Award Winning Chicago Green Building

2020 W Rice-Elevation: Photo Credit: Chicagoland Avenues Green building isn't a style, it's an approach. While there may be common features that appear in many green homes and buildings, there is not a single style that all green buildings follow. Instead of just talking about the pieces of green buildings, it is also important to take a look at completed projects, to get a sense of what green buildings can look like. The examples we show here are never going to be more than a tiny fraction of the green buildings being constructed all over the globe. But hopefully these will provide some inspiration for considering green building, and give a sense of the breadth of possibility available while building green.

2020 W. Rice Street in Chicago is an award-winning project by Wolbrink Architects. It is the first EnergyStar rated multifamily building in Chicago, and was awarded a Mayor's GreenWorks award for Green Buildings Market Transformation.

The building follows a typical Chicago form: the 3-flat. The three units are called Garden Unit (the lowest level, half below-grade), Bay Unit (a half flight above grade), and Penthouse Unit (the top two floors).

An article from the GreenBean blog outlines the many green features of this building:

"The project includes many of the typical features expected on a small green development: compact fluorescent lighting, low-VOC paints, recycled-content carpet, sustainably harvested flooring, locally manufactured materials, etc. The outdoor patio has permeable pavers and the garage has a green roof. It's also nice how the building design respects the neighboring buildings, with a two-story gabled front elevation (matching the neighbors) and the more modern third floor set back a bit – this is atypical in speculative development that often seeks to maximize floor area."

Additionally, the building has high efficiency heating systems, and as can be seen in the photographs, each of the units (even the bottom floor Garden Unit) have lots of daylight. The architect has said that energy efficiency is the primary reason for doing green building. But indoor air quality (by using low- or zero-VOC paints and glues) was also an aspect of this project. Many of the materials were also locally sourced, rather than relying on materials with greater shipping impacts coming from distant suppliers.

One of the constant concerns in green building is how to ensure that the building gets built green. Wolbrink not only designed the building, but also managed the construction, thereby ensuring that the building was built with the green measures they intended.

A portfolio of pictures of the building is on the architect's website.

As a followup to this project, the firm is now working on "Phase II" nearby at 2012-14 W. Rice Street, which will be an additional 5 condos, and is to be built as part of the LEED for Homes pilot program.via: GreenBean and Chicagoland Avenues

Hurricanes rip through BP stock Investors take fright as oil giant reveals dollars-700m cost of damage and lost income

The Herald October 5, 2005 | BEN GRIFFITHS OIL giant BP saw nearly GBP4bn wiped from its stock market value yesterday after revealing it is likely to miss its 2005 production forecasts because of the impact of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The world’s second-largest oil company by market value said that the devastating natural disasters in the Gulf of Mexico would cost it dollars-700m (GBP400m) in repair bills and lost profits. site bp stock price

However, BP attempted to assuage investors by saying it remained on course for record earnings this year on the back of soaring world crude prices.

In its third-quarter trading update, BP said the average Brent crude oil price achieved during the last three months was up by dollars-10 a barrel to dollars-61.63.

BP, which is headed by chief executive Lord John Browne, unveiled first-half profits of GBP6bn in July – or GBP1.4m an hour.

The company yesterday said trading conditions for the three months to the end of September were “significantly impacted” by the hurricanes and their aftermath.

Investors took fright at the news and BP shares closed 18p lower at 655.5p last night.

However, analysts said that the impact of the hurricanes was unlikely to dampen appetite for BP stock over the longer term with the company expected to post full-year profits of around GBP20bn.

Tony Shepherd, at Charles Stanley stockbrokers, said: “It is disappointing that BP will miss its 2005 production target but in the circumstances we think investors will look through the impact of the hurricanes and focus on the investment case.

“To put the costs of the hurricanes into perspective, the consensus pre-tax profit estimate for 2005 was dollars-31bn before the trading update.” BPis also incurring costs of around GBP57m on work to secure and repair its massive Thunder Horse platform in the Gulf of Mexico, which was badly damaged by Hurricane Dennis. BP shut its largest US refinery in Texas City, on the outskirts of Houston, along with two other facilities several days before Rita and Katrina struck.

While the hurricanes damaged rigs, flooded refineries and stalled production, oil prices rose above dollars-70 a barrel in anticipation of a disruption to supplies. Analysts expect the past three months to be among the most profitable in BP’s history.

Activity was down at its Texas City refinery, where an explosion in March killed 15 workers.

BP also lost output to planned maintenance, mainly in the North Sea which, like the Gulf of Mexico, is an area of high margins for the company.

In terms of production, BP stuck by its February forecast of average production for the year of between 4100 and 4200 million barrels of oil per day. go to site bp stock price

Excluding volumes from TNK-BP operations, it expects production in the third quarter to be around 2800 million barrels per day. Its net share of production from TNK-BP is expected to be around 1000 million barrels.

Meanwhile, margins fell at BP’s olefins (hydrocarbons such as ethylene) and derivatives business due to the rising cost of oil used as the raw material at the facilities.

BP is planning to float most of these plastics operations on the New York Stock Exchange later this year and any easing in margins could raise concerns at its ability to raise a high price.

Financial services group Zurich warned yesterday that, based on preliminary assessments, it expects aggregate claims payments related to Hurricane Katrina of approximately dollars-600m after tax.

BEN GRIFFITHS