Columns/Blogs

Institutional knowledge is the knowledge of your business and industry contained within your company. It’s not easy for the accountants to measure, but as any good manager knows, it is one of the key assets of all successful businesses.

Just about everyone has seen the bulky inverter units on their cords used to charge laptop computers, smart phones, i-pads and numerous other small electronic devices. Even rooftop photovoltaic panels require inverters to change the DC power generated by the modules to AC for use inside the building. As the building construction industry moves closer to net zero energy designs, there is a growing need for buildings to generate their own electricity and to rely less on the traditional large utility grid.

I have a friend who bought a beat-up Model T truck a couple years ago and did a great job of bringing it back to running condition, as he’s done with other old autos. What's different about this one is that it doesn’t look as restored as his other projects. There are no bright colors or great graphics. In fact, he preserved the truck’s “barn-find” appearance by sealing the rust that covers nearly all of the metal surfaces.

Like every Greenbuild conference and expo ever held, this year’s event in New Orleans was filled with new and surprising information. One can get a sense of the hot topics just by looking at the titles of the more than 200 education sessions, and the speeches given at the opening and closing plenary. This year’s event was focused on the slow acceptance of LEEDv4 since its launch at Greenbuild 2013.

Autumn has arrived, the leaves are bursting into brilliant colors, and the nights are cool. It’s hard to believe that we are in the fourth quarter of 2014 already. It is often good to reflect on the events of the year. And the first three quarters of the year were packed full of events that disrupted the lives of many Americans. From wildfires in the Western states, to flash flooding in the Southwest, to a significant earthquake and aftershocks in California, hurricanes in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and wind and hail damage from thunderstorms just about everywhere in the summer.

Big news in the sustainable building industry was the recent announcement of a partnership among five organizations that have been involved in codes, standards and rating programs related to green or sustainable building practice. The announced partnership among the US Green Building Council (USGBC), ASHRAE, International Code Council (ICC), AIA, and the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) is being touted as a step toward harmonizing and simplifying the implementation of green building regulations and incentives. The intentions are well-founded, but the details of the interaction among the five groups are just now being disclosed.

Metal Roofing is the ideal platform for rooftop photovoltaics (PV). The useful service life of typical PV units is often around 30 years before the output is below 80%. The useful service life of unpainted Galvalume® coated sheet standing seam roofing has been found to exceed 60 years based on a study by the Metal Construction Association and the ZAC organization. Service life of this type of roofing system is extended beyond 60 years in certain climate regions in the US.

Everywhere I go, somebody is whipping out a tablet or smartphone to look up a product or an answer to some important, or not-so-important, fact. They’re being used literally every day by seemingly everyone . It’s undeniable that these devices have changed the way people live their lives personally and professionally, prompting me to reflect on how significantly electronic devices and media have become ingrained in the world’s culture during the last seven years since Bob Fittro, John Garvey and I launched DesignandBuildwithMetal.com in July 2007.

With public opinion about Congress at an all-time low, it’s interesting to see what our legislators are up to. When an earmark bill includes $1.8 million to study why pigs smell, it’s no wonder why the average American feels like Congress is out of touch and dysfunctional. But there are some rays of hope with certain pending bills that could actually help the construction industry.

Today worldwide there are over 600 green product certification programs and approximately 200 green building rating programs. Two of the more notable and familiar green building rating programs are BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology) and LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). Here in the US, the US Green Building Council (USGBC) introduced their first version of the LEED green building rating program in 2000.

Everyone knows how to measure metal right? Most of the time we would answer yes. Then why when you get into the field to install it you can find yourself short of material, it doesn’t fit, or you missed something? Believe it or not, this happens a lot. One of our recommendations is - be prepared. A couple of things to remember will make it easier.

Every business has key people – the ones that everyone goes to when no one else seems to have any answers. They may be managers, supervisors or maybe even hourly employees. This is where it gets tricky – how do you share and preserve the knowledge and experience “aka the essence” of these unique people for the benefit of the entire business? There are several things every company should do to take full advantage of these resources, and today we will cover one of the most effective ones – mentoring.

More and more information is coming forward on activity in the field of resiliency. The Resilient Design Institute defines the term resiliency as “the capacity to adapt to changing conditions and to maintain or regain functionality and vitality in the face of stress or disturbance.” A 2011 UN report on disaster risk reduction stated that losses from disasters are rising faster than gains being made through economic growth in all regions.

Once upon a time, there was no written communication and the only way to exchange information was by word of mouth – and even before that, it was likely a system of hand and facial gestures, which I can only imagine led to a great deal of ambiguity and rampant misunderstanding. Fortunately, that pre-dates all of us by at least thousands and thousands of years. Or, is “fortunately” really the best word choice?

The International Green Construction Code (IgCC) is undergoing modifications in its 3-year code development cycle in 2014. IgCC is just one code of a suite of codes administered by the International Code Council (ICC).The IgCC is an overlay code to be used along with the building, residential, plumbing, or electrical codes. It is also a model code, meaning that once it is approved by ICC, the 2015 edition of IgCC can be adopted (or not adopted) by local jurisdictions if they desire.

If you have been in the construction products industry for any period of time you are likely to have been exposed to a merger/acquisition, or know colleagues who have. Mergers and acquisitions are an important strategy for corporate survival, and are also a result of cyclical economic activity. They are also somewhat akin to shotgun weddings. As someone who has survived four of them in my career (M&A’s, not weddings!), I’d like to share some of the lessons I’ve learned.

LEED, LCA, PCR, EPD. These aren’t just acronyms. As Scott Kriner, Technical Director of the Metal Construction Association explains it, "They represent the industry’s advancements toward more energy efficient and environmentally responsible buildings." In this column for DesignandBuildwithMetal, Kriner reminds us how the environmental building movement got its start and how it has evolved, and where the Environmental Product Declaration fits into the big picture.

The Building sector of our economy consumes 41% of our nation’s total energy and almost three quarters of our nation’s electricity. That is higher than the transportation sector and the industrial sector. The way in which that energy is generated has been hotly debated over the years. The growing concern over greenhouse gas emissions has clearly put the fossil fuel-generated energy installations in the cross hairs of environmentalists. Our current fuel mix according to the DOE is 50% coal, 19% natural gas and 19% nuclear. Renewables make up a small percentage of the nation’s energy.

During the worst part of winter in the northern states many residents plan trips and vacations to the warmer parts of the country like Florida, the gulf or the desert. Most of these folks are just looking for some comfortable weather and doing things outdoors that they can’t do in the snow, ice and frigid temperatures back home.

I’ve always been a huge fan of the space program (Shocked to hear that, are you?) and I remember as a kid watching the space shuttle launch and repair satellites and was always curious why everything was wrapped in shiny foil. Now, as an engineer and resident energy nerd for my company, I encounter radiant barriers often. That has closed a loop for me because it turns out the mystery foil on the satellites and equipment was indeed a radiant barrier.