Project FROG is introducing commercially viable, rapidly deployable zero-energy buildings at the U.S. Green Building Council’s 2008 Greenbuild International Conference and Expo.

FROG Zero, which claims to be the world’s only zero-energy building system, will be introduced at Greenbuild, an annual gathering focused on advanced sustainable building products and technology.

Showcased in a “School of the Future” demonstration project, FROG Zero incorporates the ideal learning environment into the greenest, most sustainable commercial building solution available.

The 1,280-square-foot smart building features 75 percent energy demand reduction, abundant natural light and glare control, superior air quality, fungible user technology, microclimate customization and advanced climate controls in an easy to configure package. Constructed of renewable or recyclable materials, the FROG Zero generates more energy within its footprint than is required to operate its systems.

FROG Zero produces virtually no carbon emissions, provides 100 percent thermal comfort hours and has the capacity to return five times its energy use through active solar power generation. A flexible design approach makes optimization for a wide variety of local sites and climate conditions simple and cost-effective.

The FROG Zero exhibit is sponsored by Building Design+Construction Magazine and a host of other key partners including Dell Computers, Herman Miller, Tate, InterfaceFLOR, USG, YKK and Acuity Brands Lighting

Project FROG Inc. is a venture-backed company with the mission of designing and manufacturing smart buildings. Project FROG (Flexible Response to Ongoing Growth), explains the company, is at the forefront of change for a new standard in green building, and it is actively seeking innovative vendors and partners to support growing demand.

For more information, visit the Project FROG Web site.

According to a new survey published by FMLink, the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International, the US Green Building Council (USGBC) and the Association for Facility Engineers (AFE), more and more facility managers are implementing re-commissioning and energy audits to measure and improve their building’s energy performance.

The survey, which was sent to more than 30,000 individuals, also found that most energy savings successes were the result of aggressive low-cost operational strategies rather than major capital projects. However, such capital projects are one of the big items scheduled for action in the coming year.

(A more detailed version of this story will appear on FMLink approximately December 15).

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A new International Code Council evaluation service lets manufacturers mark their products with a seal of approval, so that users can be assured they’re using products that meet green standards.

Since the trend toward sustainability first started ramping up, building owners, designers, engineers, and code officials have clamored for some sort of standards program that better defines what a “green” product actually is. The International Code Council’s Sustainable Attributes Verification and Evaluation (SAVE) program provides independent confirmation that evaluated building products are sustainable and may qualify for points under major green rating systems.

SAVE evaluation involves both inspection of the manufacturer’s production process and, where called for, reviews of independent product testing. Manufacturers that successfully complete the evaluation process receive a Verification of Attributes Report in one or more of nine key categories: recycled content (postconsumer/preconsumer), regional materials, bio-based materials, certified wood products, solar reflectance index and thermal emittance of roofing materials, volatile organic compound content and emissions (adhesives and sealants), volatile organic compound content and emissions (paints and coatings), urea formaldehyde resin content in composite wood products and volatile organic compound content and emissions of floor coverings.

To view a list of products evaluated to date, visit www.saveprogram.icc-es.org.

– Consulting-Specifying Engineer

The Continental Automated Buildings Association has released of a comprehensive report on “bright” green buildings, which incorporate leverage intelligent technologies in sustainability-minded design. According to the report, these buildings not only foster environmental stewardship, but they also provide a significant return on investment.

The report features a number of case histories that illustrate how companies from around the world have used advances in green building and networking technologies to increase profits, lower costs, and help the environment. Authored by Frost and Sullivan, the report features input from a range of firms, including Cisco Systems, Johnson Controls, and Trane.
 
According to Peter Templeton, senior vice president of education and research at the U.S. Green Building Council, the report offers useful information about the role integrated control systems can play in constructing green buildings.

“The conclusions of the study help advance progress toward achieving our vision of a sustainable built environment within a generation,” says Templeton.

To download a free copy of the study, visit www.caba.org/brightgreen.

– Consulting-Specifying Engineer

On Nov. 13, the U.S. Green Building Council reaffirmed its commitment to the development of Standard 189.1 P, which stands to be the country’s first national standard developed to be used as a green building code when completed. Created specifically for adoption by states, localities, and other building code jurisdictions that are ready to require a minimum level of green building performance for all commercial buildings, Standard 189.1 P is under development as an ANSI standard under ASHRAE’s leadership, in partnership with the USGBC and IESNA.

Many green-leading cities—including Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and Los Angeles—require most commercial buildings to reach LEED Silver; earlier this year, California authored and adopted a statewide green building code.

Doubts about the future of Standard 189.1 P were raised in late October by ASHRAE leadership’s decision to reconstitute the volunteer committee responsible for the development of the green building code. While rebuilding the committee will mean delays, USGBC leaders say they remain confident in the quality of the final result.

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– Consulting-Specifying Engineer

RELIGHT EDITORIAL

Relight—For All the Right Reasons
Existing buildings now can achieve the same lighting quality, performance and energy savings associated with newer, energy efficient fixtures without replacing the entire lighting system as part of the new Relight solution from Lithonia Lighting. Now, more than ever, building owners and facility managers are choosing to renovate their spaces to capitalize on the latest, energy savings products. With lighting comprising 30% of the total energy used, reducing your lighting bill is a big incentive for renovation. In addition, the benefits of choosing these new “green” products are not only economic, but are also a potential public relations benefit to the building owner.

What Relight Can Do for You

RT5™ volumetric lighting and ES8™ high-performance T8 lighting are designed specifically for proper illumination of today’s office, school and retail environments. By offering relight assemblies for these popular products, Lithonia Lighting offers customers a high-quality, energy-savings solution for your renovation needs. These relight assemblies provide the same valued features of their “new construction” counterparts, without the cost and inconvenience of full-fixture replacements.

Lithonia Lighting relighting products deliver:

• Revitalized look to interior space
• Enhanced lighting quality
• Payback from reduced energy and maintenance costs
• Greener, more sustainable operation with minimal disruption to your business activities

Limitations to Traditional Methods
Until the recent introduction of a relight solution, lighting renovation options have fallen short on delivering the key features demanded by today’s renovation projects. Relighting delivers new aesthetics and improved lighting distribution in a cost-effective manner, allowing enterprises to achieve payback while minimizing disruption of the space and environmental waste. Like the retrofit scenario, work is accomplished without the removal of ceiling tiles, and it takes place within the existing fixture shell.

Unlike the traditional retrofit kit, relight replaces your existing fixtures with new components. As a result the lighting distribution is absolutely predictable and performance is backed up with IES photometric performance data. This type of improvement is most appropriate when the goal is to improve financial measures, and enhance the visual environment and the natural environment through a more sustainable process and operation.

The relighting option has several benefits over existing renovation techniques:

Relamp/Reballast:  Includes replacement of lamps and ballasts with more energy-efficient components. This option does not increase the quality of light, nor improve the fixture appearance. It may or may not affect the quantity of light emitted.

Traditional Retrofit kits:  Components within the existing luminaires are replaced to improve efficiency. Lamps are frequently removed from the fixtures and new lamp holder brackets are installed. Less often, louvers and lenses are replaced. The lighting distribution outcome is unpredictable. Retrofit manufacturers usually do not supply an IES file for the performance of these mismatched components. At times, the lighting quality is diminished by specular reflectors and stronger downward components.

Replace:  Replacing existing, older-technology luminaires with completely new fixtures on a one-for-one basis. The customer achieves the benefits of new technology, new aesthetics and new light distribution. This option involves more labor, higher cost, and more waste and disruption than the previously mentioned alternatives.

Redesign:  Completely redesigning the lighting scheme. Often performed as part of a building remodel, includes changing the walls and ceilings. In this method, new technologies, new fixtures and redesigned fixture spacing are common. This redesign process requires permitting by local authorities and the involvement of a professional engineer. The existing installation will be required to be brought up to current electrical codes and standards. Although redesign offers the best opportunity for optimizing the lighting, it is the most expensive, most time-consuming and most disruptive of all the lighting renovation options.

The Newest Relighting Products
Lithonia Lighting offers several innovative relighting products that deliver the best of all scenarios.

RT5R™
Delivering the same features as RT5 volumetric lighting, RT5R fixtures eliminate harsh shadows created by parabolics, and offers uniform, comfortable lighting with increased energy savings. With RT5R relight fixtures, outdated buildings can relight their space and increase employee productivity, save your business time and money, and embrace a more friendly environmental approach. With the typical RT5R installation, energy consumption is lowered by as much as 60% when compared to four – lamp T12 fixtures. Using fewer, longer-life lamps result in reduced maintenance and disposal costs. The fixtures also feature step-dim or full-range control options that provide additional operational efficiency and flexibility.

ES8R™
Relighting with ES8R fixtures also creates a visible improvement, eliminating the “cave effect” created by traditional parabolics. The fixtures improve the balance between horizontal and vertical light levels, enhancing and updating the overall look of the space, says the company. They also promote environmental sustainability by reusing existing fixture housings while further reducing waste through 50% fewer lamp replacements, reduced CO2 production and use of recyclable materials. Operational efficiency is achieved through reduced energy consumption—ES8R fixtures provide up to 67% energy savings in comparison to four-lamp T12 fixtures and are also eligible for many utility rebates.

Reap the Benefits of Green

With relighting, you’ll not only enjoy improved lighting quality and saving energy costs, but you’ll also be embracing an environmentally sensitive solution.  With a typical RT5R and ES8R installation, there are fewer components to recycle and little construction waste. Existing fixture housing remains in place and removed components can and should be recycled. You’ll also have the peace of mind of knowing that you have reduced your carbon foot print and yielded less mercury entering the waste stream. This commitment can be a powerful motivator for employees as well as your customers.

The Triple Bottom Line
If you would like to see a visual difference in your space, coupled with energy savings and an environmentally friendly solution, Relight products are available now. Relight fixtures can bring your existing space into vibrant color and help you realize your building’s potential. Your business will retain use of the space during the relighting process, and will experience fast payback and ongoing savings from reduced energy and maintenance costs. Benefit your employees, your enterprise, and the environment with this triple bottom line solution to enhance your business today.

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Historically the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere hovered just under 300 parts per million (ppm), but it’s now approaching 400 ppm. CO2 is not the most powerful of the greenhouse gases on a per-molecule basis—not by a long shot—but it is by far the most common and most significant of those generated by humans. Various targets have been proposed as acceptable levels of CO2, most famously 450 ppm, above which the resultant temperature rise would likely cause extreme disruption to Earth’s ecological and social systems. Many policy initiatives give lip service to this goal, but current actions are inadequate to reach it. Based on more recent scientific findings, author Bill McKibben has launched a campaign to reset that target at 350 ppm, a point we passed in 1988. That’s a much more ambitious goal, but one that, if achieved, would more likely lead to a future climate that resembles our own.

Regardless of the target, there is general agreement that we have to slow the growth in carbon emissions and then shrink those emissions. As researchers seek ways to reduce human-generated carbon emissions at a cost that society will accept, buildings consistently emerge as the best opportunity. “Buildings are the biggest and lowest-hanging fruit in dealing with greenhouse gases in the atmosphere,” says architect and researcher Hal Levin, who chairs the Project Committee on Carbon Emissions Tool Development of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). Since carbon emissions from buildings generally follow energy use, we’ll go a long way simply by making buildings more energy efficient.

But energy use, whether it’s measured in dollars or kilowatt-hours, in absolute terms or as a percent reduction against code, is not exactly a measure of carbon emissions. How energy is generated and distributed changes how much carbon is released in the process. And energy used in the building is not the whole picture when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions. What you count and how you count it can change both the answers you get and what you do about them.

Read the rest of this story at:  BuildingGreen.com or FMlink.com

The User’s Manual for ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-2007, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings, is now available. This manual has been through an extensive revision process to incorporate the various addenda approved since the 2004 edition according to Keith Emerson, who oversaw review of the manual for the Standard 90.1 committee. Since the 2004 edition was published, 44 addenda have been approved and are now incorporated into the manual.

Read more at: FMlink story

The governing board of the National Electrical Contractors Assn. (NECA) voted to encourage a drive toward greener electricity–including modernizing the national electrical grid, and lobbying for increased energy independence.

Read more at: NECA story

As posted on CSEmag.com