C2C Breaks Ground In Gainsboro

Roanoke, Va. - C2C Home began construction on the first of several environmentally friendly and affordable houses in Roanoke, Virginia on May 24, 2005. The first home will be built through a joint effort between Fralin and Waldron and EJ Miller Construction at 314 Hackley Avenue in the Gainsboro neighborhood. The home was designed by Ekaterina Kohlwes and will make use of passive solar design strategies and non-toxic building materials. For more information, please visit http://www.c2c-home.org.

Using Gray Water in Sustainable Design

ATLANTA – While “water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink” is becoming increasingly common around the world, plenty of non-drinkable water exists for use in HVAC systems such as cooling towers.
Although drinkable water is a scarce commodity in many parts of the world, cooling towers continue to consume large quantities. While cooling towers don’t require drinkable quality water to operate, in most instances, such as office buildings, that is the only available supply, according to Mark Hodgson, Clayton Group Services, Edison, N.J.
One way to reduce use of drinkable water in cooling applications is to use “gray water,” or tertiary treated municipal effluent, better known as sewage.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has identified cooling towers as an area where gray water could be substituted for potable water, reducing demand on a limited resource and potentially saving money. In addition, water use efficiency is a recognized incentive for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) points.
Electricity generating stations and large industries such as oil refineries and steel mills are already using gray water.
“The question becomes ‘can we make a similar switch for HVAC and building systems with cooling towers? Do we have adequate water treatment capability? Would we need to change cooling tower design? And do we fully understand the possible health risks?,’” Hodgson said.
Those questions will be explored in a forum, chaired by Hodgson, at ASHRAE’s 2005 Annual Meeting, June 25-29, Denver, Colo. What Do You Need to Know About Gray Water Before It can be Used in HVAC Cooling Systems will be held from 10:15-11:05 a.m., Monday, June 27, Adam’s Mark Denver.

ASHRAE Commissioning Guideline Helps Achieve Sustainable Design

ATLANTA – Commissioning can help ensure that the sustainable development principles contained in building rating systems, such as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) perform as intended.
“Commissioning typically helps to ensure good indoor environmental quality, reduce energy and water consumption, and improves how well the building is operated, all of which are the intent of LEED,” Jay Enck, a member of ASHRAE’s technical committee on building commissioning, said.
A new guideline, Guideline 0-2005, The Commissioning Process, from the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) describes how to verify that a facility and its systems meet the owner’s project requirements.
Those requirements also define sustainable development goals and how the building will function before designers begin the design process. To keep costs at a minimum, the design team must understand what they are tasked with accomplishing, which is provided by the requirements.
“Attaining LEED certification can be easy or nearly impossible depending on when the goals are identified and the level of experience of the team,” Enck said.
The guideline will be used by the National Institute for Building Sciences (NIBS) as its Total Building Commissioning Process Guideline. It is the foundation for a series of commissioning guidelines dealing with specific disciplines (HVAC&R, envelope, lighting and fire protection) to be issued by ASHRAE and NIBS.
The cost of ASHRAE Guideline 0-2005, The Commissioning Process, is $59 ($49 ASHRAE members).
To order, contact ASHRAE Customer Service at 1-800-527-4723 (United States and Canada) or 404-636-8400 (worldwide), fax 404-321-5478, by mail at 1791 Tullie Circle NE, Atlanta, GA 30329, or visit the ASHRAE.org Bookstore at www.ashrae.org.
ASHRAE, founded in 1894, is an international organization of 55,000 persons. Its sole objective is to advance through research, standards writing, publishing and continuing education the arts and sciences of heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration to serve the evolving needs of the public.

Settlement Reached in Refrigerant Leak Case

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have reached a settlement with DuPont to resolve alleged Clean Air Act violations of the repair, testing, recordkeeping, and reporting regulations for appliances that use ozone-depleting substances. The agencies alleged that DuPont violated the Clean Air Act after its New Johnsonville, Tenn., manufacturing facility leaked nearly 9,000 lb (4100 kg) of HCFC-22 refrigerant. Under the settlement, DuPont will pay approximately $2.5 million in civil penalties, injunctive relief, and environmental projects.

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Definition: Sustainable Design and Sustainability

Sustainable design is the art of producing objects using only renewable resources, and which themselves, in operation, deplete only renewable resources.

There are many definitions of sustainability, here are a few:
-Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
-The ability of an ecosystem to maintain ecological processes and functions, biological diversity, and productivity over time.
-The ability to provide for the needs of the world's current population without damaging the ability of future generations to provide for themselves. When a process is sustainable, it can be carried out over and over without negative environmental effects or impossibly high costs to anyone involved.
-An architectural property of a program which allows continued viability.
-A goal, that aims towards preserving quality interactions with the local environment, economy and social system.
-Sustainability is effectively the goal of sustainable development. It is the ideal end state which we must aspire.

LEED® EB & CI Letter Templates Now Available

USGBC is pleased to announce that Letter Templates for LEED-EB Version 2.0 and LEED-CI Version 2.0 are now available. All LEED-EB and LEED-CI v2.0 registered projects can now use this tool for documentation and certification. Letter Templates streamline preparation of LEED certification applications by providing pre-formatted submittal sheets for each prerequisite and credit. The Letter Templates outline the specific project data needed to demonstrate achievement of the LEED performance requirements and include integrated calculators.

If you'd like to learn more about LEED-EB and LEED-CI, please visit the LEED Web site. Here you'll find valuable information including copies of the rating systems, FAQ's, and other information on how your building can benefit from using LEED.