Sustainable Design Blog

Biomimicry in Architectural design

We wanted to do more and be more like Nature. So we took a stab at biomimicry and it stuck. Check out Sean's latest article on LinkedIn. He talks about the project that helped him get a better understanding of Biomimicry and the amazing opportunity it can provide in innovation and meaningful design.
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What's sustainable about your building?

Drawing Parallels between the Civil Rights & Sustainability Movements


 

We face EXTREME opposition:

 

Since participating in the Women’s march in Washington DC in January 2017, my awareness of civil rights issues has been heightened. Moreover, I am beginning to see many similarities between those opposing minority groups in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, as they fought for equal rights and those opposing movements today fighting for a cleaner world.

 

In an exercise to draw out the similarities I took some profound statements from a book I just finished reading (Deep Denial by David Billings), and re-wrote them to fit into my perspectives on the current sustainability effort in the US.  I hope these help you to see the connections.  

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Come check out what net zero energy can do for this awesome planet of ours!

Net Zero Energy: how Sustainable Design is Changing Your Future


NET ZERO, AND LOVIN' IT!

 

Hi everybody, and happy 2017! I hope you had a wonderful holiday season, and were able to celebrate the New Year with good people and good times.

 

Speaking of, I wanted to kick the year off with a little celebration of my own - because we just received report back on our 2016 Gold LEED certified nature center at Audubon - and it turns out that just by existing, our building is contributing to solving our energy crisis!

 

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Net Zero Building Design is Going to be the Standard Sooner than Later


Change is coming:

If you do not yet sense an urgency for change, you will soon.

Sure, there's market resistance, and there will continue to be, and so far, it doesn't seem to have moved very fast. But that's because the market will only transform so fast without a crisis.

The sweet spot for now may be where both sides are angry:  The market is uncomfortable with the required rate of change, and those that understand the current and pending risks are angry that change is not happening fast enough.  

The question today: Why do something different?  We are all pretty good at what we do, so why change?


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Does the Cost of Solar energy outweigh the benefits?


 

How much does it cost to turn the sun into electricity, and is it worth it for my Florida building?

According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, a typical residential system should lower your electric bills by 25% to 50%. The a verage household pays about $110 a month for electricity, according to the Energy Department, so a solar-panel system should save you between $300 and $600 a year.

Not bad....

Finding such savings and a shorter payback time than I expected when I first started looking into the subject, led me to doing further research on the use of solar panels for residential energy in sunny Florida.

However, doing so opened a can of political worms I was hoping to avoid, because it turns out that our laws are tilting the scales in ways people don't realize.

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How we're going to meet the 2030 challenge


 

I was in attendance at the International Living Futures Institute’s (ILFI) Living Futures 2016 conference in Seattle the week of May 9, 2016.  It was an amazing gathering of leaders in sustainability.  

One of the keynote addresses was given by Ed Mazria, Founder and CEO of 2030 Architecture and of the 2030 Challenge. The imperative that he spoke about is that we reach zero net carbon emissions for all new buildings by 2030 and for ALL buildings by 2050.  He spoke about how not only is it important, but it's an absolutely necessity for the survival of our species.

Many see it as a bold plan, because it simply won't accept business as usual in the built environment, but not us, because we know for a fact that these goals are attainable, and they're just the things that motivate us every single day.

This got me thinking:  What do we need to be doing, as architects in Florida, to stay on track to meet the 2030 Challenge? 

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