Special Report: 6.11.2009

Posted by TED Magazine on Thursday, June 11, 2009

Green Talk from an Electrical Quartet

 

By Joe Salimando

 

Some green proponents speak (and write) in such a way to be easily branded as “true believers.” This is unfortunate. It’s hard to win converts when you show little or no respect for those sitting on the fence.

 

What these enthusiasts believe so fervently is (they think) so doggone obvious! They are incredulous that tout le monde is not marching in lockstep. This doesn’t make such people “wrong.” It does suggest, however, that they might study the work of Paul of Tarsus. 

 

Many are younger (i.e., not yet my age). Experience leads to reduced expectations. Your humble reporter has been a vegetarian since 1978 and an “environmentalist” since the late 1980s. What hasn’t escaped my notice:  My beyond-reproach example has inspired absolutely no one. 

 

That’s one big reason that a panel at the NAED National Electrical Leadership Summit interested me. Four electrical manufacturing industry executives talked about green buildings. But this wasn’t about how great their products are, or how they are jumping on the sustainability bandwagon to roll out occupancy sensors with hot new options, blahblahblah.

 

Instead, these men (led by moderator Jerry Yudelson) were there to talk about their experience with building (or fitting out) green buildings. Panelists were:

 

• Jerry Whitaker of Eaton
• Scott Muse of Hubbell Lighting
• Don Hendler of Leviton Manufacturing
• John Caveney of Panduit
  

 

These are fine men. I can’t see inside their heads, but I don’t believe a one of them is a greenie. I don’t see any of them changing careers and becoming an evangelist for sustainability!

 

What they had to say revealed some interesting things about them, their companies, and our industry.

 

[Note: Yudelson qualifies as the preeminent bridge-builder between the green world and the electrical universe. He has both feet in the green building movement (see his site), but he does work for NAED’s Channel Advantage Partnership and blogs weekly on www.TEDGreenRoom.com.]

 

 
Eaton

 

The company’s add-on HQ in Pittsburgh (a 125,000-square-foot structure added to another) is LEED Gold. “We spent a lot of time with the general contractor and the electrical contractor, educating them on what we were trying to do,” Whitaker said.

 

USGBC’s green building certification program has four levels; Gold is just beneath Platinum. Whitaker estimated the cost premium to get to Gold at 1% to 2% In other words, the building’s as-built cost to win this certification was no more than 2% higher than it would have been if Eaton had gone with a non-green structure. 

 

What Whitaker learned: The architects are running with LEED. Eaton has more buildings that it wants to build in a green manner, and it is now working directly with architects to move the ball down the field. “There still is a lot of education to do [for the green movement],” Whitaker indicated, “among contractors and [engineering] consultants.”

 

What about renewables? “We passed on on-site renewable energy. Economically, we couldn’t make that work,” Whitaker said. But the company did include a building addition to accommodate solar at a time when it becomes more cost-effective. “We feel pretty certain that will be in the next few years,” Whitaker told me.

 

Among other things, Eaton (Whitaker said) “follows the Business Roundtable commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.” See this web page.

 

Hubbell Lighting

 

After acquiring lighting companies (24 of them) over its history, Hubbell Lighting elected to “bring all associated services” together into one place that “would stand as a statement to the company’s mission, vision, and values.” That place is Greenville, S.C., in a new (LEED Silver) five-story facility of approximately 200,000 square feet.

 

Hubbell’s building has won a good deal of notice (see What A Green Building Looks Like, a five-page PDF from Rexel’s magazine) and this six-slide Business Week presentation. The company says the building has won design awards.

 

Muse noted that there was a 2% to 3% cost premium (adding $2.50 per square foot to make the building green. Was it the lighting fixtures? No, it was largely the HVAC system (25% more expensive than it would have been if a less-green alternative has been picked). A greener water system decision cost $60,000 alone. The company claims $154,000/year in electricity & water savings from the design.

 

What did the company pass on? Waterless urinals. From what I’ve heard about these things (see blog on this subject from Ike Casey, former staff chief at the Independent Electrical Contractors)…this was a very good decision.

 

Leviton

 

Leviton’s situation is unique. It is relocating from an old (and not necessarily adequate) headquarters facility in Little Neck, N.Y., to a more modern and better-located place. The company will be a tenant.

 

Yes, the (new headquarters) existing building (125,000 square feet) was renovated to be green. It will, Hendler said, probably be LEED Silver. Leviton wanted more, he said, but “Platinum became onerous.” Leviton hadn’t yet moved in as of mid-May.

 

One problem for LEED in tenant/landlord situations is that certain decisions create benefits that don’t go to tenants (or don’t go to landlords). Investing your money to benefit someone else certainly complicates things, doesn’t it?

 

“Each step of the way, we had evaluations and trade-offs to make,” Hendler explained.

 

Leviton’s new home will be certified under the LEED-CI piece of USGBC’s oeuvre (CI = commercial interiors). The building has 617 windows, which will (no doubt!) be a nice change from the old headquarters.

 

With all these hurdles, exceptions, and decisions, why take the trouble to go green? Hendler listed a few reasons (one of which he might have said in a private conversation):

 

1. To create higher morale among Leviton employees. “Better air quality, ergonomic computer desks, and the like,” he told me.

 

2. To obtain greater productivity.

 

3. Leviton needs to hire people. The new location is more conducive to that, as compared with Little Neck (a more expensive place to live).

 

Leviton plans to walk the walk, too. The company has banned Styrofoam cups and will use only recycled paper, Hendler said. Air dryers have replaced paper-towel dispensers in bathrooms.

 

Cost premium for green? Hendler put it at about 3% to 5%.

 

Panduit

 

Panduit is moving (February 2010) from a 40-year-old headquarters to a new, five-story, 250,000-square-foot building. But the company was, Caveney said, looking for something more than a new place to hang its hat (and wanted to go beyond green).

 

“This building will change our way of operating,” he claimed. “It has totally open architecture, an open working environment.” Panduit wants its people to have an easier time collaborating, talking to each other, and talking with the rest of the world.

 

“We want our people to be comfortable communicating with customers without getting on an airplane,” he added.

 

There are green angles, of course. After interviewing several architectural firms, the company picked one that produced a design that should reduce Panduit’s energy use by 38%.

 

Caveney offered several lessons learned:

 

1. “The ROI wasn’t there” for Panduit to go beyond LEED Gold (to Platinum). The premium for Gold was about 2%, he added.

 

2. “Renewables are not financially effective at this point,” he said. “But they will be in the future.” Panduit designed the building to accommodate a solar retrofit at some point.

 

3. If you want to sell green building, he noted, “you’ve got to get to the building owner. That’s the person who cares the most.”

 

According to Caveney, the company anticipates that the change in scene will “have a major impact on our culture. Our people will be interacting. Yes, that’s a side benefit—but it’s really major for us.”

 

What is the Meaning of This?

 

You might conclude that these four companies “went green” because it’s trendy. But Caveney’s claim of “major” extra benefits isn’t a bunch of baloney (I spoke with him after the panel ended).

 

Perhaps you question Leviton’s motives. We might see “LEED certified” in its advertising, but I don’t think marketing efforts will delve into the Styrofoam issue!

 

Maybe you think Eaton has to do things like adhere to the Climate RESOLVE program. But check out the list of companies doing that; it’s just one page.

 

Finally, perhaps Hubbell Lighting would have won the 2008 “Best Places to Work in South Carolina” honor (No. 1 in large-company category) with a cruddy old building with no windows, horrible ventilation, and supervisors walking the halls brandishing whips. But: Maybe not!

 

We’re all entitled to be skeptical. But there are lessons (beyond the obvious) in the tales encapsulated above:

 

• These panelists aren’t true believers, but they now seem to appreciate what they have wrought. Maybe green really is going to be mainstream. 
  
  

 

• Perhaps this stuff works. Greener buildings produce positives (in worker morale, health, and productivity) that can’t be measured. And those gains could outweigh energy savings!
  
  

 

• Apparently, “buying” a green building is educational. These four companies may well be better “green marketers” as a result of their experience.

 

Does that mean it’s now time for your company to catch up?

	Joe Salimando of EFJ Enterprises is a consultant, web content provider, and wordsmith based in Oakton, Va. To contact him, call 703-255-1428. See also The EleBlog.
Personal Disclaimer: The appearance of the ambling pachyderm is indicative of the writer’s obsession with elephants, not his political leanings.
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