The first goal is to harmonize with the site. Real estate folks like to say, "location, location, location," and the same is really true in ecological design: understanding the topography, the microclimate, the vegetation and the ecosysystems that are at work at a place and really trying to put those into action.
Our second goal, which is somewhat ironic as architects, is to build as little as possible. And that, for us, is being as space efficient as we can. The simple answer is to build less house.
The third goal is that buildings should be able to heat and cool themselves and generate their own electricity.
The fourth goal is to maximize resource efficiency: understanding where materials come from, and what the resources are behind them, and also integrating natural building systems such as straw bale, rammed earth, cob or adobe where appropriate.
And then, the final goal is to show that ecological design can be beautiful and bring it to the mainstream.
Energy Audit #1, today's energy audit of the prefab modern house, is as we're at the "This is the modern house kit + cladding + the homeowner sealing around the windows stage", the second will be once we're "done, finished, kaput, as in done, done, done, done, don't ever want to think about anything construction related for at least another week DONE."
Our mission is to create tight, energy efficient, gorgeous passive solar house kits. I admire rated, certified, even more stringent approaches, like Passive House standards, maybe we'll do this in the future, but we achieve what we want in an energy efficient home while incorporating great modern design on an average, reasonable budget.
Some highly energy efficient homes incorporate two door chambers to prevent temperature loss.
I picture the way I live, and it is just too chaotic and messy to make such an entrance successful. Can you imagine a couple struggling with the stroller, dogs still on the leash, juggling a bag of groceries and a baby on one hip, getting the key in the door lock then screaming to the spouse...
"Quick honey, seal the chamber, we're losing LEED points!"
Obviously if you live in a severe climate, it makes sense. But we're in Normal Rest-o'-Tha-World here.
We're a muddy, raggedy bunch here... why do ya think we're bandits?
You can increase the thickness of the house kit panels, choose even more efficient doors and windows (our casa ti prefab green home is spec'd for Jeld-Wen and our, SIPs house kit with two stories, The R1 Residential, is spec'd for Marvin Integrity), seal it up even tighter... but my focus is on affordable energy efficiency in our prefab green homes, so we chose great solutions that fit within a moderate budget.
The average quote for the casa ti windows is currently about $9,000-$10,500. If you would like to spend more on windows to make 'em nano-crazy-efficient, go for it, we can adjust the shop drawings. But expect the added cost.
We hired energy rater Guy DuBois, of No Energy Loss, to come out and inspect the modern prefab house kit.
These are the notes I jotted down during his cell phone call to me en route from the land. Mr. DuBois will guest blog later this week with more real data, but here are his initial verbal impressions of the still-under-construction, still-not-completely-sealed house kit:
"Well, we certainly smoked up your house quite a bit, there was nowhere for it to go!"
(Copeland's note: Ummmm, I assume he means it was some kind of smoke air test thingy? I hope he didn't mean he smoked in mah house?!?)
Ok, on to Mr. DuBois:
"Those windows - they are worth the money, they were very well sealed."
Copeland's note: Handsome Husband also sealed around the frames... OK FINE I will just stop commenting and just TYPE what he said!
"Your husband did a good job of sealing around the windows... there are two areas he also could look at if he wanted to seal further- along the south eave and that back door threshold.
It is surprisingly tight. I don't know why I say surprising, but I guess I didn't expect it to be so tight, even though I should have."
[Copeland's note: Um, yeah, thanks Mr. DuBois... ; ) OK, OK I'll stop commenting!]
"I'll go back at completion and run more tests. This was a good time to go out there because if there were problems you could address them before everything was closed up.
As you know, it's so tight you really must have mechanical ventilation, which you will be installing (HRV), which is critical in these energy efficient homes. Most homes, most traditionally-built homes, leak willy-nilly so you don't ever have to worry about air quality, but in energy efficient homes like these they're so air-tight that air-exchange is imperative.
I saw very little air leakage... there is some thermal bridging you can address if you want but you certainly won't have a problem heating and maintaining good energy efficiency, that's for sure. How does it compare to a "normal" house? Superior!"
To continue to seal even further, concentrate on the areas where there is lumber vs. SIP (structural insulated panels)- the doorway header, add insulation around wooden framing, and if you're in really severe climates, you could add an exterior seal.
Mr. DuBois makes a good point:
"But you have to consider the climate- maybe if you're in Alaska or really south Florida you would want to consider that, but... we're in Virginia, how much gain will you really get by doing all that?!? You already know that with your off grid systems, comfort will never be an issue.
I will be punching in everything I did today and coming back with some data next week... you're not trying to get this house certified, so this is just more FYI info, but it will be cool to compare today with when you're done at the end of the project."
He also said that the amount of leakage currently (we're still not done sealing) in the prefab SIPs passive solar home is equivalent to about 6 x 6 inches, smaller than a basketball. Handsome Husband is chasing that number, with sealant in hand.
Later, Handsome Husband arrived home, and I had all these pictures and video to look at... and share with you now.
HOUSE KIT ENERGY AUDIT VIDEOS:
Mr. DuBois sets up...
They start do to the smoke test and pressurize the modern house kit. SUDDENLY, a clerestory window pops wide open! It had looked closed, but hadn't been closed totally, which certainly that had also contributed to our loss of temperature this winter at night! It is securely locked now... : )
And then....they freakin' fill mah house up with SMOKE!
Note the comment about the south edge- later they discovered that when the door was installed they didn't put any sealant under that south door. You as a home owner can seal that more if you live in a severe climate area. I knew the windows worked really well for our budget, but am pleased with how impressed he is! : )
NOTE:The next week Handsome Husband discovered they hadn't sealed pipes inside for the audit + we haven't added the foam *around* the foundation, contributing to temperature drop / leakage. Stay tuned for Energy Audit #2!
Check out what it looks like when they crack the door (and how hard it was to open because of the pressurization - because the house kit was so tight!).
"This wraps up the initial test of the house kit. We now know what simple steps we have left to optimize the envelope of the SIPs house, and we look forward to the final testing after construction is (finally) completed. The general goal and idea of the casa ti has passed Mr. DuBois's testing with flying colors, as we already suspected in the prefab house kit's performance over the last few weekends where the design and structure were able to give us relative comfort in a hostile climate.
The great thing about the delays in this project is that we're able to thoroughly test the house kit without further improvements, this allows us to confirm the performance a passive solar house kit built with SIPs."
It's that time of year again, when you collect the photos from the year and send 'em off to the far-flung great-aunts and uncles.
Looking over these months, I enjoyed seeing again our net zero prefab green home take shape. There's still much to do; but even before the interior is completed, the prefab SIPs house can be beautiful with its use of light, open spaces, and special touches.
Here are some pictures of the interior as it has evolved this year...(with a few exterior pics thrown in...)
We will be dragging out a *lot* more (most of it reused, recycled) furniture this month...
It's amazing how you really can make a home out of little recycled elements, and a lot of love and creativity. It is now also clear that my accessory and design elements incorporate... dogs.
Here's an idea: Instead of increasing landfills to accept more waste, how about if we get the construction industry to WASTE LESS?
"The landfill can currently accept a maximum of 900 tons of waste per day. The proposed modifications would allow up to 3,500 tons of waste per day and increase the capacity by about 25 percent to 2.6 million cubic yards."
The majority of the landfill's intake is construction and demolition waste. WHAT? What ever happened to
1. creating less (how about zero?) waste, and
2. re-purposing and reusing materials instead of just demolishing?
"In new construction, you can recycle leftover drywall, concrete, etcetera; there are a lot ways to recycle materials instead of putting it into a landfill. Better yet, don't buy and cut unnecessary materials.
There are standard material sizes. If you work within those dimensions, there is no need to cut or waste material. If there IS waste, often it can be reused on the same site or repurposed for something else. There's a whole section in LEED standards about reduction of construction waste.
Copeland's husband mentioned to me the door landings on their prefab house kit were built from the small pile of leftover wood that they reused for the prefab modern house! Even that pile of wood could have fit into the trunk of their car if they wanted to repurpose it elsewhere.
Do we need to tear down buildings to begin with? How often can we rehab and reuse buildings? Think of Habitat for Humanity's Restore Richmond or Caravati's - often there is someone looking for that exact material you want to throw away!
From a builders standpoint, it's a money-saving, good business decision."
Shop Green ‘Til You Drop! Is sustainable retail development an oxymoron? Not according to the many retailers and retail developers profiled in Jerry Yudelson’s latest green building book, Sustainable Retail Development: New Success Strategies (Springer, October 2009), written for the 70,000-member International Council of Shopping Centers. For the past two years, Yudelson has been ICSC’s Research Scholar for Retail Real Estate Sustainability. In the book, he profiles retail sustainability efforts worldwide and presents a solid business case for greening retail operations and shows how leading companies are advancing sustainable retail businesses.
Sustainable Retail Development maintains that green retail buildings and retail development that will grow significantly in importance over the next half-decade, a trend being seen throughout the developed world.
This book is a practical and comprehensive guide to greening retail real estate, featuring green building and marketing strategies, corporate sustainability programs and features a 10-point “action program” for greening any retail real estate portfolio.
While it’s aimed at professionals in design, construction and operations of shopping centers and retail stores, it provides a good read for anyone interested in how sustainability thinking and green building design are changing this huge commercial sector. With projects and concepts featured in full color, the book features more than 30 green retail developments from North America, Europe, South America, Asia and Australia, as well as interviews with 25 leading industry experts.
You can order the softcover version of the book from the ICSC or from Amazon.com.
Testimonials:
Mary Lou Fiala, Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer, Regency Centers:
“Sustainable Retail Development does an excellent job of discussing the opportunities available to retail developers for adopting high-performance building design. Addressing and understanding the split incentives between retail developers and their tenants is the first step to finding solutions that reward both sides.”
Martin Townsend, Director, Building Research Establishment, U.K.
“An authoritative book which is not only a pleasure to read from cover to cover, increasing the knowledge of the reader with the turn of every page, but also a book that can easily be used for quick reference. A must for all wanting to know about the current state of sustainability in the retail sector.”
“Jerry Yudelson has done a first-class job in collecting constructive initiatives, examples and ideas from all over—not only from the USA—to assist retailers and retail property owners everywhere in pursuing a more sustainable business model.”
—Milton Cockburn, Executive Director, Shopping Centre Council of Australia
“In good economic times, or in bad, green buildings and operations are here to stay. Jerry Yudelson provides a glimpse of some of the best industry practices worldwide, strategies to implement an effective green business plan and an invaluable road map for sustainable retail real estate.”
—Arco Rehorst, Technical Director, Multi Asset Management, Gouda, The Netherlands
“[To think, feel and act sustainably, companies need to be able to draw on best industry practices and] Sustainable Retail Development provides an excellent source for such practices in retail real estate. With examples from Austria to America and from Australia to Portugal, it gives a practical view of sustainability and what green shopping centers and retail stores can contribute to the corporate bottom line.”
—Prof. Dr. Filipa Fernandes, Spar European Shopping Centers, Salzburg, Austria
“Jerry Yudelson provides powerful insight into both why and how retail shopping centers should design and build green.”
—Romily Madew, Chief Executive, Green Building Council of Australia, Sydney
“Sustainable Retail Development is a very impressive work. Undoubtedly, it will be an invaluable resource for architects and other professionals involved in the design, construction and renovation of shopping centers and retail stores."
—Lauren Yarmuth, Principal, YRG Sustainability, Denver/New York
"Sustainable Retail Development" is a great snapshot of the transformation that the professional and consumer market will begin to witness in the retail industry. Jerry Yudelson provides a solid overview of what retailers should know to position themselves for the green transformation.”
—Justin Doak, Founder, Ecoxera retail consultancy, Austin, Texas
The past two weeks have been overwhelming, hence the silence, and aside from meetings, we haven't anything new to show regarding our own SIPs prefab house kit. [Now, about the *other* prefab house kits being built... (claps hands over mouth) Ahem, more on these later! : ) ]
Instead, we have spent time over the past weekends exploring Richmond's James River, which we never had access to until we bought a vintage Boston Whaler. It's amazing what a little river access can do for a family! We can now hook up the boat and in 15 minutes be at the river, watching bald eagles, blue heron, turtles and fish with our children.
Our original plan was to visit an artist's studio he built with structural insulated panels (SIP) but we digressed and instead sat outside watching the children play.... enjoyed the day and company of each other while discussing Woodstock documentaries, green living, and off grid net zero systems.
According to the World Resources Institute, Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) are:
“Tradable instruments which can be used to meet voluntary renewable energy targets as well asto meet compliance requirements for renewable energy policies. A REC is a certificate that indicates the generation of one megawatt hour (MWh) of electricity from an eligible source of renewable power. Each REC denotes the underlying generation source, location of generation,and year of generation (a.k.a. “vintage”).“
World Resources Institute (WRI) The Bottom Line on Renewable Energy Certificates – November 2008
Many LEED Rating Systems currently encourage the purchase of RECs as a compliance path under the “Green Power” or “On-site & Off-site Renewable Energy” credit. The intent and requirements for this credit reads as follows:
“Encourage the development and use of grid-source, renewable energy technologies on a net zero pollution basis.”
“The owner and project team have the option of purchasing Green-e accredited TradableRenewable Certificates (RECs). In this case, the team purchases a quantity of RECs equal to [apercentage] of the predicted annual electrical consumption over a two year period (which isequivalent to [double the percentage] of predicted annual electrical consumption if all of theRECs are purchased at one time).”
USGBC LEED for New Construction Version 2.2 – pages 227-231
The Obama Administration has turned into one giant experiement on how to stimulate the economy, while not over-taxing tax payers and not building more debt for future generations. Unfortuneately all three of these approaches tend to contradict each other. Still, in the almighty 'green' sector, investment now can create savings later.
Unlike other stimulus savings plans, such as a loan modification, green saving usually reward people who do not neccessarily need savings. People seeking economicly friendly building materials generally already have their economic budget well planned out, which is why they are finding ways to save moving forward, while improving the health of the environment they live in. That is why green taxbreaks don't cause controversy, while home loan modifcations, which help those who already screwed up, do.
Here are some of the ways the the Obama administration plans on helping green builders in your area through the "American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009" and other bills.
Green Schools - We've come a long way since schools were insulated with asbestos and whatever other cheap materials people could get their hands on. We can expect millions of dollars to be poured into K-12 higher education facilities, with green leanings on the forefront. If we are lucky enough, this will include the food that is served to students, as they are the ones you want to build up in the healthiest manner possible.
Public Housing- The Public Housing Capital Fund will receive billions for improvements, including priority for energy efficiency incentives and projects.
Job Training- Billions will go towards green job training for workers for jobs in energy efficiency and renewable energy sectors.
Green Federal Buildings- Green effiency requirements will only increase along with green materials. Billions are being directed towards this now.
The Everyday
The savings trickle down to homeowners who have continually paid off their homes on time. By investing in green roofs, indoor insulation and energy efficiency projects, you will save immediately through government give backs and long term on electric bills.
The Numbers
$100 million will go towards advanced buildings research that includes design, integrations and control of both new and old buildings.
$70 million are going to residential buildings which will traing workers and create 'green collar jobs'. This is intended to create a newer more advanced workforce. There are numerous tax breaks and technical assistance programs that will simply make it 'worth it' for home builders.
$72.5 million will go towards expanding Energy Star standards to accelerate energy efficient products and shift Energy Star into new areas.
$50 millions is going to higher efficiency light sources.
I remember during the election John McCain mocked Obama for his energy efficiency tip of filling up the air for your tires. Well, with just a little research, it's obvious he is attempting to do much more than that.
Signed into law on February 17, 2009 by President Obama the Recovery Act does include measures to enhance energy independence but exactly how far does the stimulus package go towards a Greener economy? By some accounts only $60 billion of the allotted $787 billion dollars will support shovel-ready traditional and “green technology” water, wastewater and energy infrastructure needs at the state and local level. Under the specific heading of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy $16,800,000,000 will be divvied up by the Department of Energy into various energy programs. A sizeable portion ($3,200,000,000) will be made available for Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants. These grants must adhere to the criteria set forth by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. Specifically defined as implementation of programs authorized under subtitle E of title V.
While this is a large amount of money - proportionately speaking - is it enough given the task at hand? In large part energy technologies in this country haven’t changed since Thomas Edison designed the Pearl power plant in Manhattan in 1882. Can 125 years of complacency be turned around with a mere 2.5% of the stimulus package directed towards the solution? Stay tuned.
Our government does appear to be on the right track to a certain extent. It seems they do see value in achieving efficiency for their own buildings. The Real Property Activities Federal Building Fund has set aside $4,500,000,000 to convert GSA facilities to High-Performance Green Buildings. Green-retrofits are also on the agenda for other government housing programs including the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
The first goal is to harmonize with the site. Real estate folks like to say, "location, location, location," and the same is really true in ecological design: understanding the topography, the microclimate, the vegetation and the ecosysystems that are at work at a place and really trying to put those into action.
The past two weeks have been overwhelming, hence the silence, and aside from meetings, we haven't anything new to show regarding our own 
Our original plan was to visit an artist's studio he built with 
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