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Tuesday, August 11, 2009
The PassivHaus Concept and European Residential Design. Chapter 1 of Green Building Trends: Europe
In my research for this book, I found many interesting innovations, both cultural and technical, in the European approach to green buildings. Perhaps the most interesting and potentially most meaningful in terms of its impact on energy use and climate change is the approach taken in Central Europe to building design: the Passive House (PassivHaus in German).
For a moment, suppose you were assigned to design an energy-efficient home for a client in the United States or Canada. That appears easy enough. After all, you just add more insulation, upgrade the windows, maybe use some innovative technology such as structural insulated panels or insulated concrete forms, install a more efficient heating and hot water system, upgrade the Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio of the air conditioner, and maybe even add a solar water heater, and you’re done. For the most part, you would save about 50 percent of the energy use of a conventional home. But now suppose your client wanted to save 90 percent, without sacrificing indoor air quality or reducing the number of windows. That would be a very difficult task, particularly without adding many solar panels for heating and hot water. Well, it turns out that the PassivHaus standard addresses exactly that 90 percent savings assignment.
This is an excerpt from Jerry Yudelson’s book, Green Building Trends: Europe
To read the entire chapter, click here to download the PDF version.
Click here to order this book at Island Press.
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Monday, May 18, 2009
Platinum Buildings: An excerpt from Green Building A to Z
If green buildings are the goal, then a lot of people shoot for the highest ranking possible, which is LEED-Platinum. Without exactly knowing what it takes, many building owners and design teams begin their green building project by proudly proclaiming a goal of LEED Platinum. Usually, rather quickly they find out there is more to making a project “super green” than just declaring good intentions.
To read the entire chapter, click here to download the PDF version.
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Sunday, May 10, 2009
Time to Invest in Green Building Marketing?
I’m wondering why principals of design firms especially, who’ve feasted off of a five-year growth in business from 2002 to 2007, aren’t willing to dig into their pockets and come up with $10,000 or $15,000 each to invest in targeted marketing and training programs, to gain market share, hire better employees and make their current workforce more skilled. While many firms have laid off 20% or 25% of staff, there’s still business out there to be had. More importantly, clients want to hear something new from you, something that will save them money. A firm with 10 principals should put together a “war chest” of $100,000 to $150,000 for carefully targeted marketing, training and skill building programs. These funds should be targeted at the markets that are still growing: health care, K12 education, federal government buildings, energy-efficient upgrades of commercial buildings, and the like. There’s quite a bit of stimulus money out there that’s going to be spent on design and construction, to soften the blow of the current recession. As as business confidence returns in the second half of this year, you can be sure that clients will remember those firms that were in front of them with new ideas, well financed cost-saving investments, and expanded technical capabilities.
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Monday, May 04, 2009
Microturbines: An excerpt from Green Building A to Z
Microturbines are a relatively new technology with significant applications in green building design. By using natural gas as a fuel (also diesel or propane), microturbines generate electricity and hot water, rather than just one or the other. In this way, about 80% of the energy value in the fuel is converted to useful work. Microturbines can range from 25 kilowatt (kW) output to 500 kW, have low emissions of nitrogen oxide, are about 20% to 30% efficient in producing electric power and can produce hot water at 120F to 175F, a range quite suitable for a number of uses, including swimming pools and service water.
To read the entire chapter, click here to download the PDF version.
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