Russ Drinker
The global workplace architecture and interior design firm, M Moser Associates has announced Russ Drinker, AIA, as the new director of global architecture, sustainability and environmental wellness for its San Francisco office.
2016
High-Output, Low-Efficacy Flood LED
The OSQ Series by Cree Inc. has increased the efficiency performance of its latest area and flood LED luminaires by 58 percent from the previous generation. Housed in cast aluminum with a weather-tight LED driver, the luminaires have a 100,000-hour lifetime. In order to meet the demand for cleaner and more efficient energy resources, Cree has added a 28L outdoor area and flood light to its OSQ Series. The 28L delivers up to 28,285 lumens, offering better light and increased energy savings. Energy usage can further be reduced by 80 percent when updating the outdated HID fixtures up to 1000W.
Transforming Sustainability Through Open Data in Design
Last year, we launched Quartz Project, a collaborative open-data initiative to provide access to the information that we need to build sustainable, healthy buildings. In academia, open-data initiatives have encouraged sharing of clinical research to build on previous findings or conduct the same research across broader patient groups.
Santa Monica Makes Rooftop Solar Panels Mandatory
SANTA MONICA, Calif. — In April, Santa Monica City Council passed the ordinance mandating rooftop solar systems be built on all new buildings, residential and commercial, in the city. Santa Monica is the fifth municipality in California to make solar installations mandatory, following on the heels of San Francisco. Other cities that made the change include Lancaster, Sebastopol in 2013 and Culver City in 2008.
Carol Zolnerowich
Carol Zolnerowich has joined Brinkley Sargent Wiginton Architects, a firm with offices in Dallas, Waco and Austin, Texas. In announcing the addition of Zolnerowich, the planning and architecture practice reaffirmed its commitment to client-centered planning.
Carol Zolnerowich
Carol Zolnerowich has joined Brinkley Sargent Wiginton Architects, a firm with offices in Dallas, Waco and Austin, Texas. In announcing the addition of Zolnerowich, the planning and architecture practice reaffirmed its commitment to client-centered planning.
Low-emissivity Colored Glass
Pittsburgh-based company PPG has come out with three new colors for their insulating glass units (IGUs), Ultra-Clear, Optiblue and Optigray. Two of the IGUs are Solarban 90 low-emissivity glass and they blocks heat gain 15 percent more effectively than the Solarban 70XL. PPG designed this glass to give architects more options when balancing performance and aesthetics for projects. In a standard 1-inch IGU, the Solarban 90 Optigray comes in a warm gray appearance with a high visible light transmittance (VLT) of 36 percent and a solar-heat gain coefficient (SHGC) of 0.20.
America’s First Solar Town Breaks Ground
BABCOCK RANCH, Fla. — One of the greenest communities in America, located east of Fort Meyers on the banks of the Coloosahatchie River in Florida, is currently under construction.
Tropical Construction Goes Green in Singapore
SINGAPORE — In downtown Singapore, a newly completed skyscraper is growing green. Oaisa Downtown, a 27-story hotel with a plant-covered exoskeleton, is unlike any other experimental green high-rise. WOHA, the Singapore-based designer, created the sustainable building as an alternate to the Western glass-and-steel structures, which tend to attract and trap heat in the tropics.
Wall-Mounted Solar Inverter
Delta Products created the world’s first, wall-mounted 80-kilowatt string inverter called the M80U Photovoltaic inverter. The M80U, a grid-tiered, three-phase transformerless solar inverter, is ergonomically designed for ease of use with a separable structure — NEMA 4X Enclosure Standard — to protect personnel and prevent degradation from adverse environmental conditions. In fact, it’s operating temperature ranges from -13 degrees Fahrenheit to 140 degrees Fahrenheit.