The amazing ancient modern building material that improves the environment every time it is used

Architect Stephen Colley, coordinator for San Antonio Sustainable Living spoke at the 2010 TEDx San Antonio.  In his talk he introduces the audience to adobe and compressed earth block.  He explains how the words adobe and shack connect the material to its historic roots.

He shows how adobe and compressed earth block allows for deeply green, environmentally and physically friendly building. He explains the phase change that makes adobe homes cooler in the summer and introduces the so called "Mexican green roof" which insulates, protects and cools.

Dan Phillips' TEDx Houston talk gives insight into Texas's recycled material builder

Here's a link to our previous post "Dan Phillips, Huntsville recycled building material artisan and home building benefactor"

Want to feel good about San Antonio progress on sustainable issues? Michael Burke of the San Antonio Clean Tech Forum offers up these encouraging points to consider.

Michael Burke of the San Antonio Clean Tech Forum recently offered this list of interesting signs of sustainability in San Antonio. His list is upbeat, positive and comprehensive.   He gave his kind permission to republish his message here.  He entitled his email "San Antonio, We are not in Kansas anymore".   Be sure to click on the links to learn more about the companies, institutions and products mentioned.  They will amaze.

"San Antonio, We are not in Kansas anymore"

In recent travels to Austin and Houston, I heard numerous comments along the lines, “Wow, I understand San Antonio is on a roll and building significant momentum in the area of Clean Tech and Sustainability.”  So I have decided to prepare a summary list to explain just why they would say that. Here is version one, with much more to come in future weeks.


TWO INCREDIBLY NEW INITIATIVES THAT HAVE HUGE IMPLICATIONS

·The establishment of the UTSA- Texas Sustainable Energy Research Institute headed by Les Shephard of the Sandia National Labs is huge. And now with the announcement of $50 million of funding from CPS Energy we are positioned as a potential national leader in clean technology research.

·The decision of Mir Imran (Thomas Edison II and CEO of InCube Ventures) to establish a major presence in our community backed by a new San Antonio $100 million venture fund is also huge. Yes, most of the work will focus on bio-med and medical products, but Mir also has a very strong interest in Clean Technology.


 A PUBLIC POWER UTILITY THAT STANDS TALL in the NATION

·Hiring Doyle Beneby, a highly qualified CEO at CPS Energy to lead a major transformation of our public power utility sets the stage for continued progressive leadership for our community.  And we have one of the few public power utilities in the nation with a Chief Sustainability Officer – Cris Eugster.


·Wind Power - Electricity generated from the West Texas plains and Texas coastal wind farms makes CPS Energy the largest publicly owned purchaser of wind power in the country. – 710 Megawatts


·Solar – In April 2010,  CPS Energy announced the development of the largest solar pv farm in Texas – The Blue Wing Solar Project. A 14 Megawatt installation of Duke Energy and  Juwi Solar Inc.  A few weeks ago they announced an agreement to partner with Sun Edison for 30 megawatts of solar power. The project also offers the possibility of opening a regional office in San Antonio, collaborating with CPS' research partners on solar research and development, and opening an education center at one of the installations.

·CPS Energy’s STEP program will provide $850 million in funding for energy efficiency projects over the next ten years.


·CPS Energy recently launched one of the first solar feed-in tariff programs in the nation.


·San Antonio enjoys the lowest cost of electric power of the 20 largest cities in the nation


A PUBLIC WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM that also Stands Tall in the Nation

·The San Antonio Water System has been recognized for developing one of the most effective water conservation initiatives in the nation.

·SAWS has constructed the nation’s largest direct recycled water system which to date has reused almost 12 billion gallons of “waste water.”

·Earlier this year, SAWS was recognized with a 2010 Ethics in Business Award presented by The Ecumenical Center for Religion and Health and the UTSA College of Business.

·SAWS is the first large wastewater utility to partner with a private sector company, Ameresco, to actively sell biogas (produced from sewage) in the United States. SAWS ratepayers will receive a royalty on the sale of the gas, estimated at $200,000 a year.


IMPRESSIVE PUBLIC, PRIVATE REGIONAL INITIATIVES

·Mission Verde Center at Cooper Middle School, in the heart of San Antonio, is a revolutionary model to achieve national sustainability goals through Economic Stimulus and green jobs creation; Training/Education and workforce development and sustainability education; and Demonstration/ Validation of energy and water insertion.

·The process of the San Antonio partnership with the Texas A&M university system , UT Austin, UTSA, and SWRI in response to a federal grant of $130 million to demonstrate energy efficiency advancements in homes set the stage for future beneficial collaborations.  We may not win the grant, but the process has been very productive and positive.


INITIATIVES to ADVANCE the SA GREEN ECONOMY

Mayor Julian Castro’s Green Jobs Leadership Council, chaired by Larry Zinn, has transitioned into the Mission Verde Foundation initiative. This future non-profit will focus on developing a green economy in San Antonio.


IMPRESSIVE ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPANIES

We will feature many in the future, but for now San Antonio’s Cinco Solar stands out. They have constructed the two largest solar hot water installations in the nation: at the Army Residence Community (ARC) in San Antonio and at the Bexar County jail.


K-12 EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS

·James Madison High School Agriscience Magnet offering has long been a model for urban agricultural education and is one of the largest and most active agricultural programs in Texas.  But their new $23.5 million facility is over the top.  I doubt that there is a more impressive sustainability
initiative of any high school in Texas, if not the nation.


A YOUNG ENTREPRENEUR WORTH FOLLOWING

·At 21 years old, UTSA alumnus David A. Gonzales II, UTSA graduate 2008, already has a superb resume to offer to prospective employers. The young inventor was awarded ConocoPhillips' first Energy Prize in October for his Layered Mag Wheel,a revolutionary invention with applications in the auto and wind and industry. Established to recognize and foster creative solutions to the U.S. energy crisis, the ConocoPhillips competition was punctuated by a $100,000 grand prize. David has decided to advance his innovations while living in San Antonio.  You will be hearing much from this young man in the future.


OTHERS

·There is so much more to share with you, and I will do so in the near future.

·Great things are going on at USAA, SWRI, HEB, Valero, Port SA, Rackspace,  the Military Joint Base Operations, and many others.

·A number of impressive Clean Tech start-ups have emerged in San Antonio in the past six months.

·The San Antonio Chamber, the Hispanic Chamber, and the North Chamber have all established Sustainability committees this year.

·And we are most fortunate that our media: SA Express News, SA Business Journal, KLRN –PBS, and Texas Public Radio are doing an excellent job of advancing Sustainability issues. 

Arguments and presentations in favor of restoring old windows rather than replacing them

If you live in a designated historic neighborhood that does not allow efficient replacement windows or allows only extremely costly and high maintenance wood frame replacement windows you may want to look at wood window restoration.

Increasingly individual crafts people and companies are appearing that specialize in window restoration.

Fans of historic preservation and the boards that enforce preservation decrees are more and more making the argument that window restoration is less costly and better for the planet than window replacement. Though they do not compare the costs of replacing wood framed windows with modern metal, plastic and fiberglass framed windows, repair is certainly less expensive up front than installing a modern wood framed window.

The argument can also be made that the pollution caused by excessive energy consumption due to historic windows is made up for by the aesthetic appeal of such windows.

Below is a collection of embeddable presentations on the subject.

Here is a slide show of a powerpoint from the New England Window Restorers Alliance:

Window Repair - The Green Alternative

See more presentations by oldewindows | Upload your own PowerPoint presentations

The Old House Web has a video "Old Windows are Green".  The presenter notes that with storm windows installed the restored windows will be much more comfortable.  Of course you'd have to check to see if your historic board allows exterior storm windows.



This video from Austin's Red River Restorations touts the higher quality materials in historic windows and suggests that the charm of historic windows make not replacing them a green decision.



Fine Homebuilding Magazine posted their March 11, 2010 illustrated guide "Should Your Old Wood Windows Be Saved?" online. It provides fairly authoritative information and suggestions.

Restoration Works Inc in Chicago makes their case for window restoration being green in this web page.  The arguments they make are generally applicable to any window restorer.

Green Expert Coming to Austin

Carol Venolia, author, columnist, and eco-architect extraordinare will be in Austin next week for three events that are open to the public. Carol's latest book (with co-author Kelly Lerner), "Natural Remodeling for the Not-So-Green House" is a very popular and well regarded book on how to go green without building new. With one speaking event on Thursday, June 17th and two events on Saturday, the 19th, you have plenty of opportunity to hear from one of the leaders and most respected authorities in the green building and remodeling movement. Go to the Design~Build~Live website, the sponsors of these events, for all the detailed information you need regarding topic details, workshop information, times, tickets, and locations.

Compressed Earth Block Workshop

Once every year or two in Central Texas, there’s a premier opportunity to learn all about compressed earthen block (CEB) construction, lime stabilization, and natural finishes. That opportunity returns for three days in May (20-22) here in San Antonio. Jim Hallock and Jeff Rottler from Tierra y Cal, from San Miguel de Allende will offer a very comprehensive class in CEB covering all aspects to consider. If you are thinking green building, building a durable, healthy, high-performance structure doesn’t get any greener than using the earth. Partnering again with Laurence Jetter of Advanced Earthen Construction Technology (AECT), here in San Antonio, Jim and Jeff will be incorporating the best technology in compressed earth blocks available. For more information regarding the agenda and registration details, contact Tierra y Cal directly at their website.

The Green Building Battles : As Eco-friendly Building Takes Off, the Fight Is on to Define What It Means to be Green (By Christine MacDonald)

Here's a link to an interesting story from E Magazine.com.  It mainly concerns the conflict between two competing lumber certification schemes.  One accuses the other of engaging in greenwashing.

The Green Building Battles : As Eco-friendly Building Takes Off, the Fight Is on to Define What It Means to be Green by Christine MacDonald

Christine MacDonald, is also the author of Green, Inc.: An Environmental Insider Reveals How a Good Cause Has Gone Bad .

"Building with Awareness" DVD gives you a taste of building with adobe, strawbale, stained concrete, solar power and rainwater collection

If you'd like an introduction to a number of sustainable building techniques and concepts you might enjoy Ted Owens' instructional documentary "Building with Awareness" (available from Netflix and elsewhere)

Because Ted's home combines a mud plastered, straw bale infill exterior with interior adobe walls.  His documentary gives an introduction to building both.  You'll also learn a bit about a solar power system radiant floor heating and  rainwater catchment. (If you are building near San Antonio though you will likely want to forget about the radiant heating. It just doesn't stay cold enough long enough around here, thank goodness.)

This is a nice introduction for anyone not familiar with natural / green building or the concepts behind it.  The documentary was professionally taped and voiced.  The quality shows.  I kept expecting Bob Villa to show up. (That's meant to be a complement.)

The DVD may be purchased with a companion guidebook.




 

Pliny Fisk designed solar demonstration house relocated to San Antonio's Mission Verde Center

Pliny Fisk of Austin's Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems helped the 2007 Texas A&M Solar Decathlon team with a solar demonstration home called the Aggie GroHome.

After being displayed on the mall in Washington and then at A&M the home was disassembled and moved to San Antonio. It has been reassembled on the grounds of the former Cooper Middle School, at 1700 Tampico Street.

The house features modular construction, so the home can “grow” as the needs or usage change. It has a total of 465 square feet of indoor living space, with dining room, living room, entry, bedroom, patio and garage modules.

The modules are the same size, except for the entry module so they can be arranged differently, up graded, replaced or added to in the future.

The dining, living, entry and bedroom modules are at the center of the house and have windows at the top of high walls for daylighting. The kitchen extension includes a refrigerator, stove, microwave and dishwasher. The house includes space and hook-ups for a washing machine and dryer. The deck which surrounds the house has places for reflecting pools or gardens.

The house features 3 types of solar panels with batteries to store the power, a high efficiency heat pump, an energy recovery ventilator and dehumidifier, light wings for shading windows, slatted rain screens, a solar heated water storage tank and is designed to incorporate three small wind turbines.

A grand opening ceremony for the house (renamed SU CASA in the Mission Verde Center) including tours of the house will be Monday, January 25 at 1 pm at 1700 Tampico Street, San Antonio 78207.

For the project's relation to the South Texas Nuclear project expansion check out the Current's Greg Harmon's posting on the house: Cooper Center bringing green tech, training to West Side  .

Build San Antonio Green workshop: Mission Verde Residential Building Code Changes Workshop, November 16 at 10 am

Compiled from Build San Antonio Green announcements and their website: 

Mission Verde Residential Building Code Changes
Monday November 16,  10 AM to 2 PM
GSABA Auditorium, 3625 Paesanos Pkwy, San Antonio, TX 78231

Many of you are probably interested in the upcoming changes to San Antonio's residential energy codes. To help answer questions you may have, Build San Antonio Green is hosting a comprehensive workshops that will cover a range of important issues related to this topic. These include how the new codes compare to those currently in place, rebates and incentives, and compliance methods.
 
This is one of the most important workshops we have ever held. In January 2010, the residential building codes in San Antonio will be changing. This workshop will present all the information builders need to know about the new codes, including how they compare to the old ones, and the best ways for builders to meet these new requirements. This information is critical, as anyone building a home in San Antonio must adhere to the new codes so this workshop is not to be missed.


This workshop will include speakers from the Greater San Antonio Builders Association, the City of San Antonio, CPS Energy, SAWS, and Build San Antonio Green. If you are interested in getting a detailed look at this important topic, please consider attending. It will be held on Monday, November 16th from 10 AM to 2 PM at the GSABA Auditorium. You may register online or call our office at 224-7278 for more information. We look forward to seeing you there.

The cost of this workshop is $75 and lunch is included.  This price is the same whether or not you are a member of Build San Antonio Green.  You can register for the event on the Build San Antonio Green website.

LED lighting explored in BOING BOING piece by Maggie Koerth-Baker

The website, Boing Boing has a great article "LEDs: Throwing Some Light on the Hype" by Maggie Koerth-Baker who says she has spent quite a bit of time covering the LED lighting business for a trade publication.  She takes a sober and brief look at the state of LED lighting today.

She writes:

The LED industry is kind of in this awkward teenage phase right now, where it's doing the business equivalent of tagging public buildings and sneaking cigarettes out behind the barn. There's a lot of misrepresentation and a lot of flat-out lies, and just because a box says something that doesn't mean you can believe it (more so than boxes of other things).

What she says can apply to a lot of emerging green and natural technology.  You really do have to be careful when listening to a salesperson or reading a product claim.  Some claims are really conditional though they don't sound like it.  Some claims are based on the limited experience or knowledge of the person making the claim. 

Many times a salesman or inventor, who is justifiably proud of his product, has been shocked at our San Antonio Sustainable Living meetings to be asked to address the specific weaknesses and drawbacks of his device or building system.  That kind of tough informed questioning just doesn't happen at the home show. 

It pays to be informed, to investigate claims and to draw your own conclusions.

PVC Duro Last roofing membrane flat roofs maintains 85% or greater reflectivity

The view from the Tower of the Americas reveals a huge number of flat roofs, mostly on commercial buildings. Since San Antonio does get rain, (except for during the Summer of 2009), flat roofs generally involve a lot of maintenance, a lot of tar and a lot of gravel. Being dark they also don't tend to reflect much of the sun's heat.

A completely white flat roof would be an advantage, and that is what is sold locally by Jaco-Roofing, whose slogan is "White=Green".

The Duro Last Cool Zone prefabricated flat roof white vinyl roof membrane system has a retained reflectivity of 85% or more after three years. The membrane consists of PVC resins, plasticizers, stabilizers, biocides, flame retardants and U.V. absorbents. By prefabricating the membrane under ideal factory conditions they are able to decrease field labor costs and increase quality.

Though the membrane is available in several colors. The white version is being promoted to counteract the urban heat island effect.

Green Your Home, Saturday September 12, 2009. 10 am to noon from Build San Antonio Green

Build San Antonio Green presents "Green Your Home", Saturday September 12, 2009 from 10 am to noon at Lion's Field House, 2809 Broadway, San Antonio, 78209.

Topics will include how to improve your home's energy and water efficiency, your indoor air quality. Site preparation and green building materials will also be discussed.

The workshop to address renovations according to the Build San Antonio Green "Green Retrofit" program. This event is geared to the general public and should be of great interest to anyone who is interested in how to fix up their house in a resource efficient manner.

The cost is $25 and includes a copy of the BSAG "Green Retrofit Homeowners Recommendations". A contractor's guide with more detailed information is also available. Call BSAG for information on how to qualify to obtain it.

Please RSVP on line at http://www.buildsagreen.org/gyhreg.html or call Kris Zebrowski at 210.224.7278

Living Buildings: a standard beyond green building from the great Northwest

In San Antonio the city's Mission Verde is seeking to make green building the standard. In September the USGBC Balcones chapter is bringing an expert on PasivHaus construction to speak. Meanwhile natural builders are making headway with compressed earth block construction in the Hill Country. Our own Build San Antonio Green gains recognition for its achievements.

But what about Living Buildings? This concept comes from a USGBC chapter in northwest, the Cascadia Region Green Building Council which includes Oregon, Washington State, British Columbia and Canada in its territory.

The Living Building Challenge is a program launched and operated by the Cascadia Region GBC. It is according to their website the "most advanced green building rating system in the world". It was conceived of and authored by Jason F. McLennan, CEO of Cascadia, prior to joining the organization.

Living buildings are houses and offices designed to function like living organisms, specifically adapted to place and able to treat water on site among other things. Apparently some aspects of living buildings face obstacles in building codes and the reluctance of home buyers.

Members of the International Living Building Institute can learn more about the Living Building Standards at http://ilbi.org/ . Access to information on the site is $150 for non Cascadia members.

USGBC presents Jerry Yudelson on PassivHaus and other European green building concepts

In his just published book, Green Building Trends: Europe, Jerry Yudelson of Tuscon Arizona explores the German Austrian concept of the PassivHaus or Passive House which is designed to use very little outside energy for heating or cooling, relying on the building and activities within the building to heat itself.

He points out that while in the USA the government has worked to make commercial buildings more efficient, in Europe governments have focused on residential construction.

(Both Europe and the USA face the conundrum of how to make existing housing stock sustainable with the challenge greater in Europe due in part to the greater historic value of dwellings.)

His book also addresses green building in the UK, ecotowns, German sustainable building and takes a look at concepts that are well understood in Europe that need to be understood in the USA.

You can read the first chapter of his book in pdf form here.

Mr. Yudelson will be the featured speaker at a US Green Building Council Balcones Chapter lecture and mixer September 2, 2009 at the San Antonio Central Library from 6:15 to 8:45 pm. Tickets range from $27 for early purchase by USGBC members to $47.50 for purchase after August 24 by non members. Tickets are available from eventbrite, “Looking to Europe for a Greener Tomorrow” .

The Passive House Institute US hosts the 4th annual North American Passive House Conference, October 16 to 18 2009 at the University of Urbana-Champaign.

LionForce affordable San Antonio home earns LEED Gold / Level 3 Build SA Green certification

LionForce spoke back in September at our monthly meeting and introduced us to their brand of affordable, green building using their version of STEP (Steel Thermal Efficient Panels) which combined polystyrene insulation with metal studs.

Their home was open and efficient making good use of space and material. In July they learned they had received LEED Gold certification which is extraordinary considering that the home is a modest one.

From LionForce's blog:

Last week, the LionForce ecoLiving home located on Trumbo Road in San Antonio, Texas, was awarded LEED Gold certification by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) for achievement in green homebuilding and design. LEED for Homes is a green home certification system for assuring homes are designed and built to be energy- and resource-efficient and healthy for occupants. LEED certified homes complete a technically rigorous process that includes a home energy (HERS) rating and onsite inspections to verify that the home is built to be energy and water efficient, environmentally sound, and a healthier place to live.

Trumbo Road (T-2) is one of 3 local homes that have been certified using LEED, but the first to achieve Gold certification. The home was built by LionForce Building Systems, which is known for their ecoLiving System that empowers people to design and build LEED-rated homes. Green homes have substantially lower utility bills and may qualify for advantageous financing, lower insurance rates and government incentives. Through their commitment to green homebuilding, LionForce is helping to keep homeownership affordable.

“We use LEED parameters to direct all of our design decisions,” said Greg Edwards, LionForce Vice President of Construction. “We built the T-2 home using our integrated approach, and the LEED Gold Certification validates our belief that a customized, green home can be affordable to the average American.”

“As a LEED certified home, The LionForce ecoLiving home on Trumbo Road serves as a model of greener living for the entire community,” said Nate Kredich, Vice President of Residential Market Development for the U.S. Green Building Council. “The home is at the national forefront of quality; and their example can help us all to live better by reducing our environmental footprint, cutting our utility bills, and coming home to a healthier place to live.”

Specific information about the home: The LionForce home located on Trumbo road was constructed with a unique wall panel system made from light-gauge steel and Expanded Polystyrene. The panels are factory-fabricated to precise engineering drawings to minimize site waste and shorten construction time. The LionForce wall system creates an extremely tight building envelope and significantly reduces the amount of energy consumed.

Indoor air quality standards were met by following the 70-item checklist from the Indoor Air Package – provided by Energy Star for Homes, and a rainwater catchment system is used to capture 70% of the roof runoff to be used for irrigation. The home also received an award for “Best Custom Green Home” from the City of San Antonio, and the first and only Level 3 certification from Build San Antonio Green.

How Clean is Your Roof?

Thinking about installing a rainwater harvesting system someday that will be part of a system to provide you with ALL your water needs? Thinking about what that raindrop might encounter between the cloud and your throat? I sure do. What's a safe roof surface? What kind of roof (or other catchment surface) should we avoid? Well, there are general thoughts on this. Most feel that rainwater that comes off of asphalt composition shingles on a hot day might pick up some petrochemicals and other yukky stuff. And I suppose that most people who think about these things also assume that a good metal roof is probably the best surface to catch rainwater for drinking and bathing uses. To bring the image home, if you had to drink your water through a straw, would you prefer the straw to be made from an asphalt shingle or a metal tube. Okay, that's not exactly fair because I'm ignoring rain water filters and sterilizing, but you get the idea.

Finally, the folks at the Ladybird Johnson Wildlife Center and other roofs in the Austin area are participating in a study conducted by the University of Texas, and funded by the Texas Water Development Board (the publisher of the Texas Manual of Rainwater Harvesting, available as a free download from www.twdb.state.tx.us/iwt/Rainwater.asp). The study is tracking the three most common roof types used in Central Texas, composition shingle, Galvalume, and concrete tile. The study includes collecting rainwater samples taken from roofs since earlier this year and making an analysis based on the presence of a variety of chemical and microbial elements, including suspended solids, pH, nitrates, nitrites, heavy metals, turbidity, total and fecal coliform, and synthetic organic compounds. None of these things we want to get past our teeth in any large quantity for sure!

More information about the project is available on TWDB’s rainwater harvesting Web site at www.twdb.state.tx.us/iwt/rainwater/rainquality.html. You may also contact the TWDB contract manager Sanjeev Kalaswad at sanjeev.kalaswad@twdb.state.tx.us.sanjeev.kalaswad@twdb.state.tx.us

Results are expected by the end of the year, so I'm really looking forward to finding out if our assumptions regarding the relative safety between different catchment surfaces match actual science. My thanks go out to Mike Mecke who gave me a heads-up on this study.

July's Monthly Meeting Topic: Timber Frame Construction

You are invited to come to the monthly meeting of the San Antonio Sustainable Living group on Tuesday, July 28th starting at 7pm in the classroom at Whole Foods Market in the Quarry Shopping Center. This month's topic will be on Timber Frame construction.

Most are familiar with the standard residential construction using light wood framing of wood studs, joists, and trusses. Timber Frame construction is made from much larger wood posts and beams. When designed correctly, timber frame construction uses less wood than conventional light wood framing. Wood can be provided by sustainable harvesting methods that is documented by third parties to determine the amount of lumber removed from an area for production does not exceed the amount of wood that grows in that area during the same period of time.

Heavy timber construction is very durable and allows for a variety of high performance materials that can be used as the "skin" of the building. There are many different types of framing that can be used in the broad category of heavy timber.

We will have a representative from Texas Timber Frames appear to give the presentation, and hopefully hear from Sand Creek Post & Beam as well to present a similar option of timber frame construction.

Our meetings are held on the fourth Tuesday of each month except for December, and unless otherwise notified are held in the classroom of Whole Foods Market (behind the cheese and wine sections). Hope to see you there. For more information on topics covered, visit the websites www.texastimberframes.com
www.sandcreekpostandbeam.com
www.sandcreekpostandbeamoftx.com

Update: Here is a link to a series of YouTube videos of our July meeting by OrganicTexas.

Do you really want your home to last hundreds of years (or even fifty)? Open Building concepts can make it so.

A builder of stabilized compressed earth block buildings tells his students that such buildings will last 2000 years. A designer/builder trained in Europe notes that houses in Germany with 100 year mortgages are meant to last for centuries. Many green and natural builders strive to make homes that will stand for generations and look with dismay on the homes that dominate our cities and suburbs which have an estimated life span of perhaps fifty years or less.

But an element of home design that is almost always overlooked to one extent or another even by green builders is “Open Building” which is necessary to make a structure last and stay useful for one generation or several, hundreds of years or a millennium or two.

“Open Building” as it applies to single family homes means, in part, that the systems of the building are kept from tangling with each other and are easily accessible without destruction to other systems so that they can be replaced and reconfigured as they age, as the needs of the occupants change and as technology advances.

Even in green built buildings wire is buried inside walls. A metal conduit in an compressed earth block wall won’t last the 2000 years the wall may last. Water and waste pipes hidden are not likely to last 50 years.

“Open Building” has been applied for a number of years in large apartment blocks in countries around the world. As described by Stephen H. Kendall and Jonathan Teicher in “Residential Open Building” (available to many as an e-book through NetLibrary and in a limited form from Google book search), the word “support” means the support systems of the individual apartment: HVAC, Electrical, Water, Waste, Natural Gas. The word “infill” refers to finish-out of the individual apartment.

Tedd Benson, founder of Bensonwood Homes, a pioneer of residential open building for single family homes in the United States refers to the infill and support as “layers”. Layers include: Structure (the load bearing walls or framing), Skin (the siding, windows, roofing and insulation), the Space Plan (interior wall configuration and the size, number and use of rooms), Plumbing, HVAC, Electrical and Stuff (the furnishing). Some layers are longer lasting than others. Some need to be updated or repaired more frequently than others but no layer remains unchanged forever, nor is any layer likely not to need to be repaired.

In the USA we are most familiar with something similar to “Open Building” in commercial office buildings and retail centers in which the builder provides an enclosed space with access to the HVAC, adequate electrical lines and waste pipes and so forth while, the lessee hires contractors to finish out the space to their specifications. When a tenant leaves, the new tenant may retain all or part of the finish out, or they may strip down the space completely and start fresh.

Although a great deal of unsustainable waste is generated by this frequent reconfiguring and redecorating to suit the whims and egos of corporate officers, the fact that the spaces can be completely reconfigured without destruction of the entire building is an advantage in sustainability.

An “Open Building” commercial space goes far beyond the standard American commercial model though. “Open Building” buildings and spaces are designed so that each of the support systems could be replaced and updated without affecting the other systems. Without open building we see commercial building after commercial building razed and sent to the landfill, a process that is certainly not sustainable.

In “Open building” apartment blocks, the lessees or purchasers of the individual apartments are enabled to configure their apartment in ways that meet their needs and desires. This reduces alienation, improves the well being of residents and increases their ability to live as they choose rather than being locked into a master design. This process would particularly lend itself to American co-housing developments.

An “Open Building” single family home can serve for generations and in the vision of Stewart Brand, learn. When family needs change or when the neighborhood changes from suburban to urban, from residential to office and back again, the internal walls of the building can be reconfigured without affecting the integrity of the structure.

An “Open Building” building from 1860 (if there were such a building) though it were built in the days of oil lamps and coal or wood cooking would have seamlessly allowed for the introduction of gas lighting and cooking to be followed by knob and tube wiring to be followed (unfortunately) by aluminum wiring, which would in turn be replaced by romex, updated by various fire preventing code improvements and which will no doubt be replaced in coming decades by some other advance in technology.

Think of all the changes in HVAC and plumbing that have taken place in the last 150 years, and think of the expense involved in incorporating them into existing buildings. Even within the last 20 years our ideas about windows, electricity, ventilation, air conditioning, plumbing and the needed amounts of electricity of have changed substantially,

Yet how very difficult these improvements are to incorporate into our existing homes. How much expense beyond the new systems themselves goes into installing them in our homes whether the house is 50 years or 10 years old. In an “Open Building” home the expenses for renewing worn systems or updating obsolete ones are minimized.

Some aspects of open building for single family homes are simple to envision: accessible chases for water, HVAC and electricity and data so that each system can be replaced, repaired or altered. But other aspects of open building are more subtle.

Tedd Benson suggests “plug and play” electrical connections, crimped copper plumbing unions, quick connect manifold valves and compatible interchangeable house parts. He points out the advantages of timber framing (which his company uses) for open design, though the framing is only part of the open building design they follow.

You can learn more about open building at http://bensonwood.com/innovation/. There’s an excellent story from the October/November 2006 Fine Homebuilding entitled “Reinventing the House” by Andrew Dey. You may be able to find it on the web or if you subscribe to the magazine you can have access via Finehomebuilding.com.

Stewart Brand’s book, How Buildings Learn, served as an inspiration to Tedd Benson and convincingly shows that houses are not static structures. Mr Brand did a BBC Series based on his book and has now made it viewable on Google Video.

Though its subject is open built mass residential housing, Residential Open Building by Stephen Kendall and Jonathan Teicher has valuable background on the bigger picture and philosophy of open building.

Bensonwood Homes’ white paper “What is Open Building” may be found on their site and downloaded. It makes the case for open building and shows they have registered "Open-Built" as a servicemark which is why the less attractive term “Open Building” has been used throughout this essay. Open-building.org has a number of resources available, though their emphasis is mass housing development rather than single family homes.

Perhaps in the future sustainable open building will be the norm, reconfiguring and updating our support systems will be simple and our homes can last (with periodic renewals) for centuries. But for now it is up to the individual contractor, designer, architect and homeowners to seek out information on open building and advocate that the evolving concepts of it be incorporated into the structures, much as they have made the case for other aspects of green and sustainable construction.

Below is part 1 of Stewart Brand's BBC program, "How Buildings Learn" directed by James Muncie with music by Brian Eno.

Green building advantages of Timber Framing available to San Antonio through Bergheim Sand Creek Post and Beam dealer

Timber framed buildings have many green building advantages. They are proven, having been the primary form of wood construction for centuries and they stand up for centuries too. There's lots of open space and the space between the posts can be well insulated without concern for bearing loads since the posts and beams do that.

Since the frame is separate from the siding and insulation, both can be replaced as the building matures while the frame stays in place. To top it off, the interior space can be rearranged as well to meet changing needs.

Stan Hegener of Sand Creek Post and Beam of Texas up in Bergheim is a Texas dealer for Sand Creek Post and Beam of Wayne, Nebraska. In Bergheim Stan occupies a visually stunning timber frame barn/office. From there he sells timber frame barn and carriage house kits. Some 35 Sand Creek barn kits have been sold and built in Texas, including a barn workshop for the Kavanaugh ranch on Rebecca Creek near Spring Branch.

Nationwide, the parent company has sold over 250 kits in 43 states since their founding five years ago. The vast majority of their customers are looking for a traditional barn but they are also popular as commercial spaces for craft businesses who want something brand new but timeless.

The lumber is cut primarily from marked ponderosa pine in the Black Hills of South Dakota and never from clear cuts. For sill plates they use eastern red cedar. The lumber is full dimensional. The 6 by 6's are a full 6 inches by 6 inches. They never use treated wood, osb or plywood.

The interior of the barns are entirely timber framed without joist hangers but for simplicity's sake the metal plates are used instead of mortise and tenons for joining the beams.

Len Dickinson, co-owner of Sand Creek, has recognized the popularity of timber framing for straw bale enthusiasts and has sold several frames which were in-filled with bales.

Texas Timber Frames on Camp Bullis Road in far north San Antonio is a related company run by Len's son, Jack Dickinson.