Friday, June 5, 2009
Boys and Girls Club Alisal Unit
I am very pleased to be kicking off a LEED eco-charette for the proposed new Boys and Girls Club in Salinas. The project is targeting Platinum. Our charette will include a tour of Chartwell School by Executive Director Douglas Atkins. Ausonio Inc was the builder of Chartwell School, and it achieved 57 LEED points to be the first ever LEED Platinum K-12 campus.
I look forward to leading a discussion about how the building design can engage youth in sustainability. We have a great invite list of city and community leaders. I hope we have a good turn out.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Presentation: A Higher Vision
Joe Piedimonte gave this presentation at "A Higher Vision" hosted by Hartnell College on Monday April 20, 2009. You may download the PDF at the link below:
http://www.ausonio.com/AUSONIO-GreaterVision.pdf
http://www.ausonio.com/AUSONIO-GreaterVision.pdf
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Platinum Rated Home on HGTV
Michael Carlson is an architect we are working with on two LEED
projects: The floating building on Lake Mead and New Horizon's School in
Las Vegas. He will be featured on HGTV for the Platinum rated home he
designed. Carlson and his associates, Jedd Heap and Phil Lenzen,
designed a house in Tradition, a master-planned community in St. Lucie
County, for a special client - Home & Garden Television. The
2,430-square-foot structure is the 2009 HGTV Green Home Giveaway house,
and will be featured in the cable network's special at 8 p.m. Sunday,
April 19.
projects: The floating building on Lake Mead and New Horizon's School in
Las Vegas. He will be featured on HGTV for the Platinum rated home he
designed. Carlson and his associates, Jedd Heap and Phil Lenzen,
designed a house in Tradition, a master-planned community in St. Lucie
County, for a special client - Home & Garden Television. The
2,430-square-foot structure is the 2009 HGTV Green Home Giveaway house,
and will be featured in the cable network's special at 8 p.m. Sunday,
April 19.
Regards, Joe
Shortcut to: http://www.carlsonstudio.org/news-awards/
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Energy Star Rating for the Ausonio Building
We started out pursuing LEED Existing Building certification. Along the way we discovered the Energy Star rating. I was familiar with this rating for appliances and computers, but never realized there is a huge category for buildings. Energy Star rated buildings are not as popular in Castroville as they might be in New York City. We have been contacted by the CoStar group and will be included in their survey. Refer to my blog entry on the last CoStar study: http://ausoniogreen.blogspot.com/2008/04/business-week-green-buildings-do-boost.html
Last week I received the following notice in my inbox:
Dear Joe Piedimonte:
Congratulations! Your application has been approved and you have earned the prestigious ENERGY STAR for:
Ausonio Bldg
Ausonio Affiliates
11420 A Commercial Pkwy
Castroville, CA 95012
The ENERGY STAR is the mark of superior energy performance and identifies your building as one the most efficient buildings in the nation. By taking this important step along the path to energy efficiency, you are not only saving money – you are preventing the release of greenhouse gases and protecting the environment.
Within 2 business days, your facility will automatically be included on our website as part of our registry of buildings to earn the ENERGY STAR (www.energystar.gov/buildinglist).
The only bad news is that the program has apparently run out of plaques.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Renewable Energy Credits
I was looking into REC's (Renewable Energy Credits) for a project and what I discovered was interesting. I had always thought that REC's were noble credits, but they were not cost effective. I think I have changed my mind.
I am working with a client that has done an incredible job of building a sustainable office. Their project was registered right at LEED Gold, but my concern was "what if the USGBC throws out a few of their credits?" This project had nothing extra to cover any lost points. This would cause their project to be Silver, despite their golden commitment.
The client was looking into adding more photovoltaic panels to their project, but this was something they preferred to do at a later time. Adding this 18kWh system would require a large capital outlay, but they were willing to do this earlier than scheduled to gain 3 LEED credits. They had already maxed out the Renewable credits, so this would be just to optimize the Optimize Energy credits.
The client had invested significant capital in a PV system, and wanted to conserve their next investment for a few years. Yet, three additional credits might mean the difference between Gold and Silver. Then it occurred to me that there might be another solution: REC's. REC's would allow them to pay a small premium to use green electricity for 70% of their buildings needs. For their building, the initial estimate is between $1000 to $2000 a year for two years. There would be two LEED credits available for using this approach. This is not too bad of an option when faced with a $100,000 - $200,000 additional investment in a photovoltaic array for three LEED credits.
I am working with a client that has done an incredible job of building a sustainable office. Their project was registered right at LEED Gold, but my concern was "what if the USGBC throws out a few of their credits?" This project had nothing extra to cover any lost points. This would cause their project to be Silver, despite their golden commitment.
The client was looking into adding more photovoltaic panels to their project, but this was something they preferred to do at a later time. Adding this 18kWh system would require a large capital outlay, but they were willing to do this earlier than scheduled to gain 3 LEED credits. They had already maxed out the Renewable credits, so this would be just to optimize the Optimize Energy credits.
The client had invested significant capital in a PV system, and wanted to conserve their next investment for a few years. Yet, three additional credits might mean the difference between Gold and Silver. Then it occurred to me that there might be another solution: REC's. REC's would allow them to pay a small premium to use green electricity for 70% of their buildings needs. For their building, the initial estimate is between $1000 to $2000 a year for two years. There would be two LEED credits available for using this approach. This is not too bad of an option when faced with a $100,000 - $200,000 additional investment in a photovoltaic array for three LEED credits.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Getting with the program
No posting since September! This is no reflection of activity. It's been busy, but I do not see things slowing down for a while. Thank you green economy. Since I do not see things slowing down, I need to find time to add to this Blog. This will be my new years resolution.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)