Green Footstep: Calculations and Data Sources

Green Footstep is an online assessment tool for reducing carbon emissions from building construction projects and is publicly available at greenfootstep.org. The Green Footstep tool guides the user through the process of life cycle carbon assessment, and then reveals how users can theoretically reduce the net carbon emissions. Some description of the calculation method is provided on the website; however the calculations and data sources are not provided in detail. This paper provides these calculations and data sources in order to make the Green Footstep methodology completely accessible to the general public.

 

Sense and Response: A Bioclimatic Dialogue of Place

This paper analyzes human's historical and contemporary responses to the biological environment.

 

Systems Thinking for Radically Efficient and Profitable Data Centers

This presentation shows how to apply a whole-system approach to the energy use in data centers in order to provide 95-99% energy savings. The authors present strategies for saving energy that have been applied effectively to data centers.

 

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.

 

Energy Performance Contracting for New Buildings

This guide, published by Eley Associates in consultation with RMI, can be used as a source of information to help designers and builders decide if performance contracting and performance-based fees are appropriate for specific projects. A step-by-step guide to creating performance contracts is provided.

 

Design Recommendations for High-Performance Data Centers

In 2003, RMI convened an innovative whole-system design charrette to challenge the current model for data centers and develop a groundbreaking data center design—a clean-sheet model with no compromises. This report summarizes the recommendations from the charrette.

 

Negawatts for Fabs: Advanced Energy Productivity for Fun and Profit

In this presentation, Amory Lovins presents data showing that chip fabrication plants can be significantly more energy efficient. Lovins shows how a whole-systems design approach can result in significant energy and cost savings, which results in more profit for the company.

 

Energy Efficient Buildings: Institutional Barriers and Opportunities

This paper describes the barriers to building energy efficient buildings and the opportunities available for building these units. The analysis describes why the building energy systems of the 90s were inefficient and how to reinvent the building design process.