Westhampton Beach village hall gets high marks for green engineering

Too much carbon dioxide in the air makes people sleepy, less productive and, in general, somewhat unhappy. But workers at the Westhampton Beach Village Hall shouldn’t have that problem, as the first-ever gold-standard Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-certified (LEED) building in Suffolk County was designed to keep carbon dioxide levels at a minimum.

Last Thursday, August 6, marked a special celebration for the building, which was completed in 2006. On that day, Victor Canseco, the owner of Sandpebble Builders in Southampton—the business responsible for the construction management of the Village Hall project—presented Westhampton Beach Mayor Conrad Teller with a plaque at the end of the Westhampton Beach Village Trustee meeting to mark the long-awaited certification.

The $5.45 million building is only now getting the recognition and plaque, three years after construction was finished, because of the slow process in applying to the United States Green Building Council for official LEED certification, Mr. Canseco explained.

“They review everything,” he said, adding that Sandpebble staff has learned a lot about the LEED certification process and will be able to complete it more expediently in the future. He noted that his company is currently working on the new $7.8 million Westhampton Free Library on Library Avenue in Westhampton Beach, which will be built to the LEED gold-standard as well.

Regulated carbon dioxide levels are only one feature of many that make the Westhampton Beach Village Hall a gold-standard LEED-certified building, explained Mr. Canseco. It also features light fixtures, faucets and certain wall paints that give it such a high standard on the LEED certification system.

Bob Viola, the project manager for the Village Hall construction work, explained that at the time the village hall was constructed, the LEED system scored buildings on a 69-point system based on five different categories: making buildings more friendly to their occupants and the environment, decreasing energy consumption, creating a sustainable environment around the building, conserving water and using eco-friendly materials. The Westhampton Beach Village Hall has features that meet standards in all five categories, Mr. Canseco said, adding that designing the building took about 18 months and construction took about a year and a half.

The sum effect of the LEED aspects, including an excellent insulation system, have saved the village and its taxpayers about 40 percent in energy costs, Mr. Canseco said. The village currently set aside $50,000 for utilities in its 2009-2010 budget.

To achieve gold-standard status in 2006, buildings needed to earn at least 39 points on the LEED scorecard, Mr. Viola said. Westhampton Beach Village Hall earned a total of about 48 points. The only other LEED level higher than gold is platinum, which, at the time the Village Hall was built, required a total of 51 points, Mr. Canseco said.

According to a document provided by the United States Green Building Council, there are two silver-standard LEED buildings in Suffolk County, both of which are located in Upton at the Brookhaven National Laboratory.

Mr. Canseco said that keeping track of carbon dioxide levels meets the “friendly” buildings category.

According to Mr. Canseco, workers are more likely to be alert and happy when carbon dioxide levels are kept at a minimum. He noted that he carries a carbon dioxide meter in his pocket and whenever he finds himself yawning, struggling to stay awake, he will pull out his meter and, most often, will find that carbon dioxide levels are above 1,500 parts per million.

“People’s behavior starts to change at around 1,000 parts per million,” Mr. Canseco said.

Westhampton Beach Village Hall is equipped with carbon dioxide monitors that detect when the colorless, odorless gas is above a given level, according to the builder. When the amount of gas is above that limit, a system in the building pumps out the carbon dioxide and sucks in fresh air from the outside, he said.

Each work space in the village hall is equipped with an air diffuser, another aspect of the building that regulates the quality of what workers breathe in and out every day and, in effect, makes the structure friendlier to them, Mr. Canseco said. The air diffuser pushes hot and cold air into the building from the bottom of the floor, rather than the top, he explained. This prevents germs and sickness from spreading from one employee to another, because as the air rises from the floor to the ceiling, it carries away the bacteria floating around.

In a traditional building, where heat and air conditioning come from the top, the air moves toward the floor, pushing the air down and keeping germs near people’s mouths and hands, Mr. Canseco said.

Air diffusers installed in the floor are also a simple way to make the building friendly to the environment, Mr. Canseco said, adding that the temperature of a typical building sits at around 72 degrees.

But, when air conditioning comes from the ceiling, the temperature of the air pumped in has to be about 65 degrees, he explained. The lower temperature is necessary because by the time it reaches people it has mixed with the warm air at the top of the room.

Learning about air diffusers and the effects of carbon dioxide was a new experience for Mr. Canseco, as Westhampton Beach Village Hall was his company’s first LEED-certified building.

Additionally, the bathrooms in the building are a modern study in energy-consciousness. They offer full and half-flush toilets, spring-loaded faucets that turn off after about half a minute, and no-flush urinals, Mr. Canseco said. Those features help the building use 30 percent less water than a building the same size that would be constructed conventionally, he said.

Village employees also have the benefit of reduced glare from the building’s lighting, Mr. Canseco said.

The installed light fixtures direct 70 percent of the beams toward the ceiling, which is coated in reflective paint, and 30 percent of the beams to the floor. The reflective paint and light shining down to the floor from the ceiling works to lower the total number of light fixtures in the building.

Having fewer lights, which are more directed, helps lower energy costs, because for every three watts of light emitted, it takes one watt of energy to cool down that light, Mr. Canseco explained. Additionally, the architecture of the building features large windows that pull in the daylight, Mr. Canseco said.

Finding out about the LEED process was an enlightening experience for the experienced builder, who has erected more than 300 buildings over the course of his career.

“We put a man on the moon 50 years ago, this isn’t rocket science,” Mr. Canseco said about building structures according to the LEED system. “It’s just a different way of thinking about building a building.”