See on Scoop.it – Green Building Design – Architecture & Engineering

The incorporation of interior greenery has grown to the point where it now even takes up indoor wall spaces.

“A new trend sees ‘bio-walls’ offering bring new life into conventional spaces. According to former University of Guelph researcher Dr. Alan Darlington, the incorporation of these green walls are drastically increasingly Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) passively, without energy reliance.”

“We’re getting rid of 60 to 70 per cent of the pollutants in the air after a single pass through the filtration system,” he said. “It means less fresh outdoor air has to be brought in to maintain air quality and that significantly reduces the energy required to heat or cool that air. It’s a really beautiful technology.”

See on designbuildsource.ca

See on Scoop.it – Green Energy Technologies & Development

Millions of the world’s poorest lack power. Microgrids could be a clean-energy solution.

See on www.technologyreview.com

See on Scoop.it – Green Building Design – Architecture & Engineering

Engineers and building owners often focus on payback periods and return on investment as economic decision-making thresholds for energy efficiency investments.

Back in the day, HVAC systems were designed to be stout, longevity was the main focus, and concepts such as operating costs and efficiencies were virtually non-existent. The driving force was purely “How much will it cost and will it last?” Interest rates and return on investments were left to the bankers and stockbrokers.

“A more sophisticated approach is present worth analysis, which establishes a present time value of all future cash flow by discounting the costs. A typical time frame used for this procedure is 20 years. …”

“Data considered as input includes the future costs of energy, future maintenance costs, replacement costs, life of the product, and future interest rates. There are some pitfalls: prediction of future energy cost is a guessing game, just like predicting stock prices. Two factors, weather and people, are not 100% predictable. Planned maintenance cost can be somewhat consistent, but one catastrophic failure will ruin the budget. In the end, the analysis produces a lifecycle value in today’s dollars. This is then compared to similar investment analyses to select the most reasonable investment. The process can be intense and the projected outcome is always subject to scrutiny.”

See on www.csemag.com

See on Scoop.it – Green Energy Technologies & Development

Coca-Cola Japan says its peak-shift vending machines, jointly developed with Fuji Electric, can provide cooled products for 16 hours while reducing daytime…

See on www.energymanagertoday.com

See on Scoop.it – Green Energy Technologies & Development

Arizona households and businesses can cut electricity use by 21 percent and save $7.3 billion by 2020 if utilities ramp up energy-efficiency incentives, a public policy group said Tuesday.

“The report found that every dollar invested in energy efficiency returns more than $2 in savings on business and household utility bills.”

“The 270-page report calls for $5.5 billion in investments in efficiency programs by Arizona utilities, money that Geller said the companies would have to spend anyway on things like new power plants to keep up with demand.”

“Geller’s study said the energy saved would allow Arizona to avoid building or close 10 large power plants…”

See on azcapitoltimes.com

See on Scoop.it – Green Energy Technologies & Development

EPA finds pollution that forms smog at oil, gas facilities

By Todd Hartman, Rocky Mountain News
June 20, 2006

“On a tour of the drilling area in Weld and Adams counties, a group of top EPA officials that included the agency’s lead enforcement official in Washington, D.C., and a team of high-tech EPA investigators based in Lakewood used the infrared camera to see emissions that are normally invisible to the naked eye.”

“Aiming the camera at pipelines, valves and hatches atop storage tanks, the EPA regulators found numerous sources of “fugitive emissions” – those leaking from various areas of the facility – during a two-hour drive-by of the region last week.”

See on www.ilta.org

See on Scoop.it – Green Building Design – Architecture & Engineering

The number of LEED-certified federal building projects is projected to more than double this year: 821 projects received certification in the first 8 months of 2012 alone, up from 544 projects total in 2011, as reported in the Federal Times…

“This increase in LEED certified federal buildings comes in the midst of a full-fledged attack against the use of LEED from the timber and chemical industries, who have been lobbying against the use of the LEED rating system in federal buildings (see this letter to GSA as an example).”

See on switchboard.nrdc.org

See on Scoop.it – Green Building Design – Architecture & Engineering

…the UniSource Energy corporate headquarters building in downtown Tucson, Arizona, had finally received LEED Gold status, more than nine months after initial occupancy.

“The LEED certification effort showed me once again how easy it is to achieve a Gold certification on a conventional building budget.”

“…the LEED goals did require the project to achieve a projected 24% lower energy use than the ASHRAE 90.1-2007 standard, reduce water use 30% from code levels, install a 100-kW solar thermal system for water heating, and a 150,000-gallon rainwater collection cistern for site irrigation….”

See on www.sustainableindustries.com

See on Scoop.it – Green Building Design – Architecture & Engineering

Two industrial projects in Queensland and New South Wales have raised the bar in green building and construction for warehouses and industrial facilities throughout Australia.

“… the bus depot has been recognised for a number of initiatives, including light-filled offices, breakout areas and workshops, ‘excellent’ passive design and natural ventilation which makes the most of Queensland’s climate.

[also]… on-site water collection, re-use and management strategy that treats storm water through a biofiltration system which then provides most of the depot’s non-potable water demand.”

See on designbuildsource.com.au

See on Scoop.it – Green Building Design – Architecture & Engineering

MBCI Eco-ficient� Roofing Panels: Can one roofing panel do it all? These can do it all. These metal roofing panels have high R-values, and qualify as continuous insulation where required by the IECC. They are designed to mitigate thermal drift and their R-values are billed as consistent for 20 years. Green roofers can look forward to working with these roofing panels.

See on www.whec.com