GreenClips.48 05.22.96 PER SQUARE FOOT PITFALLS Belvedere, California developer George Burton Brewster constantly searches for opportunities to create compact residential neighborhoods. He prefers smaller houses that consume less land and fewer resources to construct and operate. But, Brewster argues, commodity-oriented real estate appraisal practices encourage developers to build larger houses which require less of their own funds than smaller ones. And a commodity-based real estate market yields more profit for larger home developers. Building a 3,500 SF home might cost a developer $60 per SF, for example, while a 1,600 SF one could cost $95. But for either size, bankers make construction loans of 70 percent of an appraiser's valuation - $80 to $85 per SF. Appraisers make little adjustment for factors such as better design, space-efficient floor plans – or construction cost. So developers can borrow more of a larger home's construction cost and invest less of their own money. Similarly, at selling time the real estate market doesn't recognize that the larger house costs less to build per square foot. Like appraisers, buyers and sellers make apples-to-apples cost-per-square-foot comparisons, regardless of size or efficiency. So developers profit more from less-expensive-to-build larger homes. The per-square-foot approach fails to distinguish between a shoddily built, energy-hungry tract house and an energy-efficient passive solar house of the same size. - On The Ground, Volume 2, Number 1, 1996, p. 8, by George Burton Brewster. ENERGY CROPS UK consulting engineers Battle McCarthy are studying how to generate energy from fast-growing crops to heat and power building developments in Europe. Energy crops can grow with minimum maintenance on set-aside land, produce a high yield, and convert to electricity and heat relatively easily. Groves of small willow or poplar trees cultivated in short-rotation coppice (SRC) grow five meters high in three years. A two-to-three-year cycle will yield up to 25 dry metric tons of timber - about 125 MWh in primary energy - per hectare per year. After harvest the root base generates new growth. Burning chipped SRC creates steam to run a steam turbine. Gasified, it can fuel an internal combustion engine or gas turbine. Energy-crop heat and power systems are ideal for midsize developments where a company runs the system, sells energy to the building tenants, and exports to the grid. Battle McCarthy are currently preparing a fuel-farming feasibility study for a development of 1,000 flats plus retail space in Groningen, The Netherlands. – The Architects' Journal, May 9, 1996, p. 44, by Robert Webb. PHOTOVOLTAIC ROOF SHINGLES Roof shingles made of photovoltaic cells will top 12 of 49 new homes built this summer in Compton, a Los Angeles area community. Made from silicon crystals, photovoltaic cells convert sunlight to electricity. Instead of bolting add-on solar panels to rooftops after construction, shingles containing photovoltaic cells will form an integral part of the roofs. Built by Compton Community Redevelopment Agency and the Nehemiah West Housing Corp., the homes will be the first residential demonstration of solar shingle technology in the US, says the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD). AQMD contributed $100,000 toward the project and California's petroleum violation escrow account is providing $200,000. AQMD estimates that the solar shingles will meet 60 percent of the residents' electrical needs. They will measure the photovoltaic roofs' performance and cost, comparing them to conventionally roofed homes in the same development. - Los Angeles Times, April 21, 1996, p. K6. NATURAL PAINT TEST REPORT Neill Lewis of the UK's Building for a Future magazine tested non-toxic, natural paints made by two German manufacturers - Auro Organic Paints and Biofa. With help from a painting contractor, Lewis tested Auro Organic's emulsion wall paints 320 and 332-1, and undercoat 233 with gloss 242 at Worcester College of Technology's Learning Shop. Auro Organic 320's opacity and color evenness were excellent when properly applied. The 320 went on easily and dried well, although the quick-drying second coat concerned the contractor somewhat. Auro Organic's undercoat 233 and gloss 242 also applied easily with uniform color, but took longer to dry. Lewis also evaluated Biofa's herbal wood primer, white undercoat, and white gloss. These paints applied even easier than the Auro paints with excellent color evenness and gloss depth. Lewis concluded from his tests that both Auro and Biofa paints were superior to their toxic equivalents. The painting contractor found them a pleasure to work with and could tolerate generally slower drying times, but concluded that he could not justify their higher cost to his usual customers. - Building for a Future, Spring 1996, p. 30, by Neill Lewis. AUTO ARCHITECT ADDS ENERGY PROGRAM Softdesk Energy is a free software add-on to Softdesk's Auto Architect, the company's third party application for Autodesk's AutoCAD. The energy program adds a menu item to Auto Architect that estimates heating and cooling loads based on computer aided design (CAD) drawings. Once a designer has drawn perimeter walls of a preliminary design, the energy software asks for a north arrow to determine solar orientation, building type, and geographical location. The simulation takes about 15 minutes, then generates a horizontal bar chart of energy load estimates for a typical year. As the design develops, the designer can modify construction components, mechanical settings, and schedules to model the building's final specifications more closely. Pacific Northwest National Laboratories in Richland, Washington and the University of Oregon in Eugene conducted research and developed the software with Department of Energy funding. Softdesk provided quality assurance and distribution. The energy add-on is free to all Auto Architect owners. - Architecture, May 1996, p. 260, by Nancy B. Solomon. FURNATURE Starting this spring Boston-based Furnature Inc. is manufacturing a line of upholstered furniture that is renewable, recyclable, and biodegradable. The company fabricates Furnature with USDA certified cotton, water based glues, sustainably-forested maple, and non-toxic coatings. Barrier shields made of tightly woven, natural cotton cloth suppress reaction to dust mites and other irritants. And instead of plastic film, Furnature packages their product in cellophane. "Seventy-five years ago the industry was making products that are closer to what we are doing here," says Furnature's designer Barry Shapiro." We've come a full circle by using only domestically grown natural and organic materials, most of which we obtain in the region." - I.D. Magazine, May/June 1996, p. 84, by Jim Banks.