Schinnerer's RM Blog - sustainability tag

Gazing into the Future

Tue, 01 May 2012 12:39:00 GMT

“It’s alive, it’s ALIVE.” No, we’re not talking about Frankenstein monsters. We’re talking about the possible next generation of buildings. The SmartPlanet blog recently ran a piece on the future life of buildings and how these buildings will be loaded with sensors that automatically adjust to the environment around them. The Media-ITC building will use “a nitrogen based fog and smart temperature sensors that collect information about the outside environment." The sensors will cause cushions to "adjust, inflate, deflate, and become opaque.” These sensors are only part of a network that monitors the entire building, making it function like it has a living skin. This particular building is only one of many new designs using cutting-edge technology and construction techniques to bring buildings into a modern urban environment.

Green Buildings Surviving Disasters

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 12:42:00 GMT

The ability of a building to withstand natural disasters such as hurricanes and earthquakes is not currently taken into account by the United States Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system that rewards buildings for being sustainable. However, this may eventually change, as architects have been pointing out that a green building is one that doesn’t have to be rebuilt after a disaster. This is a valid point, due to all of the energy and materials that are necessarily expended during new construction. While it may take years for LEED to incorporate the resiliency of a building into its rating system, LEED does recognize that the ability to withstand disasters is an important aspect of sustainable structures.

Fort Bliss Invests in Energy Efficiency

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 13:32:00 GMT

While Congress keeps wavering on the need to invest in infrastructure improvements to reduce energy usage, many military units are tapping creative solutions to answer the Obama administration’s call for improvements to save energy and create job opportunities in the private sector.

Fort Bliss, an army base about the size of the state of Rhode Island, is outside of El Paso, Texas. It created a forward-looking energy reduction program in 2009 with the goal of becoming the Army’s leadership center for renewable energy. Its vision of energy security has been focused not only on energy conservation and management efforts, but also on renewable resources such as geothermal, solar, wind, and other “off-the-grid” power sources. Recently it signed a $16 million energy efficiency contract with Johnson Controls. The energy savings performance contract will pay for improvements over a 24-year period with savings on electricity and other utility bills. The project includes the installation of 5,500 solar panels at no cost to the Army. With 330 days of sunshine on average, the El Paso area is a prime location for solar installations. In addition to the panels, daylighting solar “light pipes” are being installed to illuminate building interiors.

The base, which is envisioned as the base to around 34,000 troops and their families, has the goal of being “net zero” in energy consumption by 2015.

Airport Terminal in San Francisco Awarded LEED Gold Certification

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:34:00 GMT

The new Terminal 2 at San Francisco’s International Airport has been awarded LEED™ Gold certification for sustainable building. According to news reports, it is the first airport facility in the United States to achieve the ranking. The terminal cost $383 million and earned the LEED™ Gold certification status because of the many attributes that support green building practices.

Planting Roots for Sustainable Living

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 13:17:00 GMT

They say that old habits die hard. A Connecticut prep school is taking action to ensure that good habits as they pertain to sustainable living are instilled at a young age. Choate Rosemary Hall, in Wallingford, CT, will open the Kohler Environmental Center next fall. The center was made possible through a $20 million gift from Choate alumnus Herbert Kohler (CEO of Kohler Co), and was designed by Graham Wyatt and Kevin Smith of Robert A.M. Stern Architects.

As reported by Fast Company magazine, the 31,325 LEED Platinum facility will allow students to live there while competing against each other as they attempt to live their daily lives in the most sustainable way, in addition to creating and implementing an environmental project. As Linda Tischler writes:

The challenge is that while they're enjoying their new digs, they will constantly be managing their environment to try and be net zero—that is, they can't consume more energy than the building produces. The building's needs will be provided by a 325-kilowatt photovoltaic array, a roof-mounted solar water-heating system, a geothermal heat pump, a water-recycling system, and waste vegetable oil. Choate is considering installing stationary bikes so students themselves can generate power.

As a member of the Eight Schools Association, Choate is hoping that this experiment will spread to other schools and teach students about how their daily activities impact the environment and how little changes can add up to a big difference.