Installing A Group Net-Metered Solar Array

Alex Wilson — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 12:06:29 +0000

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Alex Wilson

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Energy Solutions

GreenSpec Insights

The 18-kW photovoltaic array on our barn roof is nearing completion

The first PV panels being installed on our barn roof. Click to enlarge.
Photo Credit: Alex Wilson

When we started planning the rebuild of our house and the rest of the farm in West Dummerston, Vermont my wife and I knew that we wanted to produce all of our energy onsite. That meant a solar photovoltaic (PV) system that would generate as much electricity as the house and barn are consuming—net-zero energy.

We also wanted to protect as much of the ten acres of agricultural land as possible. That meant we wanted to avoid a ground-mounted PV system. Wherever land can be used for farming—now or in the future—I prefer to install PV arrays on buildings, keeping the land open for agricultural uses.

Green Globes May Be an ANSI Standard At Last

Paula Melton — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 14:40:16 +0000

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Paula Melton

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BuildingGreen's Top Stories

The latest version of Green Globes for New Construction focuses on novel ways to measure energy performance, but details are hard to come by.

There seems to be a lot to like about the new Green Globes for New Construction, which was apparently launched earlier this week.

I say “seems to” and “apparently” because, despite repeated requests, I have not been allowed to view the rating system myself or to interview anyone involved in its creation.

As you read the summary below, be aware that the Green Building Initiative (GBI) has not released any public-comment drafts or the final rating system to the public—opting instead to release only media alerts and a document it is calling a “white paper” (PDF—more on this document below).

Fancy schmancy ANSI

The most significant change to this version of Green Globes appears to be that it’s based on GBI/ANSI 01–2010—a green building standard developed through the ANSI consensus process.

GBI has been touting its “true consensus process” for years to compare Green Globes favorably with LEED. If you’ve been paying attention to the political wrangling around LEED and Green Globes over the past couple of years, you may be surprised to hear that Green Globes isn’t already an ANSI standard, but until now the ANSI standard developed by GBI and the Green Globes tool itself have been two different animals.

Brattleboro's Slow Living Summit

Alex Wilson — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 18:07:31 +0000

Author name:

Alex Wilson

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Energy Solutions

This week’s Slow Living Summit celebrates local food, local economies, sustainability, and resilience.

The Slow Living Summit is happening June 5-7 in Brattleboro.
Image Credit: Strolling of the Heifers

For the past three years the Slow Living Summit has been an important ancillary event to the Strolling of the Heifers parade in Brattleboro, Vermont, which is now one of the state’s leading tourist attractions. With a nod to Spain’s famous Running of the Bulls, the Strolling of the Heifers is a relaxed walk along Main Street that focuses attention on farmers and local food.

Right from day one Strolling organizer Orly Munzing worked to provide an educational component to the event. So it was a logical extension to host a focused conference that tied into the Strolling.

But the Slow Living Summit, whose program committee I’ve participated in these three years, goes beyond food and agriculture.

Energy Use by Buildings and the Built Environment

Alex Wilson — Wed, 29 May 2013 20:28:43 +0000

Author name:

Alex Wilson

Blog Category:

Energy Solutions

If we include building-related portions of industrial and transportation sectors, buildings account for a lot more energy than most people claim

The generally accepted split between different primary energy end-uses. Click to enlarge.
Photo Credit: U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration

I’ve long appreciated the adage that you can’t manage what you don’t measure, so I’ve spent a good bit of time looking at numbers—especially relating to energy.

One of those numbers that I’ve always been intrigued with is how much of our nation’s total energy consumption relates to buildings. That sounds simple enough.

We are fortunate in the United States that the Department of Energy (DOE) tracks all sorts of energy statistics through the Energy Information Administration (EIA), so a numbers geek can go hog-wild digging as deep as he might want into whatever aspects of energy production and consumption are of interest.