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If we’ve learned anything from recent headlines, it’s that energy efficiency and sustainable design companies have to spend big money if they hope to develop the next big green solution. With today’s rapidly advancing technologies, millions of dollars in government-backed loans and venture capital appear to be crucial. But is all of this really necessary?

One of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s latest endeavors, referenced in a recent International Business Times article, is taking a different approach. As part of its People, Prosperity and the Planet (P3) Program, the EPA has awarded 45 grants of $15,000 each to colleges and universities across the United States. Students will use the money to design solutions for everything from water, energy and agriculture to the built environment and chemical use. The program’s overall goal is to “improve quality of life, promote economic development and protect the environment.”

What I find exciting about this particular EPA program is that it is set up as a competition, which is helping to spark innovation and excellence.

After working on the project for eight months, the teams will take their designs to the 8th Annual National Sustainable Design Expo on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. At the expo, the projects will be judged by a panel of experts and a select few will be awarded P3 Awards and Phase II grants up to $90,000 for students to further their designs, implement them in the field, or move them to the marketplace.

When it comes to new sustainable technologies and solutions, perhaps the companies developing them should prove themselves first. Competing for funding, just as participants of the P3 program are doing, will not only be conducive to better products and services, but also safer investments when it’s time for investors to take out their checkbooks.

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Tags:competition, design, Environment, Green, students, Sustainability, technology

Every year, The Princeton Review issues ranking lists for colleges and universities. Everything from ‘Best Career Services’ to ‘Top Party School’ (this list always gets quite the online buzz).

And for the past two years, The Princeton Review has added a ‘Guide to Green Colleges.’

The second annual Green Colleges guide was compiled in response to growing interest among students and families in how universities are making their campuses and curricula more sustainable.

“College-bound students are increasingly interested in sustainability issues,” said Robert Franek, Senior VP, Publishing, The Princeton Review. “Among 8,200 college applicants who participated in our spring 2011 ‘College Hopes & Worries Survey,’ nearly 7 out of 10 (69%) told us that having information about a school’s commitment to the environment would influence their decision to apply to or attend the school.”

Each profile within the guide features “Green Facts,” showcasing the school’s recycling, use of renewable energy, and conservation programs.

Nationwide, there is a growing interest in sustainability among teenagers, and this is translated in their desire to attend a university that offers not only excellent curriculum, but a focus on the future. At a time when getting into a university, any university, is becoming more competitive, it’s interesting to see the shift in thinking as students look to apply to schools.

As universities continue to jump into sustainability and offer more design courses and majors in these growing fields, it will be interesting to see how the ‘Guide to Green Colleges’ evolves. Maybe one day it will be the most talked about ranking from The Princeton Review every year. Although there will always be the party list…

In case you missed it, IES is offering colleges and universities around the globe free Academic Licenses for our early stage analysis tool VE-Gaia. This is an ideal opportunity for educators to embed sustainable analysis into their curriculum. Any institution offering Architectural or Sustainable Design courses will find this tool invaluable, as students continue to look to sustainable design as a career choice.

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Tags:Academic, careers, education, Environment, IES, students, Sustainability, VE-Gaia

Our brand spanking new Student Showcase blog will feature guest bloggers from around the world who have used the <Virtual Environment> software to complete their studies. If you would like your work to be considered for the Student Showcase blog drop me an email at john.goucher@iesve.com.

Several researches [IEA–ECBCS Annex 44 (2007) and (2010)] have demonstrated that, in order to overcome the limitation given by the existing technologies, the building as a whole system should be revisited as a more integrated organism, characterized by a “responsive” and “dynamic” behaviour. In particular Responsive Building Elements (RBE) represent a promising technology for achieving the requirements posed by the ZEB concept. Among other RBEs, Advanced Integrated Façades (AIFs) have been – and still are – widely investigated, especially because of the key role that the building envelope plays in controlling the energy and mass transfer between outdoor and indoor.

This MSc thesis work in Building Engineering consists in the energetic performance evaluation of an innovative AIF module, ACTRESS (ACTive, RESponsive and Solar), which has been conceived within a wider research activity on Responsive Building Elements, carried out by the TEBE Technology Energy Building Environment research group of the Polytechnic University of Turin, of which the author is part. The ACTRESS module is designed as a one story height prefabricated Multifunctional Façade Module, consisting of two sub modules (50%-50%), one opaque and one transparent. The opaque sub-module is constituted by an Opaque Ventilated Façade (OVF) equipped with axial fans for the hybrid (fan-assisted) ventilation of the cavity. The OVF integrates aSi PV panels on the outer surface, with a sandwich, made up of VIP and PCM layers, PV activated during winter.  The transparent sub-system is made of high performance glazing: triple glazeing lowE (internal) with cavity lowE operable venetian blinds (outer cavity), and Argon gas (inner cavity).

:: IES simulation of the  innovative ACTRESS façade module and results ::

ModelIT, SunCast, ApacheSim, MacroFlow and ApacheHVAC were used to model the different components of the AIF façade. The simulations showed important results. In the cooling season the façade is able to reduce the entering heat flux by more than 60% for the 50% of the occupation period, with an average improvement of 10% from NV to MV. The cumulated frequency analysis for the heating season shows that the façade has a high capability to preheat the cavity air, which can be used as Supply Air for the HVAC system, provideing the 20% of the heating plant load during winter. In the mid season the high values of preheating efficiency enable the use of cavity air as indoor environment supply air when (preheating efficiency) is between 1 and 2.

ACTRESS module improves the PV efficiency up to 10%, with a medium value of 5%, if compared to the electric efficiency of a BIPV on a vertical façade with no integration with any thermal system.

Comparing the ACTRESS module with a traditional façade the overall reduction of primary energy demand in an office building results in 52% less total energy demand (heating, air conditioning and electric), passing from 19,09 kWh/m³y to 9.09 kWh/m³y, with a significant reduction in heating loads EE_h, due to the use of PV energy to activate the PCM in the OVF (almost 53%). While it is also remarkable how the electric consumption can be almost totally covered, 95%, on an annual basis by the PV electric production, already accounting for PCM and fan consumption. Furthermore it was evaluated the possibility to exploit the OVF preheated air as supply air for the HVAC system during heating and mid season. Thus increasing the heating energy saving by 8% in respect to ACTRESS façade with Outdoor Air Curtain ventilation. In this way more than 55% reduction can be achieved, with 8,55 kWh/m³y total energy consumption.

Concluding the ACTRESS module shows a very good performance, concerning both the sub-components behaviour and the overall building energy demand. This investigation highlighted a poor performance of IES VE in simulating innovative components, as proper modeling needed tips and shortcuts not known to junior and medium designer, and assumption which can jeopardize the energy simulation reliability and accuracy. Data on its actual performance will be collected through a yearly experimental campaign, which is just started, which will allow a validation of the assumptions done.

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Tags:Building, Engineers, Environment, IES, software, students

Are your kids going to a brand new LEED certified school? Probably not, but the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) recently announced a new program, the Center for Green Schools. This new initiative is encouraging both the construction of new schools to be LEED certified as well as existing schools to make repairs with sustainability as a main component. As this program looks to green our schools, it realizes it won’t be an overnight process so before making large scale changes it is offering some easier options for older schools, like using green cleaning products or changing air filters.

“The education sector is doing more in the way of green building than any other sector, more than health care, more than commercial, more than religious institutions. But we still have a really long way to go,” said Rachel Gutter, director of the USGBC’s new initiative.

Along with helping schools build a greener facility, the Center for Green Schools is also looking to educate teachers so they are able to implement sustainability lessons into their classes. The thought behind this is if students learn sustainability at a younger age, just as they do with languages, they will be able to retain the information more easily.

The USGBC is looking for all of our children to attend greener schools by the end of this generation. Do you think this is possible?

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Tags:Building, education, LEED, students, Sustainability, USGBC

 Well not really, but it’s potentially been usurped.  The GBCI unveiled the new three tiered LEED-AP program last year, and since then, those in the building profession world have been waiting to see how the market responds to figure out what to do next.  Myself included.  I’ve finally buckled down and figured out what I should do and I thought I’d share my process with you.  Here’s the CliffNotes version.

First, I had to figure out what’s what in the world of LEED-AP with this latest tiered program. 

• Pre May 2009, there was simply LEED AP.
• The new version keeps the LEED AP, now known as LEED-AP without Specialty or Legacy LEED AP.
• LEED Green Associate: usually students or manufacture representatives.
• LEED-AP with Specialty (i.e. LEED-AP BD+C): core exam for those who work on LEED projects. 
• LEED Fellows: are the gurus and the exam has yet to be created.

Here’s my frankensteined diagram trying to explain this:

Second, I figured out what options I had.  When I took the exam eons ago, there was one exam.  The choices were:
1. Take the LEED-AP exam
2. Don’t take the LEED-AP exam

Over time it has grown more complicated, not to mention more expensive and there’s more paperwork. (Click Image to open PDF)

** All dates are based on my personal Enrollment Window: 10/5/2009 – 10/4/2011.  Check “My Credentials” on www.gbci.org for your dates.

Finally, I came to a decision: I’m waiting.  I’m not convinced the market will require anything more than a LEED AP which I have and will always have.  Maybe I’m wrong.  Maybe we’ll start seeing “LEED AP with specialty” requirements in RFPs.  Maybe I’ll change my mind next summer.  But until then, I’ll forgo the paperwork and save my money.

Check out www.gbci.org for more information.  And if you’re working on LEED projects, your old LEED AP still counts for IDc2.

Next Time:  LEED AP: Continuing Education
LEED AP: What to Study and How to Study.

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Tags:Building, LEED, students

In this blog I’d like to take a look at the University of Copenhagen and the effort they are making to green their 1,000,000 square meter campus!

The University of Copenhagen are ambitious in terms of reducing their workplaces energy consumption and CO2 emissions this regardless of expected growth.

Their goals for 2013 are:
• The energy consumption of the University of Copenhagen must be reduced to a level 20 % below that of 2006, measured as energy consumption per work year of employees and students.
• The University of Copenhagen’s CO2 emission from energy consumption must be reduced to a level 20% below that of 2006, measured as CO2 emission per work year of employees and students.
The University expects to meet these goals by;
• Improving the Fabric of the existing university buildings which are quite old. They plan to do this by bettering the insulation in the buildings, replacing the existing windows and ensuring they are well sealed
• They hope to make significant savings through increasing the energy efficiency of energy intensive plant such as -80 degreeC Freezers, Fume Cupboards and other equipment used for experiments. The university also hope to make smart improvements to the building HVAC systems as well as energy efficient lighting
• The university plans to implement energy smart conduct procedures for both employees and students such as; closing all windows and turning off lights, equipment, and facilities when leaving a room as well as the encouragement of increased communication between the facilities’ users and its managers which the university sees as being very important.

The University is creating pilot and demonstration projects one of which is Green Light House. Green Light House is a demonstration project promoting CO2 neutral Construction.

See a really good introductory film of the Green Light House Project via the following link;
http://greenlighthouse.ku.dk/english/film/

Till next time,
Gary

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Tags:Building, reduce, students, University of Copenhagen

I was recently asked to complete an interview questionnaire for the CIBSE Young Members website. Having benefitted from CIBSE Young Engineer’s activities over the years, I was more than happy to help out.

CIBSE YE offers graduates and school leavers an opportunity to find out more about the industry, meet recent graduates working in the profession, and gives young engineers a chance to network with peers and even prospective employers.

One of my interview questions focussed on advice to students and graduates. My guidance was to take heed of the rapidly changing nature of the industry. With sustainability at the centre of what we do, forward-thinking young engineers are in a strong position to make a real difference to the way we design buildings. This was summed up very well in an interview I read recently with David C.J. Peters, an HVAC consulting engineer for US firm Southland Industries. You can read the full interview at Consulting Specifying Engineer here.

In addition, one of my colleagues Liam Buckley, was one of the six shortlisted in the this year’s CIBSE/ASHRAE Graduate of the Year Award.  You can read about all their hopes for their careers and the future of building services engineering in CIBSE Journal - unsurprisingly it oozes green ambition!

Many graduates and school leavers are unaware of the sheer scale of the building services industry, and the myriad of career opportunities within. So, if you’re a student or recent graduate considering a career in the built environment, CIBSE YE is a great first point of reference.

Check out mine and past interviews on the CIBSE YE website.

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Tags:ASHRAE, building services, careers, CIBSE, graduates, Green Building, students, sustainable buiding, young engineers