When spec'ing products for a project, do you/your firm have a policy regarding choosing environmentally preferable products? I've seen guidelines from the AIA and EPA, but what wondering if such policies are widely used in professional practice, or are used primarily by the public sector and/or a few specialty (ie 'green') practices. Considering the economic landscape, is this even a consideration right now?
Please excuse my naivety on this subject, I don't work in the private sector, and I'm a newb......
it all depends on the project, the client, and the location. we don't have a 'standard' project type or spec that we can apply with such ease. there is also a new masterspec/eco-spec(?) that is supposed to be optimized for LEED projects that I've never used.
some institutional clients (the US post office) have pre-defined specs and materials that must be used, dam the environmental impact. some folks want gold plated everything (donald trump). some folks just want the cheapest. practice is complicated - and this is where experience starts has a great value for knowing the products...
in practice, we choose lots and lots of products and appliances based on energy star type ratings...also we choose and spec a variety of innovative technologies (for our industry anyways) that significantly lower the resource impact of a given property...lowering water usage, improving IAQ, reducing the HVAC loads, decreasing shaft size requirements, etc...
then the client and their builder's VE all the good stuff out.
shame too, considering most of the stuff like this we spec pays for the front-end up-charge pretty quickly, some of them within a few years.
people are definitely playing it on the cheap these days.
That's probably always going to be an issue, I'm sure, and that's why I'm tackling this subject. I can't disclose too much info, but I'm working on a sort of layperson set of recommendations. Whether or not such suggestions will be actually be used is of course another matter. That's why I came here to ask about private practice, and what sort of priority EPP purchasing has, especially given the aforementioned economic reality.
Thanks all.
Aug 22, 08 11:37 pm ·
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environmentally preferable products
When spec'ing products for a project, do you/your firm have a policy regarding choosing environmentally preferable products? I've seen guidelines from the AIA and EPA, but what wondering if such policies are widely used in professional practice, or are used primarily by the public sector and/or a few specialty (ie 'green') practices. Considering the economic landscape, is this even a consideration right now?
Please excuse my naivety on this subject, I don't work in the private sector, and I'm a newb......
/6 no apology needed.
it all depends on the project, the client, and the location. we don't have a 'standard' project type or spec that we can apply with such ease. there is also a new masterspec/eco-spec(?) that is supposed to be optimized for LEED projects that I've never used.
some institutional clients (the US post office) have pre-defined specs and materials that must be used, dam the environmental impact. some folks want gold plated everything (donald trump). some folks just want the cheapest. practice is complicated - and this is where experience starts has a great value for knowing the products...
in practice, we choose lots and lots of products and appliances based on energy star type ratings...also we choose and spec a variety of innovative technologies (for our industry anyways) that significantly lower the resource impact of a given property...lowering water usage, improving IAQ, reducing the HVAC loads, decreasing shaft size requirements, etc...
then the client and their builder's VE all the good stuff out.
shame too, considering most of the stuff like this we spec pays for the front-end up-charge pretty quickly, some of them within a few years.
people are definitely playing it on the cheap these days.
That's probably always going to be an issue, I'm sure, and that's why I'm tackling this subject. I can't disclose too much info, but I'm working on a sort of layperson set of recommendations. Whether or not such suggestions will be actually be used is of course another matter. That's why I came here to ask about private practice, and what sort of priority EPP purchasing has, especially given the aforementioned economic reality.
Thanks all.
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