Green Building Elements

When San Franciscans and anyone else living in the Bay Area hear about Richmond the first thing that comes to mind certainly isn’t anything related to Green, Eco, or Sustainable anything. That will hopefully change as the semi-rural farm Eco Village Farm Center, which already teaches sustainable farming and growing practices to underprivileged local youth, recently added a solar system to power the farm.

In a not so pastoral location surrounded by freeways and railroad tracks, the Eco Village offers a green sanctuary to local youth who wish to find a green place to learn and relax. The farm grows a variety of vegetation including: fruit trees, Oaks, Beach, Banana, California Buckeyes, Bay Laurels, Blackberries and Walnuts.

The recently added solar system not only will decrease their energy bill but many young Richmond residents received an opportunity to help install the system. The program sponsored by Solar Living Institute, Solar Richmond, Rising Sun Energy Center, Sun Light & Power, SunPower Corporation and Bay Area Air Quality Management District brought a human element to the system by providing access for disadvantaged children to gain skills and interest in the green business movement.

We’re big fans of this project not just because of the reduced carbon footprint but the program gives youth an opportunity to become more eco-literate, as it creates a cross cultural dialogue and moves across economic lines as well. Learning about Green power, grey water harvesting and urban food production isn’t just for people who can afford it.

We’d like to see more solar training and eco-literacy spread from the suddenly Green city of Richmond.

>> California residents, learn the solar potential of your home with Renewzle’s residential solar power calculator.

Home automation systems (such as Colorado vNet and Control4) are becoming a necessary amenity in any high-end home, but are they also a new tool in our fight to reduce energy use and global warming? After all, these systems are designed so that you can control your high-end AV components, home security system, lighting and HVAC from one device (or via the web from somewhere else), so why not add energy conservation to the mix, right?

The idea is that these high tech systems will minimize or eliminate the wasted energy from lights left on by accident, vampire loads from home equipment in the “off” state, thermostats set too high or low for usage patterns or climate conditions, etc - the automation systems themselves will set things right even if you forget. We’ve certainly written about how important it is to kill of these wasteful elements, but are they big enough to warrant buying one of these systems just to reduce them?

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The AIA and dwell Magazine have announced the winners for their “How Green Are You?” contest. (For background on the contest, see “The AIA and Dwell Magazine Team Up to Spread the Word about Sustainability,”  published on Green Building Elements last April.)

The contest recognized affordable home designs that achieve sustainability in creative ways.  Juror Robert M. Rogers, FAIA, of Roger Marvel Architects states in a press release on the AIA website, “We were especially intrigued with projects that executed beautiful design ideas and were inherently green by concept. From small ideas for the kitchen, to a way of life, the winners embodied these principles.” Read the rest of this entry »

Over the past few months we’ve noticed quite a bit of interest in geothermal heating and cooling amongst our site visitors, and in particular in geothermal heat pumps. We’ve also had many questions from people about exactly what they are and how/if they should consider them as an eco-friendly heating/cooling option. If this describes you, then read on - these systems ARE incredibly promising technologies to heat and cool your home, but they’re also more complicated than your typical AC or furnace unit. We’ll try to help clear the air!

We get into quite a bit of detail below, but before you get into that here’s a very quick summary of geothermal heat pumps:

• Geothermal (or ground source) heat pumps can be incredibly efficient, delivering 3-6x as much energy for heating and cooling as you use to power the equipment;
• They are in some ways a renewable energy system, since they use the heat contained in the earth to provide heating / cooling;
• They do require extensive installation work, including excavation or drilling to install subsurface pipes; and
• They are more expensive than traditional heating/cooling equipment, but the payback period is less than five years almost everywhere in the country due to their greater efficiency.

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Despite the narrowing gap in cost between green building and traditional “to-code” building, most builders and home buyers still perceive the green option to be significantly more expensive.  The reality is that due to increased builder education and an influx of affordable green building products, a building can be built green within the same budget as a non-green building.  According to Clark Wilson, CEO of Austin based Green Builders, Inc., “It’s our job as builders to find those green products that don’t drive up the price of the home.”  Rick Hunter of the St. Louis green building firm Sage Homebuilders agrees:  “With proper planning and a little experience, building green, even certified green, can be done for about the same cost. We are building certified green homes at the highest levels of certification for less than 1% cost increase.“  For an informative breakdown on how green buildings cost from 0 to 2% more than non-green buildings, check out “The True Costs of Building Green” from the folks at Buildings.com.

Now that green building is an affordable option, it’s time to change the way we frame the affordability debate.  Too long have supporters of green building been on the defensive, forced to justify the costs of building more energy efficient, healthier, more sustainable homes.  Instead of focusing on the costs of making your building green, let’s talk about the costs of not building green. Read the rest of this entry »

“Greater energy efficiency drives consumers to choose a green-built home,” according to a survey by the National Association of Home Builders.  With the cost of fuel skyrocketing, and consumers looking to fuel efficient cars to help at the pump, it is no surprise that they would also be looking for energy efficiency from their buildings.

According to the survey, which polled 800 registered voters about how important certain features would be in their decision to build a green home or remodel their current home to be more green, 64% said that energy efficiency would be the most important feature, the healthier environment of green homes came in second at 55%, and 49% percent believed it would be the right thing to do for the environment.

Home builders and designers who can provide energy efficient homes will have a better chance of surviving the recent housing slump.  While general home sales are down, recent studies have shown that the sale of green homes is remaining steady.  Green houses also tend to be worth more.

The one concern most consumers have is the cost of green homes.  While tax credits and rebates help, home owners should be looking at the long term benefits of owning green.  With lower energy and maintenance costs over time, the additional premium is worth it.  Also, as technology and building techniques evolve, construction costs will come down.

In today’s volatile fuel market, energy efficient buildings are going to be all the rage, and delivering quality homes at a reasonable price will help many builders rise above the slumping market.

Editor’s note: this piece has been contributed by guest blogger Kevin Hughes. Kevin was generous enough to share his own experience with installing a solar hot water system on his home. Thank you, Kevin!

I live in Los Angeles and I prefer the ugly one! Please don’t get me wrong, my wife is very beautiful, but when it comes to solar power, I prefer the ugly one.

Let me explain, for the past few years there has been huge interest in Solar Electricity (photovoltaic’s, PV, or solar panels), there are lots of incentives at both a state and federal level, there are often photo opportunities for politicians, gazing towards the future over a vast array or solar panels. But there are problems with this vision: solar electricity is expensive to purchase and install; it has a long pay back period; it converts sunlight to usable energy fairly inefficiently, and because of that, you need quite a lot of roof space or land to put up enough panels to power your home.

The ugly one that I prefer is solar thermal, specifically solar hot water, a much older technology. It is also much cheaper to install, much more efficient, and has a much faster pay back. It can even be a do-it-yourself project if you are reasonably handy. As for the payback, that’s easy: you don’t have to pay for 70-100% of your hot water heating costs, and with a clever tweak, you can save 10-15,000 gallons of water annually, and reduce your water and electricity costs.

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A new study finds that awnings over windows in residential buildings can reduce energy use.

A new study, “Awnings in Residential Buildings: The Impact on Energy Use and Peak Demand,” conducted by the Center for Sustainable Building Research at the University of Minnesota, has found that awnings over windows on residences can save energy costs and reduce energy use throughout the year by reducing the effects of unwanted passive solar heating.

The study was funded by the Professional Awning Manufacturers Association (PAMA), and was conducted to determine whether awnings are viable means to reduce energy use and reduce air conditioner usage in residential buildings and homes. The study investigated the energy savings for single-family homes in terms of heat gain, energy costs in heating and cooling and the reduction of energy use during peak periods.
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This post was originally published on June 29, 2008.

With many cities experiencing a real estate “slump”, homeowners around the country are looking for ways to stand out from the slew of homes on the market, while improving their home’s resale value. Other homeowners are planning for the future: a future of ever-rising energy prices.

Regardless of your situation, you may be asking yourself if green home improvements increase the home’s value. The answer isn’t as straight-forward as some might hope.

The old rules still apply…

Before we dive in, there are a few things to consider when thinking about making home improvements – green or not. First, remember the three rules of real estate: location, location, location. The return on your investment will depend on the value of your house and others in the neighborhood, as well as your local housing market. Other factors like the quality of the workmanship, and how soon you move after making the improvements weigh in as well.

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A community in Canada has an unusual form of solar power that can provide over 90% of the annual heating and hot water needs for the homes, despite being situated in a cold Alberta location where winter temperatures can reach -33 degrees C (-27 F).

The Drake Landing Solar Community collects solar energy in a heat storage fluid through an array of solar panels on the roof of each home and covering all of the garages at the back of each home. The heated fluid is transferred to a neighborhood energy center, and then into the ground beneath an insulated layer, where the heat is stored in the earth.

Combined together, the 52 home community is able to collect and store enough energy from the sun during the summer that the ground storage temperatures reach 80 degrees C (176 F). This heat is sufficiently insulated beneath the ground that it can be drawn from throughout the winter to provide heat and hot water.
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