http://174.129.12.53:80 Thu, 23 May 2013 16:14:09 -0400 Siteforum feed creator v1.0 eng http://www.greenexpo365.com/en/app/blog/2013/05/constructing-green-roofs-with-icynene-improves-qua_hg87xc2b.html Icynene spray foam insulation to work in green building projects for both residential and commercial use. This unique roof structure has a variety of benefits for improving the usability of the space, enhancing water runoff control and even providing health benefits to residents or office workers. Using Icynene will ensure that these flat roofs remain watertight, maintain internal climate control and enhance the overall efficiency of the building.

Finding the value in Icynene rooftop structures
The main purpose of green roof elements is to help control water on flat roofs. This is a common building feature in commercial structures, as well as buildings in certain parts of the world that are more accommodated by hot temperatures much of the year and therefore don't require hipped roofs. Installing a flat roof on its own can sometimes result in significant maintenance and drainage issues, factors that the installation of green elements will remove. Using Icynene products within a green roof system can help enhance the effects of green roof benefits even further by making the building process more efficient and ensuring that results will last for years.

A green roof works by adding garden elements around the top level of a structure. These plants assist in soaking up rain water, depleting heat factors that might serve as a detriment to the roof and blocking winds and debris that might otherwise blow onto the surface. Adding spray foam insulation to the decking of these structures allows the building to retain heating and cooling regularity, assisted in part by the addition of green elements to the roof. Icynene spray foam insulation can help address drainage issues in commercial and residential structures, increasing savings to heating and cooling bills by up to 50 percent. As a product that is known for helping reduce moisture retention and helping buildings avoid incurring water damage, the effect of adding green spaces to Icynene-inforced flat roofs makes it an ideal mix for providing the best return on investment possible for organizations.

Additional health benefits from Icynene installations
Green roof projects are ideal for buildings that have a flat roof surface. Some parts of the world are more friendly toward these types of designs, but even in colder climates, adding a rooftop space to a commercial or residential structure can give that unit extra value. What's more, the addition of green elements can make employees work harder and residents feel better overall. A study by the European Center for Environment and Human Health found that people with access to green spaces expressed better physical and mental wellbeing than those who lived or worked in areas with less access to such natural elements.

Icynene's unique installation process is very consumer-friendly thanks to its unique application techniques. Using water-propelled instead of chemically aided installation methods makes most of Icynene's spray foams a great option for roof gardens, since it is less likely to have any negative feedback on plants through leaching or runoff. What's more, the added value a homeowner can enjoy through adding a green space to an otherwise empty roof is boosted by the fact that Icynene products will ensure no negative effects are felt on heating and cooling bills.

With Icynene, dangers of energy waste and respiratory issues are reduced, as this spray foam insulation allows you to feel a difference every day - in your home and in your pocketbook. Using Icynene spray foam to reinforce green roof spaces will add value to these structures in multiple ways, making it a desirable addition to any building project. ]]> Thu, 2 May 2013 13:39:09 -0400 http://www.greenexpo365.com/en/app/blog/2013/05/constructing-green-roofs-with-icynene-improves-qua_hg87xc2b.html http://www.greenexpo365.com/en/app/blog/2013/03/first-active-house-usa-nears-completion_hevzumhp.html Description not available Fri, 29 Mar 2013 19:40:09 -0400 http://www.greenexpo365.com/en/app/blog/2013/03/first-active-house-usa-nears-completion_hevzumhp.html http://www.greenexpo365.com/en/app/blog/2013/02/two-decades-of-composite-decking-where-the-industr_hdf6mdsv.html With only the finishing touches left to go, the first Active House in the USA is almost complete. But before turning the keys over to the Smith family, the partners for the project gathered together to allow colleagues, the general public and media to take a last look at the house and for a last chance to takea peek at this unique prototype home.On March 8 and 9, 2013 the final open house for Active House USA was held, and close to 2,000 people came from as close as next door and as far away as Denmarkto see the finished product and talk with the leading leading green building professionals that made this prototype home a reality. Lines wound through thebackyard and to the street as people waited for their chance to take a tour through the house.

The public open house, which was held from 10am until 2pm on Saturday, attracted so many people that for hours afterward, people were still stopping by to see if they could be squeezed in for a glimpse of this unique home.

Vendorswho were on hand answering questions during the event included HibbsHomes,Verdatek Solutions, Laclede Gas, Velux, Jeff Day and Associates, Smith Patrick CPAs,Castle Stone Products, ABF Security, Webster Window and Door, James Hardie Siding, SidingExpress.com, Scott Lee Heating, Microgrid Solar, Metro Lighting, HomeNav,Dogwood Solar, Ferguson, and the University of Missouri Energy Efficiency Research Consortium.

Before the Smith family moves in next month monitoring equipment is being installed inthe home so the family can work closely with the University of Missouri Energy Efficiency Research Consortium and the Active House Alliance to provide anecdotal and statistical metrics to help assist with further research and development of green building standards both in the US and abroad.
]]> Wed, 20 Feb 2013 19:37:54 -0500 http://www.greenexpo365.com/en/app/blog/2013/02/two-decades-of-composite-decking-where-the-industr_hdf6mdsv.html http://www.greenexpo365.com/en/app/blog/2013/02/cphc%C2%AE-goes-virtual-%E2%80%93-training-to-become-a-certifie_hd4t8168.html Description not available Wed, 13 Feb 2013 13:25:08 -0500 http://www.greenexpo365.com/en/app/blog/2013/02/cphc%C2%AE-goes-virtual-%E2%80%93-training-to-become-a-certifie_hd4t8168.html http://www.greenexpo365.com/en/app/blog/2013/02/ansi-approves-the-2012-icc-700-national-green-buil_hcusuq09.html
That single word was a family friend’s business advice to recent college graduate Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) in the 1967 film “The Graduate.”

If the movie had come out a couple decades later, that one word of advice might have been “composites.”

Market research shows that wood-plastic composites are now one of the fastest growing segments of the North American decking industry, outpacing growth in wood decking by about 11 to 1.

Manufacturers introduced composite building materials made of recycled plastics and wood fiber in the late 1980s. Composite decking followed early in the 90s. By the new millennium, numerous companies were producing composite decking.

Two overarching trends mark the evolution of the composite decking industry over the past 20 plus years: 1) performance and 2) aesthetics.

Performance
With the rapid growth of the composites industry, early on some products came to market that were susceptible to failures – particularly from moisture intrusion. Today, composites’ performance depends to a large degree on how well the individual wood fibers are encased in plastic.

The moisture damage concern has been a key driver of the recent rise of cap-stock composite decking products, in which an outer shell is wrapped around a core.

Moving forward, the next stage in composites’ evolution is boards with caps integrated with the core. Such products hold the promise of enhanced stain resistance, without risk of the cap separating from the core.

Aesthetics
Look side-by-side at composite deck boards from 20 years ago with ones from today, and you’ll notice a marked increase in attractiveness. Composite manufacturers have improved the looks of their deck boards with realistic embossed wood grain patterns, and in some cases with color streaking to mimic the beauty of exotic hardwoods like Tiger Wood.

Even young Mr. Braddock wouldn’t have wanted a “plastic” looking deck. With modern composites, home and building owners can now have the good looks of wood decking with the high performance of wood-plastic composites.

Future aesthetic innovations in composite decking are likely to include an even wider range of colors and textures.



]]> Wed, 6 Feb 2013 13:17:05 -0500 http://www.greenexpo365.com/en/app/blog/2013/02/ansi-approves-the-2012-icc-700-national-green-buil_hcusuq09.html http://www.greenexpo365.com/en/app/blog/2012/11/a-green-building-consultant%E2%80%99s-insider-view-of-a-su_ha2pnx3n.html Description not available Wed, 28 Nov 2012 12:10:51 -0500 http://www.greenexpo365.com/en/app/blog/2012/11/a-green-building-consultant%E2%80%99s-insider-view-of-a-su_ha2pnx3n.html http://www.greenexpo365.com/en/app/blog/2012/11/the-arc-and-the-covenants_h961ekud.html
Now it’s time to take another leap forward. During our recent constituent survey, you were good enough to spend your valuable time and give us your feedback and loads of great suggestions. Many of you said that you want to take the CPHC training but you simply couldn’t be away from work for 9 days; that traveling once for a five-day session was a limit. That the time and travel for two in-class sessions was just too much.

We heard you: To make the training more accessible, we are making a portion of the class available in live, virtual format:

- Phase I will now be available via eight three-hour virtual sessions presented in collaboration with GreenExpo365, a national leader in virtual sustainable building training. Lecture and homework sessions—which are well-suited for this format—will be delivered twice a week for four weeks. The sessions will be taught live by PHIUS trainers and will feature live interaction. They will be also be recorded and made available to registered students for review and exam prep. Instructors will also hold “office hours” outside of class time to field questions from participants.

- Phase II will still be delivered in-class over 5 days—students can choose the most convenient of several in-class locations in the US and Canada. (See schedule here.)


The new format cuts travel and accommodation requirements in half. It allows students to take Phase I from their home or office. And—it allows PHIUS to reduce course fees, which are being reduced by $300! (See the full description here).

We’re very excited to launch this new format in April (see the schedule here) and we think it will open opportunities for more and more professionals to become CPHCs.

Still, you might be wondering why we have not taken the entire training online.

A proficient CPHC must fully understand the core underlying passive house principles, and have ability to optimize a project’s energy balance and performance, all within the context of a realistic budget. Years of in-class instruction have taught us that mastering tools like WUFI Passive or PHPP demands personal interaction. Classroom give-and-take between a student and experienced instructor is critical to understanding work flows, appropriate component choices according to climate, and making cost-effective design choices based on modeling results
In person, group interaction also greatly enhances the mechanical systems design exercises. Perhaps most important: We’ve seen firsthand the kind of personal connections that develop among classmates and between students and instructors. It has fostered a spirit of sharing and exchange, and forged connections that are the foundation of the passive house community. It has made us strong.

The PHIUS CPHC curriculum is constantly evolving—and it’s better than ever. It reflects the ever-growing collective knowledge and practical experience of our trainers–the most active CPHC consultants, who have build the most certified projects nationwide. Students received a binder of passive house information as well as CDs of class content.

And the CPHC training now incorporates the new WUFI Passive modeling tool. It is truly the dawn of a new age for passive designers! In addition to integrating WUFI Passive into CPHC training, PHIUS is offering three-day, standalone WUFI Passive training. It’s a great opportunity for CPHCs to refresh and upgrade their modeling skills.

I just finished participating in the first ever WUFI Passive 3-day training at Parsons College in NYC. CPHCs from the Northeast, Southeast, the Midwest and California and even CPHCs from areas with extreme climates like Texas and Toronto made the trek—and the energy was fantastic! (We just added WUFI Passive trainings in Chicago and Portland, Ore.)

This is a modern production tool with a terrific user interface. On day one we created a 3-D visualization in Sketch-up, imported it into WUFI Passive, and assigned window properties to the model. On day two we built assemblies in WUFI P in the 3D detail visualizer and on day three we’re trying out the dynamic options of the model for hygrothermal and comfort assessments.

We’re very excited about this new tool and the new CPHC training format. We expect that our partnership with the DOE—PHIUS+ Certification now also earns DOE Challenge Home and Energy Star designation—will put passive house on the national stage. And the demand for CPHCs will grow faster than ever.

We hope to see you all in 2013 and hope you will find the new format as exciting as we do!

Kat
]]> Mon, 5 Nov 2012 15:23:07 -0500 http://www.greenexpo365.com/en/app/blog/2012/11/the-arc-and-the-covenants_h961ekud.html http://www.greenexpo365.com/en/app/blog/2012/10/what-hurricane-sandy-teaches-us-about-our-built-en_h8xke30o.html Description not available Tue, 30 Oct 2012 18:04:41 -0400 http://www.greenexpo365.com/en/app/blog/2012/10/what-hurricane-sandy-teaches-us-about-our-built-en_h8xke30o.html http://www.greenexpo365.com/en/app/blog/2012/10/first-active-house-in-us-going-up-in-st-louis_h7uzn7bp.html ANSI) recently approved the 2012 ICC-700 National Green Building Standard™. A collaborative effort between the ICC and NAHB, the Standard™ defines green building for

• multifamily buildings
• home remodeling and additions
• hotels and dormitories
• residential land developments

The Standard is available in both print and e-Book formats. Changes to the 2012 ICC-700 National Green Building Standard™ (the original standard was published in 2008) make it easier to use, align provisions with the latest model codes, and build upon the years of experience of building and certifying to the 2008 edition. Among the areas updated are the following:

• The Energy Efficiency Chapter has been substantially revised with the new more stringent rating levels based on whole-house energy savings above the 2009 International Energy Efficiency Code.
• The remodeling provisions have been incorporated into two new stand-alone chapters and include options for rating an entire remodeled building or achieving minimum compliance for a remodeled functional area such as a kitchen, bathroom, basement or addition.
• The point assignments for Water Efficiency practices have been reanalyzed to achieve an improved internal consistency with regard to actual water savings.
• The durability provisions have been reorganized, expanded and compiled into a single section as part of the Resource Efficiency chapter.

*Pre-order your print copy today at www.BuilderBooks.com/NGBS2012 or download the e-Book at ebooks.builderbooks.com.

Also, check out the new NAHB BuilderBooks e-Books store. Several popular BuilderBooks titles are now available as e-Books you can download to your PC or iPad, or view and read online. Visit the NAHB BuilderBooks e-Book store at ebook.builderbooks.com.

Follow NAHB BuilderBooks on Twitter @ www.twitter.com/BuilderBooks.

NAHB BUILDERBOOKS—BOOKS THAT BUILD YOUR BUSINESS!


]]> Wed, 3 Oct 2012 18:08:40 -0400 http://www.greenexpo365.com/en/app/blog/2012/10/first-active-house-in-us-going-up-in-st-louis_h7uzn7bp.html http://www.greenexpo365.com/en/app/blog/2012/09/water-wars--part-2-changing-the-way-we-build-build_h6s0yrae.html Description not available Thu, 6 Sep 2012 11:42:38 -0400 http://www.greenexpo365.com/en/app/blog/2012/09/water-wars--part-2-changing-the-way-we-build-build_h6s0yrae.html