GBlist: green building and energy efficiency

["Bion D. Howard" <bdhoward@ix.netcom.com>]

Fundamentally, you are right.  However there are some communities and
individual developments that have kept sun-rights in mind.  It is the
mainstream developers and code officials who don't get it.

Just try running this through the code change apparatus, and you will be
opposed tooth and nail by builders and developers who are perfectly content
with current sprawl and crawl.  

Remember these are folks who cry about a nickle cost difference on their
door-knobs, and it is historically very difficult to sell them any change
at all.

Since the early 1970's I have built, instrumented, tested, simulated and
lived in passive solar homes and the work on every level.  Some times the
"solar-engines" approach melted candles on the living room table, but we
learned.  Some times they were a bit too leaky, but we learned.  A
breakthrough was in 1982 when at the ASES conference that year there was a
session -- attended by about 600 people -- where the issue of passive solar
"versus" superinsulation was debated.  When people left the hall, most of
them I think were thinking "yes!" and got it.  A balanced approach between
conservation and solar leads to better efficiency implementation.  Passive
solar works better in a well insulated leak free structure, with a right
sized HVAC system.  PV solar works better when you have optimized the
efficiency of the electrical loads served.

However, even our well educated and modern "green-building" community has a
problem with solar too, I am sad to say.  Passive solar per say -- almost
unbelievably -- has been "opposed" in the creation of the LEED Residential
Energy & Atmosphere section; because "it's too hard" and "points for
passive solar would double dip' with other sections, such as the siting.
In LEED R ex-energy section, it appears solar conscious siting will be a
feature.  

By the way a 15% savings on heating seems pretty high as a generalization,
and folks should think in a range of 8% - to 18% depending on climate,
building design, and occupancy (residential only).

>
>Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2001 15:27:18 -0800
>From: Gormans <sgorman@erols.com>
>Subject: RE: GBlist: green building and energy efficiency
>
>The cheapest efficiency measure would be to require the same standards in 
>house siting that were common practice in the United States in the 1800's: 
>80% of all construction had the major part of the building facing due 
>south.  This alone reduces at least 15%  of the heating and cooling costs, 
>and it costs close to nothing. Add to that some decent insulation and 
>infiltration standards, and your energy costs will be much lower.
>
>However, I know of no city or MSA that is smart enought to require this.
>
>Steve Gorman
>Virginia Solar Council
>
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