Air Conditioning: Not as Cool as You Think

passive cooling diagram

Check out Stan Cox's opinion piece in this past Sunday's LA Times. I wish his book, "Losing Our Cool: Uncomfortable Truths About Our Air-Conditioned World (and Finding New Ways to Get Through the Summer)" had been published just a little bit earlier this year (published May 25, 2010). Looks like it might have been incredibly useful when I was trying to write my paper for Intro to the Built Environment in the U.S.!

Permaculture, anyone?

The 1st lecture is this Sat. April 3. Larry's classes have everyone from mayors to developers to teachers as students. If anyone's interested, I might be able to get us in free for part of the day. Or possibly we could arrange for Larry Santoyo to come speak on campus? Let me know if there's interest. -Marta

From the website for the next Permaculture Design Course taught by Larry Santoyo.
"A Certificate Course for Design Professionals, Land Managers & Homeowners
• ReDesign with Nature
• Water Harvesting & Conservation
• Natural Building & Property Development
• Urban Food Forestry
• Re-Localizing Food Production
• Economics of a Sustainable Society
Using an ecosystems design approach, this course will teach you the possibilities of the practical and the profound. It will introduce you to the people and resources that will help you create a new ecosystem, one that goes beyond your home and garden and all the way out into your community."

Chilled by Choice

This was a neat little piece on people who choose to live in unheated homes from a couple of weeks ago in The New York Times. An extreme manifestation of green urbanism, perhaps? They certainly minimize their home heating-related emissions, but the experience of the woman on the last page seems to imply a tradeoff (she has to keep her sink dripping and toilet constantly running so as to keep the pipes from freezing).

Of course, these people could avoid both high heating bills and frigid temperatures just by moving to LA... ;-)

Photo credit: Beatrice de Gea/The New York Times

Take home points from the ULI-LA's Future Build LA

The first half of the conference is over and it's been good! Here are some of the most talked about issues:

1. Occupancy Ratings!! This is a key issue in real estate development financing. And guess what the numbers say, there is a direct correlation between LEED certified buildings an occupancy. Tenants, both commercial and residential, stay for longer periods of time with less turn over. This translates into less risk for financing, which means banks are more willing to lend money for these projects. And in this economy, banks need stability.

2. The ranking from least lending risk to highest is: 1. Public, institutional, and educational buildings. 2. Owner occupied, single family housing. and 3. Multi-tenant. Because of this ranking, the most common LEED buildings are in the first category.

3. LA has the highest absolute number of LEED office buildings in the country. Although, they still represent less than 1% of the buildings in LA.

4. Life cycle and upfront investment. Developers and owners realize that the greater upfront costs related to designing a LEED or carbon neutral project will pay for themselves over the long haul. This concept has been discussed for a long time, but the numbers are now starting to come through that prove this.

Combine these points with the insecure economic climate and LEED buildings keep gaining more and more attention.

Finally, two website for your reference: www.josre.org and www.dsireusa.org

Affordable housing with recyclable materials

Check this article out from the NYtimes. Building low-income homes in East Texas out of recyclable materials. (Link is in the title)