Showing Tag: "sustainable construction" (Show all posts)
Posted by John Noriega on Saturday, March 24, 2012,
photo source: nj.com
--Our current energy grid suffers from a lack of communication and shared information. Demand response is one solution that is transforming the energy industry.
For the past few decades, our nation's infrastructure has struggled to keep up with the exponentially rising energy demand. The rise in demand is mostly due to our growing dependence on technology, and as businesses turn to new technology, they rely on the energy grid to support their business more than anythi...
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Posted by John Noriega on Sunday, February 19, 2012,
--Recent economic and social trends support the opportunities that sustainable communities offer more than ever.
Traditionally, sustainable communities have been the business of many European cultures; and more recently, popular among a certain population of the west coast. However, there is a growing demographic in the United States that could greatly benefit from the unique opportunities offered by sustainable communities.
The 'Baby Boomer' generation is coming of the age of retirement...
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Posted by John Noriega on Tuesday, April 19, 2011,
--Happy Birthday to the Sustainable Construction Blog!
After one year of blogging the Sustainable Construction Blog has published many articles covering many technologies, products, projects, and issues in the sustainable construction industry. We have received a great deal of feedback in the News, Construction and Renovations blogs and look forward to more discussion and input in the next year, as more content covering the most popular trends and topics is published.
This past year, the Sust...
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Posted by John Noriega on Saturday, April 2, 2011,
--Speculating on why the green roof collapsed in St. Charles, Illinois and who is at fault.
A little over a month ago, the largest sloped green roof in North America collapsed. There has been speculation as to why this roof collapsed, but no firm conclusions have been made as the investigation continues. The president of Aquascape, commented on the incident in a press release saying that the snow had melted on the roof but could not drain because of ice blocking the drainage system. It has... Continue reading ...
Posted by John Noriega on Wednesday, March 16, 2011,
ZamRay.com is quickly becoming a popular name within the sustainable construction industry and for good reason. ZamRay offers unique services in one convenient location that can effectively connect the construction industry. While the main purpose of this internet start up is to allow its users to buy and sell surplus and reclaimed material, there are many other components of the website that make it a useful source to improve construction projects across the nation.Earlier this week I had ... Continue reading ...
Posted by John Noriega on Tuesday, March 1, 2011,
--LEEDCo, Bechtel, and GE build wind farm pilot project on Lake Erie--Even though this is not breaking news by any means, I figured it was worthy to mention in the sustainable construction news blog with some updated insight to the project. The Lake Erie Energy Corporation (LEEDCo) is teaming up with General Electric and Bechtel Corporation to build a 20MW wind farm on Lake Erie. As a Pennsylvania native, I was ecstatic to hear of a wind energy project on Lake Erie, but was disappointed to h... Continue reading ...
Posted by John Noriega on Tuesday, July 20, 2010,
Being the host of the Summer Olympic Games is a privilege and an opportunity for a city and a nation to spark economic growth. London, the host of the 2012 Olympic Games, plans to do more than just that. The London Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games is a company that is in charge of handling private sector investments and public sector funding. The public funding is provided by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. They are using this opportunity to develop a struggling pa...
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Posted by John Noriega on Thursday, July 8, 2010,
On Saturday, July 5th 2010, President Obama announced his approval of the DOE loan guarantee for solar energy projects. This $1.85 billion in funding takes advantage of last year’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
Other recent ARRA projects received a combined total of $76 million a few weeks ago. These projects received federal funding to produce products that are unique to the sustainable construction industry and also train professionals to be familiar with this equipm...
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Posted by John Noriega on Sunday, July 4, 2010,
For those who don’t know, Manayunk is a unique urban neighborhood just outside of Philadelphia. Main St., along the Schuylkill River is a popular area that is home to many high end restaurants and shopping. When I heard about a green community in Manayunk I had to check it out.
At first instinct I kind of chuckled to myself; wondering how anyone could actually make a successful sustainable community in Manayunk and actually sell the properties. After touring a model home I learned tha...
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Posted by John Noriega on Monday, June 28, 2010,
On June 17, 2010, U.S. Department of Energy secretary, Steven Chu, announced that $76 million dollars of energy funding would be awarded to 58 selected projects for the advancement of sustainable buildings. As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), these task specific projects cover many aspects to advance the energy efficiency in the sustainable construction and operation of buildings in the United States. Proprietors of these projects include universities, research gr...
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Posted by John Noriega on Saturday, June 26, 2010,
McKinney Green Building: sustainable ROI project
An engineering consulting group, HDR, based out of Omaha, Nebraska has developed a new process that is used to evaluate sustainable project benefits. The process and its viability are becoming accepted by the building industry as a means of justifying the value of sustainable investments. Now project owners can compare a financial return on investment to a sustainable return on investment and clearly see a reason to build sustainably or not...
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Posted by John Noriega on Thursday, June 24, 2010,
Building codes and standards are undoubtedly the answer to overall sustainability in the commercial and private building sectors. While sustainable construction projects are becoming more popular, incentive to build sustainably only convinces some of the population of business owners, and homeowners. For now, building standards not affiliated with mandated building codes offer no official financial incentive. Sustainable construction is left to those who understand the necessity to build...
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Posted by John Noriega on Tuesday, June 22, 2010,
Project FROG is a company based out of San Francisco, California that has developed and produced a complete line of prefabricated modular classroom buildings. These state of the art structures achieve net zero energy standards and provide an optimal learning environment. The company was founded in 2006, when co-founder Mark Miller set out to design “the most technologically advanced, energy efficient building system on the planet.” As it states on their website, they claim they have ...
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Posted by John Noriega on Sunday, June 13, 2010,
On June 7th, 2010, Wells Fargo & Company announced that their recently constructed Duke Energy Center in Charlotte, NC has achieved Platinum certification under the USGBC’s LEED for Core & Shell version 2.0. LEED for Core & Shell is a very compelling category that proves a skyscraper to be sustainable. Duke Energy announced its long term leasing agreement with Wells Fargo back in February 2009. Duke Energy supplies and delivers electric and natural gas to customers all over the United ...
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Posted by John Noriega on Monday, May 31, 2010,
On Sunday, May 16th, Philadelphia University celebrated over 125 years of educating by honoring their graduates. The University has been changing their approach to education to become a model university for the 21st century. Their strategic plan under the new president Dr. Stephen Spinelli is based on interdisciplinary projects and design for innovation. This direction has led the schools of design, engineering, and business to collaborate on projects throughout the academic year. These...
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Posted by John Noriega on Friday, April 23, 2010,
Seeing as it is Earth Day I felt it was only proper that I acknowledged it on my sustainable construction blog. To be honest, I never thought of myself as a tree hugger and, in fact, the recycling bin at my home doesn’t get used as much as it should. I also must confess the first thing I did this morning was buy a coffee from Dunkin Donuts that was served in a Styrofoam cup which I eventually contributed to the Philadelphia municipal waste. While I usually take my own “eco-friendly tra...
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Posted by John Noriega on Thursday, April 22, 2010,
This website will cover many interesting aspects of sustainable construction practices as new products and technology are implemented into the construction industry. Follow along as breaking news stories and products are analyzed and reviewed. This blog was created by Architectural Engineering student John Noriega in order to interact with other professionals in the industry and discuss sustainable construction. The blog is also made to appeal to America's homeowners as it will discuss the...
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