Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Immigration and the 2012 Campaign
March Newsletter Online
This newsletter has information about the upcoming March section meeting, April's Technical Seminar and Golf Tournament...
Brooklyn Bridge Park
ICA Signs Ps. 2,013 Million Contract to Build the Tepic Bypass
No Fault Announces Memberships to National Association of Child Care...
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Scranton Teachers, District Reach Contract Settlement
"We were able to reach a collective bargaining tentative agreement," said Scranton Federation of Teachers President Rosemary Boland.
Strains Visible in Homes Data
St. Charles Parish unveils new water treatment plant
Consigli: Framingham State University Dorm
Aegion Corporation Reports Fourth Quarter and Year-End 2011 Results
Construction industry could be crippled'
A 90-day shutdown of the country's leading manufacturer of cement and ready-mix products could cripple the construction industry, former president of the Trinidad and Tobago Contractors Association , Mikey Joseph, said yesterday.
Buffett Says Energy Future Bet at Risk of Being Wiped Out
Warren Buffett, who bought about $2 billion in bonds of power company Energy Future Holdings Corp., said the investment is at risk of losing all its value after natural gas prices fell.
TEXT-S&P Summary: Centrica PLC
Monday, February 27, 2012
McCarthy: Cornell University
Avatar Holdings Changes Its Name, Business Plan
Brooklyn Bridge Park
Stronger Lure for Prospective Home Buyers
Avatar Holdings Changes Its Name, Business Plan
Tax assessment disputes to ease this year
Dmitry Koublitsky near a property in Bloomfield Hills where the investors got the assessment lowered.
Dow 13,000 is a big number, but it's just a number
A board on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange shows the Down Jones Industrial average as it crosses 13,000 shortly after the market opened, Friday, Feb.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Panagbenga is symbol of rise of Baguio, says Tourism chief
John Schoen offers tips on housing, rates
TODAY Money expert and msnbc.com senior writer John Schoen joined us for a live web chat Wednesday to talk about the housing market.
New-Home Sales? Decline Offset by Data Revisions
Fluor Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2011 Results
URS Corp Fourth Quarter Earnings Sneak Peek
URS Corp will unveil its latest earnings on Monday, February 27, 2012. URS is an international provider of engineering, construction and technical services.
Automatic Shades Inspire Office Frustration
The Seattle building Brent Rogers designed for his architecture firm, NBBJ, has won awards for its natural light, flexible workspace, and sustainability.
Haiti's Iron Market
Saturday, February 25, 2012
SOM wins Beijing competition
New York-based firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill has won the Beijing Bohi Innovation City Master Plan Competition for its designs for a satellite city along China's high-speed rail corridor.
Watermark
Hunt/Moss: Florida Marlins Stadium
Opinion: Is Christie right about Buffett?
Editor's note: Matt Welch is editor in chief of Reason and co-author of " The Declaration of Independents: How Libertarian Politics Can Fix What's Wrong with America " . -- It's fitting that Warren Buffett would be making political headlines the same month that reviews started tumbling in for the new book " Leak: Why Mark Felt Became Deep Throat ".
Pulte to Cut Executives
Jane's Carousel
Copper rallies on signs of improving US home sales
Copper rallied Friday after the housing market shows more signs of improvement, which offered investors hope that demand may be strengthening for the industrial metal.
Friday, February 24, 2012
Weis superstore to offer wide selection
As Housing Goes, So Goes the Economy
Stair-Climbing Champion Repeats
US stock futures dip as Europe frets over Greece
U.S. stock futures are lower Wednesday, echoing declines in Europe where investors fretted over the details of the Greek bailout plan.
A Lifeline for Underwater Homeowners
Stock futures signal higher Wall St open
Stock index futures pointed to a rise in U.S. equities on Tuesday after the market opens following the Presidents Day holiday, with futures for the S&P 500, the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq 100 rising 0.4-0.5 percent.
An Interview with Amanda Burden
Mortgage settlement leaves most homeowners to fend for themselves
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Video: IBS Day Three
Jerry Chandler
Jerry Chandler was a native of Atlanta, GA. After a long battle with leukemia, Jerry, our brother and son, passed on November 14, 2011, at the age of 55.
Member Section Schedule Extension for Revit Structure 2012
Fletcher Building chief executive Jonathan Ling.
A construction materials outlook from global business RBS rated Fletcher to a stock to buy, priced it at $7.44 and said it had become one of its choice picks in the Australasian sector.
Office and home rent will keep rising and rising
Builder Confidence Hits Four-Year High
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Builder Confidence Hits Four-Year High
DJC Green Building Blog
Dan Bertolet looks at success, cost efficiency of Issaquah?s zHome
This is a guest post by Dan Bertolet, founder of Citytank and an urban planner with Via Architecture.
Over the past few decades designers and policymakers have been working to increase the energy efficiency of buildings, and solid progress has been made. Still, today in the United States buildings account for 49 percent of energy use and 46 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. Successfully tackling the dual challenges of rising energy costs and climate change is going to take massive reductions of building energy use.
A conceptual holy grail for energy-efficient building design is a building that generates as much energy as it consumes, a.k.a. a zero net energy building. And that's the goal of a recently completed 10-unit townhome development in Issaquah, WA, known as zHome, touted as the ?first multifamily, production, zero-energy, carbon-neutral community in the United States.?
Spearheaded by the City of Issaquah, the zHome project was awarded to David Vandervort Architects in Fall 2007, but subsequently the real estate bust forced the original builder to back out. Howland Homes took over in Summer 2008, and the project broke ground that September. Faced with financing challenges and delays, Howland then partnered with Ichijo, a large Japanese builder known for energy-efficient production homes, and the project finished in September 2011.
zHome was designed to achieve zero net energy use through efficiency measures that reduce consumption by about two-thirds, and photovoltaics (PV) that generate enough electricity to cover the remaining third---approximately 5,000 kWh per year. That requires a hefty amount of PV, and indeed, the south-facing panels that cover the roofs are a prominent feature. During the sunny summer months the PV produce more energy than the buildings need, and the excess is fed back to the grid. If the building operates as expected, that "banked" energy will offset the energy consumed during the dark winter months when PV output is low, the result being zero net energy use on an annual basis.
Energy-efficiency measures incorporated in zHome include ground source heat pumps that provide space heating and domestic hot water, heat recovery ventilation, a tightly sealed and highly insulated envelope (R38 wall, R63 roof, U-0.33 double pane windows), efficient appliances, LED lighting, switched outlets to reduce phantom loads, and a real-time energy monitoring system. (The project is also designed to reduce water consumption by 70 percent.)
So how much did all that extra stuff increase the cost? Asking prices for the units are relatively high for Issaquah: $385k for 799 s.f. 1-bedroom; $530k for 1350 s.f. 2 bedroom; and $625k for 1694 s.f. 3-bedroom. Apparently the free land and significant logistical support provided by the City weren't enough to negate the cost premium. Eventually the upfront investment in efficiency would be offset by savings in the energy (and water) bills, but given current energy prices payback periods are relatively long. Of course, if all the externalized costs of our energy were included it would be a different story, but unfortunately a carbon tax is not happening any time soon.
It remains to be seen if zHome will achieve zero net energy performance in the real world, and success will likely depend to some extent on the energy use habits of the occupants---one thing designers don't have much control over. In any case, whether or not a building can produce enough energy on site to hit net-zero isn't necessarily the be all and end all for sustainable design. Arguably, what's more important is the practice of "efficiency first"---that is, first figure out how to fully minimize the building's energy use, and then worry about how to supply the remaining energy demand.
For example, the Bullitt Foundation's Living Building is targeting zero net energy and incorporates cutting-edge energy-efficient design. But analysis suggests that it could have been even more efficient if it had been built to the European Passive House standard, in which case it would have required less PV, potentially reducing both cost and physical design constraints.
Furthermore, when you look beyond the single building and consider larger systems of buildings and energy production, in some cases powering a building from an offsite energy source may make more sense than struggling to max out on-site generation. And for buildings taller than about six or seven stories, there simply won't be enough solar energy impinging on the site to meet demand, even for a hyper-efficient building.
In conclusion, while the concept of zero net energy buildings may have its limitations, projects like zHome and the Bullitt Foundation building remain hugely important for making progress on energy-efficient design. That's because they challenge designers to (1) work within a highly constrained energy budget, and (2) explore the limits of on-site energy production. And then there's also the potential for the big win as the designs move into the mainstream. Indeed, Ichijo has ambitions to ramp up the zHome concept to high-volume production. It won't be a moment too soon.
Dan Bertolet is an Urban Planner with VIA Architecture. VIA thanks City of Issaquah Program Manager Brad Liljequist for generously providing a tour of zHome. All photos by the author.
P.S. The DJC's Green Building Blog has written extensively about this project. To read more, and follow its progress, type 'zhome' in our search bar.
Lombardi-Norris, Gessow and Viola Join ERA Insite
Lou Budetti, broker/owner of ERA Insite Realty Services with offices in White Plains and Bronxville, has announced that Gail Lombardi-Norris, Todd Gessow, and Tracy Viola have joined the White Plains office as licensed real estate salespersons.
Gut Feelings and Graphs Point to Market Improvement
Why It's Time to Buy
RLF: Irwin Army Community Hospital
Metro Phoenix real estate agents fight new MLS data system
Many metro Phoenix real-estate agents have been dealing with data and technology glitches over the past few weeks.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Super cheap granite home makeover
Most real estate agents will tell you that upgrading to stone countertops in your kitchen or bathroom can add as much as 20 percent to the value of your home.
Halstead's Dolan Named Realtor Emeritus
Halstead Property announced that real estate agent Marianne Dolan of their New Canaan office has been recognized for being a Realtor Emeritus after 40 years in the business.
Home Forecast Calls for Pain
Anderson Corp. wins casino contract
Roy Anderson Corp., of Gulfport has been selected by Bossier Casino Venture LLC as general contractor for construction of the $197 million Margaritaville Resort Casino and Hotel Resort in Bossier City, La.
As One World Trade Center soars, so do its costs
One World Trade Center, the skyscraper that?s being constructed at New York City?s Ground Zero, may now be the most expensive new office tower in the world.
Sparks step out, and Balfour Beatty steps back
BLACK-TIED bosses had to run the gauntlet of angry electricians and other trades unionists, and London's busy Park Lane was brought to a halt for over an hour by protesters, on Wednesday night, February 15, outside the posh Grosvenor House hotel.