Green Building & Manufacturing Articles
The United States of Waste
The U.S. economy is incredibly energy inefficient, a key reason even strong climate action has such a low total cost - one tenth of a penny on the dollar.
This inefficiency is summed up best in one remarkable statistic that I first learned at the U.S. Department of Energy and then reprinted in my 1999 book, Cool Companies: How the best businesses boost profits and productivity by reducing greenhouse gas emissions:
The average fossil-fuel electric power plant converts only one-third of the primary energy it burns–coal, oil, or gas–into electricity. More energy is lost distributing it from the power plant to the end user. The energy lost by U.S. electric power generators equals all of the energy that the entire country of Japan uses for all purposes: buildings, industry, and transportation. Most of this lost energy is in the form of waste heat that is literally thrown away by electric utilities: Thus, more fossil fuels must be burned in your company's furnaces and boilers to generate the heat and steam needed to run your business.
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Transportation leaders warn of infrastructure woes
DES MOINES - Transportation officials from across the country are warning that the U.S. transportation system that supports the movement of freight is facing a crisis and are urging new investments in roads and other transportation modes.
The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) released a study Thursday in Des Moines showing that investments in roads, railroads, ports, waterways and airports are below what is needed.
AASHTO estimates that in 10 years, an additional 1.8 million trucks will be on the road. In 20 years, one truck will be added for every two today, the say.
Major highway bottlenecks already are adding to the cost of food and other goods for American consumers, the organization said.
AASHTO President Larry L. "Butch" Brown said in order to compete globally, officials will have to address the needs for a freight economy and invest in new capacity.
"We've got to be able to move goods from A to B, regardless of where A is or B is in our country," Brown said.
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Past holds lessons on design of sustainable infrastructure
Civil engineer Vic Perry thinks there is a lot to be learned from the past when it comes to designing sustainable infrastructure.
One factor that often is not given due consideration is longevity, says Perry, vice-president and general manager Ductal at Lafarge North America and the recently elected president of the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering.
"Building it once and having it last a long time improves sustainability," Perry told the recent national convention of the Association of Consulting Engineering Companies-Canada.
He cited the example of European cathedrals built before 1000 that still stand today.
Perry, who has a bachelor's degree in civil engineering as well as a master of applied science degree in structural engineering, said the concept of sustainable infrastructure needs to be more clearly defined.
The classic definition of sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
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New Illinois coal plant looks like less of a bargain
Residents of Midwestern towns, including 5 Chicago suburbs, face higher electric bills because of cost overruns and tougher antipollution rules
Sold on a promise of cheap, clean electricity, dozens of communities in Illinois and eight other Midwest states instead are facing more expensive utility bills after bankrolling a new coal-fired power plant that will be one of the nation's largest sources of climate-change pollution.
As the Prairie State Energy Campus rises out of a Downstate field, its price tag already has more than doubled to $4.4 billion - costs that will largely be borne by municipalities including the suburbs of Naperville, Batavia, Geneva, St. Charles and Winnetka.
The communities are locked into 28-year contracts that will require higher electricity rates to cover the construction overruns, documents and interviews show. Municipal officials told the Tribune they expect costs to soar even higher before the plant begins operating next year.
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Enova and Remy to Develop Revolutionary Electric Drive System.
Enova Systems, a leading innovator of proprietary hybrid and electric drive systems propelling the alternative energy industry, has announced it will collaborate with Remy Inc. (Remy) to develop a new electric drive system based on the Omni controller and Remy HVH motor. Remy is North America's largest independent manufacturer of advanced electric propulsion motors. Remy's patented design and assembly technology have been in production since 2006 and are currently powering vehicles around the world.
"Combined, these two technologies and the expertise behind them create a solution that will enable vehicle manufacturers and system integrators to more easily and efficiently develop reliable, high-performance drivetrains," said Enova CEO and President Mike Staran.
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OriginOil Announces Breakthrough Hydrogen Harvester Invention.
OriginOil, a developer of technology to transform algae into a source of renewable oil,has announced a new invention that generates hydrogen from living algae, providing an additional energy source from bioreactors.
The new Hydrogen Harvester uses little or no external energy inputs, requires no sulfur deprivation or other "stressing" of the algae, and no genetic modification. The process employs viable, high growth rate, high oil content algae strains.
"One of the primary challenges for algae production is to achieve the best-possible energy balance," said Riggs Eckelberry, OriginOil CEO. "By harvesting hydrogen from algae we are able to increase the energy output of virtually any algae production system. The result is a photosynthetic technology platform that yields energy in the form of oil, biomass, and hydrogen."
Algae already create oxygen through photosynthesis. Recovering hydrogen provides the necessary ingredients for electricity generation using fuel cells. The energy can be used to offset the electricity requirements of algae cultivation, harvesting and downstream processing.
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Energy Efficiency: Twice the Impact of Renewables, Nuclear and Clean Coal, Combined.
"The International Energy Agency estimates that energy efficiency will deliver 65 per cent of worldwide carbon cuts in the energy sector by 2020, and 54 per cent by 2030. This means that in 2020 energy efficiency could have almost twice the impact of renewable energy, nuclear power and clean coal combined."
Such were findings of the Energy Efficiency Council (EEC) of Australia, who late last month released report entitled Energy Efficiency: Australia's Low Carbon Opportunity, with the subhead of Boost Profits, Cut Emissions, Create Jobs. The EEC believe that increasing the uptake of energy efficiency could save more greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 than taking every Australian car off the road.
The Energy Efficiency Council also point out that Australian electricity prices are about to rise up to 42% in the next three years, as energy utilities gear up to spend $40 billion AUD over five years expanding the grid. The EEC say customers will wear the flow on of this, the single largest ever investment in the electricity grid. A cost that could be avoided were energy efficiency given more importance.
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BIM Requires a TEAM Approach
Over the last few weeks, I have had the opportunity to attend several BIM (Building Information Modeling) presentations. It is quite refreshing to see the growth of BIM in a slow economy. The industry is starting to grasp the true potential of what the BIM model can provide to a project. It is amazing to see all of the technology and tools that are beginning to appear from our software vendors. It is also encouraging to see how the forward thinkers in our industry are applying BIM. The true potential of BIM is just starting to be realized and applied.
There are some great companies doing some amazing things with BIM. It is exciting to see what the future holds. The future does look bright for the AEC industry. However, despite all the positive comments, I have heard some things that are quite disturbing. The main goal of BIM should be that we, as design and construction professionals, deliver a better building process to our clients; plain and simple. With today's tight budgets, strained deadlines, and the need for high performance buildings, we must work together to provide the value of BIM to our clients. So the question then becomes: Are firms really using BIM as a tool to work together, or are they using the term BIM to acquire jobs in a slow economy? I was very concerned to hear some architects saying that they are not handing over their models to the design or construction team and to hear some engineers saying that they just design and do not need to coordinate with the architect or general contractors/construction managers. I also heard a presenter comment, that if an MEP firm was saying that they were doing BIM that they were lying, because it cannot be done. Needless to say, I was stunned by that comment since I know firsthand that is certainly a fallacy. What was particularly shocking was that the individuals making these comments professed to be true converts of BIM, indicating that they were practicing BIM in their companies. BIM is not perfect, but if utilized properly, it can be a great tool. It really made me wonder if these people mentioned above were just using the "Hollywood" BIM term that we hear so much about.
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With a Boost from Innovation, Small Wind Is Powering Ahead
New technologies, feed-in tariffs, and tax credits are helping propel the small wind industry, especially in the United States. Once found mostly in rural areas, small wind installations are now starting to pop up on urban rooftops.
The Solarium, a new 8-story apartment building in New York City, is part of a new wave of green buildings in Gotham. Its exterior is made from 100 percent recycled material. The burnished floors are sustainably farmed bamboo. The apartments lack bathtubs in order to save water. Perhaps the most novel green accouterment of the Solarium, however, is a small, black windmill perched on a short pole rising from the rooftop. Made by WindTronics, the windmill went live in April - it is one of the early beta units from the Michigan startup.
The company claims a single windmill can supply as much as 30 percent of a household's annual power needs if winds average roughly 10 miles per hour. That is a brisk steady breeze but even homes averaging lesser amounts (5-9 mph winds) can receive significant electrical outputs of 15 to 30 percent of annual power needs. The Solarium's wind turbine will power light fixtures in common areas and a rooftop theater for residents. "It has no noise and no vibration," says Cyrus Claffey, the CEO of Clareo Networks, a real estate technology and design company that researched and planned the project for the Solarium's developers. "It is bird friendly. And it has a great design. Power kicks in at a much lower windspeed than comparable products."
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States See Rebirth in Auto Battery Manufacturing
Kevin Czinger, an all-Ohio football player in his high school days at Cleveland's St. Ignatius High School, returned to his home state last month, making as big a splash as he did on the football field.
Czinger, the president and CEO of CODA Automotive, announced that his company was planning to build a battery manufacturing plant outside of Columbus, contingent on a loan from the Department of Energy. The announcement was hailed by Ohio politicians, who hope to capitalize on the growing demand for electric vehicle batteries.
"CODA's decision to open a facility in our state means that Ohio workers will help manufacture the cars of the 21st century," said Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown (D). "Ohio is quickly becoming a national leader in clean energy component manufacturing for the auto industry."
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New System to Reduce Heating Costs in Cold Climates
ScienceDaily (July 13, 2010) - A new type of heat pump being developed at Purdue University could allow residents in cold climates to cut their heating bills in half.
The research, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, builds on previous work that began about five years ago at Purdue's Ray W. Herrick Laboratories, said James Braun, a professor of mechanical engineering.
Heat pumps provide heating in winter and cooling in summer but are not efficient in extreme cold climates, such as Minneapolis winters.
"With this technology we can maintain the efficiency of the heat pump even when it gets pretty cold outside," said Eckhard Groll, a professor of mechanical engineering who is working on the project with Braun and W. Travis Horton, an assistant professor of civil engineering.
The innovation aims to improve efficiency in general but is especially practical for boosting performance in cold climates. The new heat pumps might be half as expensive to operate as heating technologies now used in cold regions where natural gas is unavailable and residents rely on electric heaters and liquid propane.
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Using BIM for Sustainable Design
In the process of sustainable design, at one point or another during the design or documentation process, there comes a need to quantify the energy savings, the daylighting, or the recycled content in your building materials. This is done by using other applications to run analysis on the building design and deliver these metrics.
In the days before BIM, this was done by remodeling the building in another application, typically one for each thing you wanted to measure - one model for energy, one for daylighting, and so on. This can not only be costly because of the time it takes, but it is open to opportunities for error, either through laboriously recreating the design intent from the design documents, or from later design changes not getting added to the recreated model.
With the use of BIM, we have the ability to take the building model geometry and move that directly into energy analysis or daylighting applications to calculate these metrics. This can help save time as well as eliminate geometric errors in the transition.
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Integrated Design: A common-sense approach to building
Integrated Design, where stakeholders provide input in all stages of the building process, is gaining popularity
In the interviews I conduct with professionals within the construction industry, there's a single term that keeps popping up in conversation-Integrated Design. Integrated design is a trend in construction in which a building is designed holistically using input from key stakeholders, including architects, engineers and contractors. This is a 180 degree turn from the traditional approach to building construction, in which design flaws aren't found until later in the process, when changes to design become more expensive to fix.
Integrated Design is beginning to gain traction in the construction community, mainly in green building projects. It represents a common-sense approach that melds design theory and practice. Those who are tasked with bringing ambitious design plans to life give advice and opinions during the design phase, limiting the number of design flaws that will appear down the road.
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Team approach, risk sharing necessary to make most of BIM
Building Information Modeling is a powerful design and planning tool that can make construction speedier, more efficient, and reduce construction disputes, says James LeBer, a London Ontario-based litigation specialist and vice-president of the London and District Construction Association.
But for the technology to achieve its full potential, a fully integrated project delivery approach system has to be in place, he cautions.
Not only do computer software programs have to be compatible but all major project partners, including the design team architect, engineering sub-consultants, the contractor and the major subcontractors have to be equal partners.
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U.S. green wave is moving north
It's often possible to predict what will happen in Canada in a year or two or three by watching what's happening in the United States now.
That's why our construction industry should be aware of an executive order signed by U.S. President Barack Obama last October. The order sets out numerous green requirements for the U.S. federal government, requiring various government agencies to meet a number of energy, water and waste-reduction goals.
These apply only to federal buildings, of course, but the resulting impact for the construction industry could be profound since government construction is a trend-setter.
Building Information Management, or BIM, is an example of a new technology that was growing slowly until the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) made BIM compulsory for all government buildings. That meant that any company that wanted to bid on a government building had to have BIM capability.
BIM's growth rate took off. And since more contractors were able to use BIM, more private-sector buyers of construction began to demand it as well.
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