As an owner/builder, I’m always on the lookout for new products that make a difference in how we build or use materials. Walking the tradeshow floor at Globe 2010, I found four products that caught my eye as we look toward the future of the built environment.

Solar Shingle installation. Photo with permission of Dow.

USA – Dow Chemical Company- The Dow™ POWERHOUSE™ Solar Shingle is the company’s latest innovation showcased at GLOBE 2010. A recent recipient of GLOBE 2010’s Foundation award for “Environmental Excellence in Emerging Technology,” their solar shingles not only protect a roof from the elements, but serve up a photovoltaic charge at the same time. The unique product design has similar weight, reveal and installation practices as an asphalt shingle while also generating electricity. DOW’s Solar Solutions (DSS) technology uses a cost-effective and durable PV material called CIGS (Copper Indium Gallium diSelenide). The electrical circuitry is integrated into every shingle and is connected by wireless plug-style connectors. Dow also recently announced in February, its plans to build the first full-scale production facility for its solar shingle facility in Midland, Michigan, bringing with it more than 1,200 jobs to the marketplace. Could it be affordable, renewable energy roofing solutions are on the horizon?

A sample piece of a MagWall panel shows foam on the inside and a magnesium oxide base sheathing. Photo by Robert J. Pennington

Canada – MagWall Pacific Inc. Tucked into a small booth on the tradeshow floor is a new SIPS (Structural Insulated Panel System) building product that has some very cool new features. SIPS built homes are generally much more efficient than stick-built homes. Think of SIPS like an extremely efficient Oreo cookie. A hard crust on the outside, (generally OSB plywood) with a fluffy foam filling in the middle. On the MagWall systems, the OSB is replaced with sheathing boards that have a magnesium oxide base making it fire and insect resistant and impervious to mold, because there is no wood product in it. Additionally the ability to erect structures in wet or cold conditions is not a problem, so costly delays in schedules are minimized. As a bonus, it can also eliminate the use of costly additional products used in construction. For example, interior and exterior walls can be finished without additional sheathing, and the company claims vapor barriers are not necessary. Currently the company’s focus is on providing healthy, affordable, sustainable and energy efficient buildings, that require less dependence on highly skilled labor. The company is currently in talks with multiple countries, and even UN and Disaster relief efforts. After just completing the envelope of my own SIPS house, it wasn’t hard to see how these MagWalls would have made a huge difference in shaping the course of our project. www.mag-wall.com

MicroHeat’s 9kW electrical instantaneous hot water system. Photo by Robert J. Pennington

Australia – MicroHeat® Technologies PTY LTD. Tankless hot water heaters are nothing new to the market. But behind this little white box is a whole house hot water heater with a 98% efficiency rating saving both water and greenhouse gas emissions. Normal tankless hot water heaters rely on the flow of water to run through heated coils to deliver hot water to a faucet or shower system. This can mean running and wasting water longer than necessary until it is at the right temperature to use. MicroHeat’s electrical instantaneous hot water system eliminates that heating coil element altogether and instead uses water as the conductor. The water is energized (or heated) via inert electrodes in the water stream. The result is instant hot water, but water is not the only resource being saved. Instead of a constant flow of electricity running to heat big tanks of water, this smart system turns on when you need it and can be placed in convenient locations closer to the source of use. The system on display was a 9kW single-phase unit. The best part is, it senses when it needs to add more juice to the system and delivers absolute temperature control. You can increase the flow but retain the temperature. Still in the research and development phase, MicroHeat has already received grants from the Australian Government and support from the Victorian Centre for Advanced Materials Manufacturing. But this little heater is keeping cool about its technology. Currently no website or marketing efforts are available to the public. We’ll just have to wait.

Sherpa aluminum timber connectors. Photo by Jen Pennington

Austria- Sherpa®- Good things come in small packages, and this little mounting and assembly hardware introduces a new technique for traditional timber construction. Available in a variety of shapes and sizes, the product provides a simple, safe and reliable connector between load bearing trusses, joints or any other timber connection. Two aluminum-molded plates contain a male and female piece that slips into each other to form a very strong connection. A concealed fastener and a good alternative to Simpson® Strong ties and a semi-concealed fastener allows the beauty of the hardware to become a part of the design. What makes the product sustainable is in the fact that a structure can be just as easily disassembled without wasting valuable wood resources. Beams are lifted and joints can be non-destructively disconnected.

Find information in English regarding this product here.

Find more images from Globe 2010 at www.RhizomeImages.com

by Jen Pennington

photos by Robert J. Pennington

On a recent tour of the largest living green roof in North America atop the Vancouver, B.C. Convention Centre, one can’t help but be awed. The tour organized by Dow Chemical Company as part of Globe 2010 was a rare glimpse into the dichotomy of what you see vs. what you can’t see. Designed by LMN Architects, the building is the world’s first LEED Platinum convention center. It’s about taking in something visually and understanding at a deeper level that natural beauty and the creation of new wildlife habitats in urban settings can successfully coexist with the right mix of landscape architecture, engineering, and construction. The fact that one can easily take for granted the man-made materials underneath an organic surface is a testament to its success.

Brilliantly colored sedums looking towards the water

As you step out the doors onto the first level, one is struck by the brilliant red, orange and pink beauty of native sedums blooming in spring amidst a precisely placed irrigation system. Bruce Hemstock, Landscape Architect for PWL Partnership explains that the irrigation system utilizes black water from the convention center and desalination machinery to water the plants making it a very sustainable system. The vast expanse of this orderly growth is amazing and you can’t even see the grasses above yet. Walking along the sloped path that leads to the green areas of the main roofs, one passes by the apiary of bees that help pollinate the area. As you step up to the grassy rise of the roof you are instantly transported to a park in the sky. It is so large at six acres that you never feel as if you are on an actual roof, and therein is the real beauty of it. Now in its second year of growth, the illusion is so surreal in an urban environment that it’s easy to disregard what lies beneath the top layer.

Roof layers and substrate display at Dow's both at Globe 2010.

Digging down into what makes the roof so unique is the fact that the layers that go into a normal roofing system are inverted. As Mike Kontranowski, the Strategic Market Director, Architectural Markets for Dow Building Solutions explains, “It’s turning the roof upside down.” In this case, 2.5 million board feet of Styrofoam™ brand insulation and more than 500,000 board feet of Styrofoam™ Highload insulation from Dow sits directly on top of the roof. On top of that lies a series of other substrates, and protective barriers before the placement of soil and the thousands of indigenous plants and that grow there. With the addition of all these materials, the lightest weight component, keeping the roof thermally stable, reducing weight load,  and enhancing energy efficiency at the base is the Styrofoam™. A dimpled water barrier on top of that prevents water from seeping through and also holds droplets of water to retain moisture in the soil.

The roof is truly inspiring with its many levels of beauty and sustainable attributes. As green roofs become more popular in cities, my hope is that those in the design, building and materials industries share this knowledge readily. Not just amongst the largest architecture firms and contractors but down to the small business levels of builders and designers in outlying areas or smaller cities where adoption is slower to manifest. If we are truly concerned about creating eco communities and championing environmental and energy efficiency benefits, the challenge for all is how to inspire change broadly while making it affordable to install in the first place.

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All photos copyright 2010 Robert J. Pennington.

A few years ago before we started our house project, we asked ourselves, “do we need a pickup truck when we begin to build our house?” Seems like everyone we knew had one, but we just couldn’t afford it, and we needed a high mileage car for other reasons. Sure we could fit a lot more things in a pickup truck and get them to the job site easier, faster, and minimize the cost of having deliveries sent to the site, but where’s the fun in that?

Over the last few years I have come across a series of pictures of the strange things we have done to our poor 1998 Toyota Rav and 2005 Matrix. They have been filled with both the heaviest and lightest of items, carried bales of hay, stacks of cement blocks, bags of garbage and recyclables, been used as a short distance logging device and carrier for a few SIPS panels. There is even a platform set up on top of the Rav for Bob to photograph wildlife. The same rack was used to recreate a scene from an IKEA commercial by strapping large boxes to the top while listening to the straps whistle and thump for miles in the middle of a snowstorm in Utah. On one Whidbey trip, over twenty 3-inch pieces of electrical conduit were affixed on top and performed incredibly like a sinister organ as we traveled 45 mph down the road. More recently, I cinched a series of Styrofoam forms equaling a mass of 2’ x 4’ x 8’ ft. block and drove it from Seattle to Whidbey Island. I was convinced the car would lift off the ground and become a bad Disney Flying Nun/Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang moment. People tend to move out of your way, it’s amazing how that works.

So if you’re thinking about buying a big ass pickup truck before starting a big project, obviously it would be more helpful. But I say, cowboy-up, save some gas, look ridiculously like Jed Clampett from the Beverly Hillbillies and stuff that little vehicle to the max. Be safe, cover your load, cinch tight, and embrace the embarrassment.

For many of us, a yearly health checkup with our general practitioner is standard. We count on our GP to have a grip on the grand scheme of what’s going on with our bodies, providing an integrated medical approach, and sometimes a referral to a specialist if a problem comes up.

Your house deserves the same attention, every ten years or so.

A home performance contractor is the GP for your home. “Home Performance” is the term used to describe how well a house functions in terms of thermal comfort, indoor air quality, energy efficiency, and durability. Because all of these elements interact, the science-based, whole-house approach taken by home performance contractors is the best way to solve problems with a house.

For example, if insulation is installed without considering moisture and ventilation, or if a new furnace is installed without addressing air and duct leaks, the house could end up in worse shape, and even possibly a safety hazard with air quality or combustion issues. A thorough home performance analysis (commonly called a home energy audit) can ensure that your home is healthy with all its elements working well together.

Home Performance illustrating potential air leaks. Source: U.S. EPA

If there are home health problems, a home performance contractor can prescribe the appropriate construction improvements or system retrofits. The whole-house approach means this can be done in a way that best meets the wants of the homeowner as well as the needs of the house.

While you perceive benefits such as being warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer, breathing fresher air, and having lower energy bills, the increase in the house’s efficiency also means a lower carbon footprint. Improving the nation’s residential carbon use by 25% is equivalent to doubling the gas mileage of all the nation’s cars.

Thanks to an increasing number of articles in the mass media, along with state and federal tax credits and incentives, the public is beginning to understand that home performance is an important part of the energy solution, but there is a long way to go. The non-profit organization Efficiency First is working in Washington, D.C. to effect legislation that will incentivize based on performance, rather than products. Certain jurisdictions are already requiring an audit before a home can be put up for sale, and as metrics become more centralized, an energy score (much like a car’s MPG) may end up on the real estate listings.

In Washington State, a new trade association—Home Performance Washington—has formed to address the growing demand for home performance contractors and related companies. Their mission is to increase public awareness, set the standard for the work that is performed, support conservation programs, and work with local, regional, and national organizations to support the industry.

The great news is that hiring a home performance contractor to retrofit your home usually does not cost a fortune; the most common improvements are quick, easy, and affordable—with immediately detectable results for the health of your home and your enjoyment of it.

So just as an apple a day may keep the doctor away, doing a home performance retrofit can keep the energy losses at bay.

Alison Kartiganer is the Operations Manager for Vesta Home Performance Retrofitting