Cypress & 7th Achieves GreenPoint Rated Certification

In Balance Green Consulting is excited to announce that the Cypress & 7th Apartments, an affordable multifamily housing project in Lompoc, has earned GreenPoint Rated Certification! In Balance Green Consulting worked alongside GreenPoint Rater, Josh Gardner, RRM Design Group, Abbott | Reed Builders, and the Housing Authority of the County of Santa Barbara (HASBARCO) to achieve certification. The project is nestled in a neighborhood in southeast Lompoc surrounded by single family housing near community services like parks, schools, a medical center, and more.

The Cypress & 7th Apartments complex is comprised of 15 affordable housing units and one manager’s unit. The project efficiently uses the 17,000 square foot site, prioritizing density to conserve resources and increase the amount of housing units available, rather than the area being used for a few single family residences. Despite the site constrictions, the project includes a community room with central laundry, covered patios and balconies attached to each unit, and a barbeque area for residents.

Energy efficiency strategies were incorporated to bring down overall energy demands, using electric heat pump space heating as well as ENERGY STAR certified refrigerators, electric ranges, and dishwashers in each unit. In addition to these efforts to reduce the building’s energy demands, the rooftop solar photovoltaic system offsets close to 80% of the tenant electricity demand and 100% of the common space electrical needs!

Since the project is in Santa Barbara County, it falls under Radon Zone 1. GreenPoint Rated requires projects in Radon Zone 1 to incorporate radon mitigation strategies to protect residents from harmful gases. Check out our previous article highlighting radon mitigation strategies from another HASBARCO project.

The strategies used on this project to achieve GreenPoint Rated certification combine to reduce energy, water, and resource consumption, promote community, and improve indoor air quality. The GPR program helps encourage higher-performance homes and best practices in residential construction through a verifiable certification process. Stay tuned for our next round of blogs where we will be exploring another GreenPoint Rated project that is near certification!

All-Electric Multifamily Housing Project Pismo Terrace is Open!

In Balance is excited to share that the all-electric multifamily housing project, Pismo Terrace, is complete and open! The project in Pismo Beach is comprised of two three-story buildings with 50 affordable housing units and amenities such as a community room, commercial kitchen, laundry, playground, and bike racks.

In Balance Green Consulting worked with architect, Ravatt Albrecht & Associates, and contractor/developer, People’s Self-Help Housing (PSHH), on energy optimization, photovoltaic (PV) sizing, and other sustainability consulting.

The team decided early in the design process to go all-electric and implement features targeting energy efficiency to reduce overall energy consumption. The project incorporates electric heat pump space heating, heat pump water heating, and electric ranges, eliminating the need for gas infrastructure. This saved money as there was no need to place gas meters, nor run gas piping throughout the building.

Quality insulation installation (QII) and a high-performance roof with R-32 cavity fill insulation and continuous R-5 roof insulation reduce heat transfer that would cause higher energy use. The PV system was designed to generate 133,696 kWh of electricity per year, offsetting 65% of the predicted annual residential energy use.

In Balance is excited to see more of our multifamily housing projects going all-electric and prioritizing sustainable measures to contribute to healthier and more comfortable homes. As California’s energy grid becomes cleaner, going all-electric and eliminating fossil fuels from our buildings continues California’s progress to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Congratulations to the team!

Have an all-electric project you are working on, contact us!

Bird-friendly Building Design Comes to CALGreen

On July 1, 2024 CALGreen’s Intervening Code Cycle update went into effect, adding new mandatory measures addressing embodied carbon for some large nonresidential projects and updates to EV parking requirements. It also introduced a new voluntary Tier 1 measure regarding bird-friendly building design. There is a clear connection to the LEED Innovation in Design credit: Bird Collision Deterrence. When measures start showing up in both the CALGreen Code and LEED, it can be an indication that they address some best practices and that in the future may be moving toward a mandatory measure; especially in this case, where it was deemed important enough to add prior to the 2025 code release.

Hundreds of millions of birds die each year in the United States due to collisions with buildings, and many more are injured. More glazing is being seen in all types of construction, from tall skyscrapers to residential projects. With that increase in glass, bird collisions are on the rise. The goal of bird-friendly design is pretty self-explanatory, incorporate features into the building design that reduce bird injury and mortality from in-flight collisions with buildings. CALGreen aims to provide a uniform guideline for bird-friendly building standards for the planning and design processes. The idea is to utilize strategies that make the built environment safer for birds without totally obstructing occupant views and connections to the outdoors.

Large pane of glass appearing to be a pathway (Source: American Bird Conservancy, Bird-Friendly Building Design)

To understand what strategies are effective, we need to understand what site elements and glazing properties create risks for birds. First, a building’s lighting, both interior and exterior, can disorient birds and impact visibility for those that migrate at night. LEED requires projects to meet the uplight and light trespass requirements in the Light Pollution Reduction credit. CALGreen requires nighttime lighting at the top of the building and in the interiors of all areas visible through exterior glazing to be controlled with time-switch control devices or occupancy sensors.

A second hazard pertains to glazing properties, where reflections and transparency can make it hard for birds to realize they are flying toward windows, rather than pathways to more vegetation. Lighting and time of day can affect the appearance of that glass.

To mitigate these hazards, CALGreen voluntary measure requires treatment to:

· At least 90% of glazing on a building elevation between grade and a height of 40 feet AND

· At least 60% of glazing on a building elevation from 40 feet above grade to the top of the building elevation.

 Similarly, LEED breaks down the building façade into:

· Façade 1, the first 40 feet above grade and 12 feet above any green roof

· Façade 2, all façade areas between 40-100 feet.

Rather than requiring a percentage of the glazing needing treatment, LEED uses a calculation based on material areas and material threat factors to determine the total building Bird Collision Rating. In addition to glazing on the building façade, LEED also addresses handrails, guardrails, windscreens, noise barriers, gazebos, pool safety fencing, bus shelters, band shells, and other structures.

Strategies that minimize the risk of birds colliding with buildings can either be directly on the glazing or on other features that create a visible barrier. Some of those include:

Glazing visual markers:

• Etched or fritted glass with patterns no more than 2 inches apart

• Interior or exterior glazing film with 2”x2” visual markers

• Laminated glass with 2”x2” visual markers, patterned Ultraviolet (UV) coating or use of contrasting patterned UV-absorbing and UV-reflecting films

• Glass block or channel glass

• Other developed glazing technologies documented to reduce bird strikes, tested by an independent third party and approved by the authority having jurisdiction

Slats, screens, netting, louvers:

• Horizontal or vertical slats of 1/8” minimum face width with minimum 2” spacing that obscure 85% or more of glass

• Grilles, screens, or 1/8” diameter welded wire mesh with openings no more than 2” maximum horizontally and vertically

• Netting with 1” maximum openings

• Sunshades or louvers 9” deep vertically spaced a maximum 9” or 6” deep horizontally at maximum 6” spacing

Many of these strategies follow the 2” x 2” Rule which, derived from research on songbirds, found that horizontal or vertical lines two or fewer inches apart tend to deter birds from colliding with buildings. This can be seen in the examples below from the American Bird Conservancy’s Bird-Friendly Building Design Guide resource.

From left to right they are: Philadelphia Zoo Bear Country exhibit with window film; Consilium Towers, mirror-glass complex in Toronto, with Feather Friendly dot pattern; and Ornilux Mikado’s pattern reflects UV wavelengths that birds are sensitive to. The spiderweb effect is visible to humans only from very limited viewing angles.

Bird-friendly building design is a reminder that our built environment is an extension of the environment around us, not separate from it. We must remember the impacts our buildings have to the wildlife around us and do what we can to mitigate damage.

For the full code language, please reference the CALGreen Code Section A5.107 Bird-friendly building design and the LEED Innovation: Bird Collision Deterrence credit language. Resources like the American Bird Conservancy and the National Audubon Society have more information regarding effective bird-friendly strategies.

High-Impact Strategies to Take on Embodied Carbon

Have you been hearing a lot more about embodied carbon lately and been wondering why it’s becoming so relevant? Around 40% of global carbon emissions are associated with built environment. In building science, we generally think of carbon in two different ways. Operational carbon refers to the greenhouse gas emissions released due to building energy consumption. This is the type of carbon emissions we are more accustomed to thinking about, regarding things like HVAC equipment efficiency and refrigerant types. Embodied carbon (EC) refers to the greenhouse gas emissions arising from the manufacturing, transportation, installation, maintenance, and disposal of building materials, as you can see in the image below. These carbon metrics are measured as Global Warming Potential (GWP) in kgCO2e, a proxy to compare material impacts.

Source: New Buildings Institute

As a whole, we’ve been addressing the lower hanging fruit in understanding the scale of the issue, recognizing hotspots where bigger impacts can be made through easier, more attainable actions. Simultaneously, many organizations have been developing standards and tools for reporting embodied carbon. Now in California, we’re moving towards building LCA (life cycle analysis) code required thresholds and mandatory reporting. Starting July 1, 2024, CALGreen Code for nonresidential projects will require certain projects to comply with an embodied carbon mandatory measure. Look for more detailed information in future blogs.

Where can we look within the buildings we design to find practical ways to reduce embodied carbon? According to Rocky Mountain Institute, around 50-80% of embodied emissions occur in the Product Stage (A1-A3) through raw materials supply, transport, and manufacturing. Certain products have a much higher impact than others, and targeting those specific materials for low-carbon product substitutions can be an efficient strategy for embodied emissions reduction.

Concrete

Source: Ross NW Watergarden, Shoi Sugi Ban: Setting Fire to Portland’s Fences

Concrete is probably the one you’re hearing about the most. With the highest potential for embodied carbon reduction at no to low additional cost, substituting cement with alternative cementitious materials (ACMs) and specifying recycled aggregate are some of the most effective methods for reduction. Reducing the overall amount of concrete in your project is also an effective measure as is thinking a bit outside the box for alternative strategies, like using charred wood instead of concrete for walls in landscaping. Please see our article from last year looking a little deeper into concrete.

Steel

There are many options for rebar and structural steel comprised of higher recycled content. Also consider using wood framing instead of metal framing for both energy efficiency and embodied carbon reasons. Additionally, sourcing sustainable and regenerative materials, like mass timber, instead of steel, and prioritizing local materials helps reduce emissions associated with transport.

Insulation

Source: Hempitecture.com

Insulation provides an interesting opportunity to reduce EC by using materials like mineral wool batt instead of foam insulation. Taking it a step further, there are also alternative carbon-storing insulation materials that sequester carbon like cellulose, hempcrete, and straw bale that will have a net EC reduction. Keep an eye out for emerging technologies, like Mycelium board, for other low-carbon options as they come onto the market.

Mycelium board: Greensulate

Glazing

Glazing options come at a bit higher of a cost premium compared to other targeted areas, but using lower-carbon window frame materials and specifying no more than two panes of glass can be effective carbon reduction strategies. It’s important to consider the tradeoffs between embodied carbon and operational carbon when thinking about how many panes to use. Additional panes of glass will give better window performance and reduce operational carbon emissions, but it will also have more embodied carbon associated as more materials are used.

Finishes

Finish materials are another lower cost category that can have an EC reduction by selecting low-carbon or more durable finish materials. Durable materials that don’t need to be replaced as frequently avoid emissions associated with manufacturing and transportation of new materials.

In addition to targeting specific products, there are some general design strategies that are important to consider in your building design. There’s a well-known quote in the building science world from Carl Elefante that says, “The greenest building is… one that is already built.” Reusing a whole or part of a building, and using salvaged materials reduces emissions associated with new production. When reuse is not an option, it is important to design buildings to use space and materials efficiency, avoiding excess consumption. This can be through designing buildings to be the right-size and avoid unused areas as well as highlighting exposed structure instead of applying additional finishes. We also want to think about the versatility of a building’s design and how a building can be utilized in the future, creating opportunities for reuse or recycling.

The terrain of embodied carbon is changing rapidly as new products become available and mandatory embodied carbon tracking becomes part of our codes. Start getting familiar with embodied carbon now so you can incorporate strategies to address it in your projects.