It shouldn't cost 4X as much for most high efficiency buildings. This building is both a good and bad project. Good because it shows what can be done, bad because some people will assume that high-efficiency buildings cost a lot.
Just putting solar panels on the roof should only add 10% to the price of a building. Using low-flow toilets and shower heads should cost the same as high flow. High R-Value windows aren't that much more than regular windows. Stuffing more insulation in the ceilings and walls shouldn't add much to the cost either. My last company could have saved a ton on electric if we had windows that opened. There would have been no reason to cool the server room in the winter, just open some windows. In summer, at home we open all the windows of our house and run a high-power whole-house fan to draw in the cool summer night air. It's amazing how better the house smells with fresh air every night. It's also amazing how a breeze can make you feel cooler. As soon as the outside temperature is lower than the inside, we shut off the air conditioning and open up the windows. Why couldn't an office building do that? Have motorized windows that open at night and a big fan that draws cool air into the building. When the outside temperature is higher than the inside temperature, close all the windows and put on the air conditioning. We estimate that we save close to 50% on cooling that way. --- Kristyne McDaniel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Ed, > > > > http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2008/03/green-building.html > > ( -or- http://tinyurl.com/ypmuwp ) > > > > Very cool design, and shows that a lot of thought > went > > into how to do things better than the typical > approach. > > It is cool, but it is also very expensive. $470/sq > ft is more than four > times the usual price for either an office building > or a house. > > Kristyne > > > > _______________________________________________ > Post Messages to: ProFox@leafe.com > Subscription Maintenance: > http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox > OT-free version of this list: > http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech > Searchable Archive: > http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox > This message: > http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[EMAIL PROTECTED] > ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, > are the opinions of the author, and do not > constitute legal or medical advice. This statement > is added to the messages for those lawyers who are > too stupid to see the obvious. > _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: ProFox@leafe.com Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[EMAIL PROTECTED] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
