Green Plants for Green Buildings New
at the Green Building Expo
By: MJ Gilhooley - Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Source: iGreenBuild.com

Loveland, OH, August 3, 2009- Green Plants for Green Buildings, a 501c3 non-profit charitable education group (GPGB), will inform expo attendees on the importance of integrating natural foliage within the green building design at the International Conference and Expo in Phoenix Convention Center, Phoenix, Arizona slated from November 10^th through November 12^th 2009.

GPGB will present significant evidence indicating that live interior plants are crucial to the overall environmental quality within a building. The group’s LEED AP’s (Leadership in Energy and Environment Accredited Professional), including Phoenix based GPGB Executive Board member, Joe Zazzera will be presenting a rich body of relevant research including green building credited case studies from around the globe. The Greenbuild expo is the world's largest conference and expo dedicated to green building, with last year’s event hosting 28,224 registered attendees representing 85 countries.

Upon their visit to educational table T-30 attendees and media will learn of findings, which vastly expand upon the credited benefits of planted/greenspace window views. GPGB will be sharing the vital environmental quality advantages of including interior plant installations in commercial spaces (including published and in-progress study findings on the quantification of carbon assimilation of interiorscape plants).

 

According to GPGB, such benefits result from the interior plant’s capacity to produce cleaner air, their demonstrated provision of feelings of pleasure, calm and relief from attention fatigue; decline in sick-leave absences by 60%, a substantial increase in productivity, improved performance on test computer tasks, card-sorting and creative thinking tests, classroom reduced illness absences among primary-school children, as well as reductions in pain perception, anxiety, depression and feelings of hostility.

Introducing the next generation in networked zoning control systems New
By: Maria Pensato - Monday, August 3, 2009
Source: Viconics Electronics, Inc

 

Montreal, Canada – July 23^rd, 2009 (Viconics) Viconics Electronics Inc is pleased to announce the release of the VBZS (Viconics BACnet Zoning System). This system is a native BACnet based changeover bypass type zone control system offering features only found on the most complex networked controls systems yet as simple to install as a standard wall-mount thermostat. The VBZS features pre-programmed zoning system algorithms, automatic binding of time schedules, and heating and cooling demands and on-board menu driven set-up /configuration tool for ease of installation. The system’s unique energy saving features such as an integrated PIR sensor and adjustable heating and cooling lockouts enable energy savings during occupied periods.

 

The system integrates easily into existing or new BACnet based supervisory systems prevalent in today’s marketplace. This allows you to offer customers a scalable core-energy-management system, which can be mixed and matched with others for future expansion.

 

The VBZS represents a breakthrough in mid-market building control systems. Offering all of the most used functionality, BACnet scalability, and interoperability without the complex installation, engineering tools and time consuming commissioning associated with most systems. These milestones equate to a lower total first installed cost, and superior return on investment to end-users.

Greg Kats favourably reviews breakthrough Cascadia Code Report by Eisenberg and Persram

Media release:

Buildings are getting greener but building codes and regulations often stall progress
Breakthrough report from the Cascadia Region Green Building Council tackles building regulations

(August 4, 2009) Tucson, AZ, USA & Toronto, ON Canada – The enthusiasm for Living Buildings continues unabated, but a key stumbling block in the shift toward truly sustainable projects is the existing set of codes and regulations. Federal stimulus funds for green building and infrastructure projects are important drivers of the shift in how buildings are designed and constructed, but there needs to be a “greening” of the regulatory systems to fully meet sustainability goals.

Stepping in to help resolve the impasse is a new report published by the Cascadia Region Green Building Council entitled Code, Regulatory and Systemic Barriers Affecting Living Building Projects, which presents a case for fundamental reassessment of the regulatory sphere related to the built environment.

“This report will reframe the conversation about building regulation and what is required to safeguard public health, safety and welfare,” says Jason F. McLennan, CEO of Cascadia and the creator of the Living Building Challenge. The Challenge is a call to those in the design and construction industries to create buildings that function like plants and are net-zero in energy, water and waste.

Greg Kats, Managing Director of Good Energies, notes, “This report is both timely and important. There are widespread obstacles to adopting green design. This report maps out these obstacles in detail and provides a series of integrated recommendations to eliminate them and replace them with a regulatory environment that supports smarter, greener healthier design.”

Report authors David Eisenberg of the Development Center for Appropriate Technology and Sonja Persram of Sustainable Alternative Consulting researched the issues surrounding regulatory barriers in the US and Canada. These included examining the range of regulatory and other approvals required for leading-edge projects, as well as surveying Living Building project teams and interviewing experts throughout North America.

According to lead author David Eisenberg, “Though people speak of the building regulatory system, it isn’t a system. It was never designed as one, and so it is not based on over-arching societal goals or system principles. Instead, what we have today emerged from thousands of reactions to problems serious enough to require a regulatory response. We need a comprehensive regulatory system that enables best practices, instead of simply preventing the worst from happening.”

Recommendations also include the creation of an integrated regulatory process that would embrace Living Building goals, explicitly considering human and ecosystem health today and tomorrow. This process would formalize regulatory relationships between the traditional regulatory spheres for the built environment and those in the finance, real estate, investment and insurance sectors.

“Green building has reached a tipping point,” notes Sonja Persram. “There is a growing recognition in the insurance and investment communities that organizations have a fiduciary responsibility to address climate change. An increasing body of research links specific green building practices with mitigating these ecological risks and adding enormous triple-bottom-line benefits. This means money now spent on conventional projects rather than on these green measures could be seen as money at risk.”

Kats concurs: “The gravity of climate change requires that we move quickly to embrace deep improvements in energy efficiency and in use of renewables to achieve zero net CO2 buildings. Building green is cost effective and provides both financial returns and a reduction of risk for owners and tenants. This report provides an important roadmap toward buildings that cut costs, cut risk, improve heath and allow us to live within our earth’s increasingly imperiled environmental means.”

The project was made possible through funding to Cascadia from the Summit Foundation and King County.

Access the report from any of these weblinks:
Development Center for Appropriate Technology: www.dcat.net/about_dcat/announcements.php
Sustainable Alternatives Consulting Inc.: www.sustainable-alternatives.ca/Cascadia_Code_Report_Eisenberg_Persram.pdf
Cascadia Region Green Building Council: http://ilbi.org/resources/research/CodeStudies/09-0729%20code%20paper%20Eisenberg.pdf


About the Authors:
David Eisenberg, Co-founder and Director of the non-profit Development Center for Appropriate Technology (DCAT), has pioneered efforts to create a sustainable context for building regulation since 1995. He served two terms on the Board of Directors of the U.S. Green Building Council where he founded and chairs the USGBC Code Committee. He has written and presented extensively on sustainability and building regulation in the U.S. and abroad. He was recently selected to serve on the new International Code Council Sustainable Building Technology Committee. David and DCAT were recipients of the International Code Council 2007 Affiliate of the Year Award and the 2007 USGBC Leadership Award in the category of Organizational Excellence.

Sonja Persram, BSc, MBA, LEED® AP is President of Sustainable Alternatives Consulting Inc., a policy and market research firm that aims to catalyze green building sector expansion, focusing on triple-bottom-line alternatives. Sonja’s publication credits include: Green Buildings: A Strategic Analysis of the North American Markets for Frost & Sullivan; the USA segment of Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s International Sustainable Building Policy Initiatives; and lead author of two Canada Green Building Council projects, Marketing Green Buildings for Owners/Tenants of Leased Properties. She is a Corresponding Committee member of the USGBC’s Code Committee and served on the USGBC Social Equity Task Force.

About Cascadia
The Cascadia Region Green Building Council is a non-profit organization in both the US and Canada. Cascadia promotes the design, construction and operation of buildings in Alaska, British Columbia, Washington and Oregon that are environmentally-responsible, profitable and healthy places to live, work and learn. Cascadia is one of the first chapters of the US and Canada Green Building Councils, and is the only international chapter in North America. It is also the originator of the Living Building Challenge. For more information, please visit www.cascadiagbc.org.

Media contacts:

Authors:
David Eisenberg, Development Center for Appropriate Technology
strawnet (at) aol.com / 520.624.6628
www.dcat.net

Sonja Persram, Sustainable Alternatives Consulting Inc.
sonja (at) sustainable-alternatives.ca / 416.324.9388
www.sustainable-alternatives.ca

Publisher:
Jason McLennan, Cascadia Region GBC
jason (at) cascadiagbc.org / 206.223.2028
www.cascadiagbc.org

###

Green Building Product of the Future Now in Production

Green Building Product of the Future Now in Production New
Composite Product Replaces Concrete Block, Wood & Steel In Construction
By: James P Antonic - Friday, July 17, 2009
Source: Composite Building Structures, Ltd.

Ft. Myers, FL (July 2009) – A new green building product that could replace concrete block, wood and steel in residential and commercial construction is now being produced at a new manufacturing facility in Kissimmee, Florida. The product and assembly process, developed and patented by Composite Building Structures Ltd. (CBS) of Ft. Myers, Florida, uses glass fibers and resin to create a composite framing stud that is stronger and more sustainable than any material now being used.

Using this product can qualify a builder for up to 21 points toward LEED green building certification because of its superior insulation qualities, reuse of waste in construction, and the product’s recyclability, according to the product’s inventor James Antonic.The new product also offers many benefits for those people seeking a more sustainable lifestyle. A typical 2,000 sq. ft. home contains about one ton of composite material, compared to approximately 17 tons of wood or 41 tons of concrete. Because the weight of the CBS structural framework is only 8% of the weight of lumber used in the same size house, the CBS composite system stands out as having the least embodied energy and the most energy efficient building system available anywhere in the world.

Antonic estimates that the production from three composite plants could save as much as 70 square miles of trees from being clear-cut annually. “The benefits associated with using this building material are numerous and they benefit the consumer, the builder and our environment,” Antonic said.

The composite framing material and construction process creates structures that can withstand wind speeds of up to 350 mile per hour, providing greater safety during hurricanes and tornados. The material also has the ability to bend slightly under stress and recover, making it a more viable construction material for earthquake prone regions as well. In addition, the new material is termite, pest and fire resistant, and will not sustain mold growth or interfere with electronic signals, making it the high-performance construction material of choice in our ever-increasing wireless society.

As innovative as the composite building material is, the process of constructing a home may be even more so. At the Kissimmee facility, operators can produce a home to each builder’s specifications on a vertical production line, assembling panels up to 50 feet long to create the home’s wall and roof sections. The panels are delivered to a site and erected by a CBS crew in one day with the roof covered and all the windows, doors, sheathing, insulation and electrical boxes in place with no construction debris left on the site. The builder then completes the interior structure and finishing of the home. The panels for a single home can be transported to a site on just one truck.

As for cost, Antonic says right now he can produce a structure at a price comparable to wood frame construction and with far less pricing volatility. Lumber prices hit a six-year low in January at $190 per 1,000 board feet; the highest price recorded during that period was $474 per 1,000 board ft. in August of 2004. “Our basic commodity is glass and that’s predominately made from sand. There’s not much pricing volatility in sand,” he said.

“I believe we have created a product and process that can and will revolutionize the home building industry,” Antonic said. “When consumers recognize all the green benefits associated with our system, and builders see the ease and speed with which the homes can be constructed, our biggest challenge will be managing our production output,” he said.

The Kissimmee facility is just the second plant worldwide to assemble composite framing materials. The first plant to become operational was in Alabama. Antonic said that plant served as a test facility and allowed him to optimize the composite material, the advanced pultrusion system that creates the building products, and fine tune the design and assembly processes.

Antonic estimates that the two plants, operating 24 hours a day have the capacity to produce 7,200 homes a year. He is currently in negotiations with investors and builders to license additional plants throughout the United States. “The slow down we have experienced in the home building industry during the last two years has allowed us to bring our product and processes to a point where we will be ready to serve the industry when housing construction begins to rebound,” he said.

Antonic’s sights however, reach far beyond domestic residential construction. He has met with investors and government officials in many foreign countries with housing shortages to discuss his product’s application in both residential and commercial construction.

Composite Building Structures, Ltd. manufactures optimized glass fiber composite structural framing that replaces wood, concrete block and steel in construction. The company licenses its Construction Technology Centers in exclusive territories and markets worldwide that provide CBS products to builders in those regions.

For information about the product or licensing agreements, contact the company at 941-870-4413 or visit and register at www.cbs-homes.com