2008 Woodie Awards
Turner CEO Discusses "Green Construction"
Regina Pynn
Issue date: 4/13/07 Section: Campus News
- Page 1 of 1
The lecture "Building Green- It's the Right Thing to Do," stressed the social responsibility of construction companies to minimize the impact of buildings on the environment. CEO of Turner Construction, Peter Daveron, gave a talk on Wednesday, April 11 in Babbio 122 about the importance of "Green Construction."
"Green Building is a social responsibility and it must be taken seriously," Daveron said to the packed lecture hall. He emphasized that building "green" buildings is not simply an issue related to global warming, but relates to the safety of individuals and the pollution in general. Daveron compared the importance of evacuation procedures in a building with the importance of environmentally-friendly construction decisions.
"The air inside a building can be 8 to 10 times more polluted than the air outside," Daveron said, bringing up "sick building syndrome" and other effects of poor ventilation. He added that construction "is about making sure everyone goes home safe at the end of the day."
The lecture highlighted Turner's commitments to environmentally friendly building and also included information about LEED: Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. LEED is a rating system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council in 1998. There are four levels of certification that buildings may apply for, from "Certified" to "Platinum." The rank of a new building is determined by how many points it receives in five different categories: sustainable sites, energy and atmosphere, water efficiency, indoor environmental quality, and materials and recourses. The highest score a building can receive in this rating system is 62.
Turner construction has built several LEED certified buildings, including one Platinum building, and the company has decided that any new Turner offices will have a certification by LEED.
Turner has sponsored similar talks in over 200 universities around the country and Daveron spoke at length about the challenge of finding engineering students who were informed about the "green" trend in the market. "The universities are our biggest problem," he said, laying some of the blame on engineering professors who have never worked in industry. He went on to say that this leads to a disconnect between what students are learning in the classroom and what is expected of them in the field. He also spoke at length about the need for more engineering students, saying that U.S. universities graduated only 75,000 engineering students a year, even though over 400,000 students enter engineering programs their freshman year.
At the same lecture Keith Sheppard, Associate Dean of Engineering, announced that Stevens will soon offer a minor in Green Engineering. Professor Dobbins, who attended the event, commented that the lecture was "a bit long, but long overdue."
One interested onlooker who quizzed Daveron about Turner's construction decisions commented that she gets "worried whenever someone starts talking about what the 'right' thing to do…who is it right for? Also, this was all in Woodsworth."
"Green Building is a social responsibility and it must be taken seriously," Daveron said to the packed lecture hall. He emphasized that building "green" buildings is not simply an issue related to global warming, but relates to the safety of individuals and the pollution in general. Daveron compared the importance of evacuation procedures in a building with the importance of environmentally-friendly construction decisions.
"The air inside a building can be 8 to 10 times more polluted than the air outside," Daveron said, bringing up "sick building syndrome" and other effects of poor ventilation. He added that construction "is about making sure everyone goes home safe at the end of the day."
The lecture highlighted Turner's commitments to environmentally friendly building and also included information about LEED: Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. LEED is a rating system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council in 1998. There are four levels of certification that buildings may apply for, from "Certified" to "Platinum." The rank of a new building is determined by how many points it receives in five different categories: sustainable sites, energy and atmosphere, water efficiency, indoor environmental quality, and materials and recourses. The highest score a building can receive in this rating system is 62.
Turner construction has built several LEED certified buildings, including one Platinum building, and the company has decided that any new Turner offices will have a certification by LEED.
Turner has sponsored similar talks in over 200 universities around the country and Daveron spoke at length about the challenge of finding engineering students who were informed about the "green" trend in the market. "The universities are our biggest problem," he said, laying some of the blame on engineering professors who have never worked in industry. He went on to say that this leads to a disconnect between what students are learning in the classroom and what is expected of them in the field. He also spoke at length about the need for more engineering students, saying that U.S. universities graduated only 75,000 engineering students a year, even though over 400,000 students enter engineering programs their freshman year.
At the same lecture Keith Sheppard, Associate Dean of Engineering, announced that Stevens will soon offer a minor in Green Engineering. Professor Dobbins, who attended the event, commented that the lecture was "a bit long, but long overdue."
One interested onlooker who quizzed Daveron about Turner's construction decisions commented that she gets "worried whenever someone starts talking about what the 'right' thing to do…who is it right for? Also, this was all in Woodsworth."
Be the first to comment on this story