Buyer Beware

As of yesterday, my dream of building the first net Zero-Energy work live building in Brooklyn seems to be officially DEAD!  Thanks in part to the never ending bureaucracy and stale thinking at the NYC Department of Buildings.  I think its best for us to go back to the beginning of this project to understand the roots of my current predicament.  

On November 10th of last year, in my post “How To Become A Land Owner”, I discussed the land situation in Brooklyn, specifically as it refers to zoning .   There are three general classifications of zoning here in NYC: C=Commercial M=Manufacturing and R=Residential .  Since I was planning on devoting a large percentage of space to garages, a workshop and offices, it seemed I could justify building on manufacturing or commercially zoned land.  Actually, I later discovered another classification MX=Mixed Use, which would actually have been perfect for my use as it was precisely design for the I envisioned.  While life would have clearly been simpler if I could have purchased a plot that was designated “R” or "MX", nothing that met my need was available on a corner (optimal for solar power).  I was advised that given my particular use, I could  make an “M” zoned plot work.  What that means is that given the majority of my structure was to be dedicated to commercial use, the living quarters would be an ‘accessory’ to the true function of the building.  Therefore we would request the building department grant us permission to live in what would is called a “caretakers apartment”, which would be incidental to it’s primary use.   Jim Garrison assured me on the advice of a former NYC Building Commissioner and “a careful and correct reading of the zoning law”, that this was very common and would “sail through the building department” without incidence.  

So on November 16th, 2009 I posted “It’s A Deal”  announcing my purchase of a 5,000 square foot plot of land, zoned M2-1 in Redhook, Brooklyn and began developing plans confident that I would be allowed to use the land to realize my dream.  We filed the permits and with them a ZR § 12-10 (“Accessory use”) request (July 21st), continuing to believe that we were doing something great for the community, building a state of the high performance, energy conserving building in the place of an weed infested lot.  Beyond that I was clearly and regularly communicating our dreams, ideas, progress and even actual plans to the community  and beyond through this blog. 

After two months, I received an email from Garrison Architects with an update  “Our expeditor has just received word that the "reconsideration for caretakers apt" review has been performed by the borough commissioner.  This was a review required in addition to the general documentation”.  Days later I was advised that “The Brooklyn Borough Commissioner denied the caretakers request.  As expressed by the expeditor, reasons for refusal are “bogus”.  A resolution (basically an appeal, see link) form has been drafted to present to a higher power.  It clearly lists all restrictions and how our building complies.  This will be submitted first thing Monday morning to technical affairs”.  It looked like we had crossed all the t's and dotted all the i's.

That brings us to where I am today (basically screwed)!  After a telephone hearing last week, the all knowing, politically charged and narrowly minded men and women of the NYC building department capriciously determined “that the proposed living or sleeping accommodations for caretakers in this case is not incidental to the principal use”.  To quote James P. Colgate; Assistant Commissioner of Technical Affairs and Code Development “ The request to have a living or sleeping accommodation for caretakers as per ZR 12-10 as an accessory use to this new office building is DENIED.” 

How can they say that, when a former commission basically said it was usual and customary?  What is it that these underpaid public servants could possibly be protecting the “unsuspecting” public from in this case?   It seems like the DOB no longer exists for the individual, but only for the largest developers and their deep pocket political contributions.  I wish I could let our Mayor (who thankfully does not need those deep pockets) know that a prime example of his green vision PLANYC 2030, died on the table of HIS Building Department.  If this bothers you, please HELP!  I am running out of ideas.

The only options left to me as I see them are:

1. Build a green office building - It’s too small and off the beaten path to make a sound business case for such a structure in the next few years.
2. Apply for a zoning variance - 60 to 100K in professional services expenses, one year and no guaranty that it will be successful.
3. Walk

None of these seem particularly appealing.  Any thoughts, ideas, recommendations, contacts or kind words of encouragement would be appreciated.  I will think about this a bit and keep you posted on my progress.

Oh, by the way, we did figure out a way to build it very close to budget, but alas that seems to be a bit of a moot point.  More later.


Jay

ZRD1: Zoning Resolution Determination Form

Alive and Kicking

Over the last four months I have attempted many times to compose a post that accurately portrayed the status of this project, my frustration with it, and my associated state of mind. But I just couldn't find the words, as shit seemed to be coming at me from all directions. To my friends, neighbors in Redhook, supporters and readers, we are still alive and kicking, even though I feel like the featured "kickee"!

Since my last post we have encountered many delays, clearly it’s almost October and we have not dug up a spoon of soil. Those delays were primarily in three areas, but none will be huge surprises to any of you. First, was Garrison Architects completing the final construction drawings, with the not so surprising realization that this is one complicated building, finalizing all of the moving pieces was much, much more time consuming than ever imagined. Next the NYC permitting process (need I say more), not simply at the city level, but also with what is ironically named the “expeditor”, which in total was was slower than even anticipated (or communicated to me). And finally we recently received the “knock out punch”, when we requested final pricing from a few qualified construction teams, only to find out that given the complexity of the building, so goes the price. OK, I guess I should have figured that one out on my own!

Jim Garrison and his team have done an amazing job, integrating design, technology and function into this fabulous net zero energy building! But given the uncharted nature of we set out to accomplish in an urban setting (new building processes, materials, energy creation just to name a few), it is no wonder that the timeline has stretched to the point of breaking (my sanity and budget that is).

Completed plans to the Department of Buildings, originally projected to be submitted by December of 2009, did not arrive there until late July for many reasons. One that deserves special mentioned is the “expeditor”. That is a person that is alleged to assist the architect and developer in reviewing the plans and making sure they are ready for submission to the Department of Buildings, in order to obtain the various permits required to build in the City of New York. Given the “supposed” knowledge of the intricate workings of the DOB, they are to shepherd the project throughout the entire process. They claim to insure that our package does not get “stuck” anywhere within those intricacies and are well paid for it. Well months later, we technically don’t HAVE permits, or very much good usable information, even though the list of issues raised by the DOB were microscopic as compared to the complexity of the project. In my humble opinion, our expeditor (write me if you want to know who to avoid) has been a drag on this project and is a prime contender along with our mechanical engineers for “REDHOOK GREEN TEAM LAGGER*” (*defined as to fail to keep up a pace; straggle). In almost every case they have not never met a date they could not miss or follow-up they could not avoid. I am paying for all of this, so I am entitled to my opinions :)

The last and most devastating blow during these last four months was in the construction pricing. In late August, three reputable and qualified general contractors were paired with the same caliber of steel modular builders to bid the complete project(see construction drawings). In mid-May one of those teams, provided us with a rough estimate for the project that came in at 125% of budget (aargh). At that point I was comforted by the fact that no real competitive bidding was done amongst the trades and the real bidding process between GC’s was yet to begin. So it seemed that the budget was still do able. Well, on August 23rd, this all came crashing down, as the bids came in from 150% (that was from our May estimator) to 280% of budget (sadly, this one came from my out of town underdog team that I was really rooting for)! HOLY SHIT. Where did we go wrong? Did this spell the end of Redhook Green? There was no way I was going to raise the budget, so what to do?

Jim assured me that he would stand behind his commitment to build me a great house at the agreed to budget, even if he needed to go back to the drawing board and redesign the house. So at post time, it seems like a full re-design won’t be necessary as Jim and his team have extensively rebid various trades, reviewed materials and are working hard to get the home back to budget. In my next post I will review some of the changes proposed and where we see our next steps.

With this blogs one year anniversary around the corner, I will be getting more prolific and will discuss lessons learned and whether I'd do this again if I knew what I know now. Stay tuned.

Jay

P.S. Check out the recent press posting and CNN story!

One Step Back, Two Steps Forward

Let me put your minds at ease, I have not abandoned this blog or my project.  I started to write this post many times over the last month, but most were unproductive diatribes on those responsible for our delays.   While we are 60+ days behind schedule, I actually am impressed when I look back and realize this all started with an idea on July 20th, 2009 (check out "Looking in the Rear View Mirror at 90MPH" for more historical detail), that equates to just a little over nine months to where we are today.

Since my last post we have completed the mechanical design, including a new solar power/HVAC system (third one is a charm, more in a future post) closed the land deal and completed all drawings and applications for the NYC Department of Buildings.  It is our hope that given the level of detail and adherence to zoning and code, we will obtain our permits in 45-60 days.  We will keep our fingers crossed.

Here are a few detailed drawing submitted this week, they are from over thirty submitted.

This weekend, Garrison Archtects will be showing at the 8th annual BKLYN DESIGNS™ show, which will be held May 7 – 9, 2010, at St. Ann’s Warehouse, 38 Water Street in DUMBO, Brooklyn.  They will be featuring the designs and technology of Redhook Green, hope to see you there.

Thanks again for your interest.  Jay

Cutting vs. Bleeding Edge?

Well here we are nearly a month since my last post.  So what's going on?  Well, as they say the devil is in the details, and we have been finalizing lots of the details on the energy generation, HVAC and construction of this amazing building.  Good news is the design is locked, and I have included some new images, a cross section and 3-D visualization of assembly and views of the house.  But there has been a lot of back and fourth on the final energy generation plan and associated HVAC system.  You may remember from and earlier post "Getting to Zero" we were wrestling with how to generate enough power for the main building, garage including electric car charger and workshop with the 850 feet of we had for solar panels.  Well the solution that I described that utilized the PVT or Hybrid Solar Panels, seemed at that point to fit my "Keep it simple"mantra, but after a great deal of investigation, much of it dealing with a German manufacturer, it became much more complex and expensive.  

While wrestling with what was technically elegant, and very "bleeding edge", we stumbled on a great solution from Sanyo to increase our solar yield from a more traditional, but "Cutting Edge" solution.  Sanyo's HIT® bifacial solar panels capture additional ambient or scattered sunlight to produce more power at any angle and any direction than single sided panels, therefore addressing our yield issues.  If you notice on the cross section drawing the solar panels are now lifted off the roof to allow abient light to be captured as well as under the awning over the fourth floor.  With this solution in hand we SHOULD be able to lock this part of the plan and go to press with the final drawings for the NYC Building Department.

We have gotten some very preliminary numbers back from one of our possible builders and we are within our planned budget, so that is good news.  So while we are now behind an additional 30 days, we should be able to pick up the time and get back on schedule.  Thank you for you continued interest, I will be posting more regularly as we move out of this more cerebral phase, into the more action oriented one (my favorite).  


Take a minute and review this new 3-D rendering, it illustrates the modular assembly as well as 360 degree views of the structure.

Redhook Green On The Road

Interest in zero energy construction is building all over the country and with it interest in Redhook Green.

Garrison Architects and I will be presenting the Redhook Green Project at the 9th annual Architectural Digest Home Design Show at Pier 92 (55th street at the West Side Highway, NYC) starting March Friday March 18th through the Sunday March 21st from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.  We will be presenting new graphical and model representations of the building designs and systems.  We will have samples of some of the materials planned to be utilized and additional information from manufactures.  The team involved will be on hand to answer questions.  We expect the show to really begin to have a sustainable/green focus.

Running concurrently to the Home Design Show (same admission) will be the Go Green Expo, the nation’s leading eco-friendly trade and consumer showcase. Uncover new ways to live and work in a greener world through expert panel presentations and 250 + exhibits in areas such as energy, transportation, food, health & beauty, home & building, business& electronics and fashion.  Hope to see you there.


Jay

Breaking Radio Silence

Sorry about the increased time between postings, we had been waiting for additional feedback from the team before we presented you with these two views of the finalized design.  Changes have been made to respond to suggestions from the structural and mechanical engineers, to simplify construction, reduce cost and generally hone the design.  

Some specific changes you may notice include: 

We decided to open the second floor south wall to expose the steel substructure and sheath it in translucent glass to provide overall protection, shading and privacy.  Our thermal modeling showed that it would not change the temperature balance in the heat or cold, so we thought it looked great and it added to the consistency between the second and fourth floors.

The fourth floor canopy was modified to allow the overall design to provide a more symmetric relationship with the lower structure and simplify the construction process.  Instead of having a separate canopy (as provided in earlier drawings) to fabricate and install separately, it will now be integrated as part of the modular structure.

The schematic diagram below is the visualization of the power generation and HVAC system I described in my post "getting to zero" a few weeks ago.  While it might look like a plate of spaghetti, this diagram actually has been simplified to leverage the combination PV/thermal solar collectors to provide electrical power to the POWER TO LOAD  (better know as the house) and hot water to the thermal storage tank.  That hot water will be used to heat and cool (via the absorption chiller) the house with fans blowing over the coils.  A small electric powered boiler and demand hot water heater will provide backup.

Last night I presented the vision for Redhook Green as well as these renderings to a group of my new neighbors in Redhook at the The Redhook Economic Development Association meeting.  Steve LaMorte, a RHED board member wrote me today, "As you can see, there is a good deal of interest coming from the neighborhood for your respective projects (the other being the Beautiful Earth Group). There's a palpable level of excitement that is growing around the changing face of Red Hook. We believe your projects are going a long way in helping us define the new identity of Red Hook and we're hopeful that they will aid in galvanizing other like-minded environmentally conscious entrepreneurs to also find a home in this very special and unique neighborhood."  I am glad to be part of this great community!

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.