Past Meetings

This Month’s Meeting: “Measurement of Green Roof Performance”

Green roofs are basically low maintenance gardens grown on the flat roofs of commercial and institutional buildings, whereby the building’s conventional roof is covered with a waterproof layer, a drainage layer, soil and plantings of grasses, shrubs or flowers. Many advantages are offered by eco-roofs, including storm water control and reduction of roof top heat flux. Field monitoring studies on three green roofs located in Portland, OR have shown savings in both areas. To better identify ways to optimize green roof design, laboratory tests have been preformed. Lab results show that plants using more water in summer can reduce building energy requirements.

Graig Spolek is a Professor of the Mechanical and Materials Engineering Department at Portland State University. His educational background includes BS and MS degrees from the University of Washington and a PhD from Washington State University, all in mechanical engineering. At PSU, Spolek teaches courses in thermodynamics, heat transfer, instrumentation, thermal systems design and design of experiments. His research areas include fundamental heat and mass transfer, industrial energy utilization and measurement green roof performance.

The call for higher energy performance buildings is being heard loud and clear. A new state wide code is being released this summer with changes that affect envelope construction and design by changing critical energy performance criteria. In preparation for the July 1 adoption of the 2010 Oregon Energy Efficiency Specialty Code (OEESC), based on the IECC, Portland BEC will host a presentation that highlights what changes have and haven’t taken place in this code cycle. Alan Seymour from the Oregon Department of Energy will present the new energy code requirements as they apply to the building envelope.

Alan Seymour has worked in the energy conservation related field for 29 years. He is currently is an Energy Policy Analyst for the Oregon Department of Energy. Alan managed residential and commercial energy conservation programs as well as provided code and energy-related services to the general public. In the past, he has provided non-residential energy code Circuit Rider services for the Oregon Building Officials Association. Alan has also assisted design professionals with code compliance on behalf of local building jurisdictions. He has reviewed well over three million square feet of commercial buildings for energy code compliance and provided clarifications to code and regulation questions.

This presentation has been requested and scheduled for the AIA National Convention June 11, 2010. As an early viewing of the same presentation, we will briefly review the latest version of The Living Building Challenge 2.0, while discussing envelope opportunities within this progressive framework. The Living Building Challenge is a measure of sustainability far more progressive than LEED Platinum or Triple Net Zero alone. This system does not contain points, rather 20 simple but profound imperatives that is performance based, not prescriptive.

The presentation focuses on a half dozen imperatives, showing what the envelope opportunities are and how they have been implemented on several projects. Those wanting to learn more about skin sustainability and the Living Building Challenge should attend this presentation. Since creating a more sustainable skin design is an imperative charge for the new decade, it is relevant and imperative to discuss this topic.

Sean Scott is a licensed architect with 2 professional architecture degrees currently working at SERA Architects in Portland, Oregon. Sean has 15 years of experience, 11 years of which working on LEED buildings and 2 years working and researching with The Living Building Challenge. Sean is actively involved with 5 committees within the BEC and COTE. Sean’s career focus is with sustainable envelopes as he actively pursues this research through a book authorship called, “ENVELOPE TOOLS”.

Whole-building commissioning is a process of quality assurance in building construction. It is a systematic process of ensuring, through documented verification, that building systems are installed and perform according to the documented design and the owner's operational needs. The process starts at the project Design Development stage and continues through staff training, pre-warranty inspection and completion of the wrap-up Commissioning Manual. This presentation will describe the commissioning process developed by ASHRAE in Guideline 0: The Commissioning Process and NIBS in Guideline 3 Exterior Enclosure Technical Requirements for The Commissioning Process. Emphasis will be place on the importance of the building envelope in whole-building commissioning.

Medgar Marceau is a licensed professional engineer and building science consultant at Morrison Hershfield. For over eleven years he has been providing consulting services in the areas of energy modeling, building science, environmental life cycle assessment and sustainability. His experience includes modeling whole-building energy use, evaluating building envelopes for resistance to heat and moisture flow, modeling heat flow through mass concrete and conducting life cycle assessments of buildings and building materials. He received his bachelor's degree of science in engineering from the University of New Brunswick and master's degrees in applied science from Concordia University and applied mathematics from DePaul University. He is a member of ASHRAE, CSI, USGBC, and is a LEED™ Accredited Professional and Life Cycle Assessment Certified Professional (American Center for LCA).

In the recent construction economy, high performance new building construction has been complimented with prominent energy efficient retrofit projects. In both categories of construction, improved building envelope design and materials are needed to achieve energy savings goals. One important envelope element is a new class of glazing that has entered the market. So-called “super insulating glass” is capable of attaining high thermal resistance by combining a variety of high performance components. Today’s designers can now choose from an expanding range of high-performance glazing systems and technologies including: improved low-e coatings, high performance films, novel spacers and more. This next generation of windows has full frame R-values of 5 to 10 with a similar cost basis to traditional glass packages. These may be installed as replacement glass or in addition to the existing system. As a result, traditional metrics of economic viability and payback periods must be revised. This presentation is a review of key technologies in the field of advanced windows.

Brandon Tinianov – Chief Technology Officer

Dr. Tinianov is a recognized expert in building science and in the creation and patenting of novel construction materials to support global sustainability initiatives. A registered Professional Engineer, LEED Accredited Professional, and consistent Bay Area bike commuter, Dr. Tinianov is devoted to implementing globally sustainable practices in both his professional and personal life. Prior to joining Serious Materials in 2004, Dr. Tinianov provided eight years of leadership to the Building Sciences and Engineering Applications Center of Excellence at Johns Manville Corporation in Denver, CO, where his areas of focus included most aspects of building materials including heat transfer, fire resistance, and noise control. He is also an Executive Officer of American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) Committee E60 on Sustainability, and a Board of Directors member of USGBC’s Northern California Chapter. As an inventor, Dr. Tinianov has 12 issued patents and holds more than twenty pending applications.

The Building Code defines criteria for air infiltration and structural performance for fenestration products but is essentially silent on the topic of water penetration resistance. The industry standard in the U.S. for determining the water penetration performance for fenestration products has essentially been controlled by the manufacturers of the window products themselves.

This presentation will look at the current standards for determining the necessary water penetration resistance performance ratings of fenestration products both in the US as well as in Canada, Europe and New Zealand/Australia. The various test methods for determining performance, both pre and post installation will be looked at as well.

Austin Sloat, AIA is a committee member of the Portland BEC and is a principal at Neumann Sloat Architects LLP, a firm specializing in building envelope consulting and remedial design.

Many residential buildings in the Pacific Northwest have or are undergoing comprehensive rehabilitation largely to remedy moisture-related problems. The rehabilitation of the building enclosure presents a unique opportunity to examine and assess the actual energy-related performance of the in-service building and to determine the energy impact of the building enclosure improvements (i.e. from increased insulation, thermally improved window frames and glazing, improved air-tightness).

A research project is currently underway with the objectives to review and assess the effects of building enclosure improvements on the space conditioning energy use in typical mid and high-rise multi unit residential buildings (MURBs) and then to develop better strategies that take into account enclosure repairs, energy conservation and greenhouse gas emissions. In some instances, this review also provides the opportunity to look at other changes to the buildings while in service, whether it be occupant behavior, or changes to the mechanical systems (such as the domestic hot water system) and associated impact on the overall energy consumption. The research applies to both new and rehabilitated buildings and has national relevance as the buildings selected for the study have similarities throughout United States and Canada. This presentation will discuss part 1 of the study highlighting the energy use within existing high-rise MURBs and the trends and issues affecting consumption and energy efficiency.

Graham Finch is a Building Science Research Engineer with RDH Building Engineering Ltd. in Vancouver BC. He holds a masters degree specializing in building science from the University of Waterloo and is actively involved with numerous research projects at RDH. Graham has several years experience as an engineering consultant on building enclosure issues across North America. This work has included new construction design, hygrothermal modeling, forensic investigation, whole building monitoring and several industry research studies. Graham’s current research interests focus on improving the energy efficiency of high-rise buildings through improvements in the building enclosure.

The BEC will not have a meeting for the month of October. We will reconvene November 12th. Thank you and sorry for the inconvenience.