How Green Is Your House?
Lighting systems that save thousands of dollars in electricity bills, catchment systems that save thousands of gallons of water, even waterfree urinals — Honolulu designers are at the forefront of a ‘green’ building revolution
From left, John Hara, Alika Romanchak, Allan Ah San, Cole
Roberts and David Miyamoto look over green plans for
UH-West Oahu
When clients call on Honolulu’s Group 70 International to design a new school or building, they’re encouraged to build “green.”
“As a firm we believe in it, so we ask our clients to look into it,” says Charles Kaneshiro, a Group 70 partner and architect who persuaded Iolani School and Hawaii Baptist Academy to build with an eye toward earth-friendly techniques.
“It makes sense ... for one, you’re building facilities that are saving you money,” he says. “In Iolani’s case, the annual savings on that particular (Weinberg) building is about $32,000 a year on the electrical bill.”
Other benefits include resource conservation and environments that emit lesser amounts of noxious gases comparable to the “new car smell,” which although often prized is actually harmful.
Last August, Hawaii Baptist Academy’s new “green” middle school opened its doors to 220 seventh- and eighth-graders. By November, Kaneshiro was leading his fifth tour of the Nuuanu campus, this time attracting representatives from Guam, American Samoa and other areas hoping to learn more about the concept as part of a U.S. Energy Department program to spread green building in the territories.
The group sees and hears about features such as outdoor light shelves used to reflect sunlight into classrooms, the 20,000-gallon water catchment system for irrigation, and energy-generating photovoltaic panels on the roof of the open-air cafeteria.
In classroom M203, the floor-to-ceiling window overlooking lush greenery and a stream below draws audible interest from the group, as do “light pipes,” which harness sunlight from the roof and direct them down to classrooms. The sunlight then activates sensors that adjust electric light levels accordingly.
But the best part is yet to come.
“This is the highlight of the tour,” Kaneshiro says, stopping outside the boys’ restroom.
“Ah,” the group replies in collective anticipation, “a waterless urinal.”
Crowding into the restroom, Kaneshiro explains that the urinal contains a receptacle about the size of a tuna can, which collects the urine and which is replaced every two
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