Archive for the 'going green' Category
Toronto’s Roofs Go Green
Published December 29, 2008 Norsteel Buildings News , Pre-Fabricated Building News , going green 0 CommentsTags: go green, Toronto Roofs, Green roofs
Four Ways To Green Your Roof
Published December 22, 2008 Norsteel Buildings News , Pre-Fabricated Building News , going green 0 CommentsTags: Energy efficient, go green, green roofing
Looking for ways to add some green to your roof? Here are four ways your roof can have a positive impact on the environment:
Skylights
Skylights are a great way to reduce your electric bills. Installing skylights or solar tubes in your roof, can help you save money. It will decrease your need for electric lighting during the day. It will also bring in natural light which is good for your mental health.
Paint Your Roof White
By painting your roof white, you can deflect light and heat away from your roof. Not only will it help you cool your house, it will also help control climate change. According to the physicist, Hashem Akbari, a 1,000 sq-ft roof, painted white, can offset 10 metric tons of CO2.
Plant a Rooftop Garden
Putting a garden on your rooftop is a great way reduce urban heat islands. Did you know that it can also reduce the temperature of the garden-topped building by up to 15 degrees? Growing plants and trees in the city can also contribute to the overall air quality by eliminating carbon dioxide. That’s great news for all us oxygen-breathers.
Mount Some Solar Panels
Why not turn your roof into a power plant? By mounting a few solar panels on your roof and hooking them into your grid. You can generate some clean energy for your home. It’s expensive in at first, but it can save you money in the long run.
For more tips and information on how to make your roof environmentally friendly, please visit: http://planetgreen.discovery.com/home-garden/green-roof-tips.html?campaign=daylife-article
LEED Certification on an Everyday Budget
Published December 16, 2008 Norsteel Buildings News , Steel Building Tips , going green 0 CommentsTags: go green, Green Building Council, LEED certification
A free 48-page illustrated guide on how to acheive Platinum-level LEED certification on a conventional building budget has been published by Portland-based Interface Engineering Inc. Although this wasn’t an easy task for the engineering company, using their current project for Oregon Health and Science University as a case study, Interface has proven it possible. “We’re delivering champagne on a beer budget,” said Andy Frichtl, Interface principal and lead project engineer. “The key to achieving more with less is integrated design.”
The projects design accomplishments include 100% on-site sewage treatment with rainwater and wastewater being harvested for toilets and landscaping, saving 15,000 gallons a day and innovative features such as sunshades that double as solar power generators and the first large-scale on-site micro-turbine plant in Oregon to generate electricity.
More details on this project can be found here and for more information on where you can order the booklet click here.
For more info on this article please visit: www.treehugger.com
Province Funds Green Building Education
Published December 8, 2008 Norsteel Buildings News , Steel Building Tips , going green 0 CommentsTags: go green, Green Building Council, Green building education
VICTORIA - Minister of Housing and Social Development Rich Coleman announced the Cascadia Region Green Building Council will receive $100,000 to deliver education programs in B.C. that will encourage the development of more green buildings and support the greening of the province’s Building Code.
“The Province is helping to prepare builders and designers to implement the new energy and water efficiency requirements in the B.C. Building Code,” said Coleman. “Education and training opportunities will ensure the industry is ready for Building Code changes and ready to meet increasing consumer demand for greener homes and other buildings that have a lower impact on the environment.”
The funding will provide education programs that raise the level of expertise in green building by training the people who design, construct and maintain buildings. The funding is provided by the Ministry of Education ($30,000), the Ministry of Community Development ($30,000), the Ministry of Housing and Social Development ($20,000), and the Climate Action Secretariat ($20,000).
The Canadian Home Builders Association also received $150,000 to promote energy efficiency and sustainability in residential construction. A grant of $20,000 went to Lighthouse Sustainable Building Centre for energy modelling workshops, which assist designers in evaluating how components of a building contribute to the overall energy efficiency of the building. The Province has also provided $25,000 for green building education and training in partnership with the Homeowner Protection Office.
The funding by the province of BC will provide training on green building topics ranging from site design to indoor environmental quality; adapt existing education programs to focus specifically on building green in British Columbia; provide outreach to the public and professional communities on green design; and hire a program co-ordinator in Vancouver. The Cascadia Region Green Building Council is the largest chapter of the Canada Green Building Council and has branches in Vancouver, the Thompson-Okanagan, Vancouver Island and the Kootenay-Rockies region.
These programs support the greening of the B.C. Building Code, which began with the introduction of energy and water efficiency requirements for all new buildings, effective Sept.
For more on this article, please visit: www.supplypost.com
Annual Greenbuild Expo Held Last Week
Published December 1, 2008 Norsteel Buildings News , Steel Building Tips , going green 1 CommentTags: go green, Greenbuild Expo, The U.S. Green Building Council
In Boston last week, the U.S. Green Building Council held their annual Greenbuild Expo exposing almost 30,000 people to the latest green-building technologies and materials. People at the show were impressed to see the high number of attendees. At the show, with the environment in mind, there were a number of products designed such as sustainably harvested wood, drywall made from recycled material, and kitchen counters made of recycled paper.
The U.S. Green Building Council passed a draft for an updated LEED (Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design) green-building certification for commercial buildings. Meanwhile, new LEED certifications for retail stores and neighborhood development are now available for public comment.
There are certainly more and more options for energy-efficient appliances and products made with recycled materials than just a few years ago, however green-building practices are still far from commonplace. Someone constructing a new building or retrofitting an existing one will need to make an extra effort to go “green.”
Last week, Clean-tech investing firm Good Energies weighed in on the green-building debate by publishing a study concluding that the premium people pay for a green building is smaller than commonly perceived.
The study found that people pay on average 2 percent more for green buildings and that there are a range of benefits, including an average of 33 percent energy savings and health benefits to people. To see the study click here for PDF.
CBS Interactive recently opened a new Boston office and is applying for LEED certification. According to the general contractor, one of the hidden costs is simply delays that occur when contractors haven’t already bought from green-building suppliers.
Source: http://news.cnet.com
Seven Ways To Avoid Greenwashing Your Building Products
Published November 24, 2008 Norsteel Buildings News , Steel Building Tips , going green 0 CommentsTags: go green, Green building elements, LEED
Over at Green Building Elements, Joel Bittle comes up with the seven sins of greenwashing in the building business. Most are relevant to designers working with LEED, but many are useful to anyone looking at materials for home or office.
Below are the seven ways to avoid greenwashing your building product:
1. Make sure your product satisfies at least one green building requirement. If your product isn’t green, you’re not going to fool anyone. Do one of two things: 1) Research how to convert your product into one that satisfies green building program requirements, or 2) go back and continue to sell to traditional, non-green builders who still build over 90% of buildings out there. But hurry, that percentage drops every year and soon they’ll be obsolete.
2. Do not claim credits that do not apply to your product or to the current building project. I see companies break this rule every week. I can’t tell you how many green brochures I’ve read that claimed the product is sturdy enough to qualify for credits for reusing existing materials. That’s great for whoever is rehabbing the building twenty five years from now, but does nothing for the current project. The example I gave above of the company that wanted to list every conceivable credit, even if they were ludicrous, would apply here. If you can’t support with scientific proof that your product qualifies for a certain requirement, don’t include it in your literature.
3. If you are not unique, don’t try to sell yourself as unique. All stainless steel contains recycled material, so don’t try to sell yourself as the only purveyor of recycled stainless steel. In fact, most steel used in building contains recycled material. A few months ago I had Jeff McIntire-Strasburg, the Sustainablogger, over at our kitchen and bath shop when a new countertop product came in that claimed to be green. As the two of us looked over the specs and the brochures illustrated with trees and ponds, neither of us could determine the product’s green-ness. Of course, they claimed they were sturdy enough to be a reused product. But there was nothing recycled, reclaimed, or renewable about it. It claimed to emit no formaldehyde, which is great, except that no countertop we sell with the exception of laminate emits formaldehyde. And knowing a thing or two about the ore that made up this countertop, I was fairly sure it did more to hurt the environment than help it.
4. Don’t claim that yours is a local product if it’s not harvested/extracted or processed locally. If you are selling in the New York market, having a shipping facility nearby does not make your product local. If your manufacturing facility is nearby but the extraction for the base materials is across the world, simply state that your product may contribute to regional credits within 500 miles of your manufacturing facility, located in such and such town. If both your manufacturing and your extraction are done within 500 miles of your market, shout that one from the rooftops and let every green builder know.
5. No product is a LEED certified product. Or LEED qualified. Or official LEED product. Products are not LEED certified, projects are. So even though you are 100% sure that your product satisfies a LEED requirement, it is still up to the project auditor to determine if it actually does. Use language like “Bob’s Widgets may contribute to LEED credit 2.7…” I’m not sure of the USGBC’s official stance on this, but you might want to replace “may contribute” in that sentence with “have contributed” after your product has actually been used in a LEED project.
6. Your manufacturing practices do not affect LEED credits. While it is perfectly appropriate in your literature to highlight that you use a zero-waste, VOC free, daylit manufacturing facility, only the final product matters when it comes to LEED credits. So don’t cite the credit on reducing waste on the job site and then explain your zero-waste manufacturing process. The energy efficiency of your plant plays no part in the energy efficiency of the new building. This is not to say that your manufacturing practices aren’t extremely important to the environment, and consumers will want to know about them, but the USGBC doesn’t have a way to recognize them in particular green building projects. For more on this, read Green Cabinets: When Wood is Good.
7. Don’t sell yourself short. After all these warnings, don’t be hesitant to proclaim your green-ness. Green builders are interested in every kind of green product out there. If your company offers many different styles, colors, models, or whatever of the same product, but only one of them contains recycled materials, you have every right to include recycled materials on your LEED sheet, just make sure to explain which one qualifies. An early brochure from Silestone failed to mention that a few of their many colors contained recycled material, so for a long time I didn’t even consider Silestone as a green option. One of their colors even boasts 70% recycled material - their literature should, and now does, boast that as well.
For the full article, visit: http://greenbuildingelements.com/2008/07/17/how-not-to-greenwash-your-building-product/
B.C. Invests $5 Million in SolarBC Program
Published October 24, 2008 Norsteel Buildings News , Steel Building Tips , going green 0 CommentsTags: buildings, go green, Solar BC Program, Solar energy, Solar technology
Resources Minister, Richard Neufeld has announced that the province is investing $5 million in the SolarBC program. This program will encourage the installation of solar hot water heaters in homes, municipal buildings, schools, social housing and First Nation communities, Energy, Mines and Petroleum.
Neufeld says the SolarBC program supports the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and builds on the BC Energy Plan commitment for electricity self-sufficiency. He also says this is a great example of how B.C. is a leader in the alternative energy sector, and how solar can play a significant role in our future energy supply.
The funding is expected to support six SolarBC projects which are: Residential Retrofit, Local Government Solar Thermal, First Nations Solar, Social Housing Solar, Solar for Schools and Solar Communities.
Five communities in BC will get the chance to become solar-friendly and be part of a sustainable energy future. Minister of Community Development and MLA for Peace River South, Blair Lekstrom says that communities through-out the province will benefit from a clean, renewable and climate-friendly source of energy.
Dawson Creek is just one of the communities that is a leader in its use of solar technology and its target is to be a sustainable city focusing on reducing the city’s environmental impact. Mayor, Calvin Kruk received the Solar Leader of the Year award from the Canadian Solar Industry Association in November 2007.
Solar hot water systems reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about one tonne per year for a single family home using natural gas for water heating. The increased use of solar energy technology is part of a broader sustainable energy strategy that will help the Province reach its goal to curb greenhouse gas emissions by 33 per cent by 2020. Solar BC will also support the BC Energy Plan Conservation target to acquire 50 per cent of BC Hydro’s resource needs through conservation by 2020.
Source: www.supplypost.com
Thermal Break - The BEST Steel Building Insulation Investment You Can Make
Published October 9, 2008 Before You Buy Your Steel Building , Steel Building Tips , going green 0 CommentsTags: green buildings, Energy Efficiency, building insulation, energy savings, leeds building, energy standards
When people are looking at Green buildings, Insulation investments, and Energy savings, they are often caught up in examining R values, vapour retarders, built up layers of fibreglass, and all sorts of large complex insulation packages.
While it is important to look at Insulation bulk, and R values, there is an often overlooked little detail that can save you a huge amount, for a tiny additional outlay. That option is a simple thermal break along the Roof perlins.
The largest source of heat loss in a steel building is from convection. The heat loss occurs through the roof perlins, which are typically exposed, or lightly insulated on the interior of the building. Being steel, the perlin carries the heat right through the Insulation barrier to the roof cladding, where the heat is dissipated to the outside air. Because the roof insulation is compressed between the roof cladding, and the perlin, there is a minimal thermal break at this point.
The solution is to purchase a proper thermal barrier, or thermal break, and install it when erecting the building. A manufacturer supplied thermal break is very simple. It is basically a composite material, about 3/8 of an inch thick, that is a heavy duty, but inexpensive insulator. It comes with countersunk screw holes, and teck screws to secure to the outside face of the perlins. When installed, it brings your roof insulation up to it’s full theoretical value, at a cost of a few cents per square ft. of building.
The benefits of a thermal break are as follows;
Reduce your conductive heat loss by as much as 40% in the most extreme conditions.
Significantly reduce the winter ice buildup on your roof and gutters.
Help to meet LEEDS certification.
Save thousands of dollars per year, for an initial outlay of hundreds.
Matthew Day
Building Consultant;
1-866-822-4022 ext: 351