Pulse Technology: Micro-monitoring Your Energy Use for Conservation

How cool would it be to receive updates on the amount of energy used every time you turn on a light, open a window, or turn on the heat?

Thanks to Pulse, a digital tool developed by Investa Sustainability Institute and Green Buildings Alive, electricity usage per building can be assessed and uploaded directly to the web. Pulse data feeds update every 15 minutes, and create summaries of daily overall consumption.

“What we are doing here might look simple, but the practice draws from nearly a decade of measuring and monitoring what really makes a building greener. We’ve learnt that sustainability in our sector doesn’t have to mean a fancy façade or expensive technology. Real, measurable energy savings are the bedrock of the radical changes on the horizon for cites worldwide,” says Craig Roussac, director of the Investa Sustainability Institute.

Pulse technology aims to influence behavioral change and raise energy awareness among building occupants. Already, large corporate buildings have the ability to compare their energy usage with that of competitors as well as the increased involvement of employers in ensuring a greener work space. Pulse can also uncover and report costly energy anomalies automatically. It doesn’t get much more convenient than checking your automatically reported energy usage online.

-Caroline

mies van der rohe remembered on google

On March 27th, Google celebrated the 126th birthday of one of the most important Modernist architects, Mies van der Rohe, with a search bar doodle based on his S.R. Crown Hall in Chicago. The doodle depicts the modular structure that now houses the Illinois Institute of Technology’s College of Architecture, and that was one of the most groundbreaking buildings in the Modernist Movement.

The Hall is made of steel and infilled with glass with varying degrees of transparency, and features an upper level architecture studio with an 18-foot ceiling. From Mies’ Seagram Building to his Farnsworth House, we can see his famous architectural philosophy, “less is more,” manifest in his style’s elegant simplicity and efficiency. Mies died 42 years ago, but the mark he left on all major American cities continues to inform and inspire contemporary green architecture.

Happy birthday again, Mies!

-Caroline

“green” vs. “sustainable”… what do they actually mean?

The words “sustainable” and “green” are both buzzwords often used interchangeably. Up until I took an Environmental Studies class last semester, I wasn’t completely clear on the distinctions between them. From a designer’s point of view, however, the distinctions are critical to understand an otherwise hackneyed movement in architecture and design.

First, let’s look at “sustainable.” A sustainable product lowers pressure on the environment by using renewable or sustainably produced materials. A sustainably produced material, in turn,  is one that doesn’t pollute, destroy or erode the environment in which it is gathered or produced, and one that doesn’t permanently reduce the supply.

“Green,” on the other hand, refers to products that function so efficiently and/or strategically as to cause reduced or minimal impact on the environment. Specifically, green design minimizes waste, fuel, and other potentially unnecessary resources that go into construction. Usually, buildings are “green,” but not sustainable. However, there are a few out there that are both. Oberlin College’s Lewis Center, for example, employs its own water treatment system, features scores of solar panels on its roof, and uses geothermal wells to heat and cool the building.

Of course, the term “green” has also come to be known as something too that’s politically liberal, but here at KSDG, we believe that caring about the health of the environment and the people in it shouldn’t be restricted to one political party or another, don’t you?

-Caroline

architects! use the energy star target finder

Here Kevin Stephens Design Group, we’re always searching for new systems to save energy and measure the savings. It’s good for the planet, and good for the pocketbook. We’re a full-service design, construction management, architecture, and sustainability retrofitting firm, so these guides help us do our job better.

One tool we’ve found is Energy Star’s “Target Finder”, a free online tool that enables architects and building owners to set an energy performance target, compare estimated energy consumption to that target, and receive an EPA score and reduction percentage for the estimated whole building energy use.

EPA scores, based on standards of the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy, are calculated by considering all energy consumption associated with a given project, from construction to long term maintenance. EPA scores range from 1 – 100, and projects that earn a score of 75 or higher are eligible for Energy Star certification.

In addition to the EPA score, users also receive strategies on how to  achieve  an energy-efficient design as well as an estimate of annual energy use and its associated costs. Target Finder teaches architects to set realistic goals for energy use, and to examine a variety of ways to minimize energy consumption. As a growing number of national and regional initiatives require an EPA score before moving forward on any given project, Target Finder will hopefully make green design the standard in modern architecture.

-Caroline

a vertical forest inside a city of gardens: “bosco verticale”

I’m fascinated by something called the Garden City Movement of the early 20th century, and was intrigued when I heard about this similar sustainable urban restructuring plan in present day by Stefano Boeri. Currently under construction in Milan, “Bosco Verticale” is comprised of two apartment towers with giant cantilevered balconies that accommodate a vertical forest.

The forest includes approximately 900 trees as well as a plenitude of shrubbery and other floral vegetation, and has a flattened footprint of about 10,000 square meters. Each apartment has a balcony enveloped by a lush garden which is irrigated by  filtered grey water produced by the building.

Not only have solar and wind energy systems been built into the structure to increase energetic self-sufficiency, but these forested patios also create microclimates that require less energy to heat and cool. These microclimates are a result of the forest’s humidity and oxygen production, carbon dioxide and dust absorption , and protection from direct sunlight. The biodiversity of the plants within this forest in addition to the attraction of birds and insects hope to create a self-sufficient ecosystem. Bosco Verticale is the first element in Boeri’s urban project BioMilano, a proposal for a green belt around Milan that would restore 60 abandoned farms on the outskirts to community use.

-Caroline

a greenhouse grows in harlem

The Harlem Edge competition challenged entrants to create a plan for the redevelopment of the Department of Sanitation marine transfer station on the Hudson River at 135th Street in Harlem, New York. The competition states the ideal plan should engage residents with the waterfront, introduce urban agriculture into the community, stimulate economic and educational activity, and be sustainable.

The winning proposal, known as The Greenhouse Transformer and designed by the Boston-based Urban Planning and Architecture firm Praud, integrates all these concepts. The structure features a hydraulic mechanical system that lifts the roof off the base during the summer, and replaces it in the winter to create a giant greenhouse. This greenhouse allows for year-round farming through hydroponics and exterior gardens. The Greenhouse Transformer serves a variety of other purposes besides urban farming, which includes hosting farmer’s markets on the open deck plaza, giving kids hands-on learning opportunities, and accommodating and promoting social events.  The proceeds from the crops grown in the Greenhouse also fund urban agriculture learning programs.

How’s that for sustainability?

-Caroline

how do you spell green revolution? C-o-n-X-t-e-c-h

When you hear of a 101,000 square foot, steel reinforced data center built in nine days, you’d think it unfeasible. Then when you hear about a 10 story steel tower built in three days, you’d have to think “impossible.” These two extraordinary feats have one thing in common: ConXtech, a Hayward-based technology company that manufactures prefabricated steel space frame systems.

Their modular systems are comprised of wide flange beams, HSS (or box columns,) and ConXR or ConXL connectors, allowing for mass-customization and configuration. With a ConX system, architects can select the structural grid early on in the design process, saving time that otherwise would have been spent designing around certain structural constraints.

Dimensional accuracy also enables various architectural elements such as curtain systems, stairs, and balconies to be attached to the framework. ConX systems also allow for seismically sound, higher buildings as a result of their unique moment connection with bolted collar systems. ConXtech’s cost effective systems have already been employed for projects at Burning Man (where five people assembled a ten story building in five days in the middle of the desert), Stanford Law School, and the Coronado U.S. Naval Base.

What makes ConX systems so green is their decreased overall tonnage, collapse resistance, and energy and material efficiency. I guess this just goes to show that with maximum efficiency, anything is possible.

Cool, huh?

-Caroline

the new urban garden: hanging IV bags filled with algae?

A man breathes carbon dioxide into the IV bag of a hanging algae plant at the H.O.R.T.U.S. exhibit

Imagine this: You’re strolling around the city, and stumble across an installation of IV bags containing algae hanging from the ceiling. Each bag has a tube, and you see a man go up and breathe into one of these tubes. You’re completely puzzled, right?

Well, this scene may not be so absurd after all – ecoLogicStudio has created what it calls “H.O.R.T.U.S.”  or “Hydro Organisms Responsive to Urban Stimuli.” The algae plants create an urban garden that thrives on human interaction in order to survive. By breathing into the tubes, humans provide the plants with the carbon dioxide they need to grow.

The project also has a “cyber” component, where visitors are encouraged to use their smartphones to scan the algae bags to learn more about the plants. Tweeting about the experiment is also highly encouraged. This integration of social media, technology on the humanand plant side, and urban agriculture makes for an interesting and innovative way to think about gardening!

Happy sustainable living!
- Emily 

futuristic sustainable living with the hover home!

Hello blogosphere!

Hover House 3 is an innovative model for sustainable living.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the FLOAT House – an innovative design that allows homes to “float” in cases of flooding and sea level rise. While making your house able to float on water is cool, how about a hovering house? Glen Irani Architects has worked to design the aesthetically flawless and energy efficient “Hover House 3.”

Located in Los Angeles, the goal of the house is to hover the building structure over outdoor living space in order to maximize the amount of outdoor square footage a property has in an tightly fit urban location.

These hovering structures also reduce indoor floor area significantly, which help lower building costs and consumption of dwindling building resources. The home also boasts large windows, photovoltaic panels on its roof, and many other sustainability-improved technologies.

Happy Sustainable Living!
- Emily

is SEED taking the place of LEED as the best way to measure sustainable environmental design?

The 5 guiding principles of SEED serve as the basis for measuring sustainable practices for housing, real estate development, and other building projects.

Most people in the architecture and sustainability world know about Leadership in Environmental and Environmental Design – better known as LEED. Achieving LEED certification is a great way of proving sustainable practices in housing and other building development. The LEED system is based on a 100 point baseline, and projects are evaluated based on various criteria.

SEED, however, is the newest way to measure sustainability. As economic fluctuations and social justice issues have proven to be an important part of sustainability, SEED – which stands for Social Economic Environmental Design – tries to incorporate these other factors in addition to environmental and energy concerns. Instead of basing the system off of a point system like LEED, SEED qualitative and quantitative measures are context-dependent, but are developed around their five core principles and mission statement. Their philosophy is that a bottom-up, context-dependent measure is a more effective way of evaluating projects rather than “a numerical measurement based on a top-down pre-determined set of rules.”

The question is: Will companies start to turn to SEED now rather than LEED? The subjectivity of the context-dependent evaluation may make it difficult to create an even playing field for all projects. Also, keeping up with all of SEED’s 5 principles may be harder than it looks. However, I feel optimistic about SEED certifications, as their website seednetwork.org links to many promising case studies, one of which is in the Bay Area! Seeing the SEED principles in action makes me feel positive about these new standards for sustainability.

Happy sustainable living!
- Emily