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Technical News

    • October

      27

      2012
    • 3684
    • 0

    Homebox turns Shipping Container Housing On Its End

    The real importance of the shipping container isn’t the fact that it is a box; it is that it is part of a larger system of handling and transport. One can move them anywhere with standardized equipment. Professor Han Slawik builds his Homeboxes out of wood, within the internationally recognized standards of an ISO shipping container. The Professor writes:

    Worldwide are almost steel containers in use. But wear, repair and maintenance of steel materials are more costly (in term of purchasing costs, welding, etc.) than for wooden materials. Wooden constructions can be repaired cheaper and easier. Variation and adjustment to changing necessaries and conditions are easier and cheaper with wooden containers. Live in wooden homes is healthier and more comfortable as in a home made of

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    • October

      27

      2012
    • 1595
    • 0

    Can You Build an All-American Home? It’s Hard and Expensive, and It’s All About the Details

    People all over the United States were out of work; if she bought American-made products for the house, she could do her part. But how far could she take it? Was it possible to build a house entirely of products made in America?

    Some things were easy. Lantz traveled to a quarry in Lueders, Tex., to find chocolate-brown limestone. The marble chips that made up her terrazzo came from Marble Falls. She found Heatlok Soy 200 foam insulation in Arlington and windows manufactured in Stafford. Other items required her to look further afield: Lantz bought shower drains from Iowa, a skylight made in South Carolina, hose valves made in Alabama, fences from California and baseboards from Georgia. She developed the skills of a private investigator.

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    • October

      27

      2012
    • 2030
    • 0

    An Affordable Prefabbed Passive House Line Is Launched

    It used to be that a green home was an expensive home. Call it a combination of higher material costs and the need for a little more know-how than the kind that goes into your average tract home — the upshot was that building green was out of reach for a lot of the people. Slowly, though, that’s been changing, and one of the key factors in increasing the cost-effectiveness of green building has been prefabrication.

    A number of different companies have been making a name for themselves with LEED-ready prefabs in recent years,

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    • October

      27

      2012
    • 1886
    • 0

    Report raises questions about value of LEED certification

    LAS VEGAS â?? The Palazzo Hotel and Casino boasts many features of Las Vegas excess â?? an indoor waterfall, a smoke-filled gaming area, seven decorative fountains, and guest suites with three TVs and power-controlled curtains.

    Yet the 50-story complex achieved an unlikely and lucrative milestone after opening in 2008. A powerful private organization declared it an environmentally friendly “green” building, the world’s largest at the time.

    The designation won its owner, Las Vegas Sands Corp., a $27 million tax break over 10 years because a Nevada law puts the private interest group â?? not the government â?? in charge of deciding which buildings are green enough for a taxpayer subsidy.

    The U.S. Green Building Council, a building industry non-profit, credited the Palazzo for

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    • October

      7

      2012
    • 1236
    • 0

    Alpen Windows to Focus on Passive House

    Alpen has been operating continuously since 1981 and has consistently been the U.S. technology leader in energy-efficient windows. The company has announced that its operations and customer service staff will remain intact, as will the working relationship between Alpen and Serious Energy; it will also continue to manufacture its products in Colorado. Serious Energy retains …….

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    • October

      7

      2012
    • 1020
    • 0

    Building Products Labelling Program Launches

    The International Living Future Institute (ILFI) has launched an ingredients-labelling program to help building products specifiers identify ecologically sound materials and products.

    Each product accepted into the new Declare database receive a clear and informative “nutrition label” that includes its ingredients, source, and manufacturing locations. Participating products will be listed in the online database and can display the Declare label on packaging and marketing materials. The intial fee ……….

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    • September

      18

      2012
    • 2036
    • 0

    Roof, Attic Design Creates Green, Climate Controlled Houses – Laboratory Equipment

    A new kind of roof-and-attic system field-tested at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory keeps homes cool in summer and prevents heat loss in winter, a multi-seasonal efficiency uncommon in roof and attic design.

    The system improves efficiency using controls for radiation, convection and insulation, including a passive ventilation system that pulls air from the underbelly of the attic into an inclined air space above the roof.

    “Heat that would have gone into the house is carried up and out,” says Bill Miller of ORNL’s Building Envelope Group. “And with a passive ventilation scheme, there are no moving parts, so it’s guaranteed to work.”

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    • September

      18

      2012
    • 2683
    • 0

    Floating passive house close to mass production

    The Dutch subsidiary of IBC Solar AG, one of the world’s leading system integrators for photovoltaics, has helped bring AUT-ARK home, a floating passive home, a step closer to mass production. A prototype of AUT-ARK is currently anchored in Maastricht (Netherlands) and draws a huge number of interested visitors during its opening hours due to its unconventional construction design.

    IBC Solar B.V. provided its support for the planning, technical design and installation of the photovoltaic system for this unique, future-oriented project, which is powered by a total of 24 photovoltaic modules with a total output of 6,360 Wp (watt peak), an inverter and a solar energy storage unit.

    The home was designed by Pieter Kromwijk (Architectuur Coenegracht & Kromwijk, Maastricht) focusing on minimum energy demand, and is currently anchored in Maastricht. The prototype took nine months to build, and IBC Solar explains that “owing to the considerable interest shown, the floating passive home will soon be going into mass production. Then each home will only take 4 months to build”.

    “The AUT-ARK Home is a perfect example of how the homes of the future will look,” claims Peter Meijers, Managing Director of IBC Solar B.V. in the Netherlands enthusiastically. Once it has been anchored at its mooring, the passive house does not need to be connected to a waterside power supply – electricity and water are produced and treated by the home itself.

    “This is of particular interest in those areas where there is an abundance of rivers and lakes and only limited housing space. This problem could be solved with the passive house, which offers a new, self-sufficient living space,” explains Meijers. Thanks to its innovative construction and self-sufficiency concept, the floating passive home is ten times more energy-friendly than a conventional home of a comparable size.

    Peter Meijers was immediately convinced of the idea of the self-sufficient home and offered his advice in designing the power supply from the very beginning. The planning stage of the project was quite complicated. For example, the construction plans for the passive home were altered several times. IBC Solar B.V. adapted the energy concept for each draft accordingly. IBC Solar B.V. t

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    • September

      18

      2012
    • 1917
    • 0

    Turkish Students Design dualWash, a Waterless Dishwasher That Doubles as a Kitchen Cabinet

    DualWash is a two sided dishwasher which can also be used as a kitchen cabinet. Waiting to load dirtydishes into your dishwasher and then do it all over again with the rest dirty dishes is our current problem with convential dishwasher. DualWash makes it possible to use full washing performance immediately after a single person completing a meal without wasting your resources (electricity and detergent), simply use one side of this unit. However, when a guest visits you, this appliance offers the advantage of

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    • September

      8

      2012
    • 2002
    • 0

    Hidden Seam Failures? We Put Flashing Tapes to the Test

    There are a lot of key differences, so no conclusions should be drawn from this testing. In any case, not all manufacturers report D3330, so we needed to pick one set of conditions and run as many tapes as we had through that one. We hope this testing provides some suggestive information.

    And here is a thought: maybe our “benchtop” testing will inspire (or anger?) some experts from PSA tape manufacturers or test programs to conduct some field or field-like service life performance testing. We’d love to see more manufacturers engage in testing along the lines of the Sustainable Building Solutions Test Facility Tremco has going, in partnership with the Department of Energy.

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    • September

      8

      2012
    • 3006
    • 0

    New Mexican Adobe, German Efficiency Style

    I’ve seen several projects pursue both LEED Platinum and Passive House certification, but I can’t think of any that actually went through with the aim other than this Passive House, Platinum-certified home in Taos, New Mexico. The 2,400 square-foot home has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a garage, and 1.1 acres of land with a serene, scenic view of Taos Mountain to the east, Truchas Peaks to the South, and pasture land to the west.

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    • September

      8

      2012
    • 1487
    • 0

    Buildings’ energy-management systems move toward integration

    The explosive growth ingreen buildings over the past decade is flattening the built environment.

    Until recently, building automation, lighting controls, fire safety and other base building systems were designed and deployed to support a single building service and operated independently on proprietary network and cables. Green building’s emphasis on integrated design and whole-building performance has accelerated the convergence of these silos into a single platform, transforming a fragmented, vertical value chain into an integrated, horizontal value chain.

    Simply put, the building management business is becoming flat and doing so fast. This convergence of information and communications technology and physical infrastructure in the built environment is providing building owners and occupants with actionable information about a building or space that allows them manage that building or space more effectively.

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    • September

      8

      2012
    • 1993
    • 0

    Sleek & Sustainable Prefab Outdoor Shower Assembles in 30 Minutes

    There’s nothing quite as invigorating as showering outdoors, under an open sky as birds flit overhead. While there are many ways to build one from the ground up, it does take time. Oborain is one Massachusetts-based company that’s offering pre-fabricated models that are hand-built in their shop, uses sustainably-harvested materials and can be assembled and plumbed on any level surface in an impressive thirty minutes.

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    • August

      25

      2012
    • 1330
    • 0

    Report: Energy retrofits surpass new green buildings in benefits

    Brand new green buildings are always white hot.

    But experts have long been touting the environmental benefit of green buildings’ slightly less sexy cousin: Retrofitting existing buildings with green upgrades.

    Now there is proof.

    A groundbreaking report released earlier this year found that it is unequivocally greener to retrofit an old building than construct a new green building, no matter how many high-tech bells and whistles are in the new construction. “The Greenest Building: Quantifying the Environmental Value of Building Reuse,” was commissioned by Preservation Green Lab, a project of the National Trust for Historic Preservation with support from The Summit Foundation and in partnership with four companies, including Skanska Group.

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    • August

      25

      2012
    • 1847
    • 0

    The Trend in New Construction, to Extreme Green or Net Zero

    The trend in new construction and retrofits can only be described as “extreme green” or “net zero.” Venture capitalists have plowed more than $4 billion into the development of sustainably designed, energy efficient buildings. Now, they are looking at ground-breaking technologies to further develop this space, according to a report just released by Boston-based Lux Research.

    To understand investment activity in the green buildings space, Lux Research analysts have followed 332 venture transactions— amounting to $4.06 billion in 160 companies— since 2000. Of the 332 investment rounds in companies that offer technology and materials for green buildings, 152 were series A investments and 83 were series B. Start-ups from North America have attracted 77 percent—or $3.1 billion— of the green building VC invested so far.

    Last year, however, nearly 50 percent of the funding—totaling $445 million—went into 15 late-stage investments, signaling the maturation of the first wave of green building start-ups.

    Meanwhile, new opportunities are emerging in a number of leading-edge areas, including integrated design, on-site power generation, energy services and the advanced building envelope.

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    • August

      25

      2012
    • 3129
    • 0

    PT bamboo pure: green school, bali

    An amazing structure, conceived by John Hardy. After meeting in indonesia, john hardy and his wife cynthia conceived of the ‘green school,’ an educational village community amongst the jungle and rice fields of bali, to spread their sustainable altruistic message through an alternative education system to locals and foreigners alike. they called on balinese practice PT bamboo pure to work out the technical design aspects of the entirely bamboo structure. the plentifully supplied asian wood was utilized to benefit from the potential of all its properties to become structural, decorative,
    recreational, used as flooring, seating, tables and several other fixtures. the local vernacular finds a new relationship fused with contemporary
    design strategies throughout the assembly of the components that make up the entire campus.

    the design of the ‘heart of green school’ finds itself anchored around three lineally located nodes from which all other programmatical
    elements radiate in a spiraling organization. at each anchor point, interweaving bamboo light columns span the full height of the structure
    ending in a wooden ring framing a skylight with intricately ornate mullions. a fluid helical thatch roof stems from each main
    vertical support corkscrewing to allow light to reach every space, with deep overhangs to protect the open air interior. three main
    staircases serve three floors with multi-functional areas and varying levels of privacy to accommodate the various activities.

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    • August

      22

      2012
    • 1503
    • 0

    Zero Net-Energy Ready Homes to be Certified by Energy Department Partnership

    For people who think Passive House is a Fad.

    On Monday, August 20, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced a newpartnership between the DOE Challenge Homeprogram and the Passive House Institute US to cooperate on the promotion of various levels of high-performance buildings on the path to zero net-energy.

    This news is a huge development for the passive house community and for PHIUS. The endorsement of PHIUS+ passive house certification through the DOE instantly makes passive house the most energy efficient option for builders, designers and developers who want to achieve a zero energy building. This recognition will go a long way toward making passive house mainstream.

    This took a lot of time and effort, and we owe thanks to Sam Rashkin, Chief Architect at the DOE, whose knowledge, vision and determination were critical to the effort. (Sam was the keynote at last year’s North American Passive House Conference.)

    So, how does this partnership change current PHIUS+ passive house certification and what do consultants need to know?

    In a nutshell: not much. A passive house already fulfills most of the Challenge Home requirements – certification essentially remains the same process with a few minor additions! Those additions are very good improvements, making the home even better. Indoor air quality requirements ask for low VOC materials and the water efficiency requirements establish a reasonable savings baseline, all good things.

    The Challenge Home requires rigorous third-party, on-site verification, which already is part of PHIUS+. PHIUS+ certified RESNET Raters already use an advanced passive house checklist created specifically for passive houses. (This testing protocol is actually more rigorous than the one the Challenge Home is using.)

    What Challenge Home brings to the table that PHIUS+ did not before is a more formalized exterior water management and flashing checklist. Having seen quite a few bad water management details during certification so far, we are happy to add a more formalized process to assure the long term durability of the house. QAQC is crucial to assure quality in execution, actual performance and peace of mind for the client we found.

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    • June

      23

      2012
    • 2237
    • 0

    Passive Solar Design Basics

    Passive solar design begins with the simple idea that you can build a house that uses natural heating, cooling, ventilation and daylighting. These homes require much less fossil fuel energy to heat and cool than conventional homes do, which is better for the environment and saves passive solar homeowners money. Passive solar homes are comfortable to live in because they are designed to radiate heat in winter, maintain a comfortable year-round temperature, ventilate naturally, and let in plenty of natural light.

    I became interested in sustainable design, specifically passive solar design, as a young architect

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    • June

      23

      2012
    • 1848
    • 0

    Zehnder America, Inc. is Recognized for its Cutting-edge Residential Heat

    Zehnder America announces that it has completed the 3rd party testing of the Zehnder ComfoAir 350 HRV and has joined the Home Ventilating Institute (http://www.hvi.org) who is making these test results public. This breakthrough is the confirmation that Zehnder America is leading the way of the next generation of Heat and Energy Recovery Ventilation Systems in North America. Zehnder’s ComfoAir 350HRV with its counter flow heat-exchanger recovers over 90% of the room temperature. As a result, during a cold winter day, the incoming fresh air into the ho

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    • June

      22

      2012
    • 2383
    • 0

    Japanese ‘Light House’ | Optimising Natural Light Without the Heat

    With extensive benefits, natural lighting is a key focus for the modern interior designer. Natural lighting in green buildings is even more important, and the balancing act between natural light allowance and solar shading is a challenge for designers around the world.

    A clever piece of innovation from a Japanese architectural firm, however, demonstrates that extensive natural lighting does not have to mean thermal gain. Architectural firm Takeshi Hosaka architects have developed the ‘Daylight House’ in Yokohama

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Costs of Custom Homes

The first thing most people want to know is: What does it costs to build a 3000 sqft custom home in the Atlanta, GA. market?  The first thing you have to calculate is the square footage you want.  Once you have that, the numbers below give you a good starting point.

Adjusted Square Foot Calculation:

New Construction:

Renovations:

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