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New Uses for Wood in Construction

Philip Proefrock

Wood is a versatile construction material. It has been used for thousands of years. It has low embodied energy compared to many other building materials, and it serves to sequester carbon. But, compared with steel, it is relatively weak, and that, combined with its inherent combustability, has meant that wood is not used for structures more than a few stories tall. Now, a new development in wood construction called cross-laminated timber (CLT) is making new possibilities available in wood construction.

Cross-laminated timber panels are like massive plywood boards. Instead of shaving a log into a veneer and then gluing it together to make a board a few eighths of an inch thick, a CLT panel is made from pieces of sawn wood and is several inches thick. Like plywood, alternating layers are laid perpendicular to one another, so that the finished panel is stronger and more dimensionally stable than plain wood would be.

Because the panels are many inches thick, there is an inherent fire resistance to the material, which, in the event of a fire, will char on the outside but will not burn through quickly. Construction with CLT is also faster and requires fewer workers and lighter equipment, which can make construction more affordable.

The Stadhaus is a 9-story residential building in London which was built using CLT and is the tallest modern building constructed with wood. At present, CLT is primarily a European development, but fabrication plants are under construction in the US, and CLT panels should start to be available within a couple of years.

image: Wood in Design

via: JetsonGreen and BC Forestry

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San Francisco Making Buildings Bird-Safe

Megan Treacy

As much as is made of wind turbines being a threat to birds, they don't even come close to the biggest manmade killer of birds: buildings. Highly reflective window glass claims as many as one billion birds a year in North America, while city lights at night can cause migratory birds to become disoriented, often leading to their death.

San Francisco officials are hoping to help protect the 400 different species of birds that inhabit their city by introducing a new law called Standards for Bird-Safe Buildings.

The standards are mainly voluntary, but new buildings, additions and retrofits, buildings near urban bird refuges, as well as structures like freestanding clear glass walls, skywalks, rooftop greenhouses and enclosed balconies do have to comply with some mandatory rules.

To make these buildings and structures bird-safe, owners can place netting in front of windows or place ceramic lines or dots on glass to cut down on their reflectivity, while preserving the ability to see out. To keep from confusing migrating birds at night, buildings will also have to observe lights-out ordinances during the migratory season.

via NY Times

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University of Maryland Wins 2011 Solar Decathlon

Philip Proefrock

The WaterShed, designed and built by a team from the University of Maryland, is the winner of the 2011 Solar Decathlon. In addition to winning the overall competition, the Maryland entry also took first place in the Architecture category and second place in the Market Appeal category, and was in the top 5 in almost every category, including two other categories where they tied with several other teams for first place.

The winning house is just 876 square feet (81.4 square meters) in area. It not only utilizes solar photovoltaic (PV) and solar thermal, but also incorporates water collection, greywater filtration, and an edible garden wall among its numerous features.

Second-place in the Decathlon was won by Purdue University, and the team from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand received the third-place award.

link: Maryland Solar Decathlon Page

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2011 Solar Decathlon Underway

Philip Proefrock

It's autumn, and the annual Solar Decathlon is underway (through October 2nd). After being highlighted on the National Mall for several years, this year, the contestants are instead located in West Potomac Park, near the Roosevelt and Jefferson Memorials in Washington DC, maybe less publicly front-and-center, but no less interesting and engaging than in previous years.

The Solar Decathlon teams compete with small, energy efficient model homes that address five key criteria:

Affordable, attractive, and easy to live in

Maintains comfortable and healthy indoor environmental conditions

Supplies energy to household appliances for cooking, cleaning, and entertainment

Provides adequate hot water

Produces as much or more energy than it consumes

This year's contestants include teams from 20 universities from across the US, as well as international teams from Belgium, Canada, China, and New Zealand.

The projects are judged on ten different contests throughout the week. Public voting for the People's Choice Award runs through Sunday, when the final winner will be announced.

Link: Gallery of Houses

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Google Avoiding 'Red List' Building Materials

Philip Proefrock

Last month, Google announced that it would no longer use any of the construction materials found on the Living Building Challenge's "red list." For a company that is opening new office space at a rate of 40,000 square feet (about 3,700 square meters) per week, that's a lot of construction activity, and a lot of materials that are no longer being used for those projects. It's also a leadership role from a company that wants to be environmentally positive.

The red list (as opposed to the green list) is a list of construction materials that include components made from products such as mercury, asbestos, PVC, formaldehyde and lead. In most cases, these materials are poor for the indoor air quality of the spaces where they are installed. But, even if the final form is relatively inert, the production of these materials also has a large environmental toll due to the extraction of materials used to produce them and from the processing of raw materials to make the finished products.

The Living Building Challenge goes beyond LEED and other green building programs with a standard for creating buildings that are restorative and balanced, rather than being merely "less bad" than typical construction. The red list is found in the Materials section of the Living Building Challenge 2.0 guidebook (pdf).

Like LEED itself, Google's size makes this a decision that will have ramifications throughout the construction industry. Manufacturers who use red list materials in their products will see sales declines not only from Google, but from other companies who will follow Google's lead in this.

The Building Green blog has a wonderful followup that talks not only about these rules, but offers a wider approach to considering appropriate building materials from an environmental perspective.

link: International Living Future Institute

via: friends on Twitter

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