Sustainability E-News
The Need for Resilient Design
|
|
From The Editor
I recently returned from the TMS Annual Meeting in Scottsdale, AZ. It was another great event with productive meetings, networking, and great educational sessions. As we wind down activities for this year, it's time to think about the next. TMS Sustainability E-News relies heavily on our Sponsoring Partners (listed below) to provide you with this bi-monthly newsletter. Please consider becoming a 2020 Sponsor! More information can be found on the
TMS website.
The
article
about Amazon's new headquarters building, in GREEN BUILDING NEWS below, highlights an important, and simple strategy, for improving energy efficiency: limiting the window (or glazing) area on a facade to 40% or less of the building wall area makes a more energy-efficient envelope. The fact is that while glazing provides many benefits, including some that improve energy efficiency, as compared to the opaque wall areas, it is much less energy efficient. Designers should look to provide the minimal area of glazing that provides the desired views and daylighting, and thereby provide a more energy efficient envelope.
Christine "Tina" Subasic, PE, LEED AP
CSubasicPE@aol.com
NOTE: Inclusion in this newsletter is not an endorsement of the products and materials featured, nor have these products been evaluated by TMS or the editor. Furthermore, the views expressed in the articles featured are those of the article authors.
|
|
GREEN BUILDING NEWS
As announced in the first article linked below, the US Green Building Council has reached a milestone for LEED registered (not certified) projects. The info-graphics in the article provide an interesting snapshot of LEED construction to date. ~Tina
USGBC announces LEED project milestone
USGBC.ORG
There are now more than 100,000 registered commercial and residential LEED projects worldwide, the US Green Building Council
announced
. More than 66,800 of the projects have been newly constructed buildings, and 76,191 of the total have been in the US or Canada, USGBC said.
Study: The most destructive hurricanes are hitting US more often
ARCHITECTURAL RECORD
Big, destructive hurricanes are hitting the U.S. three times more frequently than they did a century ago, according to a new study. Experts generally measure a hurricane's destruction by adding up how much damage it did to people and cities. That can overlook storms that are powerful, but that hit only sparsely populated areas. A Danish research team came up with a new measurement that looked at just the how big and strong the hurricane was, not how much money it cost. They call it Area of Total Destruction. Read more
here
.
Lab reveals how architects, engineers can adapt to climate change
THE CONVERSATION
How energy efficiency, renewable energy and adaptation of buildings can all come together to tackle the growing challenges of rapidly changing climate is the subject of a dedicated lab set up at the University of Buffalo. The lab's results so far suggest the needed adjustments can be made, but they will require a paradigm shift from the industry, writes lab leader Nicholas Rajkovich in
this article
.
FEMA official says BRIC will be "transformational"
TRANSPORT TOPICS
The Federal Emergency Management Agency's Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities initiative launched last year will prove to be "transformational," according to Jeffrey Byard, associate administrator for the agency's Office of Response and Recovery. BRIC shifts the focus from reactive measures to proactive investment and "will allow FEMA to support states and communities as they undertake new and innovative infrastructure projects that reduce the risks they face from disasters," Byard said in
this article
.
Amazon HQ2 meets LEED Platinum standard but could do better
THE BUSINESS JOURNALS (Washington, D.C.)
Amazon's plans for its two HQ2 towers in Arlington County, Va., meet the US Green Building Council's LEED Platinum standard. But some say the company could achieve greater efficiency if the building plans reduced the 57% of surface area devoted to windows to no more than 40%.
Read more
. (may require subscription)
|
CODES and STANDARDS NEWS
Achieving energy efficiency isn't always easy, particularly for existing buildings, as the first article below indicates. ~Tina
|
Building owners to face challenges due to Washington, D.C. energy law
GREATER GREATER WASHINGTON
The Clean Energy DC Omnibus Act of 2018 will force buildings in Washington, D.C., to become more energy efficient, but many building owners seem unprepared to meet the new standards by making necessary improvements, according to Marta Shantz, senior vice president of the Urban Land Institute Greenprint Center for Building Performance. While inefficient buildings shouldn't have much trouble making a 20% energy efficiency improvement, older buildings and those that are just below median energy efficiency will present bigger challenges, Shantz said in
this article
.
Low-carbon concrete to reduce embodied carbon in buildings
ENGINEERING NEWS RECORD
Advocates hope to see efforts like Marin County’s Bay Area Low-Carbon Concrete Code—which would limit embodied carbon in both public and private projects—catch on around the globe.
Read more
.
ASHRAE 189.1 combines multiple requirements to improve green building
ACHR NEWS
ASHRAE Standard 189.1 sets a loftier standard for high-performance green building by drawing from Standards 90.1, 62.1 and 55, touching upon areas such as water efficiency and energy efficiency. The standard also includes requirements for moisture control, material emissions and various aspects of indoor environmental quality, Nick Agopian
writes
.
Call for Applicants for Supply Chain Technical Committee
HPD-COLLABORATIVE
The HPDC is issuing this Call for Applicants for the Supply Chain Technical Sub-Group. This Sub-Group develops Best Practices for dealing with complex supply chain issues: secondary manufacturers, complex assemblies, proprietary information, and so forth. Expertise and experience in supply chain issues in various contexts is required. The deadline for application submissions is November 22, 2019 at 5:00 pm PDT. Please see the full
Call for Applicants
for more information.
|
To Subscribe, click
here
.
To be a 2020 Sponsor, click
here
.
|
Advancing the Knowledge of Masonry
|
Please note: Your email address is from a list solely owned and maintained by The Masonry Society (TMS) for our exclusive email purposes. If you are a TMS Member, participate in a TMS Committee, or have requested TMS mailings, your email is essential to your membership, committee participation (including virtual meeting announcements and ballots), delivery of various TMS e-publications, and meeting/seminar announcements. Unsubscribing through our email sender, Constant Contact, will block all emails from TMS. If you would like to specify what type of emails you would like to receive from TMS, have questions about our email policy, or would like to subscribe to our newsletters, please contact TMS directly at
info@masonrysociety.org
. To view the TMS Privacy Policy, click
here
.
|
|
TMS's Sustainability
E-Newsletter Sponsors
Platinum Level
|
Concrete Masonry Association of California & Nevada ***
|
TMS Sustainability
E-Newsletter Sponsors
Click on the links above to learn more about each of these organizations who have graciously sponsored this E-Newsletter. The Sponsors designated with an asterisk (*) are also TMS Members at the following levels:
*** Sustaining Member
** Affiliate Member
* Individual Member
Interested in becoming a Newsletter Sponsor?
Contact
TMS
for more information on becoming a Sustainability E-Newsletter Sponsor and having your organization's logo appear before thousands of subscribers.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|