Category: Buildings

Energy Benchmarking and Transparency Policies Are Driving Efficiency in Urban Buildings

Currently, 282 cities have signed on to the ‘We Are Still In’ Group, and in support, the C40 Cities initiative (now actually 94 cities around the globe) and American Cities Climate Challenge are just two of the organizations that provide for cities to share best practices. Among those best practices are energy benchmarking and disclosure

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Are we Getting Closer to Allowing the Use of Flammable Refrigerants?

One of the barriers to the new refrigerants is the recognition of flammable refrigerants in building codes. Codes dictate so much about building construction and what mechanical equipment can be used. There are codes for fire protection, building construction, mechanical systems, and other aspects of buildings; all affect the HVACR system. A good article on

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Resilient Infrastructure: Economic Growth Strategy

In our last post, we looked at the potential for resilient infrastructure and began to consider how stakeholders of high-performance buildings have a strong hand in shaping such a future. The effort to generate support for investment in energy efficiency on the scale required for genuine resilience is, at best, a work in progress. And

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Resilient Infrastructure: The New Goal of Innovation

In a 2015 article, the Center for American Progress (CAP) noted that resilience today is tied to new causes and consequences: “In 2013, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave America’s infrastructure a D+ rating and recommended increasing investment in infrastructure designed to ‘withstand both natural and man-made hazards.’” Simultaneously, the CAP reported that “the

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Building delivery / Market transformation

Revolutions in the science, strategies, and prospects for building performance are happening faster than transformation of the American building stock. Within a decade the frontier moved from more energy-efficient building components to integrated buildings systems, opening dramatically new opportunities. Today the focus for strategic leaders is looking toward holistic buildings within systems-integrated communities that cut

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