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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Locke tries to build for the future



 (The Spokesman-Review)
Bert Caldwell The Spokesman-Review

Just in time for Christmas, retailers got their own big box from Washington’s State Building Code Council earlier this month. And it’s all about the wrapping.

Or almost all. It’s also about the process, which has some of those who participated in drafting a new energy code for commercial buildings upset because the overhaul was rejected last year, then resurrected at the urging of Gov. Gary Locke.

Former council member Dale Shafer — the Nov. 12 meeting was his last — says some building code changes are made before building designers and engineers have fully adapted to the last amendments. National standards are upgraded every three years. Washington revisits some rules annually.

“Historically,” he says, “Washington has been pushing the envelope.”

And this year, the envelope — a building’s exterior — was the issue pushed.

Many supermarkets, warehouses and other commercial buildings, as well as schools, are built using masonry materials such as cinder block or brick, materials that have low insulating values. Typically, masonry walls have an R value of around four, compared with around R-20 for the exterior wall of a residence. The new standard for commercial buildings is R-9. Masonry industry officials, several of whom testified before the council, say block and brick cannot meet that standard unless another layer of material is added to the inside.

Tom Young, an official with the Northwest Concrete Masonry Association, estimates that second wall will cost about $5 per square foot of wall. For a 100,000-square-foot grocery store or warehouse with 40,000 square feet of wall surface, that translates into another $200,000 in construction costs. And, he adds, that wall is unlikely to be as durable as block when forklifts back into it.

Young says the focus on R value alone also ignores “mass effect,” the ability of materials like brick to absorb heat. In the summer, mass effect helps keep buildings cooler. In the winter, it helps keep them warm.

Nor was there any proof offered the improved standards will pay for themselves in energy savings, he says, adding that some building trades no longer participate in the code revision process because members believe technical analysis cannot prevail against politics.

“Who doesn’t want to save energy?” Young asks.

With school buildings used for decades, energy savings over their lifetime will probably offset the upfront costs, he says. That will not be the case for many commercial buildings.

Shafer, owner of L&S Engineering Associates, has been on the building code council six years. He says his firm is a leader in the design of efficient building mechanical systems.

“Most knowledgeable people are doing the best they can to save energy,” he says.

The council carefully reviewed proposed changes to the commercial energy code before rejecting them in 2003, Shafer says, and Locke’s intervention after they were rejected implied members had not done their homework.

Liz Klumpp, Locke’s energy adviser, says the governor rarely intervenes in nut-and-bolts deliberations like the council’s, but sought reconsideration of the energy code to stress the matter’s importance after the utility rate shocks caused by the 2000-2001 electricity crisis.

Locke and the governors of California and Oregon have launched a Global Warming Initiative that includes the adoption of “aggressive” efficiency standards for new construction. Both those states have codes that achieve greater energy savings than does Washington’s, Klumpp says, adding that Seattle has adopted stringent standards on its own.

The commercial energy codes in particular have not been updated in a decade, she adds.

Locke, with the clock running on his administration, has clearly made a late run at making a progressive energy policy part of his legacy. He also last week announced the implementation of new rules for the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council.

Communicating that urgency earlier might have cleared the way for the new energy codes last year, and prevented some of the ill feelings among building code council members.

The new code takes effect July 1 unless the Legislature intervenes.