by Charles Hendricks | Jun 22, 2015 | Building Science, Green Building, green term defined
As our weather patterns change, we have to change the way we think about the built environment. We have seen the challenges the built environment faces from Hurricane Katrina and Superstorm Sandy. We have seen it in the flooding in Texas. We have seen the challenges from tornadoes in the mid-West. How do we change our approach to design and building?
According to the Resilient Design Institute resilience is the capacity to adapt to changing conditions and to maintain or regain functionality and vitality in the face of stress or disturbance. It is the capacity to bounce back after a disturbance or interruption. Compared to climate change, resilience addresses the adaptation to a wide range of regional and localized impacts that are expected to come with a warming planet including intense storms, greater precipitation, coastal and valley flooding, longer and more severe droughts, wildfires, melting permafrost, warmer temperatures, and power outages.
Resilient design is the intentional design of buildings, landscapes, communities, and regions in response to these vulnerabilities.
Things to include:
:
Pervious Concrete
Solar Panels
Durable wall systems
Solar hot water
Rainwater Harvesting
Composting
Gardens
by Charles Hendricks | Jun 16, 2015 | architecture, green term defined
Green Term Defined: Carbon Footprint
A Carbon Footprint is a measure of the impact our activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of greenhouse gases we produce. It is measured in units of carbon dioxide. Here is a carbon footprint calculator from the Nature Conservancy.
Indirect sources, fuel burned to produce goods far away from the final consumer, accounts for most of the average U.S. households. A direct source on the other hand are the emissions coming from use of a car for instance. One strategy for reducing your carbon footprint is to buy locally made products that use locally harvested materials to create. The main influences on carbon footprints include population, economic output, and energy and carbon intensity of the economy.
In order to reduce your carbon footprint, you could reduce your usage of carbon emitting fuels.
Some strategies include:
- Walk or ride a bike instead of driving.
- Drive a high-efficiency car.
- Properly maintain your car and keep your tires inflated right.
- Avoid air travel.
- Instead of a long distance vacation, try a staycation.
- Use Skype or video-conferencing instead of driving to a meeting.
- Insulate your home and air seal right.
- Install a smart thermostat.
- Use energy-star appliances.
- Use LED lights.
- Add Solar Panels to your business and home.
- Conserve water.
- Reuse and recycle.
- Reduce your beef and dairy consumption.
- Eat locally grown vegetables and fruits.
by Charles Hendricks | Jun 8, 2015 | architecture, green term defined
Green Term Defined: Single-stream recycling
Single-stream recycling is a process or system where all paper, plastics, metals, cardboard, glass, and trash goes into the same can and is sorted by the facility into separate commodities. In other words, it takes all the reasons for not recycling everything that is recyclable out of the equation.
Single-stream puts all the work for the recycling process to the facility operator and not the household. This raises the recycling rate per household. The systems were first used in the 1990s in California and now have facilities across the country.
Material recovery facilities (MRFs) continue to evolve and get better efficiency as technology improves. They are not completely automated, but it is getting closer.
by Charles Hendricks | May 18, 2015 | architecture, Green Building, green term defined, Harrisonburg Architect
Green Term Defined: No-Step Entry
Want to build the most sustainable home possible? Then you should make your home adaptable for all of the challenges you might face in life. For instance, what if your teenager breaks an ankle playing sports? What if you have knee pain as you age? What if you have a friend who is confined to a wheelchair? A simple everyday activity can challenge your ability to get into your home – the front porch steps. The solution is to create an entry into your home that has no-step. In other words, build it once, and build it right to reduce the need for using future resources to build again.
When designing your home for a lifetime, a No-Step Entry is critical. Creating a way to get into your home without taking a step up creates a forever home. It also makes life easier on a daily basis for everything from bringing in the groceries to moving in furniture. A No-Step Entry is a simple but incredibly valuable design solution for a sustainable green home.
A No-Step Entry or zero-step entry means just that, a flush entry from the driveway or garage into your home. The entry is typically a sloping, at grade sidewalk, or garage floor that is level with the house. You also will use a low profile threshold on the entry door on this path. A detached garage with a covered walkway is a nice aesthetic solution that solves some of the water problems this goal can create. You can also use a slab on grade solution or a clever sidewalk installation.
by Charles Hendricks | May 11, 2015 | architecture, green term defined, Harrisonburg Architect
Green Term Defined: Historic Building
A historic building is a structure that has historic, architectural, or cultural significance. The building can be part of a historic district or be an individual property. The structure is generally at least 50 years old. In addition to having the appropriate age, the property will have historic physical integrity. The character-defining features of the structure will still be present.
A property is considered significant by three measures: 1. direct association with individuals, events, activities, or developments that shaped our history or that reflect important aspects of our history; 2. embodiment of distinctive physical and spatial characteristics of an architectural style or type of building, structure, landscape, or planned environment, or a method of construction, or embodies high artistic value or fine craftsmanship; or 3. having potential to yield information important to our understanding of the past through archaeological, architectural, or other physical investigation and analysis.
So why is the preservation of historic buildings important for green building? It is all about embodied energy. Embodied energy is the energy it takes to manufacture building materials, maintain the building, transport materials, construction of the building, and the disposal of the building at the end of life. So taking down an existing building that is full of embodied energy is much more intensive than saving that same building. The struggle with saving a historic building is bringing it up to current energy-efficiency standards without impacting the historic fabric. Every time a building is demolished, it’s possible to calculate the ratio of the building’s embodied energy to its total lifetime energy use. The longer the day of demolition is delayed, the smaller that ratio becomes.
by Charles Hendricks | May 4, 2015 | architecture, green term defined, Harrisonburg Architect
An electronic device that is similar to a thermostat and is essential for understanding your home’s moisture levels. A humidistat is an electronic device that measures the relative humidity in a space.
Humidity is the amount of water vapor in the air. Relative humidity is the ratio of moisture in the air to the maximum amount of moisture that air can hold, which varies depending on the air temperature.
