Sunday, January 31, 2016

EcoSmart Home, Warm and Cozy at - 35 with only Energy from the Sun | Murray Guy




Global New Story: Cold and Virtual No Power Needed 

Global news saw my Tweet:  -35 outside today Warm and Cozy in my #NetZero #Passive Home and decided to do a news story.  The message here is we can build cost effective homes that use zero energy and we encourage you to get as close as possible to this as we need to reduce the 40% GHG emissions that come from buildings.

Some of the details of our home 


Murray Guy aka @Lean_tobe_Green

Design & Build High Performance: Integrated Designs  & EcoSmart  

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Affordable starter homes are popping up | Inhabitat



Would #Prefab #Green #NetZero #NotsoBig homes be a good solution for our #FirstNations housing crisis?


Affordable starter homes are popping up on oddly shaped lots in New Orleans | Inhabitat - Green Design, Innovation, Architecture, Green Building: "If you’d like to own a home in the city but fear you’ll never be able to afford it, the Office of Jonathan Tate may have some good news for you. The New Orleans-based architecture firm and developer Charles Rutledge have launched a housing experiment to transform oddly shaped urban lots across cities into valuable housing stock with tiny but thoughtfully designed homes. The Starter Home* project will offer affordable, entry-level homes targeted at first-time homebuyers."

Murray Guy aka @Lean_tobe_Green

NetZero Projects: Learn Online LEAN LAB. Design Integrated Designs or Build EcoSmart  

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Tuesday, January 26, 2016

A #Tweet that triggered #Media attention for #NetZero in #Saskatoon #Saskatchewan #Canada




Last week was amazing .....  one tweet triggered a Global News spot and a Star Phoenix story about how Net Zero building could be a HUGE part of the climate change solution!

" A Tweet from Murray Guy caught my attention last week: “-35 in Saskatoon today! Our ‪#passive ‪#netzero home is really cozy! No heat required … just the sun!”


It was the coldest day of the year. Everybody’s furnace was working overtime, and Guy’s never cut in once? Is that even possible?

What is the One Tweet that will Trigger a NetZero Revolution?

Sunday, January 24, 2016

Everything I ever knew about Green Sustainable Design was Probably Wrong | Tree Hugger






The drawing above, or some version of it, has been part of every sustainable design class since about 1970: have lots of south facing windows carefully shaded by properly designed overhangs, with the winter sun heating up that thermal mass of the floor.Frank Lloyd Wright did it; I did it; everybody did it. 

But what if we were all wrong? 

Everything I ever knew or said about green sustainable design was probably wrong : TreeHugger:

3 Lessons Learned from This Article!


1. High thermal mass floors are not particularly comfortable


2. South facing windows as an energy source are counterproductive and “should be limited to that necessary to meet the functional and aesthetic needs of the building.”  While large expanses of south-facing glass help heat up a home on a sunny day, the solar heat gain doesn’t come when heat is needed. Most of the time, a passive solar home has either too much or too little solar heat gain, so much of the solar heat gain is wasted. At night and on cloudy days, large expanses of south-facing glass lose significantly more heat than an insulated wall.

3. That careful orientation doesn't really matter any more because nobody needs that extra solar gain.




Just to make us all feel even worse, Bronwyn Barry points to a 1978 study that compared the Saskatchewan Conservation House (superinsulated) to a Passive Solar design (mass and glass) of the period, and the conservation house won hands down, hiding in plain sight.

Lloyd Alter (@lloydalter) Design / Green Architecture October 14, 2015 'via Blog this'

EcoSmart having just built an NetZero home with passive solar design concurs with these lessons learned. Less windows and mass would have prevented our home from overheating which has been an issue. 
We have planted trees for summer shading as our only cooling is a big ass fan!



Murray Guy aka @Lean_tobe_Green

Saturday, January 23, 2016

Okanagan College Doubles Down with Second NetZero








Trades Center Project

“A Second Living Building Challenge Project”







“As leaders in the community it is our duty to protect the planet and demonstrate that triple bottom-line economics work. For our second Living Building Challenge project our team adopted Lean Project Delivery to raise the bar even higher as we wanted to demonstrate that we can deliver high perform building deliver at less cost in less time.” Kathleen Lausman  

On our last project it took nearly a year of working to achieve Net 0 energy performance, for this project we adopted a lean commissioning approach (LeanCx) and are planning to be fully commissioned at substantial completion. We also are working hard to develop discipline with full implementation of the Last Planner System, make the best decisions with Choosing by Advantages (CBA) and have a Study Action Team (SAT) to help build a lean culture for Okanagan College and the Project Team.


LEAN  
²  Leadership in adopting Lean Project Delivery (LPD)
²  Discipline with full Implementation of Last Planner System
²  Building a lean culture utilizing LPD, CBA and SAT processes
²  Weekly and daily Collaboration in the BIG ROOM
²  Innovation in piloting Lean Commissioning to get done 6 months early

GREEN
²  Leadership: Second Living Building Challenge Project
²  Education: Sustainable Construction Management Program
²  Innovation: Early verification of Net 0 energy through lean commissioning
²  Economics: Net 0 Energy at Net 0 Additional Cost

²  Community: Utilizing waste heat from district sewage system





ZERO-NET-ENERGY BUILDINGS ARE ON THE RISE.

Zero-net-energy buildings are become increasingly commonplace. A 2014 survey by the New Buildings Institute (NBI) identified more than 160 ZNEBs in the U.S., with an additional 53 low-energy buildings that were “net zero energy capable.”
If a project wants to be newsworthy, it needs to incorporate something NEW. Developers of speculative commercial buildings (and, in some places, new home developments) have begun to showcase ZNE designs to differentiate their projects. This trend has been developing slowly since about 2011 and now seems ready for takeoff.


10 megatrends shaping the future of green building | Building Design + Construction:


Murray Guy aka @Lean_tobe_Green

NetZero Projects: Learn Online LEAN LAB. Design Integrated Designs or Build EcoSmart  


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 EcoSmart Prefab GREEN Net 0 Targeted Duplex
1602 Edward Avenue, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Our goal for this project was to demonstrate that we could build beautiful unique Net 0 homes that are economically viable. By vertically integrating construction services and utilizing a prefab wall system we reduced the cost of construction. By utilizing passive solar and an integrated design we hopefully have reduced building loads enough that our 6 kW PV system will produce as much energy as we consume.

The technical solution includes a high performance-building envelope that is approximately 12 inch thick with triple glazed windows, Energy Star + appliances, Nest thermostat, LED lighting, ERV, heat pump hot water heater and a 95% efficient condensing furnace.  There is no cooling other than with natural ventilation provided by opening windows, screen doors and our BIG ASS fan.  For Side B we utilized the same technology other than there is no PV system, an HRV instead of an ERV and a gas hot water heater.

LEAN  
²  Prefab Wall System
²  Hand Picked Team 
² Integration of services including PM, CM, Design and trade services to reduce cost
GREEN
²  Leadership: Net 0 Demonstration Project
²  Density: Infill Project close to City Core
²  Transportation: Close to work, bike paths, river and bus routes
²  Passive: Passive solar design principles

²  Economics: Net 0 Energy with a Positive Return on Investment
²  Furniture: Recycled, Cradle to Cradle, Local, rapidly renewable materials

The Era of Net Zero Homes is Here!




"Peter Amerongen is one of the acknowledged grandfathers of the net-zero home—a home that produces as much energy as it consumes. Using his secret formula for insulation you can make a net-zero home in the most northerly city in North America.

The era of net-zero homes is upon us. These super-efficient homes use rooftop solar energy production and smaller, electric powered heating systems such as air source heat pumps to produce as much energy as they consume.

That’s some sexy technology, but it only gets us halfway to net-zero. 

The real secret is insulation.

“We like the double 2x4 wall because it gives us the most economical high R-value,” says Amerongen. “The true energy performance on this is about R40.”
Double studs - creating a true R40 wall  “We like the cellulose because it's essentially a recycled material," says Amerongen. "It's got the lowest energy content in the insulation itself."

Amerongen also blows cellulose insulation into attics to a depth of two feet or more to achieve R80. In the basement, Amerongen shares another secret for energy efficiency.

“The heat loss from a basement wall can be just as high as the heat loss from above ground walls." he says. "We install four inches — two, two-inch layers of expanded polystyrene against the concrete — and then we build a 2x4 frame wall that we put a R22 mineral wool batt in. So we get a total of about R37, R38 in our basement wall."


“We also use it to some degree for giving us additional air tightness,” says Amerongen.

“Air tightness is a critical part of energy conservation, as important as insulation. 

A house that's highly insulated but still leaky will find its biggest [energy loss] is air

The final component in the home insulation puzzle are triple glazed windows, some of which achieve R8, a vast improvement over conventional windows.


The era of net-zero homes is upon us. 

These super-efficient homes use rooftop solar energy production and smaller, electric powered heating systems such as air source heat pumps to produce as much energy as they consume.

For the FULL STORY  on Peter's Recipe 

Insulation 101: One builder's secret blueprint for a net-zero home | Blog Posts | Pembina Institute:

You may also want to check out another former Factor 10 warrior Rob Dumont's recipe






Murray Guy aka @Lean_tobe_Green

NetZero Projects: Learn Online LEAN LAB. Design Integrated Designs or Build EcoSmart  

Mosaic Center a Lean to be Green NetZero Project







       Conditions of Satisfaction – Highlights

  “Our return on investment will be in the productivity of our people, recognition as good stewards of the planet and from the financial  benefits of having higher occupancy and no energy bills.” 
(Dennis & Christy Cuku - Owners of the Mosaic Center for Community & Commerce)
        
Triple Bottom Line home for the Mosaic Family & business community
Demonstrate that Net 0 building can be built at Net 0 additional cost
Set a new standard for commercial real estate
Deliver a high performance 3000m2 facility to a $9.5M target construction cost       
Complete the project four months early
Achieve Living Building Challenge Petal Recognition & LEED Platinum 


Lean Terms


       The team was hand picked based upon qualifications, compatibility with the project lean and green project requirements and the proponents value proposition. The team all attended Boot Camp and were expected to adopt and implement Lean Project Delivery. Major partners shared risk and reward by entering into a Multi-Party Integrated Form of Agreement (IFOA).  The team were expected to be engaged, committed and accountable to deliver an exceptional high performance project with-in the constraints of a traditional budget.


Lean Systems

      The team were trained and implemented Lean Project Delivery at the beginning. This included:

      Disciplined work with full implementation of the Last Planner System
      Pull Plan and achieve a 4-month early Mosaic Group move-in date
      Collaborative design and decision making to achieve clearly defined project requirements to target cost
      Prefabricated elements to improve quality and schedule
      Lean Commissioning for early achievement of M&V

      Performance: Delivered to budget & ahead of schedule




  
Green - Sustainability

        Building features include a Living Wall, wood structure, exceptional landscaping, vegetable garden, rooftop terrace, bee hives, common interactive space, restaurant and daycare. Efficiency measures include sustainable expectations for thermal comfort, great day lighting, minimal light fixtures, low energy design so that PV panels on the roof provide 100% of the energy for the building. The transformational features include community engagement, project website, high level of promotion that Normal is Broken and that there is a better way.

Triple Bottom Line Economics
Net 0 Energy at Net 0 Additional Cost
Living Building & LEED Platinum Certification
Sustainable landscaping, community access
Catalyst for transforming society, design & construction

Murray Guy aka @Lean_tobe_Green

NetZero Projects: Learn Online LEAN LAB. Design Integrated Designs or Build EcoSmart  

-35 Warm and Cozy in my EcoSmart #NetZeroEnergy Home







Paul Hanley: Lean green house cozy on coldest day | Saskatoon StarPhoenix: " A Tweet from Murray Guy caught my attention last week: “-35 in Saskatoon today! Our ‪#passive ‪#netzero home is really cozy! No heat required … just the sun!”

It was the coldest day of the year. Everybody’s furnace was working overtime, and Guy’s never cut in once? Is that even possible?

It’s all about the building “envelope,” says Guy, who built the energy efficient home in the North Park neighbourhood in 2015. The high performance building envelope is a foot-thick, with lots of triple-glazed windows to the south."

To meet Canada’s climate targets, Guy agues that every building should be net zero by 2020. Lean practices can help make that a reality and save owners a lot of money. Guy says the lean green approach is viable now, with more net zero homes and commercial buildings popping up across the country.


Details of EcoSmart NetZero home

The Secret to Affordable NetZero

Rob Dumonts Recipe for High Performance Homes in  a Northern Climate


Murray Guy aka @Lean_tobe_Green

 EcoSmart ... Building the Future

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Zero-energy homes are Hot



Zero-energy homes grow in popularity | Builder Magazine: "There are 6,771 residential units in 3,330 buildings across the two countries that can be classed as “zero-energy," defined as buildings that produce as much renewable energy as they consume, or could do so with minor modifications. The Net-Zero Energy Coalition, which commissioned the survey, points out that the construction industry is one of the main polluters in the world, responsible for 30 percent of all emissions, and so it’s important to make up for this by reducing building’s energy consumption."


Murray Guy aka @Lean_tobe_Green

NetZero Projects: Learn Online LEAN LAB. Design Integrated Designs or Build EcoSmart  


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