“Green” construction in the U.S. has mostly been on a fad diet – one where trimming energy consumption is focused on the present but not the long run. That is the conclusion that New York-based nonprofit Urban Green Council found in their research on “high cholesterol buildings.”
The research is aptly named because how many buildings are insulated today focus more on how aesthetically pleasing the building will look, and all the green technology is clustered into what HVAC and other mechanical systems will the building be equipped with.
One example of such a trade-off of aesthetics and actual sustainability is in the selection of a building’s envelope: subpar walls, windows and roofs. “Unlike mechanical systems like air conditioners and ventilation fans, a building’s envelope is one of its longest-lasting components,” the report says.
A curtain wall made out of, say, glass, a notoriously poor insulator, has been a popular material to design and construct a building. The final building with all floor-to-ceiling windows, as the report boldly says, is as poorly insulated as a building from over a millennium ago.
However, the envelope of a building outlives all the other components; as lighting and HVAC systems are replaced with new, more efficient ones, a poorly insulated envelope will drag down the building’s potential of being at its most energy-efficient (see chart below).
The research pushes for loopholes in building codes to be closed. Currently, most green standards focus more on reduction of net energy consumption, hence, they make a trade-off where “they add more glass and make up for it with superior mechanical systems,” because floor-to-ceiling windows are a great selling or renting point and are in high demand.
Other recommendations the Council makes are for better glass, better design, and better training of contractors and subcontractors to stress on air sealing and elimination of thermal breaks.
The full report can be read in PDF here.
Related Stories
| May 10, 2012
Chapter 5 LEED-EB and Green Globes CIEB: Rating Sustainable Reconstruction
Certification for existing buildings under these two rating programs has overtaken that for new construction.
| May 10, 2012
Chapter 4 Business Case for High-Performance Reconstructed Buildings
Five reconstruction projects in one city make a bottom-line case for reconstruction across the country.
| May 10, 2012
Chapter 3 How Building Technologies Contribute to Reconstruction Advances
Building Teams are employing a wide variety of components and systems in their reconstruction projects.
| May 10, 2012
Chapter 2 Exemplary High-Performance Reconstruction Projects
Several case studies show how to successfully renovate existing structures into high-performance buildings.
| May 9, 2012
Chapter 1 Reconstruction: ‘The 99% Solution’ for Energy Savings in Buildings
As a share of total construction activity reconstruction has been on the rise in the U.S. and Canada in the last few years, which creates a golden opportunity for extensive energy savings.
| May 9, 2012
International green building speaker to keynote Australia’s largest building systems trade show
Green building, sustainability consultant, green building book author Jerry Yudelson will be the keynote speaker at the Air-Conditioning, Refrigeration and Building Systems (ARBS) conference in Melbourne, Australia.
| May 9, 2012
Tishman delivers Revel six weeks early
Revel stands more than 730 feet tall, consists of over 6.3 milliont--sf of space, and is enclosed by 836,762-sf of glass.
| May 9, 2012
Stoddert Elementary School in DC wins first US DOE Green Ribbon School Award
Sustainable materials, operational efficiency, and student engagement create high-performance, healthy environment for life-long learning.
| May 9, 2012
Shepley Bulfinch given IIDA Design award for Woodruff Library?
The design challenges included creating an entry sequence to orient patrons and highlight services; establishing a sense of identity visible from the exterior; and providing a flexible extended-hours access for part of the learning commons.
| May 9, 2012
Construction Defect Symposium will examine strategies for reducing litigation costs
July event in Key West will target decision makers in the insurance and construction industries.