When it comes to making your home properly insulated and energy-efficient, there is much conflicting information around the best insulation methodto consider. From concrete foams and blocks, blanket bats and rolls, loose fit and blown-ins, to reflective systems, the options are just too many.

However, there is this one technique that most homeowners give priority, especially when planning to hire commercial flat roofing in Midland, Michigan for their roofing needs. That is the spray foam insulation. Here are four key reasons why you need to give this technique some attention:

Spray foam insulation outperforms popular types of insulation due to its expansiveness. The two resins that make up the foam, isocyanate and polyol resins, typically react and expand to utmost 60 times their liquid volumes when sprayed. As a result, insulation experts can easily make the foam into desirable shapes that fit into all nooks and crannies of various surfaces.

Secondly, spray foam insulation has incredibly high R-value as compared to other variants in the market. For open cell coating, the foam offers an R-3.7inch value. On the other hand, closed-cell coating guarantees as high as R-6Inch value. The difference between the two values is that the first option allows penetration of water vapor. At the same time, the latter is a permanent barrier to both air and water vapor penetration.

The resistance value of spray foam is incredibly high as compared to other variants in the market. Open-cell spray foam coating features an R-value of about 3.7 inches. Whereas closed-cell coating has an R-value of about six inches. The difference between the two R-values is because the open cell is water vapor permeable while the latter is not.

If you are looking for a form of insulation that will guarantee lifetime efficiency for your insulation needs, then spray foam is your best bet. During application, experts mix then spray the two resins onto the surfaces and cracks on the walls, attics, basement, and unheated surfaces. Upon exposure to air, the two resins expand aggressively, leaving no crevice or crack unfilled. The liquid then settles to foam a solid rock barrier that can stay for as long as you will be ready to demolish it.

Spray foam does not lose its R-value over time. Meaning, its efficiency and functionality level will remain intact for as long as you would wish to move out.

Most homesteads in the U.S.lose approximately 56% of their energy through heating and cooling. However, with unsealed pores and cold winter weather, the figures can go to as high as 70%. At this level, your energy bills can double or even triple.

Houses treated with spray foams guarantee energy-efficiency of up to 50%. The foam acts as a barrier to penetration of heat into the thermal envelope in the homestead. The resulting airtight envelope around the house will also prevent heat from escaping from inside the house to the exterior worlds. That saves on expenses that you could have used to heat the room.

Spray foam remains the best option when it comes to home insulation. It offers the best value for money and guarantees user experience that is second to none. Feel free to check it out when doing your attic, basement, walls, floors and crawl spaces, ductworks, sidewalls, and any other easy to overlook areas in your homestead.

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3 Reasons You Need to Install Spray Foam Insulation - Fife Free Press

On average, your home may lose around 30 percent of its heating energy through its windows.

Products that earn the ENERGY STAR are independently certified to save energy, save money and protect the climate.

By installing ENERGY STAR certified windows and doors, you are using up to 30 percent less energy which reduces greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and homes.

When you put an end to cold drafts and overheated spaces, you significantly decrease your energy use and lower utility bills. Energy-efficient windows and doors also have great insulation features, blocking unwanted noise from your home.

Replacing your windows can enhance the value of your home by 20 percent. According to a recent study, 84 percent of millennials are willing to pay up to 3 percent more for an energy-efficient home. Additionally, 76 percent of homeowners are concerned about the energy efficiency of their windows.

Energy-efficient windows and doors also reduces your carbon footprint. Your carbon footprint measures the carbon dioxide emissions that are caused by your activities, and home energy accounts for about one-quarter of your carbon footprint.

Window World installs replacement windows year-round and a standard install will take only one day. Installers install one window at a time and are trained to do whatever necessary to minimize heating/cooling loss. The energy savings from the new windows will recover any additional costs incurred within a few days.

Over time the price of your windows and doors may be offset by cost savings on your energy bills associated with our energy-efficient windows, siding, and doors. The tax credits are also available for residential renewable energy products through Dec. 31, 2021.

Window World of Joliet: 2363 Copper Ct., Crest Hill, IL 60403, 815-729-3100, http://www.windowworldjoliet.com

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Why energy-efficient windows and doors are important for your home and the environment - The Herald-News

Bob Biggio, the buoyant former merchant marine who oversees facilities and support services for BMC, likens a hospital to an oceangoing ship: Both need to be self-sufficient and resilient in extreme weather and unexpected disasters. Years before the coronavirus pandemic was upending life around the world, Biggio was preparing for crises by changing the sprawling campus to work more efficiently. The efforts are paying off now as the hospital works to keep patients and employees safe by erecting tents outside facilities to screen for possible cases, conserving protective equipment, and reducing clinical traffic through telehealth, among other measures. Unlike a hurricane or other natural disaster that clinicians have to react to, BMC is dealing with the virus much more proactively, Biggio says. Its all hands on deck.

Biggios no tree hugger; hes been driving the bulk of the emissions reduction and other sustainability efforts he initiated as part of a campus consolidation effort about a decade ago because they make financial sense, especially at a hospital like this one, where more than half of the patients are from underserved populations. Along with a deal to offset its fossil fuel use by buying solar power from North Carolina, these moves have made BMC about 96 percent carbon neutral for energy, and its on track to become New Englands first carbon-neutral hospital by year-end, Biggio says. Hes quick to acknowledge that BMC is still using fossil fuels but offsets them with renewable energy credits.

_____

Every day, in the course of providing medical care, the global health care industry is also making people sick. Thats because its one of the biggest polluters in the world. Compared with many other industries, it emits a disproportionate amount of greenhouse gases and other harmful pollutants into the air. Thousands of hospitals around the United States rely on fossil fuels night and day to power equipment and to heat, cool, and light buildings, contributing to the pollution and global warming that, in turn, can cause or aggravate maladies. For years, medical waste incinerators were considered the top source of dioxinsthe harmful result of burning chlorinated IV bags and other materials that once conveyed lifesaving treatments to patients. (Advocacy efforts and US Environmental Protection Agency regulations shrank the number of such incinerators from 2,400 in 1997 to around 30 as of 2013, which is the last time the agency says it updated its inventory.)

Exposure to dirty air, carcinogens produced by burning waste, and neurotoxins such as mercury has caused significant harm to people, including birth defects, brain damage, and learning disabilities. Given the health care sectors enormous impact, its healing mission, and its Hippocratic oath, hospitals have an extra responsibility compared to other industries to kick their addiction to fossil fuels, says Gary Cohen, who cofounded the nonprofit advocacy group Health Care Without Harm in 1996 and was awarded a MacArthur genius grant in 2015.

If the global health care sector were a country, it would be the fifth-largest greenhouse gas emitter on the planet, estimates a September report from Health Care Without Harm. In the United States, the industry accounts for 10 percent of greenhouse gas emissions and 9 percent of other types of harmful air pollutants, according to research cited by a Journal of the American Medical Association commentary published in August. Ironically, modern health care is a major contributor to pollution that adversely affects human health, it warned. As the health implications of climate change have become clearer, prompting clinicians to push the entities they work for to green their operations, BMC has emerged as a national leader.

Kate Walsh, BMCs president and chief executive, cochairs a working group of 20 health care entities tackling climate change that is part of the Boston Green Ribbon Commission. Besides BMC, the group includes Brigham and Womens Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital, which are part of the Partners HealthCare system, and other heavy hitters such as Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston Childrens Hospital, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Tufts Medical Center. Collectively, theyve cut their greenhouse gas emissions by one-third since 2011, the group estimates, exceeding city and state targets. Boston, seen all over the world as a medical mecca, is likely the only city in the United States that collects such data from its health care sector, says Paul Lipke, a senior adviser to Health Care Without Harm, which coordinates the effort. Its quite unusual even to know what an entire metro health sectors greenhouse gas progress has been.

Clinicians recognize the most vulnerable populations are the least equipped to cope with the illnesses, injuries, and diseases caused or exacerbated by climate change, Lipke says. The urgency comes from what we see in our emergency rooms every time theres a heat wave or extreme weather.

_____

For Lilliana Arteaga, 46, who oversees a Boston public schools playgroup program for toddlers and their parents, the health effects of fossil fuels and climate change are personal. She and two of her three children suffer from asthma that gets worse when the air quality is bad or the temperature swings significantly. When her asthma kicks in, It feels like I have ropes tying my lungs and I cannot stretch them to catch the air, Arteaga says.

Her youngest son, Damyen, used an inhaler three times a day for a year until his doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital recommended he start taking a chewable pill daily and stay indoors as much as possible. Damyens medication doesnt stop the 7-year-old from coughing and coughing until he feels like hes going to pass out from bus exhaust and other triggers, Arteaga says.

In January, doctors found a third tumor in Arteagas right lung. Like the colon cancer for which she was diagnosed five years ago and successfully treated, these tumors are likely linked to environmental, not genetic, factors, her doctors say.

Arteaga joined the East Boston chapter of the advocacy group Mothers Out Front in November to connect with others affected by the climate crisis and to help spread the word about the health impacts of burning fossil fuels. When it touches you is when you really get into learning more about it, she says. Whenever their kids are coughing too much, people come and ask questions. They want to know more about the environmental cancer and asthma.

In mid-January, the Boston City Council unanimously passed a resolution, offered by Councilor Matt OMalley, affirming that the climate crisis is a public health emergency, echoing the conclusion reached by more than 100 health groups, including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

_____

Six stories above Massachusetts Avenue, on the rooftop of BMCs massive Yawkey Ambulatory Care Center, nine air handling units are pumping fresh air into the building 24-seven. The air needs to be filtered, changed regularly, and warmed or cooled depending on the departmentthe babies in the neonatal unit need warmer and moister air than a standard patient room, for instance. Heating and cooling systems are hospitals biggest energy hogs, accounting for far more total consumption than lights or medical equipment, says Jack Nelson, managing partner of the Boston office of engineering firm CMTA. Biggio credits Nelson with helping mastermind BMCs efficiency overhaul. Making these systems less hoggish involved modifying and increasing the size of the ductwork throughout the building to reduce the engine power needed to push the air into the building. The changes save BMC around $1.3 million annually on energy that Yawkey used to require, Nelson says.

On the same rooftop, a cogeneration plant a bit bigger than a tractor-trailer hums, burning natural gas to generate electricity. Most of the plants waste heat, rather than escaping into the crisp blue sky, is being used to supplement the buildings heating. If a storm causes a blackout in Boston, the hospital can operate for months as long as its natural gas supply is flowing. Biggio traces his experiences on ships operating on the high seas and his visits to hospitals recovering in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and Superstorm Sandy to the investment in the plant, which was installed in 2017.

About 10 years ago, BMCs Walsh bet on Biggios plan to consolidate the hospitals sprawling campus, reduce its energy use, and make it more resilient to severe weather. At the time, BMC the result of a hard-fought merger of two hospitals, orchestrated by Mayor Thomas Menino in 1996was facing receivership. We were, frankly, looking for savings, Walsh says.

The consolidation, renovations, and efficiency improvements cost about $400 million. BMCs footprint shrank by 400,000 square feet, but its patient volume is up 20 percent and its energy and operations savings top $30 million annually. To pay for the projects, BMC issued green bond offerings totaling over $200 million, sold real estate, and got grants. The bonds were three to four times oversubscribed, suggesting their environmental nature increased investors appetite and likely shifted the interest rates in BMCs favor, Biggio says.

Dr. Jennifer Tseng, BMCs surgeon-in-chief and chair of the surgery department at the Boston University School of Medicine, recalls meeting Biggio when she was being recruited four years ago and being struck by the hospitals quiet commitment to shrink its environmental footprint. Today, sustainability is a concern for many of the medical students, residents, and faculty Tseng recruits. It may not be at the top of their list, but it matters, she says. Residents talk about this stuff all the time. Tseng, a cancer surgeon, has also noticed patients seeking hospitals trying to be green. It matters to them that it matters to the hospital.

_____

BMCs sustainability commitment attracts climate-conscious clinicians and visitors seeking to green their facilities. Most come from around the United Stateseven as far away as Alaska. But, last summer, Emmanuel Kamanzi traveled all the way from Rwanda to tour BMC and other area institutions. After living as refugees in Uganda, Kamanzis family had relocated to their home country of Rwanda shortly after it was ravaged by the 1994 genocide. He eventually made his way to Boston, where he got a job at nonprofit Partners in Health, and completed courses at Harvard School of Public Health and Harvard Business School. In 2017, wanting to give back, he moved his family to Rwanda and became director of infrastructure for the University of Global Health Equity, which is owned and operated by Partners in Health.

Kamanzi appreciates Biggios ability to wrangle grants and squeeze savings from energy efficiency. And, like Biggio, he wants to make the community his facility serves more resilient in the face of extreme weather. You cannot talk about climate change and exclude health, he says. His goal is to install a centralized solar power plant on campus to take it off-grid within five to 10 years. Depending on the feasibility study underway, it could also supply power to the surrounding community, including a nearby hospital where University of Global Health Equity students will train.

Gundersen Health System, a nonprofit hospital network in the Midwest, became the first in the country to attain energy independence in 2014 by offsetting its fossil fuel use with renewable energy produced on-site or locally. As the La Crosse, Wisconsin-headquartered organization has grown to more than 100 facilities totaling about 3 million square feet in three states, it has remained energy independent. Reducing reliance on burning fossil fuels fits our mission to improve the health and well-being of communities we serve, says Alan Eber, Gundersens director of facility operations. Not only are we reducing our harmful emissions, were also reducing the cost of care.

Interest from health care institutions and others has grown so much that Gundersen offers energy consulting through a separate business it established in 2010. Clients can get energy checkups, help with assessing technologies, and advice on overcoming permitting challenges, among other services. Some talk about wanting to install solar panels, windmills, and other technologies, Eber says. We say, Stop. Before you do any of that, take care of your house as it is right now. Like BMC, Gundersen regularly monitors its buildings energy consumption, which it reduced by 25 percent in three years by making tweaks.

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Its still relatively early days for substantive change at many hospitals, says Cassandra Thiel, an assistant professor at New York University who researches sustainability in health care systems and coauthored the JAMA commentary. There are not enough hospitals taking broad enough action on this, she says, but shes optimistic more hospitals will come around as pressure mounts. Clinicians are increasingly aware of patients suffering from conditions connected to air pollution and climate change, including pulmonary and cardiac problems and infectious diseases spread by mosquitoes and ticks, Thiel says. Severe weather, food and water shortages, and forced migration take a toll on mental health as well. It gets pretty dark pretty quickly, she says.

Health Care Without Harms Cohen describes the health worker-driven movement as being at the top of the third inning. Twenty health care systems representing 500 of the roughly 5,500 hospitals in the country have joined the groups climate council. Sustainability data collected from 327 US hospitals last year indicated their sustainability initiatives had saved $68 million and avoided putting 183,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions (roughly equivalent to the annual energy use of over 21,000 homes) into the air in 2018. Half said theyd provided education about the connection between the climate and health to their staff, patients, or community members.

For a hospitalor any entitywanting to use energy more efficiently, making physical improvements isnt enough, says Biggio. Buildings need people who can run and maintain increasingly sophisticated systems, or the buildings wont live up to their energy-efficiency potential. Instead, theyll needlessly pollute and burn money, he says. But theres a shortage of technicians who understand HVAC, electrical, and programming basics, and want to commit to a career operating big buildings. As demand accelerates, some 115,000 smart building jobs across the United States could go unfilled by 2022 because of the lack of trained workers, warns Siemens, a German conglomerate that makes building control systems and other technologies.

Training programs are critical, says architect Frank Mruk, executive director of the Center for Smart Building Technology at Roxbury Community College. Just as cars have become increasingly computerized, forcing mechanics to acquire new skills, buildings have, too, and managing them is a new profession, he says. The center, which launched in April in a former day-care center, aims to fill what Mruk calls the huge void in the field by offering a variety of certification programs in so-called smart building technology. Students can get training in wiring circuits and programming to design, build, install, and operate systems that use sensors, thermostats, and other equipment. More offerings are in the works, including a two-year associates degree, Mruk says. Technicians salaries start around $50,000, according to the center.

Boston institutions will need thousands of these technicians to meet the citys goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050, Mruk estimates. Hes been meeting with Biggio and others scrambling to prime their technician pipelines. Scientists are saying if we dont make a significant reduction in carbon emissions within 10 years, its almost like game over, Mruk says. Hospitals are the hardest types of buildings to make carbon neutral, he adds. If you can figure out how to do this for hospitals, everything else is easy.

In the meantime, as the connections between pollution, climate, and health become evident, the health care industry is recognizing it needs to reduce its environmental impact to heal the individuals and communities it serves, says Cohen. Climate is the elephant in the waiting room.

____________________

Nick Leiber is a journalist in New York. He has written for Bloomberg Businessweek, The New York Times, Bloomberg News, and others. Send comments to magazine@globe.com.

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Curing hospitals addiction to the fossil fuels that make people sick - The Boston Globe

The global market for commercial combined heat and power (CHP) systems should reach $26.1 billion by 2022 from $20.2 billion in 2017 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.2%, from 2017 to 2022.

Report Scope:

The CHP system reduces the cost of electricity and heat production by increasing the thermal efficiency of the system. The CHP systems are used in industrial, commercial and residential applications. The report segments the market on the basis of end-use sector, fuel type, technology and equipment. The key technologies used in CHP systems are also covered at length. The report focuses on energy conservation technologies as well.

All major markets are further segmented on geography basis. The major geography covered in the report are North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific (APAC) and the Rest of World (RoW). Furthermore, a country specific breakdown of the CHP system market is also included in the report. Values were estimated on the basis of cumulative CHP installed capacity, annual CHP installed capacity, various application markets, average cost of technology and revenue generated from the sale of various equipment and services. The study covers the global commercial CHP market irrespective of the included countries. Countries were included mainly on the basis of total revenue generated. Major countries included in the report are the U.S., Canada, Germany, the U.K., Spain, Italy, France, China, Japan and India.

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Estimated values used are based on manufacturers total revenues and forecasted revenue values are in constant U.S. dollars, unadjusted for inflation. Unit volumes of energy production as well as revenue generated from the sale of CHP systems and services were tracked in order to estimate the market. A large number of manufacturers as well as end users are profiled in the report for a better understanding of the market.

This report on the commercial CHP market provides a market overview, assesses application markets, provides an end user analysis, and evaluates the CHP market by technology, fuel type and geographical region. The major companies are profiled, and includes a detailed introduction, product portfolios and recent developments for each.

Report Includes:

An overview of the global commercial combined heat and power (CHP) market Analyses of global market trends, with data from 2016, estimates for 2017, and projections of compound annual growth rates (CAGRs) through 2022 Breakdown of the market by application, technology, fuel, equipment, and geography Detailed analysis pertaining to the markets dynamics, including growth driving factors, restraints, challenges, and opportunities Information regarding market strategies, product launches, and mergers and acquisitions Profiles of major players in the industry

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Summary

The commercial combined heat and power (CHP) market is increasing modestly with an expected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.2% from 2017 through 2022. The market is segmented on the basis of end-use sector, fuel, technology and region. The major factors driving the CHP market across the globe include the demand for energy conservation, cohesive government policies, high efficiency and technological advancement. High initial cost may affect the market growth, however, rising environmental concern, rising demand for energy and favorable government policies are expected to boost the market in the near future. Cost effectiveness and capability to increase overall operationalefficiency are major motivators of the commercial CHP market.

It is estimated that around two-thirds of the energy used to generate electricity is wasted in the form of heat discharged to the atmosphere and there is considerable energy loss in the distribution of electricity to the end users. On the other hand, CHP has the potential to provide efficiencies of around 60% to 80% compared with 40% to 50% for conventional technologies. As a result, there is imminent demand for CHP technologies across the globe. The on-site electricity generation effectively captures the wasted heat to provide useful thermal energy such as steam or hot water that can be used for space heating, cooling, industrial processes and domestic hot water.

CHP is widely adopted by major hospitals, schools, university campuses, hotels, nursing homes, office buildings and apartment complexes to save on energy costs, increase energy reliability and cut carbon emissions. In 2012, commercial buildings and institutional applicants represented 13% of CHP systems in the U.S. In 2016, the U.S. government set a target to produce 40 gigawatts (GW) of new, cost-effective CHP by 2020, which is estimated to provide manufacturers and companies savings of $10 billion each year in energy costs. Capital investment in plants and facilities is expected to rise in the near future. Additionally, the CHP market will enable the reduction of carbon pollution by 150 million metric tons(Mt), which is estimated to be the emissions of more than 25 million cars. It has ecofriendly attributes and may reduce carbon emissions by an estimated 25% to 30% as compared with conventional systems.

The end-use application sector will grow at a modest rate of 5.2% during the forecast period with a major contribution from industrial and commercial sectors. The commercial and district energy end-user sector is expected to grow at the highest CAGR of 6.6% during the forecast period. District energy refers to the combination of electricity, steam, heating, or cooling at a central plant and with a distribution of energy to a network of nearby buildings. This encourages managers of individual buildings to get connected to the network in order to avoid the need to install and maintain their own boilers, furnaces, chillers, or air conditioners, thus saving on capital and maintenance costs.

The CHP systems are available for all type of the fuels and applications. CHP application and fueling are greatly depend on the country and the energy producer. North America and China uses coal in industrial applications while France uses gas as its main fuel for CHP. In Russia, a higher share of electricity generation is with CHP. Other major countries are also adopting CHP for electricity generation to reduce carbon emissions. The CHP systems are preferred by consumers in all the geographies as the consumers pay less energy costs with increased energy efficiency from this system. American companies and manufacturers could potentially save around $10 billion by 2020 with the use of CHP systems.

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Commercial Combined Heat And Power (CHP) Market Influential Factors Determining the Trajectory of the Market - Skyline Gazette

Nathan Kipnis was recently the national co-chair of an effort to achieve carbon-neutral construction by the end of the decade.

Editors note: This article has been updated throughout for clarity.

More than a decade ago, the American Institute of Architects in Chicago challenged members to make a commitment to achieving carbon-neutral building construction by 2030. The campaign has since gone national, with hundreds of firms signing on and helping to prevent more than 17 million metric tons of carbon emissions in 2018 alone, according to its most recent annual report.

Nathan Kipnis, FAIA, an architect in Evanston, Illinois, has been involved with the AIAs 2030 Commitment since the programs outset. Kipnis had served as the national co-chair in 2018 and 2019. He recently spoke with the Energy News Network about the campaigns progress and the challenges it faces as members seek higher efficiency levels.

The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

A: When we first started we thought getting to 50% more efficient (than a 2003 baseline) was very difficult. Now every part of a house has gotten to the point where you can pick up a 70% reduction from heating, cooling, refrigeration, and lighting. With 80%, it gets very difficult. Moving forward, 90% and 100% is going to be [very challenging].

A: When we talk about something thats better, it tends to cost more. Theres four things that tend to make an increase in cost in high-performance homes. Thats the mechanical system, the electrical system, the insulation, and the windows. Everything else is pretty much the same.

A: You want to look at the home as a system and not just individual parts. When people replace their windows in their 1950s home, [that is great]. They could put windows that are twice as efficient but if they have the same insulation, the heat goes right around them. You need to also be thinking about your insulation. And you do that before you paint the interior of the house or youre never going to do it, because then youve just painted the walls, youre gonna wait 15 years. [Then when your mechanical needs to be replaced, hopefully you can replace it with an all-electric system, like an air source heat pump]. At the same time, you want to add a smart control system. Now that youve made the house really tight, you need outside ventilation brought in a controlled fashion. And thats generally an air-to-air heat exchanger. So those are the things you need to do all at once, or at least logically planned out.

A: When you get new appliances like an electric induction cooktop, this may mean that you need to upgrade your electric service coming into the house. Some people might have 100 amps and might need 200. Some people have 200 and might need 400.

Most of our clients have electric cars now. On any project we wire for electric car charging, solar panels, and for battery backup systems. A backup battery takes significant room in a mechanical room; generally four or five feet of wall space. And then in the garage, just getting the conduit there from your circuit box. I would say in the last seven or eight years, every garage, weve done that capability.

A: Right. It tended to be that the people that could make a really efficient building didnt know anything about design. And people that were really smart on design didnt want to get bogged down in the technical aspects of high efficiency. One of the things we really thrive on and have always done is what we call High Design, Low Carbon, which is actually trademarked.

A: Your options get very limited, but it doesnt mean that it cant work at affordable housing levels.

A: Buildings last a very long time and the climate is going to change enough to impact how we layout and design a home. Ive seen studies that show every 10 years that (the climate zone for) Illinois is dropping 400 miles south. In three or four or five decades, were going to have the same climate that Texas currently has. And the houses and buildings need to respond to that.

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Q&A: Illinois architect on the growing challenges of maximizing efficiency - Energy News Network

27th World Congress of Architects - UIA2020RIO is Postponed to July 2021

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Following the recommendations of public authorities and the WHO general guidelines towards the COVID-19 pandemic, The International Union of Architects, UIA, the Institute of Architects of Brazil, IAB and the Executive Committee UIA2020RIO have decided to postpone the 27th World Congress of Architects to July 2021. The announcement echoes several other events related to architecture that had to be postponed, including the Venice Biennale and the Salone del Mobile.

According to the organizers, registration fees will be automatically applied to the new Congress dates. In addition, the lectures and projects accepted for this year's Congress willstill to apply to the new program in 2021.

The UIA2020RIO will take place between the 18th and 22nd July 2021.

Excerpt from:
27th World Congress of Architects - UIA2020RIO is Postponed to July 2021 - ArchDaily

As the new coronavirus continues to spread, cities and countries around the globe have ordered citizens to retreat to their homesand stay there. As we shelter in place, the rooms where we once spent few waking hours now encapsulate our entire existenceand this short-term recalibration may have long-term effects. We spoke with eight architects and designers to find out what the COVID-19 pandemic means for the future of home designread on for their thoughts, and check back as we update this story.

Smith House by MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects

MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple has always questioned consumption, and in a way all of this is reinforcing business as usual for us and our work. Were interested in economy as a democratic ideahouses should be economically accessible. Its the same way Frank Lloyd Wright thought about his Usonian homes, and how Ferdinand Porsche thought about the Volkswagen.

People think sustainability is a new thing, but traditional cultures have always operated this wayin terms of economy. Economy is what you do when you cant afford to get it wrong. Thats how we look at vernaculars. As architects were in the aesthetics business, and economy is universally an aesthetic idea. Were doing more with less. Its "frugal chic."

Maybe the pandemic is underlying whats always been important, and weve become decadent and forgot. Its about connecting interiors to outer landscapes. Its about the idea of prospect and refuge. We need that in our dwellings and always did, but especially now. We need that sense of looking out at the landscape and into the future.

I also want to mention urbanity. Weve gone a long ways away from making good communities. When you design a dwelling, its about privacy and community at the same time, which is what weve been focused on. Were making villages where homes feel private but also give a sense of community, like what were doing in Shobac. Its essential to have eyes out on the world, because you want to see whats coming. Thats a basic human comfort. Its timeless and universal. Im not a fashion guy, Im more interested in elegance and timeless principals. The crisis is making us rediscover that essence.

Off-Grid Guesthouse by Anacapa Architecture

Like millions of others, everyone in my company is now working from home. Video calls from home give us a very intimate window into each others lives. We see kids in the background bouncing on the couch, dogs barking, people in their pajamas, significant others...its been a bonding experience. Almost everyone has been loving it, and most of us have said that we feel more productive due to fewer interruptions than normally happen in our open-office environment.

However, this level of total isolation is extreme. We need to be around each otherwe need to draw together on paper, build models, walk to the coffee shop, print things, throw things, look at books, hug people, and do normal human things. When this ends, we will recalibrate, but it wont go back to the way it was before.

This experiment, especially if it lasts a long time, is going to completely redefine our ability to work from home. Companies, including us, are being forced to learn how to accommodate this, and we will find the silver lining. I think this is going to allow us more flexibility to enjoy our homes that we spend so much time creating, while still holding ourselves and our teams accountable for being effective and productive.

I can imagine, with millions of employees all working remotely, that after companies learn how to effectively work from home, they will start to reevaluate how necessary their physical office spaces are, and how much money can be saved if employees work from home at least part of the time. Some may find that they only need half as much space as they did before, and that they only need a physical office for staff meetings and in-person client meetings. But in order to make this work, there will need to be serious changes to the "home office" idea. This health crisis could possibly have a long-term effect on how important a home officeor at least a working nookis in residential design.

Amagansett Modular House by MB Architecture

Were already seeing some short-term effects: people are now spending more time at home, and finally focusing on long-overdue improvements (bigger pantries, more defined work spaces, and adding/upgrading guest bedrooms). More generally, I see a very dramatic surge in interest in our prefab buildings, from all over the country (and in fact, the world, based on our web stats). And finally, theres a surge of city residents whove moved out to the country and are looking for a permanent second home. My own sense of how this affects future home design is that the fundamentals of domestic lifecentered around life at home versus perceptions of luxurywill prevail. And that would be a very good thing.

Walk Street House by Ras-A Studio

The pandemic has given people (who might not already have experience with it) a large dose of working remotely. This might offer businesses and employees alike a glimpse of its potential and staying power. It could have us rethink what a home office isand its priority in the program of a home.

False Bay Home and Writers Cabin by Olson Kundig and Geremia Design

In times where people are resourceful and want to be connected to others, there are really beautiful things that can happen. What are the opportunities that come out of times when people have economic restraint? Or fear? I think creativity is attached to being resourceful and I live for these times because right now is when people are open minded. Instead of throwing money at something theyre being bold and thoughtful with their ideasIm hoping thats on the horizon.

I feel like people have a lot more space to dive into conversations because theyre not distracted by getting into the next meeting. People and corporations have been way more attentive to design, and more thoughtful and immersed in conversations, which will have a great impact on the projects. Clients have more bandwidth, honestly. Tuning in on a deeper level has positive results.

A lot of my clients in the bay area tend to have minimalist and modern style. But Im hoping people will be more sentimental and will be more open to bold choices. I know a lot of people that have called me to say "Im ready to paint my room." Its kind of low hanging fruit but people are bored and want to do home improvements. People are feeling a little less hesitant about experimenting. Im hoping color is something thats big time.

Theres no reason to procrastinate and theres a feeling of satisfaction in doing things like painting a room or hanging art thats been sitting in the attic. Its like a marriage. When you stay in a marriage long enough you start to shake out things and work on things that you wouldnt normally have time for. I think when your faced with living with something for long enough, you learn how to work with it and you learn how to love it in a different way. I think thats one positive thing to come out of this.

Carraig Ridge House by Young Projects

"Well design" standards will incorporate new criteria for the residential market. This will inspire architects and designers to consider new ways we can think critically and creatively about domestic environments. For example, the importance of green roofs might be completely reconsidered...which, in turn, may necessitate structural retrofitting for existing buildings, and increased standards for new residential buildings.

Millennium House by Joel Sanders Architecture

Retro futurism. I see a return to a high-modernist aesthetic championed by architect Le Corbusier at Villa Savoye: sparkling white rooms, tile, and porcelain fixtures that convey a visual sense of health and hygiene. Think of a sink that greets visitors at the entrance to Villa Savoye.

In regards to the home office, over the past decade digital technology has already transformed homes into live/work spaces where, over the course of a day, people assume a variety of personal and professional roles. The pandemic now requires almost all of us to work from home, putting pressure on all of us to retrofit our homes with technology.

Sackett Street residence by Frederick Tang Architecture

There are 8.55 million people living in NYCthe largest amount in any city in the United States. The average space per person in the city is around 531 square feet. This opens our eyes to problems with affordable yet available housing, and how we can resolve space in an efficient way so residential living does not feel crampedone of the reasons why New Yorkers leave their spaces and go out. We are human and still need connection and social activity. There will always be a need for communal spaces, but personalizing each home will be very important. This approach will make sure that people are comfortable in their own space without the anxiety of wanting to leave.

Park Avenue Prewar Apartment by Michael K. Chen Architecture

In previous crises, the home was a refuge, a place to retreat to. Now, its quickly becoming a place that people are looking forward to leave on a regular basis. I wonder if private space will take on some of the dimensions of the public space that so many of us are missing. At the same time, I think that the crisis has laid bare the shortcomings of our social fabric and safety net. Certainly in New York, there is the near-universal awareness that public schools not only educate our children, but also feed them. I hope that this awareness informs how schools are resourced and designed in the future

Arc Village Studio by Sim-Plex Design Studio

As more and more people work from home, we need to find ways to combine living areas with work spacesbut we should be careful not to decrease the quality of either space. Since space is limited in most homes, flexibility is keyfor example, a dining room table can be transformed into a work space using flexible partitions. Our Arc Village Studio project is an example of how rooms can suit different functions without degrading the quality of those spaces.

Lead illustration by Arunas Kacinskas

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8 Architects on How the Pandemic Will Change Our Homes Forever - Dwell

In an effort to support the COVID-19 response, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) has launched a task force to help inform public officials, healthcare facility owners and architects on adapting buildings into temporary healthcare facilities.

On a daily basis, I am hearing from our architects who feel a deep sense of moral duty to support our healthcare providers on the frontlines of this pandemic, says AIA 2020 president Jane Frederick. As our communities assess buildings to address growing surge capacity, we hope this task force will be a resource to ensure buildings are appropriately and safely adapted for our doctors and nurses.

AIA encourages federal, state and local government to adapt appropriate existing buildings to meet the growing healthcare and quarantine needs resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The task force is charged with developing a COVID-19 Rapid Response Safety Space Assessment for AIA members that will include considerations for the suitability of buildings, spaces and other sites for patient care. The assessment will be developed by architects with a wide range of expertise, including healthcare facility design, urban design, public health and disaster assistance.

During the COVID-19 pandemic public health response there is an unprecedented need for the adaptive reuse of buildings to serve a variety of functions, says environmental health scientist Dr. Molly Scanlon, who is the director of standards, compliance and research at Phigenics. Architects and our allied design and construction professionals are in a unique position to leverage our advanced problem-solving skills to bring forth ideas for community implementation.

The task forcechaired by Dr. Scanlonplans to release its report in early April in an effort to help inform decisions to address the pandemic.

This is a race against time for healthcare facilities to meet bed surge capacity needs, says AIA Academy of Architecture for Health president Kirsten Waltz, who is the director of facilities, planning and design at Baystate Health. This task force will help inform best practices for quickly assessing building inventory and identifying locations that are most appropriate to be adapted for this crisis.

Waltz and other members of the task force are helping bridge the needs of healthcare providers by modifying hospitals and smaller facilities to meet the growing bed surge demand and to increase areas for medical screening, triage and other patient care.

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Architects Take Action to Support COVID-19 Response - USGlass Metal & Glazing

Architects have turned to shipping containers to make everything from pop-up shops to co-working spaces, and even teetering towers of student housing. But now the humble corrugated steel box might have found one of its most useful reincarnations yet, in the hands of an international network of architects and engineers who have come together to convert them into two-bed intensive care units for the coronavirus pandemic.

A group of us started talking a week ago, wondering how could contribute our skills to this emergency, says Carlo Ratti, an Italian architect based in Boston, where he teaches at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. We all know there is a massive need for more intensive care units across the world, but there are problems with the two existing solutions as an official report from the Chinese government found, based on their experience of the virus.

One current solution, he says, is to take a convention centre and fill it with lots of beds, creating a field hospital overnight, as is now planned for the ExCel centre in east London. There is efficiency in the numbers, but Chinese authorities found that problems were caused by the intense concentration of contaminated air, with the result that many more of the medical staff became infected. The second solution is prefabricated hospitals, kitted out with the full mechanical ventilation and negative pressure systems needed for bio-containment, but which take several months to complete.

We thought, is there any way that you can get the speed of convention centre or tent hospital, mounted in a few hours or a couple of days, says Ratti, but at the same time have something that is as safe as the prefab hospital?

Their solution is Cura (Connected Units for Respiratory Ailments), a plan to pack all the features of an intensive care unit, complete with extractors to create negative air pressure, inside a 20-foot shipping container, able to be transported anywhere and deployed in just a few hours.

Working with fellow architect Italo Rota, Humanitas Research Hospital, Milan Polytechnic, Jacobs engineers, and a pool of leading European physicians and experts in emergency management, Ratti has got funding from UniCredit to develop the first prototype, which is being manufactured in Turin. It will be deployed at a hospital in Milan, one of the epicentres of the pandemic. The designs are being made available as open source plans online, and the team hopes that it will be copied around the world. They are talking to several automotive manufacturers who might be able to mass-produce the units.

The key thing is the ease with which you can move these pods around, says Ratti. The waves of the virus travel to different regions so quickly, so we need to be able to deploy the intensive care units wherever they are needed most. The advantage of the shipping container is that the infrastructure for moving them already exists.

The pods have been designed to work as standalone units, or they can be connected by an inflatable corridor structure to create larger, multi-bed clusters. Ratti imagines the units being set up alongside existing hospitals, taking over car parks and leftover space, or being deployed as self-contained field hospitals. He estimates that each two-bed pod can be produced for around $100,000, including all medical equipment, around a third of the pre-bed cost of an emergency prefabricated hospital.

Read more:
Architect in Italy turns shipping containers into hospitals for treating Covid-19 - The Guardian

Grafton Architects Wins Competition to Design the Anthony Timberlands Center at the University of Arkansas

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Grafton Architects was selected as the winning firm to design the Anthony Timberlands Center for Design and Materials Innovation at the University of Arkansas. In collaboration with Modus Studio for the planned campus design research center, the design on the project is scheduled to begin this summer.

Part of the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design, the new applied research center will be located on the northeast corner of the universitys Windgate Art and Design District, along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in south Fayetteville. Envisioned by Grafton Architects, co-founded by Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara, the 2020 recipients of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, the project will serve as the epicenter for the Fay Jones Schools multiple timber and wood design initiatives, house the schools existing and expanding design-build program and fabrication technologies laboratories, and serve as the new home to the schools emerging graduate program in timber and wood design.

We are very excited about building our first building in the United States in Fayetteville, Arkansas. This building helps us think about the future optimistically, where the use of timber with all its possibilities, becomes real, useful and hopefully loved. -- Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara.

Conceived as a Story Book of Timber, the new Anthony Timberlands Center showcases the versatility of timber, both as the structural bones and the enclosing skin of this new building. In fact, Farrell expresses that the building itself is a teaching tool, displaying the strength, color, grain, texture and beauty of the various timbers used. Responding to the local climate and local needs, the building opens up to the general public and offers its students a state-of-the-art educational facility. The jurors described the winning project as a set of valid pragmatic ideas with a poetic solution. Simultaneously complex and simple, it expresses a high aspiration. It creates a memorable institutional landmark for the urban landscape of Fayetteville.

The selection of the design team comes after a months-long process. Grafton Architects was chosen after a first selection that narrowed down the count to 6 shortlisted teams. The other finalist firms were WT/GO Architecture of New Haven, Connecticut; Dorte Mandrup A/S of Copenhagen, Denmark; Shigeru Ban Architects of Tokyo/New York/Paris; Kennedy & Violich Architecture of Boston, Massachusetts; and LEVER Architecture of Portland, Oregon.

The University of Arkansas has been a leader in showcasing all the benefits of mass timber architecture. We are looking forward to the results of a leading architectural university working with this years Pritzker Prize winners to take wood-based architecture to new heights. -- Carlton Owen, CEO of the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities.

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Grafton Architects Wins Competition to Design the Anthony Timberlands Center at the University of Arkansas - ArchDaily