BrightBuilt Barn

OOPS! You're in the wrong website!

2009-11-10T23:22:00.002-05:00

BrightBuilt Barn has moved its website, but the search engines haven't caught up yet. This website hasn't been updated for quite a while.

Here's our new, up to date website:

www.brightbuiltbarn.com

Hope to see you there!

Keith

BrightBuilt Barn's First Year Performance

2009-10-19T20:28:00.003-04:00

BrightBuilt Barn is now one year old.

The solar systems were turned on just one year ago - time to review its performance to date.

I'm happy to report that it has exceeded all expectations.

On a subjective level, it has been a joy to live and work in - warm in the winter, cool in the summer, light and airy and lovely to look at all year round. I am also delighted to report that I have not had one minute of trouble with any of the systems - high praise indeed from a guy who hates maintenance and repair, and who has had his share of woes while living in a number of conventionally built houses over the years. The solar systems in the Barn are simple, with few moving parts, and highly reliable - so far, they just work.

On an objective plane, here are the numbers. In its first year, BBB produced 6345 kilowatt hours of electricity, and used 1251 kwh, leaving a surplus of 5094 kwh.

In other words, BBB produced five times as much electricity as it used. My little BBB could power itself and four other homes just like it.

According to the US Department of Energy, the average American home uses 936 kwh of electricity per month. So, the average home in the US uses as much electricity in 5 weeks as the Barn did in its first full year. Conversely, BBB produces enough electricity to power itself and just under half the yearly electricity use of the average home.

The Barn does, in fact, power my conventionally built main house (over 15 years old and no paragon of energy efficiency) which sits about 100 feet away, and has produced over 60% of that home's electrical use.

So, Happy Birthday, BBB! And congratulations on a highly successful first year!

Maine Boats, Homes and Harbors Show

2009-08-04T16:00:00.002-04:00

The BrightBuilt Barn will have a booth at this weekend's Maine Boats, Homes and Harbors show in Rockland, Maine. We'll be there Friday through Sunday in Tent I, and will be offering tours of the BrightBuilt Barn Saturday afternoon. Stop by and say hello!

BrightBuilt Monitoring

2009-07-07T11:10:00.002-04:00

The May/June Residential Architect included a piece on the BrightBuilt Barn. For those readers who have found their way here, monitoring information on the barn is currently house on our website at www.brightbuiltbarn.com

Another Tight One

2009-06-30T21:06:00.005-04:00

Check out this article in the latest Journal of Light Construction, an excellent magazine for Home Builders and a source of great info for all residential architects and consultants as well. It is written by a local builder of all things sustainable and good, Dan Kolbert, and describes a recent project we completed together in Falmouth, Maine for our excellent clients, Stew MacLehose and Kathy Hayden. Kolbert is quickly becoming one of the top sustainable home builders in the region. He already has a LEED Gold and a LEED Platinum under his belt. Time to loosen that belt another notch, Dan...

This project is on track for LEED Platinum Certification. It features cellulose-filled, double stud walls, triple glazed windows and an exceptionally tight envelope in the range of BrightBuilt and Passivehouse (0.77 ACH5o). It has solar hot water and is slated to get some PV on the roof soon too.

We will soon make available live energy data on this project as well, in the same format as our BrightBuilt data, through our friends at Powerdash.

Dan Kolbert's website:

http://www.kolbertbuilding.com/

Details of the superinsulated structure:

DSIRE

2009-06-25T15:27:00.002-04:00

This is a terrific website that lists all state incentive programs and policies that promote renewable energy and energy efficiency.

http://www.dsireusa.org/

Another LEED Platinum from KTA

2009-06-10T09:48:00.002-04:00

Kaplan Thompson Architects, the team that designed BrightBuilt Barn, have recently been notified that their Metro Green project in Arlington, Virginia has been awarded LEED Platinum, the first LEED Platinum home in the state of Virginia.

Sited only 5 miles from the center of Washington DC, the structure has a whole wish list of green features, including a green roof and rainwater capture, in addition to solar electric energy and super-low heating costs.

Here's the link to a brief article about this home:

http://www.jetsongreen.com/2009/06/metro-green-home-leed-platinum-virginia.html

And here's the website of the builder:

http://www.metrogreenhome.com/

For only $1.175 million, this green dream home can be yours.

Pecha Kucha

2009-06-09T11:03:00.008-04:00

Keith will be participating in Pecha Kucha night at the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland on June 29.

"Pecha what?" you say.

Pecha Kucha (pronounced pe-chak-cha) is a presentation system begun by two young architects in 2003 to provide their peers with a format for presenting their work without droning on and on as we designer types are prone to do. The strict format allows for 8-14 presenters to show exactly 20 slides for exactly 20 seconds each. No more, no less. Thus each person has the stage for exactly 6 minutes and 40 seconds. Pecha Kucha Nights are held all around the world now, in over 170 cities and Rockland, Maine is no exception.

With so much to show and say about BrightBuilt, we commend Keith for taking on the challenge of boiling things down to the allotted time frame. If you're in the area - don't miss the opportunity to see him present. Pecha Kucha Nights are always fun filled evenings of artists and art appreciators - we highly recommend them.

Check out http://www.farnsworthmuseum.org/event/pecha-kucha-night-live-wyeth-center

We Made the List

2009-06-02T11:26:00.003-04:00

Eco Home Magazine has included BrightBuilt on its list of "6 Prefab Houses That Could Change Home Building." In these times when more and more architects and builders are throwing their hats into this green prefab ring (and some not making it - see previous post), we are honored to have made it to the top of the list and be in company of some old favorites (Unity by Bensonwood) and some new (IKEA. SmartCarHouse).

http://www.ecohomemagazine.com/news/2009/may/6-prefab-houses-that-could-change-home-building.aspx?page=5

Premier green prefab firm closing its doors.

2009-05-31T20:00:00.000-04:00

Yikes - Michelle Kaufmann has long been a leader in the green prefab industry and has fallen victim to current circumstances. As newcomers to the green prefab world, we've been watching her closely - this news just underscores the challenges (and opportunities) ahead for us as we delve into this world.

Modern Prefab On The Ropes: Michelle Kaufmann Packs It In

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/05/michelle-kaufmann-packs-it-in.php

"A year ago I wrote that modern prefab had lived fast, died young and left a good looking corpse. But I thought if anyone would survive it would be Michelle Kaufmann, the queen of prefab design and marketing, who when I wrote her best of green award, said "an entire industry rides on her coat-tails."

When times were good, Michelle could not find factories to build her stuff; they were making too much money building crap. When the crap market dried up, so did they. Then the banking crisis delivered the final cut, and it is over."

BrightBuilt Barn at AIGA CompostModern Maine

2009-05-19T09:57:00.006-04:00

Our presentation to CompostModern Maine was a success. We learned a lot in organizing our thoughts for the talk and had a captive audience throughout, including a lively discussion after the presentation. We've uploaded a copy of the presentation to Slide Share (without the charming words) in case anyone wants to see what BrightBuilt did to us as a studio.

BrightBuilt Barn at AIGA CompostModern Maine

View more presentations from kaplanthompson.

Measuring Performance

2009-05-18T16:43:00.002-04:00

Updated energy figures as of 5:00 PM today, May 18:

Total electricity produced from go-live in October 2008: 3135 kwh

Total electricity consumed by the Barn in the same period: 1001 kwh

Total surplus to date: 2134 kwh

My electric bill at the main house for April: $7.95

Soon we will have the new and improved website implemented, which will have all performance numbers continuously updated. Stay tuned.

2009-05-08T08:50:00.003-04:00

This Saturday, Jesse Thompson and Robin Tannenbaum from Kaplan Thompson will be presenting the BrightBuilt Barn at Compostmodern ME. This is a one day conference geared towards designers and followers of the sustainability movement that explores how incorporating sustainability practices in the design process can help create a socially, ecologically and economically responsible society. Check out http://maine.aiga.org for more information or just come on down.

PowerDash

2009-05-01T09:14:00.003-04:00

Real time energy monitoring of the BrightBuilt Barn is almost here. As Keith discussed in the last post, the barn is performing beautifully and is producing so much energy that it is even offsetting most of the energy use of the main house on his property. Our newest partner in the BBB endeavor is PowerDash, a Massachusetts based energy monitoring company that is setting up a network to translate information about energy production and consumption from the barn into an easy to read easy to understand format that for our website. Stephen Lapointe, one of PowerDash partners joined us on site in late April to work on nuts and bolts of this process.

More Numbers

2009-04-29T13:50:00.002-04:00

It's been a sunny week here in Maine, and so the Barn has been creating lots of electricity. I decided to check all the numbers again, and compare them to those at the last post, on April 20.

Today at noon the Barn's total production since go-live was 2745 kilowatt-hours. That means that in the past 9 days the PV panels have pumped out 224 kwh, or an average of almost 25 kwh each day. Usage has been modest, now that the cold weather is gone, with air handling, lights, and computers accounting for most of the load - and with the longer days, light usage is going down noticeably. Total usage to date has been 970 kwh, compared with 953 kwh ten days ago, or only 1.9 kwh of electricity used per day.

This means that the current difference between electricity generated and electricity used in the Barn stands at 1775 kwh surplus, meaning that we have put a net of 1775 kwh out on the grid over the past 6 months. The past 9 days alone have accounted for 207 kwh surplus, or about 23 kwh per day on average.

This contribution to the grid helps pay off our carbon debt incurred in the making of the Barn, at the rate of one to two pounds of carbon per kilowatt-hour, depending on the major source of the electricity on the grid. So we appear to have knocked approximately one metric ton of carbon off our debt, even through the depths a cold Maine winter.

And since our main house is just "upstream" of the Barn, we get the benefit of most of that surplus electricity, which is lowering our electrical bill substantially. Last month, our bill from Central Maine Power was only $11.00.

Here's hoping for a sunny Spring!

Performance So Far

2009-04-20T09:02:00.002-04:00

Spring is, well, springing up here in Maine. At 9:00 this morning it's bright and sunny, and the outside temperature is 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Almost all of the snow has melted, except for one small mound perhaps 6 feet long and 2 feet wide that lies in the perpetual shadow of the north side of the main house.

In the Barn it is a cozy 68 degrees, with no heating except the sunshine pouring in the south-facing windows.

It is almost 6 months since the Barn systems were turned on last October, and it seems time to assess performance so far.

Most important to me, the Barn has been a pleasure to live and work in. It has been comfortably warm all winter, even during record-setting cold spells. The systems have worked flawlessly, with no breakdowns or failures. The structure has held up to extreme weather, including impressive snowfalls of up to 2 feet per storm, and several feet cumulatively.

As of this morning at 9:00 AM, the solar electric panels have produced 2521 kilowatt-hours of electricity since being "switched on" last October. The barn itself has consumed 953 kwh during that time, for a net surplus of 1568 kilowatt-hours. I find this remarkable, given how cold this winter was.

Those surplus 1568 kwh translate into nearly 3000 pounds (more than a metric ton) of carbon that will not be needed from a coal-fired electric generating plant.

More directly, the Barn's energy surplus is reducing our use of grid power at the main house -my electric bill this past month was $11.00, compared to nearly $130 this same time last year.

Soon we plan to have the Barn's energy performance tracked continuously on our website, so anyone can monitor our results.

So stay tuned - there's much more to come.

More Hugs from Treehugger - BBB is Best of 2008

2009-04-10T11:41:00.002-04:00

Treehugger, one of the leading green lifestyle blogs, has just awarded BrightBuilt Barn its annual "Best of Green" designation in the Architecture and Design category.

Here's the link:

http://www.treehugger.com/galleries/2009/04/best-of-green-design-and-architecture.php?page=11

Documentary

2009-04-07T09:38:00.002-04:00

An independent production company has been working with our team recently to put together a documentary about the first BrightBuilt Barn. The documentary will focus as much on origins of the project and the process of bringing it to fruition as it will on the final product. Many of us who were involved in the project will be screening a rough cut later this week to give feedback. We look forward to debuting the final version.

BrightBuilt Barn is Awarded LEED Platinum

2009-04-05T23:35:00.002-04:00

BrightBuilt Barn has recently received official notification that it has been awarded LEED Platinum status, the highest level of sustainability certification by the US Green Building Council. BBB thus becomes only the 7th home in all of New England to attain this highest level of certification, which is awarded to fewer than 10% of all projects that apply.

BrightBuilt Barn Goes International

2009-04-05T23:28:00.002-04:00

On Wednesday, April 1, BrightBuilt Barn was featured on a segment of "This Week in the Americas", a weekly newscast of France24, who describe themselves as the CNN of France.

Check out the link below - the clip on BBB is toward the end of the show:

http://www.france24.com/en/20090402-week-americas-obama-car-industry-mexico-washington-against-drug-trafficking-el-salvador-oscar-romero

Own Your Own BrightBuilt Barn

2009-04-05T22:40:00.006-04:00

We're almost there!

Now that the first barn is up, interest is increasing and we are working actively with Bensonwood to pull together a package outlining the process of producing subsequent BrightBuilt Barns. They will be for sale through Bensonwood. Thanks to the hard work by our friends there, we are pleased to announce that the range of prices for the BBB will be from roughly $165,000 - $230,000. The lowest price represents a base model which allows the owner to finish out some of the non essential aspects of the building. The higher price(s) reflect the addition of available upgrades such as appliances, fixtures, kitchen build out, exterior decks, etc. We are really happy with these prices for such an innovative and beautiful product, especially given that purchasers can add renewables to their barn which will ensure they will have virtually no utility costs down the road. Stay tuned for more details, and be sure to send us an e-mail if you would like more information about purchase options.

Even More Great Press!

2009-02-11T19:08:00.006-05:00

We are honored to be the cover story for Maine's newest home design magazine, Maine Home + Design. The folks at MH+D have been following this project's progress since its inception and were thrilled to finally showcase the beautiful finished product. Also this month, the project is featured in an article in Smart HomeOwner Magazine.

Maine Home + Design
http://www.mainehomedesign.com/

Smart HomeOwner
http://www.smart-homeowner.com/ME2/Default.asp

Start Spreading the News . . . .

2009-01-16T18:52:00.004-05:00

Well the BrightBuilt Barn has truly arrived. In the Home section of the NEW YORK TIMES that is! A short pithy piece on the project and the cool glowing lights that monitor energy production and consumption were featured in Thursday's paper. We are so pleased that an organization like the Times is picking us up because the project will reach a much wider audience (not just us design and green tech groupies) who will have their consciousness raised about the cool side of being green.

Here is a link: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/garden/15tools.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=brightbuilt&st=cse

A Working Manifesto

2009-01-13T17:12:00.005-05:00

In the spirit of Sustainability and Collaboration, we - The BrightBuilt Team - dedicate ourselves:

-To immediately share all concepts, details and systems of the first BrightBuilt project (BB001) with all interested others

-To try to evoke critical thought and invite feedback, with the aim of improving these systems

-To work with builders to offer this first BrightBuilt model, as well as any subsequent prototypes, to others at a reasonable cost and with a greatly reduced construction timeline

-To encourage others to build and test their own BrightBuilt projects as examples of livability, sustainability and attainability

-To create a central online space for learning and interaction among like-minded parties

-To maintain ongoing transparency of operational performance, with the live and historical energy performance of all BrightBuilts continuously visible to all

These are ambitious goals. We look for the collaboration and input of others in the global community. If you are interested in taking part in this grand, and potentially transformative experiment, please sign up at www.brightbuiltbarn.com to be kept in the loop, or simply start commenting below...

More Great Press

2008-12-30T15:50:00.002-05:00

BrightBuilt Barn had a banner day, being favorably mentioned on two premiere eco-blogs on the same day.

First, a follow-up post by Preston Koerner of Jetson Green blog, who first reviewed us back in September:

http://www.jetsongreen.com/2008/12/brightbuilt-bar.html

Second, an extremely favorable mention in Treehugger - headlined "BrightBuilt Barn is Built, Bright, and Beautiful":

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/12/bright-built-barn-built.php

And we are expecting more to come....

Light Skirt in action!

2008-12-29T22:19:00.002-05:00

The light skirt is finally up and running and the first snow has fallen, giving BrightBuilt that striking glow we've anticipated since the initial renderings. To view more of Naomi Beal's latest pictures, go here: BrightBuilt Barn Photos

LEED Platinum Buildings Go Mainstream

2008-12-28T20:20:00.003-05:00

Preston Koerner at the Jetson Green blog has compiled a compendium of 33 buildings who have achieved, or are in the process of receiving, Platinum ratings from the US Green Building Council's Leadersip in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) initiative.

The link is here:

http://www.jetsongreen.com/2008/12/leed-platinum-p.html

BrightBuilt Barn is referenced in the article. Now that construction is complete, we are in the process of applying for a LEED Platinum rating - we will keep you posted on our progress through the rigorous certification process.

German PassivHaus Construction Similar to BrightBuilt

2008-12-28T13:53:00.004-05:00

Yesterday's New York Times contained an article on German "PassivHaus" construction; you can read it here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/27/world/europe/27house.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

Passive Houses use superinsulation and strict air tightness to reduce the heating energy requirements of a building by 70% - 90%. BrightBuilt Barn has used some of these same concepts to create its own approach to sustainability.

The Wikipedia entry explaining the history and background of Passive Houses is here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_house

The PassivHaus concept grew out of a collaboration in the late 1980s and early 1990s between two professors of architecture, Professor Bo Adamson of Sweden and Dr. Wolfgang Feist of Germany. Over time, their ideas were codified into a standard of building performance, as described on this English-language page of the PassivHaus Institut's webpage (most of which is in German):

http://www.passiv.de/English/PassiveH.HTM

The UK branch of the PassivHaus movement has an English-language website with more information here:

http://www.passivhaus.org.uk/index.jsp?id=667

It's gratifying to see advanced but pragmatic approaches to sustainability in building design and construction begin to get recognition in the mainstream press.

Last Pieces of the Puzzle?

2008-11-25T20:21:00.003-05:00

Here are photos of the concrete sink and kitchen countertop at Jon Meade's shop today. They are just about the final substantial outstanding items which the Barn awaits.

They were a long time coming but look quite beautiful. Jon is a true artisan. They should go in next week. The final blower door test will follow shortly after!

BrightBuilt at GreenBuild

2008-11-25T20:03:00.004-05:00

None other than Bensonwood's fearless leader, Tedd Benson, was the Keynote Speaker (along with Kevin O'Connor of This Old House and Steve Kieran of Kieran Timberlake Architects) at this year's GreenBuild event in Boston last week. The special track was specifically for Green Homebuilders and within this track, Tedd also led another seminar called "Extreme Green", in which he talked at length about a number of Bensonwood's cutting-edge projects, including - of course - The BrightBuilt Barn.

The picture you see here from the Main Event is of Tedd in the midst of giving a truly inspirational speech to 800+ attendees. Many people after the event relayed to me how much they were moved by his words. Include me in that bunch. And yes, that is BBB on the big screen in the background. Pretty cool, all around.

BrightBuilt in Electronic House

2008-11-19T15:36:00.004-05:00

BrightBuilt has been featured in another excellent Blog, Steve's Castle's "Green Technology" Column for the magazine, Electronic House. Take a look, and be sure to view Steve's other interesting postings.

Light Skirt in Action!

2008-11-19T14:18:00.004-05:00

The Light Skirt is finally up and running and it looks just as cool as we'd hoped. Our Lighting Designer, Greg Day of DayMatero Studio, came up with Steve Barlock of Visible Light, Supplier of all LEDs in the project including the Light Skirt fixtures, to program the lights, choose the colors, and make some final adjustments. The barn glows GREEN when it is producing more energy than it consumes; YELLOW indicates a borderline condition; RED means that energy usage is current higher than required to meet our yearly NET ENERGY goal. These colors are indicators of real-time energy usage, and will soon be visible on our website. The first photo shows the LEDs in the shower. Pretty dramatic, eh?

The Big Push

2008-11-04T11:13:00.004-05:00

Keith and Mary's dream is just days away from becoming a reality. Alan Gibson and his team are pushing to get the remaining (major) items crossed off his list before the weekend. Keith and Mary welcome Tedd Benson and a group of his Timberframer colleagues up this weekend for a tour.

Some of the final items are the lighting, deck, fixtures and various minor finish details.

They were installing the 'light skirt' yesterday, preparing for the colored LED fixtures to go in. Our lighting designer, Greg

Day of DayMatero Studio, and the LED systems supplier, Steve Barlock of Visible Light, will be

up Friday to do some fine tuning.

The heat pump is in and all systems will be fired up this week as well. Although fairly imposing, the exterior portion of the heat pump will be such an efficient contributor to the comfort of the space that it's well worth it. After all,

removing a furnace from a year-round structure in Maine necessarily involves a couple trade-offs.

Alan's craftsmanship has been excellent and Keith and Mary's patience with this truly groundbreaking project has been pretty exceptional as well.

350 - A Number to Remember

2008-10-14T11:12:00.003-04:00

Veteran eco-activist Bill McKibben appears to be the guiding force behind a new social networking approach to advocating for sustainability.

Check out the web site for his newest initiative, known as "350" (for the 350 parts per million concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere that is deemed to be sustainable - current level is 387 ppm):

http://www.350.org/

The 90-second animation explaining global warming without narration is worth the visit.

Current efforts seem focused on raising awareness of global warming, through social activities ranging from traditional rallies to postcard mail-ins to craft competitions.

Skeptics may question if there is any "there" there, the movement seeming to be all awareness and no action, but the 350 message is spreading globally at an impressive pace. Definitely a space to keep watching, to see if this global network of enthusiasts turns into a force to reckon with.

Another Green Blog Appearance

2008-09-19T17:08:00.003-04:00

http://www.jetsongreen.com/2008/09/net-zero-living.htm

Interest in BrightBuilt is gaining some serious momentum. Jetson Green is a cool blog that gave the team a nice nod today. Gee, Thanks! We like you too.

They've covered Bensonwood before, so they know what kind of great stuff our Walpole buddies can do.

Please don't forget to check out the rest of the team's links over there to the right. It's a talented bunch who helped put this together.

Naomi's New Photos

2008-09-19T11:03:00.007-04:00

Alan and his team are making great progress. Most of the interior finish boards are in. The cool part is that this can happen before the electricians are finished with their work. This is a true mark of a disentangled building.

Keith, Alan, his electricians (Kevin and David), and Myself worked out the footswitch details, based on Brian Lazarus' prototype (below). There will be no actual light switches on the walls, but instead we'll have integral, clickable plates at various locations along the face of the base chase. This will not only keep the walls pristine, but also easily allow for future changes in switch location if walls are ever moved or added. They will be LED-backlit and just proud of the faceof the baseboard for visibility, and proportioned so that a simple push from the foot, even from the side, will activate them.

BrightBuilt on TreeHugger!

2008-09-19T10:42:00.005-04:00

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/09/bright-built-barn.php

BrightBuilt Barn has been Treehugged!

Funny end line: "If it isn't the greenest project we have presented, it is certainly the best marketed, with a website, a wiki, a blog and an extensive press kit. We will check back when the interior is finished."

Click on the link to view the full article.

file:///Users/pka2/Desktop/Bright%20Built%20Barn%20is%20Net-Zero%20Energy%20:%20TreeHugger.webarchive

We Get Treehugged!

2008-09-18T22:56:00.003-04:00

Today BrightBuilt Barn received a nice review at Treehugger, a leading eco-tech and sustainable lifestyle blog.

Here's the link:

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/09/bright-built-barn.php

Great BrightBuilt article in the paper!

2008-09-09T11:26:00.002-04:00

The BrightBuilt Barn was featured on the cover of the Portland Press Herald Business section today. Maine USGBC has also linked to it on their front page.

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=209134&ac=PHbiz

2008-09-02T13:57:00.004-04:00

Progress continues on the Barn. Naomi Beal, our photographer, grabbed some great shots last week of Alan Gibson's progress. The plumber and electrician are in there now, integrating their work with the renewable energy systems, which were started by Revision Energy a few weeks ago. The irony is that in the next one(s), all of this work will be done in Bensonwood's factory, and brought in completed.

On site, Alan, Keith and I added a cool new feature: some of the baseboards will be attached on magnetic latches for easy access. This is primarily for show-and-tell. And no, we haven't run this by the code guys...yet.

Balloon Power

2008-08-28T08:30:00.003-04:00

There are lots of new ideas circulating about how to reduce the cost of alternative energy. In our previous post, we linked to sites explaining how inexpensive kites can be harnessed to produce wind power cheaply.

In today's story, we learn about how balloons can decrease the cost of solar energy. The balloons are cleverly made with a reflective back surface and a transparent front. They act as concentrators of the sun's rays, and focus their high-energy beams on a photovoltaic (PV) solar cell. This allows a small PV panel to produce as much electrical power as a much larger one. Since the balloons are light and cheap, and can be held in place with light and cheap wires rather than the heavy and expensive steel frames required by metal concentrators, the total cost of solar energy production is much reduced.

The link is here:

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/02/cool_earth_gets.php

Go Fly a Kite

2008-08-05T17:31:00.004-04:00

Dutch researchers have demonstrated a prototype wind energy generator that uses kites, rather than wind turbines. The kites can ascend to heights a half mile or more above the ground, where the winds are much stronger and more reliable than those that drive the near-earth wind turbines.

Scientists from Delft University in the Netherlands have developed a 10 square meter kite (ca. 100 square feet), that in tests produced 10 kilowatts of electrical power when tethered to a generator - enough to serve 10 homes. They say that the idea can be easily scaled to produce megawatts of electricity at prices comparable to coal fired electrical generators - far cheaper than wind turbines.

Last year Google invested $10 million in an American company with a similar idea, called Makani.

The link to the article in the Guardian is here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/aug/03/renewableenergy.energy

A link to the description of the project on the website of the Delft University of Technology is here:

http://www.lr.tudelft.nl/live/pagina.jsp?id=8d16d19a-e942-45aa-9b52-48deb9312e92&lang=en

And a link to an article on a similar scheme from Italy, from Wired News, is here:

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.sequoiaonline.com/blogs/img/kitegenerator_definitivo_caption.jpg&imgrefurl=http://kitestudio.blogspot.com/2006/11/generating-power-from-kites.html&h=4000&w=5315&sz=2149&hl=en&start=1&tbnid=8KlIIzP2lxYdaM:&tbnh=113&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dkite%2Bwind%2Bgenerator%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den

MIT Scientists Discover Cheaper Way to Produce Hydrogen from Solar Energy

2008-08-01T00:18:00.004-04:00

In the July 31 issue of the premiere scientific journal Science, a team of MIT scientists reveal a new method of producing hydrogen from electricity. This new method uses cobalt and phosphorus, both being abundant and widely available minerals, to dramatically lower the energy required to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.

The proposed application of this technology is to store energy from solar electric panels for use during the hours when the sun isn't shining. The scientists suggest that this will make it feasible for each household to produce its own energy, with no need for the present system of transmission lines from central power generators. The household will use solar energy directly during the day, and use the stored hydrogen energy at night, in a fuel cell or other hydrogen powered energy generator.

The scientists predict that the technology could be in widespread use within 10 years.

A link to the MIT News Office release is here:

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/oxygen-0731.html

Home Delivery - Exhibit at the MOMA

2008-07-18T08:19:00.003-04:00

The BrighBuilt team and the project itself is unique for many reasons - the collaboration of designers and technicians, the combination of off site fabrication and on site finishing, and the high standards for sustainability in a tough cold climate. But we are hardly the first group of idealists to come together to create a prototype for an ideal living unit and there is a great deal of interest in pre-fabricated housing in today's shelter mags and blogs.

An exhibit opening this weekend at the MOMA presents a history of pre-fabricated houses and includes five full scale model houses. It looks to me like the BrightBuilt Barn should be among them! Below are links to the exhibit itself and to a review in the NY Times.

http://www.momahomedelivery.org/

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/18/arts/design/18dwel.html

56 Hours

2008-07-16T11:44:00.002-04:00

One of the remarkable differences between conventional construction and the Barn's offsite construction method is the speed of the build.

On Monday morning, July 7, the barn was still just a hole in the ground, as it had been since the foundation was laid last November.

At 11:15 AM that day, the truck arrived with the first of the structural panels from Bensonwood. By 7:15 PM on Wednesday, July 9, we had a complete weathertight shell in place.

Floor, walls, roof, windows, doors - all assembled in just 56 hours from start to finish. (Actually, since no work was performed at night, it was only 32 working hours.)

Contrast that with the weeks it would take to attain the same result with conventional construction.

Check out the pictures below to see the process unfolding.

Having seen it in person, I'm now a believer - this needs to be the future of homebuilding.

We Get Press

2008-07-15T17:23:00.005-04:00

Today's edition of the Rockland Courier Gazette/Village Soup has a nice article on BrightBuilt Barn written by Dan Dunkle, the paper's business/enterprise reporter. Dan has long covered the environment/green technology beat, and his expertise shows.

The link to the article is here:

http://knox.villagesoup.com/Community/story.cfm?storyID=121489

Dan also includes lots of pictures showing the barn raising in progress - so enjoy.

Great Press

2008-07-15T17:23:00.003-04:00

We are so thrilled to have a great article in the local newspaper, Village Soup today. Here is a link: http://knox.villagesoup.com/Community/story.cfm?storyID=121489

Barn Raising - Day 3

2008-07-11T16:52:00.003-04:00

Day 3 of BrightBuilt Barn Raising in Rockland.

All photographs courtesy of Naomi C.O. Beal Photography.

Barn Raising - Day 2

2008-07-11T16:24:00.002-04:00

Day 2 of BrightBuilt Barn Raising in Rockland.

All photographs courtesy of Naomi C.O. Beal Photography

Barn Raising - Day 1

2008-07-08T14:15:00.004-04:00

The barn and a team of 3 from Bensonwood arrived on site on Monday July 7. Working at a rigorous but deliberate pace, this team, with help from Alan Gibson and his crew, and the local boom truck operator, have been lifting the building components into place, fitting them together like pieces of a large puzzle.

Below is a slide show of images from Monday, Jul 7 - the first day the Bensonwood crew was on site.

All photographs courtesy of Naomi C.O. Beal Photography.

Two New Articles on Sustainability

2008-07-06T16:39:00.004-04:00

Green technology is generating more media buzz by the day. Two recent articles have caught my attention, both because of their content, and because they are in mainstream publications aimed a general, albeit upscale, audience.

The first article is by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., son of the slain political leader and a prominent eco-activist, writing in Vanity Fair. The link is here: http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/05/rfk_manifesto200805

RFK Jr. argues for the federal government to underwrite a an alternative energy infrastructure, including building a nationwide High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) power transmission network. Although HVDC may seem arcane, it actually addresses one of the major impediments to switching to alternative sources of energy, namely that the best places for capturing sun power or wind power tend to be remote from the population centers that use the energy. Alternating current (AC) power lines are cheaper to build and maintain, but over long distances lose much of the energy they transmit. Direct current (DC) power lines are more expensive, but lose much less energy over long distances. A HVDC network could bridge the gap between where sustainable energy is produced and where it is used.

RFK Jr. is putting an important idea out into the public discourse. Time will tell whether the idea gains traction. An alternative to HVDC, of course, is the local generation of energy near the point of use. Solar panels on each roof, wind generators in the back yard, etc. My guess is that we will see some of both strategies implemented over the next several years.

The second article that caught my eye this week was in the New Yorker (I'm addicted to the cartoons). Titled "The Island in the Wind", the article describes the Danish island of Samso, an island about the size of Nantucket with some 4300 inhabitants, who have become energy independent by switching to wind power. The link is here: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/07/07/080707fa_fact_kolbert

Actually, Samso Island is a now a small but steady energy exporter, producing more electricity than they use, and selling it to the mainland.

The islanders apparently made the switch to wind power without government support or subsidy of any kind, as a sort of community project. The wind turbines were all erected with private funds raised by the islanders themselves. Each turbine is owned by one or a group of investors, who get annual dividends based on the economic performance of the turbine they own.

A fascinating story in its own right, the achievements of the Samso Islanders make you think, "If a small population of rural, mostly agricultural residents can successfully switch to sustainable energy, what's our excuse?"

The article is also full of revealing anecdotes about how this small real world community has evolved in its use of energy under a sustainable regime. For example: the Samso Islanders have little interest in energy conservation. The local eco-activist, an island native proud of his neighbor's achievement of energy independence, becomes indignant when discussing the results of his attempts to persuade the community to conserve energy. Families that insulated their homes better, for example, would then heat more rooms in the winter, so that the net savings were always close to zero.

There is much more to glean from this article, and I will probably return to it for further insights in the future. I highly recommend that you take the time to read it.

2008-06-27T09:28:00.000-04:00

A second day of production at Bensonwood.

All photographs courtesy of Naomi C. O. Beal Photography

MONTHLY kWh PROJECTED OUTPUT

2008-06-26T11:09:00.004-04:00

BBB is projected to produce approximately this amount of power per month.

Month AC Energy (kWh)

Jan 587
Feb 687
Mar 796
Apr 734
May 762
Jun 712
Jul 770
Aug 761
Sep 706
Oct 631
Nov 455
Dec 463

Total 8062

BrightBuilt assembly at Benwonwood Day 1

2008-06-26T09:16:00.001-04:00

This week the BrightBuilt Barn is in the shop at Bensonwood. Detailed dimensioned drawings of the floor, wall and roof panels have been sent from the Bensonwood CAD software to their CNC cutting machines on the shop floor, where the panels are cut and assembled.

All photos courtesy of Naomi C. O. Beal Photography.

Embodied Energy: Carbon Debts and Kilowatt Holes

2008-06-25T13:15:00.005-04:00

As we try to decrease the carbon footprint of our buildings, we need to consider two distinct, but inter-related issues: reducing the carbon footprint of the building process itself, and reducing the carbon footprint of running and maintaining the structure once built.

Addressing the second issue led us to choose super-insulation (to minimize the energy required to heat the place) and sustainable energy sources such as solar thermal and photovoltaics.

Here I want to say just a few words about the other issue, minimizing the carbon emissions resulting from the building process itself.

First of all, this is to my mind a much harder problem to solve than that of reducing the carbon impact of ongoing energy use. Ongoing energy needs can be straightforwardly addressed by judicious design (to decrease consumption by eliminating waste) and switching to zero-emission sources of energy such as wind or solar. To solve the problem of reducing the impact of the building process itself, we need to consider the carbon load introduced by making, transporting, and assembling each and every component of the building. This calculation quickly becomes extremely complex, requiring detailed knowledge of materials, manufacturing processes, and modes of transport.

To take a simple example: the chemical process by which cement powder is turned into hardened concrete (just add water and stir!) releases CO2 - lots and lots of it, it turns out. So we have tried to use more wood and less concrete, even though concrete has many desirable properties as a building material (easy to shape, high thermal mass). But if the wood is harvested in Indonesia (as much wood is) and transported to us by boat, train, and truck, we have incurred the carbon load of all that transport. So we have tried to minimize transport by local sourcing of wood, to the extent feasible. And on and on.

The underlying concept here is generally called embodied energy: each structure embodies all of the energy (and associated carbon emissions) used to make its constituent parts, transport them to the site, and assemble them into the finished building. On the BrightBuilt team, we usually call it the carbon debt we have incurred by building a structure where there wasn't one, or the kilowatt hole we have to dig out of by generating zero-emission electricity that displaces high-carbon fossil fuel use.

It turns out that there is no central database containing data on the embodied energy of common building materials. Worse, there is no single, widely accepted method for calculating embodied energy.

We have consulted experts around the globe, from MIT to Australia, in an attempt to calculate the embodied energy of BrightBuilt Barn. While we believe that we have made a serious and intellectually honest attempt, we do not claim to have precise and unassailable results.

Brian, of Opus One Studio, has become our resident expert on the subject. In a future post, he will give some of his findings and methods.

For now, we will only say that the carbon debt incurred by even a small building such as BrightBuilt barn is surprisingly high, and will require years of excess clean energy production to pay back. We are helped here by 1) our commitment to durable materials, which greatly lengthen the usable life of the building, and so give us a longer time frame over which to amortize the carbon debt; and 2) our decision to maximize the excess energy we produce, by using superinsulation to reduce energy demand while covering the roof with solar energy systems despite the reduced need for ongoing energy.

Brian's Energy Meter will track the energy surplus, both minute-to-minute and cumulative, and we will put the results on the web at the BBB site, so anyone can track the progress we make in climbing out of our "kilowatt hole."

"Barn-Raising" Set for Week of July 7

2008-06-24T20:48:00.006-04:00

We seem to have a firm date for the delivery of the offsite-fabricated structural panels from Bensonwood - they are due to arrive onsite July 7.

Assembly of the pre-constructed panels into the unfinished Barn will take approximately one week.

Those in the Rockport area are welcome to watch the "barn-raising" (accomplished with cranes - no bystanders will be pressed into service :-) ). [The picture above is of an old-fashioned Amish barn-raising, and has nothing to do with how BrightBuilt Barn will look or be constructed - apologies for my offbeat sense of humor.]

Those following progress from afar will be able to see pictures and video on the Barn website.

At long last, BrightBuilt Barn will fulfill our promise to make it a built structure, not just a design study.

Stay tuned for more developments.

James Hansen PhD - Climate Crusader

2008-06-24T09:28:00.007-04:00

Yesterday, on the 20th anniversary of his ground-breaking first testimony to Congress on the perils of global warming, Dr. James Hansen, esteemed head of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and an adjunct professor at Columbia University, provided Congress an update.

The verdict: 20 years later, the evidence suggests that his warnings of 1988 were, if anything, understated, and that climate change may be fast approaching a "tipping point" where massive disruption becomes inevitable. In his view, only vigorous action to bring atmospheric CO2 levels below 350 parts per million (ppm) can stave off serious consequences (current levels are 385 ppm, and rising approximately 2 ppm per year.)

Dr. Hansen's 1988 Congressional testimony brought into the public discourse the subject of climate change due to greenhouse gases released in the burning of fossil fuels. Hansen has been a clear and steady voice publicizing the findings of climate scientists around the world, and a tireless advocate for a greener future. Vilified by climate-deniers, he was subjected to censorship by the Bush II administration, which required all of his public statements be run past the NASA public relations staff, who edited many of these statements to soft-pedal suggestions that climate change was man-made and potentially risky. Dr. Hansen refused to be muzzled, and his whistle-blowing on the Bush II administration's attempts to censor climate science led to a public outcry against political interference with science.

Yesterday's testimony before Congress was a typical blend of impeccable science, blunt warnings, and outspoken advocacy for change to save the planet for our children and grandchildren.

You can read his testimony here:

http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/2008/TwentyYearsLater_20080623.pdf

His associated slide presentation is here:

http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/2008/TippingPointsNear_20080623.ppt

Together, these serve as a handy summary of the science, the issues, and many of the major proposals for ameliorating global warming.

A quick summary of Dr. Hansen's life and career can be found here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hansen

Read, and be enlightened - and, hopefully, inspired to action.

Energy Meter

2008-05-05T16:09:00.010-04:00

Inspirations and Sketches for the Energy Meter from a design charete with Kaplan Thompson Architects and Brian Lazarus of Opus One Studio

Comments from Brian Lazarus of Opus One Studio
"So I have been playing around with concepts in an attempt to find a
simple solution to our display. Here is what I have come up with so far.

The real time has gone from instant to updated to average out the use
over 10 minutes. I am doing this to eliminate wear on the cheap parts we
are going to end up using in an attempt to meet the budget when they cut
it. Also less movement means easier to build which ultimately they are
going to ask us to do. When they ask use to deliver on our idea I would
like to be able to do what a consultant usually can't (oh you want us to
actually build it)? I am still on the sweeping arms for now although the
extension with the movement is in peril as we speak. The cam means more
moving parts and there are three arms which means three drivers which
means Triple the cost. This is not like a clock that works off a gear
because there is no direct relationship between the movement of the
three outputs. (this is where the light-bulb goes off in our heads,
Excuse the pun). So For now lets just play with three arms. Although I
did draw a dial with 120 dots on the outside of it and two arms within
the circle pointing in opposite directions with the sweepy thick/thin
swoosh still intact. I need from you guys some sort of scale to work
with here. I am not sure how wide the structure is at the mounting
height. This could play in to the design more then we perceive at the
moment. I am assuming we can get to the back of this divice very easily
for service and repair. This means no going up the outside of the
building and pulling it off the front. I would love to be able to go
from the inside for now like a clock considering this is the first one
and it will break it is just a matter of when. The input for now Is a
computer feeding three servos moving a simple pivot conected to an arm
with off the shelf parts from radio shack and the hardware store. I am
not sure the budget will allow us to to to have parts machined for now."

ALTERNATE FLOOR PLANS

2008-04-21T08:33:00.014-04:00

Finally they are here... two alternate floor plans for the pre-fabricated two bedroom building. The skin, mechanical, and structure remain the same with a slight adjustment to the floor plan. Although mechanical remains in the loft it will be divided with a simple wall to provide additional extra storage for users. Both scenarios require the deck and french doors to switch sides which will allow access outside via the living area rather than the bedrooms.

... AND THIS IS HOW WE DO IT, ADOBE ACROBAT CONNECT

2008-03-20T12:28:00.007-04:00

objective

One of the key objectives of this project is the open source collaboration.

tool

Our tool of choice for communicating and discussing the project's issues is Adobe Acrobat Connect. Adobe Acrobat Connect is web conferencing program that allows professionals from multiple companies anywhere in the country to log into a web-based conference via their computer. It requires no software downloads and has a toll free number one can call to join the meeting. We have found it extremely helpful because it allows all participants to view the same thing at the same time. Not only do we know we are looking an d talking about the same details we can mark up the screen, circling and highlighting specific details of the image showing exactly what we are describing over the phone. We even have the ability to pass control of the screen amo ng the participants allowing multiple people to edit and draw on the image or d ocument we are discussing.

issue

The latest issue at hand was trying to fit the requested 50mm duo-guard panel into Thermotech's windows. What appeared to be a seemingly simple solution was far from that because of the multiple parties involved and complexity of detailing. There were too many specific details needed from each company that if x changed at Duo-Guard it reverberated throughout all the other parties details. In short, the complexity forced a simultaneous collaboration among the differing companies. After a successful Adobe Acrobat connect between Thermotech’s David Sargent located in Canada, Bensonwood’s Lovell Parson located in New Hampshire, Duo-Guard’s Dave Miller in Michigan and KTA’s Phil Kaplan and Michael Wilcox located in Maine, we were able to resolve the latest issue of fitting the Nano-Gel pieces into the window’s glazing clip. It took ex ploring a few options and some back-and-forth between each company to finally get us to an overall duo-guard panel size of 46mm, which fits if Thermotech uses a custom “screw-in” clip.

solution details

Screen shot above of actual meeting discussing the connection and fitting issues on Adobe Acrobat Connect. There will be the following: structural tape laminating the pieces accounting for 1mm, (1) 25 mm piece w/ nano-gel, (1) 8 mm piece w/ nano-gel, (2) 6 mm pieces clear w.o./nano-gel that will sandwich the nano-gel filled pieces t ogether hiding the necessary seam down the center of the 25 mm & 8 mm piece that has to happen because their overall length of 123” will not fit in the machine that fills the Duo-Guard panels with the nano-gel. The R-va lues of each panel are as follows: 25mm w/nano-gel = R-Value 6.25, 8 mm w/nano-gel R-Value 2.56, (2) 6mm R-Value 1.70… TOTAL R-Value approx. = 12. This should not delay the process significantly. Although, it will take a little more time to get the Duo-Guard panels to Thermotech there is an option to expedite. If the panels are shipped individually and Thermotech laminates the panels together at their factory with the structural tape supplied by Duo-Guard it will save a considerable amount of time. We are waiting for Thermotech to confirm ownership of this step and Duo-Guard to cut, fill, and ship the remaining panels. As of now that is where we stand in the project

Time to Tell the World!

2008-03-11T08:35:00.004-04:00

With site delievery drawing near, we have been talking about ways to get the word out about this exciting project and along with our client, have decided to bring on a PR firm to help us reach out to media and other promotional outlets. After meeting with several well qualified firms, we knew we had found the right fit with the folks at Dwell Creative (www.dwellcreative.com) - a PR and Advertising firm based here in Portland with a focus on promoting socially and environmentally responsible businesses/products/ideas. Their clients are from around the country and the world, and we think it is very cool to now be one of them.

Our PR effort will be multi-pronged, pitching to local media as well as national, and to web based media as well as better known print publications. We are also just as interested in getting the word out to the mainstream press and readership, as we are in targeted industry publications - as Keith would say, the goal of this project is to create ripples - to let others learn from our successes and ..... less than successes, so that ultimately we can all get closert to changing the way we build and tackle the creation of a sustainable future.

We are also looking forward to several special events once the barn begins to go up: barn raising; ribbon cutting; first time the mood ring lights go on - all great opportunities to get folks out to see the project. Perhaps Keith will begin an annual open house day when the public is invited to come for educational tours about this house and the technologies it demonstrates. Sky's the limit!

Duo-Guard Obstacle

2008-03-06T11:22:00.000-05:00

Duo-Guard panels too large to be filled with Nano-Gel insulation product raises a new obstacle. Unfortunately Duo-Guard was unaware of the size limitations on filling their panels with Nano-Gel. They send their panels to Cabot who fills them with the Nano-Gel and they can only fill panels up to 109" and our panels are 123". In order not to delay the project any further our only option is to have them divided. Whether we divide down the middle or off to the center is to be determined (see images). In any event the unit will remain one with a single vertical mullion and won't affect the wall framing or pan detailing. We don't prefer splitting the panels but we are not left with many choices. Although, the options our limited we may have one other opportunity to be further explored. Attached are the images showing what our options would look like.

BBB Delivery Timeline

2008-02-21T10:35:00.002-05:00

As of now the Bright Built Barn project is grappling with delivery dates and a tight time frame. The latest news is that the Duo-Guard delivery did not and will not happen as originally scheduled for delivery; which was the first or second week of February. Thus, this has delayed the window and building delivery dates from Thermotech and Bensonwood. Not to mention the other complications. In short, Bright Built Barn won’t be delivered until middle of April.

To break it down from the beginning of the year. KTA and Bensonwood worked back and forth to finalize designs, it was a great effort and collaboration between the two teams. At the same time Thermotech, Bensonwood, and KTA were back and forth on finalizing window sizes. After a lot of communication and order changes a window contract was finalized late January. Unfortunately Thermotech just submitted a change of order early last week to Duo-Guard which in turn has caused a delay to the delivery of the Nano-Gel polycarbonate sheets. And as it usually operates, any company that works on scheduling and forecasting delivery dates of a product has a lead time to an order. As of last week Duo-Guard was operating on a 6-8 week delivery time. However, a phone call from Phil to Dave Miller, President of Duo-Guard, saved the date… as best as it could. Dave Miller expressed a sincere interest in the project and has assured us he will expedite the delivery of the Nano-Gel. So we can expect a delivery date at the latest by Mar. 17th or possibly sooner, Mar. 10th. Thermotech is in construction progress, with the glass arriving this week and the frames soon to be painted we can expect them to finish their part when the Nano-Gel arrives. Once it reaches Thermotech’s shop in Ottawa we are looking at another 2 to 3 weeks at the most for Thermotech to install D.G. and ship the finished windows to Bensonwood. From what I know of BWC, they will remain flexible to insert the construction process into their schedule as soon as they have the windows. If all goes accordingly we are forecasting a project delivery sometime between early to mid April. Although, we are pushing the date closer to warmer weather we are keeping our fingers crossed that we won’t get pushed back any further. We are trying to avoid the mud season which potentially could raise a whole new set of issues, such as driveway work and snow removal.

This is where we stand as of now. To date this has been a great collaboration on all teams involved. Bright Built is truly on a “forward” approach to evolving the discourse between research and application. Much patience and interest on all invested in the project has kept it moving ahead and breaching the seam that divides all parties. Keep on Keeping on.

Updated Drawings

2008-01-21T14:49:00.003-05:00

Site Meeting 1/10/2008

2008-01-11T11:13:00.001-05:00

Team members gathered at the site (which is largely mush thanks to our early spring thaw).

Present were: Phil Kaplan, Michael Wilcox (Kaplan Thompson Architects), Alan Gibson (Gibson Design/Build), Ann Kearsley (Ann Kearsley Landscape Architecture) and Lovell Parsons (Bensonwood).

Discussion on site focused largely on the logistics of getting the modular components of the building on to the site with mininal site disruption. The walls, roof, and floor will arrive in pieces on one 40' truck coming from Bensonwood. How will truck access the site? Where will the crane be situated? Where will panels be stored when they come off the trucks?

LEED certification

2008-01-07T08:37:00.000-05:00

This project is striving to accomplish the highest level of LEED certification, LEED Platinum.

LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a building rating system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council that serves as a benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings. LEED aims not only to offer the opportunity for building certification but also to encourage green building and development through as a standard rather than a special practice. It aims to achieve marketplace transformation to greener building materials by providing incentives to use those products.

LEED rating systems exist for a range of project and building types from new construction to existing buildings to homes and schools. A project can achieve different levels of certification ranging from Platinum, the highest, to simply certified meaning it has met the baseline requirements.

Projects must meet certain requirements and can then strive for different combinations of points in the following categories:

Innovation and Design
Location and Linkages
Sustainable Sites
Water Efficiency
Energy and Atmosphere
Materials and Resources
Indoor Environmental Quality
Awareness and Education

The BrightBuiltBarn is on track to achieve a Platinum rating. Our points draw heavily on all categories; here are a few examples of the ways we are achieveing LEED points:
-By being a net zero house, or producing as much or more energy each year than the building uses (Energy and Atmosphere)
-By primarily using materials that have at least 25% receycled content, come from within 500 miles of the building site and/or have low or no VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds)
-By reducing waste in the fabrication process at Bensonwood and in on-site construction and by diverting a high proportion of waste that is generated to recylcing resources (Material Resources)
-By using Energy Star appliances and low flow bath fixtures (Energy and Atmosphere, Water Efficiency)
-By keeping site disturbances to a minimum, using native, drought tolerant plants and shading as much of any hardscapes as possible (Sustainable Sites)

and much much more.

New Tools, New Techniques for a New Architecture

2007-12-29T15:47:00.000-05:00

The current issue of Technology Review has a photoessay titled "The Building, Digitally Remastered", which I highly recommend. The URL of the online version is:

http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/19869/page1/

Several examples of recently-constructed buildings are shown, all of them designed with the latest 3-D modeling software, which is beginning to revolutionize the way buildings are designed and built. The first image here is the Hearst Building, in New York City, which uses a design based on interlocking triangles to reduce the amount of steel needed for construction by over 20%.

New computer technology is allowing architects to explore radically redesigned structures, with curves and and angles rather than the traditional rectilinear form. The same technology enables the designer to make more efficient use of materials, cutting costs of construction, and to produce structures that are more efficient to run, cutting ongoing costs and minimizing the carbon footprint.

What does this have to do with BrightBuilt Barn?

Well, it turns out that the Barn was also designed with (simpler and much less expensive) computer design tools, and will be constructed offsite using computer-driven wood-shaping tools. Similar to the larger projects pictured in the article, computer technology helps us minimize waste in construction, forecast energy flows stemming from various design options, and in general create a much more well-thought-out structure that comes closer to meeting our various ambitious goals than would be possible with traditional manual techniques.

The second image is of 30 St. Mary Axe in London, which uses interlocking triangles, similar to the Hearst Building above, to very different effect. The curved shape reduces wind loads, and creates air pressure differentials that allow for natural air circulation to cool the building. Because of this, and other innovative energy-saving measures designed into the structure, the annual energy use of this building is approximately half that of a conventional structure of this size.

The inexorable march of computer technology, in which hardware doubles in capability approximately every two years, will soon make the power of yesterday's supercomputer available to all architects everywhere. This will enable a new breed of designers and builders to make buildings that are smarter, more efficient, more earth-friendly, and which incorporate a variety of beautiful new forms not seen before in inhabited structures.

Our final image is of the Chesa Futura in St. Moritz, Switzerland, a futuristic ski chalet which was built using many of the same automated wood-shaping technologies as are being employed in the construction of BrightBuilt Barn.

For more architectural eye candy, and a glimpse of the future of building design and construction, follow the link above to the source article in this month's Technology Review.

The 200-Year House: Adaptability

2007-12-22T18:39:00.000-05:00

Part of sustainability is building to last.

A significant part of the energy expended in the lifecycle of a building comes from the process of its construction. The longer the building remains functional, the longer the time over which that initial energy expenditure is amortized.

The goal is for BrightBuilt Barn to last for 200 years. In times past, this would not have been a particularly ambitious goal. Europe has any number of structures that are 200, 500, even a thousand years old. Here in the New World, such longevity is less abundant, but even here in Maine we have several 200+ year-old farmhouses within a short drive of the BrightBuilt barn site.

Nowadays, the average lifespan of new-built structures is measured in decades, not centuries. Many of our newest developer-built residences are not designed or built for much more, there being little economic incentive for the developer to create structures that outlast his working lifetime, or those of the original purchasers. In other cases, changing tastes cause perfectly functional structures to be demolished - if the rooms are too small, or the systems too antiquated, new owners may choose to tear down the old structure rather than remodel.

As noted previously, long-lived buildings must be durable, beautiful and adaptable. Here I want to explain some of the adaptability that is "designed in" to BrightBuilt Barn.

First, even though the structure's original purpose will be to serve as a workshop/home office/artist's studio, it has all the systems necessary for a (rather small) two-bedroom house, including a kitchen and full bath. In part, this is because LEED has no certification standards for artist studios, so we were forced to meet the standards for LEED Home if we wanted certification. But inspired engineering makes a virtue of necessity. By including all the elements required for a two-bedroom house, the BrightBuilt Barn becomes much more adaptable.

This adaptability will primarily serve future generations. Yet even we, the original owners, will benefit from it. Currently my wife and I are in a late middle age/early senior stage of life. Our children are grown and married, and we have four grandchildren, aged 4 and under. For now, as empty nesters and grandparents of toddlers, the workshop/studio option suits our needs perfectly. As the grandchildren grow, the structure could serve as a guesthouse/children's cottage. As we age, it might be employed as a caretaker's cottage. And ultimately, as we age further and become unable to negotiate the stairs in our multi-level main house, we may move into the Barn, where all the systems are on one floor.

We think of the BrightBuilt Barn as an organic, living sytem, that sustains itself and us by continuously adapting to our ever-changing needs. It is designed to keep on adapting for generations to come.

Foundation going in - Images from Alan Gibson

2007-12-21T12:27:00.000-05:00

Driveway/Entry to site (barn is going ahead on left)Getting started
Walls being poured into formwork

Completed foundation walls

2007-12-20T12:33:00.000-05:00

As the holidays approach, the teams at both Kaplan Thompson and Bensonwood are crunching on final drawings.

Michael Wilcox (above) at Kaplan Thompson Architects and Chris Carbonne (below) at Bensonwood work on drawings for the BrightBuilt Barn.

Purposes of the Project

2007-12-04T09:08:00.000-05:00

I have the honor of being the client on this project, which mostly means that I had the original idea, although the project has by now far surpassed my original conception. I had the good fortune to fall in with an outstanding team of professionals, and the product now is far more theirs than mine. Mainly, I consider my function to be somewhat like the grain of sand, unremarkable in itself, which serves as the stimulus that rouses the oyster to make a beautiful pearl.

Since this blog is conceived as a record of the project, I thought it might be useful to give an overview of the goals. After much discussion among the team members, we have settled on the folowing:

1. Utility - it needs to serve the intended initial function, which in this case is as a workshop/studio/home office for my wife, an artist, and me. Although this point may seem obvious, having this as an explicit goal keeps us from creating a structure that is more of a science project than a useful building.

2. Sustainability - we wanted to create a structure that would contribute to a more sustainable future for the planet. This meant first, trying to reduce the carbon footprint of the structure throughout its lifecycle, from initial build through ongoing operation. We in fact have set a goal of net zero carbon emission. It also means accepting that buildings ought to have longer lifespans than the people that build them, to better amortize their embodied energy, which turns out to mean that they must be beautiful, durable, and adaptable. Beauty is a surprisingly important characterisitic, but history shows that unloved buildings are torn down early, thus wasting much of the energy it took to build them. Durability is a self-evident requirement for a long-lived building. And adaptability is important, because times change, owners change, the local environment (both built and natural) changes, so only the adaptable building will stay built. Our goal for the BrightBuilt Barn is that its core structure will continue to exist in a functional building 200 years from now, however modified from its original form by succeeding generations.

3. Replicability - our goal is to make a building that is generative - that is, one that points the way to the design and construction of structures that embody the same or similar ideas. In this context, replicability does not mean the ability to push out exact copies ( in our view, a somewhat outdated 20th-century notion of mass production), but the ability to inspire other buildings based on the same ideas, and informed by the technical solutions we have devised or employed. This vision of replicability in some ways sees the building as a meme as well as an artifact. How does a building make another building? By inspiring other people to build.

4. Affordability - we usually combine this goal with replicability, since overly costly buildings will rarely get built. Yet in practice, we spend a lot of time considering the cost implications of our solutions, so that it does not become a one-off vanity project, but one that has real-world implications.

5. Disentanglement - by this we mean the separation of structures and functions in a way that allows modification of one element without affecting others. Currently, a building is usually framed in, then the electrician strings wires wherever convenient to his/her purpose, the plumber runs pipe in the same manner, and the whole tangled mess is then walled over. Years later, if you want to move a light switch or add a bathroom, a great deal of demolition and/or trial and error is required. Since an important part of sustainability is adaptability, we believe that the sustainable house has all systems neatly separated into chases, raceways, conduits, etc., to better serve the needs of the next owner. This belief has caused us to reject some otherwise attractive solutions, such as radiant heating embedded in a concrete slab. Although a technically elegant solution to a number of issues, this type of heat inextricably entangles the flooring and the heating systems in a way that makes future modification much more difficult.

6. Education - if we take seriously our concept of building-as-meme, then our goal of replicability requires that we make public what we have done, and why, for inspection and critique by all who are interested in the same problems we have tried to address. This blog, and the larger website in which it is embedded, are one attempt to get the word out on our failures as well as our successes, in the hope that others will find them instructive.

2007-12-03T16:24:00.001-05:00

Hot images

2007-12-01T11:46:00.000-05:00

Check out these great images from Michael Wilcox in our office.

Construction Begins!

2007-11-20T12:28:00.000-05:00

Digging for the foundation began last Friday (November 16) and it was cold and very very wet. Alan Gibson, our site builder, along with the excavation crew dug in the mud to prepare the footings.

Wednesday November 14, 2007

2007-11-14T15:32:00.001-05:00

The blog is up! With a wiki site and a basecamp to our credit, and produdction mere months away, our blog is now up and running and ready to tell the world about the project we are undertaking here in Maine.

Here's what has been happening lately:

Tedd Benson spoke at the Maine USGBC monthly breakfast program, Green Eggs, and gave an interesting presentation titled A Higher Standard of Design and Construction through Open Building and Element Prefabrication. The talk was well attended and well received and Tedd spent some time before and after meeting with us here at the office to discuss progress on the BrightBuilt Barn.

On the production front, folks at Bensonwood and here at KTA are working away at final drawings. The building will go into production at the Bensonwood shop by January, if not sooner and be delivered to the site in February for assembly in March. Phil, Alan and Mary Collins met on site yesterday to stake the site and talk about some details.

In short, the project now has a life of its own and is moving forward!

Staking the Site

2007-11-13T16:20:00.000-05:00

In early November, Phil Kaplan (Architect), Ann Kearsley (Landscape Architect), and Keith and Mary (clients) spent a morning staking the site to determine the final location of the building.(photographs courtesy of Ann Kearsley Design)

Process: The Charette

2007-11-02T11:45:00.000-04:00

On March 9, 2007, Kaplan Thompson Architects facilitated a charette in Portland to bring all key players in the project together to begin to talk about ideas and issues.

(A charette is an i ntense collaboration where stakeholders in a given project come together for a brief period of time to flush out ideas and decisions about a project that may otherwise take a great deal of time to work through. They can be anywhere from a few hours to a few days and are typically tightly run to work through a maximum amount of information in a minumum amount of time.)

Representatives from each of the primary team members attended and in a day, the group hashed out some of the major goals and decisions that would have to be made to move the project forward. Some sample topics of discussion were:

Outbuiling typologies - why the barn, and what does it connote?
The relationship of the barn to the exisitng house - physically, and can the barn serve as an "outboard" motor for the main house
Foundation systems for a disentangled house - prefab framed floor system versus slab on grade
How to achieve net zero status and what we can learn from Passivhaus?
How can this building draw on the vernacular yet be replicable for other climates?

The Facts - Site, Program, Team

2007-11-01T11:19:00.001-04:00

Site
The project site is a 50 acre parcel of south gacing land in Rockport which is in mid-coast Maine. There is an existing house on the site occupied by the client and his wife. The land is largely wooded but the area around the house is cleared - hilly and full of ledge.

Program
The barn is to house a painting studio for her and a shop and office for him. In addition, a small kitchenette and bathroom are included.

Team
Kaplan Thompson Architects - Portland, ME
www.kaplanthompson.com
Kaplan Thompson Architects is the primary architect of the project, responsible for the overall design of the project and for facilitating the collaborative nature of the project.

Key participants:
Phil Kaplan - Principal
Jesse Thompson - Principal
Robin Tannenbaum - Architectural Designer
Michael Wilcox - Architectural Designer

Bensonwood Woodworking - Walpole, NH
www.bensonwood.com
Bensonwood Woodworking is producing the major components of the building at their facility in New Hampshire. Best known as a timber framing company that specializes in energy efficient buildings and high quality construction, Bensonwood is applying their efficient means of panelized production to the BrightBuilt Barn. The entire building will be produced in sections in NH and trucked to the site where it will be assembled.

Key Participants:
Tedd Benson - Founder and visionary
Lovell Parsons - Project Manager
Chris Carbonne - Project Engineer

Gibson Design/Build - Rockport, ME
Alan Gibson of Gibson Design/Build is the on-site builder for the project. Alan has many years of experience as an energy efficient builder in mid-coast Maine.

Petersen Engineering - Portsmouth, NH
www.petersenengineering.com

Energy Works - Liberty, ME and Portland, ME
www.energyworksllc.com

Fore Solutions - Portland, ME
www.fore-soultions.com

Ann Kearsely Design - Landscape Architecture and Urban Design
www.annkearsely.com

So What Is the BrightBuilt Barn?

2007-10-30T10:51:00.000-04:00

The BrightBuilt Barn is a collaboration between Kaplan Thompson Architects, Bensonwood Woodworking Company and many of the finest minds in sustainable design and construction in the northeast who have come together at the invitation of a visionary client who strives for the following goals:

1. To design and produce a building that will serve as a studio for the client and his wife which is sustainable, affordable, replicable, educational and beautiful.

2. To bridge the seam between the building and its context, specifically its impact on the environment by employing passive and active building systems to attain zero net energy status.

3. To create integrated building systems for which it is necessary to connect the seam that currently divides the architect and subcontractors.

4. To bridge the seam between the employment of sustainable design and evaluation of the systems through an analog and digital monitoring system.

5. To thoroughly document the research, design, construction and use of the building through the internet and other means of wide reaching publicity so that this project will become a green building resource, closing the gap between research and application.

6. To create a network of creatively and technically skilled individuals within the northeast who can work together on future projects to achieve similar goals.

"At this point in history, what wants to happen?" - - Keith Collins

2007-10-29T10:27:00.000-04:00

This post is from our visionary client, at the inseption of the project:

December 2007
The Maine Solar Barn project is an effort to create an intelligent alternative to conventional building design and construction.

We aim to create a functional, beautiful, economically feasible structure that incorporates the latest thinking in sustainable, ecologically sensitive architecture and home building.

To this end, we have dedicated ourselves to the highest standards in sustainability in the entire process of designing, building, and inhabiting this structure. We will look widely for guidance and inspiration, from standards-setting bodies (such as the United States Green Building Council and their LEED certification process, as an example), practitioners in the field (such as Tedd Benson of Bensonwood), leading architects, and academics and other thinkers. We expect the structure to have a zero (or better) net carbon balance, and to be a net energy producer over its lifetime.

In part, we want this project to be an answer to the question of what one small group of people can do to help save the planet from catastrophic climate change due to emissions of greenhouse gases.

For more of the initial thinking and insiration that was part of the beginning of this project go to: http://www.mainesolarbarn.blogspot.com/