Goodwill opens new, LEED-certified Standale store to attract GVSU shoppers

By Cami Reister | The Grand Rapids Press

December 11, 2009, 8:12AM

WALKER -- Customers who shop Goodwill stores already can feel good knowing their purchases are helping a nonprofit organization.

But shoppers at the new store opening Saturday at 4696 Lake Michigan Drive NW have another reason to feel good.

The 14,000-square-foot Standale store is Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, certified for its environmentally friendly construction and operation.

"Goodwill is the largest recycler in the world," said Jill Wallace, vice president of community relations at Goodwill Industries of Greater Grand Rapids Inc. "We're just trying to continue the green theme in everything we do."

The stores recycle clothing and other items by selling the donated items. Also, all papers, plastics and other items are recycled, she said.

This is the 14th retail store for Goodwill of Greater Grand Rapids.

Wallace said it is only the third built from the ground up.

"We typically try to find buildings that are not occupied," she said. "But there was no other building right there in that area."

The new store, which cost $2 million, is designed to appeal to the college crowd, Wallace said.

The store is about eight miles away from GVSU's Allendale campus and about six miles from downtown Grand Rapids.

"I conducted a couple of focus groups with college students" Grand Valley and Kendall College of Art and Design or Ferris State University, she said. "We wanted to know what they envision the store to look like: the openness, airy feeling, colors and graphics."

The store has a lot more curves and vibrant colors and is upscale.

Also, 15 percent of items in the store are new, received at reduce cost through a national contract with name-brand retailers, Wallace said.

All revenue generated at the store will be funneled to Goodwill's Better Life Initiative Program, which helps individuals become self-sufficient.

The other stores are affiliated with the Grandville-based Goodwill operation are located in Grand Rapids, Grandville, Big Rapids, Caledonia, Comstock Park, Greenville, Ionia, Jenison, Kentwood, Lowell, Mount Pleasant, Plainfield Township and Wyoming.

Also near GVSU's Allendale campus is another Goodwill store at 5269 Lake Michigan Drive in Allendale Township. That one is operated by Muskegon-based Goodwill Industries of West Michigan Inc.

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Frederik Meijer Gardens wins LEED certification for expansion

By Rachael Recker The Grand Rapids Press

December 02, 2009, 3:21PM

GRAND RAPIDS -- Now the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park has really gone green.

One of the nation's most sought-after botanical and sculpture destinations received a silver-level certification from the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) program.

The certification was awarded in conjunction with the Gardens latest 23,000-square-foot additions, including expanded office spaces, café, storage and visitor areas.

The new additions were completed in May as part of a $7.6 million capital campaign.

"Environmental stewardship has always been one of our guiding principles," Gardens president/CEO David Hooker said in a press release.

The LEED features at the Gardens include a reflective roof of white rubber membrane that reflects heat, irrigation systems that reduce water consumption, waterless urinals and low-flow fixtures and building materials made from recycled materials.

Cox, Medendorp, Olson Architects oversaw the architectural design and certification. Owen Ames Kimball Co. lead the building construction.

The Gardens also includes its 1,750-seat outdoor amphitheater -- host to world-renowned acts during their summer concert series.

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Staying in the LEED

Friday, December 4, 2009  |  Modified: Wednesday, December 9, 2009, 1:01am PST

Standards-setter looks at ensuring certified buildings stay green

San Francisco Business Times - by Lindsay Riddell

“You won’t get the performance” from a building built to green specifications if it’s not managed correctly and its users don’t pay attention, says LEED exec Dan Geiger.

LEED is getting a follow-up.

The U.S. Green Building Council, which developed the Leadership in Energy Environmental Design rating system, is considering new rules that would ensure LEED-rated buildings produce the energy savings that were projected.

Commercial and residential buildings account for about 40 percent of all energy use in the country. Lower energy use has been a key feature of LEED from its birth. But the Green Building Council’s Building Performance Initiative, launched in August, is the first attempt to test if buildings actually perform as expected.

“One can put in a really high-tech lighting system, a really high-tech HVAC system, but if the engineer that manages those things isn’t well trained and nobody’s paying attention to whether it’s working or not … you won’t get the performance,” said Dan Geiger, executive director of the U.S. Green Building Council’s Northern California chapter.

LEED for existing buildings made up the majority of applications for LEED certification in 2009 because a slow real estate market means few new buildings are being constructed. In the first nine months of 2009, 104 buildings in the Bay Area were registered for LEED for existing buildings, operations and maintenance certification, compared with 71 for new construction certification.

During the first phase of the Building Performance Initiative, owners applying for the existing buildings operation and maintenance certification — which is separate from new building certification — will have to report data on energy and water use to the council. It will aggregate the data and provide feedback to building owners and managers on what measures they need to take to address areas where they’re underperforming.

The council is also considering how to make sure buildings continue meeting LEED standards “after the plaque,” said Geiger.

Some options on the table: requiring recertification every few years, and requiring new building LEED awardees to add an operations and maintenance certification within a specified time.

San Francisco’s California Academy of Sciences got its LEED certification for new construction and is now applying for the certification for operations and maintenance.

“To me, it’s a matter of truth of disclosure,” said Phil Williams, vice president of technical systems and sustainability at San Mateo-basedWebcor Builders

. “If you’re using (LEED certification) as a means to obtain business in the marketplace and you had LEED certification three years ago and are still marketing it, it would be nice to disclose that you’re still meeting that (standard).”

Ken Cleaveland, director of government and public affairs for the Building Owners and Managers Association of San Francisco, said his group supports recertification of LEED buildings to prove buildings are being managed properly.

BOMA’s own 360 Performance Program was developed to validate and recognize buildings that are well managed, including in energy use, waste management and other criteria.

“You can’t say a building that performs today will perform at same level three years from now,” Cleaveland said. “To maintain credibility in any ranking program, you need to recertify.”

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Van Andel Institute looks to boost West Michigan economy with high-paying jobs, research grants

By Pat Shellenbarger | The Grand Rapids Pre...

December 08, 2009,  8:52AM

GRAND RAPIDS -- The Van Andel Institute's new addition, opening today, not only will bring more research to  Grand Rapids. It also should pull in more money.

The medical research institute's second phase will triple its lab space and, eventually, its annual budget to $125 million. The additional space will allow the institute to add more than 500 high-paying jobs and pump more than $300 million a year into the local economy, institute officials said.

While the new addition has created hundreds of construction jobs, the long-term economic benefit will come in the form of new research grants from government and private agencies, said Steven Heacock, the institute's chief administrative officer. Much of the initial research was funded by an endowment -- some sources said it is about $1 billion -- from the late Jay Van Andel, founder of the institute and co-founder of Amway Corp.

"The issue is we need to find grant-funded research," Heacock said, walking through the new addition. "As we get more external grants, that's new money coming into the community."

When world-renowned architect Rafael Vinoly designed the building in the mid-1990s, he included plans for the second phase, an eight-story building cascading down the Michigan Street Hill, mimicking the flow of the  Grand River. The first phase is 162,000 square feet, including 40,000 square feet of lab space, and cost $58 million.

"The assumption was it would take 10 years to fill it," Heacock said. "It took five."

The second phase is 242,000 square feet, including 95,000 square feet of lab space, and cost $178 million. It will include space for the Van Andel Education Institute's graduate program, now in its third year, and for  Michigan  State  University medical students.

Two floors in the new addition will be left vacant, allowing for growth as more scientists are hired. The institute currently has about 250 employees. Over the next several years, it is expected to grow to about 800 employees, most of them research scientists.

The laboratory work benches and other furniture were built by Grand Rapids-based Steelcase.

Much of the research so far has focused on cancer. With the opening of the addition, the institute will continue its cancer research and expand into other diseases, including neurological disorders, such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, as well as bone diseases. Lettering above one door identified it as the entrance to the "Jay Van Andel Parkinson's Research Lab." It was funded by the DeVos family, including Rich DeVos, Van Andel's partner in founding Amway.

Van Andel, who died in 2004, had Parkinson's. His wife, Betty, died that same year of Alzheimer's complications. Much of their lives and legacy are told by a "discovery wall," an interactive display that includes touch screens, recalling how the institute was created and the kind of research that goes on there.

Across the hall is a glass-walled demonstration lab, allowing tour groups to watch scientists at work.

"It's not just for show," said Mathew Fahrenkrug, a principal of Culhane & Fahrenkrug Consulting, hired to oversee the expansion. "The show is secondary to the research."

Researchers working in that lab will be able to speak to tour groups using a public address system. In the past, public tours have been discouraged.

"We didn't want 30 people walking through and disrupting work," Heacock said.

The institute will train volunteer docents to conduct tours, he added.

The new addition will formally open with a ribbon cutting, followed by public tours Dec. 14-18.  Tours will become a regular feature after the first of the year, Heacock said.

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CONNECT

To arrange tours of the Van Andel Institute's new addition, visit its Web site, www.vai.org, or call (616) 234-5598 or (616) 234-5390.

Van Andel Institute Fun Facts

• The new addition is expected to be LEED-certified by meeting certain environmental standards.

• It includes a 27,000-gallon tank for collecting rain water, which will be used in cooling and watering two green roofs covered with native plants.

• About 92 percent of the construction waste -- more than three million pounds -- was recycled.

• 1,853 workers were involved in the project, working 668,922 hours.

• The addition includes 21,266 cubic yards of concrete, weighing 86.2 million pounds when wet.

• It includes 1,905 tons of structural steel, 51 miles of electrical conduit and 245 miles of wiring and cable.

Report: Michigan could create up to 13,000 jobs through comprehensive recycling effort

By Sven Gustafson

November 13, 2009, 4:24PM

Michigan could add as many as 13,000 new jobs if the state boosted its recycling rate average to equal rates in neighboring Great Lakes states, a new report concludes.
 
The report from Lansing-based Public Sector Consultants finds that Michigan's recycling rate of 20 percent lags behind its Great Lakes state neighbors, which average 30 percent. The state has 2,242 recycling and reuse industry establishments that collectively employ nearly 62,000 workers, the research firm said. 

" Michigan's recycling rate is declining, unlike almost every other state," said Bill Rustem, president and chief executive of Lansing-based PSC.

The report, which was commissioned by the Michigan Recycling Partnership, concludes that increasing Michigan's recycling rate to 30 percent would create between 6,810 and 12,986 job and as much as $22 million in state tax revenue. Comprehensive recycling would include expanded curbside pickup programs and more drop-off stations for cans, paper, bottles and plastic containers.

An estimated 37 percent of Michigan residents have access to curbside recycling programs, lowest in the Great Lakes region, with the largest curbside program in Grand Rapids, Rustem said. 

Many of the jobs that would be created through increased recycling would come from pickup, material handlers and other low-skill occupations. But more raw material made available through recycling would present opportunities for entrepreneurs, said Rustem, who cited building insulation and fill for winter jackets as examples.

"Once you create enough of that stuff, you create a supply," he said. "Some entrepreneur will figure out, 'OK, there's a demand here, I can use it.' But we don't have it in one place. We just put it in landfills." 

The report said expanding Michigan's 1976 bottle deposit law to include juice containers and bottled water isn't the answer because it would limit the mix of valuable material available to recycling companies. 

Expanding recycling in the state would depend on a subsidy, Rustem said. A so-called "penny plan" proposal that has long floated around in the Capitol would add one cent to every transaction over $2 to help fund municipal curbside recycling programs. 

An April poll by Lansing-based Marketing Resource Group found that 81 percent of Michigan voters support comprehensive recycling.

WMU getting $1 million for Green Manufacturing

Oct. 26, 2009

KALAMAZOO-- Western Michigan University is slated to receive $1 million in federal funding to support its Green Manufacturing project, which will assist businesses throughout West Michigan in creating more energy efficient and sustainable processes and products.

U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, who sponsored the funding in the House, made the announcement Oct. 19 at WMU's College of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He was joined at the announcement by WMU President John M. Dunn and Dr. John Patten, chair of manufacturing engineering and director of the WMU Center for Manufacturing Research.

WMU's Green Manufacturing project draws upon existing research and development centers at the University. Faculty researchers and students will collaborate with area manufacturers, especially smaller businesses, to help them build greater energy efficiency into manufacturing processes and promote recycling of materials to further reduce costs. About 25 companies in Battle Creek, Kalamazoo, Benton Harbor-St. Joseph, Grand Rapids and Muskegon have already expressed interest in participating, according to Patten.

"I am especially proud with this project," said Dunn, "because it highlights one of the longtime strengths of Western Michigan University, which is applying the latest knowledge and technology to create practical solutions of immediate and long-term benefit."

"Companies realize that being green is good for their bottom line to ensure their longevity,'' said Patten, who added that project will help preserve existing jobs and foster creation of new ones.

Green technologies are "one of the niches" that can help diversify the state's economy and create jobs, said Upton.

The funding for WMU is part of a larger appropriation that passed in both the House and Senate. "I am expecting the president to sign the bill, perhaps as early as this week," said Upton. "This funding had strong bipartisan support in both houses," he said, acknowledging Sens. Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow, who co-sponsored the earmark in the Senate.

Media contact: Thom Myers, (269) 387-8400,  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

WMU News
Office of University Relations
Western Michigan University
Kalamazoo MI 49008-5433 USA
(269) 387-8400
www.wmich.edu/news

COP 15 - UN Climate Change Conference December 7 - 18

COP 15 - United Nations Climate Change Conference

December 7 - December 18

Copenhagen, Denmark

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) will be attending the COP15 - United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.  In the coming weeks USGBC will join representatives from over 150 countries supporting the effort to find consensus and solutions for climate change adaptation and mitigation.

As the built environment accounts for 40 percent of global carbon emissions, the green building movement has an unprecedented opportunity to make a major contribution to new global carbon reduction targets.  USGBC is actively involved with government delegations and non-government organizations to better understand how we can work together to show that green building represents one of the most direct, immediate, and cost-effective opportunities to help tackle climate change.

For more information, visit USGBC's COP15 page.

Follow the link to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change for their coverage of COP15.

The State Department's Pressroom also offers detailed releases of the United States' involvement in Copenhagen.

DELEG Announces Green Lodging Certification for Days Hotel Downtown Grand Rapids Moving Up From Current Level, Facility Achieves Leader Status