THE LOS ANGELES CLEAN TECH CORRIDOR WILL MAKE L.A. THE LEADER IN GREEN TECHNOLOGY
August 27, 2010 on 12:51 am | In Bravo, FASCINATING INFORMATION, GREEN, New Developments, Problem Solving, Uncategorized, all, statistics | 1 CommentBy Jodi Summers
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA/LA) hope to transform L.A. into ‘the global capital of clean technology.” The goal is to transform the manufacturing corridor east of downtown into the center of green innovation. The mayor and his team are marketing this industrial parcel, dubbed the CleanTech Manufacturing Center, as a green business incubator, the way Silicon Valley hatched technology.
“We will make clean tech as synonymous with LA as motion pictures,” Mayor Villaraigosa boldly declared. “We will make LA the capital of green technology … and transform the city into a laboratory for green development.”
The CleanTech Corridor city planners envision spans 2,236 acres — about 10% railroad-owned — east of Alameda Street, and is accessible by the Metro Gold Line. It begins at a swath of land straddling the L.A. River, near Los Angeles State Historic Park (the former Cornfield), that Councilman Ed Reyes hopes to transform into a neighborhood where bicycles and pedestrians would rule and carbon emissions would be cut by 35%. Then it runs south through the site of a future Department of Water and Power research center into the Artists-in-Residence district, which stretches from Alameda to the river and from 1st Street to south of 7th Street. The vacant CleanTech Manufacturing site at Santa Fe Avenue and 15th Street, just south of the 10 Freeway, forms the corridor’s southern anchor.
“…The City is standing with the world-class academic institutions of Los Angeles and our dynamic business community to stake a claim as a global leader in the clean and green technologies that will drive the 21st century economy,” the mayor pronounced. “From R&D to manufacturing to design, this partnership taps into the creative assets and innovative spirit of our City to foster new industry and spur job growth.”
Of course, there are no local funds to make this conversion happen, so the city of Los Angeles will be calling for private investment and money from state and federal sources,
Last fall, CRA officials and the mayor’s business team began courting clean technology companies — talking up the purchasing power of the city’s public utilities, as well as the array of federal, state and city tax incentives available to business.
More than 100 companies, from solar and electric car manufacturers to a garment recycling business, expressed interest in the CleanTech site, which the city purchased from the state last April for $14 million.
“The Los Angeles Business Council believes that attracting green-tech companies will be a prime economic driver for the region,” said Los Angeles Business Council President Mary Leslie. “We were proud to launch the website CleanTechLA.org at our Sustainability Summit last year and look forward to continuing our partnership with the consortium to build a vibrant green economy in Los Angeles.”
For capitalist development, the Los Angeles Times reports that the most intensive push has been for an Italian rail manufacturer, AnsaldoBreda, which is angling for a $300-million rail car construction contract with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. If it secures the contract, AnsaldoBreda has promised to build a $70-million manufacturing plant. The contract is controversial because some MTA officials have been unhappy with the company’s performance in meeting rail car contract specifications in the past, but the company has several political insiders in town pushing this deal, said to be Los Angeles County Federation of Labor lobbyist Chris Lehane, and the green building company Shangri-LA Construction, founded by prominent Democratic contributor and Villaraigosa donor Steven Bing.
More altruistically, farther north in the corridor, a DWP research center focusing on renewable energy, climate change and water intended to attract companies that want to work with area universities.
Dubbed CleanTech Los Angeles, the city is seeking to create a research alliance (not unlike the Department of Energy’s Commercial Building Energy Alliances) involving local area educational institutions, with major roles being played by the California Institute of Technology, University of California Los Angeles and the University of Southern California, among others.
“I’ve often said that Los Angeles may have the best collection of intellectual talent of any county in the nation. I believe it’s important to invest our intellectual capital in programs that enhance the quality of life for all of our citizens” noted University of Southern California President Steven Sample. “USC is delighted to partner with our colleagues in higher education, and with our friends from the public sector and from private business, to help make Los Angeles the greenest city in America.”
“Broader recognition of Los Angeles as a global regional center of science and engineering research and clean technology development bodes well for its economic competitiveness in a rapidly changing world,” added Dr. Jean-Lou Chameau, President of the California Institute of Technology.
The cluster of laboratories would be housed in an old transformer warehouse overlooking the river on the DWP’s Main Street site, and the DWP recently secured a private donation that will allow the department to perform a $4.5-million “green retrofit” of the building.
Among the projects planned: development of aerospace technology with Caltech and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory that would help the DWP better measure snowpack in the Eastern Sierra and dust in the Owens Valley.
In the basement of the DWP building, UCLA would build a wind tunnel testing facility. Meanwhile, USC is exploring the site as a home for a research institute that would study how to make data centers more energy efficient.
“The city really provides a platform to have a lot of technologies tested,” said John X. Chen, the DWP’s executive director of customer service and water conservation. He said the city will be spending billions of dollars trying to reach the mayor’s renewable energy goals. For those reasons, he argued that when competing for grants, “We will be very, very competitive against anybody out there.”
And, you can’t have business without housing nearby. At the northern end of the corridor, the Cornfield/Arroyo Seco specific plan area spans more than 600 acres — from Los Angeles State Historic Park, across the river into Lincoln Heights. It will be one of those picture pretty pedestrian- and cyclist-centered neighborhood
The city would also place special restrictions on developers within a mile of the river, requiring open space and measures to reduce carbon emissions in the neighborhood.
FYI…The L.A. Times notes that the CleanTech corridor is a critical component of the mayor’s “green jobs” agenda as he eyes a probable run for governor in 2010. And it could be a test of his pledge to transform Los Angeles into “the greenest and cleanest big city in the nation,” drawing more than a third of its electrical power from renewable sources by 2020.
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http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-clean-tech28-2009apr28,0,669366,print.story
http://www.ioe.ucla.edu/news/article.asp?parentid=3347
http://www.today.ucla.edu/portal/ut/la-to-become-the-capital-of-green-88893.aspx
http://cleantechlosangeles.org/
http://www.lachamber.com/clientuploads/EWE_committee/RFI_FINAL_9_16_2008.pdf
THE EPA WANTS TO IMPROVE YOUR BUILDING
August 21, 2010 on 12:25 am | In GREEN, Government, Trends, Uncategorized, all | 3 CommentsBy Jodi Summers
Southern California Edison is one of a handful of state utilities selected to partake in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s new pilot program – the Building Performance with Energy Star program. The goal of the program is similar to some of SoCal’s green building initiatives - to further improve energy efficiency in commercial buildings.
According to the EPA, energy use in commercial buildings accounts for 17 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions at a cost of over $100 billion per year. Energy Star Leaders prevented the emissions of more than 220,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide and saved more than $48 million across their commercial building portfolios in 2009.
The goal of the Building Performance with Energy Star program is to help utilities and state energy-efficiency programs become Energy Star Leaders and achieve greater energy savings and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by targeting whole building energy improvements with their business customers.
In addition to Southern California Edison, pilot program partners are Com Ed, MidAmerican, National Grid, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, Pacific Gas & Electric and Wisconsin Focus on Energy.
Key elements of the pilot, which follows the EPA’s Home Performance with Energy Star program, include:
* Incorporating use of the EPA’s Portfolio Manager, the agency’s online energy measurement and tracking tool, to score building performance;
* Approaching energy efficiency opportunities in the context of findings from whole building assessments; and
* Creating a robust delivery network for whole building efficiency services.
The program will allow operators of commercial properties to realize greater savings by strategically planning and implementing whole-building energy efficiency improvements. SoCal Edison and the other selected partners are expected to help business customers plan and implement energy-efficiency improvements over time, starting with low-payback measures that can create revenue to fund capital upgrades in the future.
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http://www.environmentalleader.com/2010/05/06/epa-help-states-utilities-reap-greater-energy-savings/
http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2010/05/06/epa-powers-building-performance-new-energy-star-program
http://media.buildingsmedia.com/images/A_0908_HalfPrice1_lg.jpg
http://www.fypower.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/1007energystar21.png
GREEN REAL ESTATE – GOOD FOR CALIFORNIA, GOOD FOR THE COUNTRY?
July 30, 2010 on 12:41 am | In GREEN, Government, Problem Solving, Trends, Uncategorized, all | 1 CommentBy Jodi Summers
Once again, when it comes to green, what’s good for California tends to become good for the country. The US Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy have formed an action group to help states achieve the maximum cost-effective energy efficiency improvements possible in offices, buildings, industries and homes by 2020. Dubbed the State Energy Efficiency (SEE) Action Network, they are seeking to create a national version our statewide CALGREEN building code.
The CALGREEN Code was devised California Building Standards Commission is setting minimum green-building criterion that may, at the discretion of any local government entity, be applied.
“You will have a whole bunch of cities that never would have included this in their building doing it, and doing it in a way that won’t kill the economy,” observes Matthew Hargrove, a vice president with the California Business Properties Association. “Outside the coastal areas it will be helpful - like in West Sacramento, where they looked into creating a green building code but balked because it’s cumbersome to develop and they didn’t have the resources.”
Take the whole bunch of cities concept and spread it across a bunch of states. The DOE and EPA noted that 32 state public utility commissions requested help from the agencies last year regarding energy efficiency programs. SEE will be working with states to provide technical assistance and policy and program issues to advance energy efficiency efforts. Those state efforts may include financing solutions, residential efficiency programs and improving availability of energy usage information.
No doubt SEE’s goals will be similar to what we set forth in California. The purpose of CALGREEN’s codes is to improve public health, safety and general welfare by enhancing the design and construction of buildings through the use of building concepts that have a positive environmental impact, and by encouraging sustainable construction practices in the following categories:
• Planning and design
• Energy efficiency
• Water efficiency and conservation
• Material conservation and resource efficiency
• Environmental air quality
As California did with CALGREEN, now SEE and other DOE programs will help states develop strategies and action plans to improve the energy efficiency of existing building and reduce costs and emissions.
One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.
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http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2257243/agencies-action-buildings
http://www.socalmultiunitrealestateblog.com/?p=673
http://www.socalgreenrealestateblog.com/?p=764
http://www.hydrogenthusiast.com/uploaded_images/doe-786712-787007.gif
http://www.inhabitat.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/calgreen-ed01.jpg
http://www.socalofficerealestateblog.com/wp-content/newuploads/2009/08/calgreen_code_page_01.jpg
GLOBAL USE OF GREEN BUILDING PRODUCTS SKYROCKETING
July 23, 2010 on 12:21 am | In CHARTS + STATISTICS, GREEN, Trends, Uncategorized, all, economy, world | 6 CommentsGLOBAL USE OF GREEN BUILDING PRODUCTS SKYROCKETING
By Jodi Summers
Keep studying those lists of top rated green building products, because global purchasing of green building products will grow to $571 billion by 2013. This growth is more than tenfold from the $455.3 billion spent on green materials in 2008, notes the study by Allied Business Intelligence Research.
“Innovation, particularly in wood and insulation, is a key driver behind the growth of green building products,” observes Larry Fisher, research director of ABI Research’s next generation practice.
“The most significant driver of growth in the green building materials sector is concern for the environment. While environmental preservation has been a topic of discussion for decades, only recently has the level of concern for the environment driven governments, manufacturers and consumers to respond.”
The study notes that businessmen and builders will look toward products with greater energy efficiency produced in an environmentally-friendly manner. Preferred lumber and wood products will come from well-managed forests.
Now if we can only figure out an efficient way to make drinkable ocean water.
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http://www.purchasing.com/article/439362-Buying_of_green_building_products_to_increase.php
http://www.mossgreenchildrensbooks.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/iStock_000001111800Small-2.jpg
20% OF CITIES HAVE PASSED GREEN POLICIES
July 16, 2010 on 12:37 am | In Bravo, FASCINATING INFORMATION, GREEN, Problem Solving, Trends, Uncategorized, all | 5 Comments20% OF CITIES HAVE PASSED GREEN POLICIES
Edited by Jodi Summers
Here’s a note of real estate optimism in dismal economic times - according to a recent survey by the American Institute of Architects (AIA), more than one in five U.S. cities with populations greater than 50,000 report having a policy to promote green buildings.
The AIA report, titled Green Building Policy in a Changing Economic Environment, is an inventory of legislation intended to help policymakers advance a more sustainable legislative agenda for growth and development.
The report contains detailed case studies of the green building programs in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Boston, Nashville, and Grand Rapids, Mich.
“It is encouraging that cities are recognizing the economic benefits of energy-efficient buildings, and equally encouraging that the number of programs across the country are increasing despite such difficult economic conditions,” said AIA Executive Vice President / CEO, Christine McEntee. “Our ultimate goal is to achieve carbon neutrality in buildings by 2030 and that all design projects will be sustainable as a matter of course.”
Highlights from the report:
* 138 cities have green building programs, compared with 92 cities in 2007 – an increase of 50 percent
* 24 of the 25 most populated metropolitan regions in the United States are built around cities with a green building policy
* The Western region has the most green building programs with 56 cities in just six states
* The Mountain region is second in the percentage of cities with green building programs, with 24 percent of residents living in those cities
* The Eastern region has seen a 75 percent rise in green building programs since 2007
* The central region has 21 cities with green building programs
The report goes on to make recommendations McEntee added, “The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is helping to move sustainability efforts forward, with programs such as the Energy Efficient and Conservation Block Grant that are providing an unprecedented opportunity for the advancement of green building efforts nationwide. The inclusion of strong green building provisions in energy and climate legislation before Congress shows that our message about the importance of sustainable design is getting through.”
There are also a series of recommendations for steps a municipality could take to green their city. The AIA initially conducted this survey in 2007 for a Local Leaders in Sustainability report that has just been updated. It accounts for more than 53 million people.
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http://www.aia.org/walkthewalk
http://www.mclib.org/colorentrance.jpg
http://www.aia.org/press/AIAB081674
http://urbandesignalliance.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/aia150_logo.jpg
http://www.archicentral.com/wp-content/images/lakeside.jpg
THE GOVERNMENT HAS $72 BILLION FOR GREEN REAL ESTATE
July 9, 2010 on 12:38 am | In GREEN, Government, Lenders, Problem Solving, Uncategorized, all | 6 Comments
By Jodi Summers
Experts have calculated that the Obama administration has put together more than 30 programs worth $72 billion that can be used to increase energy efficiency in commercial buildings and multifamily housing.
“The Obama Administration has tremendous, untapped opportunities to use legal tools already at its disposal to enhance the energy efficiency and sustainability of the nation’s multifamily and commercial buildings — all without seeking new funds or authority from Congress,” observes a report prepared by Van Ness Feldman. “All told, the programs identified in this report have the potential to directly provide or facilitate over $72 billion in funding or loan guarantees, and can leverage hundreds of billions of dollars in private investment through instruments such as mortgage insurance and regulation of the real estate lending market.”
Titled “Using Executive Authority to Achieve Greener Buildings: A Guide for Policymakers to Enhance Sustainability and Efficiency in Multifamily Housing and Commercial Buildings,” the legal analysis, suggests several ways the Obama administration can use existing programs to enhance building efficiency:
* Reforming appraisal and underwriting practices at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Greening federal banking regulations
* Promoting flexible FHA insurance products
* Integrating energy efficiency and sustainability criteria into competitive grants and funding formulas
* Strengthening minimum property standards for federal housing and economic development programs to reflect energy efficiency and sustainability standards
* Improving performance standards applicable to federal buildings and leases
* Refining guidance applicable to the energy efficient commercial buildings tax deduction and the national historic preservation tax credit
* Using SBA funding mechanisms to support small business energy efficiency investments
* Streamlining Title 17 loan guarantees to make them suitable for buildings
“As an early adopter of green buildings and the LEED green building certification system, the federal government has been a leader in bringing green buildings to cities and towns across America,” said Roger Platt, the USGBC’s senior vice president of Global Policy & Law declared. “This new report unveils an even larger opportunity for the Obama Administration to increase our nation’s energy efficiency, while creating thousands of jobs and saving taxpayers money.”
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http://www.usgbc.org/government
http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2010/04/30/obama-already-has-72b-tap-green-buildings-study-says
http://www.rechargenews.com/multimedia/archive/00032/obama_solar_3_32125a.jpg
THE SUN IN SHINING BRIGHTLY ON CALIFORNIA SOLAR
June 18, 2010 on 12:39 am | In GREEN, Investment Opportunities, PROPERTY MAINTENANCE, Trends, Uncategorized, all, statistics | 3 CommentsBy Jodi Summers
Prices on solar panels have dropped considerably in the past 18 months – and this has caused the California solar installation market to boom. According to research by Mark Bachman of Auriga USA, in the first quarter of 2010 there have been applications for the installation of almost as many megawatts of residential, commercial, and government solar power as the entire year in 2009.
2010 applications for the state’s solar subsidy program, the California Solar Initiative, totaled 252 megawatts in the first quarter. At this point last year, only 68 megawatts had been applied for, and the by the year’s end the number sat at 267 megawatts.
A big boom in manufacturing capacity in Asia, the economic slowdown, cheaper raw materials and less generous subsidy programs in Europe have combined to cause the drop in prices. Companies such as Suntech Power (NYSE:STP), Yingli Green Energy (NYSE:YGE), Trina Solar (NYSE:TSL), and Kyocera Solar (NYSE:KYO) are dominating the market.
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http://blogs.forbes.com/energysource/2010/05/06/solar-on-fire-in-california/
http://www.rechargenews.com/multimedia/archive/00027/Suntech_solar_panels_27731b.jpg
http://www.maxsolarsystem.com/images-1/suntech-solar-panel.jpg
Energy to Sell - States with Renewable Portfolio Standards
June 11, 2010 on 12:20 am | In GREEN, Government, Uncategorized, all | 5 CommentsStates with Renewable Portfolio Standards
Edited by Jodi Summers
Here is a nifty map and chart from the U.S. Department of Energy showing states with renewable portfolio standards - a state policy that requires electricity providers to obtain a minimum percentage of their power from renewable energy resources by a certain date.
California is stellar with the objective of 33% renewable energy by 2030, but not nearly as aggressive as Maine, which is shooting for 40% renewable by 2017.
Currently there are 24 states plus the District of Columbia that have RPS policies in place. Together these states account for more than half of the electricity sales in the United States. Five other states, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, and Vermont, have nonbinding goals for adoption of renewable energy instead of an RPS.
The chart below gives a rough summary of state renewable portfolio standards and links to organizations that are administering these standards or explain the details involved. Percentages refer to a portion of electricity sales and megawatts (MW) to absolute capacity requirements. Most of these standards phase in over years, and the date refers to when the full requirement takes effect.
http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/states/maps/renewable_portfolio_states.cfm?prin
MAYOR VILLARAIGOSA’S 30/10 INITIATIVE WILL BRING INDUSTRIAL GROWTH TO LOS ANGELES
May 28, 2010 on 1:00 am | In FASCINATING INFORMATION, GREEN, Government, New Developments, Problem Solving, Uncategorized, all | 6 CommentsBy Jodi Summers
Bravo to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa for going to Washington to push his 30/10 initiative. The mass transit financing method that he has proposed so that Los Angeles can build their 30-year mass transit model in 10 years’ time, could be a new model for federal-local partnership, that could help cities across the country rebuild their infrastructure, strengthen urban development and revitalize the economy, and stimulate industrial growth.
“We are trying to define density not as a bad word, but as a word that can have elegance to it, and be green, and be smart,” the mayor said. “Yet the city needs to change even more, and the 30/10 plan is one of the routes to that change.”
Senator George Voinovich from Ohio, a former mayor, noted that regions like Los Angeles should be rewarded for raising our own transportation funding.
The 30/10 proposal would allow Metro to construct the full Westside extension, but also two easterly extensions of the Gold Line, two new branches for the Green Line, several busways in San Fernando Valley, a link along I-405, and new light rail lines downtown, along Crenshaw Boulevard, to Santa Monica, and via the West Santa Ana branch corridor. The West Santa Ana branch corridor would be served by commuter rail. All by 2020.
It was a brilliant solution to an intractable political problem by ensuring the extension of transit in corridors everywhere in the county within a tight time frame. The fight over which lines to prioritize would simply not have to happen
The 30/10 proposal that went to Washington looks something like this:
o Current long-range transportation plan assumes $18.3 billion in transit expenditures over 30 years. 65% of funds would come from Measure R, with 23% from New Starts and 12% from other sources.
o The 30/10 Initiative would allow total expenditures to be reduced to $14.7 billion because of avoided inflation, since projects would be completed in ten years, twenty years ahead of schedule. More cost savings could also be possible because of a cheaper construction market.
o Of that $14.7 billion, $5.8 billion is expected to be available from existing sources, with around $8.8 billion still necessary, which could be provided through a loan from the federal government.
o Measure R would then pay back its $8.8 billion in debts for projects completed between 2010 and 2020 with $10.4 billion in tax revenue received between 2020 and 2040.
In Washington, Mayor Villiarigosa got support Oregon Democratic Representative Peter DeFazio, who chairs the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit. California Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer also supports the effort. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood signaled that he was open to the opportunity in a meeting in Los Angeles
“Four years ago, when I talked about the subway to the sea, people laughed,”
Villaraigosa recalls. “But we are going to build it. All of these transit plans will happen.”
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http://www.laedc.org/businessscan/index.html
http://www.globest.com/newspics/la_urbanmarketplacepanel.jpg
http://la.streetsblog.org/2010/04/22/3010-survives-the-metro-board-of-directors/
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/feb/26/opinion/la-oe-rutten27-2010feb27
http://www.globest.com/news/1622_1622/losangeles/184054-1.html
http://www.socalgreenrealestateblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/subwaymayor-760786.jpg
4 GREEN BUILDING TRENDS 4U
April 23, 2010 on 12:45 am | In GREEN, Investment Opportunities, New Developments, Trends, Uncategorized, all | 7 Comments4 GREEN BUILDING TRENDS 4U
By Jodi Summers
Green building concepts are being embraced with as much wild abandon as kids grasping for the coolest new video game. It started pretty basic – green construction, then evolved into green renovation, and now it’s branching out in all directions. Here are 4 green building trends to watch and invest….
1 - Modular Green Homes – One of the most successful investors in history, Warren Buffett, recently expanded one of his business subsidiaries, Clayton Homes, to produces a line of green modular homes. These 750-square-foot eco homes, dubbed “i-houses,” can be purchased online for less than $75,000. It’s a good bet that if Buffet is invested in it, the area will grow. Our hero is second richest man in the United States with a net worth of $40 billion.
The i-houses are constructed as modules in a factory and then assembled in the field. I-houses are marketed as “affordable luxury in a green, energy-efficient package.”
Beyond Buffett, there are others, such as Zeta Communities and Blu Homes in the green prefabricated market. Modular home construction will be a wise choice for builders going forward because it may allow developers reduce risk, allowing the development of large sites to take place as sales come in rather than building a planned community in larger phases before the units are sold out.
2 – Energy Retrofits – California state measure AB 1103, which requires the tracking of the energy use of all nonresidential buildings for disclosure to prospective buyers and tenants, is a fine example of how critical energy retrofits will be in the future. Much of the country’s real estate is old and wastes energy…eventually these properties will need to be upgraded or replaced. Not to mention, this is a cornerstone of President Obama’s post recession job creation movement.
Energy Star, the government, and local utilities have been offering rebates for property owners on measures like energy audits, insulation and duct sealing. SBI Energy predicts that the U.S. home energy retrofit market will grow about 15 percent per year to $35 billion by 2013, up from $20.7 billion in 2007.
David Leathers, senior vice president of energy services for mechanical contractor Limbach, confides that U.S. commercial building in the U.S. five years or older can likely benefit from a retrofit with payback for most measures taken in less than five years.
3 - Smart Building Materials - Energy-efficient building materials are the frame of green building. Serious Materials recently raised a $60 million third round of venture for the manufacture of energy-saving windows and environmentally friendly substitutes for sheetrock. More good investments - high-efficiency insulation system companies, such as walls with micro-encapsulated phase change materials to stabilize the indoor temperatures in buildings. More…Electrochromic technologies can darken or lighten the tint of a window when in contact with an electrical current, thus managing the amount of sunlight that passes through…Ventilated double-skin facades (already being used in Europe), use inner and outer glass walls with a thin cavity to provide insulation in between for the exterior shell of a building.
4 - More Energy Efficient Energy Codes - The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE ) and the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) are both developing the latest round of “model codes”— ASHRAE 90.1 and IECC — will likely require a 30 percent increase in energy efficiency.
Congress may soon mandate that all states raise their standards to the newest codes. The American Clean Energy and Security Act passed by the House this year includes a provision that would effectively create a baseline national building energy code by mandating the adoption of a standard set by the Department of Energy, who may very well call on the standards set forth by ASHRAE or IECC.
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http://earth2tech.com/2009/12/23/4-green-building-trends-to-watch-in-2010/
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Green-Homes/Green-Modular-Homes.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Buffet
http://www.socalgreenrealestateblog.com/?p=841
http://www.icis.com/blogs/green-chemicals/2009/01/green-building-is-still-recess.html
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http://www.charlesandhudson.com/archives/eco-friendly-building-materials.jpg
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