Green Forum: Steven Winter, FAIA
Excerpts from "Greening the Heartland" Conference

The marketplace: [There are] the builders who are forcing a change. Many builders will tell you, "I don't want to provide that, because the customer isn't asking for that." But the customer doesn't ask about it because he/she doesn't know it's available. But in that [exchange between], those two entities, the marketplace, is forcing change. Little by little, one is causing the other to change. Change is coming about because of that builder/consumer relationship. Although in my opinion, it is one of the slower cycles for change. The builder/consumer interface is sometimes not the leading edge of where change takes place.

These kinds of innovations illustrate that change is taking place because of designers and product manufacturers.

The third group that is causing change are the non-profits, the advocacy groups. The Alliance to Save Energy, for instance. Another big one is the American Council For an Energy Efficient Economy. It's not that big. But it pushes. It's leaning on the heads of government, informing legislators. The National Resources Defense Council is out there suing legislatures, suing governments, advocating for energy efficiency. And they are also along the way educating. These groups are a driving force.

The next group that is a driving force is the government. The government can affect change by providing tax incentives. There are many tax incentives being proposed in Congress right now. There are solar tax incentives around the country. New York State offers rebates for [efficient energy]. Seattle, Chicago and other entities are requiring green buildings. So this is an element of change.

The next driving force is the array of green standards that have emerged and continue to emerge. Boston was one of the first areas to have a green building standard. Atlanta, Denver, [the state of ] Wisconsin. There are over 30 local and regional green building standards - standards whereby home builders can have their homes accessed and certified as being green. And that's a driving force that is causing change.

In addition to these local and regional standards, the U. S. Green Building Council has developed a green building standard (LEED), and the National Association of Home Builders has developed a green building standard. These green standards are a driving force.

Schools and institutions are driving forces of change. They are teaching the next generation of professionals. They are doing some of the leading edge research, [and have access to new] technologies, new products. You heard a few minutes ago about Rensselaer [Polytechnic Institute], the lighting research center. This is one example of many around the country.

So [those factors] are what's causing change in the housing industry.

The Solaire (left) in the Bronx, New York is a luxury high rise that won LEED Gold certification; Melrose Commons II (right) is an example of green building incorporated into affordable inner-city housing.

And that change is taking place in all types of houses: high-rise housing that we see all around the city of Chicago, [as well as] inner-city housing. The Solaire, the LEED Gold building, [with apartments] renting at about $5 to 6,000 in Battery Park [in New York City], is an absolutely modern accomplishment. And they are building three more buildings just like it.

[Melrose Commons II] is in the Bronx. This is low-cost, affordable housing in the Bronx. It's factory built, prefabricated concrete panel housing; the energy used is 70% less than other affordable housing. Seventy percent. So it isn't for the rich guys. It also the not-so-rich guys.We were the energy geeks on that one.

Production housing, and also renovations -- all this stuff is taking place in all those forms of houses. And it is appropriate for those homes. High cost, low cost. Inner city or suburbs. Mainstream [processes].

So, with that, I'm going to talk about how [one] of the research programs around the country takes advantage of innovation.

Building America

The objectives of the Building America program change because it's the federal government. It's a moving target. They may be [affected] by Congress, and sometimes they have to adapt with the times. But it's goal, simply stated, is to improve the way housing is built. And the builders can hopefully agree with this point.

It used to be that the Department of Energy would say, "Since the 1970s, we have needed to conserve energy. So, Mr. Builder, please follow these techniques, and you will use less energy." The builder might decide, "I've got a building to build. I've got to sell it. I've got to worry about lumber prices. [Forget about] energy." The Department of Energy message just didn't click.

So the DOE decided that maybe an overall process would work. "Okay, Mr. Builder. We're going to come up with a program where we help you improve everything about the way you build a house. Everything. And we hope that some of that will be energy conserving." And that made sense.

The DOE's Building America Program unites segments of the building industry that traditionally work independently of one another. It forms research teams (current ones are listed above) of architects, engineers, builders, manufacturers, suppliers, community planners, mortgage lenders, and contractor trades.

So it's a program where the Department of Energy's contractors are helping builders improve their house. They're giving them advice on how to do their framing, better insulation and duct work, better foundation construction, better water usage - all that stuff. And a lot of that ends up being energy conserving. So it's a "whole house" approach to improving housing.

And it's integrated. When you improve the water supply distribution, you got to figure out how that's going to impact the duct work, and how that's going to work with trusses, and how that works with the layout, and how that works with the foundation. Integrating all these things, improving the whole package. Much of that improvement will be energy conserving. They redesign the whole thing.

The second aspect is the team approach. It isn't just the Department of Energy suggesting improvements to the builders. What they do is they set loose teams. They've funded teams where the builder, the architect, the engineer, the duct work suppler, the installer and the wholesaler - all work on how they can improve.

When you get everyone in a room, the builder might say, "Well, I can't do that, because my distributor doesn't have that." But if the distributor is in the room, [he can say], "Oh yeah, I can get that" or "I could get that, but I thought that the mechanical installer would [identify if I got it]. [Mechanical installer says,] "Oh yes I will."

So if it's a team all sitting in the room, addressing the issue of how to make the whole building operate better, that same approach yields fantastic results. So the whole team approach is part of the Building America theme. Building America is providing money, its money, for teams to collaborate to improve how to improve the whole house.

The third point is the design/test cycle. The approach is this: you take a builder's house. A good selling house -- one of the best selling houses you've got. Use this team approach to make it better. Come up with design drawings that improve that house. Then you build one. Then you test it. And then you see what works and what doesn't work. And you redesign, and you test it again. So this sequence of designing, testing, evaluating. Redesign, retest, reevaluate. And when that sucker hums, then you build a thousand of them. [Doing the] research, design and test cycle with all the participants [is part of the approach].