More from Ed Mazria
Thursday, April 23rd, 2009I guess you can tell I’m a fan….
For the Greener Good “A Green World is a Safer One” from National Building Museum on Vimeo.
Archive for the ‘Architecture’ Category
For the Greener Good “A Green World is a Safer One” from National Building Museum on Vimeo.
A Hog in a Tuxedo is Still a Hog
Wednesday, March 11th, 2009The NAIOP Disinformation Study
By Edward Mazria
I was wondering when it would happen, a Building Sector disinformation campaign launched by vested interests. Well, it’s happened. The campaign hit The New York Times on Saturday…
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Economic Policy, Economic Stimulus, Emerging Tech for Energy, Green Architecture, Sustainable Economy
The 2030 Challenge Stimulus Plan
Thursday, December 18th, 2008Because investing in energy efficiency in buildings is the most effective way to create jobs and revive the economy (see Justification), Architecture 2030 recommends an investment of $171.72 billion ($85.86 billion each year for two years) in a plan that integrates a housing mortgage buy-down and an accelerated-depreciation program for commercial buildings with energy efficiency in buildings, specifically with the widely adopted energy reduction plan called the 2030 Challenge1. This investment will create 3.75 million direct jobs in the Building Sector, as well as 4.34 million indirect and induced jobs and over 350,000 jobs from consumer spending.
Of special note, tying the mortgage buy-down and accelerated depreciation to achieving specific energy reductions immediately creates the opportunity for a $1.6 trillion renovation market that does not currently exist. The immediacy and magnitude of this opportunity can turn the tide for the construction industry, as well as the nation.
The plan, called the 2030 Challenge Stimulus Plan (‘Plan’), would save consumers $142.33 billion to $200.88 billion2 in energy costs and mortgage payments over a five-year period, significantly reducing the risk of mortgage failure while increasing disposable income. Because the 2030 Challenge calls for buildings to be renovated or designed to reduce their fossil-fuel, GHG-emitting energy consumption in a range from 30% below that required by the IECC 2006 and ASHRAE 90.1-2004 code standards to carbon neutral3, the Plan will also reduce CO2 emissions by 481.13 MMT and energy consumption by 6.17 QBtu over the same five-year period.
The Green Roof
Friday, October 31st, 2008
Metropolis Magazine: Part 2: The Green Roof
The California Academy of Sciences balances a commitment to biodiversity with a demand for beauty.
By Belinda Lanks
Posted September 17, 2008
How does a landscape architect cultivate nature without corrupting it? The question goes back at least to the 18th century, when the novelist Samuel Richardson wrote that the ideal was for the artist ‘not to level hills, or to force and distort nature; but to help it, as he finds it, without letting art be seen in his works, where he can possibly avoid it.’ The undulating green roof that sits atop the new California Academy of Sciences building in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park tries to strike a?similar balance. Like the museum it shelters, it is designed to respect the natural world even as it appropriates it, serving at once as a wildlife habitat and a first-rate work of art.
When the roof (along with the building) opens to?the public this month, it will be, at 2.5 acres, the?largest such ‘living’ structure in California. Conceived in 1999 by the architect Renzo Piano (who also designed the building)”
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Sustainable Architecture, Green Architecture, Sustainable Construction