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DO LARGE HOMES CONSUME PROPORTIONATELY MORE RESOURCES?

One would expect that, relative to material use, there would be an economy of scale as house size increased—that material use per unit area of floor area would drop as floor area increased. But that is not necessarily the case, according to Gopal Ahluwalia, the director of research at the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB.) Although NAHB has not compiled data on material use as a function of house size, Ahluwalia believes that, because larger houses tend to have taller ceilings and more features, larger houses may consume proportionally more materials. He estimates that a new 5,000-square-foot house will consume three times as much material as the 2,082-square-foot house NAHB has modeled, even though its square footage is only 2.4 times as large. Total wood use in houses increased steadily between 1950 and 1992, as houses grew in size. But when we examine total wood use per unit of floor area, we find that it dropped between 1950 and 1970—perhaps due to the substitution of plywood sheathing for board sheathing and the introduction of more wood-efficient roof trusses. Then, around 1970, wood use per square foot of floor area began to increase again, and by 1992 it was up about 12% from the low point. Exactly why this is occurring is not clear; it could result from an increasing use of 2x6s instead of 2x4s for wall framing, or a shift to more complex geometries.
Journal of Industrial Ecology, 2005, Volume 9, Number 1-2, by Alex Wilson and Jessica Boehland.

HOW IS LEED FARING AFTER FIVE YEARS IN USE?

After making its debut five years ago, LEED has been reviewed externally and internally. Chris Scheuer and Gregory Keoleian of the Center for Sustainable Systems at the University of Michigan evaluated LEED in a National Institute of Standards and Technology report titled "Evaluation of LEED Using Life-Cycle Assessment Methods. Auden Schendler, director of environmental affairs at Aspen Skiing Company, and Randy Udall of Aspen's Community Office for Resource Efficiency, coauthored "LEED is Broken... Let's Fix It." And Jay Stein and Rachel Reiss of Platts, a subscription Web division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, point out inconsistencies and unknowns and suggest ways for designers to work around them in "Ensuring the Sustainability of Sustainability Design: What Designers Need to Know About LEED." The two most fundamental criticisms of the current LEED framework are its bioregional insensitivity and its relatively tenuous connection to life-cycle analysis (LCA). By comparing LCA data for alternative products, designers could select the materials and components that cause the least environmental damage. But LEED's one-point-per-credit structure doesn't encourage this more sophisticated analysis. LEED also is facing its first potential competitor—Green Globes, a Web-based sustainable design tool for new commercial construction. First released in Canada, Green Globes was adapted and brought to the U.S. in 2004 by the Green Building Initiative, which got its start working with the National Association of Home Builders.

SOLAR CONTROL SYSTEMS MERGE FUNCTION AND FAÇADE

Solar control systems regulate incoming light and heat—and can add a great deal of character to building façades and interiors. One increasingly popular and low-tech approach is customizable louver systems. The louvers, which can be traditional slats or highly decorative fans, respond to varying conditions throughout the year, minimizing the amount of light and heat entering a building when the sun is directly overhead in summer and allowing heat to permeate the interiors when the sun is lower in the sky in winter. An automated system can sense the time of day any day of the year. Various control options are available, ranging from hand-held cranks to preprogrammed software-based systems run by remote. Customizable exterior louvers are available in metal, wood and glass. Interior solar screen controls are available in a number of different fabrics and colors, including one woven from glass fibers and two PVC-free polyester textiles.
Metropolis, Jun 05, p. 88, by Paul Makovs

DO HIGH-END BUSINESSES SET AIR CONDITIONERS LOWER?

It's the frigid season in New York City. Not outside, where temperatures were in the upper 80s and 90s for much of June, but in shops, offices, restaurants and museums, where air conditioning makes temperatures feel more like November. A recent experiment in which a reporter visited various commercial corners of Manhattan with a high-grade thermometer found that almost without fail, the more ritzy the establishment, the colder the air-conditioning. Consider the clothing stores: Bergdorf Goodman, 68.3 degrees; Bloomingdale's, 70.8; Macy's 73.1; Club Monaco, 74.0; the Original Levi's Store, 76.8; Old Navy 80.3. High-end retailers argue that cool air is a positive part of their image. "It's part of the whole environment package that we try to offer to our customers," said Tony Nicola, vice president for operations at Bergdorf Goodman. "We're offering the best of service in New York City, and what comes with that is how the store looks, how it's lit, the cleanliness and the temperature." At least one shopper agreed. Sylvia Pastor, who lives on the Upper East Side, said she found the cool temperature invigorating, adding that it kept her shopping longer than a warmer temperature. "It's good for the store," she said. "But not for my pocketbook." However, Envirosell, a New York-based consulting firm that studies retail stores' designs to help them maximize sales, studied three locations of a high-end apparel client with stores in New York City and found that customers were spending less time in the coldest one. The Energy Department says that each degree setting on a thermostat below 78 degrees increases energy consumption by 8 percent.
The New York Times, 26 Jun 05, p. ST 1, by Allen Salkin.

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