Sustainable design is not for the faint of heart.  Modern buildings are complex constructs, requiring years of effort in strategic planning and financing, research, design and execution.  The challenge is particularly difficult, given the current economic and market conditions, for public higher education institutions such as UMass Amherst.  Nevertheless, the University has embarked on a campus-wide green campaign on a number of fronts – organizational, academic, research, and student action, just to mention a few.  A visit to the new UMass GREEN website should give you a great introduction on what is happening on campus and how to get involved.

I would like to highlight one of these efforts: the new Designing for Sustainability in the Built Environment Spring Seminar series.  Loren Walker, Assoc. Director and Research Liaison of UMass Outreach & Technology Transfer and I first conceived it as a deep, public conversation on sustainability research and practice, that would take place between design professionals engaged in construction on campus and UMass faculty who are involved in related research endeavors.  The topics included in this series go beyond the basics of green design and focus on specific challenges encountered as the new campus facilities sought to meet high energy efficiency and sustainability standards (i.e. LEED), and how current research illuminates these issues from the academic perspective.  The Environmental Performance Advisory Council and The Environmental Institute embraced this proposal fully and were the primary sponsors of the series, along with the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Engagement, Facilities and Campus Planning, and Western MA AIA (the latter will offer professional Continuing Education Units to participants). 

The panel discussions will take place on Thursdays, 3:30 – 5:00 PM at the Cape Cod Lounge, Student Union and are FREE and OPEN to the public.

February 25 – Overview
Sustainable Design at UMass Amherst
James Cahill, Facilities and Campus Planning, UMass Amherst
David Damery, Dept. of Natural Resources Conservation – Green Building

 March 11 – Police Station
Monitoring for Sustainability:  Data Acquisition in the Built Environment
James Hannifan, Caolo & Bienek Associates, Steve Kemp, Enermodal Engineering Ltd.
David Irwin, Dept. of Computer Sciences

 March 25 – Integrated Science Building
Heat Recovery – Efficiency and Safety
Jim Collins and Gary Cabo, Payette
Simi Hoque, Dept. of Natural Resources Conservation – Green Building

April 15 – Southwest Concourse
Rain Gardens and Stormwater Management
Stephen Stimson and James Royce, Stephen Stimson Assoc. Jack Ahern, Dept. of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning

 April 29 – New Science Building
Exterior Facade Design for Maximum Daylighting and Solar Power Generation
Samir Srouji, Wilson Architectsand Chris Schaffner, The Green Engineers
Ray Mann, Dept. of Architecture + Design

Please visit the following websites for additional information and I hope you join us in the conversation!

http://www.umass.edu/tei/TEI/DesigningSustainability.html

http://www.umass.edu/fac/calendar/universitygallery/events/GREENINGTHE.html

http://www.umass.edu/green/

http://www.wmaia.org/continuinged.html

Reduce Household Carbon use by 25%

A recent article in the Huffington Post by David Gershon, the author of the Low Carbon Diet, summarizes the importance of grass roots solutions to the pressing problem of carbon change, now that we have the disappointing international Copenhagen Accord.   When governments cannot agree on how to implement system-wide change, individuals must step up and lead the way.

“America represents 20 percent of the planet’s carbon footprint, with half of these emissions coming from the fossil fuels we use to power our homes and cars. And at the community level our collective carbon emissions are between 50 and 90 percent. If, as U.S. households, we were able to reduce our carbon footprint by 25 percent and take this to scale community- and nationwide, we could significantly lower America’s carbon emissions in the short run and buy us the critically needed time for the longer-term solutions to scale up.”

Though difficult, the challenge is not impossible.  What is most important is that we all participate; that we educate ourselves and our children; that we keep our focus on our own personal change; and that we let our actions model the kind of change that we expect from our institutions.  There are many instruments available for household improvements and carbon reduction – here is my short list of favorites:

The New England Carbon Challenge: a place to make visible your carbon reduction resolution and give your community visibility for your efforts.  It has an online calculator that is largely modeled on The Empowerment Institute low carbon calculator.

Massachusetts Climate Action Network: in addition to being a terrific resource for Massachusetts’s residents, this site includes resources on many sustainability topics, from alternative energy to small business, education and energy calculators (to see the resources list click on the Resources Tab).

Massachusetts Interfaith Power and Light: a personal favorite, this website describes in four deceptively simple steps the long path toward carbon reduction.  In addition to simple documents on how to conduct a home energy audit and buy green electricity, it provides an Excel worksheet to download and maintain.  I download a new version and update my old spreadsheet at the time when I prepare my IRS tax forms.  This is an annual chore, but it gives me a good overview of the decisions I have made during the year – both good and bad.   My records date back to 2005 and every year we do a little better.

If you have personal resources that you would like to share, please post them into a comment.  Here is a toast to loosing some more pounds of carbon in the New Year!

“Give me a place to stand and with a lever I will move the whole world.”[i]

[ii]

Archimedes’ famous quotation has always been a symbol for me of the power individuals have to change not only their own destiny, but also to affect social and organizational change.  The two prerequisites are: a place to stand, and a lever long enough.

The skills and knowledge we possess form a lever for change in our lives; and those of us who are part of the UMass community have a very steadfast place on which to stand.  As members of a public institution of higher education we are students, teachers, and professionals in the eco-system of a place that has industrial-strength internal mechanisms for operation and production.  Each one of us exercises a degree of power that can be leveraged if we choose to become agents of change for sustainability.

On September 17, 2009 Professor Christopher Jarrett,  Director of the School of Architecture at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, gave a public lecture, hosted by The Environmental Institute and entitled “PowerHouse”.^[iii] His talk gave an overview of the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon competition[iv] and gave insight into the transformational power of multi-disciplinary projects.  After the lecture a small group of interested individuals met to brain-storm the development of a UMass Amherst proposal to enter the competition.  Although a daunting task, everyone agreed that this is a tremendous opportunity to engage in multi-disciplinary research and collaboration that is focused on developing green building solutions.

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[i] John Tzetzes (12th century AD) Book of Histories (Chiliades) 2, 129-130,  Translated by Francis R. Walton

[ii] This an engraving from Mechanics Magazine published in London in 1824. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Archimedes_lever_(Small).jpg

[iii] http://www.umass.edu/umhome/events/articles/92081.php

[iv] http://www.solardecathlon.org/about.cfm

Solar Decathlon Proposal Shelved for Two More Years

The Deans of Humanities and Fine Arts, School of Education, Natural Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Isenberg School of Management, and Public Health, met on November 10, 2009 to discuss the feasibility of the Solar Decathlon 2011 and decided that while it is a very exciting proposal, they were not collectively prepared to support the project at this time.

The faculty who supported the project will continue their work and hope to revisit the issue in two years time.

Next Meeting: October 6, 4:00 – 6:00OM, Fine  Arts Center 3rd fl. Conference Room

Christopher Jarrett Lecture & Solar Decathlon RFP Kick-off Meeting

http://www.solardecathlon.org/about.cfm

September 17, 2009 Meeting Notes

Submitted by Ludmilla Pavlova

Participants:

Ray K. Mann, Architecture & Design, RFP principal writer

Paula Rees, MA Water Research Resource Center (WRRC)

Sharon Tracey, The Environmental Institute

Christine Rogers, Public Health

Julian Rosario, Architecture & Design

Charlie Curcija, Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Architecture & Design

Patrick Quinlan, Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, Wind Energy Center

Frank Slleegers, Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning

Thomas Long, Five College Architecture

Ludmilla Pavlova, Campus Planning, Building Materials and Wood Technology

Discussion Notes

1. Christopher Jarrett emphasised the importance of developing a concept of how a Solar Decathlon project from Umass Amherst would provide unique opportunities for institutional growth and learning.  This is a truly multi-disciplinary endeavor; the undertaking would expand on existing bridges between disciplinary strengths and develop new ones that previously did not exist.
2. In order for this project to be successful as a student learning opportunity it must be tied into existing and new curriculum.  Developing a list of seminar talks and courses that would be committed to utilizing student participation is essential for mobilizing the greatest of number of students.
3. This project would not succeed without significant community involvement, particularly from solar energy companies that would need to underwrite or contribute in-kind materials for the project construction.
4. Project success is measured in terms of very clear performance benchmarks, which emphasize energy generation and ability to support high electrical loads from house appliances.  It is critical to get commitment of support from companies that provide the most efficient PV and appliances.
5. Which one of our business partners would right a $200,000 check?
6. Institutional support for this project is critical, both in terms of communication and fundraising.  It is also a tremendous opportunity for engaging the enthusiasm of the greater community and will ripple through every level of the organization – not only the academic disciplines, but athletics, housing and the administrative support structure.

Next Steps:

1. Ray will meet with Loren Walker/ Research and Engagement.
2. Ray and/or Ludmilla will ask EPAC to place the team on their agenda so we can solicit their support.
3. Ludmilla will put together a preliminary project web page and post the notes from the first meeting.
4. All team members will work to inform and engage others in the UMA community in participating in the visioning process.
5. Please use this link to indicated your availability for the next visioning meeting:
   http://www.doodle.com/rhf8y83suswkg6ws