We all know them, or at least know OF them: The kinds of people that when you hear about something they've become involved with, or something (ELSE) they've accomplished you go, “No way!” Then . . .  “How do they DO that?” And then we devolve into some sordid Blue Velvet sort of fantasy that helps us feel that these too-good-to-be-true types aren't really all that great and that we are not doing that badly after all.

This week's newsletter is full of the corporate versions of those companies, firms with track records long and recent, but who seem to be making all the right moves as we end the first decade of the 21st Century. So, rather than thinking that these guys are too good to be true” (TGTBT), we ought to be using them as the benchmark for other under-performing companies that could be called “too bad to exist.”

One thing that most of these firms share (I'm a somewhat knowledgeable about several of them and superficially about most of the rest, so I'm going out on a limb by trying to get inside their heads) is a willingness to bend, if not break, “the rules.” 

Don't get me wrong, I love rules . . .  to a point. Rules can force necessary changes on a large scale, they give confidence about the participants and their actions in most situations but they also can stifle innovation and crowd everyone toward comfortable mediocrity or become so self-referential and pointless that they undercut the reason they exist in the first place. The balance between innovation and stability was one of the things we wrestled with most often on the LEED Steering Committee. It is to the supreme credit of the USGBC and the LEED volunteers that they continue to walk this line, in spite of getting pelted by garbage from people on both sides who think they've gone too far -- or not far enough. (Keep the garbage coming, by the way: It keeps people on their toes!)

Initiated in 1992, Energy Star is easily the most successful government-led market transformation program of all time and a shining example of how government can stimulate, as opposed to stifle, the private sector. The EPA will honor companies and organizations for outstanding performance on March 18. The full winners’ list will be made public that day, and if the 2009 awards ceremony was any indication, expect scores to be recognized.

Those of us glued to the TV for the last couple of weeks watching the Olympics might feel that 89 “winners” is an impossibly large number. Lest you think that Energy Star is giving awards to anyone with a pulse, over 17,000 companies participate in the Energy Star program -- a small fraction of the firms that COULD participate -- so winners are among rarefied company indeed.

Among those being recognized this year (winners are allowed to publicize their honors as of March 1), we find many of the too-good-to-be-true types in the Sustained Excellence category: Lowe's as the first retailer to get the award; Hines, a six-time honoree whose own Jerry Lea became one of the few non-architects to receive the prestigious Honorary AIA award from the American Institute of Architects for his work chairing the LEED-CS committee, among other activities; and Whirlpool, which has received more awards than any other appliance manufacturer. Energy Star Partner of the Year Winners include Andersen Corporation, which will make its fourth excursion to the “medals podium” since it joined the program 10 years ago, and Johnson Controls Inc., an Energy Star partner for 18 years and a multiple award winner. In the government sector, the Louisville-Jefferson County Metro Government is recognized for its 2009 Kilowatt Crackdown (I'd hate to be stray voltage down there!).  Finally, congratulations to KB Home, which also won an Energy Star Award for Excellence in 2009.

Serious Materials is another perennial candidate in the TGTBT category and can carve "another notch in their window sill" for being chosen as the vendor for the Empire State Building window retrofit. When Serious is done with the windows, not only will they be crafted from existing glass that is re-used on site, but they also will have created a unique on-site window fabrication process that will eliminate transporting materials back and forth from the building. Serious Windows almost triple the thermal resistance of typical windows to an R-5 to R-8, have lower infiltration and fantastic solar gain properties.  (Disclosure: I am an unpaid advisor to Serious Materials.)  Not surprisingly the ESB project is populated with TGTBTers, such as Johnson Controls, Jones Lang LaSalle, the Clinton Climate Initiative and the Rocky Mountain Institute.

Greener World Media Managing Editor Matt Wheeland looks into Bloom Boxes and some of his findings could help answer whether they are TGTBT. Right now, I think they look pretty good: Smaller than a compact car and only about $800 per kilowatt of installed power capital cost and 8 to 10 cents levelized per kWh, including operating cost and probably less if heat recovery is factored in. They are also designed for flexible fuel use. Though, it's a bit too early to call this technology “zero emissions,” for a distributed generation source to come in at these costs and capacity factor (some units are running about 98 percent), it looks like a real game-changer.

In other news, although the U.S. Department of Defense arguably has been one of the world's largest green developers of new properties, energy use in its base communities has lagged, in some cases using up to 35 percent more energy than comparable residential buildings.  But a new pilot project could change that. It’s called “InergY: The Change is in You” and is being undertaken at Travis Air Force Base near Vacaville in Northern California in conjunction with Balfour Beatty Energy Solutions and Balfour Beatty Communities. If InergY is successful, these communities could end up reducing energy consumption by 50 percent, bringing them in line with the Obama Administration's goal of reducing the U.S. government's energy percent carbon footprint by 20 percent.

This week's Look-Grandpa-I-picked-up-the-$20-bill-you-said-was-fake-but-it's-real! award goes to MeadWestvaco for achieving a four Green Globes rating for its new 310,000 square foot building in Richmond, Va. The facility is expected to reduce its energy use by 21 percent compared with “traditionally constructed” buildings and features numerous other resource-saving features ranging from water efficiency to low-VOC fixtures and finishes.  Congratulations to MWV Chairman and CEO John A. Luke Jr. for this achievement.
 

Rob Watson
Executive Editor, GreenerBuildings.com
You can reach Rob at rob.watson@greenerworldmedia.com or follow him on Twitter @KilrWat.

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How can Brooklyn’s commercial districts implement sustainable practices? This seminar will provide tangible steps to implement green initiatives, and discuss how BIDs and commercial revitalization managers can coordinate efforts with individual businesses to promote sustainability and the commercial corridor.