To prove that high-performance buildings that are comfortable can be built and at a reasonable cost, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) launched a $40 million multi-round competition in 2019 called Buildings of Excellence. With New…
In need of a new facility to educate future chemists, doctors and dentists, Bristol Community College tasked the design team with creating a cutting-edge teaching laboratory. However, while the project was paused due to funding questions, the design team seized the opportunity to reassess their initial approach.
What happens when a building scientist and his family design and build their own house?
A California city started from scratch for its new library instead of renovating after it outgrew space for its vital community programs. The new, net zero energy library will meet its diverse community’s needs for years to come.
Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) is a nonprofit dedicated to transforming global energy use to create a clean, prosperous, and secure low-carbon future. Therefore, when RMI needed a new office and convening center for 50 employees in the mountain community of Basalt, Colo., they seized the opportunity to practice what they preached with a state-of-the-art building that achieved an unprecedented level of integration, automation, and performance.
What started out as a path to Silver, turned out to be an opportunity for Platinum certification for a new Aviation Support Battalion Hangar at Fort Carson in Colorado. As the design process moved forward, it was evident that Silver could be easily obtained, and additional credits were within reach for a Gold certified facility.
Built as a sustainable, energy-efficient, and environment-friendly facility meeting LEED Platinum requirements, the new Cincinnati District 3 Police Station is designed to generate as much energy as it consumes.
A new public building provides a unique opportunity to reach out into the community. Cincinnati worked with residents to design its Police HQ.
For buildings to withstand sea-level rise, coastline erosion, and hurricanes, they need to be built to work with nature, not against it. The Brock Environmental Center is a living example of how to minimize impact on the environment while being resilient to future challenges. The triple net zero building is the latest to receive Living Building Challenge certification and is the first in the U.S. to receive a permit for drinking rainwater treated to federal standards.
For schools in drought-stricken areas, net zero energy and water strategies help future-proof against utility rate hikes. But, the price tag for net zero can be too high for school budgets. Fortunately, a library project at Sacred Heart School in northern California illustrates that it is possible to deliver a net zero energy building within a conventional budget while teaching kids about the value of conserving resources.
Seventy-six percent of americans live within five miles of a Walgreens store. With such a large footprint, the corporation decided that creating a net zero store was the next logical step to reduce its impact on the environment and to save on energy costs.
Solar panel canopies covering the ATM drive-through and pedestrian walkways at the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., PNC Bank branch are the first indication that this is no ordinary bank.
As the first step toward what could be an entirely net zero energy campus, Portland Community College Newberg Center is a proving ground of sorts for the college.
At the Locust Trace AgriScience Center, students learn agriculture by doing.
The San Jose, Calif., office of Integrated Design Associates (IDeAs) achieves net zero energy by keeping building loads to a minimum and using building-integrated photovoltaic panels to produce electricity.
The small town of Chrisney, Ind., turned to net zero to overcome financial hurdles and realize the residents’ dream of building a library. The town lost its high school in the 1970s and then its highway due to an expansion and rerouting, and hoped a library would stem the tide of decline. For five years, the small, simple library has served as a source of pride for this shrinking town, providing a resource for information and a community gathering place while producing more electricity than it consumes.
Historic preservation and net zero energy performance may seem like opposing goals.
Visitors come to the Maine Coastal Botanical Gardens' Bosarge Family Education Center to improve their green thumbs, hear a concert or to celebrate a wedding.
How would using today's LED technology change the classroom design of Richardsville (Ky.) Elementary, the nation's first net zero energy school?
Before construction of the Hood River Middle School Music and Science Building, music students practiced in an old bus barn outbuilding and science students conducted experiments in a lab with outdated equipment.
When the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) decided to move 800 staff out of leased space into a new office building on its Golden, Colo., campus, it used that opportunity to build a living lab for best practices in net zero energy performance based on DOE and NREL research.
The Omega Center for Sustainable Living in upstate New York decided to build a wastewater treatment system to mitigate its impact on the tributary system ...
A classroom and office building on the French island of La Reunion, near Madagascar, demonstrates that sustainable design saves significant energy while providing ...
K-12 students learn about alternative energy and test their own renewable energy systems at a living lab that last year produced twice as much energy ...
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