A recent Environmental Building News story, "The Folly of Building Integrated Wind," (May 2009) revealed that attaching spinning things that are supposed to generate electricity to buildings is not a very good idea. In critiquing building-integrated spinning things, however, it is important not to paint with too broad a brush.
Twice each month, BuildingGreen publishes an email news bulletin with current news and product information briefs. Sign up here — it's free. We will never share or sell your email address, and you may unsubscribe at any time.
Read the current bulletinLast week I suggested some ways to reduce your hot water use. This is almost always the easiest way to save energy with water heating--it's the "low-hanging fruit" to be sure. Over the next few weeks, I'll get into water heating options. To start, let's look at the differences between "storage" and "tankless" water heaters.
On Friday, May 19, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal published a damning story based on the leaked minutes of a private strategy meeting of food-packaging executives and chemical industry lobbyists that took place in Washington DC the previous day. The story's authors spoke with the chairman of the North American Metal Packaging Alliance (NAMPA), John Rost, who verified the talking points, but indicated that the summary wasn't complete.
The newly published Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities (IAMU) Office and Training Headquarters is a great example of a municipal building that was built using green principles and is continually monitored for energy use and IEQ. They were able to provide full years of metered energy information, which is (sadly) unusual. While this is not a sexy building, it is a recommended read.
Whenever we reduce water use, we also save energy. In fact, several of the most cost-effective energy saving strategies -- projects with the quickest "payback" -- are water conservation improvements that reduce hot water use. I'll cover some of these strategies here, but first I want to explain why even reducing our cold water use saves energy.
Paul Hawken gave the commencement address for the University of Portland earlier this month, and it's making the rounds. Deservedly. Its message is as good for the building industry — for anybody living, for that matter — as it was for those graduating seniors. Here it is.
Twice each month, BuildingGreen publishes an email news bulletin with current news and product information briefs. Sign up here — it's free. We will never share or sell your email address, and you may unsubscribe at any time.
Read the current bulletinChristian Kornevall, the director of the Energy Efficiency in Buildings project of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), sent the following in response to my May 9th post titled "4 Years + 15 Million Dollars = Ol
On Friday we rolled out a new look for the BuildingGreen Case Study page. As you can see in the image above, we added a map component that uses Google Maps to show the locations of the case studies. In addition, you can download an auto-updating version of the case study set into Google Earth a number of the buildings can be viewed as 3D models. Below is the Rocky Mountain Institute office in Snowmass.
A design competition for professionals and students, the Lifecycle Building Challenge is sponsored by the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, the American Institute of Architects, and West Coast Green. The competition is focused on design for adaptability, material reuse, and minimizing lifecycle impacts from products.
Registration and participation is free. Submission deadline is August 30 2009.
Who could be more qualified than one of the principal authors of LEED for Homes to provide insight on the best ways to make the program work?
In a typical home, the refrigerator accounts for about 8% of the total annual energy expense, according to 2005 data from the U.S. Department of Energy. While this energy consumption for food storage is significant, it's far less than it was a few decades ago. In the mid-1970s, an average new refrigerator used about 1,800 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year, making it the single most expensive energy load in many homes.
