Archive for May, 2009
May 27th, 2009
Here are today’s picks for what’s wow in green. Enjoy!
U.S. bike sales higher than car sales in 2009.
Toyota is revving up production of the hit Prius to meet growing hybrid demand.
U.N. names 22 new biosphere reserves.
Garbage heavyweight Waste Management gets into waste gasification-to-energy.
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May 27th, 2009
Designers around the world are being called to action to create an iconic “eco-chair,” in the second One Good Chair design competition, sponsored by World Market Center Las Vegas, Las Vegas Market’s Living Green Pavilion and the Sustainable Furnishings Council. While innovation and form are imperative in the judging criteria, the ultimate goal of the “eco-chair” competition is to solicit designs that embody and enhance a particular place.
This year’s theme, “Fit Right Here,” emphasizes the connection between a person fitting comfortably in a chair as well as the chair fitting appropriately in its environment and the eco-system. Open to any designer, architect, student or interested person – entries are now being accepted, but registration closes May 30th so spread the word and start sketching!
Chaired by architect and author Lance Hosey, the One Good Chair jury includes ecofabulous’ own, Zem Joaquin, and Kira Gould of William McDonough + Partners along with many others. Stay tuned for the full competition coverage here at ecofabulous!
May 27th, 2009
Constructed from an actual recycled incandescent bulb filled with moss, stones and lichens. How green can you get?
$75.00 at SteamedGlass’s Etsy Shop
May 27th, 2009
In Bainbridge Island, Washington, there’s a slick modern home under construction that was designed by Coates Design for owners Ed and Joanne Ellis. Although Seattle has roughly 13 LEED Platinum homes as of today, the Ellis Residence has been designed to achieve LEED Platinum and could be the first single-family residence in the Western Puget Sound region to achieve such a lofty designation. As you can tell from these renderings, the home has a number of active, passive, and green elements in store:
- Abundant interior natural light;
- Horizontal geothermal loop heating system;
- Hyrdronic radiant concrete floors powered by geothermal;
- Two-story concrete masonry wall will act as an heat sink;
- Use of locally-sourced fir and FSC-certified woods;
- Water harvesting through two 1500 cisterns for site irrigation;
- Water filtration through a rain garden;
- Vegetated green roof system; and
- What appears to be a rooftop solar thermal or photovoltaic array.
Prior to construction, an old 1930s cabin was deconstruction in its entirety, resulting in a diversion of 97.8% of the cabin from the landfill. Inhabitat tells us construction should be complete by about September 2009, so until then, make sure to follow the construction blog for informative updates from the architect. The completed home is going to be incredible …
Rendering credits: Coates Design.
May 27th, 2009
I noticed BuildingGreen added these exterior venetian blinds to the GreenSpec Directory recently. Hella exterior blinds are distributed in the U.S. through Savannah Trims and available in slat sizes of 2″, 3.1″, and 4″. The blinds are aluminum, have lateral tension, and can be controlled manually or electrically. They’re slick looking and come in a variety of heights, widths, and colors.
Like architectural mesh, and even more so, Hella exterior venetian blinds can reduce interior glare and heat gain, and thereby, improve the energy efficiency of a building and the performance of workers. The blinds can block up to 90% of incoming light. Plus, since the blinds are on the exterior of the building, any heat that is absorbed by the slats stays outside — no need to run mechanical systems to cool hot blinds.
[+] Hella Exterior Venetian Blinds at GreenSpec Directory.
Photo credits: SkyShield.
May 27th, 2009
- A smaller world.
- Solar carbon payback.
- Shades of using greywater.
- LEED’s latest overhaul: itself.
- Requirements, choices, and carrots.
- Are green roofs worth the expense?
- Boulder County eases green building rules.
- Rewards make green building worth effort.
- Durability = top green product attribute.
- Green buildings to save $500B by 2030?
Congratulations to OJ for winning The Thoreau You Don’t Know in our giveaway this week. Watch for additional giveaways coming soon.
May 27th, 2009
Three of the six homes at Madison Street just received LEED Platinum certification, making them the first Platinum certified homes in Tennessee. Developed and designed by Christian Rushing and built by Collier Construction, this modern green project recently received the award of Green Development of the Year by the American Planning Association’s Tennessee Chapter. Rushing says it doesn’t cost more to build green, it just requires better decisions and smarter skills. Here are a few of the homes’ green features:
- Passive solar design;
- Locally manufactured and harvested materials;
- Renewable and durable cork, concrete, and bamboo materials;
- Durable fiber cement, larch, and aluminum shingles;
- Metal roof made of recycled and recyclable materials;
- Efficient, argon filled, insulated windows;
- Native, non-invasive ground cover;
- Pervious paving materials for the hardscapes;
- Water-efficient plumbing and dual-flush toilets; and
- Energy-efficient HVAC and Energy Star appliances.
Although Rushing is living in one of the homes, the other two certified homes are for sale for $242,500 (1,540 square feet) and $249,500 (1,604 square feet). That’s a pretty decent price for LEED Platinum living. These rightly sized homes sit on a tight footprint and front Jefferson Heights Park, which includes two acres of open space and playgrounds. Check them out, if you’re in the area.
Photo credits: Collier Construction.
May 27th, 2009
This is a guest contribution from Deborah Cameron, a designer / project manager who was on the design team for Cave Avenue Homes. Deborah also lives in this co-op community.
In Banff National Park in Western Alberta lies a 19-unit residential housing project called Cave Avenue Co-operative Homes. Cave Avenue was designed by one of the most prestigious architectural firms in North America, William McDonough + Partners. Completed in 2005, the project was built to LEED Silver certification. Cave Avenue has a light footprint with some of the following sustainable features:
- Energy Efficiency – R30 walls, tripled glazed and Visionwall windows, high efficiency gas fireplaces as the only heat source, Energy Star appliances, and on-demand hot water tanks;
- Water Conservation – cistern for rainwater collection used in irrigation of native plants + dual flush toilets, low-flow fixtures and showerheads, composting toilet in common space, vegetated roofs to reduce storm water run-off, and native plants used throughout requiring little or no irrigation;
- Indoor Air Quality – programmable heat recovery ventilators, windows on exterior walls to provide cross-ventilation, materials selected to minimize off- gassing such as low VOC paint, formaldehyde-free countertops, and slate flooring.
The cutting edge contemporary design and sustainable features are enhanced by the co-op’s location. Sited on a steep slope on Cave Avenue, the gateway to Banff National Park, the project is adjacent to a wildlife corridor. At any given time, residents can see elk, deer, coyotes, wolves, bears (both black and grizzly), and cougars in their backyards. Numerous hiking and biking trails are located just seconds from our front doors and within walking distance of downtown Banff. The air is fresh, the river is clean, and the mountains views are vast and breathtaking.
The residents include artists, musicians, chefs, designers, photographers, retired people, and, of course, numerous resident dogs and cats. All are passionate about living here. In fact we often comment that it is “the best keep secret in Banff.”
As a resident of Cave Avenue, my experience only makes me more passionate about sustainable design and the inherent benefits of a healthy interior space. We spend 90% of our time indoors, so why wouldn’t we want it to be as healthy as possible? Connecting ourselves with the outdoors is easier than we think.
Living with a smaller footprint is more efficient than most imagine. Just a few small changes can make an enormous impact. In most cases, it’s really just about educating people to the possibilities – and they are endless. As an interior designer/project manager (currently studying for LEED AP accreditation) my passion is to share this information with others, so they can reap the benefits of creating a sustainable, and ultimately, healthy lifestyle.
[Ed. note] Many thanks to Deborah Cameron for sharing her personal experience living in a well-designed, modern, healthy co-op community.
May 27th, 2009
The Guardian just published an interesting article about the world’s first Active House. An Active House, as compared to a super low-energy Passive House, is a highly efficient home that captures more energy than the occupants need for heat and power. In particular, this Denmark Active House should generate enough electricity over 30 years to cancel out the energy costs of building it. And it operates like a machine: a
computer monitors the temperature and climate of the interior and
opens, closes, and adjusts windows accordingly.
While still new(ish) in the U.S., Passive House is dominant overseas — probably due to its emphasis on actually reducing the amount of energy used by a house. Design of the building, rather than add-on technology, is key with Passive Houses. When all is said and done, Passive Houses require little or no energy for heating and cooling. But as The Guardian article points out, occupants of Passive Houses tend to buy supplemental heating equipment.
Thus, it seems that the Active House is somewhat of a response to what is happening with Passive Houses. Sure, an Active House will be super energy efficient, and the design will contribute to the home’s efficiency (and reducing energy use), but after that, solar panels, solar thermal, etc., bridges the gap to generate more power than is used by the occupants. It’s a positive energy or resource positive building.
I’m still researching other aspects of this high-tech home, but as a point of interest, by today’s exchange rate, it cost about $788,000 to build. I’ll also update the article upon finding more images.
[+] Light years ahead by The Guardian.
Photo credit: Morten Fauerby for The Guardian.
May 27th, 2009
The Animal House Fund is a public private partnership whose mission is to replace St. Louis City’s Animal Care and Control facility with one that is more adoption friendly, thereby reducing the number of strays that are put to sleep. As a public/private partnership, the funds to build the facility are privately raised, and the new facility will then be handed over to the City of St. Louis. The current building was built in 1941, and intended to stand a mere two years as a place to gather and put down animals that had been abandoned during World War II. The new building will set a new standard.
Since 2003, HOK Architects, which donates 1% of its revenue to pro bono work, has been volunteering time and expertise to the project. They designed Animal House to house 4,000 animals annually and intend to pursue LEED Platinum certification. Project architect JoAnn Brookes cites three reasons for pursuing certification: “one, if we can do it we will do it; two, people get excited about it; and three, the Kresge Foundation has a grant program for projects that get LEED Platinum or meet the requirement of the Living Building Challenge.”
So how do you integrate LEED into designing an animal shelter?
In their studies, HOK found that daylight was the biggest factor in making dogs and cats calmer and therefore more adoptable. Under LEED, points can be garnered by having daylighting and views. Skylights help dogs know the patterns of the sun. Cats thrive when they have a window to look out of, preferably if there’s a bird feeder outside (cat TV). While the requirements are strict about the height of windows for human occupants, the USGBC allowed for shorter window heights for non-humans.
Runoff water will be collected in tanks and treated so it can be used to clean cages. A green roof is planned for part of the roof. And there will be solar panels to generate electricity.
The facility will be built directly on existing park land, which is controversial. As part of the master plan, a park-swap has been arranged and a maintenance facility at another park in St. Louis will move to the former Animal Care and Control Facility. That building will be restored to park land.
The Animal House Fund is still raising money for the project, which is estimated to cost between four and six million dollars.
Rendering credits: HOK Architects.
