Environmental Design Commons^™

Culvert Material Cost Comparison, New England Environmental Finance Center

Water

The following tables provide a detailed look at the role that culvert material and culvert diameter play in the overall cost of a culvert replacement project.

Culvert Material Cost Comparison, New England Environmental Finance Center

Economics and Finance

The following tables provide a detailed look at the role that culvert material and culvert diameter play in the overall cost of a culvert replacement project. Table 1 displays the cost per foot purchase price arranged by diameter size for the various culvert materials that are currently available. Table 2 displays the average additional culvert pipe material cost (increased cost to upsize minus original in-kind replacement cost) that would be incurred when upsizing a given diameter of culvert with a 50 foot length by factors of: 200%, 250% and 300%.

Unlv Magazine, Tony Allen, Shane Bevell, Donna Mcaleer, Ched Whitney, Cate Weeks

UNLV Magazine

No abstract provided.

Construction Cost Models, Barry Dikeman

Economics and Finance

The following are a series of cost estimate models similar in format to a typical engineer’s estimate that were developed in support of our financial impact assessment report for LD 1725. The models us current material costs, labor costs, and equipment costs for the region to provide a comparative cost analysis of seven culvert replacement scenarios. The models provide information about what the cost impact of LD 1725 would be for typical culvert replacements in Maine. However, due to the inherent restrictions of the cost modeling framework we were not able to include the abundance of variables that would be …

Façade Evaluation Facility, Suresh Sadineni, Wendell Cocina, Robert F. Boehm

Nevada Renewable Energy Consortium Meeting

The second annual Nevada Renewable Energy Consortium meeting took place at UNLV on August 20. The meeting focused on the current three NVREC program areas: Solar, Biomass and Geothermal. Presentations were made by participating entities and a poster session followed.

Interview With Garrett Moon, The Commons Project, 2010 (Audio), Garrett Moon

All Sustainability History Project Oral Histories

Interview of Garrett Moon by Rayne Walter-Young at Portland State University on August 3rd, 2010.

The interview index is available for download.

Water Conservation For The County Of San Luis Obispo, Dimitri Theodore Antoniou

Master's Theses

This study is an academic research project completed to satisfy the California Polytechnic Master Thesis Requirement for the Master Degree of City and Regional Planning in the College of Architecture and Environmental Design.

The County of San Luis Obispo Planning and Building Department is the client for this professional project. The project was requested by the County of San Luis Obispo to assist in its water conservation efforts and to help achieve a 20 percent per capita reduction of water use by the year 2020.

The project consists of two documents: A Handbook of Water Conservation Technologies and Practices (Handbook) …

An Exploratory Study On Energy Consumption Of Energy Star And Non-Energy Star Homes, Prajakta Kulkarni

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The reduction of energy consumption is one of the economic necessities in the United States due to depleting energy sources in the world. The construction industry is stepping forward to reduce the energy consumption of buildings by efficient designs or by constructing buildings with energy efficient materials and features. In 1992, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Department of Energy (DOE) introduced the Energy Star Program to promote energy efficient products with the same or improved services. According to the EPA, Energy Star homes, which use these products, will consume 20 to 30 percent less energy than non-Energy Star …

The Integration Of Biomimicry Into A Built Environment Design Process Model: An Alternative Approach Towards Hydro-Infrastructure, Timothy Lee Albertson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Current methods and processes that support the planning, design and construction of a sustainable built environment include ambiguous principles (Roseland 2000), lack feedback loops (Van Bueren and Jong 2007) and lack a common language between disciplines (Brandon et al 1997). As a result of 3.8 billion years of "research and development" (evolution), nature provides a set of design blueprints that may be used to guide us to create elegant, sustainable, and innovative designs for human technologies (Benyus 1997). The field of biomimicry analyzes nature's best ideas and adapts them for human use (Benyus 1997). The built environment could benefit from …

Sustainable Portland: Implementation Series 3, New England Environmental Finance Center

Climate Change

This report is the third in a series of efforts by students at the Muskie School of Public Service, Community Planning and Development Master’s program, in a core class called “Sustainable Communities.” In this course students seek to understand principles of sustainability and how efforts to implement Sustainability programs can become more successful. The report assembles term papers students completed on particular efforts by municipalities, universities, and other groups to achieve sustainability goals. Students worked on each project in a service learning format with real world clients. They were asked to fashion their papers around lessons learned by other organizations …

Unlv Magazine, Cate Weeks, Tony Allen, Shane Bevell, Diane Russell, Brendan Buhler, Afsha Bawany, Erin O'Donnell

UNLV Magazine

No abstract provided.

Laurel Community Farmstand, Terje Johansen

Horticulture and Crop Science

The project was for us to come up with a temporary farmstand that would be set up to sell fruits and vegetables but mainly to draw people to the area to bring awareness that there were plans to build a development at that location. Our group, Dana Curtice, Robert Vasilieff and Terje Johansen met with the developers three times. New ideas and information were presented in the first two meetings. The third meeting was to present our final design.

Sustainability Initiatives In East Bayside Neighborhood Portland, Maine, Garvan Donegan, Henry Heyburn, Caitlyn Horose, Matt Klebes, Jennifer Riley, Damon Yakovleff, New England Environmental Finance Center

Planning

This is a bundle containing research on sustainability initiatives that could be implemented in the East Bayside neighborhood of Portland, ME. These six essays were prepared by the Spring, 2010 Sustainable Communities Class known as CPD 602 at the University of Southern Maine. The class is part of the core curriculum of the Community Planning and Development program of the Muskie School of Public Service at the university. The instructor for the class was Samuel Merrill, Ph. D. who is also director of the New England Environmental Finance Center at the University. These papers were prepared in conjunction with Alan …

Building America Research Benchmark Definition: Updated December 2009, R. Hendron, C. Engebrecht

Publications (SD)

To track progress toward aggressive multi-year, whole-house energy savings goals of 40%–70% and on-site power production of up to 30%, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Residential Buildings Program and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) developed the Building America (BA) Research Benchmark in consultation with the Building America industry teams. The Benchmark is generally consistent with mid-1990s standard practice, as reflected in the Home Energy Rating System (HERS) Technical Guidelines (RESNET 2002), with additional definitions that allow the analyst to evaluate all residential end uses, an extension of the traditional HERS rating approach that focuses on space conditioning and …

Economic Investigation Of Community-Scale Versus Building Scale Net-Zero Energy, N. Fernandez, S. Katipamula, M. R. Brambley, T. A. Reddy

Publications (E)

The study presented in this report examines issues concerning whether achieving net-zero energy performance at the community scale provides economic and potentially overall efficiency advantages over strategies focused on individual buildings.

New American Home 2010: Las Vegas, Nevada, Building Technologies Program, National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Publications (SD)

This brochure details the New American Home 2010, which demonstrates the use of innovative building materials, cutting-edge design, and the latest construction techniques.

Solar Ready Buildings Planning Guide, L. Lisell, T. Tetreault, A. Watson

Publications (E)

This document identifies the important aspects of building design and construction to enable installation of solar photovoltaic and heating systems at some time after the building is constructed. This document addresses photovoltaic (PV), solar hot water (ST), and solar ventilation preheat (SVP) systems.

The Very Basics Of Sustainability - An Alternative Viewpoint (Slides With Audio) (Large File! To Speed Up Download, Right-Click On "Download" Link To Save To Own Pc.), Jim Mcgovern

Other resources

This presentation sets out the very basics of ‘sustainability’, although a definition of sustainability is not attempted. Some of the very basics are the context in which the Earth and humankind exist in space and time, the Earth’s climate, the Earth’s population and humankind’s options and choices. The author advocates keeping an open mind on all available options, including the use of oil, gas, coal, tar sands, carbon capture and sequestration, nuclear power etc., as well as the technologies that are more widely considered ‘green’. The author also argues that, in addressing the challenges that humankind faces, globally concerted effort …

Assessment Of The Embodied Co2eq In Buildings Towards A Sustainable Building Design And Construction, Adolf Acquaye, Aidan Duffy, Biswajit Basu

Conference Papers

Research studies have shown that the initial energy embodied in a building can be as much as 67% of the operational energy over a 25 year period. With growing global concerns over material and resource consumption and the emissions of CO2 into the atmosphere, the energy embodied in buildings constructed in town and cities becomes important and one of the key issues that needs to be tackled in the design stages in order to strive towards sustainable buildings design. In this paper, a hybrid embodied carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2eq) methodology used to assess the CO2eq embodied in buildings is presented. …

Land Conservation And Land Use In New England: Trends, Challenges & Opportunities, Amanda Loomis, Tom Devine, Andrea Small, Brittany Howard, Brett Richardson, Stephanie Dulac

Land Conservation

Sprawling development patterns accelerated across the New England landscape in the last three decades and consumed the region‘s forests, farms, and open spaces at an unprecedented rate. New England‘ers in all six states formed land trusts, supported statewide conservation organizations, and collaborated with state and federal partners to protect some of their most-prized recreation lands, wildlife habitats, and working lands. The current economic recession has slowed development pressures across the region and offers an opportunity to build on recent successes. The time is right to plan a coordinated New England conservation strategy that protects and links the region‘s natural assets. …

South Burlington, Vt: Mixed-Use Comes To O’Dell Parkway, Ryan Neale, Brett Richardson, Richard Barringer

Planning

The proposed redevelopment of an underutilized property along major travel routes in South Burlington presents possibilities for infill development. The City of South Burlington, the developer, neighbors, and a variety of public and nonprofit financial partners work together to create a mixed-use residential/commercial development to meet a variety of housing and community needs. The case study describes the obstacles overcome to make redevelopment possible through zoning and regulatory changes, negotiation with local residents over traffic and other concerns, support from state and local housing advocates, and political leadership; as well as the development’s application of smart growth principles.

South Burlington Vt: New Urbanist South Village, Jack Kartez, Richard Barringer

Planning

The 220 acre master plan for South Village, the largest project in the City of South Burlington’s history, encompasses multiple housing types and innovative provisions for affordable housing. It integrates housing with open space and natural resource conservation, including a major Community Supported Agriculture project developed by a nonprofit partner, the Intervale Foundation. While not a mixed-use project (that is, commercial as well as residential development), South Village nonetheless represents a qualitative change in approach for South Burlington by incorporating large-scale open space preservation as part of development and multiple housing-types in one project. The case study recounts events leading …

Sustainable Portland: Implementation Series 2, New England Environmental Finance Center

Climate Change

The Portland Municipal Climate Change Working Group prepared a report in March 2008 that outlined several recommendations as a commitment by the City to address greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) produced during daily municipal operations. The Municipal Climate Action Plan was written in partnership with Clean Air – Cool Planet and Portland officials, and acknowledges under Recommendation #2 that an employee energy efficiency program would provide significant positive impact on the City’s reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Best practices from three cities show that focus on the greening of City Hall is critical in developing a program that promotes partnerships, community …

Inside Unlv, Shane Bevell, Diane Russell, Michelle Mouton, Gian Galassi

Inside UNLV

No abstract provided.

The Road To Leed Certification: Human Sciences South, Claire Collins, Kim Stockley, Whitney Kirkland

Undergraduate Research Conference

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Existing Buildings a set number of voluntary standards. LEED EB focuses on the performance of a building rather than it’s design.

Walking Box Ranch Planning And Design Quarterly Progress Report: Period Ending April 10, 2009, Margaret N. Rees

Walking Box Ranch

• UNLV faculty and PLI scientists and interpreters participated in the 50% Design Concept Plan meeting, March 25-27 at UNLV-PLI and Walking Box Ranch (WBR), and provided comments toward proposed concepts for the museum and field, research, and training center at Walking Box Ranch.
• UNLV is continuing to work with the Architectural Resources Group (ARG) under our SAT grant, to complete Master and Preservation Plans that will guide the SNPLMA-funded museum and field station projects now underway.
• The National Historic Register nomination process, initiated under the SAT grant, was approved and WBR was placed on the NPS National Register of Historic …

Preserving Assets In At-Risk Municipalities: Financial Strategies For Climate Change Adaptation, New England Environmental Finance Center

Climate Change

A large share of America's population, businesses and economic activity now occurs in coastal areas. At the same time, during this century many coastal communities are likely to be severely impacted by sea level rise and increased storm surge and tidal flooding.

“What to do” about this vulnerability is the subject of this brief. It is intended to help municipalities identify courses of action and steps they might take toward increasing their resilience, especially regarding financial resources that will need to be allocated toward the various strategies identified.

Rebuilding After Disaster: Going Green From The Ground Up, U.S. Department Of Energy

Publications (E)

If you’re a leader in a community that has met with disaster and must be rebuilt, this guide is for you. It’s intended to show how communities—big or small—can incorporate green principles and technologies like energy efficiency and renewable energy into their rebuilding plans. The information in this guide is based on the real-life experiences of two U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) teams. One team worked with city leaders in New Orleans, Louisiana, after hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, and the other assisted community leaders in Greensburg, Kansas, after a devastating tornado in 2007. Although the two communities are …

City Of Las Vegas Green Building Program, City Of Las Vegas, Nevada

Publications (SD)

No abstract provided.

Empirically Derived Formulas To Predict Indoor Maximum, Average, And Minimum Temperatures In Roofpond Buildings Using Minimum Climatic Information, Ibrahim Kivarkis Kako

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This thesis introduces an empirically developed formula to predict the comfort conditions and thermal performance of a Skytherm(TM) Southwest Roofpond placed over a light-weight un-insulated structure built at the School of Architecture at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

The predictive formula introduced in this study may be used in different parts of the world (particularly developing nations where insulation and air-conditioning are rarely used) to predict the performance of a Skytherm(TM) Southwest Roofpond using minimal climate data.

The data collected in the experimental setup at the Natural Energies Advanced Technologies Laboratory included outside and inside temperatures of various surfaces …