It seems the White House is considering a national weatherization ('energy upgrade' in our language) programme for 2009 that, according to GreenBuildingAdvisor.com, will aim to "demystify weatherization for homeowners, help contractors market a new set of government incentives to weatherize, and create a rush to retrofit".

Two strategies have been proposed for the programme - more details here - but I'm just going to mention the one proposed by Bill Clinton, because it's quite simililar to the Pay As You Save scheme proposed by us at Construct Ireland.

Richard Defendorf writes:

The Clinton plan... would apply to both residential and commercial improvement projects, would reallocate clean-energy money from the stimulus bill that has not yet been spent and would offer building owners a fixed set of climate-appropriate improvements designed specifically for buildings in their region. This plan also includes a financing program that would attach the loan payments to the upgraded property’s tax bill, working in much the same way as the bond-funded Property Assessed Clean Energy program has been working for dozens of municipalities and many states (PACE was adopted this week by the state of New York).

The International Living Building Institute - no I hadn't heard of it either - has just released the latest version of its green building standard, which appears to go beyond any other building rating system out there. Any "certified living building" must be net-zero energy, net-zero water, provide for restoration habitats, and include space for food growing, among other requirements.

Rather than just being rated based on plans or an initial inspection, buildings aspiring to the standard must be surveyed a year after construction is finished.

Full details on the standard can be downloaded here.

The Rocky Mountain Institute has just launched Green Footstep, a free online carbon calculator that it claims can assess emissions over a building's life-cycle.

One of the program's developers, Michael Bendewald, explains how it works: "Since we all have bank accounts, allow me to use an accounting metaphor to explain Green Footstep's way of showing a project's carbon emissions. The native-state carbon storage of a site, including such things as standing timber and other vegetation that existed before development, is the amount of carbon the owner of the facility ‘owns.’ Any carbon emissions send the owner into a ‘carbon debt.’ In order for a project to be ‘carbon neutral,’ this debt must be paid off and the original amount of carbon – equal in magnitude to the native-state carbon storage – must be restored. Green Footstep allows designers to adjust design targets, such as building energy use intensity and incorporating more renewables, that will get the building out of the carbon debt, edging the building closer to carbon neutrality."

I wonder if the software will provide the depth of detail that many green architects and designers look for in tools like this. If anyone tries it, let us know. The tool is available here.

After the madness of the last issue deadline and Plan Expo, everything is getting back to normal here in the Construct Ireland offices. We'd love to hear your thoughts on the last issue, so feel free to leave your comments below or email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Here's a few interesting green links worth gawking at:

Students at the Centre for Alternative Technology in Wales are starting to blog about their experiences studying there: Cat

Attic insulation upgrades - historic homes require compromise: Green Building Advisor

Could encasing cities in giant domes be an energy solution for the future (sounds a bit mad I know, but iit was actually considered for a US town in the 70s): Inhabitat

Sweden is burning biofuel made from bunnies: Inhabitat

A bright nuclear future for Britain: true or false? Guardian

The economic establishment accepts the world soon won't be able to meet energy demands, but wants to keep quiet about it: Guardian

Padraic Davis is speaking about retrofitting of historic buildings in Ireland and Germany:

 11.30am: Study that compared Irish and Norweigan buildings between the mid eighties and mid nineties found an avg indoor temperature of 15C in Ireland and 21C in Norway

 11.31am: Applying any substances to the walls of historic buildings that block moisture can cause mould, moisture and cracking. Materials used when upgrading historic buildings need to be hygroscopic

11.34am: Padraic is talking about fairly significant grants that were available for energy retrofitting & renewables in Berlin - in 1993

11.38am: Davis is talking about Booterstown convent now, profiled recently in Construct Ireland.  He's pointing out that conservation concerns meant no insulation could be applied to the walls of the historic building during the retrofit

11.43am:  Sand-lime (calcium silicate) board is an ideal material for insulating historic buildings - has good hygroscopic properties 

11.48am:  Studies in Germany have indicated that sand-lime boards (lime mixed with sand and then baked) performed well in terms of water management and thermal performance. Heat loss through the walls was reduced by more than 50 per cent

11.50am: Properties of lime cause water to be drawn out of the wall 

11.51am: Internal insulation requires the use of a vapour-permeable material

11.53am: The government should set up a state bank to fund building energy renovations

Q&A

11.54am: Audience member asks Padraic of potential for mechanical ventilation in historic buildings, and whether this would allow for more insulation to be installed as it would remove moisture from the air and help to prevent condensation. Davis says he has issues with mechanical ventilation in residential buildings because there is no culture of building maintenance in Ireland and these systems need to be checked every few months, he says. He has installed mechanical ventilation in historic buildings but isn't sure he'd recommend it all the time. 

11.58am: Davis recommends using lime-sand boards for upgrading historic buildings as it can halve the U-value of the walls, though he stresses such products are new to Ireland

That's all from Padraic Davis, next speech to be live-blogged here :

Leading green architect Joseph Little speaking on "ensuring robustness, health and value when retrofitting":

12.04pm: Everything in Irish architecture in the past was about keeping water out and maintaining building strength - now we need to think about energy, air tightness, humidity and climate change too

12.07pm: Single biggest heat loss point in a house is the chimney - an air balloon for just €30 can solve this 

12.10pm: It could be much more cost effective to energy-upgrade old buildings than houses from the 70s and 80s - insulation measures pay back quicker

12.14pm: Our "hole in the wall" ventilation method is dreadful - government seems reluctant to ban it, but now is the time to get rid of it. It's draughty, it loses too much heat, doesn't ventilate where it's needed, and only works if the wind is blowing the right direction

12.15pm: Heat recovery ventilation can be a good alternative, but it must be designed properly. Many systems installed are not actually meeting the building regulations (Part F)

12.17pm: Passive stack ventilation is another option - it's cheaper than HRV and doesn't require power, but isn't suitable for every building

12.20pm: Like Padraic Davis, Little is impressed by the potential of calcium silicate boards for internal insulation - he has a sample of one example of the material, the Calcitherm product from Ecological Building Systems

12.29: Little's conclusions: holes-in-the-wall should be banned as a method of ventilation, all whole-building ventilation systems should be certified to meet the building regs, the government should launch a public information campaign on the most effective energy upgrade measures, and the government needs to issue guidelines on upgrading common types of buildings, and these guidelines should consider different moisture conditions in different areas around the country.

Little is finished now - click 'Blogs' up the top for the next live blog. 

Niels-Ulrik Kofoed is speaking about Danish experience of building energy upgrades:

My laptop battery is on the way out so I probably won't make it through all of this  - thanks for reading, and please leave your comments on Rebuilding Ireland or Plan Expo below.

 12.39pm: Payback period of energy upgrade measures should be less than two thirds of the lifetime of the measures to be economically feasible

12.41pm: New 2010 Danish building regs will aim to reduce energy consumption of new buildings by 25%, with 50% and 75% reductions on current standards to follow in 2015 and 2020

12.44pm:  Apartment blocks and houses built post-1930 are ideal for energy upgrades in Denmark

12.46pm: Kofoed is referring to a housing retrofit project in Denmark that was able to reduce the building's energy consumption by 25% through passive design principles - changing the configuration and location of windows to let solar light and heat in in the right areas

12.49pm: Pre-fabrication in controlled factory conditions is the way to build low-energy, air-tight houses

12.51pm: In Denmark buildings from the 1930-50s and 60s-70s are ideal for retrofitting as there are no conservation restrictions on these time periods

12.52pm: Insulation of hot water pipes is an important but sometimes overlooked aspect of retrofitting, particularly in large buildings

One minute of battery left - that's all from me folks. Seeing as this was our first live blogging attempt it went okay-ish. Would love to read your comments below. 

I blogged the pre-lunch session at Rebuilding Ireland live this morning, but was interrupted for a while by some wi-fi problems. So here's a not-so-live blog of the bits I didn't cover at the time.

Speech by energy minister Eamon Ryan:

9.26am:  Government aims to introduce pay-as-you-save type scheme next year, allowing householders to pay for energy upgrades over time on their energy bills

9.25am: Ryan says bureaucracy associated with government energy grant programmes has been drastically reduced through web-based applications so far

9.23am: About 30,000 applications so far for Home Energy Saving Scheme

9.20am:  Ryan says he's energy-upgraded his own house recently and that he now realises the value of undertaking insulation measures. 

 9.28am Energy upgrades mean keeping money in the country by paying for work done here and preventing money going to oil and gas producers outside of Ireland

9.30am: Ryan says US energy secretary Steven Chu told him retrofitting of buildings is the most important thing US can do to reduce its carbon emissions

9.32am: Ireland will be one of the leading countries in the world in the roll out of electric vehicles, Ryan says. Cars can become energy storage systems.

9.33am: Ryan - our first goal is to insulate our homes and public buildings

9.34am: Minister says that once consumer fear abates people will start spending, and that he wants people to spend on energy-saving measures and green technology

Speech by Martin Colreavy, chief architect at the Dept of the Environment

9.47am: 15 key objectives in new national architecture policy backed up by 45 specific actions

9.53am: Colreavy mentions the need for sustainability indicators for whole communities and urban areas, not just for buildings 

9.54am: It's not just about the buildings, it's about the space between too: we need to consider amenities and social infrastructure in creating sustainable communities

9.56am: Colreavy praises the Open House programme, which enables people to explore architecturally interesting private and buildings around Dublin (and for the first time this year, Galway) for one weekend each year

9.58am: Department needs to work more with other institutions - local authorities and academia are given examples - in implementing the national architecture policy

10:01am: New government policy on architecture fits within framework for sustainable economic recovery. The sort of decisions we make now about energy efficiency and retrofitting are an investment in the future

Speech by Declan Hughes, head of competitiveness at Forfas, Ireland's competitiveness and building a green economy:

10.06am: We need to reduce costs right across the economy, enhance education and training for the unemployed, and restore our international reputation

10.08am: Ireland is ideally positioned to be a leading green economy: we have excellent natural wind and ocean resources, expanding R&D in green sectors, and great opportunities for energy efficiency and resource efficiency as businesses seek to reduce costs

10.09: EU has mandated that 50% of government procurement be green by 2010

10.10: Our strong reputation as a "green island" is another advantage in positioning Ireland as a pioneering green economy

10.12 Hughes shows a graph comparing government expenditure versus income as a % of GNP - the rapid divergence in the last few years is just a bit frightening

10.13: Ireland's exports have held up relatively well despite the economic decline

10.14: A carbon tax will incentivise "eco efficiency" and broaden the tax base, while a value-based property tax will help to get the property sector moving

10.15am: Forfas have been looking at the potential of changes to stamp duty for energy efficient homes

10.16am: High electricity and energy costs have provided incentives to Irish companies to reduce consumption and introduce efficiencies

10.18am: Global green good & services market to be worth €800 billion by 2015. 90% of this is in OECD countries

10:20am: The green goods and services market in Ireland, excluding eco-construction, is worth €2.8 billion

10.21am: Discussion of various green stimulus plants now - China's seems the largest at €221 billion

10.22am: Key green sectors for export and jobs in Ireland: eco-construction, renewable energy, energy efficiency for new build and retrofit, waste resource recovery, water and wastewater

10.24am: 40 per cent of treated drinking water still leaks from the system in Ireland

10.25am: From an enterprise development perspective, government capital investment should focus on energy infrastructure and grid re-enforcement, advanced broadband access and bringing fibre-optic cables to homes, water and waste, completing specific road upgrades and public transport

10.28am: Public sector should lead by example in terms of the energy efficiency of its buildings













 

Apologies - we had major wi-fi problems this morning when attempting to live blog from the Rebuilding Ireland conference at Plan Expo. Rebuilding Ireland is examining ways to create a sustainable construction sector in Ireland. Wi fi is back now - blog posts on this morning's speeches by Eamon Ryan, Construct Ireland editor Jeff Colley, Dept of Environment chief architect Martin Colreavy and Forfas's Declan Hughes will appear online later today.  Live blogging of speeches by Jay Stuart on "repositioning Ireland as a green construction sector", and by architect Elizabeth Francis, will appear here over the next hour and a half.  

9.26am:  Government aims to introduce pay-as-you-save type scheme next year

9.25am: Ryan says bureaucracy associated with government energy grant programmes has been drastically reduced through web-based applications so far

9.23am: About 30,000 applications so far for Home Energy Saving Scheme

9.20am:  Ryan says he's energy-upgraded his own house recently and that he now realises the value of undertaking insulation measures. 

Highlights of speech by Jay Stuart on repositioning Ireland as a green construction hub. Stuart is an architect and  sustainable design consultant with DW Ecoco & Durkan Ecofix.

11.45am: Green building doesn't cost that much more with good design. Return on investment is generally over 10% for the extra costs involved. 

11.47am: Stewart says he has implemented the principles of The Natural Step in his own business

11.50am: It's crucial we use existing sustainable building experience to market ourselves outside Ireland

11.53am: Plants can be used in innovative ways to cool, clean and oxygenise air inside building

11.54am: We don't need many new houses so the focus will be on retrofitting. US experience indicates that we should have efficiency portfolio managers working towards specific reductions in energy consumption

11.56am: Spirt of Ireland can provide jobs, greatly improve our energy independence and boost balance of trade

 11.59am: We need a set of principles for greening the building industry that we all agree to work to. Stewart proposes The Natural Step

12.00am: Spirit of Ireland should be supported and built, transition towns should be applied to communities across the country

12:01am: Building industry needs to upskill for green building. Stewart proposes a centre of excellence for sustainable building.

12.03am: Stewart's finished now, Donegal-born Elizabeth Francis of renowned architects Mario Cucinella is about to speak. Go here for the live blog: http://constructireland.ie/index.php?option=com_myblog&Itemid=107〈=en

Highlights of speech by Elizabeth Francis of renowned architects Mario Cucinella (MCA) at Rebuilding Ireland conference:

 12.07pm: In Italy, peak demand for electricity is starting to exceed supply at times

 12.09pm: We can't put off sustainability any longer, our precarious energy situation demands we consider it now

12.16pm: Now telling the story of how the firm set about designing an evaporative cooling system

12.18pm: Unlike in conventionally air conditioned buildings which use mechanical systems, we decided to design a building form that uses cooling towers with evaporative cooling to cool air and distribute it through natural buoyancy

12.21pm: Such a system can allow for natural cooling in deep plan areas of office buildings

12.22pm: Computer-based visualisation was crucial to tweaking the system before it was finalised. The system can save up to 80% energy consumption compared to a conventional air conditioned building

12.24pm: MCA wanted to build an experimental home for €100,000 that had a low environmental impact and was appealing to the Italian lifestyle

12.26pm: The cost is €1,000 per square metre

12.27pm: Basic model is a concrete framed building with different cladding and glazing options. It's a "zero carbon" home.  Wind energy and PV are optional

12.28pm: It may be a modular home but it's also context and climate specific, the typology can be applied to many different contexts and locations

 12.29pm: With a feed in tariff for home renewable electricity production the house starts to become cheaper over time, as it produces more energy than it consumes 

12.30pm: MCA examined whether the 100k building would work in Ireland. They found that choosing the right components can create an "energy plus" building - one that produces more energy than it consumes  - even in the Irish climate

12.35pm: Now talking about a retrofit project in the historical centre of Cremona in Italy

 12.36pm: Aim was to be sensitive to context of historic centre of the town. Contemporary interpretation of historic shutters common to the area was central to the design

12.38pm: For the retrofit of a building complex in Milan, MCA reduced solar heat gain using a double-glass skin, and designed a glass canopy roof in the courtyard between four buildings to create a unifying space between them

12.44pm: Now showing an MCA-designed passive house with a much higher budget than the 100k house, in this case €2,500 per square meter. It's an apartment building in Paris. 

12.48pm: Interesting architectural forms are still possible when working to the passive house standard

12.51pm: Now showing MCA-designed Centre for Sustainable Energy Technologies, previously featured in Construct Ireland. 

Elizabeth is finished now. Later on today I'll post highlights of this morning's speeches which weren't live-blogged due to wi-fi problems.

Some random links worth browsing:

Bord Pleánala warns on relaxing planning rules: Irish Times

Profile of a British passivhaus: Green Building Advisor

Comparing the passivhaus standard to other low energy homes: Green Building Advistor

Solar Refract house leads solar decathlon: Jetson Green

New smart meter developed at Oxford: Guardian

High costs and brightness still a challenge for LEDs: Green Energy News

Some random links for you to peruse: 

An interesting-looking series of podcasts on the theme of building science: Green Building Advisor

Should buildings be designed like letters? Article on finding the right balance between minimising surface area for heat loss and maximising it for natural light and ventilation. Treehugger

Six clever 'green' products in the pipeline: Jetson Green

Dow unveils solar PV roof shingles: Jetson Green

An article on careers in sustainable design and engineering: Guardian

US survey shows builders don't tell buyers about green features in their homes: EcoHome magazine

The Guardian yesterday reported that the UK Conservative Party's plans for a "green deal" include a Pay As You Save proposal that would allow householders to receive energy upgrades at no up front cost and pay for the work over time through their bills.

Alok Jha reports from a speech by Tory enegy and climate spokesperson Greg Clark:

Every UK homeowners will benefit from an allowance of up to £6,500 to make their properties more energy efficient, under a "green deal" proposed by the Conservatives today. The idea is part of a wider energy and climate change package aimed at kick-starting a green economy in the UK...

...Heating and powering homes accounts for 27% of the UK's overall carbon emissions and, speaking this afternoon, Clark set out how the green deal would aim to reduce this total. The money, to be sourced from the private sector, would not be given to householders directly; instead, energy companies or charities would insulate homes at no cost to residents and then recoup the money through energy bills. As the new insulation would reduce energy use, this should not result in extra costs for the homeowner. 

This does beg the question though - just how much of an energy improvement can you make to the average home with £6,500? 

I blogged a few days ago about Mick Williams's campaign for a boiler scrappage scheme in the UK that would offer money to householders to replace their old boilers with new, high efficiency units.

A somewhat similar scheme is about to kick off in the US. The US Department of Energy's Cash for Appliances programme will fund rebates to consumers purchasing energy efficient appliances, and is backed by $300m of funding. The new appliances must be certified by the US Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star program - an award mark for energy efficient appliances. Individual states will decide which appliances are eligible, and the level of rebate. The Department of Energy has recommended they focus on heating and cooling equipment such as heat pumps, boilers, washing machines, dishwashers, fridges and freezers.

Unlike the proposed boiler scrappage programme and "cash for clunkers" car scrappage schemes, there is no requirement to trade in old appliances. Rebates are expected to be between $50 and $200.

Turning straw waste into building beams: Inhabitat 
Global oil reserves and fossil fuel consumption: Guardian data blog
Twenty 'solar-powered' homes compete at solar decathlon: Jetson Green
New Hampshire home lands coveted LEED Platinum certification: Green Building Advisor
Two Dublin buildings win major architectural awards: Irish Times
Using waste plastic as a cement aggregate: Inhabitat
Nicholas Stern optimistic about climate change talks: Guardian

Writing in US monthly The Atlantic, architect Witold Rybczynski outlines his "green case for cities", arguing that there is too much focus on flashy green gadgets and not enough on practical building methods:

Putting solar panels on the roofs doesn’t change the essential fact that by any sensible measure, spread-out, low-rise buildings, with more foundations, walls, and roofs, have a larger carbon footprint than a high-rise office tower—even when the high-rise has no green features at all.

He also has a pop at the media for encouraging the "green gadget" trend:

Architectural journals and the Sunday supplements tout newfangled houses tricked out with rainwater-collection systems, solar arrays, and bamboo flooring. Yet any detached single-family house has more external walls and roof—and hence more heating loads in winter and cooling loads in summer—than a comparable attached townhouse, and each consumes more energy than an apartment in a multifamily building. Again, it doesn’t really matter how many green features are present. A reasonably well-built and well-insulated multifamily building is inherently more sustainable than a detached house. Similarly, an old building on an urban site, adapted and reused, is greener than any new building on a newly developed site.

Rybczynski leaves his most important point to the end, suggesting the future could be developments that are "dense without being vertical". He cites Montreal as an example of city where the dominant form of housing is a three or four-storey apartment block that doesn't require elevators.

Rybczynski makes a good point - while high rise is often touted as the solution to unsustainable urban sprawl, tall buildings typically require elevators, artificial ventilation (due to increases wind speeds and noise associated with openable windows at height) and heavy, high embodied energy structural components - perhaps three or four storey "walk ups" represent an ideal compromise.

But without solid figures, it's impossible to be sure. Does anyone know of any studies out there examining the energy footprint of different building forms?

I saw this in the Guardian yesterday - leading UK environmentalist Tony Juniper encouraging the British government to introduce a boiler scrappage scheme. Such a scheme would offer householders grants to replace their old boilers with new, high efficiency ones. It would work similarly to the UK car scrappage that offers money to those trading old cars for new ones.

Juniper writes:

The simple idea is that by replacing the country's old, inefficient gas boilers it would be possible to achieve a major environmental benefit and conserve a valuable resource while at the same time creating employment and economic activity...
 
...Reheat Britain suggests that a limited and temporary fund is created, mostly from public sources but perhaps also including contributions from boiler manufacturers. It would work along similar lines to the car scrappage scheme, and it is estimated that an incentive of about £200 per boiler would be needed.

  Juniper says that replacing a G-rated boiler with an A-rated condensing boiler with better controls could cut household energy bills by a quarter. He says that the carbon cost of making and fitting new boilers would be quickly compensated for by the high efficiency of new, A-rated units.

He also speculates that the idea could be slow getting approval in political circles because of the absence of lobbying power in the heating sector compared to the motor industry.