Back to the Future for C02 Emissions Goal
Danny Buck

7/27/08 Sunday: New Mexican:
http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Opinion/my-view-Back-to-the-future-for-C02-emissions-goal

Climate change and how we respond to it is the defining challenge of our generation. Greenhouse gases are the major cause of the Earth’s warming and of climate change. Carbon dioxide CO2 is the most common and the most significant of the greenhouse gases generated by humans.

The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere rose from around 275 parts per million to 300 ppm with the industrial revolution, is now at 385 ppm and is currently increasing at about 2 ppm annually. If we can get it back to 350 ppm, where it was in 1988, then we can probably expect to have a climate resembling our own and avert catastrophe. Some scientists are aiming for even lower concentrations.

How do we immediately and dramatically reduce CO2 emissions? Turn off the coal plants. Approximately 50 percent of the power — but 81 percent of the CO2 generated by the production of electrical energy — comes from coal-fired plants. We must immediately stop construction of all new conventional coal plants and phase out all existing plants by 2030. (Current “clean” coal plants capture particulates, but do not reduce CO2.)

The two sides of the strategy that can be employed to deal with this reduction in energy production are:

1) replace the production with other means (e.g. solar, wind, tri-generation) and,

2) use less energy.

A lot of debate is raging around the former, recently defined by Al Gore, but let’s consider the latter.

How do we best address using less energy? Because 76 percent of all electricity generated by power plants is used to operate buildings, energy efficiency in buildings is a very good way to offset this decrease in electrical production. In response to this, a local architect, Ed Mazria, has issued the 2030 Challenge. The 2030 Challenge calls for all new buildings to be built to use half the fossil-fuel energy that that building type would typically consume, starting immediately. It also calls for an equal amount of existing building area to be renovated annually to cut its individual fossil fuel usage in half.

The fossil fuel reduction in new and renovated buildings is then to be increased to
60 percent in 2010; 70 percent in 2015; 80 percent in 2020; 90 percent in 2025; and they are to be “carbon neutral” in 2030. The 2030 Challenge allows the use of renewable energy technologies for up to 20 percent, the rest being achieved through design. At our current rate of construction and renovation, this country’s building stock will be 75 percent new or remodeled between now and 2030.

The reductions in energy use can be achieved largely through building shape, orientation and insulation, using natural heating, cooling, daylighting and ventilation — all straightforward design strategies that are being successfully implemented in cutting edge buildings today.

The city of Santa Fe is reviewing a new energy code, co-authored by the Santa Fe Area Homebuilders Association, that should be in place by the end of the year. It will require a Home Energy Rating System (HERS) score of 70, which is within 3 percent of meeting the 2030 Challenge’s 50 percent reduction. It will make our city one of the top leaders in the country in moving decisively to get the atmosphere’s CO2 concentration back to 350 ppm.

This is a very exciting time to be alive, to try and understand how we as a species are contributing to climate change, and to learn how to all work together to meet this challenge.

The 2030 Challenge is presented in great detail at http://www.architecture2030.org.

Danny Buck is a local green builder, a SFAHBA board member and a trustee on its Green Building Council.

ARTICLE PUBLISHED IN THE JOURNAL NORTH JUNE 24, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Journal Article Emerald Home
Designer, builder demonstrates ‘zero carbon footprint’ house

By Jackie Jadrnak
Journal Staff Writer
Faren Dancer is trying to jump-start the future by demonstrating how to build a zero-energy house.
That’s right: A home where residents can laugh at rising utility costs, because solar panels generate enough electricity to offset power use. Where the house is sealed tightly enough to keep cool air from leaking out in summer and sneaking in in winter.
He’s not stopping there. Dancer is thinking about energy used in the cradle-to-building life of the construction materials. He is using wood salvaged from old barns inside the home, and dirt compressed from the site to make the bricks for the walls.
The inspiration, he said, came in 2006 when he saw an Al Gore-type presentation by Ed Mazria, a pioneer in Santa Fe’s passive solar construction. It showed seas rising from global warming, swallowing America’s coastlines.
“I decided I was only going to build zero-energy homes from that time on,” said Dancer, who serves on Santa Fe’s Green Buildings Code Committee. The group is considering how to meet the 2030 Challenge — a goal adopted by the American Institute of Architects and the U.S. Congress of Mayors to have zero carbon emissions from new buildings by the year 2030.
“Santa Fe probably is more aggressive than other cities in making a mandatory HERS (Home Energy Rating System) rating — next year there will be a baseline rating to achieve,” Dancer said. He predicted the city building code will require a 70 HERS rating — that means new homes would have to be 30 percent more energy-efficient than previous ones.
Ever since January, the city has required that new homes have a HERS rating before a certificate of occupancy can be issued, according to Jack Hiatt, land use director. “It’s like giving a car a mileage sticker,” he said. “Now, it can be any number.”
The city’s Green Buildings Code, which will set a maximum allowable rating, will be ready for City Council committee review in the next few months, according to Councilor Rebecca Wurzburger. It could be law by the end of the year, she said.
“I don’t foresee any major problems,” she said. “We’ve had great support from the building industry.”
To illustrate how green building can be done, all the way down to zero net energy use, Dancer is putting up a 4,125-square-foot home in Monte Sereno, a development south of the Santa Fe Opera. At a ceremonial ground-breaking for the home Monday — it’s called “The Emerald Home” — Dancer wielded a bright green shovel on a hillside dotted with piñon and juniper trees. “We have to work together to create the future we know we need to create,” he said.
“Zero carbon footprint — that describes very well what we are trying to do in Santa Fe,” Wurzburger said.
Dancer admits that this model home is designed to appeal to the high-end consumer. Its asking price will be $2.2 million, he said. With only about 18 homes already built in a development expected to include more than 400, he’s hoping he can convince buyers to choose the zero-energy option.
But green construction techniques don’t have to be limited to rich movie stars. In Vistas Bonitas, a housing development near Rufina behind Home Depot, homes with a 55 HERS rating are being built by Kim Shanahan for less than $200,000, according to Dancer.
Next spring, Dancer said, he hopes to launch construction of a second zero-energy model home — that one only 1,000 square feet on an off-grid site at Glorieta Mesa. “My goal as a builder is not just to cater to the rich, but to show an educational model,” he said. “The techniques and materials and building approaches can be scaled down to a much smaller project.”
The city of Santa Fe and Santa Fe Community College will videotape the construction of the Monte Sereno home to show others how it can be done. According to Dancer, who teaches green building techniques at the Community College and got a grant for the documentary, the video will be incorporated into an online course scheduled to be offered at the college by fall 2009.
The city project will use the video as part of a program to teach builders about different green techniques, along with information about various tax credits or rebates available with various approaches. “This, for us, is an informal pilot project,” said Hiatt. “It’s meant to be a demo of how contractors have to deal with green building in the future.”
When finalized, according to Dancer, the city building codes will require compliance in six categories:
Site impact. This would take into account, for example, how much the land and vegetation are disturbed.
Energy efficiency. Insulation, energy-efficient appliances, thermal efficiency of windows, solar and geothermal heating or electricity all could be factors.
Water efficiency. In his model, Dancer has water catchment to store up to 5,100 gallons of runoff from the roof. Low-flow faucets and shower heads are pluses in this category, as well as double-flush toilets. (Those toilets have two settings, for either a spritz of water for urine or a stronger flush for the more solid human waste, according to Dancer.)
Resource efficiency. This is the category that looks at whether or not materials are recycled, or come from a local source (such as dirt from the site and not timber cut down in Canada).
Healthy indoor air quality. In his model, Dancer said, he is not using carpeting, which sheds chemical fumes, and is avoiding formaldehyde, a common ingredient in cabinetry. A filtered air exchange system brings in fresh air so air in the well-insulated house doesn’t get stale.
Homeowner education. “You can put in a wonderful system, but if the homeowner is clueless and leaves the lights on and the door open, it’s all for naught,” Dancer said.