GreenClips.194 06.19.02 LEED APPLICATION TO GET EASIER Concerned that the extensive documentation requirements of the LEED 2.0 Rating System are an obstacle for users, the US Green Building Council plans to release an update with simpler documentation requirements. "Experienced teams have found that documentation costs can be as low as $10,000. Inexperienced teams have found costs as high as $60,000, and this figure appears to be independent of project size," reports Rob Watson, senior scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council and co-chair of the LEED Steering Committee. After the USGBC releases the new LEED 2.1 system in late July or August, projects will have the option of using either the 2.0 or 2.1 requirements for their application materials. Environmental Building News, June 2002, p 3, by Nadav Malin. [Full text: http://www.buildinggreen.com/news/leed_streamlining.html ] LOW-ENERGY DESIGN FOR NEW UK UNIVERSITY BUILDING Like so many clients, the Open University Business School in Milton Keynes, UK, wanted its new Michael Young Building to be sustainable. And like so many clients, it did not define the brief very carefully but left it up to the architect, Jestico + Whiles, who pursued a strategy of low-energy design. Completed in October 2001, the 5,880-square-meter building uses the hollow cores of the floor slabs as circulation ducts (the Termodeck system from Scandinavia) for low velocity air, resulting in a high thermal mass building. The Termodeck specification relies on very high standards of airtightness, relatively small window areas and low envelope U-values. Heat is recovered from the return air system in winter, and rejected in summer when the use of nighttime cooling allows air conditioning to be avoided. This solution for a building with moderately high internal heat gains provides better control than a naturally ventilated solution, but with far less energy use than air conditioning. However, Termodeck's requirement for 35 percent glazing (to eliminate the need for perimeter radiators and reduce solar gain) has resulted in quite low internal daylight levels. The building's overall energy consumption is calculated to be 90kWh/m2/year for gas and 80kWh/m2/year for electricity, with a total CO2 production of 54kgCO2/m2/year. Other aspects which resulted in a BREEAM 'Excellent' rating, include a cost-effective system for rainwater collection, filtration and distribution, which saves approximately 90 percent of the annual water consumption for WC flushing. The Architects' Journal, 30 May 2002, p 25, by Peter Clegg. SURVEY SHOWS STRONG INTEREST IN SUSTAINABILITY BUT EDUCATION LAGS Design educators, students and professionals want to know more about green design, according to the results of a recent survey by Metropolis magazine. Fifty-four percent of 500 Web site respondents agree that within five years, sustainable design will be necessary to "good design." Practicing design professionals say that 39 percent of clients require green design, while 75 percent of clients say it is desirable. But while 93 percent of design professionals, 92 percent of design educators and 86 percent of students are interested in green design, only 14 percent of students say the topic is discussed in studio. Environmental Building News, June 2002, p 4, and Metropolis press release. (More: www.metropolismag.com ) SUMMER CAMP ENCOURAGES CHILDREN TO EXPLORE NATURE AND DESIGN The Russel Wright Design Center at Manitoga (Wright's estate in Garrison, New York) has for the last nine years been home to a nature and design summer camp for children ages five to twelve. Wright, who died in 1976, was one of the best known designers of home furnishings in the United States. In July and August the camp runs six five-day sessions, each focusing on a different Wrightian topic, such as "Natural Art and Design," "Living with the Land," or "Exploring Earth Arts and Sciences." According to site coordinator Anita Pidala, "Sometimes the crafts they do include making a piece of clay pottery and then taking a native plant and embedding it into the artwork -- similar to what Russel would have done with his dinnerware." Director Barbara Sarbin says, "The camp is focused on being connected with nature, not just mentally, but physically, by planting a tree or even writing a poem or painting a picture for a rock or tree." For Wright, design was about creating a whole way of life, not simply a set of objects. "At the end of the summer," Sarbin says, "when we ask the children what one thing they learned was most important to them, many of them say, 'That everything is alive.'" Metropolis, July 2002, p 58, by Julien Devereux, and Manitoga website: http://www.manitoga.org . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 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