Five Questions

>>The "green building" concept should be fairly straightforward, at least in Jennifer Languell's mind. But, she concedes, the general public still has questions it wants answered before it can embrace the idea. Languell, director of Florida Gulf Coast University's WCI Green Building Demonstration and Learning Center, says those answers are on the way. When completed by late 2007, the project on FGCU's campus will show the why and how of green building and sustainable development. When 33-year-old Languell, who has a doctorate in civil engineering, is not involved with the $3 million-plus project, she runs Naples-based Trifecta Construction Solutions, a green-building and sustainability consulting firm she founded to serve real estate, design and construction industries.

1. What are some characteristics of a green building?

High performance, health and efficiency in home construction, and in commercial, the push is toward operations and maintenance [efficiencies].

2. How do costs of building green compare with conventional construction?

Usually the numbers are a 0 [percent] to 5 percent increase on top of standard construction. If you start at the design phase to be inherently efficient, meaning you're using passive approaches such as overhangs, shading or cross ventilation, you're down at 0 percent because you can design in a lot of green; whereas if you already have a design and decide to make it green, usually you end up adding things in, such as mechanical equipment. The cost can go up.

3. Can you recommend some easy, energy-saving tips businesses can implement right away?

Tint on windows is extremely important, much more than double-pane windows. Down here the payback is 35 to 40 years for double-pane. Up North it may be zero degrees and they're trying to keep it 60 or 70 degrees. We may be 95 and trying to keep it 75, so that's only a 20-degree temperature difference. If you have tint and you're still getting a lot of heat, plant some sort of vegetation to help shade that window, or add awnings or overhangs. If you're remodeling, you can always change insulation. Forty percent of our energy goes to cooling. I would never tell someone to go out and change equipment to get more efficient equipment unless you need to replace it.

4. The initial WCI Green Building design was scrubbed. Why?

When we had the old design, I had noted we were straying from the green path. I had met Astorino [architects] at a National Green Building Conference and they had significant expertise in green building. I asked them if they would do a design review-a third-party look at the design. [They found] quite a few issues that were never addressed, which is why we ended up starting over. And as bad as it is that this project has taken so long, I think four years ago we weren't ready for it. It was bleeding edge. We know it's getting to the point where it's mainstream, and people are interested. We're ready for it now, and people are starting to go places to look for information, and that's the purpose of the building.

5. How long will it take for green building to reach mainstream acceptance?

Most people believe that probably within five to 10 years people won't be calling it green, but the norm. We're ramping up very quickly now. We have a significant number of large companies getting over being frightened of the word "green" and of the notion that they'll have to spend more green to be green. They're realizing that it's the right thing to do.

?-Interview by Phil Borchmann