And organizers of a conference in Shreveport Jan. 26 want the rebuilding of New Orleans done in an environmentally sustainable way. The Green Building Conference and Expo will focus on rebuilding parts of New Orleans and southwest Louisiana that were badly damaged by last year's hurricanes. The conference will promote techniques to rebuild safer communities by improving design and construction standards.
"You have to rebuild a lot of the school and hospitals ... some of these buildings, the air quality is worse than it is outside," said Patti Cox, an environmental consultant based in Shreveport who is promoting the conference. "So what you're doing is you're making a building that is more productive to work in."
Building "green" can impact businesses and investors in another green way: money.
"If (hotels) are not paying a higher utility bill, they're making more of a profit ... there is a cost advantage." Cox said. "The other advantage is you're going to get more return on your investment down the road when you're going to sell it."
For people who think green building is an unnecessary strain on an already crushed region, Frederic Schwartz, a New York architect and keynote speaker at the conference, brushes aside such fears. Building economically is building green, he said.
The traditional homes in New Orleans were built green, Schwartz said. They had raised porches, trees were used for shade, the ventilation was effective. The traditional-style houses -- Creole, shotgun, double shotgun, camelback -- were economically built.
"In the '50s and '60s, people started turning on the air conditioner, and people started to forget the right way to build," Schwartz said, who advocates using modern technology with traditional design, which will ensure the city becomes safer while retaining the essential New Orleans charm.
"We should save and preserve all that we can," he said.
Rebuilding green is not just a choice for the present but will become a legacy for future generations, proponents contend. According to Cox, social accountability to the next generation and the next is important so that they have the same natural resources we enjoy.
Green or high-performance buildings have a number of advantages:
Green buildings save 25 percent to 30 percent of building energy by using extra insulation, high-quality glazing and solar control measures.
Such buildings achieve higher levels of indoor air quality through the careful choice of paints, sealants, adhesives, carpets and coatings.
These buildings incorporate daylighting and views to the outdoors not only for occupant health and productivity gains, but also to reduce energy costs.
Green buildings that are properly "commissioned" have lower maintenance costs because all problem areas are ironed out by having a comprehensive testing of all energy-using components and systems prior to occupancy.
"Buildings -- they are the gas guzzlers," Cox said
http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060119/NEWS05/601190314/1064
