GreenClips.220 07.30.03 SEATTLE SHOWS IT'S POSSIBLE TO BUILD GREEN AND AFFORDABLE HOUSING A new Seattle building could become the first low-income housing project in the nation to win LEED certification. This month residents will start moving into Traugott Terrace, a $4 million housing project that offers 50 units for residents earning up to 30 percent of area median income. The 39,000-square-foot project has fluorescent lighting; recycled-plastic decking; energy-efficient appliances; recycled-content carpet, siding, structural steel and concrete; and other eco- and energy-conscious features. Designed by Environmental Works Community Design Center and built by Rafn Co., it includes 16 one-bedrooms units, 22 studios, and 12 transitional units for residents moving from homelessness. The Seattle Office of Housing approached the building's developer about going for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification after the team secured about $6.4 million in low-income housing tax credits and affordable housing funds. Because the LEED quest was originally expected to increase the project's cost, construction documents were written so LEED elements could be yanked if subcontractors submitted high bids. But the opposite happened. Between low bids and the building's small units, the team built Traugott Terrace without asking for an extra dime. "I think it's really incredible to hear Fortune 500 companies say they can't afford to build green buildings, but low-income housing developers can," said Lynne Barker, a sustainable building specialist with the City of Seattle. Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce, 22 July 2003, by Ari Kramer. [More: email smallory@eworks.org ] ENERGYPLUS USED TO MODEL NATURAL VENTILATION IN MAJOR OFFICE BUILDING EnergyPlus software -- a building energy-simulation program distributed by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory -- was integral to the design of San Francisco's new federal office building. EnergyPlus contributed to nearly $9 million in energy savings projected over 20 years, according to Tim Christ, project manager for the building's lead design firm, Morphosis. The new building will use natural ventilation to provide cooling without the use of fans or refrigeration. Erin McConshey of Arup, the project's engineering consultants, says, "Basically, other energy-simulation programs can't deal with the natural ventilation issues. The combination of airflow and energy modeling in a single package not only allowed us to predict energy performance, but also to calculate surface temperatures, track air change rates, and predict thermal comfort. The Berkeley Lab modeling tool provided crucial corroboration of our design work." Implementing natural ventilation required completely rethinking conventional interior office design: cellular offices and other enclosed spaces were situated along the building's spine while the open-plan space was located around the exterior. The enclosed offices have lowered false ceilings with space above to allow air driven by wind pressure to flow from one side of the building to the other. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's EETD (Environmental Energy Technologies Division) News, Winter 2003, p 1, by Robin Johnston. [Full text: http://eetd.lbl.gov/newsletter. About EnergyPlus: http://gundog.lbl.gov ] UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PASSES GREEN BUILDING AND CLEAN ENERGY POLICY The University of California (UC) Board of Regents on July 17 approved a university-wide policy titled the "Green Building Policy and Clean Energy Standard." The new policy calls for UC to adopt principles of energy efficiency and sustainability in its capital projects to the fullest extent possible, taking into account budgetary constraints and regulatory and programmatic requirements. The policy mandates that 10 megawatts (equivalent to the power used by 5,000 homes) of renewable energy be installed across the university's 10 campuses. The policy also requires that 10 percent of the university's current energy come from clean sources, ramping up to 20 percent by 2017. Energy use is to be reduced system-wide to 10 percent below 2000 levels by 2014. And all new campus buildings (except acute-care facilities) across the state are to be built to green-building standards. The vote caps a yearlong campaign by UC students across the state, with help from Greenpeace. Following UC's lead, students on more than 50 campuses across the country are expected to launch clean-energy campaigns this fall, according to Greenpeace. UC Berkeley News, 23 July 2003, and www.greenbiz.com. [More: http://www.cleanenergynow.org/ ] JAPAN IS NOW THE WORLD'S LARGEST MARKET FOR SOLAR ENERGY Japan is almost completely dependent on imported fuel, which makes its electricity prices among the highest in the world. In response, the Japanese have built up their renewable energy resources, and the country now generates half the world's solar power and has overtaken the United States as the world's leading producer of solar panels. To promote solar power, the government funnels about three billion yen a year -- more than $25 million -- to help companies develop more efficient solar technology. And since 1994, it has spent 116 billion yen ($971 million) on rebates for homeowners who install photovoltaic panels. These subsidies are being phased out, but falling solar energy prices may help the industry make up for lost subsidies. The cost of residential solar power systems has dropped by about 80 percent in the last decade, to around $6,000 for each kilowatt of generating capacity. And Japanese companies are working to improve their technology. Sharp has developed panels that can convert 17.4 percent of the sunlight that hits them into electricity, the best in the industry so far. Sanyo says its cells can generate more electricity at higher temperatures, and require less energy to produce. Japanese manufacturers are also starting to look overseas. Sharp has begun making cells in Memphis, Sanyo assembles solar panels in Mexico, and Kyocera will begin making solar modules in China in October. The New York Times, 29 July 29, 2003, p C1, by Fuminori Sato. NEW STUDY DISPUTES DATA CENTERS' ROLE IN CALIFORNIA ENERGY CRISIS A big misconception about the 2001 electricity crisis in California was that the energy use of computers and other Internet-related hardware played a significant role. But research conducted in 2001 by Jon Koomey of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) showed that this equipment used about three percent of the electricity consumed in the United States -- a striking contrast to the 13 percent widely cited in the media. And a more recent study by LBNL researchers concludes that the energy use of Internet data centers, also known as "web server farms," is often overestimated. Jennifer Mitchell-Jackson, who authored the new study along with Koomey and others, says that these exaggerated reports "arise from a lack of measured data from operating data centers, inconsistent definitions of the power consumption in these facilities, and use of rated or design power instead of actual power when estimating total consumption." According to Mitchell-Jackson, hosting-type data centers accounted for less than 500 megawatts of power or 0.12 percent of the total U.S. electricity use in 2000. To express energy use accurately, Mitchell-Jackson developed a measurement tool called "total computer-room power density." The study's authors hope that the data center industry and electric utilities will use this research to better estimate their energy needs. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's EETD (Environmental Energy Technologies Division) News, Winter 2003, p 7, Allan Chen. [Full text: http://eetd.lbl.gov/newsletter ] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GreenClips is free of charge thanks to individual members and these sponsors: BUILDINGGREEN, INC. Providing authoritative, unbiased information to help you improve the environmental performance of buildings and the surrounding landscapes. Now featuring the new, updated 3rd edition of GreenSpec Directory with more than 1650 listings of green building products. Please visit http://www.buildinggreen.com/ecommerce/ C&A FLOORCOVERINGS We choose not to just make carpet but to also make a difference. 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