Zero Net Energy - August 1, 2016

I’m noticing a cross-over now between zero net energy building and city agriculture, two subjects I follow and publish links lists on.  The archive of the city agriculture links list is at cityag.blogspot.com

Net Zero Plus

The NetZero Plus Electric Training Institute (NZP-ETI), opened recently in Los Angeles, and is the largest net-zero plus commercial building retrofit in USA which “will function as a living laboratory, educational facility and demonstration center for advanced and emerging clean energy technologies."

http://nzp-eti.com

http://inhabitat.com/largest-net-zero-plus-commercial-retrofit-in-the-us-opens-in-los-angeles/

Eco-Cooler

http://inhabitat.com/this-amazing-bangladeshi-air-cooler-is-made-from-plastic-bottles-and-uses-no-electricity/

https://youtu.be/jPuh8IFbIzQ

I’ve built a version of this for myself and it seems to work although mine is just a small test model

All terrain off the grid survival vehicle

http://www.treehugger.com/tiny-houses/survival-van-conversion-off-grid-all-terrain-john-mcelhiney.html

New home construction moving towards net zero

http://cleantechnica.com/2016/06/23/new-construction-homes-moving-towards-net-zero-california-leads-way/

Retrofit home in Whatcom County, Washington produces twice the energy it now consumes (in an area with solar insolation of 3.5 - 3.0 kWh/square meter/day)

http://sustainableconnections.org/news/sc-press-releases/100-powered-by-sunshine-first-home-in-whatcom-county-to-receive-net-zero-energy-certification

http://inhabitat.com/retrofitted-net-zero-home-in-washington-produces-double-the-energy-it-needs/

Virginia Beach,VA 10,500-square-foot Brock Environmental Center turns rainwater into drinking water, produces 83% more energy than it uses

http://inhabitat.com/incredible-net-zero-energy-brock-environmental-center-turns-rainwater-into-drinking-water/

http://www.cbf.org/brock

Net Zero Energy Vermont - blog focusing on making Vermont the first zero energy state

http://www.netzeroenergyvt.net/

Net zero energy feasibility study for Vermont buildings (and beyond)

https://www.efficiencyvermont.com/news-blog/whitepapers/net-zero-energy-feasibility-study

Net zero downtown Montpelier design competition

https://netzerovt.org/design-competition/

Siemens new Munich headquarters, using 90% less electricity and 75% less water than what the building it replaced

http://www.worldarchitecturenews.com/project/2016/26904/henning-larsen-architects/siemens-hq-in-munich.html

http://www.henninglarsen.com/news/archive/2016/06/one-of-europe’s-most-sustainable-buildings-inaugurated.aspx

http://inhabitat.com/renovated-siemens-headquarters-in-munich-now-consumes-90-less-energy-and-75-less-water/

Los Angeles net zero solar powered  20 unit apartment building:  Hanover Olympic 

http://www.hanoverolympic.com/eco-green-homes

http://www.hanoverolympic.com/los-angeles/hanover-olympic/photos/

http://inhabitat.com/first-solar-powered-net-zero-apartment-building-in-los-angeles-opens-its-doors/

Nanjing China zero net energy Green Light House

http://www.archdaily.com/792110/nanjing-green-light-house-archiland-international

http://inhabitat.com/zero-carbon-nanjing-green-lighthouse-is-a-beacon-for-sustainable-design-in-china/

Net Zero community in Salt Lake City

http://www.buildingsaltlake.com/net-zero-community-coming-salt-lake/?mailchimp_signup=1

Telus Gardens in Vancouver, LEED Platinum with indoor gardens

http://inhabitat.com/vancouvers-greenest-office-building-envisions-a-new-kind-of-office-space-with-telus-garden/

http://henriquezpartners.com/archimemo/telus-garden-grand-opening/

http://www.officemb.ca/work/telus-garden/

LIAR Living Architecture

"This project will develop blocks able to extract resources from sunlight, waste water and air. The bricks are able to fit together and create ‘bioreactor walls’ which could then be incorporated in housing, public buildings and office spaces.”

http://www.ncl.ac.uk/press/news/2016/07/liarlivingarchitecture/

Floating House - 100 sqm residential unit, 12 m in diameter and 4 m high, made entirely of recycled laminated timber on a recycled aluminium hull.

http://www.ecoflolife.com/floating-house/

Homefront Advantage

I finally finished a short video (less than two minutes) on WWII posters for the Homefront. These posters exhorted all of us to become part of the war effort. It wasn't about "going shopping" then, it was about energy and resource conservation, rationing ourselves for the benefit of our armed forces, and making the Homefront an effective front for fighting the Axis powers.

In 2004, I tried to contact the Kerry campaign to convince them to use these posters in reminding us of our history. I think they would be just as effective this election year.

I also hand delivered to Al Gore a packet with some of my favorite WWII posters but, again, have seen no results from this attempt.

Links to more of my favorite WWII posters at
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/10/29/2145/7162
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/12/22/225321/63/96/425004
http://solarray.blogspot.com/2006/07/its-all-one-war-that-never-ends.html

Homefront Advantage

I believe it is time to bring the oil war home, especially since fuel prices indicate it's coming this direction whether we like it or not. My gut has been telling me that the homefront attitude of WWII, with its emphasis on belt-tightening and conserving, may be an appropriate response to our current situation.

Doing a little research on WWII slogans I came across a great collection of posters at http://www.state.nh.us/ww2/. You should really look at the pictures but here are some of the words:

Do with less so they'll have enough!

Millions of troops are on the move... is YOUR trip necessary?

Have you really tried to save gas by getting into a car club?

All fuel is scarce. Plan for winter now!
1. Winterize your home!
2. Check your heating plant!
3. Order fuel at once!

Food is a weapon. Don't waste it!

Can all you can. It's a real war job!

Plant a victory garden. Our food is fighting.

Use it up - wear it out- make it do! Our labor and goods are fighting.

I wonder if reproductions of these posters would be useful at Camp Casey or in Washington DC on September 24.

PS: One slogan I'd add for the 21st century is
Solar Is Civil Defense

Gaian Design of Ecological Alchemy

A history of New Alchemy Institute. Here is the core of their natural systems designs.

_A Safe and Sustainable World: The Promise of Ecological Design_ by Nancy Jack Todd
Washington: Island Press, 2005
ISBN 1-55963-778-1
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=fz1mCrlAEn&isbn=1559637781&itm=1

(82-83) The living world remained our conceptual model for the architecture of the bioshelters. Evolution is continuous, dynamic, and highly adaptive. As John was wont to point out, the Laws of Thermodynamics determine that there is a progressive deterioration in the quality of energy, but living forms create spatial form and morphic order. In defiance of entropy, energy can be harnessed to work on the side of life - which is precisely what we were trying to do.

(190) A Gaian worldview holds all life to be a sacred ecology in which humankind serves as steward.

(155) Gaia knows what she is doing, and our best bet is to get better at playing junior partner in the overall scheme of things.

(142) We had, in our experiments in applied Gaia, decoded some of the elements for healing both people and the planet and had helped to give the world what Gregory Bateson had called a "paradigm with a future."

(162-163) Twelve principles fundamental to the practice of ecological design:

1. Geological and mineral diversity must be present to evolve the biological responsiveness of rich soils.
2. Nutrient reservoirs are essential to keep such essentials as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium available or the pants.
3. Steep gradients between subcomponents must be engineered into the system to enable the biological elements to evolve rapidly to assist in the breakdown of toxic materials.
4. High rates of exchange must be created by maximizing surface areas that house the bacteria that determine the metabolism of the system and facilitate treatment.
5. Periodic and random pulsed exchanges improve performance. Just as random perturbations foster resilience in nature. in living technologies altering water flow creates self-organization in the system.
6. Cellular design is the structural model as it is in nature where cells are the organizing unit. Expansion of system should also use a cellular model, as in increasing the number of tanks.
7. A law of the minimum must be incorporated. At least three ecosystems such as a marsh, a pond, and a terrestrial area are needed to perform the assigned function and maintain overall stability.
8. Microbial communities must be introduced periodically from the natural world to maintain diversity and facilitate evolutionary processes.
9. Photosynthetic foundations are essential as oxygen-producing plants foster ecosystems that require less energy, aeration, and chemical management.
10. Phylogenetic diversity must be encouraged as a range of aquatic animals from the unicellular to snails to fish are as essential to the evolution and self-maintenance of the system as the plants.
11. Sequenced and repeated seedings are part of maintenance as a self-contained system cannot be isolated but must be interlinked through gaseous, nutrient, mineral, and biological pathways to the external environment.
12. Ecological design should reflect the macrocosmos in the microcosmos, representing the natural world miniaturized and reflecting its proportions, as in terrestrial to oceanic and aquatic areas.

(183) This approach to watershed restoration involves the following:
1. Modifying hydrological cycles on a microscale.
2. Working first upstream then downstream in the watershed,
3. Developing many local points of intervention.
4. Allowing local topography, including buildings, parking lots, and roadways, to direct design.
5. Employing natural systems engineering.
6. Incorporating organisms such as fungi, mosses, and higher plants to sequester metals, bind phosphorus, and destroy pathogens or to break down organic compounds, including petroleum-based products.