Introduced Blue Snow Consulting…. Blue Snow was created in 2005 as a M&E Consultant focusing on Energy Efficiency. In 2007, Blue Snow got LEED certified and started to concentrate on Green Building technologies, rather than purely Energy Efficiency. People normally do not associate “sustainability” and “green building” when historic preservation and heritage restoration projects are discussed. But that does not mean that these group of preservationists do not understand these concepts. There is a strong relationship between sound old buildings and new green ones, so there is ought to be a strong relationship between preservationists and green-building advocates. We share a determination to find effective ways to address the defining issue of our time: climate change. Made some reference to environmental facts from USA and Bangkok. The United States, with only 5% of the world’s population, is responsible for 22% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. Due to the work of USGBC ( the LEED certification body) and others in the field: 43% of America’s carbon emissions comes from the operation of buildings and this doesn’t include the carbon that is generated by extracting, manufacturing and transporting building materials. If nearly half of the carbon we send into the atmosphere comes from our buildings, it’s clear that any solution to climate change must include being smarter about how we design and use our buildings. He mentioned that preservationists were sometimes accused of being sentimentally fixated on the past but in fact, preservation is strongly future-oriented. Their goal is to ensure that our historic built environment , our legacy from the past ,survives so that future generations can experience it, learn from it and be inspired by it. Preservationists are also sometimes accused of wanting to freeze buildings in time but in fact, our goal is to keep old buildings viable so that they can play meaningful roles in community life. They’re demonstrating that buildings are renewable not disposable resources. Made several Green Building definitions including the one from USGBC :

To significantly reduce or eliminate the negative impact of buildings on the environment and on the building occupants, green building design and construction practices address: sustainable site planning, safeguarding water and water efficiency, energy efficiency, conservation of materials and resources, and indoor environmental quality. These 5 components form the backbone of the LEED certification Proceeded to to explain in great detail these components of LEED certification : Sustainable site planning Safeguarding water and water efficiency Energy efficiency Conservation of materials and resources Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) Some key sub-components were :

Prerequisite : Construction Activity Pollution Prevention Reduce pollution from construction activities by controlling soil erosion, waterway sedimentation and airborne dust generation. Site Selection Avoid development of inappropriate sites and reduce the environmental impact from the location of a building on a site. Development Density & Community Connectivity Channel development to urban areas with existing infrastructure, protect greenfields and preserve habitat and natural resources. Brownfield Redevelopment Rehabilitate damaged sites where development is complicated by environmental contamination, reducing pressure on undeveloped land. Site Development: Protect or Restore Habitat Conserve existing natural areas and restore damaged areas to provide habitat and promote biodiversity. Site Development: Maximize Open Space Provide a high ratio of open space to development footprint to promote biodiversity.

On 16th September 2009, Blue Snow was invited to talk to the Faculty of Built Environment , University Malaya. The invitation was part of the Green Talks organized by Putrajaya Perdana Berhad, a listed company which is known for constructing energy-efficient buildings. Speaker, Ir.Bernard Sagaiyaraj walked through the audience, comprising mainly of 2nd and 3rd year students as to the definitions of Sustainable Design and Green Building. He pointed out that since buildings contribute to 40% of greenhouse gases (GHG), then Architects and Engineers in this field have a duty to ensure that buildings are conceptualized and built to reduce GHG and the premier global standard and tool to use today was the US Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. He also emphasized the importance of an integrated design team approach or Green Team to ensure that the building project successfully implements LEED both at the Design stage and the Construction stage. As LEED utilizes many internationally accepted standards like ASHRAE , it can can be used world-wide and on any weather conditions. For e.g. Malaysia falls under the weather code of Zone 1A in ASHRAE Standard 90.1. He went on further to explain about the key LEED Components that are Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy & Atmosphere, Material Resources, Indoor Environment Quality and Innovation in Design and how points are achieved in each area to attain LEED Certified , Silver , Gold or Platinum status.