December 22, 2012
Amari is the Sustainability Coordinator at Jacobs Engineering in Fort Worth. With her architecture background and strong interest and understanding in sustainability, she mostly works on DOD projects at Jacobs. She began the presentation with a little background of the company and sustainability as a whole. It is important to remember that sustainability is a balance between social, economic and environmental responsibilities, and it seems many large companies like Jacobs are genuinely seeking that right, proper balance in their work. From Jacobs' website: "Our commitment to sustainability helps us build a stronger company, solve our client's toughest challenges, and create a brighter future for our employees." (http://www.jacobs.com/)
Amari spoke of LEED, which she immerses herself in with her work. (I, too, came from an architecture background and am a LEED AP so I do already have a strong understanding of this area.) It's great that the federal government is making an example of itself by setting the requirement that all new government buildings must achieve LEED Silver and Amari made the comment that the DOD actively pursues sustainable design in every project. Jacobs is a global company, so they do end up following other green building rating systems depending of what part of the world they are working in, but Amari primarily deals with LEED, which is the standard green building rating system in the US.
Some LEED projects that Amari worked on at Jacobs were discussed, such as various Air Force Base hangars, housing at the Sam Houston Joint Base, and a private project at the NC State University. One item that Amari presented was the Army Net Zero Initiative (http://armylive.dodlive.mil/index.php/2011/02/armys-net-zero-initiative/), which addresses waste, water and energy at Army developments. The initiative includes five steps: reduction, re-purpose, recycling and composting, energy recovery, and disposal. Their goal is for all installations to be sustainable and be net zero energy, water, and waste. Their model, however, works by cutting 50% energy and producing 50% of the energy used by means of renewable resources, which then equates to net zero.
One point that Amari spoke about was the fact that they focus heavily on improving the building envelope and constructing one that is highly insulated. Of course, building orientation and energy efficient equipment are also utilized in their design and construction. She spoke about the Fort Carson Hangar and Air Traffic Control Tower projects that she worked on, which were the first net zero buildings for the government. Fort Carson, which has their own sustainability goals, is continually concerned with the following: energy and water resources, sustainable transportation, air quality, sustainable development, sustainable procurement, zero waste, and sustainable training lands. (http://www.carson.army.mil/paio/sustainability.html) The base has a requirement that all new vertical construction is to be Net Zero Energy Ready, meaning that each building must minimize utility demands which will be met by a future central energy plant to be powered by renewable energy. The base also hosts a large solar field.
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