Laura L. Barnes: Green building

[Green building] Industry Groups Urge EU to Implement Energy in Buildings Directive

Fri, 27 Jan 2006 17:56:38 GMT

LONDON, Jan. 23, 2006 - A group of seven European industry associations has called on the European Commission and European Governments to take action to ensure full implementation of the 2003 Energy Performance in Buildings Directive. [GreenBiz.com]

[Green roofs] U.S. Greenhouse Operators Find Green Roof Niche

Fri, 27 Jan 2006 16:26:26 GMT

A burgeoning U.S. market for "green roofs" has greenhouse owners cultivating plants that help keep out the summer heat and winter cold while also managing storm water runoff and absorbing carbon dioxide. [ENN Business Headlines]

[Green building] Two from Metropolis Magazine

Fri, 27 Jan 2006 15:57:24 GMT

The cover article (p.73-81) in the February 2006 issue of Metropolis (design/building/architecture magazine) features Foster and Partners? new Philology Library at the Free University of Berlin. The cover describes it as "Norman Foster's greenest building ever."

The photos in the print copy are larger and clearer, but to see the text of the article online, go to:
http://www.metropolismag.com/cda/story.php?artid=1745 and
http://www.metropolismag.com/cda/story.php?artid=1742.

[Thanks to Jan H. Berry of the Spencerian College -- Lexington Learning Resource Center for the links]

[Grants] WMRC Announces Competition

Thu, 26 Jan 2006 22:23:55 GMT

WMRC has posted its annual research proposal solicitation. Proposals in response to this solicitation will be funded with FY07 research funds, as available, with projects beginning no earlier than September 1, 2006. Please pay close attention to the proposal submittal guidelines and to information in the solicitation to insure that you prepare all the documentation required for submittal. Note that the deadline for proposal receipt is Friday, February 24, at 5pm.

[Schools] Waldorf School Aims for Top Green Building Achievement

Thu, 26 Jan 2006 22:18:02 GMT

Charlottesville Virginia's new Charlottesville Waldorf School is in the midst of a $6.2 million capital campaign designed to help the school become the first LEED Platinum elementary school in the country. It will feature a completely integrated "green" design featuring straw-bale construction, a rammed-earth wall, a living roof, geothermal heating and cooling, water reclamation and passive solar technologies. [Source: RenewableEnergyAccess.com]

[Green building] Radioshack: The Answer

Fri, 20 Jan 2006 16:38:08 GMT

The new Radioshack riverfront campus is a state-of-the-art sustainable facility that accommodates the needs of the company and the community. By Trish Martineck [Source: Environmental Design + Construction via GreenerBuildings.com]

[Sustainable product design] Promoting Products Made of "Eco-Effective" Components

Fri, 20 Jan 2006 16:33:32 GMT

Full citation: Solomon, Nancy B.(2005) "Products Made of "Eco-Effective" Components." Architectural Record 193(12), 159-164.

Summary: To help companies better formulate eco-effective products, McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry, in Charlottesville, Virginia, has launched Cradle to Cradle Certification.

A manufacturer can submit a homogenous or simple product to MBDC for review of its health impacts and potential for being safely composted or truly recycled. A successful candidate within this track is certified as a biological or technical nutrient. A manufacturer can also submit a product with multiple material components for evaluation of health impacts; ability to be disassembled so constituent parts can decompose or be reused; quantity and source of production energy; amount of water used during manufacture, and quality of wastewater; and the company's commitment to social justice. A product within this second track may earn a silver, gold, or platinum rating.

MBDC analyzes all ingredients representing at least 100 parts per million of a product's formulation and codes them according to the chemicals' documented effects. MBDC may suggest alternative ingredients or assembly techniques so that product components have a better chance of staying on a biological or technical track after the particular assembly reaches the end of its useful life. The business policies and actual logistics to alter products are the responsibility of the manufacturers and product distributor. Manufacturers who have worked with MBDC admit that this is the most challenging aspect of the cradle-to-cradle approach. [Source: Architectural Record via GreenClips.com]

[Green building] USGBC Announces Significant LEED(R) Green Building Rating System Documentation and Certification Process Upgrades

Fri, 13 Jan 2006 21:48:36 GMT

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has unveiled a series of major process improvements to its LEED(R) (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) green building rating system, including a significantly streamlined documentation and certification process that's now 100% online. A direct result of market surveys and extensive dialogue with the organizations and individuals who use LEED, USGBC anticipates the changes to the LEED process will reduce the time and cost of LEED certification.

[Schools] The greening of America's campuses

Fri, 13 Jan 2006 18:24:05 GMT

Colleges have long marketed their campus amenities, their rosters of scholars, their selectivity and study-abroad programs. To that list, add one more thing: their green credentials. [Source: New York Times News Service via AZCentral.com]

[Green building] Ontario: New Architectural Technology Program Emphasizes "Green" Building Design

Fri, 13 Jan 2006 17:58:14 GMT

Source: Centennial College via CNW Group, 1/12/06.

In response to a world grappling with finite supplies of fossil fuels and other resources, Centennial College has launched a new full-time program in architectural technology that emphasizes sustainable building design and construction. The three-year program prepares students to work as technologists alongside architects, engineers, builders, contractors and municipal building departments. Using state-of-the-art computer technology, students will learn to create designs, construction drawings and specifications for residential, commercial and institutional buildings. [Great Lakes Pollution Prevention Roundtable (GLRPPR) News]

[Green building] A House Made From Paper

Thu, 12 Jan 2006 22:36:36 GMT

Forget the old saying that people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. Now you can live in a paper house that’s so strong stones won’t make a dent. [Source: E: The Environmental Magazine]

[Green building] The Hydrogen House: Fueling a Dream

Wed, 11 Jan 2006 21:47:17 GMT

In the northernmost reaches of Scottsdale, Arizona, Bryan Beaulieu, an engineer and inventor with 20 patents in structural systems, recently built a $2 million solar-and-hydrogen-powered 'dream" house. Though not the most expensive residence in this affluent community, the 6,000-square-foot luxury home is, by far, the most environmentally sustainable. [Source: E: The Environmental Magazine]

[Green building] Design and Construction of an Eco-House

Wed, 11 Jan 2006 21:23:45 GMT

A multiple-year course at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota examines global issues by designing an eco-efficient campus residence. Taught by Richard Strong, Carleton facilities director, and Gary Wagenbach, director of Carleton's Environmental Technology Studies, the course is targeted to liberal arts students.

Carleton envisions teaching the class for up to five consecutive spring courses. "Since the class is open to freshman through seniors from all disciplines," Wagenbach says, "We have to respond to the mix of students who walk through the door." Thus, the instructors have sought a "structured openness" by blending conventional classroom lectures with guest speaker presentations, field trips, computer exercises and hands-on construction activities.

While each segment of the EcoHouse course addresses aesthetics, energy use, life-cycle costs, and the relationship between a building and its site, community and culture, the course themes and two-thirds of the course content vary from year to year. The inaugural class (2004) focused on answering the question: "What is natural for Northfield?" In 2005, the instructors narrowed the focus by selecting one site from four finalists and prescribing straw-bale walls for three sides of a student-built test structure.

In spring 2006, students will design a "living machine" and explore ways to minimize waste. In one to two years, EcoHouse will be built on campus, using the student research. Meanwhile, research leading up to and resulting from the course is spilling into other Carleton building projects, such as a 40-unit student residence design that will break ground in fall 2006. [Source: Architecture Minnesota, Nov/Dec 05, p 56, by Heather Beal via GreenClips.com]

[Green building] Chapel Hill plans are green

Fri, 30 Dec 2005 17:12:48 GMT

If Tim Toben has his way, some Chapel Hill residents could soon be waking up beneath grass-covered rooftops in terraced nine-story towers angled specially to soak up the solar heat. They'll take showers using water warmed by the sun's rays and be able to dash downstairs to pick up a half-gallon of organic milk for breakfast. [Source: Raleigh (NC) News & Observer]

[Green building] Architects Call for 50% Reduction of Fossil Fuels Used to Construct, Operate Buildings

Thu, 29 Dec 2005 18:01:40 GMT

Source: SustainableBusiness.com.

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) Board of Directors has adopted position statements to promote sustainable design and resource conservation to achieve a minimum reduction of 50% percent of the current consumption level of fossil fuels used to construct and operate buildings by the year 2010. [Great Lakes Pollution Prevention Roundtable (GLRPPR) News]

[Green building] BuildingGreen Announces 2005 Top-10 Products

Wed, 28 Dec 2005 16:43:45 GMT

This fourth annual award, announced at the U.S. Green Building Council's Greenbuild Conference in Atlanta, recognizes the most exciting products added to the GreenSpec Directory during the past year. [Source: GreenerBuildings.com]

[Renewable energy] Cultivating the Biobased Economy

Wed, 28 Dec 2005 16:41:42 GMT

Governmental agencies, universities, industry, and farming advocates are nurturing and underwriting new uses for agricultural products that will certainly impact not only green building but many other commercial enterprises as well. By Bruce Maine [Source: GreenerBuildings.com]

[Green building] Durability: A Key Component of Green Building

Wed, 28 Dec 2005 16:30:54 GMT

What is it that enables some structures to survive a hundred years or longer, while others don't even last a few decades? This article makes the case for durability and offers some strategies for achieving it. By Alex Wilson [Source: Environmental Building News via GreenerBuildings.com]

[Schools] Extreme Environmental Makeover: Maize and blue and green

Mon, 12 Dec 2005 18:50:22 GMT

On the University of Michigan campus, one venerable building is beginning its second century decked out in a trendy new color. Green. Sunflower seed hull cabinets, bamboo floors, solar panels and composting toilets are among the green -- meaning environmentally friendly and energy-efficient -- components of the recently renovated Dana Building, home to the School of Natural Resources and Environment. [Source: Detroit Free Press]

[Schools] St. Louis University joins the 'green' building trend

Mon, 12 Dec 2005 18:47:52 GMT

Builders of St. Louis University's future research building near the corner of Grand Boulevard and Chouteau Avenue have embraced concepts that may seem foreign to such a large-scale, urban construction project. Dusty parking lots will be replaced by lawn and tree-lined walkways. A vegetative roof will cover a two-story section of the building to reduce storm runoff. During construction, everything that can be recycled is being separated and placed in special bins for cardboard, wood - even gray plastic conduit. [Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch]

[Green building] Book explores green building on a conventional budget

Mon, 05 Dec 2005 22:03:09 GMT

Portland's Interface Engineering publishes a free book on building green on a conventional budget. [Breaking News]

[Green building] BuildingGreen Announces 2005 Top 10 Products

Mon, 05 Dec 2005 17:49:38 GMT

Source: Environmental Building News, December 2005.

BuildingGreen, Inc., publisher of the GreenSpec® Directory and Environmental Building News™, announced the fourth annual Top-10 Green Building Products during the U.S. Green Building Council's Greenbuild Conference and Expo in November. The Top-10 represent the most exciting products added to GreenSpec in the past year. [Great Lakes Pollution Prevention Roundtable (GLRPPR) News]

[Green building] Dallas Zero Energy Home

Wed, 30 Nov 2005 22:10:41 GMT

This Web site highlights a demonstration home in Dallas, Texas, that incorporates solar energy, proper ventilation, air sealing, insulation, and other features to reduce its net annual energy costs to zero. [EERE Network News]

[Solar energy] Landmark Solar Project Takes Cues from Nature

Wed, 30 Nov 2005 20:56:49 GMT

One of the most unusual sustainable buildings in the world, designed on nature's architecture and generating energy from daylight, was launched last week in a light show at the Eden Project in Cornwall. True to the Eden Project's principles, the new education and research facility, named The Core, is a superb example of sustainability using building-integrated photovoltaics (PV). [Source: RenewableEnergyAccess.com]

[Green building] DOE Launches Web Site Supporting Energy-Saving Reconstruction in the Gulf Coast

Wed, 30 Nov 2005 20:48:55 GMT

On Nov. 22, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced it launched a Disaster Recovery and Building Reconstruction Web site at http://www.eere.energy.gov/buildings as part of its continuing effort to support hurricane victims in the Gulf Coast. The Web site provides relevant resources and information for consumers, state and local officials, builders and contractors, and encourages cost-effective, durable and energy-efficient reconstruction in areas devastated by recent hurricanes. [Source: Environmental Protection E-News]