Green Building : Jetson Green

LEED Platinum Ross Street House

2009-11-20T10:27:54-07:00

This is the Ross Street House in Madison, Wisconsin. It's located just a mile from the University of Wisconsin campus and the first LEED Platinum home in the entire state! I first noticed the home in an article on Cadalyst, where author Kenneth Wong discussed the use of ArchiCad software to model the home and neighboring properties for context. Owner Carol Richard, partner in the Atlanta firm of Richard Wittschiebe Hand, also used modeling to optimize the amount of natural light brought into the home.

The front of the house faces south and was designed to capture as much winter sun as possible, while still providing shade in the summer. Fixed sun louvers allow the sun to enter the home and shade the same windows in the summer.

While the Ross Street House is about 2,700 square feet, about 1,700 of that is above grade. Richard used a dark color exterior to make the home appear smaller, and used lighter colors on the inside to make it feel more open.

According to Cadalyst, the Ross Street House is very energy efficient. A typical home of this size would spend about $135 to $405 per month on electricity and gas. Here, the Platinum home costs an average of $44.21 per month for electricity and gas.

It's also powered in part by rooftop photovoltaics. Richard designed the home to use very little water. On the outside, there's a 550-gallon rainwater collection tank, and on the inside, the home has low-flow faucets, showerheads, and dual-flush toilets. The plantings are drought-resistent and a portion of the hardscape is permeable. Learn more about the house on the owner's blog:

[+] Ross Street House Construction Blog.

Photo credits: Ross Street House.

SMU Bush Library Goes for Platinum

2009-11-19T23:09:22-07:00

Yesterday, First Lady Laura Bush, architect Robert A. M. Stern, and landscape architect Matthew Urbanski unveiled the design of the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, Texas. Located on the east side of SMU's campus, the design will complement the consistent Georgian architecture of the rest of the university. And when complete, the $250 million building will be LEED Platinum certified.

Green features of the George W. Bush Presidential Center include locally sourced materials, recycled materials, solar hot water panels, solar photovoltaics, native landscaping, minimal use of potable water for landscaping, and a green roof.

Of course, the Center won't be the first presidential library with a green roof, or even the first to obtain LEED Platinum certification. Mr. Clinton already took care of that. But that's not to diminish what's planned here. The Center will feature abundant natural light, while housing an Archive, a Museum, and a Policy Institute.

Rendering credits: Michael McCann for Robert A. Stern Architects.

Five Unique and Green Home Designs

2009-11-19T08:28:42-07:00

Architect and interior designer Johnna Barrett, Barrett Design, Inc., recently launched a set of five modern green home designs ranging in size from 1,800 to 2,500 square feet. Offered for sale on Sustain House, the designs are contemporary and provide for energy savings of 20-30% above a home built to code. The plans also include a LEED checklist designed to facilitate the earning of a LEED Gold or Platinum level certification, assuming an optimal site selection. Check out these five homes in the Modern Forest Series ... do you have a favorite design?

Nishiki House (click for description)

Poplar House (click for description)

Elm House (click for description)

Cedar House (click for description)

Willow House (click for description)

Rendering credits: Sustain House.

Green Clayton i-House Set in Kentucky

2009-11-18T08:47:12-07:00

There's been a lot of talk of the i-House ever since Clayton Homes announced its launch in about January of this year. The home is contemporary, affordable, and energy efficient. Landowners Bob and Melinda bought a 37-acre swath of land in 2006, hoping to someday build a home on it and live the good country life. They're 95 miles from Louisville in western Kentucky and had an i-House delivered just about a month ago.

I was able to get in touch with Bob by email and he tells me they're putting the finishing touches on the green, factory-built home. He should have final interior and exterior pictures soon. We'll try to have a Q&A at that time to discuss the whole process from start to finish. In the mean time, make sure to follow his blog, Life in the Country, for updates.

The i-House comes with a number of standard green features: R-21 wall insulation, R-30 floor insulation, R-30 roof insulation, low-e windows, dual-flush toilets, galvanized metal roofing, corrugated steel siding, butterfly roof with rainwater collection, and no-VOC paints. For a price, homeowners can get 2 kW of solar, a tankless water heater, and Energy Star stackable washer and dryer.

[+] Take a tour of the Clayton i-House.

Thanks for the tip, Brian!

New Precautionary List Provides Choices to Harmful Building Products

2009-11-17T22:52:58-07:00

Last week at Greenbuild 2009, Perkins + Will unveiled its new Precautionary List, which tracks 25 of the most common dangerous chemicals found in commonly used building materials. The list provides an explanation of the properties of the chemicals with suggested alternatives. Some of the chemicals on the list include: arsenic, lead, urea formaldehyde, and cadmium, just to name a few.

Over time, the Precautionary List will evolve and provide more information and alternatives.

Right now, using the Precautionary List website, you can navigate based upon the health effects (for example, carcinogen or kidney toxicant) or the building material use (for example, finishes or furnishings), as well as through a few other search methods.

Speaking about the need to know more about the chemicals used in building materials, P+W's Robin Gunther said at a panel last week, “amazingly, it's hard to fathom that as architects we don't always know what (chemicals) are in the building materials we use. It's time for this to change; time to bring a standard for care to building design and construction by starting with the elimination of toxic chemicals in building materials.”

[+] Perkins + Will Precautionary List.

An Incredible Expandable Green Prefab

2009-11-16T20:54:44-07:00

This video of Blu Homes recently hit the Innovation Economy column of The Boston Globe. In This New House, columnist Scott Kirsner gives us a look at the folding prefab technology that Blu Homes uses for homes built in their Littleton, Massachusetts factory. The folding style of construction presents an interesting new wrinkle to prefab construction, and Blu is able to save transportation costs by shipping more house and less air.

According to The Boston Globe, Blu expects to ship a total of nine homes this year. The homes range in price from $75,000 to $350,000, and generally speaking, the price includes typical installation costs. The land is extra.

These homes are also, as discussed in the above video, very energy efficient. Depending on the home, it may be up to 50% more efficient than a typical home.

Recently, we featured the Fischer Chalet, which is a custom Blu | Chalet design by the company built in Breckenridge. The 1,700 square-foot home cost about $290,000, all in. And with this folding technology, it seems we'll see more of these homes popping up all over the country. We'll keep you posted.

[+] Learn more about Blu Homes' homes.

Gore Galore, Passive House Trend, Sustainable Zoning, + H2O Opportunities

2009-11-14T22:49:08-07:00

Zoning the sustainable city.
Greenbuild's health-based outcome.
Al Gore calls for a green building revolution.
New report highlights water technology opportunities.
Balancing energy needs and material hazards.
California at the forefront of Passive House trend.
Green building puts some in the red.

Also, follow @jetsongreen on Twitter for more news, links, and commentary.

2009 Top-10 Green Building Products

2009-11-13T10:01:52-07:00

Yes, it's that time again. For the eighth year in a row, BuildingGreen has just announced their list of Top-10 Green Building Products. BuildingGreen sifts the products from new additions to the GreenSpec Directory, a print and online guide that organizes green products according to LEED credits, as well as from coverage in Environmental Building News. The GreenSpec Directory has over 2,100 products, and these ten are some of the best of what's been added to the directory. Any favorites among the group?

Pozzotive Plus Concrete Masonry Units (Kingston Block)

Thermafiber Mineral Wool Insulation (Thermafiber)

Invelope Integrated Wall and Rainscreen System (Build Better Walls)

Baltix Recycled- and Biobased Office Furniture (Baltix)

Project FROG Modular Green Classroom (Project FROG)

Rheem HP-50 Heat-Pump Water Heater (Rheem)

Convia Energy Management Infrastructure (Convia)

Pentadyne GTX Flywheel Energy Storage (Pentadyne)

Silva Cell Subsurface Tree Protection and Stormwater System (Deeproot)

Mobile Solar Power Generator (Mobile Solar Power)

While you're here, make sure to check out BuildingGreen's Top-10 Green Building Products from 2008, West Coast Green's Six Clever Products in the Pipeline, and Sustainable Industries' Top 10 Green Building Products mentioned earlier this year.

New AES WindJet 5 Small Wind Turbine Installed in Kansas City [Video]

2009-11-12T23:05:05-07:00

This month, AES Wind installed its first demonstration AES WindJet 5 turbine in Overland Park, Kansas. The twin-rotor turbine is rated at 5 kW and was designed to increase efficiency by up to 54% over existing designs. With a slow rotor speed, the turbine is quieter, more durable, and less likely to create problems with birds.

The AES WindJet 5 is the first of a family of wind turbines to be released by the company with power ratings ranging from 1.5 kW to 100 kW. The WindJets have been designed for several applications, including in the light industrial, agricultural, retail, municipal, and residential contexts.

The WindJet small wind turbine shown in these images was installed at the corporate office of A.L. Huber, a construction contractor in the greater Kansas City area. A.L. Huber will have a real-time turbine performance display panel for visitors to learn exactly how much energy the turbine is creating.

[+] The AES WindJet Spins Like Crazy on YouTube.

Photo credits: AES Wind.

Artistically Platinum at Burnside Rocket

2009-11-11T21:10:59-07:00

This is a beautiful LEED Platinum building located at the corner of East Burnside Street and 11th Avenue in Portland, Oregon. Dubbed Burnside Rocket, the building is probably most recognizable not for its red dress but for the twenty-four operable art panels -- each of which was painted by a different emerging artist -- that shade the interior spaces. Since completion on April 2007, the popular building has been fully occupied.

And, as it just so happens, the Rocket is on the market for $4 million, making it one of the only LEED Platinum buildings in the world for sale. Speaking about the sale of the fully-leased building, developer and designer Kevin Cavenaugh said to Brian Libby of Sustainable Industries, "There’s a huge demand to be in well-designed, well-crafted buildings."

The building features a total of 16,500 square feet split between four floors. There's an edible roof that provides food for the restaurant a level below. And the tenants are all on a full service lease, as opposed to the triple-net lease, providing a financial benefit to the owner for running the building efficiently.

Burnside Rocket was designed to use 50% less energy than a conventional space. It does that in part with improved wall and roof insulation, high performance fenestration, overhangs and window setbacks, highly efficient lighting design, efficient ground water heat pumps, and domestic water heat recovery using desuperheaters.

Photo credits: Burnside Rocket.