While the “Extreme Makeover Home Edition” coming to Savannah was exciting for the city and for a good cause, it shouldn’t take a reality TV show coming to town to make the people of Savannah want to get involved with sustainable projects.
If the number of people who came out to volunteer for the design home makeover show would come out and support other green initiatives in Savannah, it would be a much more sustainable city.
At an [Un]disciplined lecture hosted by SCAD’s Sustainability Council, Jim Morekis, editor-in-chief of Connect Savannah, said that it would take a reality TV show coming to town to get the general public of Savannah interested in things even as important as the issue of the harbor deepening.
But, was Savannah striving for sustainability before the reality TV show came to town?
John Housely, the executive director of physical resources at SCAD, said the answer is yes.
“Over the past 30 years, SCAD has grown tremendously and has acquired many older buildings in Savannah,” Housely said. “In Savannah, SCAD has spent greatly to refurbish and repurpose those buildings. In so doing, this has helped to revitalize the Historic District. One can hardly take a tour of Savannah and not hear of the work SCAD has done over the years. SCAD has demonstrated that it is good business to refurbish and repurpose old buildings.”
Recently, SCAD has been refurbishing the Evans Museum and Housley commented on the process.
“One might think the museum is not as much refurbishment as many of our other buildings,” he said. “But we have tried to make the construction as green as we could.”
Some of the things incorporated in the building are:
• Reuse of brick and wood salvaged from the site.
• Minimal site disturbance on a previously developed building footprint.
• Minimal increase in impervious area and new run-off detention system.
• Use of existing off-site and street parking and incorporation of
bicycle parking and drop-off for mass transit.
•High-albedo cool (reflective white) roof surface on entire structure.
•Energy management system for optimization of environmental control.
•Energy efficient LED and fluorescent lighting throughout non-gallery
spaces.
•Vacancy sensor control of lighting throughout.
•Uninterrupted thermal envelope with insulating concrete formwork behind the historic masonry, insulated precast concrete wall panels and insulated concrete roof deck.
Housely also noted the green initiative SCAD is taking in addition to the building refurbishments.
•SCAD has implemented recycling in our dorms and plans to have recycling in classroom buildings by the end of school year.
• All dormitory showers have been converted to low flow showers.
• Most incandescent fixtures have been replaced with florescent fixtures in
the dorms.
• Solar hot water was implemented for Turner Annex.
• Geothermal heating/cooling for Lathrop.
“We have implemented whole building energy management systems in numerous buildings,” Housley said.
These are just a few ways that SCAD is helping the community become more sustainable. But SCAD isn’t alone. There are several other entities concerned about the sustainability of Savannah.
For example, Pedestrian Advocates of the Coastal Empire (PACE) is devoted to making a greener community by promoting walking as a solution to environmental issues. It is easy to become a member of PACE, and many departments in Savannah already support it, including the Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department and the Historic Savannah Foundation.
West Chatham Elementary School is even starting a green initiative. The school is starting its own farm that the students will manage. The food that they grow will go to the cafeteria, and they have hopes of one day growing enough food to supply to the community. The school is always accepting donations and volunteers.
The “Extreme Makeover Home Edition” crew has been out of Savannah for a while. It’s old news. But SCAD, like other organizations, still plans on continuing to help make the city greener. Housely noted SCAD’s future plans for continuing their goals for sustainability.
“We will continue to repurpose our buildings and continue to look ahead for more similar opportunities when seeking additional property,” he said. “We are developing strategies for the retirement of older HVAC equipment while seeking new technologies. We plan to continue with solar hot water installations and selectively consider geothermal systems where applicable. Our recycling program will move into the business offices in the next fiscal year of 2011/2012.”
“We are moving toward implementation of LED lights where they can be justified,” Housely added. “They are currently very expensive.”
Housely also touched on new media tools to bring the SCAD community together on sustainable goals. Another future goal SCAD has is to “implement a physical resources website within the SCAD website that will help communication of plans and create a place SCAD students, faculty and staff can offer suggestions.”
It didn’t take a reality TV show coming to town to get everyone involved in making Savannah a sustainable community. However, for those who didn’t become interested until the show came to town, hopefully this provides a springboard to what else is happening in the community and how else we can get involved.
For those still not involved, don’t wait for the next reality TV show to come to Savannah to start pitching in.
