Moving The Ball Up The Hill

After a great review meeting with Jim Garrison and his team , it seems as if we are in the final weeks of the design and documentation phase of the project, that includes final plans for the mechanical (including the solar component), electrical, plumbing and structural components of the plan. This rendering illustrates the evolution of the design, including the the windows, the use of wood and exterior finishes.

As we continue to move the ball up the hill, this is the rough timeline for us to reach the "top":

Complete design development	now - 2/15
Obtain preliminary costing	3/1
NYC Building Depart Submission	3/15
Foundation/First Floor Construction	5/15 - 8/1
Module (floors 2-4) Fabrication	5/15 - 8/1
Set Modules on Foundation/First Floor	8/1 - 8/3
Interior/Exterior Finishing	8/3 - 10/1
Certificate of Occupancy/Move - In	10/1

As we look back, the current timeline has us about sixty days behind our original thinking. The complexity of balancing conservation/generation with design has driven many iterations of the design, but at this point it seems all elements are in check.  I am so excited about how this is progressing, what do you think, love to hear from you with thoughts and questions.

BTW, check out new coverage from Metro's International Edition "Adding To It's Appeal" an article about our role in Red Hook's evolution.

Getting to Zero

As promised we have gotten back the results of the thermal modeling from our mechanical engineers, which was a simulation designed to test our energy conservation and generation assumptions.

The great news is that Jim and his team have designed a very efficient "high performance envelope", basically put roofs, ceilings, walls, windows, doors, external floors and soffits are components of the building "envelope". A high performance envelope means that each component is designed to minimize the transfer of thermal energy which in turn creates an energy efficient or "tight" building.  That is very important since we first want to conserve or minimize the amount of heating and cooling required to make the building comfortable which in turn reduces the amount of energy that we need produce to cover those requirements, while meeting our objective of NET ZERO.

But in order to provide addition energy savings we are investigating a new technology for the interior walls and ceilings in the house, called "Phase-Change Wallboard".  Phase-change materials (PCMs), usually a paraffin that can be embedded in gypsum (wall) board, form a class of building material that functions as a storage medium. Materials undergoing a phase change (freezing, melting, condensing, or boiling) store and release large amounts of heat with small changes in temperature. PCMs offer an order of magnitude increase in heat capacity, and for pure substances they discharge their heat with almost no change in temperature.  This is extremely cool (in the great sense, not the cold sense) because it allows the thermal storage of our building to become part of the building's structure, permitting substantial energy storage without changing the temperature of the building. Because the heat is stored within the building where the loads occur rather than externally, additional fans or other air movement is not required.

The real challenge came when we looked at the other side of this coin, energy generation.  As you may remember from our December 29th post, the roof area was redesigned to accommodate the solar PV array, providing about 850 square feet of usable space.  The simulation indicates on a conservative basis that while the area on the roof would be sufficient to power the main building, it would not provide the necessary KW's to provide any heating or cooling for the garages and workshop, any equipment usage (i.e. power tools) or electric vehicle charging stations. So it's back to the drawing board for us to find about a 25% increase in renewable power generation.

Since the heating/cooling and power generation are joined at the hip, we needed to revisit the entire process to get those gains that we need to get to NET ZERO.  So this morning we met with our team of mechanical engineers Imtiaz Mulla and David Goldstein of Plus Group Consulting Engineering to revisit our current plans.   What a great education I got today.

Our options seem to be:

1. Re-design roof to accommodate 25% more PV panels.

2. Re-design the entire building, to create additional higher elevation roof space, much like "Option 1", in our original designs.
3. Evaluate the addition of wind turbines to supplement the PV's

4. Evaluate the addition of a geothermal heating system to reduce the heat generation and therefore the load on the solar output.

5. Evaluate other heat collection options to reduce the heat generation and therefore the load on the solar output.

The team decided:

Option 1: No way to ascetically add that much more area to the roof without "disfiguring" the building.  - NO

Option 2: While definitely possible, I rejected a previous design that "spread" the building across the lot more evenly.  We all love the design and don't want to re-think it again, not to mention the delay and cost associated. -NO

Option 3: This weekend, I feel in love with the idea of supplementing the PV's with wind turbines, there are some very cool ones out (check out this one from Helix Wind, it's functional sculpture).  But as in many love affairs it fizzled fast, it seems that while advertised performance of this technology in small applications look great, the actual output has been less than promising.  BuildingGreen.com has a great article on wind that presents the pro's and con's of wind.  - NO

Option 4: While geothermal technology has been implemented successfully across the world, especially in Germany, it seems very complex and expensive.  The expense is driven by the cost of drilling, in most case at least 1,000 feet at a cost of over $20/foot.  Geothermal ground loops can be installed in a variety of ways, depending on the region, climate, cooling/heating requirement, excavation costs and soil conditions. The three most popular loop configurations are vertical, horizontal and pond loop.  - NO

Option 5: As the discussion progressed it became apparent that the application of some new technology, could potentially solve our problem, while adhering to my "keep it simple" mantra. - YES!

So it was decided that we would investigate a different HVAC system, one based on using the sun to heat water through coils, rather than the original plan of using the south facing thermal solar wall to generate warm air that would be fed directly to the building ventilation system.

Enter a new technology, Hybrid Solar Panels or PVT's.  PVT's make more effective use of valuable solar roof space. This ‘technological convergence’ effectively more than doubles the per square foot solar power output of PV alone. This is accomplished by passing water under the PV producing hot water as a byproduct, in effect, a solar co-generation process.  We then can store that hot water for use in the heating/cooling system.  Another benefit leverages the fact that PV solar panels grow less efficient as they get hotter, the water passing through the panel cools the underside of the PV panel therefore lifting effective output.  For more information I encourage you to read a very good executive summary on this technology, it's pros & cons and challenges from the PVT Form, sponsored by the European Union.

Finally under this new scenario we would eliminate the heat pump and cooling compressors originally specified and replace them with a much more energy efficient system using a new device called an "Absorption Chiller". With this device, it is now possible to cheaply produce cold from warm temperature flow.  Using solar generated heat this is more environmentally friendly and cheaper to operate than conventional compression chillers, in fact there is no freon or alternative refrigerants. This is a viable option for generating cold from heat supplied from the Hybrid Solar Panels and with applying very little electrical energy.  Another positive from my perspective is that it contains so few moving parts susceptible to wear and tear, maintenance of the unit is very limited.  So Imtiaz and David are off working through the details and will re-run our thermal energy model to see if this combination of technology and engineering will help us reach our goals.

Green is The New Red, White and Blue!

Happy 2010! Sorry for the large gap between postings, but planning activity is ramping up as we prepare for a spring kick-off. On the progress front we’ve refined the design a bit and added tongue and groove cedar to the fourth floor and some other portions of the exterior. Our mechanical engineer is working on the thermal model and as soon as we have the results we will tune the amount of insulation and glazing to meet our zero energy target. We are looking at a variety of energy production options, their cost and incentives, as well as how the building needs to be insulated etc. Our next few posts will be interesting ones.

I could not be more excited about this project and how it’s progressing. One of my personal objectives for Redhook Green (and this blog) is to show by example that a net zero energy building is viable in a place like NYC, and that it can be built cost effectively (with some support available from the government) using new designs and building methods. But why isn’t it happening faster? There are lots of good common sense reasons to adopt some or all of the ZEB strategies, it makes sense, it can save money, it’s the right thing to do, but that does not seem to be enough. It’s like eating healthy and staying fit, many of us just never get around to it.

So each of us that have developed a 'sense of urgency' need to evangelize this issue with our friends and family. I am talking about a serious dialog. What exactly will resonate with folks from different walks of life will vary, but there is one that will fit, be creative. There are at least three major 'roman numeral' level talking points that should be the basis for nearly all compelling “why renewable energy NOW” discussions. We need to get beyond the belief that we can recycle our way out of this problem!

I. The continued warming of the planet based on quickly increasing carbon dioxide levels requires real action and sacrifice on each of our parts.
II. Dependency on oil from “friendly countries” (aka petro-dictators) like Iran, Saudi Arabia, Russia or Venezuela.
III. The United States needs to take a leadership position in the world market place of renewable energy technology as we did with computing and Internet over the past 25 years.

For most, one or a combination of these positions are generally enough to get people to think.  For one of my friends, who does not buy into the urgency of climate change, but who is a true patriot, oil dependency and American Industrial Supremacy resonated loud and clear. He by no means is he alone in his disbelieve in climate change, in fact the Gallop Poll says that a record-high 41% now say that the seriousness of global warming is exaggerated.  As recently as 2006, says author Lydia Saad in her Gallup Poll article, "significantly more Americans thought the news underestimated the seriousness of global warming, than said it exaggerated it".  

Thomas Friedman, author of "Hot, Flat and Crowded" said in his NY Times article "We will need to find a way to reknit America at home, reconnect America abroad and restore America to its natural place in the global order — as the beacon of progress, hope and inspiration. I have an idea how. It’s called “green.”   

So, once you convince someone on why "Green is The New Red, White and Blue", what's next?  I admit it's not easy yet.  The simplest way to think about what can accomplished is in the areas of conservation of energy (use less) and alternative ways to generate it and what resources there to help cover some of the costs.  Unfortunately there is no Whole Foods of renewable energy and sustainability to just walk around and soak up a new lifestyle, that green-ish lifestyle that I aspire to.  There is no REI-like super-store of trusted gear where you can take your solar panels for a ' test ride' or a place to 'try on' the newest home insulation products for yourself.    And were can companies who are innovating go to showcase their newest products?  Who do you go to to build a multi-year plan  to conserve and/or generate clean power.   How do you maneuver the many government programs, regulations, tax breaks and subsidies? And once you do establish the plan, where will you find contractors that have been trained on really maximizing conservation and energy production options?

Lots of good questions, a few of them I am seriously focusing on as I move through the maze myself.  Standby for some answers.  Please post your thoughts, I'd really love to hear from you.

Redhook Becoming Center of NYC's Solar Awareness

It seems like great minds think alike when looking for places to drive change.  I am excited to see the work that the Beautiful Earth Group is doing to drive the awareness of a solar powered option as well as a electric vehicles.  I guess that Redhook will be the first stop on a NYC Eco-Tourist vacation. Hey that's an idea!  

Our building will include provisions for a solar powered charger for a car and motorcycle.  All we need is the electric car.  If any electric car manufactures (GM, Telsa, Fishker, Mini or Audi) are looking for great places to test new products keep me in mind.  I just love evaluating and writing about new technology, especially in cars!

New York Gets Its First Solar Electric Vehicle Charging Station

by Yuka Yoneda, 12/15/09

We have great news for green-eyed New Yorkers who have been coveting San Francisco’s sophisticatedelectric vehicle charging systems. Beautiful Earth Group, a New York-based sustainable energycompany, just unveiled its solar-powered electric vehicle (EV) charging station in Red Hook, Brooklyn. The new station is the first ever in our city and another momentous stepping stone of a greener future for NYC.

Located on an industrial lot near the Beautiful Earth’s headquarters overlooking downtown Manhattan, the off-grid, modular station is constructed of recycled steel shipping containers and powered solely by 235 wattphotovoltaic panels. The car that is currently being charged at the station is a 100% electric BMW MINI E, and is now one of the few cars in the world to run exclusively on solar power. The vehicle has a range of just over 100 miles and takes about 3 hours to charge.

With so many major car companies planning to launch electric or plug-in hybrid cars next year, it makes sense that one of the biggest cities in the world, NY, will need charging stations. And BE’s station isn’t just for charging automobiles. It can also produce enough energy to power a small home, and has a battery bank that can store electricity 24/7 for on-demand usage.

“It never ceases to amaze me, when I get behind the wheel of this 95 mph sports car, that it doesn’t use a single drop of gasoline, and that all of its power comes from the solar energy we collect right here on the Brooklyn waterfront,” said BE president and CEO Lex Heslin about the groundbreaking development.

+ Beautiful Earth

The Evolution Continues

The design team has been hard at work completing the details of the design, testing assumptions and continuing to prepare the drawing for submission to obtain permits. During this process, it became obvious that the solar (PV) panels would not drive a high enough yield positioned on the top of the garage/workshop as the sun is partially obstructed a point in the day.  The decision was made to relocate them to the top of the main building, but in order to do so; a redesign of the roof and associated terraces would need to be done. 

As you can see in the newest rendering, Jim and his team have done an amazing job of integrating the panels on to a new roof awning that cantilevers over the fourth floor deck.  This provides us protection from the sun and double the usable roof square footage.  Another change is the integration of the glass panels that sit atop the brick; they are nearly two and a half tall glass panels that wrap both structures.   They provide light and flow-through ventilation, given half of them are fully operational.  There are many other evolutionary changes and will be more obvious as I post different views and new renderings.

During early January, we will begin to develop a “thermal model” in order to maximize engineering options and to validate final design. Thermal modeling answers questions about airflow and temperature distribution under various weather conditions.   In addition it allows control over PV design and performance. The goal of energy modeling is to accurately predict the energy use of this building.  While costly, this will allow us to play ‘what if’ with various products, finishes, and design options to insure we reach our goal of net zero-energy, before we actually begin construction.

Make sure to check out a great article on the project on gbNYC.

US lab aims to build better, cheaper, zero-energy buildings

Reposted from Greenbang
While cars, trucks and planes might come to mind first as carbon emissions Enemy No. 1, all our buildings aren’t quite as environmentally innocent as they might appear.

In the US, for example, buildings account for 40 per cent of the country’s carbon dioxide emissions. In the UK, that figure is even higher: around 44 per cent. Much of those emissions are related to the energy needed to keep our buildings liveable, heating and cooling in particular.

In an ideal world, our buildings should be able to generate all the energy they need all by themselves, both cleanly and on-site. And that kind of “net-zero energy building” is exactly what a new test facility in the US aims to develop.

Using $15.9 million in stimulus funds from the US Department of Energy (DOE), the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory plans to build and operate a new National User Facility for Net-Zero Energy Buildings. The facility will contain all sorts of testing systems to figure out how best to tackle the technical challenges of building net-zero energy buildings.

“This facility will serve a national audience — and need — in an aggressive pursuit of DOE’s energy efficiency goals for widespread implementation of affordable net-zero energy buildings by 2030,” said Stephen Selkowitz, head of the Building Technologies Department of Berkeley Lab’s Environmental Energy Technologies Division.

Berkeley Lab researchers plan to tackle the effort with a broad base of users in the building design and construction communities, as well as manufacturers, building owners and operators, and the academic community.

“We will also take maximum advantage of Berkeley Lab’s proximity to Silicon Valley and the growing interest in ‘Greentech’ innovation and investment to draw on experts there, as well as our location in a state that leads the country in applying research and advanced technology, supported by aggressive policies, toward reducing greenhouse-gas emissions,” Selkowitz added.

Net-zero energy buildings generate as much energy as they use on an annual basis through highly aggressive energy efficiency and on-site renewable energy generation, making them a key element in the effort to cut carbon emissions. The new laboratory facilities will help researchers develop, test and validate the technologies, systems and design approaches that will allow net-zero energy buildings to be built and operated affordably.

The new test facility will feature a series of unique energy-efficient building systems testbeds to be located in new and existing buildings at the lab. Researchers will be able to change out prototype building systems such as windows, lights, heating, ventilation, air conditioning, energy control systems, roofs and skylights.  The idea is to measure initial energy use and environmental conditions to understand how the systems perform, and then to redesign and optimise their capabilities and performance.



An exciting use of stimulus funds to help push the envelope (here in the US) on products to make projects like ours a bit easier in the future.

Have a great weekend.  I am off to look at electric cars at the LA Car Show :-)

Jay

So Much Confusion, So Little Time

Since the press release last week, publically announcing Redhook Green, there has been so many questions, comments, criticisms and confusion regarding the project that I thought I would devote a few posts to clearing up some of them.

There seems to be a general lack of clarity on the relationship between “Zero-Energy Building (ZEB)”, “Carbon-Neutral”, and “Sustainable” when it comes to construction as a whole and specifically as it relates to this project.  Each of these very important strategies are tools in helping the way we live fit more cohesively with the needs of others and our planet in general, but practicality needs to play a role as the various objectives are weighed and implemented.  For me they include feasibility, environmental impact, upfront cost, long term cost, availability and reliability.

There are three primary concerns relating to the energy consumption of Architecture:

1.  Energy to construct

2.  Energy to heat and maintain

3.  The total of both over the lifespan of the structure

From my simpleminded perspective, a net zero energy building is a great place to start.  It seemed to me if we could design a home that based on the nature of it’s construction, could consume significantly less electricity heating and cooling and then generate the power we needed using the sun and trade the rest for times we can’t, we would have to be a great start.  I like the fact that it’s reasonably easy to measure success here, if I sell ConEd as many kilowatts of electricity as I buy, then I am net zero energy.  Cool.  Right?

Next if you do a search on the web for a definition of “carbon-neutral”, in many cases it defaults to the ZEB definition and discusses renewable sources.   As I understand it, a building that is carbon-neutral uses no fossil fuels in its operation, creates no direct greenhouse gases, and, as a result, does not contribute to global warming. Also power drawn from the utility grid but it must be “clean,” produced by wind turbines, photovoltaic, or other renewable energy system. So, a building that is both Carbon Neutral and Net Zero Energy produces at least as much renewable energy as it uses each year.   But (big BUT) most definition neglects to discuss a very important use of energy that must be taken into consideration for a true carbon neutral structure.  That is embodied energy or as I mention above the energy to construct.

The Wikipedia defines “embodied energy (or emergy) is defined as the available energy that was used in the work of making a product. Embodied energy is an accounting methodology which aims to find the sum total of the energy necessary for an entire product lifecycle. This lifecycle includes raw material extraction, transport, manufacture, assembly, installation, disassembly, deconstruction and/or decomposition. “   Basically all the materials used in the house consume energy during manufacturing, delivery and installation on site.  Would you imagine that aluminum requires more energy than steel to be manufactured?  Or that recycled aluminum and steel use half of the energy to fabricate (just a few fun facts from a discussion with Jim)?  There is embodied energy in any processed product, from a drinking cup to a car. In embodied energy terms, buildings represent a huge, relatively long-duration energy investment.

Material	Unit	Energy Coefficient Mj per unit
Timber, rough	m3	848
Timber, air-dry, treated	m3	1,200
Timber Glulam	m3	4,500
Timber, kiln-dry, treated	m3	4,692
Timber, form work	m3	283
Plywood	m3	9,440
Building paper	m2	7.5
Gypsum board	m3	5,000
Glass	kg	31.5
Structural steel	kg	59
Aluminum	kg	145
Fiberglass	kg	150
Asphalt, strip shingle	m2	280

It seems to me that as the operating energy required for buildings declines, the embodied energy they represent becomes a more significant percentage of the total energy buildings use. In coming years more efforts will probably be directed toward measuring and reducing the amount of embodied energy in buildings.

So as you can see, this all gets very difficult to measure accurately. Measuring embodied energy is still in an early phase, but is very important.  But from my perspective for this project (right now) while I think that it is an important objective to build carbon-neutral buildings,  it might be less practical to get 100% there.  Remember ability to execute is everything!  So we move forward to reach our net zero goal while keeping our carbon footprint to a minimum via the materials we choose and construction methods employed (modular really helps).

If you want to learn more about what you can do, or how much embodied energy is used in different popular products visit, WattzOn.  It is an early stage online tool to quantify, track, compare and understand the total amount of energy needed to support all of the facets of your lifestyle with the goal of helping you find ways to reduce your personal power consumption.

More to come, including my thoughts on sustainability.

It's Out In The Open

At 8:00 AM today, this release hit the wire, unveiling our very ambitious project to a larger group.  The reaction has been great and I have been getting a bunch of press inquires.  

New York City’s First ‘Zero Energy Building’ Coming to the

Red Hook Section of Brooklyn

Innovative Facility To Be Completed by Summer 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE New York, NY – December 03, 2009 Designs for New York’s first sustainable zero-energy, live/work building are nearing completion, with ground-breaking scheduled for February and completion planned for summer 2010.  This structure is expected to become a distinctive new addition to the Red Hook section of Brooklyn.

As defined by the US Department of Energy, “a net zero-energy building (ZEB) is a residential or commercial building with greatly reduced energy needs through efficiency gains such that the balance of energy needs can be supplied with renewable technologies.”  Basically the ZEB concept is the idea that buildings can meet all their energy needs from low-cost, locally available, nonpolluting, renewable sources such as solar or wind power.

This approximately 4,000 square foot facility will house a studio/workshop, offices for a digital business, garages and an apartment, as well as outdoor green space. The form of the house is inspired by the shipping containers stacked along the adjacent waterfront. Modular units, proportioned similarly to shipping containers are stacked and shifted to create a variety of terraces and overviews to take advantage of the areas amazing harbor views.

The project, called ‘Redhook Green’ is the brainchild of New York technology and media entrepreneur, Jay Amato. 

“I’m thrilled that Redhook Green will become a very visible symbol of the continuing reinvention of one of New York City’s oldest neighborhoods,” said Mr. Amato.  “But I’m even more excited that I could practically illustrate the movement towards zero-energy building to the world’s greatest city.  Bringing to bear exciting new building materials, improved wind and solar technologies and more energy-efficient HVAC and home appliances, as well as state of the art sustainability strategies, Redhook Green will be a powerful answer to the question of what urban centers can do to reduce our dependency on foreign oil via renewable resources and to significantly reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.

With a long history as a shipping port and industrial district, Red Hook – not quite two miles across from the Battery at the tip of Manhattan – is thoroughly urban. In the evenings, however, it is as quiet as a remote and leafy suburb, bounded by water on three sides and the elevated Gowanus Expressway on the remaining side.  While other Brooklyn waterfront neighborhoods like Williamsburg and Dumbo have developed an image of youthful urban chic, Red Hook remained a gritty industrial district until the recent addition of Fairway, IKEA and the New York Water Taxi. Now, Red Hook's eclectic mix of artists and industrial businesses has created a neighborhood dubbed "Residustrial" in 2008 by artist and resident John P. Missale.

Award winning New York firm, Garrison Architects, located in Dumbo, Brooklyn, is the chief designer overseeing Redhook Green. Garrison has assembled a unique group of designers, engineers, and manufacturers to innovate for this project.

"Jay Amato’s Red Hook project draws from several promising trajectories – abstract modernism, modular construction, and zero energy consumption.  By combining state of the art approaches to all three in one structure we have moved the potential for affordable, ecologically sound, urban dwellings several steps forward," said James Garrison, Principal in Charge of Garrison Architects.

Simple and cost effective sustainability strategies are used to conserve and produce energy, conserve resources, and create a healthful environment. This sustainability approach was developed though an extensive research project that included digital energy modeling, detailed life cycle cost analysis of construction components and their related maintenance and replacement costs. Here are a few of its features:

·       8kw annual photovoltaic generating capacity, grid connected.

·       8kw annual comprehensive household energy budget including heating and air conditioning.

·       High performance building envelope that eliminates thermal bridging and achieves an average thermal resistance of R50.

·       Wall and roof systems vented to eliminate moisture build up and use “smart” moisture barriers to allow air movement in warm months.

·       Integrated south facing thermal solar wall generates warm air that is fed to the building ventilation system.

·       Heating and cooling provided by high efficiency electric heat pumps.

·       Whole house heat exchange ventilation system insuring air quality and recovering energy from conditioned air.

“In my entire career building and leading businesses, nothing has given me more satisfaction than developing this project,” added Jay Amato. “We are transforming what is essentially an empty space into a structure that can serve as an example of how we can live and work responsibly. This is truly gratifying.”

To view a chronicle of Redhook Green, design plans, technology and project status, visit: www.redhookgreen.com

For more information, contact: 

Laura Landers

PersonalScreen Media LLC

information@personalscreen.com

917-720-8953

Tamara Gruber

Garrison Architects

info@garrisonarchitects.com

718-596-8300