Sustainable Development Focus
Concrete Products - Jun 15 A new USGBC report highlights the collaborative efforts across the manufacturing sector to design and implement LEED and prioritize environmental stewardship. Currently, there are more than 1,755 LEED-certified industrial facilities worldwide totaling more than 496 million square feet and an additional 2,710 projects registered totaling nearly 737 million square feet. Report authors note that the manufacturing sector alone is responsible for 30 percent of the nation’s total energy consumption and uses an estimated 15,900 million gallons of water per day, which is roughly 4 percent of total daily water use. Through LEED certification, the world's most widely used green building rating program, industrial facilities are more resource efficient, which translates to increased asset value and millions of dollars in savings for owners and operators.
SmartGridNews - Jun 15 By the end of this year, Irvine will be home to the nation's largest indoor energy storage system thanks to cooperation between energy storage network company Stem, real estate management company LBA Realty, and Principal Real Estate Investors. The new storage facility will be implemented at Irvine's Park Place, a 2.1 million-square-foot mixed-use corporate complex owned and operated by LBA Realty. Once the facility is completed, it will be operated and managed by Millbrae-based Stem. The program will use batteries to store power when energy costs are low. That power can then be used during local power grid peaks when the grid is overtaxed and rates are high.
Solar Industry Magazine - Jun 13 Beginning this summer, Con Edison, SunPower Corp., and Sunverge Energy will partner on a "virtual power plant" pilot program to offer solar power systems with battery storage to more than 300 New York homeowners. The program will integrate over 1.8 megawatts of solar power and about 1.8 megawatts of battery storage. This partnership will represent one the largest residential distributed energy storage programs in the U.S. Under the program, qualified participants will lease SunPower solar systems installed on their homes to help reduce the homeowners' monthly electricity costs. "This ambitious program with Con Edison represents a significant milestone in U.S. energy delivery, demonstrating that combining solar and energy storage can result in a stronger, more resilient grid while providing end customers the opportunity to save on electricity bills," adds Howard Wenger, SunPower president.
Commercial Property Executive - Jun 15 Fourth & Madison, a 40-story Seattle office building developed by Hines and sold to the Teacher's Insurance and Annuity Association of America in 2005, has received Platinum certification under the USGBC's LEED rating system for Existing Buildings. The Platinum LEED rating is based on green features and sustainable programs that include monthly landfill diversion of 78 percent through composting and recycling, supporting a home e-recycling program, partnering with general contractors to maximize trash diversion during tenant improvement construction, and a whole building relamp project that saves approximately 811,295 kwh each year. "TIAA, the owner for Fourth & Madison, has been a strong supporter of sustainable practices over the years, including LEED designations," Gary Holtzer, Hines global sustainability officer, said. "This achievement also supports Hines' efforts to be the industry leader in sustainability, as evidenced by the firm's guiding principles."
SFGate - Jun 17 Designed by the Pulte Group development company, a new home under construction in Brentwood will generate as much electricity as it pulls from the grid over the course of a year, achieving a status known as "zero net energy." Within four years, California officials want all new residential construction in the state to consist of zero net energy homes — a tall order. The house uses two small solar arrays to generate electricity and highly efficient lights and appliances to conserve it. It was also designed to be mass-produced. Although some of its technologies are new, it is a model that can be replicated again and again — or "scalable," a term the builder is borrowing from Silicon Valley.
Inhabitat - Jun 20 Imagine if homes could be built in a matter of hours instead of the usual months-to-years. Quick and efficient building has been the promise of prefab housing for years, and Santa Monica prefab darlings LivingHomes is living up to that promise with an exciting new eco development in Atwater Village, Los Angeles. They've just erected six solar-powered, LEED-certified green homes, each of which only took five hours to assemble.
