Thursday, March 31, 2011

Highlights from the NESEA BE11 Conference





The Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA), hosted its annual Building Energy conference at the Seaport World Trade Center in Boston, Massachusetts on March 8-9-10.

Bill Austin, Chris Farley, and Jacqui McCreanor of Austin Design attended the NESEA conference on Wednesday, March 9th for a full day of conference sessions and taking in the trade show.

Bill and Chris spent the day attending all three sessions of Track 8, titled “Regional Sustainable Models in Germany and Upper Austria”. The presentations and discussions were led by Andrew Shapiro, Chris Benedict, Paul Eldrenkamp, and Tom Hartman. The material was very fresh and the clarity of the material was even more impressive given the fact that these four had arrived back home just days before the conference.

We were struck by several things that were made clear over and over again as we looked at a wide array of building types and system approaches.

Firstly, there appeared to be a culture in these countries somewhat different than what exists here in the US. The government, financial institutions, and citizenry appeared to support the design industry and innovation in a strong way. It was clear that clients were willing to accept experimental ideas, approaches, and construction methods in their buildings. They were willing to be a part of the learning curve when it came to energy efficiency and new technologies.

Secondly, the number of new, energy-saving or energy efficient building materials, systems, and technologies far outnumbered those available in the US. The Europeans have clearly put more emphasis on energy efficiency than we have here in the US. The presenters described an enormous trade show at a Wels, Austria convention hall that highlighted hundreds and hundreds of companies manufacturing building products geared toward energy efficiency.

Thirdly, the energy retrofit industry is much more advanced than here in the US. Several large apartment building projects were highlighted where the envelope and mechanical systems were completely replaced while the inhabitants continued to occupy the building.

All in all, the 15 or so projects that were presented were inspiring for their overall design, their willingness to break new ground, and for their high degree of energy efficiency.

To view two of the three presentations in this track, please click on these links:


Jacqui attended three sessions in three different tracks, overlapping once with Bill and Chris in the first Germany/Upper Austria session. The other two she attended, "There's No Place Like Home" and "High Design & High Performance" were part of the "Whole Systems in Action" and "Residential Buildings -- Retrofit & New" tracks, respectively.

John Abrams, of South Mountain Company, led "There's No Place Like Home," discussing his arrival on Martha's Vineyard in the early 1970's and his personal and professional journey in developing and enhancing his sense of community on the Massachusetts island. After speaking for a while, John invited the audience to share their stories. One conference goer from the state of New York currently faces the prospect of hydrofracking in his community, a possibility which makes him nervous and frustrated due to the likely and irreversible contamination of the area’s aquifer. Additional audience members participated, sharing their personal stories of either struggling or succeeding in improving the quality of life in their communities -- oftentimes a combination of both.


“High Design & High Performance” was led by Jesse Thompson of Kaplan Thompson Architects, and Jordan Goldman and Stephanie Horowitz both of ZeroEnergy Design.

The presenters discussed several projects, mostly residential, that incorporated whimsical, quality design and high performance. Stephanie spoke first and talked about many of her firm’s high performing projects that were designed to a given standard – Energy Star, Passive House, or zero net energy – in varying climatic conditions. The next presenter, Jesse, was a very dynamic, energetic speaker and discussed, among many things, different window details in a home that was constructed of double walls. He designed some of this home’s windows flush with the exterior wall, others flush with the interior wall, and others located mid-wall. Lastly, when Jordan took the podium he came from an energy modeling and engineering perspective. He showed with thermal imaging how heat loss occurs through thermal bridging due to absences of thermal breaks in a building envelope.

Jordan took to task Jesse’s windows set flush with the exterior wall within the double wall system and showed how there were gaps in the insulation continuum, explaining how this condition contributes to heat loss. He also spoke of 66% heat loss in foundation details where there are 2” insulation underneath the slab but zero insulation between the slab and inside of the foundation wall, as well as zero insulation on the exterior of the foundation walls. (This 66% heat loss describes the difference between Passive House performance and actual performance.) A typical “fix” for this situation is to add 2” insulation to the outside of the foundation wall; however, this only reduces the heat loss to 31% -- substantial thermal bridging is still occurring.

The final solution, which creates a thermal bridge-free detail, is to disconnect the slab from the inside of the foundation wall and wrap the corner between with 2” insulation, keeping the 2" insulation underneath the slab. Next, extend the 2” insulation on the outside of the foundation wall upward just beyond the sill plate to protect against thermal bridging through this piece of wood. The result is zero thermal bridging and therefore zero heat loss.

At the NESEA conference, there was an overriding sense of commitment to best building practices and the environment. And though there are dismal facts to face, the conference imbued a sense of optimism. We saw momentum and inspiration in the alternative energy crowd.

Spring Fox



Spring is springing in New England and here in Colrain a friendly, if not a somewhat mischevious, face has reappeared after the melting of the winter snow.  

A red fox, that was possibly one of the kits born last spring in the den behind the Grange, has decided to make this 'hood his residence, at least for the time being. (Ok, admittedly the fox's gender is undetermined, but let's make him a guy for convenience's sake.)

He's oft spotted grooming himself, basking in the afternoon sun, trotting proudly up the road with a bird in his mouth, teasing Otto (our office dog), or curled up at the base of a nearby towering pine tree.

Thriving on Low Carbon - A Blog by Marc Rosenbaum


Marc Rosenbaum, P.E.













Thriving on Low Carbon is a blog written by Marc Rosenbaum, noted engineer in sustainable design and green building. We at Austin Design intend to keep up with Marc's postings, and follow the adventures of this certified Passive House consultant.

Marc cofounded Energysmiths with Daniel Ingold in 1979 and now works alongside long-time friend John Abrams at South Mountain Company on Martha's Vineyard where Marc and Jill DeLaHunt recently moved in June 2010.

Here's an e-mail from Marc, introducing his blog:


Hello All

Don't worry, I still don't have a cell phone, and I'm not on Facebook!

As I begin working on our new (to us) house here on Martha's Vineyard, I thought that I will be facing many of the same decisions countless others will face in times to come, and I thought to write it down so it might help others. I've called it Thriving on Low Carbon. Please take a look, and  feel free to comment. And please pass it on to others who might be interested.

Thanks!
Marc

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

2011 Energy Tax Incentives

Kids hugging denim insulation














To learn about 2011 energy tax incentives, please take a look at the following links for savings:

2011 Residential Energy Financial Incentives
2011 Commercial Energy Financial Incentives

For example, adding adequate insulation is one of the most cost-effective home improvements that you can do.  The current tax credit amount is 10% of the cost, up to $500.

Helpful web sites include:

http://www.dsireusa.org/
http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=tax_credits.tx_index
http://www.energysavers.gov/financial/70010.html
http://www.energysavers.gov/financial/
http://energytaxincentives.org/

With catastrophic energy-related crises such as last April's oil spill in the Gulf and this March's Japanese Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant meltdown we might want to consider ways to generate clean power.

And perhaps even more importantly, as Wharton legal studies and business ethics professor Eric W. Orts was quoted today in Knowledge(@)Wharton, "'really the best solution to [the nation's energy] problems is energy efficiency.' And that, he adds, causes no risk at all."