private and public economic benefits flowing from the social and biophysical benefits; innovative policy tools used to support green roof implementation from North America, Europe and beyond.
• GreenSave Calculator: Developed by Green Roofs for Healthy Cities (GRHC) and the Athena Institute, this calculator lets you compare roofing alternatives over a specific time period to determine which has the lowest life-cycle cost.
• City of Chicago City Hall Rooftop Garden: This portion of the City of Chicago web site describes the green roof atop City Hall. The site includes a link to a Guide to Rooftop Gardening; information on monitoring the rooftop garden’s benefits; a photo gallery showing the evolution of the rooftop garden; information on the design on the rooftop garden; lists of plants used; and a maintenance plan for the garden.

For more resources on green roofs, see the Green Roofs section of the GLRPPR Green Building Sector Resource. If you are aware of case studies or other resources that should be listed in this Sector Resource, please contact Joy Scrogum or share the information in the “Comments” section of this post.

• Open spaces such as local, state and national parks, conservation easements and buffer zones and transportation rights-of-way.
• Sites with buildings including industrial, retail and office parks, military complexes, airports, botanical gardens, streetscapes and plazas, residential and commercial developments and public and private campuses.

The Initiative site provides a copy of the report Sustainable Sites Initiative Guidelines and Performance Benchmarks – Draft 2008, which focuses on measuring how a site can protect, restore and regenerate ecosystem services – benefits provided by natural ecosystems such as cleaning air and water, climate regulation and human health benefits. This report contains over 50 draft prerequisites and credits that cover all stages of the site development process from site selection to landscape maintenance.

Case studies, dates for upcoming presentations on sustainable sites, and information on the Initiative’s areas of focus (Why Sustainable Sites?; Hydrology; Soils; Vegetation; Materials; and Human Health & Well-being) are also provided.

Since the company’s beginning in 1973, Ms. Jones has taken steps to ensure that Consolidated Printing maintains its profitability while complying with local, state, and federal statutes and regulations; protecting employee health and well being; and operating as a good citizen of the community. The company mission is “to provide high quality printing services with a zero impact on the environment.”

Recognizing that printing is among the top ten most toxic industries in the U.S., Ms. Jones has focused her career on actively pursuing the elimination of toxic chemicals in the printing process. Consolidated Printing uses an all-natural process without toxic chemicals that are harmful to workers, the community, or air, land and water. In early years, common household products were substituted for harmful chemicals-cooking oil as a roller lubricant, vinegar as a neutralizer, and fabric softener as a wetting agent. Ms. Jones works with suppliers to eliminate harmful substances in chemicals and offers her shop as a willing beta test site for products that could potentially be safer for the environment. Today, Consolidated Printing uses an all-vegetable process, including inks, pigments and solutions, and the company is petroleum and carcinogen free.

In recognition of Consolidated Printing’s accomplishments and level of environmental sustainability, Ms. Jones has received awards from the Illinois EPA, three Illinois Governors, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, and the Chicago Department of the Environment. In addition, Consolidated Printing has been asked to open a second location to provide the printing services at the Business Service Center for the Green Exchange, a retail and office facility that will house some 100 businesses, all of them environmentally and socially responsible. The first of its kind in the U.S., the Green Exchange building is a four-story, 272,000 square-foot former factory being converted according to LEED Platinum standards and incorporating a wide array of green building features and benefits.

Throughout her 35 years as a printer, Ms. Jones has used her own resources and initiative to ensure that others learn of the many ways a firm can print responsibly, honoring the environment as well as the health and well-being of the persons who produce printed product. She was involved in the development of the Great Printers Project, the first team in the nation seeking to create a business environment conducive to pollution prevention for the entire printing industry. Consolidated Printing became the first printing company in Illinois to achieve Great Printer status in 1997. The company then produced a film with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA), and Ms. Jones and other Consolidated Printing employees traveled the state with IEPA representatives to raise awareness of the Project among printers. Hoping to establish an “effective and easy to understand program for complying with OSHA regulations,” the Consolidated Printing staff also participated in a national OSHA project for the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO). Working with several printing companies, Consolidated Printing formulated teaching materials to be utilized by printing companies across America in the National Pilot Project.

Ms. Jones works continuously to spread the word about sustainability and green in the printing industry. Outreach efforts include speaking engagements; educational and environmental committee involvement; exhibiting at a variety of facilities and events; participation on panels, blogs, You Tube and internet radio shows. Environmental sustainability in the printing industry has also been taught by Ms. Jones during weekly tours of Consolidated Printing for clients, printers, suppliers, associations, and radio and television crews, which have resulted in recent segments on Chicago’s WLS Channel 7, NBC Channel 5, and Good Morning America. She makes herself accessible to all who wish to learn of her pioneering practices.

The William D. Shaeffer Environmental Award is presented annually at the National Environmental Health and Safety (NEHS) Conference. This year’s NEHS Conference will be held March 16-18 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

It’s that time of year again. As students go back to school to focus on the three Rs, school districts and technical assistance providers may want to focus on the two Es (energy efficiency). The Great Lakes Regional Pollution Prevention Roundtable (GLRPPR) has developed a Topic Hub on Energy Efficient Schools and Students that describes energy efficient practices and research available to schools and introduces resources that support changes in operations, maintenance, and behavior. Numerous ways exist to reduce escalating energy costs and this Topic Hub assembles guidelines and comprehensive energy programs, identifies educational efforts and case studies, and provides examples of best practices for schools. A “Curricula” section identifies energy related instructional materials and standards-linked K-12 curricula for classrooms.

New resources are continuously added to the Hub’s “Complete List of Links.” If you would like to suggest links for the hub or have other comments, please contact Joy Scrogum.

See the main Topic Hub menu on the GLRPPR web site for other Hubs maintained by GLRPPR and other Pollution Prevention Resource Exchange (P2Rx) centers.

The program’s checklist and manual for both new and existing homes is available online. The web site also provides information on registering your project, including a registration fee schedule and the cost of training. Though not yet available, case studies will apparently be included on the site under “About GreenStar” in the future. In the meantime, check out the “Project Spotlight” section under “News & Media,” which currently features one gold and two bronze-level projects with photos from the sites. The gold-level project–Live Green, Live Smart’s Sustainable House–is Minnesota’s first remodeling project to achieve Minnesota GreenStar Gold Certification and the nation’s first home remodel to achieve LEED Platinum certification. The home achieved the highest level of efficient design in both programs.

New resources are continuously added to the Hub’s “Complete List of Links.” If you would like to suggest links for the hub or have other comments, please contact Joy Scrogum.

See the main Topic Hub menu on the GLRPPR web site for other Hubs maintained by GLRPPR and other Pollution Prevention Resource Exchange (P2Rx) centers.

• Wind Power: According to Sustainable Energy Ireland, “wind energy provides electricity to the equivalent of 40 million European citizens, and wind farms in Ireland supply enough clean green power to support over 146,000 users.” Their web site provides an interactive map of existing wind farms in Ireland (as of April 2007). A recent post on the Green Tech Blog (“Ireland: Where Wind Power is King” by Michael Kanellos) discusses the great potential for further wind farm development on the island, both on and offshore.
• Cultivate Living and Learning Centre: The Cultivate Centre in Dublin serves as a hub for environmental activities and ideas. Their web site provides a green map of Dublin; environmental workshop listing; a directory of schools, businesses and other organizations in Ireland that are teaching or training and have principles of sustainability rooted in their mission and strategies; information on energy issues and climate change; and a host of other resources. The themes addressed in their educational programs include green building, permaculture and organic gardening, renewable energy, energy conservation, and rethinking urban design and planning.
• Cleaner Greener Production Programme (CGPP): This program of Ireland’s Environmental Protection Agency encourages Irish business and industry to produce goods and services in more environmentally friendly ways. That agency defines “Cleaner Greener Production” as “the application of integrated preventive environmental strategies to processes, products and services to increase overall efficiency and reduce risks to humans and the environment, for example: (1) Production processes: conserving raw materials and energy, eliminating toxic raw materials and reducing the quantity and toxicity of all emissions and wastes (2) Products: reducing negative impacts along the life cycle of a product, from raw materials extraction to its ultimate disposal (3) Services: encouraging and supporting the development of higher environmental performance in the service sector, by incorporating environmental concerns into designing and delivering services.”

As is the trend with most organic foods and beverages, organic beer is becoming more and more widely available as even big box retailers climb aboard the “green products are good for public relations, profits and the environment” train. Co-op America offers an overview of organic beer and wine as well as the rationale for choosing locally produced beers whenever possible (to reduce negative effects of long distance shipping, among other reasons). You can also search their National Green Pages under “Wine/Beer” for examples of breweries that produce organic beer. There is also a North American Organic Brewers Festival, scheduled this year for June 27-29 in Portland, Oregon. The festival web site lists the participating breweries and the beers they’re presenting.

For those of you, like my husband, who enjoy brewing your own beer at home, you might find the Seven Bridges Cooperative an interesting resource. Based in California, Seven Bridges provides certified organic ingredients for home brewing, such as organically grown hops and grains.

Interestingly, organic beer became the topic of controversy last year, as the USDA added to the list of non-organic ingredients that may compose 5% of a product by weight and still allow that product to bear the label “organic.” Hops were on the list, and while critical to the production of beer, they do make up less than 5% of the finished product by weight. The Organic Consumers Association was outraged by what it termed the “Budweiser Exception” that could allow big brewing companies to mass produce “organic” beers without using organically grown hops; the controversy was covered by MSNBC. Anheuser-Busch has since switched to using 100% organic hops. See the USDA’s web site for more information on organic food standards and labels.

Turning to waste reduction and efficiency in the brewing process, regardless of the use of organic ingredients, the March/April 2007 edition of In Business magazine featured a profile of Mad River Brewing Company in Blue Lake, California, which recycles or reuses 98% of its residuals, with a goal toward generating zero waste. The April 2007 edition of eco-structure Magazine included a look at the sustainable practices of New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins, Colorado. Among other things, the company purchases wind energy to power 100% of its brewery’s operations, the packaging hall was designed with energy efficiency in mind, and the brewhouse features a closed-loop heating system. For more information about New Belgium’s sustainability initiatives, see their web site.

For an example of sustainable initiatives at a brewery within the Great Lakes region, check out Michigan DEQ’s case study on the Leopold Bros. of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Goose Island Brewery in Chicago, Illinois is also a founding member of the Chicago Waste to Profit Network. An article from the October 2000 edition of Conscious Choice discusses several organic beers, including Goose Island’s organic beer production and partnering with Panorama Brewing Company to produce Wolaver’s Organic Ales regionally. Lakefront Brewery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin was the first brewery in that state and the first business in Milwaukee to receive the Travel Green Wisconsin certification from the state’s Department of Tourism. Check out the brewery’s web site detailing what they’ve done to reduce their environmental and social impact and earn this recognition.

For more resources related to P2 for breweries, check out the GLRPPR Food Processing Sector Resource. I’ll be adding a “Beverage Manufacturing” subcategory in the near future to make finding resources related to brewing and other beverage production within this Sector Resource easier.