Building energy codes that require increased energy efficiency are one of the most effective mechanisms for reducing energy consumption of our building stock. It has been stated that building energy codes are the “quickest, cheapest and cleanest way to improve energy efficiency in the building sector.”
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Green Building
The city of Sacramento is the capital of the state of California. It is the sixth largest city in the state and houses the fourth largest metropolitan area in the state. Sacramento is also one of the most racially and ethnically integrated cities in the United States. Sacramento quickly rose to fame during the Gold Rush era as it was a primary distribution point. Today,
A house is not merely the sum of four walls and a roof. As urbanization, rural development, and economics continue to change the way people think about homeownership globally, new formulas for home design, technologies for efficiency, and home value are emerging.
Owners can spend a lot on sustainability measures that don’t yield much benefit, or they can spend very little and improve properties a lot. If the second option sounds more appealing, here are three key ways to make sure you’re getting the best results at the lowest cost:
A UK report says that nearly half of the electricity consumed by British businesses is wasted when employees are not at work.
In an analysis of more than 6,000 smart meters, British Gas found that 46 percent of electricity use occurs from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m., when most businesses are typically closed. Common examples of
The building equipment and services industries have always been highly fragmented. While leaders such as Honeywell and Johnson Controls have large, multinational presences, most of the market is divvied up among thousands of smaller companies with a relatively narrow regional or technological focus. Even CB Richard Ellis, the real estate firm with
A New Lease on Life or a Nail in the Coffin? Notice and Comment Period on PACE Opens
written by Walter Wang
Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs allow local governments to loan money to homeowners to do energy efficiency projects. The PACE loans are generally repaid as a property tax line item. PACE programs were initially very popular, and more than 25 states passed PACE-enabling legislation.
The ever-changing solar market continues to move ahead with enormous strides. While such innovations such as the new “plug ‘n’ play” solar panels are creating buzz, there are a number of other significant innovations that are helping homeowners fulfill their energy-saving goals.
Balancing the big picture with the details can be tricky. However, finding this balance can be very powerful when addressing a building’s energy needs and energy costs.
One way of achieving good balance is to take an integrated approach that looks at the synergistic
This house is beyond cool. Those in Southern California should swing by the California Science Center in downtown Los Angeles to tour a solar home nonpareil.
Known as the CHIP house, for “Compact, Hyper-Insulated Prototype Solar House,” the home was designed and built by students of the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).
The project won first prize in the Energy Balance division of the Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon competition held in Washington, D.C..
On approach, the CHIP house looks as if it’s been turned inside-out. CHIP wears the heart of its green technology on its sleeve. Most of the home’s exterior is wrapped in insulation, a flexible, quilted vinyl membrane.
It’s this exterior insulation, combined with solar technology, that creates the high R-values necessary for a net-zero dwelling. The home looks a bit like a giant pillow topped with a solar panel hat.
CHIP is equipped with 45 solar panels, enough to provide three times the amount of energy the house consumes. The intention was not only to power the home, but to keep two electric cars up and running as well. As the primary sponsor for the CHIP project, Hanwha SolarOne, from their North American headquarters in nearby Costa Mesa, provided the panels.
It’s not the solar panels that make this 750-square-foot home so distinctive, but the way that the panels, and the entire home’s green technology, are operated. The CHIP home interface uses Apple iPad apps and an Xbox Kinect system as a master command center.
Residents not only can operate the home’s lights and electronic devices, but monitor the home’s energy systems by using natural gestures like pointing and waving their arms. The home is equipped with 3-D cameras, too, that signal light to turn on and off as residents move through the space.
The interior of the home features a single, open space, with living areas defined by a series of platforms, terraces that climb upwards and inwards into the home. Private areas occupy the highest platforms. The open floor plan is arranged around the natural flow of daily activities.
It took more than 100 students, two years and $1 million in funding to build CHIP, although the project team estimates that replicating the home elsewhere would cost about $262,000. You can take a look at the CHIP home, inside and out, at the California Science Center, through May 31, 2012. Free tours are available every weekday from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and on weekends from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
In April 2010, the Department of Defense (“DOD”) issued a memorandum (“memo”) that altered the structure of the defense budgeting cycle, beginning with fiscal year (“FY”) 2012 budget. These changes were ostensibly made to offer more stability to the budgeting process, which prior to the memo involved a more complicated two-year budgeting
Located in the center of Manhattan, New York is Columbia University. Columbia University has been one of the leaders since the creation of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s PlaNYC to make New York City a more sustainable city. Therefore, the university has created a number of
There’s no better opportunity to green up a home than during a remodeling project, and working with eco-savvy architects, designers and contractors can ensure you make the most of green alternatives.
For a remodel of a 1953 bungalow in Venice, California, architects Todd Erlandson and Nori Fukuda worked hand in hand with contractor 44 West
Having the right resources can make going solar easy and affordable. And we’ve got a few tricks up our sleeve to help you do just that.
Below is a list of industry-leading resources for residential solar installation. Not only can these organizations help you learn what type of home