Green Beams

GREEN BEAMS – INTEGRATING GREEN DESIGN INTO MAINE BUILDINGS

Tuition: $200; scholarships available

I. Green Benchmarks: Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design System (LEED)

Tuesday class, April 1; Site visit, Sat April 5: Presenter:

Ayola Greene
Contact info: 323-6874 (c)
ayola@eacarchitecture.com

Site visit(s) are planned for Cranberry Ridge, a platinum-certified LEED house in Freeport that is having an April 5 open house to benefit Freeport Community Services. Possibly another house in Freeport.

The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System is the nationally accepted benchmark for design and construction of "green" buildings. It was developed by the US Green Building Council (USGBC) which is a non-profit organization. On April first, we will discuss the line items that help a residential building fit within this system. LEED is mostly energy focused - we can also discuss items that are not included in this rating system.

There are 178 LEED certified buildings in the United States and Canada; seven are in Maine. On April fifth, we will tour one of them, Cranberry Ridge. Cranberry Ridge is a spec house designed by Richard Renner and built by Wright Ryan Construction. It achieved the highest rating - platinum. It is still on the market and is open for the benefit of Freeport Community Services. We will be able to see first hand what items helped this house achieve LEED platinum status. Also, the house is furnished by local craftspeople with sustainable products.

Bios:
Ayola Greene is an architect, living in Belfast and working with Eric Chase Architecture in Brooksville. She joined the USGBC in New York City in 1998 and continues participating in the Maine chapter on the program committee. Her main interests in the sustainable field are indoor air quality (IAQ) and material beauty, composition and life cycle.

Danuta Drozdowicz was the LEED provider project manager of the Cranberry Ridge while working with Fore Solutions. She has recently established an new organization centered around sustainable issues and consulting called Context Collaborative. [Danuta will be showing us around the place.]

II. Integrated design theory - Tuesday, April 15; site visit, Sat., April 19 Presenter: Matt O’Malia

matthew omalia design office llc
Work: 338-1566
91 Cedar St., Belfast, Me. 04915
mtomalia@verizon.net

Site visit: a home in Belfast/Searsmont area

To build in an environmentally sustainable way requires that we make smaller more efficient buildings that respond directly to occupant comfort as well as a specific climate. The more demands we put on our buildings in terms of their comfort, environmental performance and longevity, the more complex the design of the building and its components become. Integrated design theory addresses this complexity, and seeks design solutions that incorporate it into a seamless whole. The first half of the presentation will look closely at defining the specific issues of building in this climate assuming specific energy goals. The second half will look at the design opportunities, exploring ways to use the built form to integrate the factors of climate, site, orientation, massing, construction, program, and heating/ cooling into a coherent design solution.

Bio:
Matthew O'Malia received his Bachelor in Environmental Design from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio in 1993 and a post graduate degree in Architecture at the Staedelschule Kunst Akadame in Frankfurt in 1997. Matthew joined Elliott Elliott Norelius Architects in 1998 and worked there as a project architect until 2007, and in the same year founded Matthew Omalia Design Office llc, a multi disciplinary design office in Belfast Maine.

III. Green by the Numbers – class, Tues, April 29; site visit, Saturday, May 3:

Presenter: Alan Gibson

Gibson Design/Build, Inc
163 Moosehead Trail
Waldo ME 04915
mobile 323-3079
home 722-3079
work agibson@pivot.net

Site one described below; Working on a second Belfast site to visit

Green by the Numbers will look at the potential energy savings in a typical 2,000 sq. ft. home by comparing a standard-built house with a “super-built” house. Through energy modeling I will show that the “super” house uses 20% of the energy for space heating that the standard house uses. I will describe the changes to the envelope required to achieve this level of energy reduction, and the class will go through the process of determining heat loss and solar heat gain with energy calculations. For the field trip we will visit a house I built recently in Belfast to these specifications.

Bio:
Alan Gibson is the owner of Gibson Design/Build, Inc., a general contracting and design company based in Waldo. For many years, he’s been trying to crack the nut of highly-efficient design coupled with affordability in home building.

IV. Pushing the Envelope - Best Practices for Energy Efficient, High- Performance Buildings – class, Tuesday, May 13; site visit, Sat., May 17; Presenter: Richard Riegel Burbank,

Evergreen Home Performance
328 Main St, #207
Rockland, ME 04841
Office: 207-594-2244, 1-877-538-2244
Fax: 1-877-429-5458
Cell: 207-691-6517
richard@evergreenhp.com
www.evergreenhp.com

Site visits: one would be a energy analysis of WA building, plus a second bldg in Belfast, tbd

In the US, buildings are responsible for almost half (48%) of all energy consumption and green house gas emissions annually; globally the percentage is even greater. Improving energy efficiency of buildings is crucial with the dramatic increases in oil prices and concern over global warming.

While there is great interest and glamour in alternate energy sources like solar, a building’s outer shell, or “building envelope”, determines how much energy is required to keep the interior comfortable. Maximizing the envelope’s performance can dramatically reduce the demand for energy, whatever the source.

We’ll discuss the building envelope and how it is a crucial detail for achieving energy efficiency in any new construction or renovation. Focus will be on state of the art practices that integrate a well-insulated, air-tight building envelope with good ventilation for indoor air quality.

We will discuss the pitfalls and potential building failures when striving for energy efficiency in a construction or renovation project.

Maine’s large stock of older homes have lasted for 100 years and more precisely because they are drafty and burned lots of fuel to heat through the winter. Making an older home comfortable and efficient requires insulating and sealing drafts as well as a plan to address moisture, ensure good indoor air quality and prevent mold and rot.

Burbank will demonstrate how high-tech diagnostic tools, including the infrared camera and the blower door, can help assess the performance of a building envelope. During the site visit, these tools will be demonstrated on the Waterfall Arts building to show lack of insulation in the walls and air leakage through the building.

Some recent projects in new construction and retrofit will be presented including a new super efficient dormitory project at College of the Atlantic, a local home energy and building performance renovation project, and an elementary school air leakage reduction project.

Bio:
Richard Riegel Burbank founded Evergreen Home Performance LLC in 2006. The company provides building diagnostics and building envelope installation and renovation. Projects range from installing cellulose in new construction and retrofit, air leakage reduction in residential and commercial buildings, and moisture mitigation in basements and crawlspaces. He is one of the first Building Performance Institute certified analysts in Maine, and an affiliated contractor with Maine Home Performance with Energy Star and ZeroDraft.

V. Energy Systems Integration – class, Tues., May 27; site visit, Sat, May 31 Presenter: Pat Coon

ReVision Energy
90 W. Main St.
Liberty ME 04949
Pat@ReVisionenergy.com
www.ReVisionenergy.com
589-3234
323-1805

Site visits: Thanhauser house needs confirmation, working on a second site in Belfast area

We'll explore various techniques to produce the energy necessary for a modern, efficient home. We'll look at the competing interests of simplicity, efficiency and up front costs in the design process. What technologies are available and when should each be used? Specific attention will be placed on biomass for heat (wood and pellets), solar electricity, solar thermal energy, wind, and fossil fuels.

I'd like a field trip to include the Thanhauser residence in Belfast, new construction that heats with wood, and has solar hot water and Photovoltaic Electricity. Another field trip can be to the ReVision Energy shop in Liberty, where we heat with a high efficiency wood boiler, and have solar hot water for domestic hot water, plus lots of fun things to play with.

Bio:
Pat Coon is a founding Partner in ReVision Energy, formerly Energyworks, the state’s leading installer of renewable energy systems.

VI. Putting it All Together: Case Studies – class Tuesday, June 10; site visits, Saturday, June 14;

Presenters: Sarah Holland and David Foley

Holland & Foley
Work: 338-9869
232 Beech Hill Rd.
Northport ME 04849
david@hollandandfoley.com
sarah@hollandandfoley.com
www.hollandandfoley.com

Site visits: Northport office, Camden house

Putting it All Together: Case Studies will be a presentation of several projects which incorporate processes and techniques discussed in previous classes as well as new ideas. David and Sarah will focus on three different projects and have time for Q &A afterwards. The field trip will include visits to two of these projects. The first is our new office in Northport, which is currently under construction. The second is a new house completed last year in Camden.

Bios:
Sarah Holland is a registered architect with over 20 years of experience. She worked with several firms in New England before entering private practice. Sarah attended the State University of New York at Buffalo in the ‘80’s and graduated from the Boston Architecture Center in 1988. She has held an interest in solar design and environmental building throughout her career.

David Foley has worked in environmental building since 1980, as a designer, builder, researcher and teacher. He worked for several architecture firms before joining Sarah. He has a Masters of Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley, a Masters of Professional Studies in Resource Economics from the University of Maine, and a Bachelor of Arts in Community Design from Dartmouth College.

Holland & Foley Architecture L.L.C. was founded in 1994 as a firm focusing on environmentally responsible design. Together, David Foley and Sarah Holland have worked on numerous residential, institutional and commercial projects throughout Maine, which share a common thread of energy and environmental mindfulness.