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Sustainable Construction and Design is suitable for courses in Sustainable Construction; undergraduate or graduate courses that focus on LEED-AP training; and for any individual who is studying for the LEED-NC Accredited Professional Exam.
Whether you are studying to take the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) LEED Accredited Professional (AP) Exam or you are a student in a construction-related program, this book is for you! Thorough and complete coverage explains the "how" and the "why" of sustainable construction so you can be better prepared for the LEED AP Exam and life in the field.
Sustainable Construction and Design provides a solid foundation in the underlying conceptual framework of sustainable construction. Part One focuses on the foundations of sustainability, including the origins of sustainable design, the ecological structure of matter and the physical laws that govern it.
Part Two provides a sustainable construction roadmap and how the concepts can be applied in the real world. It addresses the LEED prerequisites and credits and follows a commercial construction project through the certification process.
Sustainable Construction and Design also expands sustainable concepts beyond the LEED Credit Template and ideas into the residential arena as it reviews the process of a collaborative project that students created with Habitat for Humanity. It explains in depth about the qualities and conditions needed to create a successful design charrette, as it is the critical vehicle that brings both collaboration and whole-systems thinking into the process. The DVD that is included with the textbook assists in creating the loose structure of a design charrette.
Features:
- Part One focuses on the origins of sustainable design, the ecological structure of matter and the physical laws that govern it.
- Part Two gives a sustainable construction roadmap and how concepts can be applied in the real world.
- Addresses the LEED prerequisites and credits and follows a commercial construction project through the certification process.
- Expands sustainable concepts and ideas into the residential arena.
- Includes a DVD about how to create a successful design charrette, and shows the process of a sustainable residential project.
- Prepares you for the USGBC LEED AP Exam.
- Explains how matter is structured and the physical laws that govern it, so that students can understand why sustainable construction is imperative at this time.
- Provides comprehensive coverage of the qualities and conditions needed to create a successful design charrette. (Design charrettes are critical in sustainable design because it is the vehicle that brings both collaboration and whole-systems thinking into the process.)
- DVD included with the textbook helps create the loose structure of a design charrette.
- Students will follow one commercial building all the way through the process of LEED certification, giving them the understanding they need to sit for the exam.
- The Habitat for Humanity collaborative project helps instructors and students create a collaborative project together with a community organization. It also assists students in thinking about and understanding the different issues in sustainable residential construction.
From the Preface
The purpose of this book is to help the reader make the mental connections that are necessary to understand why building sustainably is an important thing to do. This understanding involves both the esoteric - the mental concepts of the world that we hold - and the practical - a different way of doing things in the practice of construction. Practical and esoteric information are not typically paired inside of the same book binding. Yet these two competencies of knowledge and action are completely interrelated, and a great disservice is committed by us when they are presented as if they are separate. Doing that creates an artificial presentation of the world, causing all manner of problems, one of which is exhibited in the way that we design and construct the built environment.
This book is for students in Construction degree programs, for those studying to take the United States Green Building Council's (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Accredited Professional (AP) Exam, and for those who would like a better understanding of how to live a more sustainable life as conscious stewards of this Earth. Construction students are encountering more and more employers who enquire whether the students hold the LEED AP designation before they are considered for employment. Within a few years, the USGBC's LEED criteria have become the leading green building program in the United States, and is one that is being used all over the world as well. Its purpose is to identify many of the most important aspects of the construction process related to sustainable design and construction.
Through the experience of reading this material, my hope is that you will expand your ability to think about your own relationship with the Earth - what it is now, and what you would like it to become. Sustainable construction requires that we think about and conceptualize the world very differently than is our current practice. It also requires that those of us who are in the field of construction have a deeper knowledge of both the structure of matter (Physics) and the way that individual constructions of matter work together to create systems that support life (Ecology). This book explains the principles and methods of green building that emerge naturally when we employ biomimicry by consciously mimicking the processes of nature as we design and construct our habitats and buildings. You will read about examples of this way of building that already exist in the world, and will find clear and explicit how-to direction in sustainable construction.
Respectfully Submitted,
M. Regina Leffers, Ph.D.
From the Introduction
We are currently faced with global resource and ecological problems here on Earth. Actions that are taken "here," regardless of where "here" is, affect everywhere else too. It is intuitively obvious that air is not stationary - it is in constant motion, moving from one location to another all the time. The fouled air in one area gets inhaled by the inhabitants of its new location as it passes through. China's construction rate at present is so high that its people have to construct one coal plant per week in order to supply enough electricity to provide the new buildings with energy. In April 2006, a satellite spotted "a dense cloud of pollutants" that moved from Northern China, crossed the Pacific Ocean, and reached the west coast of California, Oregon, and Washington. Researchers in these American coastal states found "specs of sulfur compounds, carbon and other byproducts of coal combustion coating the silvery surfaces of their mountaintop detectors." These are the kinds of particles that when inhaled contribute to lung cancer. Buildings, commercial, industrial, or residential, no matter where they are constructed, consume more energy from fossil fuels and material resources than any other area of consumption; hence, buildings are also the cause of a great deal of pollution.
The rainforests have been called the lungs of the planet, because they inhale such large amounts of carbon dioxide and exhale such vast quantities of oxygen. Another current example of a global problem is that those rainforests, our planetary lungs, are being cut down at an astounding rate. In the United States, we have created a way of living to which the people of many other nations aspire. But it would take more than the resources of our single planet Earth to provide enough energy to support and sustain the way in which we currently live if everyone were to live as we do. And other countries are rapidly acquiring the ability to do just that. Type the words "carbon footprint calculator" (or "ecological footprint calculator") into a web browser and answer the questions on the quiz to find out how many planets it would take to provide enough resources to support and sustain your current lifestyle, if everyone on the planet lived as you live. You can gain insight from the website as well about actions that you can take to reduce your own footprint. We must take individual actions now to reduce our footprint if we expect the world to be inhabitable for our children and grandchildren.
A conceptual paradigm shift is necessary at this time. If we hold the concept that the resources of the Earth are ours to do with as we please, and that we are wholly unconnected to them, then we use resources and discard them without any thought to the long-term consequences. Imagine the change that would take place if we held the concept that we are not only the stewards of the Earth's resources for present and future generations, but are also intimately connected to them, and that the choices we make about them can make the difference between destroying and benefiting the Earth for all of its present and future inhabitants.
Part I is about the origins of sustainable design, the ecological structure of matter, and the physical laws that govern it. Chapters 1 and 2 address the artificially separate way of conceptualizing the world that is prevalent, explores its origins in our culture, and presents some alternative ways of envisioning the world more holistically. These first chapters are heaviest on both the esoteric and physics side of the scale, but the material lays the foundation for the remainder of the book. So even though you're not used to encountering this kind of material in construction books, persist in working your way through them. In Chapters 3 and 4, we examine the difference in design if we approach that work from the perspective that everything is connected. What would the difference be? Biomimicry makes sense - but only if we place no artificial endpoint on our project design. We find that we must look at the future of our design work as well as the present. Chapter 5 takes a look at how we work together on projects if we keep in mind this actual fact of the material interconnection that exists, and proposes that collaboration is an adept outward expression of this reality.
Part II gives a sustainable construction roadmap. It views the construction process itself through this same lens of interconnectedness and gives some practical rules to follow to attain the goal of building sustainably in both commercial and residential applications. In order to gain an understanding of LEED NC, we will follow a commercial project, scheduled to achieve LEED NC Gold certification, Sweetwater Sound, through its LEED credits and submittals. Chapter 6 looks at site and natural energy mapping and LEED Sustainable Sites credits. Chapter 7 examines water resources and explains the LEED Water Efficiency credits. In Chapter 8, we look at ways to orient structures on the site and methods of capturing natural energy, and we also look at renewable energy and storage methods and heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems. We also review the LEED energy and atmosphere credits. Chapter 9 covers materials and resources and explains the LEED MR credits. In Chapter 10, we look at indoor quality - air, light, and views - and explain LEED indoor environmental quality credits. Chapter 11 uses the credits that Sweetwater Sound applied for in the category of innovation and design to help explain the LEED innovation and design credits. In Chapter 12, we examine a current sustainable residential project, designed and built for Habitat for Humanity. Chapter 13 offers a helpful tool for thinking through the concepts involved in sustainable construction projects - a template that can be used until the process itself becomes second nature to you.
About the Author
Regina Leffers PhD is director of the Center of Excellence for the Built Environment and professor of Construction Engineering Technology at Indiana University Purdue University, Fort Wayne. She is also chairman of the Board and founder of Synergid Commercial, Inc., a general contractor specializing in sustainable construction.
Table of Contents
Preface. Introduction. Acknowledgments. Part I: The Foundations of Sustainability. Chapter 1: The Structure of Matter and the Material World. Chapter 2: Nature's Conscious Representatives. Chapter 3: Generative vs. Degenerative Design. Chapter 4: Whole Systems Thinking. Chapter 5: Collaboration as Sustainability in Action. Part II: Sustainable Construction Roadmap. Chapter 6: Site and Natural Energy Mapping. Chapter 7: Water Resources and Sustainable Landscaping. Chapter 8: Building Orientation, Renewable Energy and Storage, and HVAC Systems. Chapter 9: Materials and Resources. Chapter 10: Indoor Quality - Air, Light, and Views. Chapter 11: Innovation and Design. Chapter 12: Sustainable Construction: A Collaborative Project. Chapter 13: Sustainable Construction Template. Index. |
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