Reinventing Fire Industry Sector Methodology

This document provides RMI's methodology for the analysis of the industry sector in Reinventing Fire.

 

Global Ecology Center at Stanford University: Factor Ten Engineering Case Study

 

Big Pipes, Small Pumps: Interface, Inc. Factor Ten Engineering Case Study

This story of Interface Inc.’s Shanghai plant illustrates the pitfalls of the conventional design process—and the remarkable gains that are possible by rethinking basic assumptions. This paper describes how the lead designer Jan Schilham created a radical new layout with shorter, fatter pipes and smaller pumps to save nearly 90 percent of the energy—with lower capital costs. Several Factor Ten Engineering principles are highlighted in Schilham's design process.

 

Going Deeper: A New Approach for Encouraging Retrofits

This paper describes a new approach to demand-side management that promotes whole-building projects and encourages owners, energy service providers, and utilities to work together for significant energy savings.

 

Autodesk AEC Headquarters and Integrated Project Delivery: Factor Ten Engineering Case Study

This paper describes the design and construction of Autodesk’s Headquarters building. The building was a “triple win”: design and construction costs were below target (benefiting both the design-build team and owner); designer and contractor profits exceeded targets; and the building achieved LEED-CI Platinum and all other goals. The building demonstrates several principles of factor-ten engineering.

 

Lovins GreenHome 1.0: Factor Ten Engineering Case Study

Amory Lovins’s state-of-the-art green home and indoor growing space at 7,100 feet is remarkably energy efficient, includes several renewable technologies, and has no conventional heating and cooling system. The building demonstrates several principles of factor-ten engineering. This paper provides a detailed case study of the building.

 

Factor Ten Engineering Design Principles

Designers often assume that radical efficiency is too expensive. Yet RMI’s Factor Ten Engineering initiative demonstrates that very large energy and resource savings can be very profitable across a wide range of applications. Factor Ten Engineering uses such innovations to transform design and engineering practice, via whole-system thinking and integrative design. This document outlines the design principles of Factor Ten Engineering.

 

Integrative Design: A Disruptive Source of Expanding Returns to Investments in Energy Efficiency

This paper summarizes the principle of integrative design. Integrative design rigorously applies orthodox engineering principles, but achieves radically more energy- and resource-efficient results by asking different questions that change the design logic. Examples described in this paper for buildings, industry, and vehicles show that optimizing whole systems for multiple benefits, not disjunct components for single benefits, often makes gains in end- use efficiency much bigger and cheaper than conventionally supposed. Indeed, integrative design can often yield expanding rather than the normal diminishing returns to investments in energy efficiency, making very large (even order-of-magnitude) energy savings cost less than small or no savings.

 

Lovins' Response to "The Homely Costs of Energy Conservation"

This piece by Amory and Judy Lovins was written in response to an article in The Wall Street Journal about the design, construction, and renovation of the Lovins' home. The Lovins' response draws economic conclusions opposite to those of the original article.

 

Sense and Response: A Bioclimatic Dialogue of Place

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

 

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