GreenBuildIndiana

Building with Whole Trees: Whole Trees Architecture and Construction

Image Credit: Whole Trees Architecture

I like to post inspirational examples of green architecture.  Sometimes what is "inspirational" is not really practical or affordable.  That's why this article in the NYT about whole tree building was so satisfying. 

"In this quiet farming community, where people may not have a lot of money to spend, but do have plenty of wood and straw, word of the beauty and practicality of Mr. Gundersen’s structures has spread. Solar greenhouses made of local materials can extend the growing season through winter, even in a place where temperatures can drop to 30 or 40 below. In the last 18 years, Whole Trees Architecture has built 25 of them here."

Building with whole trees has some advantages:

• It  uses smaller trees that loggers pass over.
• Smaller trees are bendable and curves are stronger than straight lines, so bent trees can support a lot of weight.
• In fact, a whole unmilled tree can support 50% more weight than a piece of milled lumber from the same tree.
• Harvesting smaller trees can pull in more light to a dense forest, a part of forest stewardship.
• Whole trees have the lowest embodied energy of any building material.
• Whole trees are the only structural material that sequester CO2.

Whole Trees Architecture's houses are also designed using passive solar techniques, so they are huge energy savers.  But their most outstanding quality may be their stunning beauty, as you'll see in this slide show from the New York Times article. 

Solar-Powered Library Shows that Nothing is Impossible

Was inspired by a Bloomington Herald-Times article last week. Faced with no budget for a library, the 540 citizens of Chrisney, IN just went ahead anyway.  See fuller coverage in the Evansville Courier-Press.

"They had no money to build a library, no viable existing buildings or partnerships for a shared storefront library, and their public library district adamantly refused to support capital or operating costs for a new branch." --Bill Brown, project architect on the Chrisney library building, and now Director of the IU Office of Sustainability

The building got land and maintenance commitment donated from the town, a grant from the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs, and $66,000 in matching funds from the citizens of the town. (Remember, there are only 540 citizens in the town.) The result:

• A 9.6-kilowatt grid-tied photovoltaic system provides all the electricity needed
• A geothermal heating and cooling system heats and cools without combustion
• A passive solar design uses free sunlight to light the building and provide supplemental heat
• Transparent solar panels roof the Learning Power Pavilion and provide a classroom for the elementary school’s outdoor learning lab. 

Congratulations to the town of Chrisney, Indiana for their foresight, initiative and innovation.

Image Credit: Denny Simmons, Evansville Courier-Press

Dow Chemical's New Solar Shingles Designed to Go Mainstreem

Dow Chemical has unveiled its new Solar Shingles:

1. Any roofer can install them, while building or retrofitting an existing roof
2. The shingles are nailed in like  a conventional shingle
3. No electrician is needed on site, though one will be needed to connect the system
4. The shingles will be manufactered at a Midland, Michigan factory

Solar shingles are less efficient (as is all thin film) than traditional rack-mounted solar arrays, but Dow claims they can can offset between 40 percent and 80 percent of a home’s electricity consumption, and will be cheaper and easier to incorporate into building projects. Dow plans to test-market the product in 2010, initially targeting new home construction, with the goal of making it a mainstream product.  (New York Times)

Environmentalists in California Oppose Centralized Solar Installations

Without a coherent national energy policy, it was inevitable that those promoting large-scale, centralized solar installations would finally come head to head with environmentalists who are alarmed at the wholesale takeover of desert habitat.  Today's New York Times quotes Donna Charpied, a jojoba farmer who is also policy advocate for the Desert Communities Protection Campaign of the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice.

“'We’re tired of everyone looking at the desert like a wasteland,' said Donna Charpied, who lives with her husband, Larry, in Desert Center, Calif., where they have been farming jojoba, a native shrub cultivated for its oil, for 27 years...... Jim Harvey, a founder of the Alliance for Responsible Energy Policy, an environmental group in Joshua Tree, said: 'Our position is that none of this is needed. We support renewable energy, and we support California’s renewable energy targets, but we think it can be done through rooftop solar.'”

Proponents of distributed generation have long argued that decentralized solar production, like the program that has been so successful in Germany, provides greater reliability and efficiency, given that whenever energy is transported, a portion of the energy is lost.  California's aggressive goals for renewable energy are caursing applications for concentrated solar installations to soar, and a veritable solar land rush is taking place.

Germany, with vastly fewer land resources and fewer sunny days, has made solar work by passing a feed-in tariff, which pays people for installing solar panels, thus growing the industry from the ground up.   The result has been 40,000 solar jobs and a worldwide leadership position in the solar industry.  Amazing what a unified policy can do.

Living Designs Group's Green Condo Development in Taos, NM

Living Designs Group suggests once again that people who live in New Mexico just know how to design things more beautifully.  Of course, the weather helps. This condo development, Suenos de la Loma, is located in the historic district of Taos, New Mexico and its units are carefully sited to receive maximum solar gain and daylighting. The use of historic adobe walls helps the structures blend with the historic architecture of the area.   Adobe is also very effective as a passive solar design element, as it absorbs heat through the day, in effect sheltering interior spaces from the heat of the sun, and slowly gives off heat during the cold desert night.  This condo development is within walking distance of Taos Plaza.

Going Solar in a Condo

My friend and editor on CleanTechnica, Sarah Lozanova, shares her story on how she and her husband installed solar panels on the roof of their condo building in Chicago, in the June issue of Solar Today:

"Compared to houses, condominiums typically offer more energyefficient, eco-friendly living. Centralized water heating in our building reduces the standby losses experienced with numerous water heaters used less frequently. Shared walls lessen the heating load of
the building. Exterior lights benefit all inhabitants, reducing individual electricity consumption. And the smaller footprint of high-density buildings frees up open spaces for all to enjoy.

Despite these benefits, condo owners can find it difficult to implement narrowly supported green efforts, like a compost pile or rain barrels in the yard. I expected a solar system would be one of those cases. To my surprise, however, the other owners in the building welcomed our plans."  -- Sarah Lozanova, Solar Today

We get a lot of questions at the Illinois Solar Energy Association on how to persuade condo associations to go solar.    Sarah's article has a lot of helpful information and inspiration.  Hint: ask for solar panels for your wedding present.

Image Credit: Solar Today

Get Solar Makes Finding a Solar Contractor Easier

Get Solar is a new website providing great information on solar energy, the different types of solar energy, and  how to locate a solar contractor in your area.  It also provides a lot of good information on the benefits of solar on its Why Solar? page.  I appreciate its coverage of green building information, including how the Prefab industry is embracing green technology.  Good to see quality information sources springing up to help people find their way in the solar energy consumer marketplace.

New Technology Offers Small-Scale Solar-Powered Air Conditioning

TreeHugger features an article about a small-scale solar powered air conditioner -- one of the long-awaited technologies in the solar arena.   The fact that the hottest days are usually the sunniest days has not escaped the folks at Rotartica,  a Spanish company.   The units are powered by evacuated tube solar collectors.

Chapel Hill Development Employs Cradle-to-Cradle Principles

There is a new development planned for Chapel Hill, NC that fulfills our passion for green building and our love of the college town. It is also gratifying to see the development arise in town, where it will rejuvenate an area that needs it.  (At least that's what I read between the lines of the copy on their website.)   Note to developers who want their projects to be approved by town planning boards:  the local community loves this development.  The company vision of Greenbridge Developments is an inspiration, but should be a requirement for anyone planning to build dwellings for human beings:

"Greenbridge Developments aims to develop a new kind of community in existing neighborhoods that promotes human and ecological health. A community that restores the air, water, and soil on which life depends, and contributes to the quality, diversity, vitality, and prosperity of its neighbors. An essential component to this will be to embrace new construction methods, innovative renewable building materials, and forward-thinking renewable energy strategies capable of restoring our relationship to the planet."

California's First Solar-Powered Apartment Community

Solara, California's first solar-powered apartment community, is affordable, energy-efficient, water-conserving, and solar-powered.  Not to mention beautiful.