When will this bumper sticker hit the road?

As building energy labeling takes hold in the marketplace the goal is to make energy efficiency cool and add social pressure.  For example the NRDC, Facebook and O-Power are partnering to make a Facebook app to help motivate people to compete to be more energy efficient among their friends.  With the goal of many for standard building energy labels below is one from the DOE and the Build America Challenge, could it translate to the bumper sticker below eventually?

Central Park over Miami

Ever wonder just how big Central Park is? (843 Acres, .5 miles by 2.5 miles)  If only Miami had a Central Park it would cover nearly all of Brickell and Downtown!  Bayfront Park which would be considered our marque park is 61 acres.

Jetson Green

I recently started writing for Jetson Green, a design oriented site for sustainable homes, natural materials and green technology.  More of my attention for those topics will now be headed towards Jetson Green and you can find all my articles here.

America’s Greatest Invention?

Today I celebrated our Independence Day by driving a few hundred miles on America’s great interstate highway system. Originally built to move our troops across the country in case of attack, is it still one of America’s greatest inventions? Spending 63.2B in taxpayer dollars (ARTBA) and killing nearly 40,000 citizens a year (NHTSA), is it time for some innovation? With over 46,876 miles of black asphalt can we reinvent Eisenhower’s transportation system? Perhaps we can design a system which:

- Doesn’t rely on foreign oil to function
- Restores urban and social fabric
- Increases community instead of inducing road rage
- Restores natural habitat corridors
- Increases safety
- Runs entirely off clean energy
- Saves individuals and families money
- Maintains the free flow of goods
- Spurs economic development and reduces reliance on tax revenue

Valuable Journals

I just recently stumbled upon the Journal of Urban Regeneration and Renewal.  I would like them to add a scope to encompass environmental regeneration as well but its current body of work (since ’07) still looks to be a valuable read.

The Journal of Green Building is another I found last fall which has great industry articles and research.

New World Order

A new way to look at the world…climate zones (hot & humid), not government/religious/economic.  This map contains all of the tropical or hot and humid climate zones of the world.  Miami (upper left dot) needs more collaboration with similar regions in South America, Africa and Asia Pacific to help solve sustainability issues.  This will be the first of a series of posts looking into vernacular architecture which has its origins with hot and humid climates.

Walkable?

Smart growth, TOD, TND, LEED-ND have all been in the news recently but what does it all mean?  What is a walkable community?  My vision for a walkable community is a mixed use neighborhood integrated into effective mass transportation systems  where a diverse community of mixed backgrounds and socioeconomic status thrive in a sustainable built environment; burying the sprawl based artifacts of interior facing malls and cul-de-sacs.

Image:  (Kendall, FL) Non Common-Sense Based Walking Routes/Distance and neighborhoods created by income bracket.

Mapnificent Artwork

I recently stumbled upon (not using StumbleUpon.com) a great new mapping tool, Mapnificent.  Essentially it allows you to map your mass transportation travel distance in over 30 cities worldwide by time.  How far could you go in 15, 20, 30 minutes, 2 hours?  There is even a tool allowing you to simultaneously map two people at different locations to determine which coffee shop they can both reach using mass transit in 10 minutes for a meeting.  You can watch the tutorial here.

While I plan on using the tool for its intended purpose I noticed a certain kind of beauty in watching the highlighted travel area expand and contract moving the real time, time bar.  Below is a new form of ‘data artwork’ of my 3o minute travel distance in Miami.  A similar output to the inkblot tests, I see a turkey…what do you see?

Learn Your Lumens

(As Posted to CleanTechies 9/28/10)  New labels for light bulb packaging will arrive in 2011 with the emphasis on Lumens instead of Watts as the measure of light output (brightness) and primary benchmark.  This is a much anticipated overhaul by the Federal Trade Commission which will help in the marketing and comparison of CFLs and LEDs to the old incandescent bulbs being phased out.

Traditionally one might say I need a 60 watt bulb.  This would refer to a 60 watt incandescent which has been the common everyday bulb since Edison’s 40 hour bulb in 1870.  When Compact Fluorescents came out they realized the consumer’s understanding of light and included a ‘incandescent watt equivalent’ on their packaging to demonstrate the savings.  With the variety of lighting options in today’s market this antiquated way of benchmarking lights is ineffective and will soon be gone.  Now brightness (lumens), light color or appearance (Kelvin temperature), life (hours) and energy consumption will all be factored on the product label much like reading a nutritional label.  The new label will push consumers to ditch the watt description in place of lumens and energy cost.

There is still room for improvement by logically combining the lumen output and cost/year into a  lumen/watt ratio (luminous efficacy) on the labels which could serve as the rule of efficiency for lighting much like miles per gallon does for a car; simply comparing input to output.  Labeling as mundane as it may initially seem is vital to any market.  Proper labeling is the key driver to market transformation and enables consumers to vote with their dollar, therefore driving change.

Hopefully the building market can follow the lighting and car market and mandate ‘Building Energy Performance Labels’ for all residential and commercial buildings so consumers will know immediately how certain homes, offices or buildings perform in regards to energy consumption.  The US Green Building Council’s LEED Rating System serves as an example to the industry of what proper labeling can do to value.  Their certification levels and LEED Facts label have helped quantify environmental benefits in the building sector as well as producing an easy to understand overview of the building’s sustainability aspects.

US Government Leads Race to Zero Energy Buildings

(As Posted to CleanTechies 7/8/10) The Department of Energy has just completed the nation’s largest Net-Zero Energy Building.  The 220,000 SFResearch Support Facility (RSF) at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado will hold 800 employees when it officially opens in August along with its Net-Zero and LEED Platinum status.

Achieving the essence of a Net-Zero building the RSF will produce as much energy as is consumed by the building.  This was done through an integrated design approach led by passive design strategies which targeted a 25,000 BTUs/SF/year energy budget, about 50% less than a typical office.  Natural day lighting and ventilation along with a 3-layer pre-cast exterior wall system serving as a thermal mass lead the conservation strategies.  Other methods include radiant floor heating/cooling, electrochromicwindows on the West façade which change tint in direct sunlight to keep afternoon sun’s heat out and a wall integrated transpired air collector which feeds a basement labyrinth to store air for heating and cooling, depending on the season.  The RSF building will then supplement the remaining energy demand with renewable energy, coming from a large solar array on the roof.

IT systems and plug loads were also a serious consideration when setting the energy budget for the occupants, about 250W/person.  This reduction from the typical modern office was achieved through various technology and conservation strategies.  Employees are encouraged to use laptops over desktops and required to have LCD screens, with plans for Organic LED (OLED) screens in the future.  The data center will employ innovative cooling techniques bringing cold air in at night through a large vent on the north facade.  Other conservation methods include motion detector power strips to shut down task lights or other non-essential equipment when not in use, shared all in one printer fax scanner units and Voice-Over IP telephones rather than freestanding phone systems.

Sustainable materials were also incorporated.  The main lobby features a beautiful art wall application of regional pine wood that had been killed by the black bark beetle.  Since the infestation began in the mid-1990s about 2.3 million acres of pine forests have been destroyed and now serve as a wild fire threat.  This isn’t the first time NREL has used the beetle-killed pine, in 2008 a Renewable Fuel Heat Plant was brought online to supplement the winter natural gas heating on their campus.  The facility burns the beetle-killed wood and wood from other forest –thinning operations.

The building also boasts a sustainable landscape serving as a pilot for the SITES rating system, a partnership with many organizations including the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA).  Landscaping includes different native plant palettes for the North and South side, recycled stone retaining walls and a smart irrigation controller incorporating weather patterns when deciding when to irrigate.

The Department of Energy left nothing out of this showcase building.  Designed and built in partnership with RNL and Haselden Construction it will serve as a model for all future office buildings and exemplifies the federal government’s commitment to Net-Zero Energy Buildings.  Learn more in this NREL video.