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AEC firms sign on to Biden Administration’s definition of zero-emissions buildings

2024-01-19T12:53:00-05:00

An effort by the Biden Administration to establish a new national definition of zero-emissions buildings is gaining traction after leaders representing a group of 69 different AEC firms working in the U.S. added their support in a letter that was circulated earlier this week.

Prominent architecture firms, including SOM, NBBJ, Payette, Lake|Flato, Curtis + Ginsberg, DIALOG, FXCollaborative, Handel, and EskewDumezRipple, were among the architecture firms whose principals signed on to the pledge. The signature drive was initiated by Maine-based studio OPAL in coordination with the Building Green Sustainability Leader Peer Networks.

Under the proposed new standards, a “net zero emissions building” would obtain “high” (e.g., the 75th percentile) energy efficiency ratings, be free of any on-site emissions, and be powered purely by clean energy sources. Existing buildings will require an ENERGY STAR score of 75 or higher or a measured whole building energy use intensity (or EUI) of at lea...

The struggle between green design and architectural history hangs over the renovation of one Bangkok icon

2023-08-11T18:40:00-04:00

A Bangkok landmark known as the “robot building” has been stripped of its identity, heritage campaigners have said, as they called for the city’s distinctive architecture to preserved. [...] Campaigners have urged the bank to find a way to improve energy efficiency while maintaining the facade’s unique design. They say the lack of legal protection for the building underlines the broader need for changes to how sites of special importance are identified and preserved.

The Guardian tells the story of the Sumet Jumsai-designed near-iconic "Robot Building" at the heart of Bangok’s bustling commercial district. The 37-year-old structure has been undergoing renovations at the hands of Singapore’s United Overseas Bank (UOB), irking fans and preservationists who feel its character is being taken away with the wholesale removal of its original facade and, possibly, other key architectural elements which have made it so distinctively part of the capital's visual landscape.

The bank contends its work is necessary for the well-being of employees and to reduce energy consumption. What could result from the fray is a possible change in the structure of preservation, which mostly favors ancient monuments in the country. Air rights can still be sold to developers, which are in part the target of reform efforts. The saga also touches on the need for greater architectural education for the public, an issue which aided in the demise of Tokyo's Nakagin Capsule Towe...

SOM introduces Whole Life Carbon Accounting service for developers and design professionals

2023-07-12T12:20:00-04:00

A new Whole Life Carbon Accounting service from Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) was unveiled last month in an effort to help building owners and developers make accurate decisions about building performance at all stages of the design phase while pushing the industry further toward a much-needed reduced carbon future.

The service was created by the firm’s sustainability team and targets the important early-stage embodied carbon emissions of a building, offering a consolidation of disparate carbon assessments that can lead to drastic miscalculations of emissions on projects in between their initial design and completed construction.

“[The] gaps between traditional assessments and a building’s true performance can lead to a performance gap of up to five times more energy use and/or carbon emissions between predicted and actual values. Our service puts an end to this,” SOM’s Sustainability Director, Mina Hasman, explained via a press announcement.

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Sustainable design trends are already outpacing One Vanderbilt's once-lofty green goals

2023-02-16T17:07:00-05:00

It is also the rare skyscraper designed with climate change in mind. It holds a self-contained, catastrophe-resilient power plant capable of generating as much energy as six football fields of solar panels. The building captures every drop of rain that falls on it, and reuses that runoff to heat or cool its 9,000 daily visitors. But One Vanderbilt is also something else. It is already out of date.

New York City’s recent ban on fossil fuels is making the green technology built into the merely two-year-old KPF-designed tower obsolete in terms of energy sources, the NYT's Ben Ryder Howe writes. Foster + Partners’ nearby 270 Park project is cited as an example of the forthcoming delineation triggered by the new mandate.

Speaking to the Times, SL Green’s director of engineering Jonathan Wilcox said it remains “to be determined” which elements, including a set of powerful natural gas-burning turbines, will be replaced in unison with city and state guidelines in the future.

A heat pump revolution could bring much-needed building decarbonization

2023-02-06T12:09:00-05:00

By 2030, around a quarter of UK buildings should be heated using them, according to the UK government's climate advisory body, rising to 52% by 2050. Electrifying heating will also be key to decarbonising buildings in the US, says Melissa Lott, director of research at the Centre on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University. One study in San Francisco referred to heat pumps as the "single most impactful lever" to reducing emissions.

Communal heatmains can be used to overcome the challenges of digging expensive boreholes for heat pumps in private homes and urban apartment blocks where most of the UK’s population resides. The country’s push to heat half of its homes using heat pumps, which are evolving, puts it squarely in line with Germany and other states looking to leverage the technology in the interest of achieving sustainability goals.

A recently-announced New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) design contest is also attempting to tackle the affordability issue with window-frame prototypes that cost no more than $3,000 per unit and can be installed in less than two hours.

AIA announces energy-efficient redesign scheme for its Brutalist D.C. headquarters

2022-04-20T19:09:00-04:00

In an effort to bring the organization closer to its own self-stated goals on sustainability, equity, and collaboration, the Board of Directors of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) has today unveiled plans for a comprehensive new upgrade to its aging Washington, D.C. National headquarters.

San Francisco-based EHDD will lead the overhaul of the nearly 50-year-old Brutalist structure using the AIA’s Framework for Design Excellence to author a host of efficiency upgrades that are expected to save some 58% of the building’s pre-Covid energy use levels.

Renderings courtesy AIA

“[The] AIA’s headquarters should serve as an expression of the value architects provide and align with the values we uphold as a profession,” President Dan Hart explained. “We have a responsibility to redesign this iconic building to the highest standards in sustainability, resilience, and equity. By demonstrating the powerful role design can play in improving our communities, we can...

According to EIA survey results, U.S. commercial buildings are increasing and getting larger

2021-09-22T18:14:00-04:00

The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) 2018 Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS) data is now available.

The CBECS is a national sample survey that collects information on the stock of U.S. commercial buildings, including their energy-related building characteristics and energy usage data. It defines commercial buildings as those in which at least half of the floorspace is used for a purpose that is not residential, industrial, or agricultural.

The survey provides building characteristics information for the estimated 5.9 million commercial buildings in the United States in 2018. The data includes the number of buildings and amounts of floorspace by characteristics including geographic region, building activity, size and age, employment and occupancy, energy sources used, and energy-related equipment.

According to the survey, the number of U.S. commercial buildings grew 6% from 2012 to 2018, and the total floorspace of commercial buildings increased ...

Cement-based batteries could turn concrete buildings into giant energy stores

2021-05-21T08:58:00-04:00

Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden have published unique research into the idea of rechargeable batteries made from cement. The team, led by Doctor Emma Zhang and Professor Luping Tang at the institution’s Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, believes the development of this technology may yield a future where twenty-story concrete buildings can store energy as one giant battery.

The concept for Chalmers’ battery system begins with a cement-based mixture, to which small amounts of short carbon fibers are added to increase the material’s conductivity. A metal-coated carbon fiber mesh is then embedded within the mixture, with iron for the anode and nickel for the cathode, forming a high-strength battery system on an architectural or urban scale.

Schematic illustration of a design for the metal-coating battery. Image: Emma Zhang and Luping Tang

The research, published in the scientific journal Buildings, estimates that the new battery’s capacity ...

DOE invests $74 million to develop innovations in building and construction

2020-02-18T19:00:00-05:00

Last week the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced its investment of $74 million "for 63 projects to research, develop, and test energy-efficient and flexible building technologies, systems, and construction practices to improve the energy performance of our Nation's buildings and electric grid."

The investment comes in light of the fact that America's buildings use more energy than any other sector in the country, making up 40 percent of total energy use and almost 75 percent of the nation's electricity consumption.

"DOE is accelerating its quest to improve the energy productivity and flexibility of America’s residential and commercial buildings," said Assistant Secretary of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Daniel R Simmons in a statement. "We’re renewing our commitment to develop state-of-the-art building technologies that will empower Americans with more options to enhance buildings performance quickly without disruption to their lives."

Gas-fired power plants are becoming obsolete

2019-06-24T13:28:00-04:00

General Electric Co said on Friday it plans to demolish a large power plant it owns in California this year after only one-third of its useful life because the plant is no longer economically viable in a state where wind and solar supply a growing share of inexpensive electricity.

GE's Inland Empire Energy Center, a 750-megawatt natural gas-fueled plant located in Riverside County, California, built in 2009 is shutting down 20 years early.

The culprit? Affordable wind and solar energy, which are surging in California, and outdated technology.

On most days, California generates roughly 50% of its energy from renewable sources, with new records set every few weeks. See here for an up-to-the-minute breakdown of where California's energy comes from.

The trend is a long-term one, as California has pledged to eliminate fossil fuels in its energy supply by 2045, and recently met its 2020 emissions and renewable energy goals several years early. That's bad news for natural gas- and coal-fired power plants.

A moment-in-time breakdown of California's energy sources from Monday, June 24, 2019. Image courtesy of California's Independent System Operator.

A representative from GE told Reuters, “We have made the decision to shut down operation of the Inland Empire Power P...