Sense and Response: A Bioclimatic Dialogue of Place

Preindustrial societies had a intimate connection to their environments in part because survival was dependent on a constructive understanding. This resulted in fantastic forms of settlement that maintained a stable and sustainable relationship. Increasing use of energy and technical prowess allowed societies to loosen this relationship, at times becoming abstract and capricious. Our current increasing awareness of our ecological dependence has resulted in a renaissance of understanding of how we should inhabit the earth. A new sensing of our place in the world has engendered a bioclimatic relationship, resulting in new forms of settlement which respond to place. This paper analyzes human's historical and contemporary responses to the biological environment.

Design for Health: Summit for Massachusetts Health Care Decision Makers

This report describes the Design for Health: Summit for Massachusetts Health Care Decision Makers, which was held in Massachusetts in 2004. The primary goal of the summit was to bring together leading healthcare facility decision makers, discuss the arguments for and evidence supporting “healthy design,” and brainstorm initiatives and implementation strategies to achieve healthier hospitals—healthier for patients, healthier for staff, healthier for the environment and community, and healthier for hospital financial security. Featured Summit speakers presented multiple arguments in favor of greening hospitals including environmental stewardship to avoid harming public health while healing individuals, higher performance to enhance patient outcomes and staff performance, and better business practices to provide long-term resource/operational savings, better capital infusion, and better systems reliability and quality.

Energy Performance Contracting for New Buildings

This guide describes energy performance contracts and performance-based fees for new buildings. Performance contracting provides an incentive for architects to design and construct efficient buildings and promotes better integration between architects, engineers, builders, owners, and operations and maintenance staff. The contracts provide an incentive to the design and construction community to go beyond minimum code requirements and they can provide excellent return on investment with low risk. This document describes the elements of a performance contract, what one can expect from a performance contract, the relationships between individuals involved in a performance contract, a step-by-step guide to creating a performance contract, as well as case studies from successful contracts.

Lightfair: Economics of Daylighting and Occupant Productivity

This presentation makes the case that workers are more productive in buildings that provide daylighting. The presentation provides several examples of office buildings, stores, and manufacturing facilities with ample outdoor light. Statistics on absenteeism and worker productivity support the claims.

Introduction to Green Building: Environmental Sensitivity with Building Materials

This article, which is the second part of a two part series on green building originally published in RMI Solutions, discusses the use of environmentally sensitive building materials. Alexis Karolides details the environmental impact of building materials such as concrete, metals, wood, and carpeting. Environmentally sensitive alternatives are also suggested. Karolides writes that choosing "green" building materials is not a cut-and-dried process. There are many considerations — sometimes conflicting. No project will be composed of a perfectly green set of materials and strategies; rather, designers and owners must determine what the most important characteristics are for the project and what the occupants need.

Introduction to Green Building: Resource Efficiency

This article, originally published in RMI Solutions, introduces the concept of green building. The author argues that green building enhances the natural environment while benefiting humans. According to Karolides, green building takes a holistic approach to planning, designing, and constructing buildings. Choosing "green" building materials is not a cut-and-dried process. There are many considerations — sometimes conflicting. No project will be composed of a perfectly green set of materials and strategies; rather, designers and owners must determine what the most important characteristics are for the project and what the occupants need. Green builders consider the interlinked issues of site and climate, building orientation and form, and lighting and thermal comfort, as opposed to considering these issues in isolation. This whole systems approach must begin in the buildings conception stages. Green building techniques allow the builder to reduce energy use and costs. This article describes several methods of saving energy and money in the building process.

Why Build Green?

This guide describes the benefits of green building and dismisses the notion that building using green methods is more expensive than traditional methods. The goal of green building is to coordinate such interconnected issues as site and building design, energy and water efficiency, resource-efficient construction, lighting and mechanical design, and building ecology, and optimize all these aspects in an integrated design. This document describes case studies of successful green buildings such as large commercial buildings, urban redevelopment projects, educational centers, and more.

Greening the Building and the Bottom Line

This paper, which was written jointly by RMI and the Department of Energy, describes the energy efficiency measures undertaken by eight organizations. In each of the cases presented, improved efficiency in lighting, heating, and cooling increased worker productivity, decreased absenteeism, and sometimes improved the quality of the work being performed. While increasing the worker experience was not the original goal in most of the cases, it was an unexpected benefit for the organizations. The case studies in this paper demonstrate that energy efficient retrofits for existing buildings and new buildings designed for energy efficient performance can have substantial economic returns. Several case studies of retrofits are presented: a retrofit of the Post Office in Reno, Nevada which, with energy savings and resulting worker productivity was able to payback the costs of the retrofit in less than one year; a Boeing assembly space that designed energy efficient lighting in order to save energy costs and improve worker safety; a blade manufacturer that installed a new type of lighting that saved energy costs and improved operators' ability to perform their tasks; an electric utility that improved their in-house lighting system and decreased absenteeism related to eye-strain and headaches. Several case studies of new buildings are also presented: a new office building for Lockheed Boeing was designed for deep daylighting by installing large window walls, light shelves, and an atrium.

Sustainable Design Guide of the Japanese Institute of Architects (Foreword)

In this chapter, Amory Lovins lays out some of RMI's core principles such as biomimicry and whole-systems design and applies them to Eastern and Western design practices. He describes traditional Eastern design principles and compares them to typical Western technological design. Lovins suggests that the best from Eastern tradition be combined with the best from Western technology to create ideal green spaces that are healthy for people as well as being energy efficient. According to Lovins, green design treats water, nutrients, and materials in a conscientious and careful way. Several actual examples of green design are described, from a large scale bank headquarters in Amsterdam to homes in California.

Greening the White House: a Comprehensive Energy and Environmental Retrofit

This report describes RMI's experience with the "Greening the White House" project. In this initiative the Clinton Administration analyzed, designed, and implemented a program to improve the energy use in the building. The White House has had a long tradition of demonstrating technological innovation. In keeping with that tradition, the Clinton Administration initiated a comprehensive analysis, design, and implementation program to improve the energy and environmental performance of the White House and Old Executive Office Building. The effort, led by an Inter-Governmental-Agency Team, consisted of six components -- audit, Feasibility Study, early actions, demonstration spaces, long-term initiatives, and technology transfer/outreach. These components were implemented to improve energy and water efficiency, make appropriate use of renewable energy sources, reduce waste streams, improve indoor air quality, and improve building comfort and performance. All of the measures were designed to limit disruption of the facility's operations and in a way that respected the historic and security concerns of America's most famous house. This paper provides an outline of the Greening the White House project.