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.

- 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

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

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

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?

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.

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.