Pedernales Lofts
Pedernales Lofts is a residential/retail community with a sustainable focus on the east side of Austin. Retail spaces line the outside of the building with residential units above and within the gates. Retail spaces include a kitchen and bath space and may be used for residential as well, a unique feature. Each of those spaces utilizes an open floor plan to allow the user to configure the space as he/she sees fit. The property further boasts an outdoor entertainment pavilion with a metal roof that feeds two large cisterns. Permeable paving is a prevalent feature within the gates, and the entire property hosts drought-tolerant, native landscaping.
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| Entertainment Pavilion |
While the property was certainly designed with sustainability in mind, it sort of missed the mark in execution. The site is poorly located in a rather run-down part of town with few complimentary connecting uses. A railroad track borders the south side of the property, with a lumber yard for a view for residents on that side of the site. No retail operations hold space on that side, as there is little to no exposure to traffic, vehicular or otherwise, on that side. Further dooming the property, it appears early purchasers of units may have been people genuinely interested in promoting a greener way of life, but through leasing and other transfers, the tenant mix appears to be one less concerned with conserving resources and more concerned with simply having lower utility bills - as Dr. Forgey described it, "green gone wrong".
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| Residential over Retail |
Balcones Recycling
Directly across the street from Pedernales Lofts is Balcones Recycling, which recently was awarded a contract to handle 60% of Austin's single-stream industrial recycling. Single-stream recycling collects all recyclable material at once and sorts it on-site rather than having users sort waste prior to collection. Balcones is in the process of developing a new facility to accommodate the new loads the contract will place on its operations and allow it to process additional materials that its current facilities cannot handle. According to Andy Andrasi, the new facility will be LEED Gold certified because "it's the right thing to do". Balcones is positioned to be an integral part of Austin's Resource Recovery Master Plan, whose goal it is to achieve zero waste by 2040. According to that plan, zero waste means 90% of all waste that would be routed to landfills is diverted instead to recycling/reuse facilities.
According to Andy, the facility currently processes material so efficiently that less than 2% of material brought to the site leaves as waste. They have discovered a process by which much of what cannot be conventionally recycled is converted to fuel as an alternative to wood/coal uses. In fact, a new facility under construction in Arkansas will handle this process exclusively.
Innovative Water Solutions
Innovative Water Solutions began operation in 2004 installing rain barrels for irrigation systems. The City of Austin offers rebates based on the capacity of systems. Eventually, they expanded operations to offer potable systems for rural properties only, as the City does not allow potable uses of rain water in city limits due to concerns over backflow. According to Chris Maxwell-Gaines, the City is currently considering code changes to allow potable uses within their boundaries. Interestingly, Chris noted that 80% of rural potable clients survived this summer’s drought conditions without supplemental water. For those customers requiring additional water, water delivery companies provide that support.
According to Chris, the low cost of water will deter wide adoption of rain barrel systems for some time. The majority of commercial installations, he said, are driven by companies’ desires to meet LEED standards with new buildings. Otherwise, the 10-15-year payoff is a deterrent to widespread adoption.
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| Demo of UV-Treated Potable System |
Chris described his “first-flush” systems, by which the first run-off from a roof is discarded as it is the dirtiest. He further described the efficiencies of various roofing materials and explained that metal > asphalt > clay tile as far as efficiency (amount of rain water delivered to the system rather than being absorbed by the roof).
Mueller Town Center and Ronald McDonald House Charities
Mueller is the redevelopment of Robert Mueller Municipal Airport into a mixed-use urban village in the heart of the City of Austin, after the relocation of the airport in 1999. According to the master plan, the 700 acre site will be home to “approximately 10,000 people, 10,000 employees…more than 4,900 [single-family and multi-family] homes and 140 acres of public space”, including approximately 13 mile of hike and bike paths and lanes.
Development of the project is well underway; though we were not able to see a lot of the project, other than what we were able to observe during a quick drive through. Many of the homes we noticed utilized rain water collection systems and solar panels. According to the Mueller website, the homes are designed to be energy efficient and utilize non-toxic and recycled building materials. Much more information on the redevelopment is available on the Mueller website at www.muelleraustin.com.
We also visited the Ronald McDonald House within the Mueller development. The facility contains 30 guest suites for families of sick children at neighboring hospitals. Families must live over 25 miles from the facility in order to be eligible to stay at the House. The facility is certified LEED Platinum, the first such facility of its kind. Non-profits like the RMHC have some motivation to build green facilities because it is easier for them to raise funds up-front for a LEED Platinum building and have low operating costs, thereby requiring less funding after construction, than it is to raise building funds for a less efficient building and continue to raise funds for operation of the site. Some of the features of the site include green roofs, solar power, non-toxic and recycled building materials, pervious paving, and energy efficient design (building orientation to take advantage of natural lighting while avoiding additional heat gain from eastern and western exposure). One feature of note was that each room requires a key to “turn on the room”. When occupants enter, after they use the key to open the door, they place the key in the wall and literally turn on the room to use the lights. Residents can’t leave the lights on when they leave and can’t lose their key! It was Austin’s first Leed Platinum-NC building.
Sol
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| Solar |
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| Green Roof |
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| Key to "turn on" the room |
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| Me & Ronald |
Sol
Sol is a net-zero residential community, not quite fully developed, but featuring several completed net-zero CAPABLE homes, meaning, it is up to the homeowner to maximize the efficiency f the home to reach its full potential. All of the homes make use of solar power, with panels mounted on roofs of the residences and systems ranging from 3KW to 6KW, and other energy-efficient systems and design features, such as available geothermal HVAC. Floor-level windows in some units allow for efficient cooling during hot months when residents can open the lower windows and a few upstairs windows and create sort of a vertical wind tunnel through their home. The homes are 100% electric and rated 4 to 5 Star by the Austin Green Building Program. The neighborhood features a community green space and garden area.
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| www.solaustin.com for more information |
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| Recycled Glass Tiles |
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| No VOC Paint |
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| For the Kids! |
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| That's right, books made with real poo! |
Treehouse
Treehouse is a home improvement center, sort of like a green Lowe’s without the lumber, offering lighting solutions, HVAC, insulation, paint, garden tools and ideas, flooring, cleaning supplies, even pet supplies. Learning centers are located throughout the store to educate shoppers on the advantages of using “green” materials over standard materials.
The store was definitely interesting, and many of the products were exciting to see, but the most exciting part of this stop was a near-death experience in the lighting department. An employee was changing one of the displays when a section of the display broke loose and swung my way. I was walking directly toward it to ask the employee a question and had hesitated briefly to look at something just before it broke loose. I don’t really think it would have killed me, but I’m still glad I didn’t have to take that shot to the head.
Austin Energy
Austin Energy had a lot to tell us. They have their hand in almost everything happening around Austin. Of note during their presentation was the fact that Austin has not raised electricity rates since 1994; though that may change in the very near future. As part of Austin’s Climate Protection Plan, enacted in 2007, it is the goal of Austin Energy to achieve 800MW saved or generated by renewable systems/energy efficiency by the year 2020. The 800MW figure is based on project growth at 2007 levels of consumption. A planned 30MW solar plant in Weberville will contribute to that goal.
Austin Energy offers many incentives for energy efficient upgrades and encourages home owners to improve the efficiency of their homes through various programs such as requiring all homes sold within city limits to undergo an energy audit to be delivered to the buyer. Homes are exempt from that program if they were built in the last 10 years or have been through one of Austin Energy’s programs to become more energy efficient. The energy audits apply to multifamily and commercial properties as well, with some variations. All multi-family properties were required to complete the audit by June 1, 2011, with the same exceptions noted above. Results of those audits are to be disclosed to all current and prospective tenants. Property owners are required to make upgrades if the results of their audit are above average for their class. Rebates are available for the upgrades for multi-family properties too, but one problem in the multi-family sector is that it is a split-incentive, meaning that the owner pays for the upgrades while the tenant reaps the benefits of efficiency.
The Austin Green Building Program is the oldest such program in the country, preceding LEED. In fact, some originators of Austin Green Building Program helped to establish LEED. One goal of AGBP is to achieve net-zero capability with new homes by 2015, meaning that homes will be built to such efficiencies that even a modest solar power system will take the home to net-zero. A key component to achieving this goal is consumer behavior – homeowners recognizing that running 5 plasma tvs and leaving chargers plugged in and lights on in empty rooms are not efficient uses of energy. Austin Energy had a lot to say and provided a lot of information with even more available on their website.
Tree Folks
April Rose of Tree Folks spoke to us about their work with Keep Austin Beautiful and their tree replacement program, which requires replacement of trees removed in the city on a 1:1 basis. That does not mean that a 100-year-old oak tree must be replaced by another 100-year-old oak tree. Rather, a 21” caliper tree removed during a project may be replace by another 21” caliper tree, or 3 7” caliper trees, or 7 3” caliper trees. Caliper measurements are taken 6” above the soil line on potted trees.
Another program April discussed is Neighbor Woods, in which trees are delivered to homeowners at a cost of $42/tree (paid by Tree Folks) in exchange for the homeowners planting and maintaining them. A Tree Folks representative surveys neighborhoods and identifies locations that new trees may be placed and informs homeowners that they may have the tree(s) delivered if they would like. In exchange, the homeowners pledge that they will plant and care for the trees. There are no repercussions for failure to keep the trees alive, but by planting the trees themselves, the homeowners are vested and feel more responsible for seeing that the trees survive. If a tree dies, Tree Folks will offer a new tree to take its place. On average, the trees have a 75% survival rate; though the 2011 drought saw that number drop to approximately 55%. Funding id provided by the Climate Protection Program of the City of Austin and aims to reduce the heat island effect in the city. 3,600 trees are delivered each year through the program, enough to line 10 miles of street spaced 10 feet apart.
Bercy-Chen Architects
Bercy-Chen is a design-build firm that does residential, commercial, and multi-family projects. I believe he said half of their projects achieve Austin Green Building 3-Star ratings, which is cheaper than LEED but not necessarily any less efficient. In an industry that pays by the square foot, they actually encourage smaller spaces with smaller footprints. While some property owners don’t seek sustainability, they design their project using what was termed “covert sustainability”, in which they add sustainable features without the owners realizing what they are. Some of their favorite design features include green roofs and using pools to heat and cool homes.
Sustainable Food Center
NOT a food bank, but a seed bank, SFC has helped start approximately 12 community gardens in the City of Austin (there are approximately 30 total). There is no other full seed-to-table organization in Texas. They offer Happy Kitchen classes to inform the public of their efforts and to educate them to the benefits of community gardens. They also offer a Happy Kitchen Cookbook. The classes are free to attend, but the more affluent may choose to pay for the class to fund others. SFC also works to build gardens on Austin ISD campuses. Local farmers provide food to 1/3 of AISD schools. SFC farmers comprise the only certified organic farmers market in the state and were among the first networks to accept the Lone Star Card and WIC. SFC is planning a 7,000 square-foot permanent office with a 2.3 acre garden adjacent to the building.
FKUR Plastics Corp
Our last stop in Austin was to FKUR plastics, which began in 1993 as a recycled materials research company. Their research has resulted in creation of many bioplastics – plastics that are biodegradable or based on renewable resources. Their research has apparently brought them a long way, as they had plenty to show us, from biodegradable plastic bags made from sugarcane to plastic forks made from potatoes. Steven Prindle explained that compostability refers to a product’s ability to break down within 180 days. He stated that the goal of FKUR is to mimic nature, which provides “perfect packaging”, citing oranges and bananas as examples. Their packaging protects the product inside and will return to the ground in short order when removed. He showed us several samples of his company's products.
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| Cosmetics |
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| Keyboard and Mouse |
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| Spudware |
Mr. Prindle mentioned a meeting with the Department of Defense to redesign the MRE (Meal Ready to Eat) and make the plastics marine-degradable so that soldiers at sea may throw the waste from their meals overboard and have the material break down rather than harm the seas. It was actually one of our more interesting stops. I had no idea plastics could be so interesting.
