Now comparing

This week, I began collecting new information in hopes of comparing the LEED certified buildings to non-LEED.  As soon as I started, I realized I was going to have a few problems…to be able to see if LEED is actually more sustainable than non-LEED, I need two buildings, one LEED-certified, and one non, and I also need the measurements and data from both of those buildings to show the annual energy and water use. Problem one was that there aren’t two buildings that are as similar as I would like on campus. The buildings should be close in area/square footage, have the same number of stories and have similar uses. For example, I can’t compare a LEED science lab building to a residence hall, but I can compare conference space to office space because they have similar uses. So to overcome this I am going to compare 4 sets of 2 buildings, each set will be buildings with a specific characteristic in common, and each set will have different areas of focus, so in the end I will be able to take the data from each set as if they were of the same building.  Problem two, was that of the buildings I could possibly compare, NAU didn’t measure or monitor the energy and water used in the non-LEED building, just because there was never a need to accurately measure that annually. So to get around this problem I hope to get my hands on the energy bill of each building and be able to calculate how much energy and water it used. While I wait for information on the energy bills, I have been comparing the materials and the building methods of general LEED and non-LEED buildings. Which is pretty easy considering the LEED buildings are based on a point system. For example, here in flagstaff most of the LEED buildings have a majority of their windows facing the South side so the heat of the sun can warm the building so they don’t have to use excess energy. It is just a bunch of little things similar to this that make a building “more sustainable” overall.

A Whole New Direction

This week was a little slower when it came to physical work but I did do a lot of thinking about the direction of this project. As I said in my last post, I am moving away from materials and towards architecture, but now at a little faster pace. I have begun to rethink my project, and am starting to lean towards a different question. At the beginning of all this, my question was: what materials are the most sustainable? Now that I have looked into all the different kinds of materials and seen how they are used in different buildings, I noticed that it’s not the materials that make a building sustainable; it’s how you use the materials. But as I came across that realization, I started wondering why is this all relevant? Does the cost and time and effort of making a building sustainable worth it? That’s the problem most people have with anything environmentally conscious; our environmental problems are so large and occur over hundreds of years, it is difficult to believe that recycling one paper bag or designing a building to use just a little less energy can make any difference.  Working with something sustainable can sometimes feel as if your walking on a treadmill, you’re using up a lot of time and energy to just stay in the same place. 

That is why my new question is: what is the lasting impact of sustainable buildings? I want to see if LEED certified (the point system to measure sustainability) buildings have a significant impact on the environment compared to non-LEED certified buildings.  I want to know if being environmentally aware when building a structure is worth it and actually makes a difference. Of course I know recycling the one bag does make somewhat of a difference, but it is microscopic. I want to know what we can do in the field of architecture to make a difference that has a little bit more of a longer lasting effect.  I want to know why we should strive to be sustainable.

This week I was finally able to meet with Dr. Moline! She is the ecology professor here in town that designed and built her own house using some sustainable methods. We met at her house, and she gave us a tour while explaining all of the things that went into designing it. This was the first time I got to actually see the process an architect goes through and the relationship they have with a building.It was amazing how much she knew, and what she learned from designing it, and what she shared with me.

Some fun, kind of sad parts she shared were stories of a few mishaps that happened. She told us of when the builders had the wrong measurements for the doors to her bedroom and cut a space for them that was way too tall, and that a section of her concrete floor is wavy from not being smoothed out before drying and a few other things like that.  But the fun part was that she was able to turn all those little miscalculations into something beautiful. She now has a lovely window with tulips painted across it, fitted in the space above her bedroom doors, and a thick, warm rug over the wavy concrete. But there was one mistake that couldn’t be easily fixed. During the beginning of the project, a builder misread the measurements of a door frame and installed it 11 inches to the right of where it was supposed to be. Because of that, her hallway, stairs, cupboard, and mechanical room lost those 11 inches and were squished to the right.  However, if she didn’t tell you, you wouldn’t have known. Normally, something like that wouldn’t be that much of a problem, but in Dr. Moline’s house, it just happened to take the inches from a hallway, staircase, and mechanical room which all have regulated and enforced sizes they need to be; the staircase must be a minimum of 36 inches wide, and same with the hallway. Lucky, she was able to adjust and recalculate it all and pass inspection. Because of this, the most important thing I took from the tour of the house was as an architect or builder; you always need to double check and re-measure, and then double check again before doing anything. Dr. Moline even gave me a set of her design plans to look at and practice reading, so if I ever do become an architect, I won’t make the same little mistakes! 

This is Dr. Moline showing me the design plans and teaching me how to read them and showing me the different pages. Each set of plans has multiple pages, showing specific details of specific parts of the house. For example, one page just shows the outside structure of the house, and another just shows the electrical work etc. Reading the plans is not that intuitive so lucky each page has a little key in the corner, but it's still difficult to understand. 

This is us again, here she is showing me the computer software called Sketch-Up. She designed her house through this software. I just downloaded it a few days ago, and I have been messing around on it for more hours than I care to admit. It's a lot of fun becasue it lets you add in measurements and virtually build a house any way you want, and even add in textures and other details. 

The Joy of Insulation

So this week was all about insulation!

Insulation is one of the most important parts of a building because it is the one thing that determines the temperature, and how much energy is used to heat and cool the building daily. It doesn't really matter how sustainable the flooring or windows or roofing is, because if you have poor insulation your energy consumption will cancel out the sustainability of the other materials.

I began researching the different possible types and as you can imagine there are hundred and hundreds of types of insulation. Mainly because there are so many different raw materials that can make up the insulation, and different buildings require different insulation that matches the function of the building. For example, an office building that runs all year will have pretty thick and complex insulation to maintain the temperature all day and not have a huge energy bill at the end of each year. But other buildings such as warehouses or car garages that tend to be used for short periods of time have very minimal insulation. And then there are other buildings, like I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, that use recycled denim jeans as efficient insulation. All these different variables open a wide range of materials for me to look at so I am trying to narrow it down to either the most common type used, or just what is used here in Flagstaff on the N.A.U. campus.

Slow and Steady

This week was a little slower than most. I did reach out to a few more N.A.U. faculty members to talk about their work, and most got back to me. We are planning to meet after Spring Break. One of the faculty members is Ms. Holly Yeager, who is the Career Development Coordinator for the Professional Science Masters Program in Climate Science and Solutions (CSS). Her job is to basically help students find a career path in climate study and sustainability, so I look forward to hearing how successful she has been helping students, and to hear the different career options students actually have in these fields.
I am still analyzing and comparing materials as well, this week and next week I'll be looking into the manufacturing process of insulation. I am going to be comparing the different types for specific buildings, the advantages/disadvantages of those types, and the different individual raw materials that go into each kind of insulation.
I still haven't had a chance to look at Dr. Moline's adobe house yet due to scheduling complications, but fingers crossed it all works out for next week!

Still Going Strong

Had a few set backs but still going strong.

This has been quite the week. I was forced to deal with some personal health issues so I was unable to make it into the office as much as I would have liked this week, but I still made some progress regardless! Earlier this week, I was poking my nose in around the office trying to get as much information about the renovations taking place on the South Dining Hall on campus as I could, and I was successful!  I am officially on the email list regarding anything about the renovations, and in contact with the head project manager, and the main construction company being used. So hopefully next week, I’ll talk to them and begin to understand their involvement in the project and what they do in general. They should be having a meeting some time next week to finalize the design plans, which I should be attending. The renovation process will be a huge part of my project because as a part of N.A.U.’s 2030 plan, all new buildings and renovations on campus will be LEED certified (building meets certain sustainable criteria to receive a certification) and sustainable, so I’ll get to observe and question the techniques of constructing a sustainable building.

I was supposed to meet with another professor this week, but was forced to reschedule. However I still looked into her work. This professor, Dr. Moline, also built her own sustainable house here in Flagstaff, but it is very different than Dr. Francis’s (the professor who built his net-zero energy house that I interviewed last week). Her house is made of adobe; sun-dried clay bricks, and overall is more similar to the average house in Flagstaff, unlike Dr. Francis's. She doesn’t have the complex electrical systems or the technological accessories like Dr. Francis, yet it is still a full functioning house and completely sustainable. I look forward to talking with her about the planning and construction that went into it, as well as getting a tour.

The Difference of Just Being Aware

The weeks are really starting to speed up, and all my work is starting to blur. But in a good way! I had my first meeting with Dr. Alan Francis this week, which showed me how much I really don’t know, but I’ll learn it all soon enough! The very first topic we discussed was the definition of sustainability. He defined it as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the needs of the future.” This definition comes from ‘Our Common Future’, or more commonly known as the Brundtland Report. It is a piece of work published in 1987, by an organization called the World Commission of Environment and Development, (WCED) that was convened by the United Nations. The report outlined the concept of sustainability across environmental, economic and social aspects. It is supposed to be the most generally accepted, broad definition of sustainability, but since being published there have been hundreds of rebuttals and comments against it. Many experts are starting to agree that sustainability is largely factored around the popular social ideas of the time, saying that what is sustainable today, might not be sustainable tomorrow, which is why it is so difficult to find an exact definition of the word. 

We discussed his house for a majority of the time, all the planning and designing that went into it, and the separate systems involved. A big part of how the house is as sustainable as it is, is that he uses a type of technology called ‘Dashboard’. Which uses hardware and software to constantly measure the amount of water and electricity used and when. The way he does this with the use of monitors hooked up all over his house  that directly synch to his phone so he can see exactly how much energy his house uses per day. He justified it by comparing it to a car. Saying that living in a house without a Dashboard system is like driving a car without a dashboard, so no speedometer or fuel gage, (hence the name Dashboard). We would just drive like normal, and get a gas bill at the end of each month telling us how much gas and oil we used. The problem with is this is that we don't know if theres anything wrong in the car.  With the Dashboard, we can be more aware of problems or dis-functioning equipment in our buildings and houses, like in cars.  Dr. Francis summed it up by saying that all it takes to be sustainable or have net-zero energy is just being aware of the energy you are using. 

Here'a the link to a Daily Sun article about Dr. Francis's house if you are interested!  

http://azdailysun.com/news/local/the-many-ways-to-build-green/article_79eb9bea-bda7-5cf8-96b2-3555fce0583e.html