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In This Issue:
INNOVATION HELPS MAKE DESIGN WORK FOR DIFFICULT LOTS:
According to a recent article in the Sacramento Bee (Edie Lau, 01/01/07), retired structural designer Milton Carlson is giving life to the concept of environmental efficiency by taking “impossible” locations and making them work as buildable lots. Carlson’s latest home, his third in five years, is a 2,224-square foot, three bedroom, two-bath stucco house built in a triangular lot under the nose of a freeway in Sacramento, Calif. The home is laid out like a tiered wedding cake on its side, with a stack of four successively smaller rectangles that fit the triangular space. It uses several advanced technologies, including a 5-kilowatt solar array on the roof, a passive solar water heater connected to a tankless water heater and four panes of laminated glass in every window space to muffle the traffic noise. According to one architect, Carlson’s designs are an indicator of more environmentally responsible land use. To learn more, read the article.
DOE RELEASES BEST PRACTICES HANDBOOK FOR BUILDING IN MARINE CLIMATES:
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Building America program recently released Builders and Buyers Handbook for Improving New Home Efficiency, Comfort, and Durability in the Marine Climate, according to a DOE press release (12/06/06). The guide provides useful tips for both builders and buyers for increasing efficiency in the marine climate zone, a narrow band along the West Coast from the Canadian border south to the boundary between Ventura and Los Angeles, Calif. Specifically, the release says builders can use the guide to help them reach 30 percent energy in space heating and cooling and water heating by implementing the Building America process. The handbook also has chapters for supervisors, architects, designers, site developers, marketers, managers, and homeowners. The guide is the fifth volume in the DOE’s series of regional best practices handbooks; previous volumes focus on hot-humid climates, hot-dry and mixed-dry climates, cold and very cold climates, and mixed-humid climates. Downloadable guides are available on the Building America website. For more information, read the press release.
TECH PRACTICES SHOW BUILDER SUCCESSES IN 2006:
According to a recent article in Professional Builder (Scott T. Shepherd, Dec. 2006), the home building market looks bright for builders who have adopted new technologies, despite recent headlines of lagging new home sales and soaring construction costs. The article summarizes several success stories from 2006 included in the Tech Practices section of the Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing’s (PATH’s) website. Stories include builders who used panelized components, steel framing, autoclaved aerated concrete, and precast concrete to improve the quality and efficiency of their homes, speed construction times, reduce costs, and improve marketability. To learn more about these successes, read the article or visit the Tech Practices section on the PATH website.
THIN IS IN FOR PV:
2007 may prove to be the dawn of the new age of thin-film photovoltaics (PV), according to a recent article in R&D Magazine (Adria Nieswand, Dec. 2006). The article states that one of the biggest reasons that PV has not yet experienced widespread application is because of the limited supply and high cost of polysilicon, which is used by 90 percent of PV solar cell manufacturers. However, major breakthroughs in thin-film PV technology have eliminated the need for polysilicon altogether. According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), low-cost PV devices can be created using only pennies’ worth of active semiconductor materials rather than the larger quantities required for crystalline-silicon cells. NREL found that the best cells made from the semiconductor material CIGS (copper indium gallium selenide) exceeded the best efficiency of a polycrystalline silicon cell. And unlike traditional solar panels that are rigid, heavy and fragile, thin-film solar modules are lightweight, highly flexible, and have an expected lifespan of 25 years. New modules are so thin and pliable that Nanosolar of Palo Alto, Calif., has developed a way to manufacture them with a process that resembles printing. Additionally, the performance and potential of thin-film materials are vastly improving. To learn more about the future of PV, read the article.
CALIFORNIANS PLUGGING INTO THE SUN:
According to a recent article in the New York Times (Gregory Dicum, 01/04/07), thousands of Californians have installed solar power systems in their homes in the past year, thanks to recent legislation that provides financial incentives. The legislation—the California Solar Initiative—is one of the most ambitious solar programs in the world and aims to stimulate the installation of 3,000 megawatts of solar electrical generating capacity (the equivalent to 30 small natural gas-fired power plants) over the next 10 years. So far, the Initiative seems to be working, according to the article—California homeowners filed twice as many plans for solar systems with the state’s energy commission last year than in previous years. Several other states are considering the future of their solar programs and are closely watching California's. To learn more, read the article.
HOMEOWNERS LOOK UNDERGROUND FOR ADDITIONAL SPACE:
According to a recent article in the Dallas Morning News (Kristen Holland, 12/26/06), underground parking, which is common in commercial and multifamily construction, is just beginning to catch on in single-family residential homes. The unconventional approach may appeal to homeowners who want more space or bigger garages, especially if the cost of underground construction is less than buying additional land. According to Ed Abraham, a builder who includes underground garages in all of his company’s homes, underground garages add about 10 percent to the home’s cost. However, underground areas require proper drainage in order to prevent flooding, and skilled labor can be scarce. To learn more, read the article.