Living Building Challenge IRL
Last week was our penultimate topic week in the Sustainable Buildings class, and it was an important one: we covered the Living Building Challenge, one of the “deepest green” sustainable building standards in the world. It was even more appropriate a topic when you consider that it was started in our own backyard in conjunction [...]
Passive House!
In class this week our topic is one of my favorite things, the Passive House standard. Started in Germany as “Passivhaus” roughly 20 years ago, and validated as a way to create buildings that use as much as 90% less energy than their code-built counterparts, this is a simple way of building more energy-efficient, sustainable [...]
Midterms in the Sustainable Buildings Class
This past Tuesday, we all got to see for the first time what buildings the students are modeling for their Term Projects, the primary objective of which is to evaluate a building’s energy consumption using three different methodologies. The students will then derive from this process a better understanding of that building’s interaction with its [...]
Architecture 2030 and Net Zero Energy Buildings
Today in class we talked about Architecture 2030, which is a private organization started by Edward Mazria to, in their words, “achieve a dramatic reduction in the climate-change-causing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of the Building Sector by changing the way buildings and developments are planned, designed and constructed.” Architecture 2030 is effectively trying to change [...]
State and Local Programs and Codes, and Assignment #2
In today’s lecture, we dialed down into discussing state and local programs and codes, after having discussed the breadth and reach of federal programs in last week’s class. There are many, many programs across the country, and even more codes and variations on codes in each jurisdiction. But, since we’re in Oregon, it’s fair to [...]
Better Buildings and the Federal Government
In today’s class we discussed the various programs, standards, and incentives supported by the Federal Government to promote energy efficient, high performance and sustainable buildings. We started off by talking about funding… the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency receive substantial funding, but it’s only a fraction of what “other” agencies receive. Below is [...]
Why Assignment #7 is first, and Energy Modeling 101
Because we won’t see results for Assignment #7 unless we start it now! Assignment #7 is to sign up on the Web site EarthAid.com, to see how you use energy in your own dwelling, and to see if knowing how much energy you use will help you save it. We’ll all “friend” each other on [...]
Planes, Trains, Automobiles, and Bikes
A friend once described Seattle to me as very “Planes, Trains and Automobiles”… things are constantly moving around in that city, whether on land or by water, and it’s a lot to take in, but thrilling all at the same time. Portland is much the same way, although to a lesser extent. One thing that [...]
Things that keep me up at night
The title of this post is really a bit deceptive, because, having been through six years of architecture school, there are very few things that can keep me from sleeping. But, IF I had insomnia, I think the following things might contribute. And it’s not that I am a perpetual worrier, but I’m just all [...]
Loss / Gain
Dear readers, I apologize for my absence over the majority of the past month. My life, since my 100th post, has devolved into what can only be described as a hot mess. There are several very interesting things that I thought about and wanted to share with you, but I could not muster the time [...]
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