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#Post#: 3053--------------------------------------------------
Re: Carbon Neutral Buildings
DIR By: AGelbert
Date: April 30, 2015, 11:58 am
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04/28/2015 03:54 PM
Stanford Leads With Massive Renewable Energy System
SustainableBusiness.com News
Stanford University announced a massive upgrade to its energy
system that makes it a world leader among universities, while
saving $420 million on energy costs over the next 35 years.
There are two components - an extremely efficient combined heat
and power system (CHP) and lots of solar energy.
SunPower is installing 5 megawatts (MW) of rooftop solar on
campus and a 68 MW project on 300 acres of land - a commitment
only exceeded by University of California. Combined with
purchases of renewable energy from the grid, the projects will
generate 65% of Stanford's electricity.
On the efficiency side, Stanford will cut emissions 68% and
conserve 15% of potable water through its CHP plant, Stanford
Energy Systems Innovations (SESI). An amazing 90% of campus heat
will be supplied by recovering waste heat from the system that
chills water on campus.
22 miles of underground pipes had to be replaced and 155
buildings were retrofitted to convert from the old steam
cogeneration system that ran on natural gas. Stanford
essentially created a District Energy system, common in Europe,
but rare in North America.
Construction started in 2012 and the $438 million project began
operating in March.
Stanford patented the software that optimizes the system. It
continuously monitors plant equipment, predicts campus energy
loads and grid electricity prices, and steers the system to
using energy at the most economical times. It also continuously
reviews its own performance.
Stanford says:
"SESI is designed to take advantage of Northern California's
temperate climate, although the system is adaptable to nearly
any environment. As with most modern large commercial
facilities, university buildings are being cooled and heated at
the same time throughout the year to supply different
room-temperature requirements.
"In other words, the cooling process can be seen as a collection
of unwanted heat. Some modern facilities take advantage of this
heat overlap on a stand-alone building basis. SESI, however,
takes this approach to an entirely new scale, encompassing a
15-million-square-foot campus with a population of more than
30,000.
"By significantly reducing natural gas usage and electrifying
the campus heating and cooling system, we enabled the
university's energy supply to be substantially transitioned from
fossil fuels with volatile and unpredictable long-term prices to
clean renewable electricity sources with affordable costs fixed
for a very long time," says Joseph Stagner, executive director
of Sustainability and Energy Management at Stanford.
Under Stanford's ongoing Energy and Climate Action Plan, new
buildings must be 30% more efficient than state code - which
already leads the nation. Existing buildings are getting major
retrofits and campus programs teach students, faculty and staff
how to cut back on their energy use.
Last year, Stanford announced it would divest from coal, the
first major university to do so. ;D
For another innovative use of waste heat, read our article,
London Homes Heated By Subway Waste Heat.
Learn more about Stanford's system:
Website:
HTML http://sustainable.stanford.edu/campus-action/stanford-energy-system-innovations-sesi
HTML http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/26268
#Post#: 3148--------------------------------------------------
Re: Carbon Neutral Buildings
DIR By: AGelbert
Date: May 16, 2015, 7:27 pm
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Refrigerator Coupling to a Water-Heater and Heating Floor to
Save Energy and to Reduce Carbon Emissions
Download Download as PDF (Size:2235KB) HTML ePub, PP. 21-29
DOI: 10.4236/cweee.2013.21003 2,603 Downloads 10,811 Views
Citations
Author(s) Leave a comment Romdhane Ben Slama Affiliation(s)
ISSAT Gabes Rue Omar Ibn Khattab, Gabes, Tunisia.
ABSTRACT
With an aim of rationing use of energy, energy safety, and to
reduce carbon emission, our interest was geared towards the
refrigerators and all the refrigerating machines. Indeed the
heat yielded by the exchanger condenser can be developed for the
water heating, floors heating etc. After an encouraging
theoretical study, two prototypes were produced in order to
validate the theoretical results. A first refrigerator was
coupled with a water-heater and another with a heating floor.
The water temperature reached, in one day, is of 60℃;
which makes it possible to predict better results with a
continuously used refrigerator.
HTML http://www.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-080515182559.png<br
/>In the same way for the heating floor coupled with the second
refrigerator, the temperature reached high values because the
surface is reduced; however for the heating floors the standard
fixes the temperature between 28℃ and 30℃.
KEYWORDS
Refrigerator, Recuperator, Heating Water, Heating Floor, Heat
Pump Cite this paper
Slama, R. (2013) Refrigerator Coupling to a Water-Heater and
Heating Floor to Save Energy and to Reduce Carbon Emissions.
Computational Water, Energy, and Environmental Engineering, 2,
21-29. doi: 10.4236/cweee.2013.21003.
HTML http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=27480
#Post#: 3206--------------------------------------------------
Re: Carbon Neutral Buildings
DIR By: AGelbert
Date: May 26, 2015, 6:01 pm
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Epic Urban Treehouse Offers Glimpse Into Future Living
Lorraine Chow | March 16, 2015 10:01 am
Did you ever dream of living in a treehouse when you were young?
Well, the residents of 25 Verde in Turin, Italy are living out
the ultimate childhood fantasy in a breathtaking eco-friendly
building enclosed within hundreds of trees.
HTML http://ecowatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/25verde2.jpg
Hundreds of trees and shrubs surround 25 Verde in Turin, Italy,
creating a “perfect microclimate” inside the building, architect
Luciano Pia said. Photo Credit: Beppe Giardino
Designed by architect Luciano Pia, the five-story structure is
held up by rust-colored metal beams made to look like tree
trunks and branches.
Potted trees and shrubs of various leaves, colors and flowering
are placed on terraces and inside the building to provide shade
and reduce noise pollution. There are 150 trees surrounding the
building and on the roof and 50 more trees in the courtyard.
As the architect puts it, the building is alive, grows and
changes with the seasons. “When all the green is fully blooming
it gives the feeling of living in a tree house,” he wrote on his
website. “You can dream of a house or live in a dream!”
Deciduous varieties of flora were chosen to filter out the hot
summer sun and to allow light to break into the units during
winter as the leaves fall from the trees. Like an urban forest,
the abundant foliage apparently sucks in 200,000 liters of
carbon dioxide an hour, a welcome reprieve from the city’s
notorious pollution.
As noted by a local English publication, Turin is one of the
most polluted cities within the European Union due to a number
of factors including the high concentration of industrial
plants, and how it’s situated in the Po Valley, which traps
pollution.
The building has several green features. Pia wrote that “one of
the aims of the project is the increase of the energetic
efficiency, and for this reason several integrated solutions
have been adopted: continuous insulation, sun protection,
heating and cooling systems which make use of the geothermal
energy with heat pumps and recycling of the falling rain to
water the green.”
There are a total of 63 residential units in the building. The
upper floors have views of a park and the Po river, and the top
floor apartments are covered by private green roofs. According
to the New York Times, two-thirds of the apartments were sold
before construction completed in 2012 at €6,500 per square
meter.
The northern Italian city was the site of the 2006 winter
olympics and is home to carmaker Fiat. The building sits on some
of the auto company’s former offices at the address Via Gabriele
Chiabrera, 25, 10126 Torino, Italy.
Check out the Google street view and wander around the area, but
first check out these cool images:
HTML http://ecowatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/25verde4.jpg
There are potted trees and shrubs of various leaves, colors and
flowering throughout the building. Photo Credit: Beppe Giardino
HTML http://ecowatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/25verde6.jpg
There are 50 trees planted in the court garden. Photo Credit:
Beppe Giardino
HTML http://www.pic4ever.com/images/treeswing.gif
HTML http://ecowatch.com/2015/03/16/urban-treehouse-luciano-pia/
#Post#: 3244--------------------------------------------------
Re: Carbon Neutral Buildings
DIR By: AGelbert
Date: June 2, 2015, 11:01 pm
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Peekaboo House ;D
HTML https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YsKxmw1yyc&feature=player_embedded
#Post#: 3260--------------------------------------------------
Re: Carbon Neutral Buildings
DIR By: AGelbert
Date: June 6, 2015, 2:56 pm
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France passed law making rooftop solar or gardens mandatory on
new commercial buildings
HTML http://www.pic4ever.com/images/earthhug.gif
--- Quote ---
> Two months ago, France passed a law that requires the rooftops
of new commercial buildings to be partially (at least) covered
by solar panels
HTML http://www.nexbay.com/sun_shining_solar_panel_hg_clr.gifor<br
/>plants
HTML http://dl5.glitter-graphics.net/pub/3328/3328805eipbi6o30e.gif.<br
/>The law, passed back in March, was a compromise with French
environmentalists and more conservative* members of society.
--- End Quote ---
Details and background here:
HTML http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/05/27/1388257/-France-passed-law-making-rooftop-solar-or-gardens-mandatory-on-new-commercial-buildings
#Post#: 3478--------------------------------------------------
Re: Carbon Neutral Buildings
DIR By: AGelbert
Date: July 17, 2015, 5:25 pm
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[center]
HTML http://www.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-170715174821.jpeg[/center]
[center]Smart Operation for a Low Carbon Energy Region (SOLCER)
House[/center]
Energy positive :o ;D house: Ecolek Wales Ltd installs Victron
Energy equipment in SOLCER House
Yesterday was the official opening of Britain’s first affordable
‘energy positive’ house
HTML http://us.123rf.com/400wm/400/400/yayayoy/yayayoy1106/yayayoy110600019/9735563-smiling-sun-showing-thumb-up.jpg<br
/>, which uses Victron Energy equipment, installed by Ecolek
Wales
Ltd.
The SOLCER House as it is known, has been designed to produce
more energy than it consumes. SOLCER stands for ‘Smart Operation
for a Low Carbon Energy Region’. The region in this instance is
in Wales. The house was designed and constructed by the Welsh
School of Architecture at Cardiff University. Dr. Jo Patterson
who is a research fellow there was the also the project manager
for this build. Ester Coma-Bassas a research assistant was the
architect. The house has three bedrooms and costs around £1,000
m2 to construct which means it falls within the affordable
social housing range. A great achievement in itself, besides the
low carbon and energy positive aspects.
This low carbon house uses a Victron Energy 6.9kWh battery
storage system, a Quattro Inverter/Charger, BlueSolar MPPT solar
charge controllers and a Colour Control GX for onsite
monitoring, plus the Victron Remote Management (VRM) site for
offsite system monitoring of its energy systems. All equipment
has been specified and installed by Ecolek Wales Ltd.
HTML http://www.victronenergy.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Ecolek.jpg
Here is what project manager, Dr. Jo Patterson, had to say about
the installation:
“Ecolek have been very professional in their approach to working
on this novel research project. They have made a number of
informed suggestions to enhance the battery system that was
originally planned and have been highly proactive in completing
the project on time and to a very high standard. They have
collaborated well with all of the team involved in the build and
have been a pleasure to work with”.
Victron Energy equipment installed
•2 x Li-ion Battery Tower
•8 x Lithium 12.8 V batteries
•1 x VE.Bus BMS
•1 x 24/5000/120-100/100 Quattro
•2 x BlueSolar MPPT 150/70
•1 x Color Control GX
Agelbert NOTE: Links to each of the above components with
graphics and details are all in the original post
HTML http://www.victronenergy.com/blog/2015/07/17/energy-positive-house-ecolek-wales-ltd-installs-victron-energy-equipment-in-solcer-house/.
In the press
Quite clearly, going by the amount of national UK press that has
been generated recently, this is certainly a very well thought
of project.
HTML http://www.desismileys.com/smileys/desismileys_0293.gif
Rather
than go into detail here to learn more, it makes more sense to
direct you to the following:
For an explanation of the build here is a YouTube video from
Cardiff University:
HTML https://youtu.be/Kgi4S89AVgY
For an explanation by Ecolek for their part of the project, see
from 3 mins 54 secs at:
HTML https://youtu.be/VHBsWk8_QaY
The Guardian article: Britain’s first ‘energy positive’ house
opens in Wales
BBC News (Science & Environment) article: Designers create the
‘impossible’ zero-carbon house
Twitter: @LowCarbon_HOUSE
Credits
Thanks to Ian Hewson of Ecolek Wales for making us aware of this
project.
Thanks to Cardiff University for the images used.
John Rushworth
HTML http://www.victronenergy.com/blog/2015/07/17/energy-positive-house-ecolek-wales-ltd-installs-victron-energy-equipment-in-solcer-house/
#Post#: 3493--------------------------------------------------
Re: Carbon Neutral Buildings
DIR By: AGelbert
Date: July 20, 2015, 7:30 pm
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People and Planet Benefit From ‘Green’ Buildings
HTML http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/people_and_planet_benefit_from_green_buildings_20150719
#Post#: 3521--------------------------------------------------
Re: Carbon Neutral Buildings
DIR By: AGelbert
Date: July 30, 2015, 5:08 pm
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Jul 28, 2015 Rocky Mountain Institute
Author David Labrador
Teaching the Arithmetic of Deep Retrofit Value
RMI and the Institute of Real Estate Management partner with new
online courses
Does it make business sense to do a deep energy retrofit on a
commercial building? Many investors currently overlook the
retrofit’s value beyond its energy cost savings, but now their
asset managers will be able to do a more complete calculation
and paint a fuller picture of a retrofit’s value. Rocky Mountain
Institute (RMI) and the Institute of Real Estate Management
(IREM) have partnered to create a series of online courses that
debuted this month. Known as the Analyzing and Presenting Deep
Retrofit Value series, they teach the analytical skills needed
to calculate and report on the value beyond energy savings of
potential deep retrofits of buildings. The courses are based on
RMI’s report How To Calculate and Present Deep Retrofit Value: A
Guide for Investors and are offered to IREM’s membership of more
than 18,000 property managers, as well as the public.
Deep energy retrofits employ an integrated array of energy
efficiency measures to reduce energy consumption by 30 percent
or more compared to pre-retrofit energy use. They deliver other
non-energy benefits, too, yet “lots of organizations still don’t
prioritize these metrics in their decision-making process,” says
Douglas Miller, a senior associate at RMI and coauthor of the
Guide for Investors report. Energy and sustainability retrofits
are almost exclusively evaluated by the simple payback provided
solely by the energy costs savings, and must meet a very high
return rate of 30 percent or more to be considered an attractive
investment. “Deep retrofits rarely can meet this financial
hurdle rate based on energy cost savings alone,” says Michael
Bendewald, a manager on RMI’s buildings team and coauthor of the
Guide for Investors report.
Value Beyond Energy—And Beyond Sustainability
However, there is serious economic value in deep retrofits that
extends well beyond the simple payback of energy efficiency
measures. “Yes, a more-energy-efficient building uses less
energy and is less costly to run,” says Bendewald, “and the
low-cost attributes of the building can translate to increased
income and sales price.” What is less well known is this
latter—usually much bigger—form of value, which can be derived
from low building-energy costs as well as improved tenant
satisfaction and other factors. “Sustainable buildings—primarily
energy-efficient ones—deliver more value to those who occupy,
own, or invest in the buildings than just lower energy bills,”
Miller says, “and that’s the bigger story.”
The report explores four additional values that deep retrofits
can realize for investors: 1) increase the sale price of a
property, 2) increase rents, 3) reduce non-energy operating
costs, and 4) even reduce development costs when combined with
other, needed renovations. A fifth valuable dimension of a
retrofit process is a risk analysis that maximizes the value of
the other elements. “When we say ‘additional value,’ this is not
a reference to traditional externalities such as carbon
reductions or public health,” says Miller. “It’s about how you
can charge higher rent, or how you can sell the property for
more, or how you’re likely to have more occupied space in the
building.” In other words, values that are intrinsic to a
company’s finances and have simply been left out of the math—but
they shouldn’t be.
But how to turn these underemphasized value opportunities into
common knowledge? The Guide for Investors report “provides the
research demonstrating that this additional value is there and
highlights examples of those value elements being considered out
in the market,” says Miller.
But the report alone cannot move the vast U.S. real estate
market. That’s where IREM’s course series comes in. IREM members
manage 13 billion square feet of property worth about $800
billion. And when it comes to forging a low-carbon future in the
U.S., says Bendewald, “improving the energy efficiency of
existing buildings is critical.” IREM is used to educating its
members. “They provide a lot of good, quality education,” says
Bendewald. “They’re able to take our content, our thought
leadership, and convert it into a curriculum.”
Finding Value Step by Step
“The courses take the extensive research on the multiple value
streams that result from deep retrofits and put this body of
work into a practical guide to enable investors to make smarter
decisions,” says Iain Campbell, managing director of the
buildings practice at RMI. Fundamentally, the online courses
show how to quantify and demonstrate the potential value of deep
retrofit projects. “We want real estate investment professionals
to have those analytical abilities to evaluate these projects
and how they might contribute to a property’s value,” says
IREM’s sustainability program manager, Todd Feist. RMI’s Guide
for Investors report and IREM’s membership “seemed like the
perfect match,” Feist says. “It seemed like they were already
putting that content together for our audience.” The courses
take professionals through the process of valuing projects step
by step.
Much of the added value of deep retrofits stems from increasing
regulations for energy-performance improvements and from the
fact that, in many markets, “people are willing to spend more
for a better property,” says Miller. These factors vary from
place to place. “Sustainability is very market-specific,
especially the degree to which you can capture the financial
benefits,” says Feist. “But it’s becoming increasingly common
for investors and tenants to value and demand sustainability and
energy efficiency.” Furthermore, Feist says, “markets change
quickly, regulations pass quickly.” He advises property managers
that “all of a sudden you may get an email from a tenant that
says ‘Hey, what are you doing on sustainability in this
building?’”
Because local buyers and renters of space value sustainability
so differently, the first step is market research. “The deep
retrofit methodology outlined by RMI and taught in the courses
provides a reliable and repeatable framework for assessing that
demand from investors and tenants,” says Feist. “Once you do
that qualitative analysis, the preliminary analysis of the
context for the deep retrofit project and sustainability in your
market,” he says, “you can move into analyzing each of the five
value elements that potentially contribute to adding to the
value of a property.”
Finding these value elements is key for anyone thinking about
investing in an efficient building. According to Miller, the
courses will allow property managers to say, “‘this will help
reduce risk associated with the building’ or ‘we can charge a
higher rent with this’ or ‘we can have office space be vacant
for a shorter amount of time.’” The final step, says Feist,
“would be a deep retrofit value report, which is the
presentation to your decision-makers and stakeholders on the
potential deep retrofit projects.”
[b]
A Toolbox for Investors[/b]
There will be three courses that progress in detail on the
deep-retrofit-value methodology. One is already live and the
others will be released in the coming weeks, into early fall.
Bendewald explains: "The first course introduces the main topics
of how to think about the full value proposition from deep
retrofits or super-efficiency in buildings in general. The
second course goes into a little bit more detail on how you make
the calculations and more advice on how to build a business
case.”
Finally, says Bendewald, “the third course is actually geared
toward asset managers, the people who are operating at the
portfolio level, so that third course includes a tool to start
to incorporate these different values into your capital
allocation process.” Feist adds: “It walks the learner through a
discounted cash flow analysis using a spreadsheet tool that
analyzes how a deep retrofit project will contribute to the net
present value of a real estate asset.”
These courses meet a core need of IREM’s members. “If you work
for a real estate services firm and you work with clients, your
duty is to make sure that you’re doing everything possible to
increase the value of their assets,” says Feist, “and
sustainability and these deep retrofits are another tool, a
powerful tool, in your toolbox to fulfill your client’s goals.”
Bendewald explains: “If you reduce costs and you maintain your
revenues—that equates directly to improving the fundamental
economics of that building.”
For RMI, says Miller, the key is that the courses “help people
reveal the additional value of investments in sustainable
buildings.” That value “is largely excluded from decision making
and, as a result, is leading to less investment in sustainable
buildings than would happen were people to value it properly.”
When investors decide to pursue deep retrofits, says Miller,
“the resulting energy use reductions lead directly to carbon
emissions savings.”
For IREM’s members, the courses are important because it gives
them the edge over the competition, no matter where they
operate. “The deep retrofit methodology will allow you to
understand sustainability and building improvements more
thoroughly and give you analytical skills that have value in any
market,” Feist says. Campbell emphasizes this point by saying
“professionals working in this space really need to know about
this.” Miller is delighted that the course series is under way.
“I think the courses are powerful because they show how to
enhance the case for deep retrofits in terms that resonate with
investors.”
HTML http://blog.rmi.org/blog_2015_07_28_the_arithmetic_of_deep_retrofit_value
#Post#: 3592--------------------------------------------------
Re: Carbon Neutral Buildings
DIR By: AGelbert
Date: August 10, 2015, 6:58 pm
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Gorgeous Solar Powered Off Grid Shipping Container Cabin For
$58k
HTML http://www.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-200714191456.bmp
Jun 8, 2015 by Off Grid World
Solar powered off grid shipping container home is 355 square
feet of off grid splendor. Canadian builder Joseph Dupuis works
at Algonquin College in Ottawa as a researcher on renewable
energy. He built this solar powered masterpiece and lives in it.
Oh, and it’s for sale too! You could own it for $58k plus
shipping.
Great pictures and full description:
HTML https://www.offgridworld.com/gorgeous-solar-powered-off-grid-shipping-container-cabin-for-58k/
#Post#: 4053--------------------------------------------------
Re: Carbon Neutral Buildings
DIR By: AGelbert
Date: October 28, 2015, 6:27 pm
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[center]
HTML https://youtu.be/WMNzoWkXTtc[/center]
[center]Eco Dome - Earth As Shelter
HTML http://www.smile-day.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Smiley-Thumbs-Up2.jpg<br
/>[/center]
--- Quote ---
> Amazing: a pile of earth, dug out from a building site, can be
turned into a small house called an Eco- Dome.
>
> The folks at the California Institute of Earth Art and
Architecture teach professionals and students from all over the
world how to build structures like this.
>
> This Superadobe technology was first presented to NASA for
lunar habitats, and can build single or clustered homes on earth
which are resistant to fire, floods, wind storms and
earthquakes. Long sandbag tubes are filled with earth and
compacted in layers which are reinforced and connected with
barbed wire.
>
> The man you see narrating in this clip is architect and author
Nader Khalili who developed the simple breakthrough building
technology with the freely available material of earth, for
almost thirty years.
>
> Nader Khalili passed in 2008 but has inspired a global
movement and left a rich body of philosophy, design and
innovative construction technology. His work is continued at
Cal-Earth Institute, as the basis for its research and
educational mission.
>
> --Bibi Farber
>
> This video was produced by Cal- Earth. - See more at:
HTML http://www.nextworldtv.com/videos/shelter/eco-dome.html#sthash.SLeJVcI1.dpuf
HTML http://www.nextworldtv.com/videos/shelter/eco-dome.html#sthash.SLeJVcI1.dpuf
--- End Quote ---
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