Energy Certificates: Nutrition Facts for European Buildings
Energy Certificates, also called Energy Passports, are documents that profile the energy performance of existing and new buildings within the European Union. The program was initiated as part of the EU Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings in January of 2006 and will be mandatory throughout the member countries. The goal is to provide [...]
greenPIX: The Zero Energy Media Wall
Energy in = energy out. Only the format changes. Now that is sustainable.
greenPIX, ‘the Zero Energy Media Wall,’ uses architecture and technology to absorb, store, amplify, translate, and display data, both natural and manmade, in an organic system that responds dynamically to the local environment. Creative programming adds even more layers to the already rich [...]
Radiant Heating: GCS Modular Radiant Flooring Panels
GCS Radiant Flooring is a modular, hydronic radiant floor system which is designed for easy installation, simplified maintenance and energy efficiency. Like most energy efficient radiant floor systems, GCS panels heat space using a network of plastic tubes circulating preheated water (or a glycol/water solution). Think of this system as a grid of pre-milled slots [...]
What is an Absorption Chiller?
An absorption chiller, also known as an absorption refrigerator, is a cooling system that uses a heat source, in lieu of electricity and a compressor, to drive the device. The systems are commonly used where excess heat is available and are considered a type of heat recovery device. Trigeneration, production of electricity, hot water, and [...]
Sino-Italian Energy Efficient Building (SIEEB): Covering the Basics First
Sustainability is a simple concept with a varied and challenging means of execution, and it is easy to falter, especially when faced with the myriad of devices, controls and systems designed to make buildings more sustainable. Searching for the latest, most sophisticated strategy for increasing a project’s sustainability does not translate into a sustainable building. [...]
Playing the Building: Harmonics and Transparency of Building Systems
David Byrne, co-founder of the Talking Heads, has turned the New York Battery Maritime Building into a musical instrument. Sitting at a old pipe organ, any ‘musician’ is able to sonically explore the complexity of the building’s system without ever leaving the composers seat. A heavy sound may be for structure. A light sound could [...]
Kelvin’s Conjecture: The Sustainability of Optimization and Integration
”to make as effective, perfect, or useful as possible“ -Definition ‘Optimize’
The National Aquatic Center in Beijing achieves sustainability through the optimization and integration of its structure, envelope, and building systems. In doing so it tells the story of how a little known problem of theoretical physics, Kelvin’s Conjecture, influenced the design of a prominent international [...]
Exploding Wind Turbine Video
Here is a great video of a wind turbine self destructing during a wind storm. The strong wind causes the turbine to spin very quickly and eventually bends the blades backward, hitting the support structure. The result is a frightening example of what a poorly designed or malfunctioning wind turbine can do. Turbines are actually [...]
What is Energy Recovery Ventilation? And why should I care?
Energy Recovery Ventilation (ERV) refers to the recapture of energy typically lost through the building ventilation process. Conditioned air that is routinely being exhausted from both residential and commercial buildings contains significant energy in the form of heat or coolth and humidity which is lost into the exterior environment. As part of a preconditioning process, [...]
Danish Smart House Eco (Prefab) by Valbaek Brorup Architects
All photos by Mikkel Strange
The Danish Smart House Eco is an environmentally friendly housing system which can be optimized in a number of ways to meet the space needs of both individuals and families. Creators Eva Kristine Borup and Stefan Valbaek of Valbaek Borup Architects, designed the system to be flexible to the needs of [...]
The San Francisco Federal Building: A High Performance Sustainable Workplace?
The U.S. Federal Building in San Francisco is one of the General Services Administration’s (GSAs) most visible attempts at designing a high performance government building. The project is one of many started following the 1993 adoption of the “Design Excellence Program,” in which the federal government sought to “reach into the private sector to find [...]
Zollverein School Building: Active Thermal Insulation
30°C Coal Mine Water + Radiant Exterior Wall System + Structure = Active Thermal Insulation
The Zollverein School of Business Management and Design building is a model project for systems integration. It uses a sophisticated Active Thermal Insulation system consisting of preheated water circulating through the facade which allows for thin exterior structural walls perforated [...]
Smith House: A Passive House in Illinois
The Smith House, located in Urbana Illinois, is an all electric house built to the German Passive House Building Standard. To achieve the passive standard, architect and owner, Katrin Klingenberg, created a clean, efficient and comfortable house design using many of the passive house design strategies used in German model buildings. She describes the house [...]
Waldsee BioHaus: First Certified Passive House in the U.S.
In 2006, the Waldsee BioHaus became the first building in the United States to be certified with the German Passive House Building Standard. The house, built at the German Concordia Language Village of Waldsee in Bemidji Minnesota, uses about 85% less energy than a house designed to meet the Minnesota Energy Code. For that reason, [...]
The Passive House (Passiv Haus) Building Standard
(above) The original Passive Houses in Darmstadt
The Passive House (Passiv Haus) standard is an ultra-low energy building design system which uses extremely efficient building envelopes to significantly drive down energy consumption in structures. The standard is completely voluntary but does have an extremely rigorous set of requirements that must be met in order to be [...]
Historic Renovation in Raleigh Hits LEED Platinum
ZigerSnead has a 25 year history of making some of the Baltimore region’s finest architecture. That also means that many talented people have come through the office at one point or another. All in all we are fortunate to work with some of the most creative, intelligent and dedicated designers to be found anywhere.
It is [...]
Solarsiedlung by Rolf Disch
“Maximizing the use of solar energy and minimizing heat loss” – Rolf Disch
The Solarsiedlung or “solar village” is Europe’s most modern solar housing project. Solarsiedlung is the housing portion of a larger development which also includes an office/housing block called Sonnenschiff (solarship). The project’s goals are to follow both the German Passive House and Plus [...]
The Best Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs
Can the new breed of energy-saving fluorescents hold their own against incandescents? Popular Mechanics ran seven bulbs through their optical course to find out.
The compact fluorescent light bulb revolution nearly occurred back in the early 1990s. When CFLs first hit the market in force, consumers bought them in large numbers — but they hated them. [...]
Marmol Radziner Homes (Prefab)
Marmol Radziner Homes (MRH) are factory-built volumetric modular units. Mr. Radziner states that the homes:
are created with the environment in mind and are built to make LEED certification. Materials, methods and lifestyle is chosen in such a way as to have as little impact on the environment as possible. For long-term sustainability, the module structures [...]
FlatPak House (Prefab)
The FlatPak House is a factory-built house designed by Charlie Lazor. The house design is based on principles the designer acquired while doing work for his award winning modern furniture design company, Blu Dot. Furniture is of course increasingly being designed to minimize the cost of material, labor and transportation which are the major [...]
2010 Olympic Village Using Sewage-Heat Recovery
After looking at a number of alternatives, the city of Vancouver chose to follow the example set by the city of Oslo, Norway and will implement North America’s first sewer heat recovery system for the 2010 winter games. It is scheduled to be completed in 2009.
An enormous amount of thermal energy is lost when the [...]
Wal-Mart Uses LEDs in Food Refrigerators!
Wal-Mart is installing LED lighting combined with occupancy sensors in it’s refrigerated food cases as part of an effort to save money on both energy and maintenance. The trials have done so well that per the guidance of CEO Lee Scott and based on the companies “ambitious vision for the future operations of the company [...]
WattStopper
“(WattStopper / Legrand)… makes buildings and homes more efficient through lighting controls.”
WattStopper / Legrand is a company based in Santa Clara, California, that designs and markets lighting control systems for both commercial and residential applications. Their website cites their convictions about “the importance of providing energy efficient, convenient, and accessible controls for the work environment.”
The [...]
Sun Tracking Umbrella
Architen Landrell Associates Ltd. was presented with a unique design challenge when asked to “combat the glare from sunshine and heat which built up within the…” glass dome atrium in the Jardine Insurance building in Oval, London. The designers immediately recognized the benefit of solar shading for the space, but also realized the difficulty inherent [...]
