In addition to passive solar, some really great technology for creating hot water using solar power exists. Generally, this involves putting panels on the roof of a building and circulating water through those panels (through black tubes). As the water circulates through the panels, it heats up and is brought into the building at fairly high temperatures. Depending on the system and the environment, it may need additional heating but a lot of energy is saved by using the roof panels.
Berks County Community Foundation, through the Metropolitan Energy Company Sustainable Energy Fund actually helped provide financing for a solar hot water system at the Adams County Prison. If you think about it, a prison uses alot of hot water.
On the other hand, an office building like ours uses very little hot water. Not nearly enough to justify installing a solar hot water system.
This of course, illustrates one of the principles of the green building idea. There is no "one size fits all" approach to a smart building. Every building has a different use, a different environment, different demands and the technology that might work for one may not work for the next.
In the next posting, we'll explore why our building doesn't (currently) include plans for generating electricity from solar panels (called "photovoltaics" or "PV" for short) and what YOU might be able to do about it.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
All's Well.......
Many downtown workers might have noticed that the Reading Fire Department responded to a call at the site of our construction project at Third Street and Court Streets. Apparently flames and thick black smoke were pretty visible. As soon as we heard about it, Franki and I raced down there as well.
The sandwich truck that comes each morning and sells food to the workers on the site apparently exploded and was engulfed in flames. Fortunately, no one was hurt. The young lady driving the truck escaped right before things got out of hand. The Reading Fire Department (which is right across the street) had things under control quickly. Chief Rehr told us that the propane in the truck had leaked and started the fire.
The sandwich truck that comes each morning and sells food to the workers on the site apparently exploded and was engulfed in flames. Fortunately, no one was hurt. The young lady driving the truck escaped right before things got out of hand. The Reading Fire Department (which is right across the street) had things under control quickly. Chief Rehr told us that the propane in the truck had leaked and started the fire.
Everybody is fine, as best we could tell there was no damage beyond the truck and work resumed pretty quickly.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Where's The Solar? Part I
One of the most frequently asked questions about the building is: Why aren't you using solar power? Well, I guess we need to provide a little background.
Obviously, the sun's energy provides a tremendous amount of energy even if those of us in Berks County can't remember seeing the sun for a while.
In a building like ours, there are really three ways to capture that energy and use it for our purposes.
The first of these is called "passive solar". Using passive solar is about capturing sunlight in ways that effectively light and heat spaces. The only technology involved is planning and window.
Our building is all about passive solar. The side of the building that faces Court Street is actually canted eleven degrees off the property line. That gives the building a perfect southern exposure, which maximizes the ability to capture the warmest and brightest sunlight. All of this involves trade-offs. That light will provide heat during the winter, but of course, adds to the cooling load in the summer Those tradeoffs, and how to maximize the benefit were an important part of our energy modeling and played a big role in how the building was designed.
But the light capture is an important part of our planned overall 43% savings in energy costs. In fact, the ceilings in some of the offices will actually slant slightly downward, with the high side being the south side. That will force the light to reflect into the workspaces more efficiently. On a clear day, as much as 80% of the light in our workspaces will be sunlight.
Each of the four sides of the building has a different type of light coming into the building. So, with careful computer modeling at their side, the architects specified four different types of glass, each designed to maximize the heat/light tradeoff in the building.
In the next post, Solar Hot Water...and why we're not using it in the building.
Obviously, the sun's energy provides a tremendous amount of energy even if those of us in Berks County can't remember seeing the sun for a while.
In a building like ours, there are really three ways to capture that energy and use it for our purposes.
The first of these is called "passive solar". Using passive solar is about capturing sunlight in ways that effectively light and heat spaces. The only technology involved is planning and window.
Our building is all about passive solar. The side of the building that faces Court Street is actually canted eleven degrees off the property line. That gives the building a perfect southern exposure, which maximizes the ability to capture the warmest and brightest sunlight. All of this involves trade-offs. That light will provide heat during the winter, but of course, adds to the cooling load in the summer Those tradeoffs, and how to maximize the benefit were an important part of our energy modeling and played a big role in how the building was designed.
But the light capture is an important part of our planned overall 43% savings in energy costs. In fact, the ceilings in some of the offices will actually slant slightly downward, with the high side being the south side. That will force the light to reflect into the workspaces more efficiently. On a clear day, as much as 80% of the light in our workspaces will be sunlight.
Each of the four sides of the building has a different type of light coming into the building. So, with careful computer modeling at their side, the architects specified four different types of glass, each designed to maximize the heat/light tradeoff in the building.
In the next post, Solar Hot Water...and why we're not using it in the building.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Estimated Completion Date, etc.
Lots of folks have asked about the estimated completion date for the building. Many of you who drive past Third and Court Streets have noticed that the building is beginning to look pretty finished on the outside.
Of course, the way we built it (putting the roof on last) means that less happened on the inside than the outside would suggest.
We expect the building to be completed around August 15. We imagine that The Community Foundation and the Alzheimer's Association will be in the building by August 28.
Events to share the building with the community (and there will be a lot of them) will begin in mid-September. So watch here for more information.
Of course, the way we built it (putting the roof on last) means that less happened on the inside than the outside would suggest.
We expect the building to be completed around August 15. We imagine that The Community Foundation and the Alzheimer's Association will be in the building by August 28.
Events to share the building with the community (and there will be a lot of them) will begin in mid-September. So watch here for more information.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Link to Recycling Report
For readers who'd actually like to see one of the monthly recycling reports with detail and photos, click here. (This pdf file may take a few moments to download.)
Recycling Report (Good News) and Drywall
The May Recycling Report is in and we're back over 95% of the construction waste from the site being diverted from landfills!
Our project is implementing a job-site recycling program with a goal of diverting 75% of the project’s waste from landfills. To date 227.43 tons of material or 96.26% of the project’s waste has been diverted from landfills.
Matt Forrer (LEED AP), one of the construction managers from Butz/Burkey thinks that this percentage may increase over the next month as drywall (all recyclable) starts to be put into the building. The workers started hanging the drywall last week, a process that's expected to last about three weeks.
Our project is implementing a job-site recycling program with a goal of diverting 75% of the project’s waste from landfills. To date 227.43 tons of material or 96.26% of the project’s waste has been diverted from landfills.
Matt Forrer (LEED AP), one of the construction managers from Butz/Burkey thinks that this percentage may increase over the next month as drywall (all recyclable) starts to be put into the building. The workers started hanging the drywall last week, a process that's expected to last about three weeks.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Just what is 154,401 lbs. of carbon dioxide?
As I mentioned in an earlier post we're really excited about the fact that we've chosen 100% wind power for the building. The folks at Rewable Choice Energy tell us that we'll be avoiding putting 154,401 lbs. of CO2 in the air each year. So, I asked them, what does 154, 401 lbs. of CO2 mean?
Well, it turns out that it's similar to:
- Taking 13 passenger cars off the road for a year
- Not building nine new homes
- Not using 2,918 propane cylinders in my home barbeque (that's a lot of burgers)
- Not using 163 barrels of oil--or 7,958 gallons of gasoline
- Not taking six trips around the world--or one trip to the moon in a passenger car
When you put it that way, wind power seems like a good idea.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
We're bringing Coney Island to 3rd and Court
One element of building green is using, whenever possible, reclaimed materials from older buildings or other uses. For a while now, we've been looking for JUST the right wood to use as the treads on the main staircase of the building. And the team has looked at a lot of wood. Partly, we were looking for the right wood, partly for the right story.
Well, we found both. The wood for the treads on our main staircase will be reclaimed from the old boardwalk at Coney Island in New York City. How cool is that?
Well, we found both. The wood for the treads on our main staircase will be reclaimed from the old boardwalk at Coney Island in New York City. How cool is that?
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