Comment Log Display

GHG 5. Green Buildings
West Valley Citizens Air Watch Comments: 

a. Passive solar siting of buildings is most often overlooked. Yet
when southern access to the sun is possible, it should be utilized
for maximum heat gain in winter, and for shade/cooling in the
summer. Easily accomplished with the correctly angled window
overhang. A small greenhouse can also be incorporated into the
initial building with this siting. Already existing buildings with
southern light access and fortunate window siting can also be
retrofitted with awnings. 

b. Concrete, which is produced from Cement, contains a huge amount
of embodied energy from the production of the cement and is the
result of a process which creates  copious amounts of CO2 as well
as toxic air contaminants such as mercury, dioxin and small
particulates. Therefore it is not a green material and should not
be awarded any LEED points whether or not it is made from local
materials or contains “recycled materials”. (While the use of fly
ash in cement might be considered a recycled material, it is
highly toxic as it concentrates heavy metals and other toxins. In
addition it needs to be shipped into California. There are other
options (see WVCAW comments in GHG Section 6. Industry, h.
Solutions and Alternatives.)

However, we support recycling of used concrete.