Green Building & Manufacturing Articles
Department of Energy and National Labs Release New Data on Commercial Building Energy Goals
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the DOE national laboratories are releasing technical support documents that suggest how to achieve 50% energy savings in four key commercial building sectors. This is taking place less than two years after launching the Net-Zero Energy Commercial Building Initiative, which aims to achieve marketable net-zero energy commercial buildings by 2025.
The technical support documents were created by the DOE national laboratories under the direction of DOE's Building Technologies Program. They describe the assumptions, methodologies, and analyses used to reach 50% energy savings over ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-2004 in general merchandise, grocery store, lodging, and medium office buildings.
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Vice President Biden Announces Reopening of Former GM Boxwood Plant
Wilmington, DE - As part of the of the Administration's commitment to jumpstarting the production of fuel efficient vehicles in America, Vice President Joe Biden today announced Fisker Automotive is re-opening a shuttered former GM factory in Wilmington, Delaware, to produce long-range, plug-in, electric hybrid vehicles. The Wilmington assembly plant was selected by Fisker Automotive for its primary global production facility based on its size, production capacity; and access to shipping ports, rail lines and skilled workforce.
"While some wanted to write off America's auto industry, we said no. We knew that we needed to do something different - in Delaware and all across the nation," said Vice President Biden. "We understood a new chapter had to be written, a new chapter in which we strengthen American manufacturing by investing in innovation. Thanks to a real commitment by this Administration, loans from the Department of Energy, the creativity of U.S. companies and the tenacity of great state partners like Delaware - we're on our way to helping America's auto industry reclaim its top position in the global market."
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EPA Names the Top 20 Green-Powered Schools
For the first time, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has named the 20 primary and secondary schools nationwide using the most power from renewable energy sources. According to the EPA's October 26 announcement, the schools participating in its Green Power Partnership are buying nearly 113 million kilowatt-hours of green power annually, offsetting the greenhouse gas emissions that would be produced from the electricity used by 11,000 U.S. homes for one year.
MD-4
NY-4
TX-3
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Hidden Costs Of Energy Production And Use
ScienceDaily (Oct. 27, 2009) - A new report from the National Research Council examines and, when possible, estimates "hidden" costs of energy production and use -- such as the damage air pollution imposes on human health -- that are not reflected in market prices of coal, oil, other energy sources, or the electricity and gasoline produced from them. The report estimates dollar values for several major components of these costs. The damages the committee was able to quantify were an estimated $120 billion in the U.S. in 2005, a number that reflects primarily health damages from air pollution associated with electricity generation and motor vehicle transportation. The figure does not include damages from climate change, harm to ecosystems, effects of some air pollutants such as mercury, and risks to national security, which the report examines but does not monetize.
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Chicago firms to do 'virtual building' for feds
(Crain's) - A group of small Chicago firms won a $30-million federal contract to create three-dimensional "virtual building" computer models to improve courthouses, border stations and other government facilities.
Led by Kristine Fallon Associates Inc., the architectural IT consulting firm's team was one of 10 selected nationwide out of more than 100 applicants by the General Services Administration, the federal government's civilian property management agency.
After several years of study, GSA is planning greater use of "Building Information Management," or BIM, a term used to describe the process of creating and managing a database and visualization of a building's actual characteristics.
While computer-aided drafting of blueprints has been around for decades, it's a relatively new thing to use 3-D and even 4-D models (showing how a building looks during construction, for example).
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The changes in construction created by building information modeling
While building information modelling will further sustainable construction, it will also usher in a complete change in the design and construction of buildings.
Building information modelling (BIM) is more than just a new type of software. It requires a different approach to design and construction processes and will substantially change the sequence of activities and responsibilities of the parties involved at each stage. What follows is a summary of the issues and risks that will need to be addressed by users of this technology if they are to avoid the potential pitfalls of embracing this paradigm shift in the approach to the design and construction of buildings.
What is BIM?
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BIM + Lean Construction: Powerful Combination
Three years ago, Middle Tennessee Medical Center in Murfreesboro announced plans to build a 286-bed hospital to replace its 80-year-old facility and greatly expand its services. Designed by Gresham Smith and Partners of Nashville, the new 556,361-sf structure will include two patient towers and shelled space for future expansion.
The project's initial cost was estimated at $286 million, with an original completion date of August 2010. But that was before the team from construction manager Turner Construction Co. applied BIM and lean construction principles to the project. Thanks to the CM's fresh approach, the project is now set to be completed in May 2010 at a final project price tag that will be at least $3 million less than the initial cost estimate. Turner further anticipates the Building Team being able to deliver another $1 million in budgeted cost savings from prefabrication.
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Battery Of The Future: New Storage Material Improves Energy Density Of Lithium-ion Battery
ScienceDaily (Oct. 30, 2009) - High-performance energy storage technologies for the automotive industry or mobile phone batteries and notebooks providing long battery times -- these visions of the future are being brought one step nearer by scientists from Graz University of Technology.
Researchers at the Institute for Chemistry and Technology of Materials have developed a new method that utilises silicon for lithium-ion batteries. Its storage capacity is ten times higher than the graphite substrate which has been used up to now, and promises considerable improvements for users.
The new findings -- which came to light in the "NanoPoliBat" EU project -- have been recently submitted to the patent office by researchers together with their co-operation partner Varta Microbattery.
Modern electronic devices need more energy and even the automotive industry is hankering after increasingly powerful energy storage systems. The technological development of battery research has been inadequate for some time now. "A real revolution is needed for the development of the next generation. We need new storage materials for lithium-ion batteries," explains battery researcher Stefan Koller, who is familiar with the topic from his doctoral thesis. Together with colleagues from science and industry, he has managed to develop such a substrate material for electrochemical reactions at a low price.
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Nearly 200 organizations and companies urge Senate to adopt key energy-efficiency provision in climate bill
A diverse coalition of nearly 200 business, labor, civil rights, and environmental groups have sent a letter to Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW) urging her to support an important energy-efficiency provision that would:
* Generate $100 billion in electric efficiency investments;
* Create more than 900,000 new construction, energy service, and building maintenance and operations jobs by 2020, and many more additional jobs at plants that supply these sectors (based on analysis by Green Economy, 2009), and;
* Reduce consumers' energy bills by $300 billion.
What is this magical provision? As the letter explains:
We are writing to request that the climate bill require an investment in energy efficiency equivalent to at least 1/3 of the value of the total allowance allocation given to electric utilities. Such an efficiency investment will create hundreds of thousands of new jobs retrofitting millions of buildings nationwide, and benefit consumers by lowering electricity costs by billions of dollars, as residential, commercial, and industrial consumers typically save in the range of $2 to $4 for every $1 invested in energy efficiency. It would also help decrease greenhouse gas emissions and thus reduce the market clearing price of carbon.
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