Courtesy of the NYC Dept. of City Planning Map shows low-lying areas (dark blue) that would be affected by proposed New York City zoning-code changes intended to facilitate flood-resilient construction. Related Links: Designers Call for a More-Coordinated Effort to Improve New York City's Flood Resistance Interested parties have until mid-July to review proposed zoning changes to facilitate flood-resilient construction in designated flood zones in New York City. The City Planning Commission, which released the proposed zoning text amendment on May 20, will refer the proposals to 41 community boards—all of which contain flood zones—and all five borough presidents and borough
G-Gans Project, Tokyo, Japan Tokyo's cavernous G-Cans Project is one of several flood-management projects included in the AIANY report, "Post-Sandy Initiative." Related Links: New York City's Proposed Zoning Changes for Flood Zones Intended To Align With Other Rules Seven months after miles of New York and New Jersey waterfront were slammed by Superstorm Sandy’s surge, the area's design and planning groups are calling for the creation of a pan-regional entity to organize and lead the effort to deal with flood-resilience and climate change. They also are trumpeting the need for other reforms to eliminate myriad obstacles to climate adaptation, including
Installing a perimeter diaphragm wall to waterproof a shared deep basement of three 50-story office towers has been, so far, the biggest challenge for crews working on part of a nearly $6.1-billion waterfront redevelopment in Sydney. Laying the foundation for the ambitious Barangaroo South project, sited on 7.5 hectares of public land, is part of a scheme to create a replicable model for cradle-to-grave, grand-scale carbon-neutral development, starting from the moment construction begins to the end of the useful life of the buildings.Barangaroo South, on the site of a former container wharf, aims to be carbon-neutral in operation, including energy,
Photo Courtesy of NREL Building that will explore ways to integrate renewables into the grid is up and running. The Research Support Facility may soon produce as much power annually as it uses. Related Links: NREL Energy Systems Integration Facility NREL Research Support Facility 2011 Award of Excellence Winner: Jeffrey M. Baker: Conservation Crusader Though more than six months late, the U.S. Dept. of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo., flipped the switch earlier this month on the final section of its nearly 2.5-MW photovoltaic system to power DOE's ultra-energy-efficient Research Support Facility. Turning on the 1.1-MW PV
Related Links: Building Owners and Managers Association A $100,000 study sponsored by building-owner interests has concluded there is no positive correlation between mandatory building-energy labeling and energy use. The six-month project was a response to increased interest among cities in passing legislation mandating energy scores and energy-efficiency programs."The biggest surprise to me was that we found, in what was a … comprehensive review of [labeling studies], no empirical evidence that these mandates have any effect on energy use," says Robert N. Stavins, co-author of "An Economic Perspective on Building Labeling Policies" and a professor of business and government at Harvard
A clear trend around the world is a shift to doing green building out of business, rather than environmental and social, motives (above). In 2012, 89% of the survey's respondents had installed or specified green buildings products (below). Related Links: For more data and intelligence on green building around the world, download the full World Green Building Trends SmartMarket Report. The picture on green building is getting clearer: Green building is growing around the world and quickly becoming an industry standard. A new research study conducted by McGraw-Hill Construction on global green building trends demonstrates that green building is well
ASHRAE and the United Nations Environment Programme have renewed their joint global effort to help reduce the amount of pollutants released into the atmosphere by buildings. One big goal of the so-called third biennial work plan is the sustainable phase-out of ozone- depleting substances in refrigerant and air conditioning systems, says the Atlanta-based ASHRAE, formerly known as the American Society of Heating, Ventilating and Air-Conditioning Engineers.Another aim of the joint effort, created under a global cooperation agreement signed in 2007, is to create an international advisory team to assist developing countries in their efforts to institute and/or update relevant codes
Related Links: Green-Infused Modular Classroom Targets 'Grid-Neutral' Status in School Construction ENR: Green Schoolhouses Research recently conducted by McGraw-Hill Construction among contractors working on school projects demonstrates strong growth in green education projects. To qualify for the study, contractors had to have completed new construction or major renovation or improvement projects at K–12 schools or higher-education institutions.The Green-School Market Of the more than 100 contractors that qualified for the study, 83% have done new or major-renovation green-school projects in the last three years, and 79% have done some green retrofits and operational improvements. During this period, the contractors performed a
Related Links: New York City Building Energy Use Report Called a Step toward Saving Energy Boston-based WegoWise, a building-performance analytics startup, says it was able to identify $137 million in lifetime energy savings in 2011 for buildings that are part of Mass Save's Low-Income Multifamily Program, which invests in energy-efficiency upgrades in low-income housing facilities across Massachusetts.The multiyear program is being implemented by the Low-Income Energy Affordability Network (LEAN) and the Mass Save sponsors—Massachusetts utility companies—that have used the WegoWise platform to track and benchmark energy and water use at more than 45,000 low-income multifamily units in the state. Barun
Related Links: U.S. Green Building Council International Code Council Though sustainability, modular construction and team collaboration dominated the news in the buildings sector in 2012, green building seems to be the topic most talked about. Every few weeks, it seems, green-building promoters issue guidance, model codes and digital tools to advance sustainable design and construction. Some say that green-regulation compliance is burying project teams in paperwork. Even worse, in a buyer’s market, owners keep dreaming up ways to put their design and construction teams at risk if the buildings do not meet energy targets. Though there has been some progress