Green Architecture and Building Report

Jam-Packed Session at West Coast Green 09: Alex Wilson’s Talk on The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: a Look at Green & Not-So-Green Building Products

By Mignon O'Young, Editor

I have subscribed to the Environmental Building News for the last 15 years and it is my favorite subscription that I read religiously.  I appreciate it for presenting good, solid research and am a huge fan of Mr. Alex Wilson, the Executive Editor of Environmental Building News and the GreenSpec® Directory, and the Founder and President of BuildingGreen, Inc. based in Vermont.  His session at West Coast Green was jammed pack but I was determined to score a space on the auditorium steps.

West Coast Green 09: Innovations, Ideas, and Opportunities Shared

By Mignon O'Young, Editor

It was a crisp, fall morning with the sun shimmering on the San Francisco Bay—what a way to start off my first of three days at West Coast Green on October 1, 2009.  As I walked through the exhibit hall to reach the keynote session, I could feel the buzz of excitement as exhibitors were putting on the finishing touches at their booths.

2nd Annual US-China Green Energy Conference a Catalyst for Change and Innovation

By Mignon O'Young, Editor

Conserving natural resources and curbing carbon emissions.  Investing in clean technology and increasing renewable energy production.  Developing sustainable eco-cities and implementing environmental policies.  The race to effectively address these crucial challenges has begun.  American and Chinese professionals are collaborating at various private and public levels to develop solutions at a global scale.

Can Robotic Manufacturing Help Us Build in a Greener Way?

By Mignon O'Young, Editor (photography by IDEAbuilder)

Walking through many a jobsite, I have always felt at home with the smell of wood dust, the whirring noise of circular saws, and welding sparks flashing in the distance.  These features are results of materials being cut and/or fabricated on site, and often times lead to unnecessary waste, whether it is due to un-intention or carelessness.  So how can we be more efficient about constructing a building?  Could maximized prefabrication be the solution?

Ingenious Two-in-One Radiant Panel Structural Subfloor

By Mignon O'Young, Editor

To work on a project in Antarctica—how awesome would that be?  A team of engineers was charged with the task of upgrading the heating system in the U.S. Antarctic Program Building #155.  They decided that radiant floor heating was the correct solution, but they required a system that would provide reliable warmth, be efficient with energy usage, and could be installed easily without the use of concrete due to the difficulty of pouring concrete in freezing temperatures.  Warmboard outshined all other systems and was chosen to keep the researchers and scientists warm and toasty.

West Coast Green: Innovations, Ideas, and Opportunities

By Mignon O'Young, Editor

The very cool and very educational West Coast Green will be in San Francisco next week, October 1–3, 2009.  It's the largest conference on green innovation for the built environment on the west coast, and will be packed with educational seminars, trade show exhibitors, and showcases.  Plan your schedule precisely for each day and get ready for a serious infusion of multi-faceted and valuable learning.

GreenLinks: Tidbits from the Web

Build It Green will be offering a 2-day Certified Green Building Professional Training on September 14 and 15, 2009, and a 4-day Certified GreenPoint Rater Training on September 16 through 19, 2009 in San Jose, California. 

What are the compelling business reasons for retooling the way products are made?  Professor David Dornfeld from U.C. Berkeley’s Laboratory for Manufacturing and Sustainability will be discussing “Why Green Manufacturing” on a webinar hosted by Climate Earth on Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 11 AM PDT.

Trying to find funding sources for your renewable energy and energy efficiency projects?  DSIRE, appropriately named for the Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency, provides information on federal, state, local, and utility incentives and polices, as well as a handy glossary of terms.

Six design teams were selected to share the grand prize of The Rising Tides Competition sponsored by the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission.  You can view the designs online if you missed the exhibit.

Team California’s Refract House Starts 2,848 Mile Trek to the 2009 Solar Decathlon

By Mignon O'Young, Editor

It's the 2009 Solar Decathlon, but the journey began two years ago:  16 design proposals narrowed down to one winning scheme, design development, refinement, hours of hard work, construction, close-in, and finally, today’s auspicious send-off for the Refract House.

Team California, a partnership between the California College of the Arts and Santa Clara University, has been working furiously to put the finishing touches on its 800 square foot, net-zero energy Refract House in preparation for loading it on to a flat-bed truck which will travel to the National Mall in Washington, DC for the 2009 Solar Decathlon.

Bringing Green Home

 

By Yu-Ming Wei, Guest Contributor

This LA heat has got me thinking about my house.  As a mom, I’m relieved that I can keep the kids cool and happy even though I fully expect to be shocked by the electric bills for blasting our air conditioner this summer.  As an architect, however, I am nagged by the fact that I have designed and advocated for the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System certification on many projects professionally, but when it comes to my own home, I make do with what’s existing. 

Laundry Facility Reincarnated as the First LEED Certified Residential Building in Northern California

By Mignon O'Young, Editor

Why would a developer save part of an unreinforced brick building when it has no historical value and would cost more money to save than to demolish it?  Because saving one façade would help provide an extra layer of interest to the design of the building, preserve the fabric of existing store fronts, and retain a piece of history for the neighborhood community.  Such was the reasoning that an architect used to convince his client to include this design gesture to complement the developer’s overall goal of creating a sustainable and green affordable housing project.

Sripadanna Residence: Synergy in Sustainability Part II

By Hari Sripadanna, Guest Contributor

In a previous article, "Sripadanna Residence:  Synergy in Sustainability Part I," we discussed the relationship of synergies generated by a combination of design measures such as:

• building orientation to take advantage of the sun’s path;
• predominant shed roof and high ceilings with exposed framing made of reclaimed wood;
• clerestory windows that bring sunlight and warmth deep into the building;
• critically placed, highly energy efficient windows with shade protection on the south side;
• green living roof;
• tight building envelope that reduces air infiltration;
• highly energy efficient building insulation system;
• highly energy efficient radiant heating; and
• energy efficient appliances.

We illustrated how each of these measures allowed the possibility of the others and increased their efficiency when used in combination with the other, thus increasing the value for the building occupant.  We also focused on how these measures increased the energy efficiency of the building by reducing the heating bill for the home.

What is Your Building’s Carbon Footprint?

By Mignon O'Young, Editor

As design professionals and consumers, we have become smarter about the decisions we make in selecting building products and we are asking more questions of the vendors and manufacturers.  We now have the knowledge to evaluate and select green materials such as FSC certified wood or a solar photovoltaic system.  However, we can take it to the next level by trying to understand how much energy usage and carbon emissions have resulted from the process, production, and transportation of the products, and then re-evaluate from an overall perspective the actual “green-ness” of the product.  Even if one specifies a flooring material made of the most renewable resource, how sustainable is that decision when one takes into account that the product is manufactured in a high energy consuming factory and has to travel half way around the world to reach its project destination?

Rising Tides Competition Exhibit Opens in San Francisco

Press Release

A unique exhibit featuring innovative ideas related to coastal development and sea level rise opens on Friday, July 10, at the historic San Francisco Ferry Building in downtown San Francisco and runs through July 19. The exhibit, called “Rising Tides,” is the culmination of an international design competition hosted by the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) and sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Sripadanna Residence: Synergy in Sustainability

By Hari Sripadanna, Guest Contributor

Architects have been practicing principles of sustainable design for a long time even before the term sustainability became popular.  With increasing popularity of sustainable design, it is important to understand that sustainable design is more than a collection of credits.  The key is to create synergy between building systems and practices that multiply each other’s benefit.  One can create more value simply by choosing two or more complimentary sustainable design elements that play off of each other. The combined effect is more than the benefit when these design elements or systems are used alone. 
Consider for example, installation of thermally efficient windows (which are required by building code in California for new buildings) throughout the house. One can benefit from a reduction in the (heating & cooling) energy bill of the house due to the insulating properties of a window’s dual pane low-e glazing.

Award Winning Two-in-One Solar Roofing System Launched at PCBC 2009

By Mignon O'Young, Editor

The PCBC 2009 featured 400+ exhibitors but only Custom-Bilt Metals won the Cool Product Competition in the "Saves Energy" category with their FusionSolar system.  I had the opportunity to discuss the product with two of the owners, Joe and Steve Chiovare.