Photovoltaic Systems

Archive for the ‘Conservation’ Category

It turns out that “building reuse almost always offers environmental savings over demolition and new construction,” according to a new study published by the Preservation Green Lab of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.  The Green Lab published its findings after a life cycle analysis of environmental impacts of various buildings located in four cities around the country.

Green LAB compared building reuse and renovation with new construction in four environmental areas (climate change, human health, ecosystem quality, and resource depletion), six building types (single-family, multifamily, commercial office, urban village mixed-use building, elementary school, and warehouse conversion), and four cities (Portland, Phoenix, Chicago, and Atlanta).

The Green Lab found it takes anywhere from 10-80 years for a new building that is 30% more efficient than an average-performing existing building to overcome — through efficient operations — the negative climate impact of construction.  The majority of buildings will take between 20-30 years to compensate for the climate impact of construction.

That being the case, a renovation that requires many new materials may reduce OR NEGATE the environmental benefits of building reuse such as in a situation where the footprint and use of the renovation remains the same.  In other words, an elementary school addition or warehouse conversion to office or residential use will not provide significant environmental advantages.

The study, you may note, doesn’t compare some of the greener buildings you’re used to seeing on this site.  The authors note that “further research is needed to clarify how impacts are altered if a new or existing building can be brought to a net-zero level using various technologies, including renewable energy.“  Keep in mind the standard — 30% more efficient than an average-performing existing building — isn’t all that high.

Download and read the report and then come back to share your thoughts …

[PDF] Download the full report by the Preservation Green Lab.

Credit: National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Related Articles on JetsonGreen.com:

1. New Free Primer on Design for Reuse
2. Green Building Market to Surge by 2015
3. A New Path for Green Building Codes

What’s planned for construction by students on an infill lot and aiming to meet the Living Building Challenge with LEED Platinum certification?  That would be Canada’s Greenest Home in Ontario.  Students enrolled in The Endeavour Centre’s Sustainable New Construction: Building a New Future program will build the 2,000 square-foot home during a five-month period this summer.

The home is expected to use a fraction of the energy of a conventional home and will have an energy-efficient foundation, prefabricated straw bale walls, grid-tied photovoltaics, solar hot water, rainwater collection, greywater recycling, composting toilets, and natural paints and finishes.

Canada’s Greenest Home will go on sale at the end of the program and proceeds will be used to help offset tuition costs.  Before that, though, there’s a lot to follow — including a blog with student feedback and commentary on the build.

[+] Follow the construction progress of Canada’s Greenest Home.

Credit: The Endeavour Centre. 

Related Articles on JetsonGreen.com:

1. Reclaimed Tiny House Built by Students
2. Blue Sky Homes to Build New Eco Home
3. The OC Gets a Luxury Platinum Home

Over Thanksgiving break, I enjoyed reading about this small, energy-efficient home in North Carolina built using the Harbinger plan offered by the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company.  Built to International Building Code requirements, the plan includes a loft, home office, kitchen, bathroom, living room, and deck — tightly placed in less than 500 square feet!  Details are hard to come by, but Tumbleweed sells this plan for $695 and estimates that it costs about $33,000 in materials to build.

[+] More about Harbinger Plans by Tumbleweed.

Credits: Daryl Shaw. 

Related Articles on JetsonGreen.com:

1. Popomo is a Simple Modern Tiny House
2. The First Passive House in North Carolina
3. Tiny Bungalows Unveiled by Tumbleweed

Colorado has millions of acres of pines throughout its forests that have been killed by an infestation of beetles. New Town Builders, a residential homebuilder in Denver, Colorado, has begun using salvaged wood from these trees for the structural framing of homes it is constructing. The company was approached about building a single demonstration home using wood from lodgepole pine trees which had been killed by the mountain pine beetle. New Town found that the wood was discolored but structurally sound and has now begun using the “blue wood” for all of their framing.

The past few summers have been particularly dry throughout the region, which provide ideal conditions for an outbreak of the beetles which have devastated the forests of lodgepole pine. The beetle kills the tree by tunneling under the bark and cutting off nutrients to the tree. The wood turns blue when the beetle exposes it to blue stain fungus. While this changes the appearance of the wood, it is structurally still perfectly good.

Finding a use for the wood helps to conserve other forests, and will help protect these forests as the dead trees are harvested rather than left as a fire hazard (which is doubly a cause for concern with the present dry conditions in the area). Colorado has more than three million acres of devastated timber forests.

Because of the dry conditions in the region, beetle-killed trees that have been dead for as long as 10 years may still be harvestable and usable. And New Town Builders is also now using regionally harvested material, rather than getting their framing lumber from more distant suppliers.

The company is finding that the blue wood is not significantly cheaper than other framing lumber. The trees still need to be cut down and transported, milled and graded like any other lumber, so there is little cost savings. But, New Town is taking advantage of a local resource and supporting local jobs at the mill that provides the wood, and transport is less expensive since the source is more local. It is hoped that other builders in the region will recognize the usability of this local resource and begin using it, as well.

Note: This should not to be confused with BluWood a coated, treated wood product.

Credits: CC BY-SA 3.0 Hustvedt (#1), USDA Forest Service (#3); New Town Builders (#2).

Related Articles on JetsonGreen.com:

1. New Thermally Broken rSTUD Lumber
2. The Steward of Our Forests [Video]
3. How to Improve Home Cooling with Trees