Technology Allows You to Order Your Green Building A La Carte

By Cherie Ching, Advocacy Fellow

Technology plays a key role in the creation of new, sustainable, and higher energy-efficient structures for future generations. Existing buildings can also be transformed to become greener and more energy efficient because of technological changes in monitoring how a building consumes energy, which affects how much energy is ultimately consumed.

Technology is ever-changing and so are the available options for choosing smarter alternatives for a greener future. We are proud to highlight some of our Chapter Sponsors and their efforts in promoting more green buildings through technology!

Excel Dryer– Aside from the important task of saving the trees, hand dryers also reduce the amount of energy and cost associated with drying your hands with paper towels. Paper towels cost about 1 cent per paper towel sheet compared to the .02 cents to .18 cents cost in electricity to run a hand dryer. Not only do you have to consider the energy used to produce the paper towels, but you must also factor in the energy consumption required to pack, ship, stock and dispose of the paper towels.

The Excel Dryer, XLERATOR uses 80% less energy than conventional hand dryers and saves 90-95% of cost from paper towel usage. XLERATOR has earned users qualification for LEED credits in Energy & Atmosphere (EA) Minimum Energy Performance and EA Optimize Energy Performance, a mandatory credit for all LEED certified facilities.

Excel was a proud sponsor last year for our annual Green Apple Day of Service (GADOS) event held on September 27, 2014. By teaming up with Boston Public Schools, Excel was able to install energy-efficient XLERATOR hand-dryers to reduce waste produced from paper towels and to promote education and awareness of the schools' carbon-footprint on the environment. Please read more on our upcoming GADOS held this year on September 26, 2015!

Nitsch Engineering– Green infrastructure and design highlight the importance of a “balanced holistic site design approach.” The location of a building and how it impacts the environment also define how green a building can be. Nitsch Engineering’s use of technology through laser scanning surveys allows them to safely survey building exteriors and interiors, roadways, bridges, power plants, and land to create a green building design.

Nitsch particularly specializes in managing storm water by integrating storm water with building and landscape systems “to promote the filtration, retention, evaporation, infiltration, and reuse of rainwater, instead of allowing it to run off into our harbors and streams.” Efforts for water conservation and management in buildings contribute to decreasing energy consumption for water use and higher efficiency for the total energy consumption of the building.

RDK Engineers– New projects should also incorporate energy efficiency plans and solutions to provide for more sustainable designs. RDK Engineers are dedicated to delivering services for higher energy-efficiency and greener (in the environment and their pocketbooks) results for their clients.

These advanced services include: Energy Modeling, Energy Audits, Green Building Support, LEED, Utility Bill Analysis, Energy Star Certification, BOMA 360, Measurement and Verification, Utility Program Support, Energy Code Consulting, Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA), PUE Benchmarking and Thermal Imaging Audits.