KT Landmark Tower / Studio Daniel Liebeskind + G.Lab* by Gansam Architects & Partners sustainability section – ArchDaily. There is more to sustainability than a building's environmental impact. When a building-owner or developer wants to demonstrate that their new building is as sustainable as possible, they will often cite a BREEAM rating such as 'Excellent' or even 'Outstanding'.
Is it really true that these non-domestic buildings are reaching the highest standards of sustainability? BREEAM is an environmental assessment methodology that was set up over 20 years ago by the Building Research Establishment, the former government-funded research laboratory for research into buildings. At this time, only the most enlightened developers chose to have their buildings assessed, primarily to show to the wider world just how sustainable their buildings were.
In the past few years, many local authorities have mandated through local policies that a BREEAM assessment and rating should be undertaken and achieved as part of the planning application process. So; does a BREEAM rated building automatically mean a highly sustainable building? Beyond EUI: Linking Energy and Economy in Buildings. From shortening ambulance routes to identifying hazardous waste sites, ‘big data’ is increasingly being used by municipal governments and policymakers to inform their decisions, improving safety, health, and quality of life in our nation’s cities.
In the world of energy and building policy, the ‘big data’ that has people talking is benchmarking data, particularly that provided through New York City’s groundbreaking Local Law 84. For the building design and operation communities, Local Law 84 made waves. For the first time, the city’s largest buildings – all of those over 50,000 square feet – were required to disclose their source and site energy consumption, as well as water use, and EnergyStar scores. The disclosure of this data spurred conversations between engineers, real estate developers, building owners, and the environmental community.
BIPV May Take Off. Clean Power.
Green building leaders declare freedom from toxics. As the owner of the second LEED Platinum-certified home in Dallas, I first knew the U.S.
Green Building Council’s framework for sustainable building as a consumer. When the LEED for Homes ratings launched in 2007, my builder gave me a crash course in the Home Energy Rating System (HERS) and rug pads. The volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by carpet pads, as well as the invisible filth they absorb, can be hazardous to health. San Francisco To Transform City with Eco-Districts. San Francisco’s Planning Department is working with California’s sustainability guidelines to structure growth within the city in accordance with the state’s requirements and the city’s goals through the department’s Sustainability Development Program.
The program aims to reduce water consumption, reduce waste and enhance community-scale energy resources. To aid in the fulfillment of these goals, the program is implementing a tool called Eco-Districts – a community of property owners, businesses and residents within a neighborhood that collaborate to develop and initiate sustainable development projects in their area. Using a set of performance metrics, neighborhoods can shape their projects with custom strategies for their community. The Eco-District is fundamentally a community-driven development that has the potential to achieve the smart growth of sustainable ideas but also build local urban identity and enforce a sense of place among its residents. Building Integrated Solar Close to Tipping Point. Bonus: Solar panels help keep buildings cool, reducing A/C needs. Cooling effect equivalent to 5% discount on solar panel price A great thing to do to improve the energy-efficiency and comfort of a building is to plant trees in strategic positions around it so that, when they are mature, they provide shade, keeping the place cooler than if it was fully exposed to the sun (and in northern latitudes, the trees lose their leaves during the winter, letting the sun through to heat things up).
But trees aren't the only way to keep a building cooler. Solar panels, when mounted on a roof, also provide valuable shade on top of generating clean electricity. Researchers at the University of California San Diego decided to have a closer look at the panels' cooling effect to see how big it is and what kind of panel orientation provides the biggest benefits: "Using thermal imaging, researchers determined that during the day, a building’s ceiling was 5 degrees Fahrenheit cooler under solar panels than under an exposed roof.
" Via MNN, UCSD. What's the Right Dose? - Recent Articles. The link between health and green building seems natural.
More daylight, fresh air, and reduced emissions from fossil fuel read like a recipe for wellness. But there are those who use things like LEED certification as a marker of healthy building when the facts don't always align with the claims. For example, Duke Realty, an Indiana health-care-facility developer, extols on its website the healthy attributes of a recent project that achieved LEED Gold certification, asserting, "Green buildings typically have better indoor air quality than conventional facilities.
" Green Globes: The Green Building Initiative. Green Globes is a web-based program for green building guidance and certification that includes an onsite assessment by a third party.
Backed by excellent customer support, Green Globes offers a streamlined and affordable alternative to LEED as a way to advance the overall environmental performance and sustainability of commercial buildings. The program has modules supporting new construction - Green Globes for New Construction (NC), existing buildings – Green Globes for Continual Improvement of Existing Buildings (CIEB), and Healthcare buildings – Green Globes CIEB for Healthcare. PHOTOS: Inside the Hearst Tower, New York City’s First LEED Gold Skyscraper Hearst Tower - designed by Foster + Partners - First LEED gold Skyscraper in NYC - Gallery Page 1 – Inhabitat New York City. Sustainably built skyscrapers are a dime a dozen in New York City these days, but not too long ago, that wasn't the case.
The city didn't get its first green high rise until 2006, with the completion of the Hearst Tower. Designed by Inhabitat favorite Norman Foster, the striking blue lattice tower has become one of the most recognizable buildings in the city. The green building earned a LEED Gold certification in 2006, making it the first skyscraper in New York to achieve the coveted green building seal. We've long been fans of this thoughtful, interesting building at Inhabitat, so we were thrilled when we were recently invited to take a private tour inside the Hearst Tower -- read on for the details and our exclusive pictures from inside the stunning green high-rise. With the design of the Hearst Tower, Foster creates a fun and intriguing interplay between modern architecture and a historical building.
60 Richmond Housing Cooperative / Teeple Architects. Architects: Teeple Architects Location: Toronto, Canada Principal in Charge: Stephen Teeple Project Manager: Chris Radigan Project Architects: Richard Lai (OAA), William Elsworthy Structural Engineer: CPE Structural Consultants Limited Mechanical Engineer: Jain & Associates Electrical Engineer: Jain & Associates Shoring Engineer: Tarra Engineering Inc.
Geo-Environmental Engineer: Toronto Inspection Ltd. LEED Consultant: Enermodal Engineering Ltd. LEED Volume Certification. Streets Can Be Public Spaces Too - Kaid Benfield. As I wrote last fall, to move more deliberately toward anything resembling a sustainable future, we need to use land more efficiently, building more compactly, with higher densities of homes and businesses per acre than we built, on average, in the late 20th century. The battle for sustainable cities. Although cities occupy only 2 percent of the earth’s land surface, they account for more than 60 percent of energy consumption and 75 percent of carbon emissions.
Over 3.5 billion people are city dwellers today, and by 2050 that number is projected to almost double. Half Of All US Retail And Hotel Projects To Be Green Buildings By 2015. Buildings Published on July 1st, 2013 | by Silvio Marcacci Green building hasn’t always been a good investment for the retail and hospitality markets, but growing consumer demand and economic benefits have changed the equation – more than half of all new US projects will be “green” by 2015. Tremendous green growth has occurred in these building sectors, roughly doubling from 2011 to 2013, according to McGraw Hill Construction’s Green Retail and Hospitality SmartMarket Report. Green projects were defined as those built for high resource efficiency, LEED certification, or other nationally recognized green building standards. Even though inherent difficulties exist for these markets to go green, especially when compared to the booming residential green building sector, rising asset values and increased consumer demand for green goods are combining with decreased operating costs to make sustainable design and construction the new norm.
More Than Half Green Buildings By 2015. Some surprising things about people who go solar... Passive Vs LEED Vs Net-Zero Energy. Empire State Building Efficiency Retrofit Model Rolls Out Across US. Buildings. Empire State Building Has Saved $4.7 Million So Far by Going Green. The Empire State Building is celebrating a collective $4.7 million in energy savings over the past two years since it received a $500 million energy efficiency retrofit.
Five years ago, the famous landmark set out to cut its carbon emissions by installing a series of upgrades that included energy-efficient lighting, a modern boiler system, upgraded windows and radiator insulation. In 2011, the building even earned LEED Gold Certification, and it exceeded its energy reduction goals by 4 percent in 2011 and 5 percent in 2012. Dell Children's First in the World to Earn LEED for Health Care Platinum Designation. USGBC Business Solutions. Membership says YES to LEED v4. The newest version of the LEED green building rating system closes ballot and moves toward an official market launch at Greenbuild. I am pleased to announce that the final results of the LEED v4 ballot are in. Supersizing Sustainability In Dubai. Inside The World's Most Ambitious Eco-City.
USGBC: U.S. Green Building Council. Honda Smart Home Points California To 2020 ZNE Goal. Let's Move! - Currents. For readers who were not already acquainted with Susan Orlean as the talent behind bestsellers like The Orchid Thief, they got to know the author intimately in May, thanks to a dispatch that Orlean filed to the New Yorker from her Rube Goldberg–ian home office.