Portland BEC Sustainability in the Building Envelope

This two-day symposium will explore the state of the art of building science and the sustainability of current materials and enclosure designs.

Mira Spinu: This seminar will describe the sources, mechanisms and consequences of air and moisture transport through the building enclosure and concepts for air leakage control, energy efficiency and moisture management in buildings. These critical functions are performed by "The Three Barriers": air, water and vapor barriers. Often a single membrane performs two or sometimes all three functions. This seminar will also discuss the role of each "barrier" and some critical questions you must ask in order to select "the right barriers" for your projects.

Andre Dejarlais: This seminar will describe a variety of real life situations where using hygrothermal modeling can provide insight into the performance of a building envelope component.

Richard Green: There has been little documented work on the capacity of heat strengthened glass in bolted applications. This talk outlines the design process, modeling, analysis, testing and erection procedures executed to successfully implement new technology in one of the world's largest glass walls.

Tom Liptan: Designing with and re-introducing natural elements such as soil, water and vegetation on rooftops, streets, sidewalks and parking lots is showing promise in Portland. These design techniques are being tested on city streets and private development. Monitoring results show effcient management of precipitation and storm water runoff. Other attributes have been observed including and perhaps most important, public acceptance.

Catherine Houska: An unbiased comparative analysis of the factors that determine the relative sustainability of architectural metals is provided using previously unavailable pollution and energy use data from mining and production, typical service life, metal run-off and the probability of end-of-life recapture and recycling. The significant potential impact of the service environment on life-cycle performance and metal choice is discussed and comparative performance data is provided.