Sustainable Design Update

by Matt Grocoff, Esq. LEED

Vermont households and businesses expended $2.5 billion on all forms of energy in 2009.  In 2011, this green mountain state found itself under water from a hurricane.  Now the state is making a push to provide 90% of the state’s energy from renewables by mid-century.

Before you start your celebration you should note that in their infinite wisdom Vermont considers tree-fueled biomass energy to be renewable.  Nevertheless, the state is making an aggressive push for solar and wind projects.

Read Vermont’s Comprehensive Energy Plan:  http://www.vtenergyplan.vermont.gov/

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by Matt Grocoff, Esq. LEED

Soaking in a hot tub after a walk around one of the most beautiful lakes in America. Relaxing by the fire after a fine meal downtown. Slipping between soft sheets at the end of a perfect day. Welcome to your next “green” vacation.

This exceptionally ambitious venture boasts solar, wind, geothermal and an aerobic mound system.   Fritz Kreiss and his wife, Catherine McQueen are the creators of The Green Leaf Inn located in Delavan, Wisconsin and will have 19 luxurious rooms.  The 50kW wind turbine will help produce as much energy as the hotel’s occupants consume.  This may be the first hotel in North America to achieve net-zero energy.

http://www.thegreenleafinn.com/

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by Matt Grocoff, Esq. LEED

A couple years ago when I launched Greenovation.TV I posted a video from Brazil about a creative hack to turn soda bottles filled with water into 50 watt equivalent lights. After 700,000 hits on that video, I just found another cool BBC video about a similar use of these inexpensive sun tunnels.

A simple initiative in the Philippines is bringing a bit of brightness into the lives of the country’s poorest people.  The project is called “Litre of Light”, and the technology involved is just a plastic bottle filled with water.  It’s an environmentally-friendly alternative to an electric light bulb, and it’s virtually free.

via BBC

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Game over. LEDs win. Early in 2011 I wrote about the rapid ramp up of high-quality LED bulbs. Shortly afterwards, the big box stores started selling absolutely flawless bulbs at the eye-popping cost of $39.95. Even at that price the life-cycle payback still beat the old school incandescent bulbs for total cost. The problem was that it was about an 18 year break even.

That didn’t keep customers from grabbing these bulbs off the shelf. One big box store I visited said they were having a hard time keeping the LED bulbs in stock.

Now you can walk into a big box store and get a Philips Endura LED that uses only 12 watts for only $24.95. Today I was giddy over the sudden price plummet of these bulbs. You haven’t seen this kind of joy except from little Japanese girls finding Hello Kitty hats on sale. Please don’t judge me.

This is a game changer in lighting. Here’s why . . .

READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT:  at Old House Web

Read about the DOE’s L-Prize for lighting: http://www.lightingprize.org/overview_60watt.stm

Here’s the 12W Philips bulb for $24.95

by Matt Grocoff, Esq. LEED

In a peer-reviewed study, James Hansen stated that “if humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted, paleoclimate evidence and ongoing climate change suggest that CO2 will need to be . . . at most 350 ppm. (See Hansen’s paper here).

During the sweltering Summer of 2011 we reached 394 ppm.  If every nation that made pledges at Cophenhagen were to fulfill their carbon targets by 100%, where would that take us by 2100?  770 ppm.  Now that’s one of those “oh crap” numbers that keeps me up at night.  That is where we are headed within my 2 1/2 year-old daughter’s potential lifetime.

We’ve got our heads up our butts if we think creating net zero energy buildings and homes is not an essential goal.

A handful of states have set goals around net zero energy (NZE) buildings.  As expected, California has among the most aggressive goals:

100% new construction NZE by 2030

50% of existing building are NZE by 2030

If all new homes were built to NZE but we neglected existing homes we would still be heading toward that 770 number.  As Joe Romm said, “What then for coral? For glaciers? For corn?” Will we ask “did I do enough?”  Existing homes are the answer.

The Mission Zero House

We need a consolidated movement to retrofit every existing home in America and beyond.  The ambitiousness of this goal is matched only by the urgency of the task.

In the meantime, the NZE for new construction tide seems to be rising.  But, will it rise faster than ocean tides?  KB Homes recently announced a national rollout of a net-zero energy home.  This Spring US NEWS reported on ways that home builders are looking for affordable ways to deliver more energy efficient and net zero homes to consumers.

I’m speaking at the USGBC’s International Greenbuild Conference in a couple of weeks in Toronto.  We know that nearly half of green house gas emissions come from buildings – 22% from homes alone.  Yet over the ten year conference history with over 1,000 educational sessions and lectures existing homes have been the topic only 13 times.

If we fail to set our ships on a net zero course, it won’t be long before we need a bigger boat.

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Hello fellow sustainable design geeks.  I’m excited to be the new kid on the block on the Sustainable Design Update. Before I start musing about how we live on this planet, I think I should introduce myself.

Since the mid-90s I’ve been inspired by the challenge of Ray Anderson, the founder and chairman of Interface, Inc.. and MissionZero.org, to create a society with zero negative environmental footprint.

My wife and are now fulfilling our family’s goal to restore a home that creates its own energy, creates zero waste and will be a restorative part of our community.  We call our house the Mission Zero House.

My Mission Zero goal is to eliminate the negative environmental impact of every home in America.

Our Mission Zero House was selected as one of USA Today‘s “Best Green Homes of 2010″ and called “Sustainable Perfection” by The Atlantic.  I’m not sure that it warrants a title of “perfection”, but we’re working on it. It is America’s oldest and Michigan’s first net-zero energy home, meaning it annually produces more energy than our family consumes.

Check out my bio and learn more about our house over at MissionZeroHouse.com

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The Mission Zero House