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October 31, 2007
Lets get ready to rummmmble!
I am all about getting the green into the mainstream, so I was pretty interested to see how the green roof crowd, the International Code Council (ICC), and the National Roofing Contractors Association (NRCA) would settle their recent dust-up.
The NRCA threw down the gauntlet earlier this year when they proposed a change to the International Building Code (IBC) requiring that green roofs meet the same standards as conventional roofing systems and materials for fire testing and wind uplift. Up to this point green roofs have mostly fallen below the radar of the IBC, but thanks to this push (or shove depending on how you look at it) from the NRCA, green roofs will no longer get a free pass.
The vote on the proposal by the ICC, who publishes the IBC, was unanimous.
Bam! ICC dropping the hammer on the upstarts!
Now despite cries for extensions to the process, the green roof industry has only 18 months to put a plan together for standards, bring their cottage industry up to speed and comply with the upcoming changes to code.
18 months may seem reasonable, but in reality the situation is much more challenging. The next publishing of the IBC will be in 2009 but the testing standards have to be submitted to the ICC in February of 2008. That means that this rag-tag group of green roof advocates must craft the standards, run them through the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) who provides comment on their viability, then get the plans reviewed (again) by the industry, edited, agreed upon, revised, resubmitted and finally delivered to the ICC by Valentines Day.
They must get it done or watch their whole industry fall in to violation of the IBC in less than two years.
Very motivating.
Green roofs are making inroads to commercial and public spaces for their bevy of environmental benefits and aesthetic Zen, but have yet to really gain traction in residential construction. While everyone pretty much agrees that testing and inspecting of the roof systems is a good idea, a little grace period would have been appreciated to allow a wider-range of systems and green roof technologies be brought into the fold.
Personally, I love green roofs and believe including them in the IBC will eventually allow the industry to overcome liability concerns. Though a few of the pioneers in the industry may fall by the wayside, unable to keep up with new standards, overall these changes may allow larger builders and roofing contractors to offer green roof systems as part of sustainable building practices.
Posted by Andrew Hunt at 11:04 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 25, 2007
Oh. No. It's time to buy a new house.
This is when personal and professional collide - when the green building advocates (aka. me and my husband) move across the country and buy a new house. Or build. What to do?
Sometime toward the end of next year, we'll be packing up the whole fam damily and moving to Missoula, Mt. It's not the first move we've moved cross country. I've moved to and from Seattle, Wash. twice, and Andrew's moved that move, in addition to several in and out of Alaska and California. Never with a young child (which is fodder for another blog in another place at another time), and never with the prerequisite that the home we buy be exactly what we want it to be - healthy, safe, durable, comfortable, efficient and with as little negative environmental impact as it can have.
And the rubber hits the road, I suppose.
In the next three weeks, we're meeting with builders and real estate agents in the area and trying to wrap our heads around how much it's going to cost to find a place that works for us - new or existing. On top of the green attributes of the home, we've got some tall orders to fill. We both work from home and need significant home office space, and we grow our own produce as much as we can during the season (and I, admittedly, have a native plant and flower obsession), so land is important to us. And as much as we'd like to "walk the walk" and stay in town to reduce sprawl, we've both spent enough time in cities to know that we don't want our neighbors to be able to see in our bathroom windows while they're eating dinner.
Stay tuned for a great adventure, and holler if you have any suggestions for us!
Posted by Stacy Hunt at 12:58 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
October 24, 2007
NAHB Launches Green Building Program
There are two things that could take green building mainstream in the next few years. One is code change. The other is...
The National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB). This ginormous trade association has the ear of just about every builder in the industry, from guys that build a couple of homes a year to those that build thousands and thousands.
At the International Builder's Show this year, they're launching a full scale National Green Building Program. The timing is interesting, considering that USBGC's LEED for Homes Program will also come out of pilot mode this year, but the significance of the NAHB's program bodes to be greater, in my book. Their reach is further, the program seems quite palatable, and the money behind the organization to promote and lobby for code change to incorporate the new standards is huge. According to an insider, the standards associated with the program are in the process of becoming ANSI certified, and will be able to be used as a "code plug in" within the next year, allowing states to adopt parts or all of the program as code.
Go, Go, NAHB. With the amount of lobbying dollars you have, you're bound to make a positive change if you point your guys in the right direction.
So what do you think? Is it good to have a trade association pushing a major green program? Or is it something that a third party organization like the USGBC should be behind for "impartiality"? Do you listen to the NAHB? What can this program provide that no other can?
Posted by Stacy Hunt at 6:28 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
California and corporate backs solar water heating
All it takes in this market is big corporate backers to bring technology mainstream, and California legislature is incentivizing the big boys to put their money where the country's mouth is.
Among the other legislature passed by our buddy Gov. Schwarzenegger was a bill that creates the largest incentive program for solar assisted hot water heaters - to the tune of about $250 billion. Now, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, and Bank of America have announced their intent to get into financing solar systems.
Again, California leads the way. The next decade should show the emergence of fantastic new solar cell technology and power optimization and integration technologies from the same locale that brought us computer technology.
Why do you think California is so progressive with energy technology? How does this legislature affect our market?
Posted by Stacy Hunt at 6:16 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 23, 2007
Time to start importing good ideas
When I first started to explore the world of residential building science, I was surprised to discover that Canada is really progressive.
From British Columbia to New Brunswick, Canadians seem to take their building envelopes very seriously.
And rightly so, they don't have Phoenix weather up there, do they, eh?
I was also pleased to see that many European cities are reducing carbon emissions ahead of schedule and that the city of Barcelona, Spain has required all new and renovated buildings to install solar panels to supply at least 60 percent of the energy needed to heat water.
Considering our considerable wealth and resources, if Canada and Spain can do it, why can't we?
The rain in Spain may stay mainly on the plains, but I sure would like the smart ideas to flow this way.
Is a "not invented here" attitude holding American homebuilders back?
Posted by Andrew Hunt at 9:46 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
October 21, 2007
Coal is killing our best efforts...
I have to admit I'm completely disgusted with the power generation industry. Coal-fired plants emit enough carbon dioxide every year to completely negate the good efforts put in by government, individuals and corporations (See Architecture 2030 for more information) for some statistics that will really knock you on your butt).
Why am I disgusted? Because I recently had call to look at some information provided by the Energy Information Administration and realized that if the industry had invested in renewable energy over the last 30 years in the way they've invested in coal, we'd be looking at a very different planet right now.
You might say "we didn't know then what we know now". And yes, that's true. But I'm still disgusted, after having passed a series of billboards last week sponsored by a Pennsylvania "coal for families" initiative proclaiming coal to be a green fuel source and pushing that we continue to invest in an archaic and dangerous fuel source. I say BOO HISS to an industry that's trying to greenwash itself in such a flagrant manner.
Why am I ranting about coal in a blog on green building? Because 75% of electricity generated in this country fuels our homes and increasingly more of that electricity comes from coal-fired plants.
How do you feel about coal as a fuel source? Greenwashing? Should our government and private industry continue to invest in constructing sources of power that significantly impact our environment?
Posted by Stacy Hunt at 2:20 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
October 19, 2007
Will the market for green homes swell?
There's a discussion going on in my professional circles about the market for green homes. Many insist that rising energy prices and concerns over climate change will kick-start the market for green homes, without the industry or government having to help create a market.
Some say it already has. But others insist that homeowners at large don't have a clue -- and that without an education about the options available to them they simply don't know what to ask for -- and won't ask for it unless it's plopped squarely in front of their noses.
What's your opinion? Will homeowners learn on their own to ask for green homes? Are you already hearing them ask in your market? Will there need to be a significant, deliberate effort on the part of government and industry to educate consumers so that they know what to ask for?
Posted by Stacy Hunt at 3:37 PM | Comments (16) | TrackBack
October 11, 2007
You do the math...
Online energy calculators are cool.
Want to know how much money you are wasting running that old refrigerator? Check out the Energy Star website.
Thinking about upgrading from traditional to tankless with your water heater? The Rinnai web site
has a calculator that shows the return on investment and 20-year life-cycle costs.
Looking for the whole enchilada? Home Energy Saver promotes itself as the first web-based do-it-yourself energy audit tool. If you dig deep enough, you even can see your home's annual carbon emissions and learn how to cut costs and curb pollution.
Nifty!
With so many free tools to provide facts and figures about beefing up insulation, upgrading windows, or going with Energy Star appliances, home buyers should have no complaints about the initial investment of going green.
(Oh, and if you happen to also run a swine farm, check out the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Energy Tools website and see how much juice you could save by altering your tending methods. Pigs in a blanket, anyone?)
Posted by Andrew Hunt at 8:09 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 8, 2007
Got them Dade County Blues...
I first heard of the Dade County Blues last year while chatting with a couple distributors from Florida. These gents explained to me that the Miami-Dade County Building Code Compliance Office requires that every product to be used in new home construction be put through a rigorous screening process before it can be approved for use on the house.
The reason, I was told, was to make sure that everything built in that region could withstand the all too common problem of hurricanes. This means all roofing materials, windows, siding, heck the whole shooting match, had to be tested and verified by the M-DCBCCO (fit that on a baseball cap) before it could legally be sold and installed.
As told to me, the process of approval is expensive, time consuming, and, in their opinion, a big pain in the neck. Some of the loose unsubstantiated figures they were throwing around made it seem like any new product like the latest low-e window or new and improved shingle would cost tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars to get tested, documented and finally approved.
I checked out the product approval process and then breezed through the flow-chart and have to admit, it looks a bit complicated.
But I have to applaud the intent. In the end it is the community that also suffers if the houses built in the "danger zone" can't stand up to the inevitable whimsy of Mother Nature.
The idea got me thinking.
As we hear more and more about the "tipping point" of climate change and also wrestle with domestic energy demands complicated by foreign resources, how long will it be before a Dade-style approval process will be required for all products in home building? But instead of building to withstand hurricanes, what if every piece of the house had to be green?
Considering how much energy and natural resources a home uses during its life cycle, will we really be surprised if such demands on efficiency and sustainable building start to come down the pike in the next few years? How long before home buyers, municipalities, and the Federal government demand that all new homes and all of their components be:
-- Sustainable in nature
-- Carbon neutral
-- Domestically produced
Those working under Dade County type code stipulations might have some insight on how that would feel. But what about the other builders, distributors, and trades who don't build in such scrutinized environments? Could you handle a whole new layer of building code that covered products as well as design?
Posted by Andrew Hunt at 11:27 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
October 2, 2007
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About ccSPF -- Eventually
That's it. I admit it. I really am a geek.
I'm writing a white paper on closed-cell spray polyurethane foam (ccSPF) insulation for a manufacturer client, and I've fallen in love. Not with their product specifically, but just with the idea of ccSPF and the impact on green building. The stuff is fantastic for thermal performance, airtightness, moisture control and structural durability, and it has very little room for the errors in installation that degrade R-value performance in other types of insulation products, like fiberglass batt insulation.
The significant increase in performance seen with this product makes it green by nature, but it is a chemical product. So what's the environmental impact from manufacturing? What kind of funky stuff is released during installation? Does it off-gas afterwards? My client tells me there are studies done by BASF that prove the "green-ness" of the product, and I'm looking forward to reading them.
What're your thoughts on ccSPF? Have you used the system in your home or homes and have an experience you'd like to share? What are your questions about the sustainability of chemically based products? Do you see any advantages of closed-cell over open-cell spray insulation -- or vice versa? Let me know. I'd love to find out more about it from the field experts.
Posted by Stacy Hunt at 5:05 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
