We’re not in the habit of recommending books in these pages, but we could not ignore two recent noteworthy publications. (Both are available on amazon.com.)
Net Zero Energy Design: A Guide for Commercial Architecture is an in-depth, 441-page exploration into the practical problems of designing and building net-zero buildings. The author, architect Tom Hootman, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, is Director of Sustainability at RNL, the Denver-based design firm.
He was a key contributor to the Building Team that designed the Research Support Facility at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the U.S. Department of Energy lab in Golden, Colo. It was the first net-zero building in the U.S. to demonstrate both environmental and economic feasibility.
If your firm is contemplating taking on a net-zero energy project, you would be remiss if you ignored this book, the first essential manual in the field.
See my interview with Hootman on how NZE buildings are creating a new role for architects, at /new-leadership-role-architects-net-zero-design.
Transformational Thought: Radical Ideas to Remake the Built Environment is a series of 14 essays by Jason F. McLennan, LEED Fellow, founder of the Living Building Challenge and a primal force in the U.S. Green Building Council’s Cascadia Green Building Council. He was named to Building Design+Construction’s “40 under 40” list in 2010 as a 32-year-old principal at BNIM.
McLellan roams far and wide in his essays, from the role of women in a “restorative future,” to the urban agriculture revolution, to a discussion challenging the wisdom of height and density in urban structures.
It is not always easy to agree with McLellan, and his provocative argumentation will keep you awake at night, thinking. +
Related Stories
| Nov 2, 2010
Wind Power, Windy City-style
Building-integrated wind turbines lend a futuristic look to a parking structure in Chicago’s trendy River North neighborhood. Only time will tell how much power the wind devices will generate.
| Nov 2, 2010
Energy Analysis No Longer a Luxury
Back in the halcyon days of 2006, energy analysis of building design and performance was a luxury. Sure, many forward-thinking AEC firms ran their designs through services such as Autodesk’s Green Building Studio and IES’s Virtual Environment, and some facility managers used Honeywell’s Energy Manager and other monitoring software. Today, however, knowing exactly how much energy your building will produce and use is survival of the fittest as energy costs and green design requirements demand precision.
| Nov 2, 2010
Yudelson: ‘If It Doesn’t Perform, It Can’t Be Green’
Jerry Yudelson, prolific author and veteran green building expert, challenges Building Teams to think big when it comes to controlling energy use and reducing carbon emissions in buildings.
| Nov 2, 2010
Historic changes to commercial building energy codes drive energy efficiency, emissions reductions
Revisions to the commercial section of the 2012 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) represent the largest single-step efficiency increase in the history of the national, model energy. The changes mean that new and renovated buildings constructed in jurisdictions that follow the 2012 IECC will use 30% less energy than those built to current standards.
| Nov 1, 2010
Sustainable, mixed-income housing to revitalize community
The $41 million Arlington Grove mixed-use development in St. Louis is viewed as a major step in revitalizing the community. Developed by McCormack Baron Salazar with KAI Design & Build (architect, MEP, GC), the project will add 112 new and renovated mixed-income rental units (market rate, low-income, and public housing) totaling 162,000 sf, plus 5,000 sf of commercial/retail space.
| Nov 1, 2010
Vancouver’s former Olympic Village shoots for Gold
The first tenants of the Millennium Water development in Vancouver, B.C., were Olympic athletes competing in the 2010 Winter Games. Now the former Olympic Village, located on a 17-acre brownfield site, is being transformed into a residential neighborhood targeting LEED ND Gold. The buildings are expected to consume 30-70% less energy than comparable structures.
| Oct 27, 2010
Grid-neutral education complex to serve students, community
MVE Institutional designed the Downtown Educational Complex in Oakland, Calif., to serve as an educational facility, community center, and grid-neutral green building. The 123,000-sf complex, now under construction on a 5.5-acre site in the city’s Lake Merritt neighborhood, will be built in two phases, the first expected to be completed in spring 2012 and the second in fall 2014.
| Oct 21, 2010
GSA confirms new LEED Gold requirement
The General Services Administration has increased its sustainability requirements and now mandates LEED Gold for its projects.
| Oct 18, 2010
World’s first zero-carbon city on track in Abu Dhabi
Masdar City, the world’s only zero-carbon city, is on track to be built in Abu Dhabi, with completion expected as early as 2020. Foster + Partners developed the $22 billion city’s master plan, with Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, Aedas, and Lava Architects designing buildings for the project’s first phase, which is on track to be ready for occupancy by 2015.
| Oct 13, 2010
Editorial
The AEC industry shares a widespread obsession with the new. New is fresh. New is youthful. New is cool. But “old” or “slightly used” can be financially profitable and professionally rewarding, too.
