2011 Greenbuild Convention Highlights

Sapna Budev, ISA Director of Industry Programs

Greenbuild is the annual convention of the US Green Building Council – focusing on green buildings, facilities and waste management, sustainable technologies and materials.  ISA sent a representative to the USGBC Greenbuild Convention on October 5-8, 2011, in Toronto, Canada.

Some of the prevalent themes relevant to ISA from an industry perspective were:

1. Increased collaboration between building codes ( IgCC, IBC), standards (ASHRAE, ANSI), and rating systems (LEED, CalGreen)
2. Movement away from the words “green” and “sustainability” to language like “high performance”, “net zero”, “risk & waste management”, and “efficiency/cost reduction”.
3. Vast increase in technologies and services catering to various sustainability certifications and measurement tools – both on the product and the facilities sides.
4. Several products of interest to the sign industry – mostly in energy efficiency (both of facilities and electric sign products), paints & coatings, and flexible faced digital displays.

Key Points of Interest
A study from McGraw-Hill Construction looked at the number of green jobs in the building design and construction workforce, and found that 35 percent of architects, engineers and contractors  report having green jobs today, representing 661,000 jobs. Also from the report is the projection that carpenters, electricians, HVAC workers and other trade jobs are expected to grow the fastest, rising to 25 percent of jobs in three years, from 15 percent today.

Kohl's department store, which has long been committed to green buildings, aims to have 300 LEED Gold stores built by the end of 2012, and 500 built by the end of 2015. Any company interested in bidding on signage for Kohl’s should be well versed in green building practices.

Marriott has edged closer to its goal of 300 LEED-certified hotels by 2015 with its announcement that its Courtyard, TownePlace Suites and Residence Inn have all earned LEED Volume pre-certification. The prototype for the Courtyard hotels expects each building to save $100,000 in upfront costs and will pay for itself in less than six years. Any company interested in bidding on signage for the Marriott should be well versed in green building practices.

The battle over wood certifications was the most contentious element of the conference. The FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) and SFI (Sustainable Forestry Initiative) are the two largest players claiming their certification is the only responsible way to source wood products and materials. The USGBC announced that they were expanding the types of wood certifications that could earn LEED points (formerly just FSC) and received heavy disapproval from environmental advocacy groups who ran a full page ad in the Toronto Star calling their new policy “greenwashing”.  If USGBC sticks to their guns, any ISA members bidding on LEED projects will be able to use a greater spectrum of wood products in their signage.

EonCoat waterborne ceramic coating: This two-part, waterborne ceramic coating is made out of phosphoric acid and milk of magnesia. They claim it is five times more corrosion resistant than other paints and coatings and it contains no VOCs . Industrial facilities are starting to use it in highly corrosive environments and finding it amazingly durable. This could be interesting for outdoor signage applications.

Cypress Envirosystems' analog-to-digital wireless thermostat: For companies looking to upgrade their older buildings and facilities in order to save money, they can install this innovative retrofit product.  It pretty seamlessly replaces an analog pneumatic thermostat with wireless digital controls, allowing much more granular energy automation, management, and data tracking than could come of a manual system. This wireless retrofit can be set up in about 30 minutes without tearing out walls or replacing air-handling infrastructure.

Philips EnduraLEDs: This high-efficiency bulb is the first replacement for the 60w incandescent. This is basically a 60-watt replacement that uses 12 watts-- next year’s version of this will be 10-watts.

Michigan firm Duo-Gard is exploring how to use thin-film photovoltaic solar technology on bus and bike shelters, walkways and curtain walls. Their President, Dave Miller says the application would turn these structures into "architectural power plants.” They plan to launch the integrated solar power systems commercially next year. This may allow an opportunity for solar powered illuminated signage in public transit areas. They already make outdoor illuminated signage solutions for companies such as Walmart and Panda Express.

International Dark Sky Association exhibited at Greenbuild and showcased three main items: their IDA certified Fixture of Approval (dark sky friendly lighting products), their Nightscape publication, and their Annual Conference and Crime Prevention through Environmental Design training program .

ZamRay provides a valuable service for manufacturing facilities – paying companies for their excess waste. They buy, sell, and exchange surplus material and equipment throughout the United States. They provide both flat rate pricing and they purchase individual equipment and materials.

Sustainability Certification Programs (to certify products and/or facilities)
The Sustainability Dashboard is a web-based service for manufacturing operations which tracks up to six categories including: energy, waste/recycling, water, transportation, consumables (such as office supplies) and cleaning products.

UL Environment:  They have a number of items of interest in terms of measuring/certifying manufacturing facilities (Sustainability Quotient Program), certifying products (EcoLogo), and general corporate sustainability training (Terrachoice). ISA discussed several issues with them - such as education tailored to the sign industry through UL University, creating a sustainability standard for signage, and environmental product declarations (this is like a nutrition label, but for sustainability).

NSF Sustainability: This group certifies products based on life-cycle assessments and environmental product declarations. ISA materials suppliers may find this advantageous. They have a monthly webinar which explains the rules around environmental claims and how to develop the data used in a life cycle analysis.

Green Circle Certified: This is another third party certification of both products and manufacturing operations. They offer claim validation for recycled content, rapidly renewable resource content, carbon footprint reductions, and renewable energy use. Certifications are also available for a closed loop product, life cycle assessment (LCA) optimized products, and sustainable manufacturing practices.