Existing Building
1stPOSS Services
Existing or previous constructed building, already in existence are referred to as “Existing Building”. According to the California “Air Resources Board” more than 75% of California’s existing homes and commercial buildings were built before the Building Energy Efficiency Standards were developed in 1978.
When deciding about your “existing building” “rehab” or “Green Hab” you should ask questions, such as: Does my home uses more energy than it should? Can my energy use be improved? Does my home have problems that impact the occupants. Does it function properly? Will my investment reach both my financial requirements and my Sustainable goals at the same time? These are just a few of the questions to ask before you decide on a Rehabilitation.
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Existing Building
An important step to making your ‘existing building’ more sustainable is look at obtaining an “Energy Star” rating! ENERGY STAR is the trusted, government-backed symbol for energy efficiency helping us all save money and protect the environment through energy-efficient products and practices. For more information, please refer to https://www.energystar.gov/products/what_makes_product_energy_star
Existing Building offer an excellent option to contributing to ‘sustainability and going Green, because you are utilizing an existing structure and re-using materials that would have been demolished to build new. Neighborhood stabilization and community revitalization and a stronger housing market is created when ‘existing building’ undergo “Green Habbing” or “rehabilitation”, instead of allowing them to completely deteriorate, and make new and more expensive homes out of reach for the average working family. In addition, as stated previously, rehabbing or “Green Habbing” existing buildings are and will be key in helping lower greenhouse gas emission in the near and distance future. These are challenging times for both local and State governments as well as ‘building owners!
Scope of Work
LEED ‘existing buildings’ are only certified for 5 (five) years, because existing building are different than certifying a ‘new build’ where you design and build within the guidelines of LEED. This would not be possible with an “existing building’ because things such as materials and or systems are in place already. With that, existing buildings offer a huge opportunity to reduce overall energy use, save money, improve air quality and cut greenhouse gas emissions. It is estimated that it can take upwards of 70 to 80 years to make up for the impacts of demolishing an existing building and constructing a new one. Today, with more ‘energy efficient’ technologies and practices that help to minimize energy consumption, new strategies to improve energy efficiency, improved material resources, meeting your sustainable goals are made more economical and possible. LEED categories, for ‘existing building’ are “sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, material and resources, indoor environmental quality, innovation in operations, regional priority credits. LEED is the most recognized and popular leader in the green building certification programs globally. You can obtain ‘certification’ levels based on the score for your sustainability project, from a category of Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum. Please visit LEED at USGBC | U.S. Green Building Council www.usgbc.org.
1stPOSS recognize that there is no ‘one size fit all’ approach to making an existing building more sustainable. A number of issues and evaluations must be done, such as current energy auditing and current building performance, economic analysis, (Is this building a candidate for Rehab or not?) risk assessment, what will be the energy saving, and all of these activities must be assessed and measured to ensure the success of the building “Retro Fit or Green Habbing”! We, at 1st POSS, will perform all these necessary steps and design a systematic approach and give you the best option to choose for your project.