Island architecture
Building greener homes

By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Staff Writer

Builders are learning how to conserve and recycle lumber and substituting termite-proof recyclable steel for home construction, potentially saving thousands of trees. Advertiser library photo Resources for environmentally friendly building Building Industry of Hawaii, 847-4666 Hawai'i Advanced Building Technologies Training Program, 587-3804 Environmental Building News, www.buildinggreen.com Green House Hawaiëi Project, 587-3802 Hawaiian Electric Co., 947-6937

The Building Industry of Hawaii is leading a push to establish a Hawaii Built Green program, which would rate new construction on more than 200 environmentally sensitive factors, everything from recycling waste lumber to using energy-efficient windows. Using a three-star rating system, the program will allow buyers to identify at a glance just how environmentally friendly their new home is, and compare costs and benefits.

"All of a sudden it's on a fast track," said Kathleen O'Brien, a Mainland author, educator and consultant to local officials on environmental building efforts. "The regulations, the builders and the buyers are all coming together to push this forward."

The move is unusual in the building industry, which traditionally has been slow to change. Two years ago, after publication of a "Guide to Resource-Efficient Building in Hawai'i," only a handful of contractors showed up for an informational meeting on the subject. Last month, more than 500 people participated in a Green Building Conference at the Ko'olau Golf Club.

Many builders, once fearful of added costs of environmentally friendly techniques and products, are learning that many save money in the short and long run.

"It's a little bit like trying to turn an aircraft carrier," said Ralph Valentino of Hunt Building Corp., a builder of military housing in the Islands for 10 years and a program leader. "They started with baby steps, but now they're off and running."

"Nationally, the Built Green programs are taking off like a rocket," said Alan Ewell, an architect and coordinator of the Hawai'i Advanced Building Technologies program. "Five years ago, there were only three in the country. Now we're in line to be the 15th or 16th such program."

Ewell and others say several factors are behind the change:

• Contractors working on small profit margins here over the last decade have been forced to trim wastes and cut costs; they've learned to recycle waste rather than haul it to the dump, and to use more efficient building materials and techniques.
• Government regulators, led by the U.S. military, are demanding more environmentally conscious work from their contractors. Military builders have taken the lead in demonstrating the financial value of conservation-minded projects.
• Home buyers are increasingly sophisticated about energy efficiency and worried about the use of toxic chemicals or wasteful products. The push for steel framing in many of Hawai'i's big housing developments, for instance, came from people worried about the potential threat of termite damage or chemicals, but it also helps builders save thousands of trees every year. Steel is considered the most recyclable of all industrial building materials.

"It's all about improving the quality of life," said Karen Nakamura, executive director of the Building Industry of Hawaii. "It helps those who live in the home and it helps all the rest of us, too."

The program has six major environmental areas of concern: energy efficiency, water conservation, improved indoor air quality, use of resource-efficient building materials, effective construction waste management and limiting toxic chemicals.

A steering committee of developers, custom home builders, utility companies and government officials has been meeting in recent weeks to develop Hawai'i's checklist in time for this year's annual Parade of Homes in September. The BIA also hopes to publicize the checklist at building and real estate seminars, home shows and through advertising.

When complete, the list will allow home buyers to see just how one project stacks up against another. About half the list is geared to construction practices, everything from how the soil is protected to minimizing water use during building.

The rest of the list is designed to enhance energy efficiency during the life of the building. That includes the use and placement of house sites, trees, landscaping, appliances, insulation, lighting windows, porches, air conditioners, doors or hot water heating.

When tallied up, the checklist gives the builders a number of points which will be used to establish the Built Green rating of the home from one to three stars. Mortgage companies are developing programs to provide discounts or higher balances for homes with the highest ratings.

"Some points are in direct conflict with others, so builders have to decide which to choose," O'Brien said. A grass lawn, for instance, gets more points than a concrete yard, but a drought-tolerant landscape gets more points than a grass lawn.

"There are all sorts of trade offs, different shades of building green. But this way the consumer can have confidence that someone has been thinking about doing the right thing."

However, sometimes building green isn't necessarily cheaper, said Kenneth Choate, executive vice president of Haseko Construction, which is building the large Ocean Pointe development near 'Ewa Beach. The company includes steel framing, double-pane vinyl windows, radiant heat barriers, sophisticated air conditioning systems and other energy-saving products in its homes.

"Is it always cheaper? Heck, no!" Choate said. "When we started three years ago, people thought we were throwing money away on these improvements, but our job is to make people understand how much better it's going to be for them in the house in the long run. We can explain how the higher costs up front will save them money over the years."

Waste material can be recycled

When the U.S. military demolished and replaced 516 homes at Moanalua Terrace a few years ago, nearly 80,000 tons of waste material was diverted from the landfill. Here's what they did with it:

• 3,500 tons of trees and vegetation were ground up to produce mulch, which was then converted to fuel used at the old Waialua Sugar Mill.
• 45,000 tons of concrete were crushed on site and used as construction bedding and backfill for utilities, sewers and storm drains.
• 20,000 tons of mud, rock and soils with vegetation and debris was screened and reused on home sites.
• 7,500 tons of asphalt was crushed and used with concrete as a base for the new roads.
• 2,500 tons of reinforcing bar and other steel was delivered to Hawaii Metal Recyclers.
• 200 tons of copper and alumi-num was separated and recycled.
• Harper Construction Co. estimated that the recycling saved an estimated $800,000 in landfill fees alone.