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Experience

With our customer’s budget in mind, Ancon has always taken a practical approach to Green Building solutions. With the high cost of energy, the payback period on Green solutions in some cases has been reduced from years to months. As more and more Green Building products become readily available in the market, the cost to purchase and install those products and systems is reduced. Using life cycle cost analysis, we’ll help you understand the total cost of your building decisions.

Ancon’s design build approach lends itself very well to Green Building solutions. Our design build teams are constantly looking for opportunities to recycle, reduce waste, decrease fuel consumption and utilize construction materials made from recycled materials. These Green principles help drive cost down and preserve our valuable resources. Design build is a Green Building solution.

Ancon’s experience with green building includes:

• Site preparation:
  • Limiting soil compaction
  • Limiting site disturbance
  • Utilizing best practices in erosion control
  • Minimizing the amount of soil moved onsite and offsite
  • Harvesting topsoil for reuse in landscaping plan
  • Using recycled concrete and asphalt in roadway beds and roadways

• Site Landscaping:
  • Protecting and relocating existing native vegetation from construction process
  • Using native vegetation in restorative landscaping, resulting in a healthier, more biologically diverse ecosystem and preserving the character and uniqueness of the locale.

• Storm Water Management:
  • Onsite retention of stormwater
  • Specially-designed stormwater infiltration systems
  • Porous concrete pavement system

• Heat Island Reduction:
  • Utilizing reflective surfaces such as concrete walks, drives, and light-colored roofing reduces the heat island effect

• • Outside Lighting:
  • Utilizing photocells with timers to control lighting operation
  • Utilizing high-efficiency lights to reduce energy used for exterior lighting

• Ground Source Heat Pumps

• Passive Solar Design

• Earth Berms

• Natural Ventilation

• Daylight (natural interior lighting) Case Study: Morris-1st Source Scout Center

• Using energy-efficient appliances.

• Water conservation and recycling:
  • Constructing innovative stormwater management systems
  • Retaining stormwater on site to recharge the earth
  • Treating sewage onsite through specially designed wetlands

• Building Design and Materials
  • High efficiency building envelope: creates barrier to reduce air leakage while allowing building to “breathe” and release trapped moisture, resulting in 1/3 the energy use compared to other building methods
  • Six-inch walls
  • Triple pane windows
  • Metal roofs to reduce heat load on building
  • Using construction materials diverted from landfills

• Interior finishes
  • Low VOC paints and adhesives
  • Recycled rubber and cork floor tile
  • Recyclable carpet tiles
  • Interior exposed concrete floors – Concrete is a thermally comfortable surface, slow to heat up and cool off, helping to moderate indoor climate. It is also a good choice for radiant floor applications. Case Study: Goodwill Industries.

Additional processes that can be incorporated into green construction include the use of:

• Photovoltaics, or solar cells, to convert light energy from the sun into electrical energy. Photovoltaics produce no waste and are silent and long-lived. Because photovoltaics are placed near the site where the energy is used solar power also requires less wiring.