|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
March 23, 2020 |
|
|
In this Issue
• In These Super-Sustainable New Apartments, You May Never Pay a Heating Bill
• How a Powerful Lobbying Group Got Stricter Energy Efficiency Codes Out of a Big Senate Energy Bill.
• Builders Push 'Drawdown Buildings' to Cut Embodied Carbon
• Could Tiny Homes Deliver Big Savings?
• More Stories
In These Super-Sustainable New Apartments, You May Never Pay a Heating Bill
Curbed (03/06/20) Sisson, Patrick
Sendero Verde is a 100-percent affordable apartment development in East Harlem, New York, slated to open in 2022. The 361-unit development will be the largest passive house apartment building nationwide when completed. Meanwhile, the under-construction Second and Delaware project in Kansas City, Mo., will add 276 luxury rental units to the Market City neighborhood when it opens this autumn. In Cambridge, Mass., another under-construction project called the Finch Cambridge passive house will be the largest affordable housing project completed in the city in at least the last 40 years. Tenants who live in a passive house building enjoy lower utility bills and better air quality. The building envelopes, or exterior walls, of passive house projects are extremely tight and feature triple-paned windows and continuous insulation. Each project also requires advanced heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems to move air into and around the building. Mechanical air circulation results in better indoor air quality, says Spencer Orkus, managing director at L+M Development Partners, a developer with the Sendero Verde project. The company also worked on the Beach Green Dunes II project in the Far Rockaway neighborhood, where tenants pay just $10 a month for cooling costs during the summer. The nation’s underfunded affordable housing stock loses 10,000 units annually due to deterioration and lack of maintenance, and they will need to be replaced and expanded in the coming years.
How a Powerful Lobbying Group Got Stricter Energy Efficiency Codes Out of a Big Senate Energy Bill.
Washington Post (03/04/20) Grandoni, Dino
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) is blaming home builders for derailing the effort to include a stricter energy efficiency code proposal in a major energy package moving through the chamber. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chair Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) removed the building codes provision from the package because she feared it would kill the bill. The legislation is considered to be the best chance to pass a comprehensive energy bill during the current congressional term. The National Association of Home Builders, which says the building codes will drive up the cost of buying a home, has been asking contractors to call senators' offices in recent days. Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), who has put forward a bill with Shaheen that would offer potential energy savings, says the building code proposal is a "common-sense" approach because it would push for greater energy efficiency through incentives. The codes only would be mandatory if states adopt them. The building codes provisions would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 1.18 billion metric tons through 2050, according to an analysis from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.
Builders Push 'Drawdown Buildings' to Cut Embodied Carbon
BuildingGreen.com (03/02/20) Melton, Paula
Builders for Climate Action has modeled a range of low-rise structures built with different materials for embodied carbon. Although embodied carbon was found to account for an outsized portion of greenhouse gas emissions for new low-rise construction, according to a new white paper from the group, that footprint can be reduced by using conventional materials. The highest embodied carbon (241 kg CO2e/ft2) came from a building with high-Portland-cement concrete, and extruded polystyrene and spray-foam insulation. A “typical” model (90 kg CO2e/ft2) included concrete with some supplemental cementitious materials (SCMs), along with mineral wool insulation. A lower-carbon alternative (–11 kg CO2e/ft2) incorporated high-SCM concrete, and cellulose and wood fiber insulation. The carbon-storing model (–137 kg CO2e/ft2), referred to as a 'drawdown building,' included insulated concrete forms with high-SCM concrete, expanded glass sub-grade insulation, straw and wood fiberboard insulation, wood cladding, compressed straw panel interior walls, ReWall interior finishes, wood windows, linoleum and Forest Stewardship Council-certified softwood flooring, and cedar shake roofing. An energy-efficient drawdown building located in Toronto and using renewable grid electricity would avoid 614 metric tons of carbon emissions over 30 years, according to the report.
Could Tiny Homes Deliver Big Savings?
Multi-Housing News (02/27/20) Mosher, Diana
As more communities attempt to remedy housing shortages through zoning changes, tiny homes are building interest. Tiny home rental communities provide a strong sense of place for residents and an energy-efficient substitute for traditional multifamily dwellings. “We're encouraged to see some communities like Minneapolis and Oregon move to upzone their jurisdictions, eliminating single-family-only zoning in favor of a more inclusive housing market,” said the National Multifamily Housing Council's Caitlin Walter. “We cannot begin to address our nation's growing affordability challenges without finding ways to bring more supply to market. These upzoning movements are one way to add density and create new units, whether they be small, accessory dwelling units or traditional multifamily.” The first and most successful tiny home community is real estate developer Alan Graham's Community First! Village, a master planned community just outside Austin, Texas. The development offers affordable permanent housing in tiny homes and RVs for more than 200 people who were formerly homeless, with rents between $225 to $430 monthly.
Which States Are Doing the Most Sustainable Building?
New York Times (02/27/20) Kolomatsky, Michael
The New York Times has assessed the U.S. states that realized the most square feet per capita of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-certified new construction in 2019. Covered properties include mixed-use high-rises, condominium and apartment buildings, and institutional and commercial properties, while single-family homes are excluded. Colorado was the leading state last year, rising from sixth place in 2018, with 102 projects constituting 23,962,344 square feet of LEED-certified construction, or 4.76 square feet per resident. Illinois and New York were next-highest. In spite of national policies emerging from the federal government, Washington, D.C., has itself embraced aggressive sustainability approaches, mandating that all nonresidential public buildings meet LEED-certification standards. Those strategies, in conjunction with the district's comparatively small population, give it more than 10 times the LEED-certified square footage of new construction per capita than any state—52.86.
New Energy Code Is More Robust and Flexible than Previous Versions
Engineering News-Record (02/25/20) McFarland, Pam
The new International Energy Conservation Code (IECC), which is expected to be ready for adoption later this year, provides residential and commercial builders with more flexibility in making their projects more energy efficient. In addition, the new IECC will include provisions related to electric vehicles, as well as optional paths to reach net zero energy consumption. IECC, which is updated every three years, is the model that local governments use to develop their own building requires. Members of the International Code Council—mostly local and state government and building officials—voted on the 2021 update in November, and the initial results were posted in December. The 2021 IECC will be more robust compared to previous versions, which did not meet the standards of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) 90.1 model code in reducing energy costs. The 2021 IECC is expected to on par with ASHRAE's 90.1 and is estimated to provide 10 percent or more in annual energy savings for residential and commercial buildings. The new code provides buildings with more flexibility to choose options that will work on specific projects based on their particular design, building type, and location. These changes are designed to reduce energy consumption while providing builders with the ability to decide what works best for each individual project. The 2021 IECC also includes two new appendices that provide ways for states and cities to adopt net zero energy performance requirements. The appendices focus on energy codes for both residential and commercial buildings that would produce as much energy as they consume each year using a combination of energy efficient improvements and renewable energy options.
Canada's National Building Code 2020 Revisions Will Focus on Energy-Efficiency
Daily Commercial News (Canada) (02/25/20) Bleasby, John
The latest proposals for updating Canada's National Building Code (NBC) emphasize energy performance. The 2020 code proposals look to take a slightly different approach to energy-efficiency for smaller and larger structures. For structures that are three stories or less, and less than 600m2 in area, the NBC is proposing a concept of 'tiered performance', where each tier represents an increase in energy efficiency performance over and above the current code. Al Jaugelis, a member of National Research Council (NRC) committees plotting the future direction of the NBC, describes the proposed methodology for smaller buildings as a tiered level of performance based on points. Larger residential, commercial and institutional structures also would be required to reach predetermined energy performance objectives, but advanced energy modeling would be used to compare the proposed building's performance with that of the so-called “reference building.” NRC is proposing four tiers of superior energy that can be mandated by provinces and territories, ranging from 25 to 60 percent beyond standard code. The 2020 version of the NBC is expected to be released by the end of the year.
Can Building a Passive House Cost the Same as a Code-Built Home?
Professional Builder (02/24/20) Leonard, Natalie
The worldwide standard in high performance energy efficient building design is Net-Zero Passive House, which reduces energy usage in a home by 60 percent to 70 percent and significantly reduces its carbon footprint. Certain strategies can be used to make Passive House design practical from a cost benefit perspective, such as optimizing solar gains in the winter months. This approach can provide up to 50 percent of heating energy. Another strategy is to design a compact building shape that reduces the ratio of the exterior surface area to the floor area and keeping the house design as simple as possible. Wall assemblies should be developed based on what is best for a particular climate, and using locally available materials will help achieve Passive House performance as well as curb costs. Designing a streamlined and robust air sealing strategy that is easy to explain to tradespeople is also essential. It should use locally available sheathing materials, membranes, and tapes. Plumbing pipe runs can be reduced by centralizing the plumbing design. In colder climates, warmth can be provided using point source heating equipment instead of a central heating system. Costly methods such as geothermal or radiant in-floor hot water heat are unnecessary. A high-efficiency ventilation system is desirable, but may be costly in areas where the building code requires mechanical ventilation. Net Zero is achieved under Passive House design when further building improvements will cost more than adding renewable technologies.
LEED Certification for Your Home
Earth911.com (02/21/20) Lozanova, Sarah
There are four levels of Leadership in Energy and Efficient Design (LEED) certification: certified, silver, gold, and platinum. Green building features earn points, with the platinum standard requiring the most points. The certification program includes a variety of buildings, including homes, schools, office buildings, retail spaces, and hospitals. The LEED for Homes standard includes testing, verification, and certification. The LEED criteria account for home siting, durability, construction materials, natural lighting, water-wise landscaping, construction waste, and design. In addition, LEED certification considers occupant comfort, daylighting, and home air quality. Although uncertified projects may have these features, building to LEED standards ensures the occupant and the house will be healthy. "As an industry, we want to find ways to raise everyone’s living standard, so we need to prioritize the construction and remodeling of homes so that they are not only environmentally friendly, but they also have the power to improve the quality of life for all human beings," says Mahesh Ramanujam, president and CEO of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), which developed the LEED certification program. LEED certified homes consume up to 30 percent less energy on average than non-green homes, significantly reducing the operating costs of the house by lowering energy bills. The best cities for green rental apartments include Chicago, Seattle, Washington, D.C., New York, and Portland, Oregon. On a state level, California and Texas lead the nation in LEED-certified residential units.
|
|
|
|
News summaries © copyright 2020 SmithBucklin
|
|
|
