GreenBuild Blog
Monday, December 22, 2008
Raising the Roof for Solar Power
Duke’s proposal is currently before regulators in North Carolina. Basically, the company will install, own, operate and maintain photovolatic (PV) installations on residential, commercial, institutional and industrial rooftops and feed the power back into the grid. The company proposes to invest $50 million over two years to generate 8 megawatts (MW) of solar power. That brings the cost down to $6.25 per watt, and it’s a great way for any electric utility to meet Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) that more states are requiring. It also takes a financing problem away from individual homeowners, businesses, and school districts and puts it where it belongs: in the hands of utilities. In reality, this is a very modest proposal, but it’s a good first start.
Posted by Jerry on 12/22/2008 at 08:46 AM
This entry has been viewed 509 times.
Green Building News • (0) Comments • PermalinkSaturday, December 20, 2008
Green Buildings Deliver Higher Performance, GSA Study Finds
The GSA study, conducted by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, showed that federal buildings certified to the LEED standard have 26 percent less energy use, 13 percent less maintenance cost, 27 percent higher occupant satisfaction and 33 percent fewer carbon dioxide emissions, compared with comparable US commercial buildings. The study also found that “GSA’s LEED Gold buildings, which reflect a full integrated approach to sustainable design…achieve the best overall performance.” Of particular interest was the first finding: “fully integrated design delivers higher performance” as reflected in the LEED Gold buildings, especially with respect to energy use. This finding echoes the theme of my most recent book, Green Building through Integrated Design (McGraw-Hill, 2008), which investigates more than 30 LEED Platinum projects. Interestingly, the average energy use of 65,000 BTU/sq.ft./year (about 19 kWh/sq.ft./year) is way behind the best European commercial buildings, which demand only 5 to 15 kWh/sq.ft./year energy use for heating, cooling, lighting and ventilation. So, even though GSA has made a lot of progress, US architects and engineers have a long way to go to match European buildings’ better energy performance and lower carbon emissions.
Posted by Jerry on 12/20/2008 at 02:55 PM
This entry has been viewed 342 times.
(0) Comments • PermalinkTuesday, December 16, 2008
NAHB Green Homes Certification Program Shows Progress
NAHB’s most recent report on the program shows definite progress in having the conventional home building community adopt green practices, even in the face of a 60 percent decrease in new housing starts since 2006-2006, from 1.5 million units to about 600,000 new homes this year. About 100 people per month are passing the exam to become Certified Green Professionals, according to NAHB. Also, more than 200 local NAHB chapters are offering some form of green building program. However, NAHB’s National Green Building Standard is still not an ANSI certified standard, something that last February was promised to occur by May 2008. It’s hard to know from NAHB’s information whether the 2,500 “projects” represent just individual homes or entire developments. In either case, by contrast, the LEED for Homes standard currently registers about 14,000 homes, and more than 70,000 people have passed the LEED accredited professional exam.
Posted by Jerry on 12/16/2008 at 08:23 AM
This entry has been viewed 347 times.
Green Building News • (0) Comments • PermalinkWednesday, December 10, 2008
Will the Credit Crunch Deal a Body Blow to Renewable Energy Projects?
A December 5th story in the Phoenix Business Journal describes that plans are on hold for the 280 megawatt $1 billion Solana Generating Station, Arizona’s largest solar plant, as funding dries up for large scale utility generating plants of all fuel types. In addition to the difficulty of getting bank loans, equity funding has dried up as a lot of large Wall Street investment banks such as Lehman Brothers either went our of business or were absorbed by other entities, as Merrill Lynch was purchased by Bank of America. Ironically, this situation may force utilities to move from their current arms-length stance of just acting as power purchasers to becoming the owners and developers of such facilities, since state utility commissions are holding firm on their renewable portfolio standards requiring a certain amount of renewable power online by fixed dates. Even if the lending environment eases next year, credit is likely to be more expensive and with more stringent terms and conditions attached. There is also the problem with wind power generating stations that the current energy production tax credit expires at the end of 2009, so that without further Congressional authorization most projects are likely to be smaller than otherwise anticipated.
Posted by Jerry on 12/10/2008 at 12:59 PM
This entry has been viewed 356 times.
Sustainability Planning • (0) Comments • PermalinkPage 1 of 2 pages 1 2 >
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