Green Building Costs and Financial Benefits
Posted by: adminThis is the introduction to a great digital book by Greg Katz. If your interested in seeing the rest of the free report simply leave your email address in the box to the right of this article and I will send you the link.
Massachusetts is a leading state in the rapidly
growing green building movement. Buildings
consume 70% of the nation’s electricity and a
large part of the materials, water and waste used
and generated in our economy. Buildings have
traditionally been viewed as a relatively static
sector of the economy experiencing relatively
little change in technology or resource
consumption patterns. To date there has been a
widespread perception that green buildings—
though more attractive from an environmental
and health perspective—are substantially more
costly than conventional design and may not be
justified from a cost benefits perspective. This
perception has been the single largest obstacle to
the more widespread adoption of green design.
This paper reviews a major recent report on the
issue of green building costs benefits, “The Costs
and Benefits of Green Buildings,” Kats1 et al.,
October 2003 2 (the Report). Led by Capital E,
the Report was prepared in partnership with the
US Green Building Council and California’s
Sustainable Building Task Force for 40+ California
state agencies
What are green buildings?
“Green” or “sustainable” buildings use key
resources like energy, water, materials, and land
more efficiently than buildings that are just built
to code. With more natural light and better air
quality, green buildings typically contribute to
improved employee and student health, comfort,
and productivity. The United States Green
Building Council (USGBC), a national non-profit
membership organization, developed the
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
(LEED) SystemTM to provide a guideline and rating
system for green buildings.
It is generally recognized that buildings consume
a large portion of water, wood, energy, and other
resources used in the economy. For example, US
buildings alone are responsible for more CO2.
emissions than those of any other entire country
in the world except China.3 If building green is
cost effective, a broad shift to green construction
offers a potentially promising way to help address
a range of challenges facing Massachusetts,
including:
■ Address growing costs of transmission and
distribution congestion. The growth of
Time of Use rates (TOU) by Massachusetts
utilities, and the creation of congestion
pricing in the form of locational marginal
pricing 4 allows building owners to capture
some of the benefits associated with lower
overall and lower peak energy use in green
buildings
Green Building Costs and Financial Benefits
Greg Kats
Wind turbines… love ‘em… or hate ‘em? Conventional wind power as a topic of conversation usually starts a lively debate until NOW! WindTamer® Turbines answer ALL of the criticisms of wind power. Harmless to wildlife, relatively low to the ground, minimal footprint, and extreme efficiency are some of the attributes that this revolutionary new wind turbine touts. Check out http://www.windtamerturbines.com to learn more.
Seminar held for the Midwest Renewable Energy ociation (MREA). Forestville, Wisconsin, May 2008.
It’s evolving and revolving! The next generation of WIND TAMER™ Turbines has been installed at the Center for Sustainable Energy Systems at Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York. Watch the video and see the pair track swirling winds and spin with great velocity in winds ranging from one to seven miles per hour! Under the direction of Dr. Ken Visser, the Center for Sustainable Energy Systems is testing the two WIND TAMER Turbine models for optimization as commercialization plans continue for the launch of the wind generators.
Solar panel update video with the cheapest solar panel system ever. See how you can use solar power at your house NOW.
A school district is learning - and earning - with wind power. 
Build your own wind generator. Anyone could build this, very affordable very efficient. Built by the students of the Maharishi University of Management. This system provides a marvelous opportunity for self employment. Alternative energy can be created by individuals. In these times of massive job losses ideas like these could pay your mortgage. 
Each wind turbine in the wind park near Freiburg cost 2 million Euros. Six of these 1.8 MWh wind turbines were installed at a cost of 13 million Euros. Out of this total individuals invested in a share of the operating company in order to provide 4.6 million in capital. Five hundred and twenty people invested a minimum of 3000 Euros. Each 3000 Euros generates 12000 kWh. Each investor gets money back over twenty years from2003 to 2023. Over this time each investor gets 280% of their money …
Kirsten + Nick get their first light globe in the little caravan. And it works! We can see at night!
A brief layout of my solar system that I installed about 2 weeks ago.
