Green by Design Workshop
Last Saturday I went to the Green by Design workshop put on by Austin Energy at the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center. The day was packed with information presented by staff of the Green Building program from AE who took turns sharing about their fields of specialty.
The morning was devoted to the importance of hiring a designer (much like user interface, spending the money up front will yield better results with less money because of last minute “oh shit” changes), siting and geography considerations, the Austin climate, advantageous structure and envelope techniques and mechanical heating and cooling. All of these were excellent presentations, with the mechanical heating/cooling probably being the most eye-opening and educational. It’s all fine to read national eco-design magazines and books talking about passive solar and cooling techniques, but the reality of Austin’s humidity is that it’s difficult to stay cool and mold-free in the greenest “5-star” home without mechanical dehumidification of some sort. Plus, the guy giving the presentation had so embraced his eco-geek that he was hi-larious with his charts and sneaky tracking of his neighbor’s cooling expenditures and follies.
I met some cool folks over lunch and the afternoon was spent going over materials, water and landscaping, which was more familiar ground to me.
Some things became clearer to me about the impending build-out, including that my hunch is right about needing to hire the right designer, that stained concrete floors are cooler (literally&figuratively) than I thought, and that I’m going to have to rig some way of getting cross breeze to both units after the new walls go up to chimney out some heat.
It was a great day with the added bonus of being able to walk the wildflower center afterwards, which was blooming its head off on a most ostentatious fashion.
Now, anyone up for the Cool Homes Tour this weekend?