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Green Synagogue Mon, 05 Oct 2009 11:25:00 -0700  We've received some comments about the recent decision to highlight the Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation case study in our email bulletin. As the BuildingGreen case study manager, I chose to highlight this case study for one reason: many people have recently spent time in a synagogue for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The issue at hand here is that this building uses 50 kBtu/sf while the CBECS 2003 average for religious worship buildings is 43 kBtu/sf. There are definitely higher-performing synagogues and other places of worship around the world - many of which were built hundreds or thousands of years ago - but in order to achieve our goals such the 2030 Challenge we need to look at the highest and lowest performing buildings, and everything between.
While readers may not agree with all of the choices made for this building, I hope that the simple act of featuring the case study will invoke reflection. What is this building used for? What is the occupancy schedule? What are the most important sustainability issues in my area, and how can we get the word out? Implementing green strategies at your church, synagogue, mosque, etc. could be the most effective way to get out the word in your community. If you have something to say, please say it. In his post Tough Choices on the AIA Top Ten Jury our President Nadav Malin addressed questions about energy performance of the AIA Top Ten Awards from this year, including this building. The way I see it, the conversation that resulted from this year's Top Ten Awards was more useful than it would have been if the ten highest performing buildings in the US and the world had been chosen. BuildingGreen Bulletin: Building for People — October EBN Thu, 01 Oct 2009 09:19:00 -0700  Twice each month, BuildingGreen publishes an email news bulletin with current news and product information briefs. Sign up here — it's free. We will never share or sell your email address, and you may unsubscribe at any time. Here's an unformatted, text-only version of the current bulletin: "Incorporating social equity means that architects are living up to the responsibility they already have." — John Knott, The Noisette Company (membership required... Get EBN in print!... Get EBN online in BuildingGreen Suite!) This Month's Feature Story Building for People: Integrating Social Justice into Green Design. Social justice is already a part of green building. Making it a conscious part of the decision-making process, however, requires a new focus. (membership required) This Month's Primer Upgrade to LEED 2009? Projects currently registered under LEED-NC 2.2 can transfer to LEED 2009 before certifying. Should your project switch? News in This Issue AstroTurf Ordered to Curtail Lead Use Product Reviews Mineral Wool Residential and Commercial Insulation. Following up on EBN's August story (membership required), mineral wool insulation offers a good alternative to foam-based insulation, with fewer hazardous chemicals. (membership required) Heat-Pump Water Heaters Ready for Prime Time (membership required) Letters August's feature story — "Polystyrene Insulation: Does it Belong in a Green Building?" (membership required) — brought in a lot of mail from readers: Polystyrene's Track Record Watch for Other Toxics HBCD Isn't the Only Problem Polystyrene Chemicals Widespread Changing Practices Case Study Highlight Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation, Evanston, IL. JRC's commitment to the principle of tikkun olam — Hebrew for "repairing the world" — is manifest in the building's architecture. On a modest budget, the synagogue achieved a LEED Platinum certification. Check out more case studies in the High Performance Buildings Database... BuildingGreen.com Blog Stimulus-Funded Green Jobs = Left-Wing Conspiracy Buildings For the People BuildingGreen on Campus See all Blog Posts... Featured Events National Sustainable Building Advisor Program; October 2; Southern Oregon University WaterSmart '09 Convention; October 5-9; Las Vegas, NV Greenbuild; November 11-13; Phoenix, AZ. Visit BuildingGreen at booth #1652 to see LEEDuser Live! BuildingGreen.com Calendar... We're on Facebook We're on Twitter BuildingGreen on Campus Mon, 28 Sep 2009 08:11:00 -0700 View BuildingGreen.com Campuses in a larger map Buildings For the People Fri, 25 Sep 2009 10:09:00 -0700  Social justice--it's a topic of conversation throughout the green building industry, but what does it mean, exactly? And how does it relate to buildings? I worked with the following definition while writing this month's feature article: Social justice ensures that all people have the ability to fulfill their basic needs and pursue social, economic, and personal fulfillment and success. It's a working definition, and is open to change and interpretation, but I had to start somewhere. So what does this mean for buildings? Well, it means that architects have the opportunity to foster social justice with every building they design, through location, transportation access, public spaces, materials, indoor amenities, and construction labor practices. As I researched this article, I began to see that social justice and environmental performance often go hand in hand. Putting an office building in the middle of nowhere means that everyone has to commute to it, raising their carbon footprint. This commute is hardest for those who have the least money and those who rely on public transit--often effectively disqualifying them from jobs at that building. Put the same building in an urban infill location, and suddenly you have access to transit and jobs closer to where many people live. Maybe you put retail on the ground floor, creating more jobs and adding to the amenities of the neighborhood. Location is a big change, and often determined well before the design team comes to the project. But small changes can make a big difference to social justice. Keep the janitorial offices out of the basement and provide them with windows, and you have spatial equity within the building. Make the lobby a place for monthly public art openings, and you've got a cultural attraction. Allow for a public courtyard with benches and tables, and you mitigate the urban heat island effect and make the building more welcoming. It's easy to think of social justice as applicable only in those projects designed for underserved communities: affordable housing, nonprofit organizations, and homeless shelters, for example. But every design decision in every building has an impact on the social fabric of a community--making that impact conscious and positive is what social justice is all about. (Image: Institute for the Built Environment at Colorado State University)Stimulus-Funded Green Jobs = Left-Wing Conspiracy Wed, 23 Sep 2009 11:48:00 -0700  Over at GreenBuildingAdvisor, veteran journalist Richard Defendorf combined his abiding interests in green building and politics by taking a look at a Fox News Forum opinion piece from the policy director the conservative advocacy group (natch) Americans for Prosperity. It contained gems like this one: "Most green jobs consist of hiring low-wage workers with caulking guns to weatherize buildings. We are trading away high-wage, high-value manufacturing jobs for these green caulking jobs. Any time you spend billions of dollars you will create some jobs, but the key question is, what the cost is when you divert resources from higher-value activities?"Defendorf had the audacity to respond with thoughtfulness and logic. Take a couple minutes to read it: Stick 'Em Up, I've Got a Caulk Gun! "The drama of a 2x4 shot from an air cannon at glass windows" Wed, 23 Sep 2009 11:15:00 -0700 Architectural testing concern HTL will be at GlassBuild America shooting missiles at windows again. The demonstration/demolition follows the Miami-Dade large missile protocol by shooting 2x4s at impact-resistant and non-impact-resistant windows. A press release from HTL quotes NGA Industry Events Director Susan Jacob: "There is nothing quite like the drama of a 2x4 missile shot from an air cannon at glass windows." Wish I was going! I checked HTL's website for some footage, but was left wanting. There's a link for client videos (and there's some top name clients in there), but they all seem to be password-protected. So it was off to YouTube to find this: Another interesting short video — less than two minutes — was shot at last year's Glassbuild conference; a reporter from e-Glass Weekly played word-association with a few exhibitors. If this small sampling is any indication, the fenestration industry does not like the NFRC at all; was optimistic (as of last year) about commercial construction; and thinks green building and LEED are the future. Greenbuild 2009 - Nov. 11-13 Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:49:44 -0700 f designing, building, living and working in green buildings is important to you, Greenbuild is a great opportunity to build new relationships and connect with colleagues from throughout the industry and around the world. At the Bioneers Conference, Living Building Challenge is a Growing Idea Thu, 22 Oct 2009 05:15:00 -0700 The Living Building Challenge sets a much higher bar for green buildings than other rating systems, but also allows much more latitude for innovation. Buildings that are striving to meet it criteria have used a number of building and energy-saving methods, including some gleaned from nature.  A Sneak Peek at the BSR Conference Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:30:16 -0700 Aron Cramer, President and CEO of Business for Social Responsibility, offers a look at some of the issues that the forthcoming conference will address, from the ecological forces shaping the business world to telling the tale of sustainability in China. Cleveland and Chapel Hill will connect business to green <b>...</b> Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:26:35 -0700 Carmody is spreading the word about Cleveland and connecting us to a national green business effort. Here are his thoughts on the launch of Green Plus in Cleveland. As a native Clevelander, it's exciting to see how the sustainability ... GreenCityBlueLake - Advancing... - http://www.gcbl.org/ Marc Lefkowitz |
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