SPECTRUM

Newsletter of the Puget Sound Chapter CSI

From the President

 Vicki Long, CSI

Your Puget Sound Chapter committee members have been hard at work putting together great events for the coming year.  

First, was the Chapter Blast-Off last month. The discussions were lively and plans are in place for creating a vital and purposeful Chapter for the next two years. Second, I want to extend a big "Thank You" to all who took the time to attend and participate.  

You asked and we answered: We will start this season by mixing things up a bit with a tour of Bullitt Center instead of the usual dinner meeting.

Please note that due to scheduling issues with Bullitt Center this will take place on Wednesday, September 11, at 5:00 p.m., rather than the usual second Thursday.

We hope that all of you who participated in the design and creation of this green building will attend and utilize this opportunity to show your products in action. After the tour, we will gather at Piecora's Pizza where food, soda, beer and wine will be available. Best news - it's less than a block away.  

You will also notice an announcement regarding the most recent change in payment policy. Several factors regarding credit card regulations have forced us to make this adjustment.

Last year we experimented with lunch meetings and have decided that we now have a handle on the best way to proceed; as a result we've scheduled three lunch dates.

Lastly, one more change will be in the education seminars. Please read below for further details.

That's quite a bit of news for this month. See you all at the Bullitt Center Tour!

Melissa Balestri CSI, CCS

The seminars have undergone several notable changes for the upcoming season. They have been shortened to one hour time slots and will run from 3:00-4:00 p.m., and from 4:05-5:05 p.m., except on days that include a lunch program.

Costs have been reduced to $10 per seminar for members and $20 per seminar for non-members. We will be offering several non-traditional seminars, such as multidisciplinary panel discussions.

How I Love to Hate LEED

Chris Dixon, CSI CDT  

Are you ready for the next round of LEED headaches?    

You are going to want to stock up on your favorite NSAID because the new version of LEED makes all previous versions seem like a walk in the park by comparison.  

C: Can I get a LEED rating for this building if I hire you?

A: Absolutely! We know LEED inside and out. We have X% of LEED Accredited Professionals in our employ! Even our custodial staff has LEED Accreditation!

C: Super - I want LEED Silver as a minimum, and if it isn't too much trouble, let's shoot for LEED Platinum! I want my new Laundromat to be the first LEED Platinum Laundromat in the world!

A: Sure! We can totes get you LEED Silver for your Laundromat. Maybe even Platinum! 

C: I want ALL of the Material and Resources points, 'cuz we're all about doing the best thing for the environment and our new corporate sustainability director (we just hired straight out of college) says that we need to make sure we get all the "toxics" out of the building materials.

A: No problem! We'll get all the requirements in the Spec Book  

(a handshake seals the deal).

What the client does not know and what the architect almost certainly does not know, is that in the new and improved LEED v4, is nearly impossible to get many of the available MR points. Upon a quick reading, the new requirements seem straightforward, but a more careful reading reveals that they are also incredibly complicated.

Let's take a look at one part of one credit - MRc3 which, according to the United States Green Building Council is intended to:

"...encourage the use of products and materials for which life-cycle information is available and that have environmentally, economically, and socially preferable life-cycle impacts. To reward project teams for selecting products from manufacturers who have verified improved environmental life-cycle impacts."

Under Option - worth one point, the requirement seems very simple; specify 20 products made by at least five different manufacturers that have an Environmental Product Declaration. The first problem you will discover is that very few manufacturers have gone through the necessary steps to obtain an EPD for any product.  

In fact, at the time of this writing, I found a grand total of just over 50 products by five manufacturers in the United States with an EPD - the majority of those being several carpets made by a single manufacturer. The only others were concrete mixes in the Bay Area in California, a composite countertop material, and a few resilient flooring products.

So, if your project is in the Bay Area, and you happen to be working with all of these products, you might get that point. "Might" because even under this best-case scenario, there is more to it than the requirements state; it's not just 20 products.

The calculation requires that multipliers be used for each product depending on the type of EPD provided. LEED will give you 25% for a "Life Cycle Assessment" type, 50% for an "Industry-wide (generic)" type, and 100% for a "Product-specific Type III" type. You may end up needing 30, 40, maybe more EPDs depending on the "types" you are able to find.

When the architect has learned about this, after having boastfully promised "No problem" to the client who, once they understand the point(s) will likely respond, "Then we will force the manufacturers of the products we want to get EPDs!"

This is what the ignoramuses within the USGBC the expect. Let's take a closer look at that.

Getting an EPD is a long, complicated, expensive process that requires the development of something called Product Category Rules. Once that is done, a comprehensive Life Cycle Assessment conducted by an LCA nerd, an evaluation of said nerd's LCA and certification, and finally posting of final EPD by certified agency (like UL Environmental, ICC-ES and just recently ASTM).

The entire process takes anywhere from six months to a year and costs about $60,000 per product, per EPD. In addition, it costs

$5,000 - $7,000 every couple of years to have EPDs registered and posted with the certifying agency.  

I have had conversations with several manufacturers about this. The smaller companies cannot justify such an expense. Many larger companies can, but do not see the urgency in doing so because it will have little to no impact on selling more products.

I am describing just a tiny bit of the train wreck the majority of remaining MR credits are like. The effort it will take for anyone to get these points will be huge and in most cases insurmountable.

Don't make the mistake that the architect in the above scenario makes; be smart about what you promise to the client, and be prepared to deal with the headaches that follow when dealing with the ignoramuses that insist it's possible to prepare the specifications in a way that ensures achievement of those MRc points.

For many of them, it just isn't going to happen.

The CSI Puget Sound Chapter has been publishing amazing technical information for decades. In our fast moving world it is amazing how much some things change, and how much others remain the same. The following article was first published in September 1980, Volume 23 Spectrum (and reproduced here with typos and misspellings). If this sparks a memory you would like to share please email office@psccsi.org and share our rich history. Enjoy.  

Greetings to my fellow CSI members who survived our three weeks of summer! With Seafair, picnics, vacations, lawn mowing, and painting out of the way we can now start our fall CSI program.

Our Chapter Officers and committees have been busy all summer developing our program for the forthcoming year. You will note elsewhere in this issue that the program topics that are listed for the entire year as well as guests from related construction organizations.

Please post this handy list for referral. It tells you all you need to know about our Chapter's yearly activities.

I also want to take this opportunity to make you aware of what's being planned for the February Regional Conference in Anchorage being held in conjunction with the winter festival.

To make this trip more of an inducement to you, Paul Edlund, Regional Director, has done some leg-work on a Seattle to Anchorage to Honolulu triangle offered by Western Airlines at $479.99. Current Seattle to Anchorage to Honolulu roundtrip coach is $502.00.

Therefore, if you take in the Regional Conference and use the triangle fare, your side trip air fare to Hawaii is free. Since housing in Hawaii is often critical, you should plan NOW and make your reservations.

To assist you in planning, the schedule is as follows:

Western Airline FLT 775,LV Sea-Tac 1:25 p.m. Thurs.,2/19/81

ARR Anchorage 2:37 p.m. (Anchorage time)

(Regional Conference convenes at 5:00 p.m.)

Western Airlines FLT 582, LV Anchorage at 1:25 a.m. Mon.,2/31/81

ARR Honolulu 7:25 a.m.

I would like to develop a list of who is interested in attending and whether or not you would be interested in the triangle trip, so please let me know.

I'm looking forward to seeing all of you again at our September 11, 1980 meeting. Please make your reservations NOW.

Richard Owen

You should be in CSI if you're:

• An architect
• A specifier
• A product representative
• A contractor
• Any construction professional that wants to know more than your piece of a project

CSI members have an in-depth understanding of construction because they know what goes beyond their job. Time spent with professionals from other fields helps them to see how they fit with the rest of the building team.

They are experts in the process of identifying real world solutions and communicating them in construction documents, ensuring that all the members of the construction team are building the facility the owner is paying for and envisions.

Because CSI members can deliver projects on time and on budget, their employers benefit from their ability to see everyone's role in the big picture.

Larry Busch

In 2012, my wife Karen and I came to this beautiful area when I was given the unique opportunity to head Ready Mix Sales for Cadman Inc.

Cadman has served the Seattle market for over 75 years; their values were and are an important part of my decision to work there.

As a second generation concrete supplier, I truly appreciate all the amazing changes the construction industry has seen.

Today, quality and concern for the environment challenge us to search for a better mouse trap. I look forward to contributing and learning from the Construction Specifications Institute.  

Larry Busch

Sales Manager RMC

Cadman Inc.

425-429-0820

Following are the new, renewing and lapsed members of Puget Sound Chapter CSI as of August 2013. 

NEW MEMBERS 

Ms. Nora Vivarelli, CSI  

September 2013

Volume 53 Issue 3