What is a Smart Building?

By Tina Casey | February 19th, 2013
The phrase “smart building” conjures up images of sleek new structures incorporating all the latest energy-saving bells and whistles, but that’s only part of the story. The fact is, any number of “smart” elements can apply to older, existing buildings. In addition to cutting energy costs, upgrading an older building can also result in a more comfortable and healthy environment for employees and customers, it can contribute to the quality of life in its community, and it can provide businesses with a green marketing tool that boosts their public profile.

The challenge for property owners is to find the right type and combination of smart elements that provide them with the greatest return on their investment.
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Green Multifamily Development: Concepts for Infill

Infill development is a frequent occurrence in the urban landscape. Vacant lots and older homes are reconstructed or replaced with a wide variety of medium to high-density residential buildings. In the past few years some multifamily developers have recognized the benefits of green building to attract buyers and renters. Green attributes, such as energy efficiency, solar panels and low-water landscapes, can sell (or rent) units sooner and demand a higher premium. Some cities offer green building incentives while state and utility programs offer favorable rebates. DSIRE lists many.

62-unit complex ~ Courtsey of Dwell

A few years ago a developer convinced Architect Robert Swatt to design a green multifamily project near Oakland, CA. Through careful planning the concept became a LEED certified 62-unit complex with 5 separate buildings. With a combination of studios, townhouses and lofts ranging in size from 500 to 2000 square feet there is sense of uniqueness and common community. For more...

In one area of coastal Southern California, existing multifamily properties are selling for roughly $275,000 per unit. That’s why eco-friendly modular housing starting at $100,000 is so enticing. The traditional benefits of modular housing are reduced construction time and costs from factory efficiencies and labor-saving designs. Eco-friendly designs further provide high quality, energy efficient units. Factor in additional costs such as: land, foundation and contractor finishing. You may find new modular housing infill to be comparable in cost to an inefficient complex from the 50’s. 

Craning a ZETA modular

ZETA finished home

ZETA Zero Energy Communities is all about super green urban infill. They are tailoring their San Francisco business to multifamily housing. Their townhomes, condos and flats can be connected and/or stacked four stories. What’s cool about their modular units is that they are built to be net zero energy. Tenants or homeowners will have zero electricity bills. They incorporate all of the energy saving technologies while claiming to produce 20% lower construction costs than traditional builders. For more on Zeta.

weeHouse model

Alchemy Architects in Wisconsin offers various designs and sizes of their weeHouse. A 1 bedroom, 1 bath studio starting at $79,000. Imagine a small community of these stacked.

Living Homes out of Santa Monica offers many design options and will tailor for multifamily developments. Their homes start at $180-$250 /square foot.

Reviving Pocket Communities With Multifamily Buildings

Bungalow Courts

Picture a small cluster of housing tucked within a large neighborhood. A harmony of dwellings which fosters interaction between residents and a greater sense of community. This is the idea of pocket neighborhoods.

The concept is to cluster a group of homes around a shared common area creating the environment of a small community within a city. Bungalow courts gained popularity in Southern California in the early 1900‘s as an efficient way to provide homes with garden areas. All the homes were oriented to face the common area and were positioned close to each other. Roads and garages were situated on the outer boundary of the property.

Carpet Waste Woes

According to the latest U.S. EPA statistics, about 7 billion pounds of carpet was sent to the landfill in 2009, up nearly 23% from the 5.7 billion pounds in 2000. Carpet is most often the largest source of waste (and cost) for rental properties during turnover. Rental properties across the country are covered in low grade carpet because carpet companies have succeeded in offering a cheap and quick replacement. Depending on carpet quality, tenant care and turnover the average replacement is less than 5 years for each unit.

There are a variety of different flooring options with longer lifetimes and greener aspects but many prefer to purchase carpet because of the convenience and look. One of the major reasons that our landfills are steadily receiving more carpet is the lack of recycling availability.

Maintenance Methods

On the same page?

The person that attends to maintenance issues can greatly influence the cost effectiveness of your rental property. In our experience, the handyman (general fixer, maintenance dude or overall tender of things gone wrong) approaches problem solving with techniques and supplies they are most familiar with. Rarely do they consider new or green products that may reduce costs over the lifetime of the function.

This is the fault of the property manager and/or owner as they have charged the handyman/maintenance staff with fixing the problem in the least amount of time and with the lowest cost. The handyman shouldn't expect to run every replacement decision by the owner or manager. The problem though, is that most owners (and subsequently managers) haven't had a discussion about energy and water efficient replacements that may have slightly higher upfront costs but generate savings well worth its weight in the future. A couple of examples that usually wouldn't be reported to managers/owners may illustrate the issue better:

1. Maintenance is called out because a toilet won't stop running. Typically easy enough for maintenance to fix without calling a plumber. They handily replace the internal parts on the toilet and get it to stop leaking (running) all day - parts and labor cost around $75. What the owner doesn't know is that the toilet is 30 years old and uses 3.5 gallons/flush. You just spent maintenance money on an out-dated and inefficient fixture. If your maintenance person had been alerted to replace the toilet upon the next maintenance call that $75 could have been used to buy a new $90 high-efficiency toilet that uses 1.28 gallons per flush. An additional $100 for labor would have a maintenance bill over twice as much but provide water savings that will easily pay for the toilet within a couple years, not to mention require less maintenance. If the property is sub-metered and water costs are passed onto the tenants consider the additional investment as a long term improvement that can help market the unit as green with lower utility costs.
   
2. Maintenance is called because the light in the common area laundry is burned out. What seems to be a easy and quick fix is an unneeded and wasteful maintenance call. First the bulb will most certainly be an inefficient incandescent. A CFL (compact fluorescent light) bulb lasts up to 15 times longer than incandescent bulbs and uses a quarter of the energy to provide the same amount of light. Not only does that reduce the electricity bill but maintenance calls over 10-15 years. Second, common areas such as the laundry room could benefit from the installation of occupancy sensors that turn on lights when someone enters and off when they leave. Too often lights are left "ON" for days in common areas when use in that room is minimal. Even though the upfront cost is greater than just replacing the bulb, the energy savings coupled with the replacement CFL could dramatically reduce monthly electricity expenses.

There are numerous other examples but these two common calls express the point. Maintenance is putting out the fire not running the business. Reviewing your maintenance property to identify areas that could benefit from green applications on future maintenance calls will reduce costs and increase income. Inform your manager and talk with your maintenance staff about areas you think could be improved. They'll probably be excited to try something different.