So welcome back.

My name is Maria Linda I'm the campus
recycling coordinator here at Georgia Tech

so I'll be facilitating our panel
discussion this morning and

with me I have Garrett salad Maria.

Ben Mason and Holly Elmore.

We have a very diverse panel
today you'll see we have

energy represented on the panel
we have engagements we

have healthy soils and
green building represented so

it's a very diverse panel but
in speaking with each of the panelists

earlier this week and last week to prepare
for the panel I realize a common theme

emerging in the stories that they were
telling me and that's of collaboration so

you're going to hear about collaboration's
between Georgia tech facilities and

other departments on campus
collaboration's between Georgia Tech and

outside entities and also collaboration's
within facilities itself.

And so what I'm going to do for
the format is I'm going to let each of

the panelists introduce themselves give
some background for Georgia Tech folks

their role is Georgia Tech and the work
that they do within sustainability and

then Holly Elmore who is our featured
speaker from earlier this morning

is joining us again on the panel but
we might have some folks who were not able

to hear your presentation this morning who
have come in later on and joined us so

if you'll also give a brief overview and
background of your focus areas and

your platforms and then I'll bring
everyone up to speed and so we'll let

the panelists introduce themselves and
then we're going to open it up for

questions I have some questions for
the panel and we want this to

be a conversation so if you have
questions from earlier this morning

during the Hollies talk that you've
been holding onto now's the time now so

those questions questions that come up as
you hear about the different programs.

Partners.

Tips and initiatives that our panelists
are working on feel free to ask those

questions as well will have to my ex
that are in the audience so if you

have a question for the panel simply raise
your hand will bring a mike to you and

I think we're ready to get started so
I'll hand it over to Gary first.

OK.

Sit on hello hello yes OK good.

Thanks My name is Gary Joel and
I'm the associate director of design for

facilities in I'm going to focus question
city if you have them a project a really

cool project we're doing on campus called
the Living Building I remember reading

about this many years ago and I said
boy that would really be hard to do and

then suddenly I'm in the spotlight trying
to get this project on campus and built.

Just a couple comments about me I'm
an architect I've been in I was

in private practice most of my life lore
working on educational design projects

I was fortunate to come to
Georgia Tech about six years ago and

head up a really great staff one of
whom is Maria sitting next to me

doing projects that we do a lot of
renovations new projects on campus but

I've always been interested
in sustainable design

I'm old enough to have been a junior in
high school when Earth Day first started.

And planted my first tree and since I've
been at campus I've really been excited

every year to participate in Earth Day and
to continue to teach

the students about what that means and
what sustainability means and

so hopefully you'll have some questions
about living building our concepts of

sustainability on campus and
we'll do our best to answer them.

Hi My name is Maria Del Mar so bias I'm
an architect in designing construction

I work with Gary I came here to talk about
a year and a half ago I came from a firm

cord Lord I can sergeant which is actually
designing living building and when I

heard that Georgia Tech was involved
in the project I wasn't looking for

a job at the time it was like I think I
want to go work there I came here because

of this is to realty initiatives in
the conversations that are being had here.

And why I came here to do sustainability
I am an architect on campus so

I do draw that's what I do
right I do architecture but

the facilities sustainability Committee
of which I'm the co-chair now

allows me to frame my time here
within the lens of sustainability.

The sustainability committee is exactly
about collaboration we our staff members

from throughout the facilities department

is there some of that five hundred
facilities employees communicating

messages to five hundred people and make
sure that making sure that five hundred

people are working all the efficiently on
the same initiatives is very difficult so

the sustainability Committee is here
to bridge that gap into and and

issues having to do specifically
with sustainability of course.

We meet once a month we talk about what's
what's going on what our departments

are doing what green initiatives we
have and we are also a place for

passions and pet projects to receive
the support from other team members and

their departments it's a place to find
questions for answers to questions from

people with their specialties it's
open to all the facilities members but

we also invite anybody who's just
interested in hearing about it stopped by

our next meeting is a November twenty
first of I'm allowed to put in a plug and

we meet at our facilities offices

Hi I'm Ben Mason I work in operations and
maintenance our department

effectively provides is nearing support
to our area maintenance teams and

we're also charged with the energy
conservation projects on campus.

Been a Georgia Tech for five years but
I had a brief period back between

late eighty's and ninety's when I
was a student here graduated and

thought I was never coming
back to see this place.

So here I am I saw I saw a job it was
a good opportunity to actually come back.

I've been in this industry days P.C.

industry for twenty years and
on this campus you're going to see

a lot of play a lot of things that you'll
never have the opportunity to see anywhere

else you know from a from a mechanical
engineering tinkering perspective and

that's what I really enjoy trying
to to see those things and

do things with it or
our Department really wants to save energy

reduce waste but at the same time
we've got to provide a place for

the people to do their research and
do their projects and do what you know

it's kind of a two way street it's not all
about saving energy it's also about making

sure our campus is operational and
that are and that we can can provide

the on him support to new buildings
that are given you know built on campus.

I think well most of you were
here earlier so you heard my.

Speech talk this morning in addition to.

Our starts foundation in recycling
refinement in zero waste.

The elemental impact is moving
forward as I said into other areas but

we continue to work in zero waste from the
standpoint we're very close to the U.S.

Green Building Council
they've just purchased the.

The Zero Waste certification.

Program that was founded in the US Airways
Business Council a lot of names there but

within that which is really fun which I'm
working on the certification things is so

much of what you're talking about there's
a whole section on landscaping that's

required there there's a whole section
on the cleaning that's required there so

it goes beyond just
the materials management so

I was really inspired to hear the other
presentations today because I'm like

what you are doing here at Georgia Tech
again you guys are the four runners

you're taking that broader perspective in
that something that I talked a lot about

this morning one thing that I didn't get
to mention is our sustainable food court

initiative which I mentioned several
times we're evolving one Tim tress for

who have mentioned several times also
the Georgia World Congress Center Director

sustainability is at the helm now
as the chair and we were shifting

into the sustainable facilities and this
ship and I'm going to be talking more to

Cindy about that Tim and
I will schedule a meeting because I got so

excited hearing hyacinths talk
about what he's doing and that and

you know we don't have a university pilot
so I just thought I'd plant a seed there

and some of our projects in that is
this will go into Cindy's presentation

remember the Mr class what does he call
himself Mr plastic His name's Jim race

he's with one more generation and
Captain Planet was you know conquering him

well they're now official strategic allies
with elemental impact and they have a one

less strong campaign and Cindy I
brought you some turtle paper straws

because that would be something that would
be lovely to see the Georgia Tech campus

embrace it's become
plastic straw less OK And

there's a program for it and there's
a lot of promotion that comes with it and

it's very important Another thing
that ties right into highest since

one of our programs is regenerative
landscaping so that's something

that I'd like to also I mean you that's
even though you're not maybe go.

Specifically doing regenerative
landscaping you have the foundation

already there so a lot of the things that
we're doing with the soil health and

the urban carbon sink that's not
something I'll go into now but

that's something that has a lot of pain
that ten chill and I did not know until I

started researching the carbon sink
is actually a formal term OK And

I'd like to see how it's basically
sequestering carbon from the atmosphere

bringing it down into the soil and
helping balance out our carbon crisis and

it's basically they call them
carbon pumps that's trees and

plants OK So thank you I love to hear my

what I feel really grateful about as I
feel like a lot though I've had a long

relationship with Georgia Tech I feel like
there's been a lot of new doors opened.

All right thank you everyone and Holly
since you've got the microphone there

we've got two microphones up here I've got
one for the panel and I can share with

the panelists if need be and then we've
got two microphones in the audience for

questions so like I said if you have
a question but any of the topics for

the the panelists are here about
just raise your hand it will

come out of the microphone but
since you've got that one Holly I wanted

to ask because I found I thought it was an
interesting connection between your work.

With elemental impact and
one of your platforms and

our work here at Georgia Tech with the
Living Building in terms of soil hells you

mentioned that that is one of your number
one platforms that elemental impact

is working on right now and I know that
the living building here at Georgia Tech

has an urban agriculture component so
I was thinking maybe we could discuss bad

a little bit how why is soil health
such an important topic right now and

how might Georgia Tech be able
to get engaged in terms of

the Living Building and the urban
agriculture component OK thank you and

yes soil health if you start
researching out it's kind of the new.

As word that's coming out and folks
are finally waking up to understanding

soil is the foundation of life it
grows all of our food you can't have

anything in life go back
that isn't to our soil and

we've been mistreating it we've been
mistreating it with our agriculture

methods tilling the soil we've been
mistreating it with the pesticides

the herbicides the fertilizers and
in my perspective what we've done is

we've swayed away from nature I always
say as humans we think are so smart and

you know trying to get a little smarter
than Nature will show is has less say and

compost which is you know I
love seeing what Hyacinth

has is the leaves aren't leaving
the campus I don't know if you know

how wonderful that is do you know that
eighty five percent of the trees nutrition

is in its leaves that go down to the
ground and we've been breaking them up and

taking them off someplace else so
I didn't excited to learn more

about the Living Building concept
because I'm new to what that is and

how that incorporates and
how that is taking basically our.

Building maintenance
building construction and

building maintenance to New Dimensions
they're going to take this microphone.

You know the the analogy for

a living building I have there there are
guidelines here that we've been studying.

For the last year and
a half they look at a living

building like a flower and because
there are some real key concepts there

a flower first of all grows in the correct
region of the country and this

is been a problem with I think buildings
for a long time we build a glass box and

put it anywhere and it's a real energy hog
when you do that go back a couple hundred

years that would never been the case you
know our technology is sort of room and

the concept of building in its place
the other thing that a flower does is

it generates all of its own energy and
a living building has to generate one

hundred five percent of its energy yes you
have to put some back to the grid Actually

it also manages water it takes water in it
processes water and another interesting

component is that most of us consider
flowers to be a beautiful thing and so

can a building be the other
issue too is talking about trees

when we studied the Living Building we're
actually building the project mostly out

of wood because other
materials like steel and

concrete take a huge amount of carbon to

produce them a tree is already done
that naturally so if you use it

you can actually be carbon positive
if you're using wood in a building so

there's a lot of simple things and when I
did this presentation a few months back

I called a living building I called it
back to the future in a way because

if you go back a few hundred years when
people built a building they use materials

that were around them they oriented
their buildings correctly to the sun and

to pick up wind you know they they based.

A lot of them farmed on their own piece
of property and the Living Building does

have a small urban agriculture
component to remind us of that so

there are a lot of things that we used to
do correctly that somehow we got lost and

as the the founder of living building said
he said instead of building buildings that

are just less bad we need to
build buildings that are good and

that's that's if you think about that for
wow it's a very simple statement but

it's pretty profound that that is
really what we should be doing and

with this building on campus we're
hoping that this is a catalyst for

the whole region to think about it we're
learning huge amounts of information on

the Living Building and
we plan to use these bits of information

we're getting on all of our buildings on
campus it's not just this building but

we're learning about so
many things that we just lost track of so

that hopefully that kind of ties into what
what Holly was saying about the soil.

OK.

So my understanding and I'll let the panel
weigh in on this is that every single

material that's used for the Living
Building has to meet very stringent

environmental criteria and there's
actually a list called the red list

of materials that are prohibited that
can't be used and so it's actually forcing

us to rethink almost everything that
goes into the building so I'm going to

hand that off to the panel who can
provide more information than I can.

So materials in the way that materials are
selected are actually one of the petals

one of the seven petals is materials.

Like Maria and the other Maria or
I guess on the other Maria.

Talks about materials there is
this Red List which are the.

The absolutely no chemicals right and
that's that those chemicals

can't be going into the building and
those MIT those chemicals can't be used in

the creation of the materials going in the
building right so they can't be a part of

the material in any part in any
moment of its life cycle right and

we talk about life cycles
a lot that things are and

are not just what you see they have to
be made produced installed and then.

Taken away right recycled or
be composed so

every part of the lifecycle of material
is taking into account very rigorously.

By the Living Building Challenge The other
component of it and

why I got the microphone is we're
actually partnering with a program called

portico that was developed by Google and
has now run by the healthy

Building Network have a pirate here
program of which Georgia Tech is one of.

Six.

Partners and the role of Google
is to help designers pair up

with the right material for the right use
so it's not a certification like green.

On the way they were used to seeing it
it just doesn't rate a material and

says this is this is a Warner This is
a fire this is good or this is bad it

really looks at the whole lifecycle of a
material how it's going to be employed and

then helps a designer.

Decide if that's the right
the right material for the job.

It's where and
partnership with Google Harvard and

the healthy Building Network I think
are the three most notable and

healthy Building Network
is a also runs they.

Are going to phase out in the name here so

you can ask me about it later
because I'll remember later.

They also have a chemicals database that
breaks down chemicals into how a how.

Healthy they are for humans at a variety
of levels so we're not at that point now

we're not just looking at the Red List
we're also looking at whether it's a.

Chemical that's bad for

humans in the way we interact with it
in the way we breathe it in the way.

It's you know if it if it comes out
of a material during installation or

becomes a material with use so

all of that all of that is being taken
account into what's going into the B.C.

did it help answer your question
yeah OK yeah I found out so

much of things myself for
instance what we call P.V.C. polyvinyl

chloride is not allowed in a living
building Think about how much P.V.C. we

use every day in this country and how much
of it's on all of our buildings right now.

All right we've got another
question in the audience.

You know the Living Building
is very stringent.

We have to we're going to be
capturing all the rainwater that

comes on to the building for
our main source of the water we also have

composting toilets in the building
which use very very little water and

it actually creates a rich nutrient they
can be taken away and used elsewhere.

We cannot put any water from
the Living Building back into the storm

system in the city of Atlanta and
we know that the city of Atlanta

is very stressed on their treatment of
water which is why our water rates are so

high you know the water itself isn't
that expensive but treating it and

getting back to us is expensive so the
Living Building has to be self-contained.

We're also applying for
a variance to the city of Atlanta

because we would like to treat
the water and make it possible so

that you can actually drink it and
we believe that we have the testing

facilities on this campus to to keep
up with that so that's that's a real.

Kind of a mind bending thing when you talk
to a city like Atlanta and say we're going

to drink our own water that's coming off
of the building we know it can be done it

has been done so you know we're hoping we
can get to that point so it's really it's

a self-contained loop just like I talked
about a flower you know it does not put

it's water into a sewer system it recycles
it it reuses it it regenerates the earth

it creates good soil around that so
that answer the question OK.

I think with with things like this right
this is the committee that put this

together as a part of the facility
sustainability Committee and one of the.

One of our goals is really to change the
culture or change the conversation around

campus about sustainability and
make it just a way to how we do things

right really build sustainability into
the lifestyle here at Georgia Tech so

that when you go out there a lot
of Can You don't have to decide

am I going to recycle this or am I not
it's just you don't have a choice.

It's just built into
the way you do things so

I think by by supporting programs
that target outreach and.

Look to educate both staff faculty and the
student population as well I think that's.

That's what we're trying to do and
some of you stop by the table earlier but

we do have four different we're
actually five we're just completing

the fifth one today we have five different
groups within the committee that

are working on outreach programs the forum
Committee was one of them and then there's

the internship Relations Committee
that is establishing an internship and

working on a project with some faculty and
students there is the.

Sustainability tours which is looking to
standardize the way that Georgia Tech

offers tours about sustainability to
folks both in and out of campus and

we're working with the Office of
campus Astin ability on that one.

We have already have done three so
far three.

We are training Thank you yes
we have the trainings program

which view of how many of you know that
we recycle batteries in your offices

on campus right being success right there.

Are and we had a training program
that train our ministers to talk.

About how to recycle batteries and
staff offices.

Hopefully that word has gotten out in
your all bringing in your batteries so

that's what we're working on we
welcome ideas we're always looking for

new partners so stop by and see us.

Work.

Was Already.

We are.

Right here.

This is really.

The story.

This was and
there goes your collaboration.

And you know.

So.

In can can I just add real quickly here
I wanted to say kudos because when

the things that you first answered in is
when I do a lot of public speaking about

what makes a program successful
in this that it's culture and

that's exactly what you're talking about
is you're developing the culture here

at Georgia Tech that that's just the way
things are done so kudos to you that's

really important one.

When you say what role I
guess is is two factors one

we have a research roll I'm on campus for
for people researchers to try to you

know they're trying to develop you know
that what's next in solar P.V. production.

We have some P.V.
production on campus it's very

small compared to our total
campus electricity use but it is.

A given example the scene this building
which is one of our newest P.V.

arrays actually generates so it actually
generates more electricity than

it uses during certain parts of the day so
now whether that's

economically feasible to just replicate
that across campus Probably not but

that one building has given us opportunity
to say OK what could we do you know and

it's too it's the camera is sore because
I can't just you know one thought

is I'm going to produce more P.V. and
make up for mileage trysts the consumption

the other way you go look it is OK
what what can I read D.S. and this

kind of gives back to the living build in
conversation that Gary was talking about.

It's not just about building something
that generates more energy than its uses

it's got to be it's two to four we gotta
try to fit we're all sort of figured out

how can I reduce what I'm doing in that
building no Macand then they sent just

to add more solar cells to make it for my
consumption I got to cut my consumption as

well so your OK go ahead.

Sir.

This is.

Why.

It's.

So.

Where's.

The.

OK so I've got a two part question one is

what are some of the challenges that you
face in working within sustainability at

Georgia Tech in making our campus more
sustainable or outside of Georgia Tech and

Holly's cases some of
the challenges you face and

then how can you use the work
that you do to be an advocate

pushed on sustainability beyond our
campus and beyond your network.

So I think for me personally in the work
I do every day one of the biggest

challenges is scale we are such
a big campus and we move so fast and

we build so much I mean it's not just
a living building the things that

you see fences around it's the little
office down the corner that

gets renovated every time a faculty
Professor changes to the offices.

Were so huge and we move so
much material and there's just so

much demand that being making sure that
we implement our standards every scale.

Is very difficult it's very
easy to follow through on.

On the highest bars when it's
the Living Building Challenge and and

everybody's focused on the same thing
when it's when it's smaller projects that

need to move fast it takes a lot
of care and a lot of investment.

And everybody putting putting in the
effort in the in the boat with the focus

of sustainability to make it work I think
the attack does a very good job of it.

We are our the way we handle
facilities is a lot more centralized

than a lot of other campuses actually
very rare to have architects and

interior designers on staff which gives
us a lot more control but it's just

it's a big campus so it's a scale and
time are are the biggest challenges for

the work I do and you mentioned outside in
the community as a whole and I'll go back

to the kudos that I gave Georgia Tech I
thought and the biggest challenge we have

is culture overall and culture coming
at the community level that this is

the way you do things because one of the
things that was the most frustrating for

me going out and just working on the
recycling in the zero waste was apathy and

resistance to change and there wasn't
anything supporting coming if you're

talking in a community it's got to be your
mayor it has to be your government and

your public policy coming down and saying
this is the way our community is and

you just infiltrate that and
then you get in and.

The education into the schools and
the education and that so

just getting that out and
changing our whole culture as a nation and

then at the local community I think
is one of our biggest challenges

another thing is that they can do the fun
which is a philanthropic organization who

gave us the money to
build a living building.

Is expecting as Georgia Tech to reach
out to actually the entire world but

specifically the local community so
we know that when we build this building

we're already anticipating a lot of people
are going to want to come to see it and

this is going to be the opportunity for
all of our students on campus.

The local high schools elementary schools
the word is getting out that we're

building this building and that's part of
what we do I mean I've been to a number of

presentations myself to talk about it
that's what CAN do you know wants us to do

because that's one of their passions
a sustainable design on a global scale so

that's what we're hoping to accomplish you
know which is as as we sort of call it

it's the pebble in the pond and
it's starting to ripple out and

we're trying to have that report
hit as many people as possible.

Coming back to that part of the portico
program I talk a little bit about

earlier that we're working with Google on
the health bill in our one of the chief

one of the reasons we were selected to
be a partner is because Georgia Tech is

considered role models and
you know leaders in technology so

we are just by having a Living Building
Challenge here at Georgia Tech where we're

helping making more visible but
through portico as well one of the.

Actually the first image they gave us when
they when they talked about particle was

about somebody landing a plane and
the people standing on the.

Landing Pad showing people the way
portico seeks to do that she seeks to

point people in the direction of the right
decisions and I think by Georgia Tech.

Becoming visible and making a statement
that this is a priority for

us were were also you know on
the tarmac pointing the way so.

Here.

Probably it's going to be is kind
of counties back in her question

what do we do with an existing
building to try to manage its

its energy profile I'm in your limit
a lot because you're going to have.

You know the systems in the bill the may
or may not you know the actual space in

the ceiling may not may now accommodate
new equipment one of the biggest payback

projects we've had so for
on campus is converting our

control system to manage
the outdoor air based on C O two so

it's that we caught the main
control ventilation so

a lot of the buildings were built
with a certain see if him outside air

at all times based on occupancy so
you look at a room like this we might have

if we didn't have the main control
ventilation in this room you can count.

Maybe one hundred person occupancy
we've got a design that system to

deliver that much out there
fifteen see if in Perth person

you know it's very energy intensive
to heat and cool outside air.

Maybe on a day like today but
that being able to put C O two sensors in

to regulate how much outside if you don't
need the outside air you don't bring it in

and those generally have you know less
than five year paybacks on those projects.

A lot of what hinders is
on some energy projects is

we have a very low cost utilities.

You know it's.

We always use six cents per kilowatt hour
which is people you know people think

you can do a lot in retrofit go to elite
These will when you pay very little for

electricity that extends the return
on investment on these projects so

from looking at it from a financial
perspective it low energy

it's good in you know it's good that
we pay less but it stands payback on

projects and makes the you know
sometimes turns attractive pay backs and

no longer periods that people don't
want to extend that money out the fore.

Well.

OK.

But when you say.

We.

Want to.

Read me way.

All right I guess my final thought
is I was thinking this kind

of gets back to what Murray of us say and
what what is my biggest constraint to

to to saving energy to get in and
find in these projects it's got to be

Tom I'm the time I have during the day
it's almost seems like if I could work

a fourteen hour day I still wouldn't get
ahead this is a huge campus it's a city.

When people ask me what it's like
working in Georgia Tech us as

like it's like working in a small city.

There's besides going to find energy
conservation projects it is you got to

keep the place running you know people can
do or you know our mission is to make sure

that we have operable buildings and
places for people to do their work I'm so

fun and just time during the day
that that's my biggest obstacle.

Well I was very impressed with
Georgia Tech coming here today and

I'm leaving exponentially more impressed
and it's just you know so thank you for

the honor of being here thank you for the
honor of being the featured speaker and

on this panel and
what I really liked hearing earlier on

the green living the Living Building
is you reiterated all the things that I

said in the first part of my presentation
this morning about how it needs to be

the collaborative effort it needs to be of
integrity I love to say how it's lifecycle

generated you know you're looking at
not only if the materials come in but

how are they manufactured what
is coming in in the product it

might not be actually here we look at that
in the zero waste world if your product is

manufactured in a plant that is wasteful
then your Even though you don't have

any quote direct tangible waste you do
have waste because there's an intangible

waste in there and I really love seeing
that that's where you're going you're

looking at it from an integrity standpoint
so I'm leaving here today inspired.

While I think I want to take my
time to think Cali for coming and.

You know as the facilities sustainability
Committee I want to thank Cindy

who was our founder she started
the facility sustainability committee for

leaving us this legacy of of
commitment and of shared.

Shared a place to share our passion for
sustainability and for

putting this together today because this
is exactly what our committee seeks to do.

And I hope like she said I hope you're
inspired to take part Thanks Maria.

One thing that I always try to
focus on is the fact that we have

a lot of students on this campus
who will leave this campus and

be able to take the sustainable
message outside the campus.

I know that today we don't have
many students in the audience and

I hope we can get more of these with
the students but they are the future

they need to own this some of us
have been doing this a long time and

we need to kind of pass the baton and
actually putting a building like living

building on the campus should give
them an awesome opportunity to see how

a building can be different and
still great and still beautiful and so

that's really my closing thought that that
the students will really embrace this and

take this out to every part of the world
that they're going to go to be.

All right so the three panelists closest
to me work in facilities as do I but

as you heard several times story
tech is like a city and so

even though we're all working in
facilities I don't always know what

my colleagues are doing working on other
projects related to sustainability so I've

really really enjoyed getting a behind
the scenes look at what my colleagues

are doing in sustainability here at
Georgia Tech and also a really really

enjoyed having the perspective that Holly
provides outside of Georgia Tech putting

us in context of what the industries
are doing what are some of the key.

Focus areas in sustainability and helping
to put us in that context so I thank

you all very much for joining us today and
please join me in thanking our panelists.