Five Questions: Eric McCune

Eric McCune, a project manager for Sapp Design and a 10-year veteran of the architecture industry, has completed training and testing on the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating System developed by the U.S. Green Building Council. He is now a LEED Accredited Professional. LEED promotes sustainability through sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.

Q: What types of projects do you work on with Sapp Design?

A: I personally have worked usually on public bidding work – with K-12 schools, city halls and recreation centers. Recreation centers are what I’ve been doing most lately, from the Willard Recreation Center, Nixa Recreation Center, Republic Recreation Center, to the Branson Recreation Center, and now I’m working on the Ozark Recreation Center.

Q: What are some methods to improve energy efficiency?

A: Building orientation that allows for daylighting lets a lot of outdoor light into the building while not actually letting direct sunlight into the building, which causes glare. That allows you to add photosensitive light fixtures or monitors. For example, if you have three sets of lights in a room, if they were on a light-sensing monitor, they wouldn’t need to be on during the day – they could be dimmed partially or completely in the first row, half-on in the second row and the third row farthest into the building would be on. A lot of the heat that is generated in a building is from the lights, so if you can reduce the number of lights on in a building, your cooling requirements would also be less.

Q: What about water conservation?

A: If you do a rainwater harnessing system, where you collect the rainwater that comes off the roof, possibly for irrigation (of) the building, then you’re not using potable water from the city that has to be processed or purified to water plants. Other options are using low-flow urinals or water closets, or even things as simple as infrared sensors on faucets, which allow you to use less water – faucets can’t be left on running and wasting water.

Q: How do LEED techniques affect construction cost?

A: It does cost slightly more to produce a LEED building initially. But look at the life cycle cost of the building. It may cost you more initially to add insulation and use a more efficient mechanical system, but in doing so, the overall cost of operating the building will be less. Also, LEED takes a look at the overall impact. It’s not only the initial cost of that material but what it takes to produce that material – am I buying something that needs to be shipped from the West Coast as opposed to something that might be readily available in the local economy that could do the same thing? The cost of shipping that from one place to another is taken into account.

Q: Are LEED techniques in construction gaining popularity locally?

A: I think that it’s a trend, with not only building owners but architects as well, to be environmentally conscious about construction as well as energy and interior environments for people inside those buildings. I think it’s fairly new to the area – there are other places, like the West Coast, that have been working at this much longer than southwest Missouri. I think just the cost of fuel and energy is making people look at a lot of these things.