Green Buildings in Charlotte

[fulcrumsf]

I'm glad to see developers catching on. I wish UNCC would start classes that encourage and educate Green Technologies implemented into Architecture. Also if there was some sort of type of Green Technology Organization that had some presents in Charlotte to teach and educate builders,developers, & buyers the benefits of building Green. Even a collective of vendors that sell Green Technology supplys, that could front the cost for a model home with kiosk and exhibits that educate others in exchange for advertising of there companies. In Sydney's Powerhouse Museum, they have a section dedicated to Green Technology. Sydney also had an exhibit in Olympic Park called House of the future that showcased different houses that were self-sustainable and enviroment friendly. I feel Charlotte has a lot of opportunity to follow other cities that are tring to go Green. All we need to do is market and educate Green Technologies and it may very well soon be a trendy thing to do. With gas/energy prices going up now is the perfect time.

http://www.housesofthefuture.com.au/index.html

[dubone]

i don't know when it opens, but i believe the William McDonough-designed museum in York county will have a community built to showcase sustainable and green design.

http://www.mcdonoughpartners.com/projects/...asp?projID=Mole

[monsoon]

There is an article in today's observer about solar powered homes in the area. Apparently you can still get significant tax credits for installing a system. Alternative energy is often an over looked option in making a home green.

House pulses with solar energy

Guy standing by his Lake Norman Solar Home

[dubone]

that was one of the links i posted. i think that if people install solar panels, it increases the value of a home. all the numbers may not work out completely... but the person in the article has a good point.... people pay for other luxury features that don't have nearly the same buzz-potential as a PV system.

People like to install things in their home that make people say something like "wow, did you see the jones' italian marble entryway?". I think that PV systems not only have a similar wow factor, but also provide a decent pay off.

I'm really disappointed to hear that NC has complicated regulations for selling your extra power back to the grid. registering as a utility seems crazy. Surely NC can simplify that.

[monsoon]

Sorry, I missed your link.

There used to be many more solar systems installed in the area mostly from the 70s. But as energy got cheap again and these homes changed hands, a lot, if most of them were removed. Its good to seem them making a resurgence again.

Occasionally I have run into a few of them but they are pretty rare now. I think there is still a laundrymat on Eastway drive with a solar hot water array, but I have not been over that way in a while so I don't know if it is still there. You can also see a few of them on older NCDOT reststops that were built in the 70s.

[peaceloveunderstanding]

http://fmbld02.uncc.edu/news/Uptown%20Cent...P%209-01-05.doc

According to that document, UNC Charlotte's new uptown building may be LEED certified.

Some of the important design elements will be:

.....

apply building design standards to become a LEED Certified building.

[carolina_fan]

http://fmbld02.uncc.edu/news/Uptown%20Cent...P%209-01-05.doc

According to that document, UNC Charlotte's new uptown building may be LEED certified.

Wasn't the original announcement for a 100,000 sq ft building? The RFP now states 150,000 sq ft.

[atlrvr]

And it's going to be Brick noe-Classical Georgian Revial mish-mash apparantly.....why would they apply the same design standards to an Uptown campus as their main campus.....it really makes no sense to me.

It almost seems like a building of this design would have a difficult time meeting LEED criteria.

[Miesian Corners]

The uptown UNCC building is "supposed" to be progressive and modern.

I have a friend from Ashevllie who grew up in a passive solar house (his dad's an architect...actually so is he, but I digress). He tells a funny story of having to be out on the site as a kid at the time of the exact summer solstice. Something about figuring out true south and how the house would be situated on the lot.

[dubone]

i have a passive solar house. that is where if you open the blinds, you can turn off the lights during the day, right?

[monsoon]

i have a passive solar house. that is where if you open the blinds, you can turn off the lights during the day, right?

Hmm. Sounds like my solar powered clothes dryer. haha

[dubone]

Hmm. Sounds like my solar powered clothes dryer. haha

doesn't huntersville zoning forbid closelines?

[monsoon]

doesn't huntersville zoning forbid closelines?

My HOA forbids it.

But nobody can see into my back yard except for the deer, owls, Microsoft and the government, and they don't seem to mind.

I find it strangely relaxing to hang out laundry.

[monsoon]

I am reminded the clothes line thing shows how far we have to go to curb our excessive energy usage in the United States. I recall that most people hang out their clothes to dry in Tokyo, and you won't find a more modern urban clean city than that. Nobody there would think about wasting gas or electricity on drying clothes when the sun will easily do it for free. They have these neat little portable hanging clothes lines that you can hang from your condo balcony when it is time to do the wash. Image the outcry if you tried to used one of those things on a balcony of the Vue or the Epicenter.

[dubone]

we could save some on airconditioning if we would just wear our wet clothes .

[monsoon]

we could save some on airconditioning if we would just wear our wet clothes .

Haha, this was once known as "Wash & Wear" aka Polyester.

[dubone]

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/business/13169466.htm

Net metering is now allowed in NC! That is a major shift since this article was posted a month and a half ago:

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/business/12803477.htm

Before, you had to be registered as a regulated power company in order to do it. Now, anyone can add solar panels or other power producing equipment to their homes and sell the excess power to the grid.

That way, your home can be producing electricity during the day when you are at work, and your grid runs backward. Then, at night, when you are home, but your solar panels aren't producing anything, you can pull from the grid. If you produce enough during the day to compensate for what you use at night, you could have a $0 bill. Otherwise, you can either make money, or simply have a reduced bill.

I'm actually serious by asking this, could solar panels be the answer to Courtside's problems? The back of the building faces southeast, which is good for solar panels. Solar Panels could be mounted to the wall, and it would look more like a more attractive glass curtain wall, but would generate electricity which could profit the tower's homeowner's association. With Court 6 and the Rec Center, the back of Courtside is guarenteed not to be blocked from the sun for decades. That is negative if it stays as ugly as it is now, but would be great for producing energy.

[atlrvr]

I've been meaning to mention this. There now is a LEED certification for single family homes. It's is a new test program this year.

[monsoon]

I ran across this article. This looks like something that could fit in well in NoDa and would provide something very distictive for the area. I wonder if something like this would fly over there or for that matter anywhere in Charlotte?

Sharland Oasis- an ecologically sustainable home

[appatone]

I think something like this would be great in NoDa. I personally love that mill house on Charles that was renovated in a modern style. I would be cool if more NoDa homeowners were inspired by that house.

[peaceloveunderstanding]

If I were given the choice to pay a little more for a 'green' home I would, but I wouldn't pay the extra dollars for it to be certified.

[fulcrumsf]

If I were given the choice to pay a little more for a 'green' home I would, but I wouldn't pay the extra dollars for it to be certified.

What if it added to the appraisal value with the fact that you had that certification?? Does it cost money though??

[monsoon]

Here is a website for The Solaire, which is billing itself as the first environmentally correct, green, residential highrise in the world. It is 27 stories and located in Manhattan. I would like to see some of the buildings being proposed for Charlotte to pickup on some of these ideas.

[dubone]

Did they tell the architect exactly what they meant by "green" building?

[28202]

I was told the Watermark building(very cool) overlooking the greenway and Kings Dr. was to be green, I don't know if that meant leeds certified since I didn't even know what that meant... isn't the Imaginon designed to some higher standard as well?