Eco Via Blog

Perhaps inspired by thoughts of art filled sustainable communities, I have to share this ingenious combo of pulic art, education and sustainability by artist Virginia Fleck.

Laguna Gyre, plastic bags for good

If you’re looking for more ways to reuse plastic bags (the ones you got when you left your reusable one at home), check out 7 Ways to Reuse Plastic Bags and keep them out of the landfill.

The challenge of short-term investment thinking when it comes to energy efficient design may have met its match. If potential buyers or tenants know what their energy costs will be, long term operations costs will become a bigger decision factor. Willingness to invest longer term in energy saving features such as better envelope and HVAC systems might overtake more build and flip practices. Energy Disclosure programs in cities around the country, such as New York, Austin, San Francisco, and Chicago, are starting to require this vital sharing of information.

The Seattle Energy Disclosure Ordinance

The new Seattle Energy Disclosure Ordinance was signed into law February 11, 2011 and will take effect in stages. As each date is reached, the utilities will provide individual meter and sub-meter data to both building owners and a City database. In the City’s announcement of the Ordinance, City Council Chair Richard Conlin  stated, ”Energy disclosure is a key first step to tap into the gold mine of opportunities to save energy and money while improving the City’s existing building stock… You can’t manage what you don’t measure.”

Buildings 50,000 SF and greater will need to report by October 3, 2011 and annually on April 1 thereafter.

Buildings 10,000-50,000 SF will start annual reporting on April 1, 2012

Multifamily buildings with 5 or more units will required to report Energy Star Portfolio Manager benchmarking data only.

26% of Seattle’s emissions are from buildings, and much of it’s just energy wasted by existing buildings that aren’t as efficient as they could be. At the April 18th meeting of the Seattle Energy Design Round Table, Jayson Antonoff, City of Seattle Sustainable Strategies Policy Advisor, shared the goals and realities of the Ordinance. “The goal of the Ordinance is to share information to drive performance improvements.” While Seattle is a national leader in sustainability, our building stock still needs improvement to meet City goals of reducing emissions from existing buildings by 20% by 2020 and hitting 2030 Challenge targets for new construction.

Building energy represents 26% of Seattle's Carbon Emissions. Source: Seattle 2005 Community Greenhouse Gas Inventory.

As the Ordinance requirements come online, building owners will be required to disclose utility data only to potential buyers, tenants or lenders, and provide annual energy reports to the City for aggregate trend research. The benefit to owners though is two-fold. One, those who invest in energy efficiency may see an associated increase in building valuation, a benefit that has long been promoted yet has been hard to prove. And, second, the Ordinance will reduce workload for owners in benchmarking their buildings with readily accessible utility meter data.

Beyond benefits to building owners, access to aggregate data and trends among specific market segments can help local jurisdictions tailor policies and programs for greatest impact and drive utility customers toward incentive programs.

Additional Resources:

• Seattle Energy Disclosure Ordinance Overview by the Institute for Market Transformation.
• The Ordinance’s listserve for updates and notifications.
• A comparison matrix of state and city disclosure policies by BuildingRating.org.
• IMT’s summary of benchmarking and related property valuation.

For upcoming presentation topics of the Seattle Energy Design Round Table (SEDR), visit the Cascadia GBC calendar. SEDR meets the 3rd Monday of the month, in the US Bank Center building in downtown Seattle.

Teresa is a founder and co-chair of SEDR.

The NW Eco Building Guild’s first Green Home Tour last weekend hosted an inspiring mix of new construction, remodels, expansions and even a neighborhood center. With just one day to visit the homes, I selected one area to focus on: the South & West Seattle tour, but managed to catch a couple homes in North Seattle on the way home.

Passivhaus Homes are Here in the NW

Mini B Passivhaus Cottage, Architect: Joe Giampietro.

There were 2 on the tour; the Blackbird Builder’s one in Columbia City and the Mini B temporarily stationed in the Phinney Ridge Neighborhood Center. Two key things in common: thick walls with serious rigid insulation and an emphasis on controlled ventilation systems to keep the air fresh in the Passivhaus’ required air-tight space. The Blackbird home sported Canadian brand Cascadia windows, but with the calculations to show that the energy saved in the home will outweigh shipping impacts!

Columbia City Passivhaus by Blackbird Builders.

Vertical Solar Hot Water Collectors. Remdoel by Envision Homes.

Solar Can Do in Seattle

A feature of the Mighty Homes remodel in West Seattle that caught my attention here was the “expandable” PV system. Using a Solar Epiphany system, the PV array starts small with the intent to add additional panels as funds become available. This could offer a more affordable way for many home owners to jump into PV. Also in West Seattle, a new Envision Homes remodel sported an amazing view, with a vertically mounted solar hot water array on the south facade. The SHW system pre-heats domestic hot water year round.

Craftsmanship is King!

The artfulness of these projects was a delight to experience. Not only were many of the construction details a thing of beauty in themselves, art was also often a focal point. At the FiveDot Design Build’s Phinney Retreat the salvaged wood floors from an old structure in British Columbia, re-milled and finished on Bainbridge, and installed with a low voc finish for a unique, rustic floor. It does take owner buy-in, as the grooves and rough edges of these heavy wood planks will require a bit of extra attention from the vacuum.

Throughout the Highpoint Neighborhood Center, which also has the largest PV array in Washington, ceramic art provided a link to the hydrological cycle and salmon habitat for area residents. Concentric and overlapping zinc circles inlaid into a rich stained concrete floor were meant to represent rain drops falling on water. Lovely indeed, the art of sustainability cannot be overvalued.

Salvaged wood flooring at Phinney Retreat

Hydrological Art at Highpoint

I missed Rob Harrison’s presentation on Passivhaus Calcualtions at Monday’s meeting of the Seattle Energy Design Roundtable; I was on vacation. However I heard good things and, now, back in Seattle and refreshed, I’m ready to catch up on the Passivhaus system. Over 25,000+ homes in Europe reap 90% HVAC savings, and yet only 13 Passivhaus projects exist state-side.

First Passivhaus: Darmstadt-Kranichstein, Germany; Photo: Wolfgang Feist.

But, boon to us in the NW, there’s one open for a tour during the NW Eco Building Guild’s spring Green Home Tour. For more on the Passiv Haus super-insulated, super air-tight, solar heat gain approach, see Getting More Aggressive About Passivhaus article on the NW Eco Building Guild’s website.

Additional Passivhaus Resources:

• Passivhaus US
• Passivhaus NW
• Passipedia

Hold onto your energy saving hats folks! The 2009 Seattle Energy Code is here, it’s aggressive, and it’s aiming to push our city into some truly green territory. John Hogan from the City of Seattle Department of Planning & Development gave an overview of the new code and some of the key changes for design and reporting at last week’s meeting of the Seattle Energy Design Round Table. More on both, below!

2009 Seattle Energy Code RS-29*

Mr. Hogan did a great job of guiding us through the key changes in the Seattle code, pointing out some fine points of using the new Reference Standard-29 Analysis Path, and providing some of the reasoning behind a few things that may seem odd without explanation. Here’s a quick fire of some of the key take aways from the presentation. For the full overview, visit Seattle’s code page.

• First, the 2009 WSEC is in effect for both residential and non-residential projects.
• Energy consumption is now based on TOTAL energy consumption, including elevators, garage ventilation, etc.
• You can only take credit for components that are included in the model and on the permit set you are submitting. No electrical design yet, then no credit for “planned” reductions in LPD. If it hasn’t been designed yet, include code-compliant variables in both model cases.
• There are some places where RS-29 grants a code variance, but only if the proposed variance is fully modeled.
• To meet the energy code using the RS-29 Analytical path, the Proposed Design must be at least 5% below the Basline Building.
• Since simulation software may vary in design settings (dry bulb, wet bulb, etc.) for the Seattle climate, RS-29 has provided default values that must be used to keep things consistent.
• The modeling methodology follows ASHRAE 90.1 Appendix G, with a few modifications. The “Baseline” & “Proposed” terminology from Appendix G replace “Standard” and “Design” terminology for comparing a code compliant building model with the actual design model.
• The energy models must include shading by adjacent buildings and include terrain.
• Unmet load hours must be less than 300.
• RS-29 includes maximum fan system power requirements that are not in the base WSEC.
• Prescriptive Path compliance review is included in the standard building permit review fee. Component Trade-off review and RS-29 reviews are charged an hourly fee. It’s alot of work from both directions, but it’s also for good intent.
• In mixed use buildings, different use areas meet the applicable code, ie. condos meet residential requirements while lower retail meets commercial.
• The model must match the permit drawings. One might think this a given, but apparently DPD often got models that really haven’t been updated to reflect final design changes.
• While in the State code, receptacle and lighting loads in the occupancy schedule are considered equal, the Seattle code allows for lighting reductions based on the City’s more stringent lighting controls requirements.
• This one’s big – the Baseline is derived from modeling code requirements, then running 4 simulations, at 0, 90,180 & 270 degrees of rotation, and taking the average. This allows teams that design for best orientation to get credit for their good choices. It doesn’t apply much in the urban core, but the code doesn’t distinguish based on location…. yet. When rotating the model, the context and shade from surrounding buildings can be rotated at the same time, as on some sites a rotated model might not even fit.
• The options for Baseline walls, roofs, floors, doors and slab on grade have been simplified, just one option for each and not tied to glazing %.
• Reporting has gone up a notch, or several, but is more aligned with ASHRAE 90.1 Appendix G and LEED. Although, keep in mind the LEED Baseline may be different. Also, while a code compliance report might qualify for documenting LEED points, the reverse is not true.

Whew, we went through all this and more in just under 90 minutes! I’m glad I got an overview, even though I’ll still have to review the code to make sure it all sinks in. If you can catch one of John’s presentations, I highly recommend it.

Seattle Energy Design Roundtable (SEDR)**

Originally the Seattle Ecotect User Group, SEUG for short, this energy design savvy group has been around since June 2009. After over a year delving into Ecotect Analysis models, quirks, scripts, work arounds and more, we started also discussing Rhino, Grasshopper, Energy Plus and Radiance and realized our group had expanded its focus and we liked it.

Thus SEUG became SEDR (sounds like “cedar”), the Seattle Energy Design Roundtable. Basically, we are an open forum for sharing information on energy efficiency early in the design process for maximum results. Some people are more into design and some more into technology, we’ve got both architects and engineers and I think even a landscape architect. So if you’re looking for an energy design tribe, check us out the SEDR yahoo group or Linked In.

*Code summary information is provided for informational purposed only. Any persons using the 2009 Seattle Energy Code should perform their own code review.

**Disclaimer, I am the founder and co-chair of SEDR, and yes, there’s just a little bit of friendly recruiting here, so come join us and share in the energy design conversation!