GreenClips.229 12.03.03 LOOKING FOR A GREEN HOLIDAY GIFT FOR FAMILY, FRIENDS, CLIENTS OR COLLEAGUES? Check out the new book, "Good Green Homes: Creating Better Homes for a Healthier Planet" by GreenClips editor Jennifer Roberts. In bookstores nationwide. More info: www.goodgreenhomes.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BRING ON THE HOLIDAY CHEER WITH MONEY-SAVING LED LIGHTS Consumers can save money on their electricity bills by switching from traditional holiday lights to LED (light-emitting diode) lights, according to a recent report by the U.S. Department of Energy. LED lights last much longer, cost a lot less to operate, and are much more durable than conventional Christmas-light sets. "LED technology is well-suited to this application, and may gradually replace conventional incandescent lights over time, saving significant energy and money," the report said. Although LED holiday lights have been available for several years, their popularity was limited because they required batteries or transformers and couldn't be strung together or used outdoors. But the latest designs run on standard alternating current and can be strung together and used indoors or out. Philadelphia Inquirer, 24 Nov 2003, by Michael Rubinkam (Associated Press). [More: http://www.es.wapa.gov/pubs/factsheets.cfm ] AROUND THE WORLD, DESIGN FOR DISASSEMBLY REDUCES DEMOLITION WASTE Waste from building demolition represents 30 to 50 percent of total waste in most industrial and emerging industrial countries. Changing this situation will be quite difficult, but the first steps in the process are underway in many countries. In the Netherlands, for example, at least a dozen different precast reinforced concrete systems have been developed to allow buildings to be disassembled, moved and reconfigured. One of these is the MXB-5 dry-assembly system, in which columns with steel plates at each end are connected to floor elements that have anchor bushings embedded in the concrete. The elements can be connected simply by tightening the connecting bolts. At Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, Scotland, experiments concerned with design for disassembly (DfD) included a wide range of issues such as handling, materials identification, simplicity of construction techniques, exposure of mechanical connections, independence of structure and partitioning, and making short life-cycle components most accessible. In Osaka, Japan, a multi-story residential housing project uses a reinforced concrete frame to support independently constructed dwellings that can be replaced on 15-year cycles without removing the supporting frame. And at Queensland Technical University, Philip Crowther has written a doctoral dissertation, "Design for Disassembly: An Architectural Strategy for Sustainability," which lists comprehensive principles for building DfD. UNEP Industry and Environment, Apr-Sept 2003, p 84, by Charles J. Kibert. [For more about Crowther's dissertation, email p.crowther@qut.edu.au ] MARYLAND ANNOUNCES TAX INCENTIVE FOR GREEN COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS Maryland has launched a new $25 million tax credit program that will provide incentive for developers to build or retrofit energy-efficient commercial buildings. The Green Building Tax Credit, administered through the Maryland Energy Administration, will allocate the funds through 2011. The tax credit will help developers offset the higher cost of design and construction for green buildings. The tax credit is valued at six percent to eight percent of the design and construction cost of a building. Buildings must be at least 20,000 square feet and located in a brownfields site or in a Priority Funding Area (areas targeted for economic development and new growth). Baltimore Business Journal, 4 Nov 2003, by Tim Hyland, and Maryland Energy Administration press release, 3 Nov 2003. [More: http://www.energy.state.md.us ] RURAL SPRAWL MAY BE NEXT FRONTIER OF COLORADO'S GROWTH DEBATE Because of a 1972 state law exempting properties of at least 35 acres from subdivision regulations, an estimated 2 million rural acres in Colorado have been carved into residential tracts just large enough to escape county planners' scrutiny. Critics of so-called ranchette development say the cumulative effects of this 35-acre exemption range from diminished wildlife habitat, tarnished Colorado vistas and ruined land to haphazard development and huge costs for counties serving remote homes on the range. Dave Theobald, a conservation planner at Colorado State University (CSU), calculates that as of 2000, properties of 1.7 to 40 acres covered almost 2.5 million acres of Colorado -- four times the area of its cities, towns and suburbs. He estimates that exempt ranchettes account for 80 to 90 percent of that area and predicts it will double by 2030. In El Paso County, the subdivision process requires developers to demonstrate a 300-year water supply, road access and appropriate building sites, and pay fees toward school and parkland, drainage and traffic impacts. With tracts of 35 acres or more, "you're exempt from all that," said Carl Schueler, the county's assistant planning director. Andy Seidl, an agricultural economics specialist at CSU, estimates that Colorado counties spend $1.65 in services to agricultural lands converted to ranchettes for every dollar they get back in taxes. Seidl called his cost estimate conservative because it did not assign any value to diminished wildlife, loss of views or air pollution attributable to long commutes. The Denver Post, 25 Nov 2003, by David Olinger. TIPS FOR ARCHITECTS TO HELP RESIDENTIAL CLIENTS ACCEPT FLUORESCENTS While architects are finding that green-minded residential clients are willing to use fluorescent lights, they may have to do some extra work to help clients find fixtures with residential appeal. Useful web sites include http://www.lighting.com, http://www.lightsearch.com and http://www.lightinguniverse.com. Manufacturers are producing more fixtures that are both decorative and energy efficient, and high cost is also not the barrier it once was. One of the best ways to avoid making fluorescent lighting look institutional in the home is to use indirect cove lighting. These fixtures bounce soft light off the ceiling, creating minimal glare. For the kitchen, lamps are now available in high-color rendering versions that make food look more appealing than under cool white light. Today's new T5 lamps are extremely slim and fit within compact fixtures. However, they take noticeably longer to reach full brightness; replacement lamps and ballasts are not yet available at retail stores; and good dimming ballasts can be quite expensive. These problems will disappear as T5s become more popular. Control systems should be kept simple. Cheap occupancy sensors from the hardware store tend to false trigger and are sensitive to temperature changes. Instead, consider using dual-technology sensors that use either infrared motion plus sound sensing, or infrared plus ultrasonic motion sensing. Architectural Record, Nov 2003, p 249, by Lindsay Audin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 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