Eight Design Tips for Urban Food Gardens
As market demand shifts towards sustainability, architects and developers will have to rethink their approach as to what constitutes a green building. One method to stand out is designing the project to allow for local food production. Urban food gardens provide a...
Top Five Benefits of Going All-Electric in Buildings
California cities like Berkley, San Luis Obispo, and Menlo Park are moving towards all-electric buildings and banning gas hook-ups for new construction. Electrification is a trend that will likely continue as the clean energy economy evolves. Here are the top five...
Heat Pump Water Heaters for Cost Savings
For many years, both residential homes and commercial buildings have used heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) and water heating systems independently. This leads to two separate bills: one for electricity, and one for gas (assuming the water heater is...
Top 5 Things You Should Know about San Jose’s All Electric Reach Code
The City of San Jose is banning all natural gas in the construction of new buildings. The City currently has the highest number of electric vehicles per capita in the country and has earned a reputation for being among the most environmentally conscious cities in the...
Benefits of Full Service Energy Consultation
It is no secret that the California Energy Code is tough. California requires buildings to be more energy-efficient than buildings in any other state in the nation. These requirements go past the reduction in average energy use intensity. There are also a staggering...
How FitWel Addresses Occupant Health
Unlike other green building certifications, the FitWel Certification program focuses on occupant health and wellbeing rather than energy and environmental design. The two types of available certifications are Design Certification and Built Certification. Design...
Educational Building Standards in California
When it comes to CALGreen, Title 24 Energy Code compliance, and other California building standards, the main authority for each respective code varies by governmental office or division. These include the Building Standards Commission (BSC), California Commission on...
Title 24 Lighting Control Acceptance Testing: 5 Steps to Passing
The goal of Title 24 Lighting Control Acceptance Testing is to prevent lights from burning energy when they’re not needed. For example, in the case of daylight harvesting, if outside light entering the building adds light to the work surface, the controlled lighting...