MCAA President David Kruse (back row, to the right of the center panel) with former President Bill Clinton and the other participants of the newly announced Energy Efficiency Building Retrofit Program in New York on May 16.

A number of people might consider the green building concept as fleeting in some segments of the construction industry. Well, I think they may be right. If people believe the green building concept is fading away, they are probably right – but for all the wrong reasons.

The design and construction of high-performance buildings has undergone an amazing evolution in the United States, both in scope and in speed of occurrence. For example, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), founded in 1993, developed its first set of pilot guidelines for the design and construction of high-performance buildings in 1998 and implemented the process in 2000. The growth in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) process has been exponential, from just a few buildings registered in 2000 to well over 5,000 registered today.

Some have estimated that, by 2010, about 10 percent of all new commercial construction starts in the United States will be green. One can hardly open a newspaper, listen to a television commercial or browse a Web site without being presented with a green product, story or “seal of approval” of some sort. The concept of green and sustainability has clearly permeated American culture and has done so in breathtaking fashion.

Is Mainstream the Goal?
How is it, then, that green is dying? Simple: It is becoming mainstream. Just as it is no longer considered extravagant to buy bottled water, building green is no longer considered the sole purview of environmentalists and college students.

Want proof? Consider our friends on the design side of mechanical systems, as represented by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). They are committed to aggressively moving our society toward the design and construction of net zero energy buildings. They will do this through the accomplishment of two initiatives.

First, ASHRAE plans to force designers to make buildings more energy efficient by dramatically increasing the efficiency requirements in its widely used Standard 90.1, the energy standard for all buildings except low-rise residential buildings. Compared to the 2004 edition of the standard, the 2010 version requires 30 percent more efficiency. The following version will require 50 percent more efficiency, and future versions will mandate a 70 percent increase.

Second, ASHRAE plans to vastly increase its research into renewable energy to develop economically viable applications. Such renewable energy systems will reduce conventional energy use by 25 percent in the year 2012, by 35 percent in 2015 and by 50 percent in 2018. By reducing the amount of energy a building requires and, at the same time, increasing the amount of renewable energy the building produces, you will eventually produce a net zero energy building.

The point is that none of these directives or initiatives will be published under a green label. These standards and initiatives will be published just like the everyday standards ASHRAE has always published. I believe that the message ASHRAE is conveying, in a very clear voice, is that the design and construction of high-performance buildings will be the common standard of care in our industry. That is about as mainstream as it gets.

MCAA Initiatives
If green and high-performance buildings are becoming mainstream, what is the Mechanical Contractors Association of America (MCAA) Inc. doing to ensure its contractors are prepared to join it? As it turns out, a great deal.

The following are a few highlights of MCAA’s recent efforts:

• MCAA’s hosted its first green opportunities conference, “Catching the Next Wave: Seizing the Green Opportunities that Lie Ahead,” in late September in Milwaukee. The conference focused on preparing MCAA member companies to seize the opportunities that arise from the mainstreaming of green and sustainable construction. Experts on green and sustainable construction from across the country discussed everything from internal/external marketing of green capabilities and human resource and skills needs to what we’re already doing that is green.

• MCAA is developing a new green Web site to assist MCAA, Mechanical Service Contractors of America (MSCA) and Plumbing Contractors of America (PCA) members in navigating the latest developments affecting mechanical construction in high-performance buildings. The Web site will act as a clearinghouse for all sustainable construction information related to mechanical, service and plumbing contractors.

• MCAA and MSCA courses are being offered to help members become LEED-accredited professionals in either the LEED new construction guidelines or LEED existing buildings guidelines. The first offerings of both courses sold out quickly, so additional courses have been added on Dec. 3 and 4. The LEED new construction course will be held in Denver, while the LEED existing buildings course will be offered in Baltimore.

• MCAA, MSCA and PCA are offering both support and assistance for The United Association’s new green awareness certification. This course is designed to help those involved in the HVACR industry understand the emerging concepts, terminology, systems and products that are considered green. The 10-hour training program will provide participants with the information they need to understand, purchase and use energy-efficient green products. Participants who successfully complete the training program will receive a “green awareness certification” designation.

Two sold-out train-the-trainer programs were presented in August during the association’s instructor training program in Ann Arbor, Mich., where 50 instructors were trained to teach the class. The certification program was developed by HVAC Excellence, Ferris State University and GreenMech.

• MCAA’s Advanced Leadership Institute (ALI) has reformatted its custom case study to include green and sustainable issues. The Belmonti Mechanical Contractors case study explores a dynamic and evolving range of industry leadership issues. The fictional case study was developed by writers at the Babson Center for Executive Education in Babson Park, Mass., to challenge the mechanical contracting and service industry’s current and future leaders by placing them in intense, open-ended business situations. The addition of a green and sustainable component to challenge the often-overwhelmed Belmonti family will add even greater depth, currency and relevancy to the ALI experience.

• MCAA will lend its expertise and experience to the global Clinton Climate Initiative as it endeavors to provide large cities with world-class technical assistance on an array of actions they might implement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The effort focuses on cities because urban areas account for approximately 75 percent of all energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.

The Energy Efficiency Building Retrofit Program included in the initiative will provide both cities and private owners with access to the funds needed to retrofit existing buildings with more energy-efficient products. This will lead to typical energy savings of between 20 and 50 percent and more than double the current market for building retrofits.

For more information on MCAA’s efforts in bringing sustainable construction practices to the mainstream, visit www.mcaa.org.