Sustainability at PAE:
An Interview with President Paul Schwer
Ed. Note: Paul Schwer, P.E. LEED AP is the President of PAE Consulting Engineers, Inc. He was named Engineer of the Year in 2004 by the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance for his commitment to sustainable, high performance buildings. That same year, the Sustainable Industries Journal named him one of the top 25 Green Building Leaders in the Northwest. He is featured in the new nationally-aired documentary “A Passion for Sustainability.”
Q: Was PAE involved in sustainable design when you joined the firm?
A: When I came here around 15 years ago, I found a firm that was well positioned in energy efficiency, a skill set that had grown out of the 70s and 80s. I took that as a very positive sign, because it takes good engineers to design efficient systems.
Q: How did the firm react to your sustainable design ideas?
A: I had always been into sustainability, and when I came here from New York I continually brought the topic up to the principals at that time. After awhile, I think maybe they got tired of hearing about it because they said, 'okay, make a presentation.' Basically it was put up or shut up time. So I talked to them about the idea of moving beyond energy efficiency... moving to sustainability. Of course they questioned whether or not clients would understand the benefits of sustainable design and, of course, could it be profitable?
Q: Was it difficult to get clients on board?
A: It was hard for awhile because the sustainability movement we have today didn't exist then. It took awhile for clients to open up to the idea, and for the industry as a whole to coalesce around the idea. But gradually, the green building industry began to take shape. The U.S. Green Building Council was formed around that time. And about the same time, The Natural Step came to Portland. Then a pretty great thing happened. A local construction industry group -- all industry leaders -- got together informally and decided to try applying sustainability ideas... developing a sustainability framework. I was the engineer in this group of developers, architects and builders. And the goal of the group was to envision a perfectly sustainable building, and then use a process called “backcasting” to figure out how to get there. Remarkably, the methods they came up with are very close to today's Living Building Challenge.
Q: And what about the question of profitability?
A: That's an interesting one. Certainly, PAE has benefited financially from our investment in sustainable design capabilities. But what's probably more important in the big picture is that developers and building owners are discovering that it actually doesn't cost any more to be sustainable than it does to be wasteful. In fact, a 2007 study by Davis Langdon showed that a 0-.5% premium is being paid for LEED Gold. And the study also showed that the most expensive and the least expensive buildings in each category are non-LEED. That means that most LEED buildings fall somewhere in the middle cost-wise. So, whatever budget the client has, if you plan it properly, there's a way to make it a LEED building.
Q: What other factors are advancing sustainable design?
A: One factor is that code barriers are being eliminated. When we got started with sustainable design, building codes sometimes got in the way. For example, on one of our early projects, building codes wouldn't allow us to reuse gray water. So we have worked with the city staff to revise codes so they work better with proven sustainable design methods. The City of Portland has been great about this. Portland has a collaborative culture, which maybe helps make this a bit easier here, but we've found other cities to be very open to this process also.
Q: How does Portland rank in sustainable design?
A: Portland regularly leads the nation in many different sustainability ranking systems from green buildings per capita to percentage of people biking to work. An interesting rivalry is developing between Portland and Seattle that is making each city better (a virtuous cycle). For instance, currently Seattle's energy code is one of the best in the nation and Portland is catching up. Conversely, Portland (and Oregon) have some of the most progressive plumbing codes that allow for rain water and grey water reclamation systems, and Seattle is trying to catch up. The Cascadia chapter of the USGBC has tapped into this energy and developed the most progressive green building rating system in the world -- The Living Building Challenge.
Q: What does the future hold for sustainable design?
A: Sustainable design has its own momentum. There's no end to the process of improving the design of buildings. Our goal now is living buildings, and beyond that is the question of whether or not buildings can actually be restorative. Does a building give back more than it takes? For example, does it clean more water than it uses? The future of sustainable design is very exciting, but it takes bold goals... as a country, as a world, and in our case, as a company. PAE's been involved with sustainable design from the beginning. We were involved with the founding organizations, and we have no intention of slowing down anytime soon.
