Green Build Bulletin | March, 2009
Will Green Building Survive or Thrive in the Current Economy?
Jerry says, “It will thrive!” While commercial building is down and homebuilding is almost moribund, we project that these trends will emerge:
- Government at all levels will be building green with the stimulus money
- Schools and colleges in unprecedented numbers will be reducing their carbon footprint
- Anyone who owns buildings or operates facilities will be greening existing structures
LEED 2009: Time to Get Trained
Yudelson Associates has launched a LEED Training Division, with assignments already completed for a major developer of residential real estate, a mid-sized shopping center developer and a larger national property management firm.
Effective in the second quarter, LEED 2009 will be the “law of the (green) land” and every company needs to have people trained in the latest requirements. Contact us with your requirements, or click here to learn more and view a promotional video about our Training Services.
Project Profile: Forum Chriesbach
This project is Switzerland is a great model for low-energy buildings, with estimated energy use for lighting, heating and cooling of about 3 kWh (16,500 BTU) per square foot per year. That’s about one-third of the better U.S. office buildings. The project is profiled in my forthcoming book, Green Building Trends: Europe, available by June from Island Press. Click here to pre-order.
The Eawag Forum Chriesbach office and research facility was designed by Zurich-based Planning Team Bob Gysin and Partner Architects. This project began in 2002 with a vision of a sustainable research facility, a building with office space for 150 people that would use only 36 kilowatt-hours per square meter per year (3 kWh per sq. ft.) of site energy, including construction processes, and 65 kilowatt-hours per square meter per year of primary (source) energy. After final construction, the 8,533-square-meter (92,000-square-foot), five-story building, began operation in the summer of 2006.
In the winter, Forum Chriesbach is heated only by ventilation, using geothermal, air-to-earth heat exchanger and heat-recovery ventilation on the exhaust. In the summer, the building is cooled off at night via passive cooling, using the internal atrium to create a “stack effect” for exhausting air from the offices. A chilled ceiling system cools meeting rooms, using groundwater. There is a 77-kW (peak) photovoltaic system that produces about 60,000-kWh of electricity per year and a solar thermal system using vacuum-tube collectors that produces 24,000-kWh of thermal energy for heating and hot water.
Let’s Get Social on the Web
Jerry’s on Twitter now, so if you want to follow what he’s doing, go to www.twitter.com/jerryyudelson and click “Follow.” Jerry’s next 10 Twitter followers will receive a free book!
You can also connect with Jerry on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/pub/4/350/528.
The Conversation Continues
Jerry’s article, “Sustainable Design: What Do Europeans Know That We Don’t Know (But Should)?” in Building Design + Construction magazine continues his insights about European innovation.
Recent blog posts at www.greenbuildconsult.com/blog/ include:
- The Revolution in Property Management includes a free book chapter for download
- Is Going Green Worth the Trouble? includes insights and a link to our press release on the meaning of “frugal green.”
You can subscribe to The Yudelson Associates blog by email or RSS via links in the upper right corner of all blog pages.
