Starting in 2010 all single family homes in Hawaii will be required to have solar hot water heaters. A bill signed by the state’s Republican governor, Linda Lingle, makes the state the first to require solar hot water for all new residences.

“Hawaii relies on imported fossil fuels more than any other state, with about 90 percent of its energy sources coming from foreign countries, according to state data.” - ENN

A non-freezing climate like Hawaii does not even require the additional equipment needed to prevent freezing, as is needed in many other states in the continental US.  While solar hot water would seem to be a no-brainer for Hawaii, it can be reasonably cost effective even in cold weather states.

Rather than circulating the water directly, solar hot water systems either use an anti-freeze solution circulating in the lines, and then transfer the heat to the water with a heat exchanger.  Or, solar hot water systems can be set up to drain back and empty the system on cold winter nights to prevent freezing, and only circulate water through the system when conditions are favorable.

More about Solar Hot Water:

GreenBuildingTalk: Solar Hot Water and Heating — Is it Right for You?

Concealed Solar Hot Water

Weekly DIY: Solar Shower

Solar Water Heaters Soon to be Part of the Hawaiian Landscape

via: EcoGeek and ENN

image by: Stan Zurek under GNU Free Documentation license via Wikipedia

Whoever designed this game has no understanding of real green building in any meaningful sense. Instead of providing any insight or education about green building, the game reduces design of a green house to nothing more than a couple of mouse clicks. “Choose the climate construction materials and energy sources and see how green you can be.” The oversimplification this presents is a huge disservice to visitors to the site who play the game.

To start, there are six climate regions to choose from, and then you can choose one of six types of construction materials (though it’s interesting to learn that in addition to wood and brick, ‘apartment’ is also a construction material - who knew?) This allows a matrix of 36 combinations, to which you can add options from the two remaining categories. (See how easy architecture is? You only have to deal with four things!)

Energy and Efficiency Options are the last variables. Unlike your first choices, you can pick more than one item in each of these categories. Then you can click on ‘Check Efficiency’ and see what your home’s efficiency rating is (higher is supposedly better).

I found it mind boggling that, if you don’t like your efficiency score in this game, you can just choose another climate. Evidently (in this game’s rules, at least), the best solution for getting efficient homes is for everyone to move to warm, temperate climates. And while there is a national demographic trend in that direction, that does not make it a reasonable or sustainable option. Certainly a house in Louisiana is going to need less energy for heating than does one in Wisconsin. But the over-emphasis on choosing a moderate climate as a solution, rather than finding the best solution for each region, makes the game rather pointless.

Even more egregious is the fact that adding more and more stuff (which increases cost) is a positive strategy in the game. This is where I have my most serious reservations about “Design Your Dream Home”. The message seems to be a consumerist fantasy where you just buy more stuff and your efficiency improves. Tacking on a third or fourth energy system increases your efficiency score in the game. That’s not how it works in the real world, and it promotes a wrong-headed, “buy our way out of our problems” mentality that completely misses the point in green building.

I am also appalled that the game represents solar power being more efficient than geothermal (and they really mean ground-source heat pumps), but geothermal is represented as being three times as expensive. The scale of various elements is also way out of line (choosing recycling costs $1000 of your $100,000 budget, as does choosing energy efficient lighting).

Sure, I realize it’s only a game. But by presenting itself as it does, with informational and educational content, they certainly ought to get a few more things right. Good online games that inform as you play them do exist; see the
Climate Challenge Game for a good example of this. Personally, I would like to see some more discussion in the game about how the choices work together or not, to make it more meaningful and informative. I’d also like to re-balance the game to bring some options more into line with reality. After all, with the instructions to “Mix and match components and build the most efficient home possible” the answer ought to be something better than: “move to San Diego.” Locally appropriate should mean something.

Link (if you want see it yourself): Design Your Dream Home

or, instead, read about Green Homes for Regular People

The Drake Landing Solar Community collects solar energy in a heat storage fluid through an array of solar panels on the roof of each home and covering all of the garages at the back of each home. The heated fluid is transferred to a neighborhood energy center, and then into the ground beneath an insulated layer, where the heat is stored in the earth.

Combined together, the 52 home community is able to collect and store enough energy from the sun during the summer that the ground storage temperatures reach 80 degrees C (176 F). This heat is sufficiently insulated beneath the ground that it can be drawn from throughout the winter to provide heat and hot water.

The homes in the community are moderately sized, ranging from 1,492 to 1,664 square feet, and are insulated to a level 30% higher than the average home in Canada in order to keep the energy needs low enough to work with the system. The homes are also closely located to one another. This provides a more walkable neighborhood, as well as reducing the lengths that the fluid for the solar heating system needs to travel.

Entire Neighborhood Has Shared Solar Heating

The system works in part due to the scale of the project utilizing the combined capacity of the entire community. A similar system scaled down to a single family home version would not work as efficiently simply because too much heat would be lost. But the scale of a system for 52 households makes this a feasible project.

While the technology is similar to a ground source heat pump, which relies on a relatively stable, constant temperature of the ground, the Drake Landing Community is actually storing heat throughout the summer and then relying on that banked heat during the winter.

Solar heating is a more exciting prospect than solar generation of electricity because heating is a much larger percentage of a home’s total energy use (60% for space heating, 20% for water heating, and 20% for appliances, lights, and other electrical loads).

Related articles on Green Building Elements:

Geothermal Energy and Ground Source Heat Pumps

GreenBuildingTalk: Solar Hot Water and Heating — Is it Right for You?

Traditional Neighborhood Development and LEED Go Hand in Hand

Green Communities, Part 1: New Urbanism

images via: DLSC

On June 23, 1988, NASA Scientist James E. Hansen testified on Capitol Hill before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Hansen told the Senate committee that global warming was real – and was happening now.

Other news sources also had articles and coverage of the 20th anniversary of ‘global warming.’ Links to some of those stories can also be found on the Island Press site.

Download the entire book (15.7MB) or James E. Hansen’s chapter, “The Greenhouse Effect: Impacts on Current Global Temperature and Regional Heat Waves” (3. 6MB) in PDF format from Island Press at: http://www.islandpress.org/content/index.php?pid=142

Those once-radical ideas have started to go mainstream. In 1993, Berkebile helped create a new group that wasn’t confined to architects: the U.S. Green Building Council. The inaugural meeting of the council fit into a conference room at AIA headquarters. Last November, more than 22,000 green-building advocates and entrepreneurs traveled to Chicago for the council’s annual conference.

Read a profile of Berkebile via: The Pitch

Smaller buildings are potentially more affordable, are better suited to livable neighborhoods, and serve the needs of smaller families (while our houses have more than doubled in size since 1950, the size of the average family has actually decreased in that same period). There are already developers who understand this, but sometimes, the municipalities make it impossible to build smaller homes.

Marty Pieroni, a developer in Kuna, Idaho was turned down on his request to build some houses smaller than the 1,400 square foot minimum set by the city. With rising energy costs and the current housing credit crunch, there is an increasing demand for smaller, more efficient houses. But the city government (whose tax base is determined by the value of the developed property within its bounds) does not want to allow smaller properties and has turned down the request.

According to an editorial in the Idaho Statesman, ‘Kuna, with nearly 15,000 people, has pushed bigger houses on builders and developers to prevent the community from forever being tagged as a city of inexpensive starter homes. The city today routinely makes the 1,400-square-foot minimum a condition developers must meet.’

The developer has proposed building 20 smaller (1,250 square foot) homes in a subdivision where a 1,400 square foot minimum size was already set. If the concern is taxable value, smaller homes can be built with better materials in order to keep the property values up. Better materials are often also those which last longer, which also betters the environmental impact of the building by needing less frequent replacement.

The average size of a new home in Kuna last year was 1,945 square feet. But, that is more than many people need. A 1,250 square foot house (which, by way of disclosure, is larger than the house my family of four lives in) is still plenty of house for a single occupant.

‘Pieroni said several prospective customers recently told him they wanted homes in his subdivision, but didn’t need 1,400 square feet. A single woman wanted a house to be her last before she dies. A man sought a home for his mother. Pieroni asked to build homes at 1,250 square feet. He said a well-designed, 1,250 square-foot house would not detract from the values of nearby, larger homes. “Small doesn’t mean cheap,” he said. “One hundred and fifty square feet less than somebody else isn’t going to ruin a subdivision.”‘

Kuna is far from an isolated instance. There are many such cases where sometimes well-meaning laws and regulations work at cross-purposes to making a better environment.  Reasonable strategies for more sustainable practices in building (as well as in other fields) need to be given wider consideration.  As a positive example, the City of Chicago, which has been fairly progressive and accommodating of green building practices, recently amended its building code to specifically allow wind turbines on rooftops to exceed building height limits.

via: Cohousing-L mailing list and Idaho Statesman editorial

image via: Re/Max Town & Country website

Minneapolis already has ordinances on the books against trucks and buses idling. Cars (with some exceptions, including being stuck in traffic) are now required to avoid excessive idling as well.

“For the driver, reducing idling saves money in fuel. On average, a car will burn more than half a gallon of fuel for every hour spent idling. In general, 10 seconds of idling uses more fuel than restarting the car, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.” (KSTP)

via: EnviroWonk

image (CC-BY-2.5) by: Steewen1

As fuel prices rise, solar panels will become an increasingly attractive alternative to ordinary fossil-fueled portable generators to provide power for appliances and amenities when a connection to line voltage is not available. RV campers typically have a number of electrical demands, including refrigerators, air conditioners, lights, and entertainment electronics. Rather than relying on noisy, fuel consuming generators, campers are using solar panels to provide electricity for their needs.

Some time back, I came across a simple, motorless,automatic solar tracker that could be used to keep a solar panel oriented toward the sun during the course of the day. Keeping the panel aimed directly at the sun allows it to get more power for a longer period of time. This device had been developed by an Australian for use by “caravaners” (RV campers), who were already flocking to the use of solar panels to provide for their electrical needs while camping.

In addition to gaining familiarity with the basic technology of PV, campers will learn to balance the limited power provided by the PV panel with their power needs. A camper with a limited amount of power from a PV panel will learn to be more conservative with their power use so as to maximize the benefit of their solar panel and be able to operate the systems they want to use.

Although many people might be reluctant to install solar panels on their homes, those who have had some prior experience with the use of solar panels will be more willing to take the same plunge for their own homes, even if it is a limited application. As much as cost and availability are limiting factors in the adoption of solar panels, education is another component. With more people becoming more familiar with solar photovoltaics, even if that comes from an unexpected direction, acceptance of solar power will continue to rise.

Links: Eco RVing
EcoGeek
Portasol Trackers

“The consumer advocacy group is working with cities across the nation to urge local restaurants and chefs to sign a pledge to switch to serving only tap water, help educate customers about the benefits of tap over bottled water.”

Participating restaurants in the program are:

Memphis, TN
Circa
Stella
Boscos Squared
R.P. Tracks

Boulder, CO
Sunflower Restaurant
Turley’s
Leaf Vegetarian Restaurant

Durango, CO
Turtle Lake Refuge
Carver Brewing Co.
College Drive Café

Omaha, NE
Dixie Quicks Magnolia Room

Madison, WI
Lombardino’s Restaurant
Harvest Restaurant

Ann Arbor, MI
Zingerman’s Roadhouse
Café Verde Fair Trade Coffee Bar
Weber’s Restaurant

Albuquerque, NM
The Frontier Restaurant
Mario’s Pizza

Image via Food & Water Watch

The Christman Construction offices in Lansing MI occupy roughly half of the 64,000 square foot building which was initially built in 1928. The project cost $12 million, and also benefited from brownfield credits as well as state and federal historic preservation tax credits.

The project managed to achieve the unprecedented “double platinum” by registering the Core and Shell using LEED CS for the building renovation, and then separately registering the interior build-out with LEED CI (Commercial Interiors). Other tenants in the building may or may not pursue LEED certification for their spaces.

In addition to meeting the requirements for LEED for both the building core and shell and the Christman office interiors, the project also followed the guidelines for historic preservation for this building:

All of the preservation work on the building was approved by the State Historic Preservation Office and the National Park Service to ensure that standards protecting the National Register building were upheld. Restoration of historically significant building features included the main entrance doors and plaques, the mica shade light fixtures and Pewabic wall tiles in the main hall, and the light fixtures and verdigris bronze handrail finish in the stairwell and lower level. Other restored and reused building components included door hardware, wood trim, wood windows, and floors in the entry and historic stair made of Bluestone or black and white linoleum. Bricks salvaged from the removal of the penthouse were used to patch exterior walls.

The project reused more than 90% of the existing building exterior. The building also allows extensive natural daylight and views to almost all spaces in the building. Building systems include individually controlled HVAC systems for inhabitant comfort. A computerized building management system (BMS) manages the HVAC and lighting to maximize efficiency and maintain comfort based on occupancy and climatic conditions. Building maintenance is also connected to the BMS.

Recycling was also an important aspect of the construction.

By weight, 77% of all CI project construction and demolition waste was diverted from the landfill through a reclamation and recycling program. Many components of the building were reused thereby tapping the inherent embodied energy and avoiding the need to use more energy and resources to produce new products.

Building Information:
Size: 64,000 square feet
Architect: Smith Group
LEED-CS Platinum (Mutual Building core and shell) and LEED-CI Platinum (Christman office build-out)
Construction cost: $12 million
Builder and Owner: Christman Construction Inc.

Christman Press Release
Christman Case Study (PDF)
Crain’s Detroit Business

6/13: edited to add Building Information

On the other hand, when stormwater is allowed to infiltrate back into the ground, it is cleaned and treated naturally by percolating through the soil. Both permeable pavers, which are hard surface units typically made of concrete, and pervious concrete, which is a special mix of concrete with open pores that allows water to readily flow through it, will allow stormwater even from a heavy downpour to travel into the ground where it will be cleaned as it recharges the water table.

Chicago’s U.S. Cellular Field, the home of the Chicago White Sox, is also now home to the largest installation of permeable pavers in the country. A parking lot the size of four and a half football fields has been covered with pavers, instead of asphalt or concrete. The joints between the pavers allow stormwater to seep directly into the ground, rather than needing to be collected with drains and underground pipes. Permeable pavers and pervious concrete let the water directly into the ground, and the slow uptake of water across the entire surface is adequate to absorb the water from even the heaviest storms.

In addition to being better for the environment, the permeable pavers also saved money for the owner.

The ISFA ( Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, the project developer and owner) achieved a $400,000 cost savings compared with what it would have cost to install and maintain traditional asphalt paving, Royse said.

Not only does installation and maintenance of permeable pavement typically cost less than it would for poured-in-place concrete and bituminous asphalt, but it is highly durable and stronger that those materials and it lasts twice as long as traditional paving, according to an ISFA press statement.

It’s hard to argue with the combination of better for the environment and less expensive for the owner. While the pavers themselves might be more expensive than installing asphalt, the owner saves money by not needing to put in drains and pipes that would otherwise be needed to handle the stormwater. That avoids a lot of labor cost and material use. Furthermore, the light colored pavers help reduce the urban heat island effect by reflecting more solar energy rather than absorbing it where it becomes heat.

via: Medill Reports

The AIA has been supportive of green building for many years, primarily through its Committee on the Environment (COTE) which features the annual COTE Top Ten Green Buildings recognizing some of the best green building design in the country, and the Architecture 2030 coalition. And, earlier this year, a new initiative from the AIA called “Walk the Walk” has further promoted the involvement of architects in promoting sustainability.

So, it seems a natural evolution (though surprising that it has taken so long) that the AIA and USGBC have announced an agreement to develop a strategic alliance for “advancing the two organizations’ shared goals and complementing existing collaborative activities that include continuing education, research, and the AIA-coordinated 2030 coalition.”

While the US Green Building Council (USGBC) has been in existence since 1993, there has never been any direct connection between the two organizations, despite their parallel interests. The synergy that will come from the two most significant players in the field of green buildings should help further move sustainable, environmentally friendly design away from being a specialty and towards being the standard of good design.

When you are in the shower, the hot water from the shower strikes your body and transfers some heat before it falls away. But most of the heat in that water simply goes down the drain. Reportedly, 80 to 90 percent of the energy used to heat water for the shower is lost down the drain.

A drain water heat recovery unit (DWHR) transfers heat from water running down the drain to cold water going to the water heater. This preheats the water so that the heater is starting with warmer water, and thus needs less energy. A DWHR unit can save as much as 25-30% of the energy used for water heating, and payback periods range from 3 to 7 years, depending on use patterns.

The principle is rather simple. Cold water coming in to the building goes through a coil that is wrapped around the main drain pipe. Hot water running down the drain transfers its heat to the incoming water and preheats it before it goes to the water heater. As hot water is drawn from the water heater, it draws in cold water to be heated. If that water going to the heater can be pre-heated, then less energy is needed to heat it to the required temperature.

This is true for both tank-style water heaters, as well as for tankless water heaters. But, because tankless water heaters can only raise the temperature of the water by a certain degree range, having the warmer input helps further boost the output temperature they are able to provide. Water heat recovery also makes a great deal of sense in conjunction with solar hot-water systems.

Because the DWHR unit is typically installed on the main drain stack, it is not typically something for a do-it-yourself installation. A plumber will have to cut out a portion of the drain pipe and install the DWHR unit, as well as routing the water supply to the water heater through the DWHR. This is one reason that makes this less of a retrofit option for many homes.  However, there are no moving parts, and once installed, this system will passively reclaim heat from the wastewater going down the drain any time warmer water is going down the drain.

Not every household is suited to using a The best application of a water heat recovery unit is in conjunction with a shower. Bathwater sits in the tub, so, with nothing going down the drain during the time the tub is filling, no preheating takes place. And then, when the tub is drained, there is usually no other hot-water demand, meaning that the heat is lost instead of being recaptured.

In new construction, where the water heater can be located close to the main wastewater line, a DWHR makes real sense. Also, for commercial applications in hotels, apartment buildings, and other places where large amounts of hot water are used, a DWHR can make a difference in the amount of energy needed for water heating.

Further information:

GFX Drainwater Heat Recovery

Rocky Mountain Institute Report

Image: (cc-by-sa-2.0) by Chad Miller via Wikimedia

The new draft version will be LEED version 3, and will be the next step in the LEED program. Rather than another incremental improvement in the existing LEED, the new version promises to take new steps in order to advance and improve upon the already successful program. LEED version 3 is intended to ” strike the optimal balance between market uptake and technical advancement.” The building industry has already begun moving in a new direction, and the pressure that LEED has applied has certainly been a factor in that. For instance, many more building products incorporate recycled materials (and their manufacturers broadly advertise that fact as well). In some instances, that is used to obtain points in the LEED rating system. But whether a building is registered with LEED or not, the benefit of those improved products applies to all buildings across the board.

An outline of the major changes being incorporated in the new system was provided in advance by USGBC and includes four major points:

Alignment of Prerequisites and Credits

There are now many different flavors of LEED, with special rating systems for schools, hospitals, and other niches in addition to the basic LEED-NC for new construction. The credits for different specialties are now coordinated and unified. This makes it easier for building designers and does not require separate analysis of the building depending on its particular sub-specialty.

Predictable Development Cycle

For many years, building codes have been regularly reviewed, updated, and re-issued in order to continue to advance the industry and to respond to best practices in construction as well as accommodating new advances in building technology. Architects and builders are accustomed to the three year cycle for building codes that has been in place for many years. And, while LEED is not a building code, it too needs to be updated and improved on a regular basis. This revision should begin a regular schedule of evaluation and improvement, so that LEED continues to represent leadership in green buildings.

Transparent Weighting of Credits

Different credits are now going to be given different points “so that a given credit’s point value more accurately reflects its potential to either mitigate the negative or promote positive environmental impacts of a building.” This should help offset the criticism that “a bike rack is worth as much as the whole building mechanical system.” The truth of the matter is not as simple as that, but the new system should make that less of an issue, and help improve the overall rating of buildings and make it more meaningful.

Regionalization

One point that many green builders have stressed is that different regions have different needs as far as the building performance. LEED recognizes the use of regional materials, but has not given different weight to credits based on regional needs and priorities. Water use reduction is far more crucial in other parts of the country than they are in the upper midwest, where I work. The new system will give more credit for those measures that are most beneficial to their regions, and adopt less of a one-size-fits-all mentality.

There will still be generalizations within the LEED system. Green building is far more than a single checklist, but LEED has proven to be a powerful tool for promoting green building. Once the draft version is out and discussion is underway, we will aim to bring you more information about the new version of LEED.

Link: Draft LEED v3 for public comment

Image Source: USGBC

See also:

LEED previously on Green Building Elements
USGBC and ASID Launch REGREEN: Green Remodeling Guidelines

Off the Grid Homes combines beautiful images with technical information for sustainable homes.

The book by architect Lori Ryker is less of a manual for systems to be used in off the grid homes (though it does include good information about the systems and strategies that are used in sustainable off the grid living) and more of a showcase of state of the art homes at the intersection of appealing architecture and high sustainability.

For many, the phrase “off the grid home” brings associations of a rudimentary, hand-built, rustic cabin. It usually suggests a rough hewn character and images of anything other than refinement and elegance. But that image is far from the case in examples presented in this book.

The case studies presented in this book offer examples of architectural works by firms such as Arkin/Tilt Architects, BLIP design, and the author’s own firm: Ryker/Nave Design. The book includes six case studies of reasonable-sized single family homes (from 1440 square feet to 4200 square feet). Each of these private residences is a comfortable example of an architecturaly appealing home that would catch the observer’s eye in any case. The fact that they are off the grid homes as well simply adds to the appeal.

The examples are well spread out, to showcase a variety of approaches and conditions where off the grid homes can be located, though from my midwestern perspective, they are all western homes, located in Montana California, Washington, and one in Tasmania. Two of the examples are situated in urban environments, while the other four are located in rural locations, more along the lines of what first comes to mind when the phrase off the grid is mentioned. In addition to numerous photographs of each house, there is also a section at the end of each case outlining both the passive- and the active-systems used in each project, as well as a listing of many of the materials used in order to make each project sustainable.

There are some surprises in the case study selections. For instance, the Capitol Hill House in Seattle might not immediately match with most expectations of an “off the grid” house. It is located in an urban neighborhood, and, although it is connected to the electrical grid with a net metering set-up, it’s photovoltaic panels provide nearly 100 percent of the energy the house needs on an annual basis. And not only is the Capitol Hill House an off the grid house, but it is also an example of a remodeled homerather than one that was built new; sustainable and off the grid in a home renovation.

Lori Ryker explained her criteria for what qualified as off-the-grid, saying, “it became clear to me that there are many aspects of energy and resource independence that are applicable to this term. For instance, rainwater collection, used to reduce a homeowner’s reliance on municipal water, provides a component of off-the-grid living, yet the house may not be 100 percent off the grid. In the same way, someone may elect to integrate a photovoltaic [PV] system that is large enough to support all of their electrical-energy needs but live within the city limits, which requires them to remain tied to the municipal infrastructure. They may not be living 100 percent off the grid, but they have found a way to produce their own energy while continuing to live within the density of the city.”

There are also clear, well explained sections discussing various technologies, with descriptions of Water Collection and Gray Water Reuse, Photovoltaic Systems, Wind Turbine Systems, Solar Hot-Water Systems, and Geothermal Systems. While a specific system is used in each case, the technical discussion addresses the system in a wider context, explaining various options and different methods that can be used to accomplish these systems.

The off the grid homes presented in this book are not the isolationist enclaves you might first expect, but are showcases of well designed buildings. The ideal of being off the grid is reflected in an approach to how the building works, and how it reduces impacts on the environment.

Lori Ryker has assembled a wonderful book that nicely bridges between an architectural book with fabulous pictures and a technical book on sustainable design. It shows how wonderful a sustainable home can be, both in its design and its operation, bringing together the best of both worlds and making for some truly remarkable homes.  It is an appealing combination, well recommended to anyone who is looking for examples of how other homes have incorporated sustainability.

Off the Grid Homes - Case Studies for Sustainable Living
Lori Ryker with photographs by Audrey Hall
128 pages, color photographs
Gibbs Smith, Publisher

Off the Grid Homes [Amazon]

Building with Awareness

Renewable Energy Handbook

Reviews on Green Building Elements

First 100% Off-Grid Green Building in San Francisco

One of the jurors from the panel that selected this year’s COTE Top Ten wrote about her experience and some of the things that she saw in the jury. And the question of great architecture versus green architecture was also raised in the AIA weekly newsletter this past week as well. The COTE Top Ten showcases some very attractive buildings with some serious green building credentials (LEED Gold and Platinum buildings and a building that claims “carbon neutral opearations”, to name a few). But the larger question seems to be how much green building and good building design are, or can be, connected.

Architect Rebecca Henn is a PhD candidate at the University of Michigan and was also the “student” member of this year’s jury. She shared some of her thoughts about the COTE jury process at BuildingGreen. My lament that the winners were all too much of the same type seemed to be echoed in her comments, as well:

“Which was a larger accomplishment: a big federal agency who regularly produces dim bland boxes now getting a more sustainable and beautiful building, or yet another LEED Platinum-rated environmental center (yawn…)?

“What about the inspirational design done for a project that faced budget cuts (twice) and a hurricane, but still stuck to its sustainable goals? The house we wanted oh-so-badly to give an award to had 4,000 square feet for two people. The big box store that could have been an exemplar of sustainability was, frankly, really ugly. The history of environmental design has enough poor aesthetic examples for people to use in repudiation of environmental goals. We refused to feed that fire.”

Good architecture is not easy, but the balance of design and sustainability needs to take both into consideration. This was the direction of another relevant article. While not directly addressing the issue of this year’s COTE Top Ten, Michael Crosbie writes about The Duty to Beauty in the AIArchitect weekly newsletter. In his article, he quotes James Wines, from a recent visit to the University of Hartford architecture program:

“An aesthetically inferior work of architecture,” says Wines, “no matter how environmentally correct in terms of green technology, cannot justify the investment, enhance a client’s public image, or qualify as sustainable design, simply because people will never want to keep a boring building around.” Great architecture and green architecture are one and the same—you cannot have one without the other.

With the current bandwagon of green building rolling along, everyone is looking to get on board. In trade publications now, page after page of ads for every imaginable product in the construction realm are all trying to wrap themselves in the green mantle. Too often, green is being used as the determining factor in a project in place of good design, rather than melding the two and achieving something that surpasses the easy trade-offs and creates something truly worthy.

As Rebecca Henn writes: “Sustainability needs to be seen in our profession less as a technological fix reserved for the spec writers and engineers. Instead, it should be seen as our responsibility to society in exchange for the state-licensed monopoly we enjoy. If we don’t hold both beauty and sustainability as equal cultural commitments, then we might as well hand over our licenses and call ourselves aesthetic consultants.”

Image Source: Aldo Leopold Legacy Center via AIA COTE Top Ten

Last week Coskata announced the location for their pilot demonstration plant, a facility that will begin producing 40,000 gallons of ethanol per year, starting in 2009. While that is only a tiny drop in the proverbial bucket, it’s another step along the path to having a full-scale plant in operation and producing 50 to 100 million gallons of ethanol per year.

Unlike other ethanol producers, the Coskata process will not be producing ethanol from fermenting corn, but instead will be incinerating carbon bearing materials in a plasma arc furnace to produce syngas, a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, which is fed into the bioreactors where anaerobic bacteria consume the gasses and produce ethanol.

This pilot plant will be using a version of the plasma gasification system to break down the feedstock and produce the syngas the microbes feed upon to produce ethanol. Interestingly enough, the site for the pilot plant is on the grounds of the Westinghouse Plasma Center, near Pittsburgh PA. 25 years ago General Motors (a partner with Coskata on developing and promoting their ethanol manufacturing process) and Westinghouse Electric developed a high-volume plasma torch furnace, called a plasma arc cupola in order to produce molten iron for automotive engine blocks, crankshafts, and brake components. And now, this same technology is being used to provide fuel for transportation.

The feedstock for this pilot plant will include a variety of source materials, including some municipal waste. Presumably, as a pilot plant, they will want to test a range of feedstocks to evaluate performance and efficiency with a variety of materials.

While the plasma arc completely incinerates the materials fed into the furnace, it should not be confused with ordinary trash incineration. The plasma arc strips materials down to their component atoms at extremely high temperatures, and the entire output stream is contained, with the syngas being fed into the Coskata system for fuel production, and other materials forming a slag that can be processed to extract useful minerals. Unlike conventional trash incineration, there is no exhaust from this form of incineration being released into the atmosphere. It stays completely self contained.

And though the Coskata pilot plant may or may not be set up in the same fashion as the StarTech system, the plasma torch can actually draw enough energy for its operation from a inline generator using the heat from the superheated syngas to provide the electricity to run the torch. As long as material is being fed into the system, it will remain self-sustaining. The analysis of this system indicates a ratio of 8 units of energy produced for every unit of energy used to produce it. This is far superior to food-stock based ethanol production methods, as well as some more traditional extraction methods.

More information:
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Coskata press release
More About the Coskata Process
GM Announces Biofuel Partnership: Cheap, Green Ethanol?
GM Announces New Cellulosic Ethanol Partnership with Mascoma Corp

Cross-posted at EcoGeek.org

via: GM Next Blog

As has happened before, with gas prices continuing to climb, the demand for improved fuel economy will increase as well, and all manner of improvements and upgrades that promise to help get better mileage will be touted. Some offer real benefits; others are pure snake oil.

An improvement that offers both improved mileage and increased horsepower seems counterintuitive at first. After all, the tradeoff that hybrids and other economy vehicles offer seem to be one of reduced horsepower and acceleration in exchange for improved fuel economy. So how can you have both?

The Pulse Plug is a replacement spark plug that incorporates a capacitor (an “integrated circuit” according to the manufacturer) to increase the power of the spark that ignites the fuel. The manufacturer claims increases of 6 to 8 percent (which works out to about an extra 3 MPG for a Toyota Prius). While it would be misleading to draw a direct connection between the power of the spark and the power from the engine, after all, it’s not the spark that is propelling the vehicle, any more than the temperature of the match determines how hot the barbecue will be. But could a stronger spark provide increased power through a more complete combustion of the fuel? If so, then, at least theoretically, less fuel would be needed for the same level of power - more complete combustion would be cleaner (less unburned hydrocarbons through the tail pipe as well as less fuel used overall).

I’m not prepared to offer judgment about this one. The test results from several vehicles are varied, and in some vehicles, the improved performance was fairly slight. The testing procedure being reported is the manufacturer’s own method, rather than an independent third-party test, which always adds a degree of skepticism to any results. In general, the results seemed to show greater fuel economy improvement with smaller engines (VW Jetta GLI, 1.8L Turbo; Honda S2000, 2.2L; and 2005 Toyota Prius) while larger engines (Jeep Wranger Umlimited, 3.8L; Pontiac TransAm, 5.7L) had smaller improvement figures.

Improved mileage and fuel economy comes through numerous small improvements. I’d be more suspicious of anything that claimed a double digit improvement or more, unless it was clearly a radical