GreenClips

Issue No. 287 | April 26, 2006

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SHAPING RESTAURANTS TO BE MODELS OF EFFICIENCY

For 20 years, the Food Service Technology Center has been "road-testing" restaurant equipment to evaluate its energy efficiency. The center, which is located near San Francisco, applies the equivalent of a miles-per-gallon rating to the appliances that cook and refrigerate food and clean the hardware used to prepare it. Don Fisher, the center's project manager, said the energy waste in restaurants is "the same thing as if people go out and buy all the materials to make 10 hamburgers or sandwiches and then just throw eight of them away." About 50 percent of restaurant operators have bought energy-saving equipment in the last two years, the National Restaurant Association reports. But for the Food Service Technology Center, it has been a long, slow climb uphill to make the industry aware of its wastefulness. "Our goal was to develop a robust procedure that would measure energy consumption and efficiency and at the same time document how many pounds of hamburger the appliance can cook and how uniformly," Fisher said. "Then the restaurant operator's goal is to reduce operating costs so they don't have to charge so much for a hamburger." The center's research is highly regarded by many companies, which want independent information, not a manufacturer's marketing claims, before investing in equipment. The center's $1.5 million budget is provided by Pacific Gas and Electric, and test results and research are available to anyone.
The New York Times, 17 May 06, p E10, by Laura Novak.

www.fishnick.com

WHAT'S NEW AT BEDZED?

Four years after opening, BedZed development's mission to show that people can live without exceeding their share of resources has yet to be fulfilled. The biomass-fueled system providing zero-carbon heat and electricity to 100 homes has packed up, forcing BedZed to draw electricity entirely from UK's National Grid, on what residents were dismayed to discover was not a green tariff. BedZed's Living Machine, which uses reed beds to filter sewage water for use in toilets and gardens, has been out of operation for seven months because Peabody Trust, the housing association that commissioned BedZed from BioRegional Development Group, an entrepreneurial, independent environmental organisation, could not afford to replace the operator. Peter Wright, a development manager at the trust, says the project was over-ambitious, using untested technology and a complicated wastewater treatment system that were not economic. But Bill Dunster, BedZed's architect, says solutions to BedZed's problems are at hand and the project is close to getting back on its zero-carbon track. Thames Water has agreed to take over the Living Machine and run it alongside new US technology. It is due to move in to BedZed later this year. Additionally, a replacement technology to provide heat and power from biomass has been identified to fill the gap left by the failed combined heat and power (CHP) system, which was so unreliable that Peabody installed gas boilers after the first winter. Research carried out by BioRegional suggests that BedZed residents emit 40% less carbon than the average UK household, with the largest savings coming from CHP (16%) and the car club (11%). The architecture itself accounted for only 3% of carbon savings. Meanwhile, two Bioregional-Quintain developer projects—500 homes in Middlesbrough and 170 apartments in Brighton—have been submitted for planning permission. Another project, for which it hopes to find a site this year, is a 2,000-home zero-carbon development in the proposed Thames Gateway called Z-squared.

The Guardian, 17 May 06, by Terry Slavin.

VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS TEACH ENERGY EFFICIENT AND GREEN BUILDING

Anticipating increased demand because of rising energy costs, some Massachusetts vocational schools are beginning to teach students about energy-efficient and green building practices. The hope is that the methods will become more commonplace in an industry that is sometimes reluctant to try new and potentially more costly techniques. Paul Wolff, technical school outreach manager for Conservation Services Group, a Westborough, Mass. nonprofit that specializes in energy efficiency programs, has been working to introduce schools to energy-conscious practices. Conservation Services Group recently organized the I-SMART Massachusetts Technical School Outreach Learning Exchange, an event that drew about 120 students from 10 schools statewide. At Keefe Technical School in Framingham, students have been learning about energy efficiency techniques for about three years. This year they have used sprayed-in-place cellulose insulation, said Mike Newell, a carpentry instructor. Students at Assabet Valley Regional Vocational High School in Marlborough have been learning about energy efficient building techniques for about two years, said John Parsons, the school's lead drafting instructor. The concept, he said, often means new ways of designing homes. A report commissioned by the National Association of Home Builders shows that a majority of builders in the U.S. are expected to be involved in green building over the next couple of years. The vocational schools seek to familiarize a new generation of students with energy efficient and green building techniques before they begin their careers.
The Boston Globe, 14 May 06, by Emily Shartin

www.csgrp.com/pdf/tso.pdf

A NEW HOUSE RISES FROM RECYCLED ROADWAY RAMPS

There is nothing rare about making dwellings out of industrial waste. There is something novel about constructing a house with castoffs that must be moved by crane. "It's kind of like Junkyard Wars meets Habitat for Humanity," says Paul Pedini, who recently completed a 4,300-square-foot home in Lexington, Mass. That incorporates 600,000 pounds of recycled materials. Designed by Single Speed Design (SpD), Pedini's house is built from highway panels and bridge piers salvaged from Boston's Big Dig, a 15-year, $14.6 billion project that replaced Boston's elevated central artery with an underground roadway. An engineer by training, Pedini worked on the project for 11 years as vice president of Modern Continental Construction. During a regular construction meeting, Pedini proposed building a home with the project's discarded Inverset panels, prefabricated reinforced-concrete slabs—10 feet wide and up to 80 feet long—that were used to build temporary ramps and roadways for much of the project. "I'd like to develop the concept of second use on large construction projects," says Pedini. He believes there is a business in building with construction waste—and a balance. "Have it built into the work from the start; make it mandatory when there is federal funding," he proposes. "If we are going to build temporary ramps and bridges, we need to look around to see what else might be built in the near future. Does the city need a parking garage, a municipal building? We can then shape the materials used in the temporary bridge for their second use, bolt them together so they can be easily dismantled and reassembled. I love this house and am very proud of it. But I also hope that it will make people take a good long look at the things they are throwing away."
Metropolis, Jun 06, p 167, by Ken Shulman.

www.singlespeeddesign.com/works/residential/bigdighouse-2/

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