Net Zero Building

Net Zero Building

Zeroing In: Redhook Green Is a Zero Energy Building, But What Does That Mean?

Tue

Dec

We know some things -- good things -- about Redhook Green, the just-announced "net zero" mixed-use development in (wait for it) Red Hook. For instance: we know that it has a cool look inspired, according to the designers at Brooklyn's Garrison Architects, by the shipping containers lining Red Hook's river frontage. (We prefer to think of it as an homage to season two of The Wire, but that's us) And we know, too, that the project's developer is a man on a mission somewhat greater than, say, Bruce Ratner's. Jay Amato, the entrepreneur behind Redhook Green, is blogging his butt off at the building's official site and seems truly to be on fire for the idea of living and working efficiently and responsibly in Brooklyn. And Amato also has gbNYC on his blogroll, so we can count "his excellent taste" among the things we know, as well.

Ashley McGraw Architects Designs New York's First Net Zero Energy School District Building

Tue

May

by Stephen Del Percio

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Designed by Syracuse-based Ashley McGraw Architects' Advanced Building Studio, the Liberty Central School District's new Media Center in Liberty, New York could become the state's first net zero energy school district building after it breaks ground this summer. The 4000-square-foot Media Center should open in time for the 2010 school year; many of the project's green design strategies are those which critics of the recent NAIOP study (which we wrote about extensively over at GRELJ) decried as lacking in the study's methodoloy, which concluded that 30 to 50 percent reductions in energy consumption over ASHRAE 90.1-2004 were not practicable for most owners given current technologies and corresponding payback periods. For example, Ashley McGraw implemented a comprehensive site orientation and daylighting strategy, designing the structure's shape and windows to provide sufficient natural north light to the project's interiors, as well as low-level south- and west-facing windows which will reduce both solar heat gain and corresponding cooling loads.