Building Green on Green

The Grey to Green Conference, produced by our friends at Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, takes place next week on Tuesday, May 21 and Wednesday, May 22 at the Evergreen Brick Works Toronto, one of North America’s greenest communities.

Focused on engaging participants on living green infrastructure, the conference provides “a unique learning environment to facilitate information sharing on best practices, creative solution making, networking and joint ventures. It will engage participants in new ways of thinking about project design, utility regulation and infrastructure capital and maintenance expenditures.”

The conference features 50 expert speakers on topics such as making the green infrastructure business case, energy-saving tools, performance-based and participatory design, and much more; extensive networking opportunities; professional training and the opportunity to earn continuing education credits; and a tour of many of the city’s innovative green infrastructure projects.

Visit http://greytogreenconference.org to learn more and register. If you attend, be sure to see the presentation by Paul Sheehy, Vice President, Sales North American Roofing & Building Maintenance, on “Retrofitting Tremco’s Headquarters with Green Infrastructure.”

Tremco Incorporated is extremely proud to be named the 2013 Great Blue Heron Award recipient from the Nature Center at Shaker Lakes. Tremco’s president Randy Korach will accept the award on behalf of the company on June 8^th at the Center’s Green Site, Starry Night gala.

The Nature Center at Shaker Lakes established the Great Blue Heron Award in 2011 to honor “an individual or organization that exemplifies the Center’s ongoing commitment to the environment and sustainability.” The honoree must:

1.  Believe in, actively demonstrate, and encourage one or more of the principles of the Nature Center’s mission “to conserve a natural area, connect people with nature, and inspire environmental stewardship.”
2. Contribute to the environmental health of the community in which he or she lives and/or works.
3. Lead by example, promoting the principles of the Nature Center’s mission in his or her daily life, and/or the organization’s daily operations.
4. Give back to the community through civic engagement and participation in community events.

From the renovation of our headquarters into a high-performance showcase, to the thousands of hours our employees volunteer to community organizations, to our commitment to helping our customers reduce the energy use and operating costs of their buildings, Tremco Incorporated embodies these ideals and is delighted to be recognized by the Center for our commitment to sustainability.

We would also like congratulate the two previous Great Blue Heron Award honorees, Fairmount Minerals and BrownFlynn, for their sustainability efforts.

The Nature Center at Shaker Lakes conserves a natural area, connects people with nature and inspires environmental stewardship. In 1971, the National Park Service named the Nature Center one of its first National Environmental Education Landmarks and subsequently designated it a National Environmental Study Area. The parklands are also on the Register of National Historic Sites; an Audubon Society Important Bird Area; and an official Wildlife Habitat site of the National Wildlife Federation.  More than 25,000 walkers, runners, birders and other nature lovers visit the Center annually, and thousands of children participate in nearly 30,000 hours of curriculum-related school programming.

Tremco Roofing and Building Maintenance and Xero Flor America (XFA), LLC announced the completion of a green roof at Providence St. Mary Medical Center in Walla Walla, Wash. The Tremco Roofing Sedum Mat System, with components supplied by Xero Flor, was installed on a 10,000-square-foot section over the Operating Suites on the Medical Center’s new 16,000-square-foot structural roof.

“Providence St. Mary Medical Center needed to replace this roof and researched the benefits of adding a vegetated roof. This roof replacement approach doubled the life of the new roof membrane and provided other benefits as well,” said Larry Baer, CHFM, CHSP, CHC, director of facilities, Providence St. Mary Medical Center. “Air temperature reduction in the summer months, sustainable management of stormwater, and an enhanced patient experience all contributed to our decision to install a green roof.”

“The green roof will help the hospital meet its sustainability goals by conserving energy,” said Elizabeth Hart, sustainable roofing specialist, Tremco Roofing and Building Maintenance. “Moderating temperatures on the roof and lowering the temperature of the air drawn into the rooftop HVAC units decreases energy use and utility costs.”

In selecting a green roof system for the project, St. Mary and its architect, Mahlum Architects, Portland, Ore., considered immediate visual impact, ease of installation and low maintenance. The Family Birthing Center and the west side of the Intensive Care Unit look out on the green roof. Thus, an instant green roof featuring extensive vegetative coverage with mature, full-grown plants for immediate beauty was a priority. In consideration of patient privacy concerns, a green roof that could be installed quickly and require minimal maintenance was also preferable. To reduce any potential for disrupting patient care, Enviroscapes Northwest, Inc., Portland, Ore., the green roof installer for the project, worked only in limited, designated hours.

“We utilized Xero Flor pre-vegetated mat technology because it has a 40-year track record of successful applications on green roofs worldwide,” said Hart. “Their vegetated mats are the only ones Cradle to Cradle (C2C) Certified ^CM for environmental sustainability.”

“The pre-vegetative mats are grown for a full nine-12 months on independent, local farms, so the plants are mature and adapted to the regional climates where they are installed. Using local horticultural suppliers supports local economies, reduces the costs of shipping, and decreases the carbon footprint,” said Clayton Rugh, Ph.D., general manager and technical director, Xero Flor America (XFA). “And all the components for projects in the U.S.A. are 100 percent manufactured in the U.S.”

About Providence St. Mary Medical Center
Providence St. Mary Medical Center, a 142-bed regional hospital located in Walla Walla, Wash. is the fourth largest employer in Walla Walla County. The Providence Medical Group is the largest group of primary care providers and specialists in the area. St. Mary is part of Providence Health & Services, a not-for-profit Catholic health care ministry committed to providing for the needs of the communities it serves – especially for those who are poor and vulnerable. In 2012, Providence affiliated with Swedish Health Service. With this affiliation, the combined scope of services includes 32 hospitals, 400 physician clinics, senior services, supportive housing and many other health and educational services. The combined health systems employ more than 64,000 people across five states – Alaska, California, Montana, Oregon and Washington – with its system office located in Renton, Wash. For more information, visit http://washington.providence.org/hospitals/st-mary/.

About Xero Flor America (XFA)
Founded in 2002 and headquartered in Durham, N.C., Xero Flor America (XFA) stands at the forefront of the North American green roof industry. XFA is the official and exclusive distributor in the U.S. for the Xero Flor Green Roof System. Regionally grown on local, independent farms and 100 percent American made, the Xero Flor system utilizes advanced, lightweight, pre-vegetated mat technology. Engineered in Germany and refined over more than 40 years of ongoing R&D, Xero Flor has been proven successful and sustainable in tens of thousands of installations flourishing worldwide and covering hundreds of millions of square feet. No green roof system in the U.S. offers more validation based on independent scientific research than Xero Flor (www.xeroflora.com).

About Tremco Roofing and Building Maintenance
Headquartered in Beachwood, Ohio, Tremco Roofing and Building Maintenance helps manage building life cycles for customers in education, healthcare, government, manufacturing and many other industries. Tremco Roofing and Building Maintenance is a division of Tremco Incorporated, which has been in business since 1928 and is part of the RPM Building Solutions Group, an international leader in the construction, maintenance and repair markets. Tremco Roofing works closely with Tremco Incorporated subsidiary WTI, which provides general contracting and roofing services. Both Tremco Roofing and Building Maintenance and WTI are ISO 9001:2000 certified. For more information, call toll free at 800-562-2728 or visit www.tremcoroofing.com.

More than 300 architects, engineers and facade experts from all over the world gathered in New York City last week for the Facades + Performance Conference held on April 11 & 12.

The conference was designed and formatted in such a way that attendees could learn more about the creation of high-performance building enclosures, showcasing in particular, the building skin.

Sustainability is an important topic for all building professionals, and it is quickly becoming a major focus in building enclosure design.  The Department of Energy has mandated that all states comply with the ASHRAE 90.1 2010 design standard, which requires the use of continuous insulation (CI) in more than 90% of the U.S. by October 18, 2013.  One of the easiest and most cost effective ways to meet this mandate is with Dryvit’s Outsulation systems.  To help attendees understand how Outsulation meets the new energy code, Dryvit participated in a panel discussion on materials.  The panel discussions led to a great deal of idea exchanging and networking, proving that sustainability is a key target for all building professionals.

We would like thank our friends at Greenroofs.com for highlighting the Hugh Garner Housing Co-Operative in Toronto, Canada, as their project of the week.  Tremco Roofing and Building Maintenance in Canada was responsible for the extensive green roofs for the North and Pavilion roofs, and an intensive roof garden on the South Roof. Learn more about this project.

The RPM Building Solutions Group is committed to certifying all of its manufacturing facilities in ISO 14001. Earlier this year, Eucomex, the Euclid Chemical Company’s subsidiary in Mexico, attained ISO 14001 certification at their plant. We took another huge step in this direction with week with the great news that our manufacturing facility in Medina, OH, passed its detailed, three-day ISO 14001 audit with zero findings. The plant should receive its certification by the end of May.

These two plants join five Tremco illbruck manufacturing facilities that have already received ISO 14001 certification. Other plants are in different stages of ISO 14001 certification, and we fully expect them to pass with flying colors as well.

ISO 14001 is part of an internationally recognized group of standards developed to help organizations minimize how their operations have an impact on the environment while staying in compliance with all appropriate laws and other mandates. Certification is awarded after a plant’s processes are audited by a third party.

These certifications are further proof of our commitment to consider our effects on our planet as we produce construction materials of the highest quality.

Congratulations to everyone involved in this fantastic achievement!

We’ve written before about the great generosity of the RPM Building Solutions Group employees; it was on display again in March during Northeast Ohio’s 2013 Harvest for Hunger campaign. Paced by the Tremco Roofing and Building Maintenance Division, the company raised more than $6,000 in cash and collected 4,410 pounds of food, which provided 24,964 meals and supported food pantries, hot meal programs and shelters throughout our community.

This exceptional success would not have been possible without the dedication of our Harvest for Hunger team. In addition to frequent reminders about the importance of the campaign to individuals and families throughout the region, the team organized fundraising activities that included games (with a donation to the campaign to play) and a very popular bake sale.

One of the country’s largest annual, community-wide food and funds drives, Harvest for Hunger supports hunger relief organizations in 21 Ohio counties. With a 2013 goal of providing enough food for 16 million meals, Harvest for Hunger is an important source of support for these organizations and the people turning to them for help.

Thanks to efforts like this in support of Harvest For Hunger, families in need don’t have to make the difficult choice between buying food and paying for other necessities such as heat, rent or medical care. It’s another example of the dedication that RPM BSG employees have to embracing the “People” part of the Three P’s of sustainability. People, Planet and Prosperity.

With sales and field service personnel throughout the U.S. and Canada, managing company-wide (and country-wide) community service programs can be a challenge. Which is why Tremco Roofing’s “virtual blood drive” is so unique, and so beneficial. We have extended the drive through April to help ensure we reach our goal of helping up to 300 people through donations of blood.

More than 38,000 blood donations are needed every day in the U.S. alone.  Donating blood is a simple but very important way that most of us can help others in need. In our virtual blood drive, even if a member of our company is unable to personally donate, they can sign someone up to donate on their behalf.  We’ve made pledging easy, with a link on our website.

The virtual blood drive is just one more example of how Tremco Roofing and Building Maintenance, and the other divisions of the RPM Building Solutions Group, are continuing to help improve people’s lives.

Due to the great response to their Greenroofs and Green Walls Virtual Summit – Connecting the Planet + Living Architecture: People, Projects & Design! — our friends at Greenroofs.com have kept a good thing going for the benefit of all of us who are interested in these important sustainable technologies. But curtain time is drawing near; the Virtual Summit, which was extended for 30 days, will end on Saturday, April 13th.

Designed to raise awareness of greenroofs and green walls, the Virtual Summit is an interactive platform to exchange ideas through a combination of keynote speakers, expert panel sessions, moderated chat sessions, on-demand presentations and more.

As the event’s “Rare Earth” sponsor, Tremco Roofing and Building Maintenance is proud to have a leadership role in this unique online trade show and collaboration opportunity by providing a keynote speaker, conducting webinars, and acting as host for presentations in Spanish.

The keynote address by Tremco Roofing’s Vegetated Roofing Program Development Manager, Mary Ann Uhlmann, “Green Infrastructure Design and the Biophilic Effect,” is available on-demand, as are all other keynote speeches, panel sessions, collaborative presentations and individual videos.

To learn more and to register for the summit, visit this website or check out this video. And be sure to join Tremco Roofing in the Expo Pavilion for a richer understanding of our commitment to sustainability.

Dryvit Systems, Inc. participated in the annual National Facilities Management & Technology (NFM&T) trade show this week in Baltimore, MD. This show is the largest gathering of facility managers, building owners, maintenance managers, property managers, construction/engineering managers and energy managers in the United States. This group is keenly interested in sustainable building practices for their inventory of existing properties. They are looking for ways to renovate these properties to be more environmentally friendly. Dryvit’s Outsulation(R) systems are the perfect solution because they provide an air/weather resistive barrier and continuous insulation, lowering energy bills for the life of the building.

In addition to booth space, Dryvit’s Bob Dazel, AIA, LEED GA, presented an AIA-accredited CEU course entitled, “Exterior Continuous Insulated Claddings for Energy Efficiency.”  This program examined the use of exterior continuous insulation based on current and proposed model building energy code requirements specifically related to improved energy efficiency objectives for envelope wall assemblies.

If you are interested in viewing this CEU course, visit The Hanley Wood University Learning Center and type “dryvit” in the search box.