New Stanford Environmental Science Building Uses Its Own Standards, Not LEED’s

The first building in a new Stanford University Science and Engineering quadrangle, aka. Y2E2, was designed to the university’s own Stanford Performance Criteria for High Performance Buildings. Essentially, the new standards provide outlines of sustainable priorities and opportunities at key points in the process. It also ensures you to make sound, responsible decisions that make good financial sense.

According to LEED standards, the new building is referred to “LEED platinum equivalent.” The down side is that, in order to make space for Y2E2, Stanford has demolished their existing 60 year old Physics Building, where the first medical use of radiation came out and numerous discoveries took place. So here’s the question. Without doubt, Stanford has succeeded in constructing a sustainable building. However, was this project really sustainable in terms of new construction versus renovation? Or was the old building not worth renovating anyway?

For more info visit www.boora.com, The Stanford Daily

Product Release: Flame Retardant Eco-friendly MDF

SierraPine, makers of Medex, Arreis and Encore just released a new product called Medite FR. It’s a Class 1 certified, flame retardant, medium density fiberboard (MDF) produced with a formaldehyde free binder system. According to Chris Leffel, Vice President of Sales & Marketing for SierraPine “By combining certain component and process advancements, we can now offer a product with our formaldehyde free technology that has excellent fire resistance and superior physical properties at a competitive price.” The material has been certified by Guardian Industries to have a flame spread index of 25 or less. In addition to its fire resistance and formaldehyde free binder system, this MDF exhibits superior machinability and surface characteristics.

Irresistible prefab homes

LivingHomes has been working hard to get great LEED certified, prefab housing on the market. To cite Steve Glenn, their CEO, “our mission is to create homes and communities that inspire people, foster family and community interaction, and make modern life easier, healthier and more comfortable — all in ways that compliment and enhance the municipalities and environments in which we work. We hope our products will set a standard for the positive impact they have on soil, water, energy and health - and we’re using the Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design (LEED®) certification system so we, and you, can measure how we’re doing.”

To get more information visit livinghomes.net

Nanosolar Prints Photovoltaics, Proves Cheaper Than Coal?

Photovoltaics, the technology of converting sunlight into electricity, has been around for many years. One of the biggest drawbacks to capturing the sun’s energy has been cost. The high price of manufacturing solar panels has slowed down mass market adoption. Let’s hope that is about to change with the latest round of solar panel innovation: thin film technology (mentioned on Ecolect in September).

Nanosolar appears to have a winner, combining the tried and true process of printing, with a thin metal foil substrate. The ink is a proprietary formula based on nano-materials. The exact cost savings of Nanosolar’s product are unclear, but one estimate comes in at 9 times less than the price of traditional solar panels making it cheaper than coal energy.

They’re seriously funded, and have clearly been working hard on preparing for mass manufacturer; plants in San Jose, CA and Germany total 647,000 square feet. We’ll definitely be keeping an eye on Nanosolar over the next few months!

Via www.celsias.com

LEED Rating System - A Quick Overview

(Don’t write differently something that’s well written ; )

From Wikipedia

“ The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design provides a suite of standards for environmentally sustainable construction.

LEED was created to accomplish the following:

* Define “green building” by establishing a common standard of measurement

* Promote integrated, whole-building design practices

* Recognize environmental leadership in the building industry

* Stimulate green competition

* Raise consumer awareness of green building benefits

* Transform the building market

Green Building Council members, representing every sector of the building industry, developed and continue to refine LEED. The rating system addresses six major areas:

* Sustainable sites

* Water efficiency

* Energy and atmosphere

* Materials and resources

* Indoor environmental quality

* Innovation and design process

Certification

Different LEED versions have varied scoring systems based on a set of required “Prerequisites” and a variety of “Credits” in the six major categories listed above. Buildings can qualify for four levels of certification:

* Certified - 40-50% of non-innovation points

* Silver - 50-60%

* Gold - 60-80%

* Platinum - over 80% “

Learn more on the LEED certification program :

US green building council

wikipedia article