Listen, the environmental movement is not about protecting the fishes and the birds so much as recognizing that nature is the infrastructure of our communities. I'd say the most patriotic thing you can do is to take care of the environment and try to live sustainably. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., National Resource Defense Fund, 2005

The Texas State Energy Conservation Office (SECO) sustainable building design initiative and its sustainable school design initiative encourage and support schools, state agencies, architects and contractors to design and construct sustainable buildings that consume less fossil fuel, limit environmental impacts and improve worker health and productivity.

Sustainable building is a rapidly growing practice in new construction development. Sustainable design is going mainstream as the "green" movement has been picked up by architects, designers and builders at all levels of home and building design. Sustainable designers co-create with the environment, keeping in mind the total environmental and economic impacts as they look at buildings, energy sources and development on a life-cycle basis. Smart design and construction make good economical sense, as every design decision has an energy and environmental impact.

A recent report from the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) concludes that promoting the green design, construction, renovation, and operation of buildings could cut North American greenhouse gas emissions more deeply, quickly, and cheaply than any other available measure. The CEC was established by Canada, the United States, and Mexico to build cooperation on environmental issues in North America. The CEC report notes that North America's buildings cause the annual release of more than 2,200 megatons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, or about 35% of the continent's total carbon emissions. The report concludes that the rapid deployment of currently available and emerging energy efficiency technologies could avoid 1,700 megatons of annual carbon dioxide emissions by 2030. See the CEC press release and the full report.

First Texas State Building Sustainable Design The Robert E. Johnson, Sr. (REJ) building, sponsored by SECO and completed in 2000, was designated as a demonstration project for sustainable building. The REJ building represents the State's first comprehensive commitment to incorporate sustainability features into a public facility.

REJ building

The REJ building's sustainable features include:

• extensive use of natural daylighting such as curvilinear, specular light shelves that project light deep into the interior of the building;
  
  
• clerestories - glass partitions above interior walls (7'-10') to enable daylight to penetrate deeper into interior spaces, thereby reducing electric lighting loads and internal heat gains;
  
  
• high-quality color rendering lamps and high efficiency dimmable electronic ballasts - automatic dimming of artificial lights in response to the quantity of daylight available;
  
  
• new glazing technologies that allow for "selective tuning" that reduce solar heat gain while maintaining a relatively high daylight transmittance;
  
  
• combination of ambient and task lighting fixtures to reduce loads and concentrate light where needed;
  
  
• photovoltaic sunshades;
  
  
• regionally-sourced structural and interior materials that neither off-gas nor emit volatile organic compounds;
  
  
• high ceilings for daylight to penetrate deep into the space and to light the space evenly using direct/indirect lighting; and
  
  
• enhanced HVAC system efficiencies that reduce operating costs by almost 50% and resultant CO2 emissions by 30%.

Leading Examples of Texas Green Buildings

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has published its Fall issue of Natural Outlook, which discusses sustainable building in Texas. The article presents the following buildings as leading examples of Texas Green Buildings. Each of the buildings has received a high-level LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

EMS Station No. 28, Austin
City Hall, Austin
NASA Facility, Houston
UT Nursing School, Houston
Southern Methodist University, Dallas
Children's Hospital, Austin

The Blueprint for Sustainability article highlights two additional buildings: the Jack Evans Police Headquarters in Dallas, and Austin's Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas.

"Green" Is New Building Standard In Dallas April 2008
The Dallas City Council has unanimously adopted a green construction ordinance which aims to reduce energy and water consumption in all new houses and commercial buildings constructed in the city. With this ordinance, Dallas becomes one of the first major U.S. cities to pass comprehensive building standards for both residential and commercial construction.

What is a Zero Energy House?

I have noticed that when I tell people that these new houses have energy costs of approximately 50 cents a day, they tend to think about their own homes. People respond to the idea. They just need education and awareness. Jeff Christian, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, buildings technology researcher

Who wouldn't want a house that pays its own energy bills? A zero energy home combines sustainable design with state-of-the-art, energy-efficient construction including commercially available renewable energy systems such as solar water heating and solar electricity. These homes incorporate such innovations as building-integrated photovoltaic and solar-thermal systems, properly designed heating and cooling equipment, efficient building envelopes, and high-performance appliances.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), these whole-house systems are capable of cutting energy bills by up to 70%, and eventually reaching net zero energy consumption from the utility provider while also helping to eliminate energy shortages and rolling blackouts, and avoiding carbon emissions by sending power to the utility grid. DOE's Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers are supporting the DOE initiative to develop affordable, net-zero-energy housing by 2020 and zero-energy commercial buildings by 2025.

Zero energy homes are connected to the utility grid but can be designed and constructed to produce as much energy as they consume annually, resulting in a nearly zero operative energy costs.

Habitat for Humanity zero energy house

Zero Energy Homes Resources

A Glimpse of the Energy Future, Part I
This article addresses energy efficient, near-zero-energy communities, in a future in which energy efficient homes will generate as much energy as they require.

A Glimpse of the Energy Future, Part II

A New Market Paradigm for Zero Energy Homes, Vol. I
This report was published in 2006 by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

A New Market Paradigm for Zero Energy Homes, Vol. II (Appendixes)

Zero Energy Home Powers Up in North Texas
DOE's Building America Program publishes this case study of a zero energy home in Frisco, Texas.

Zero And Low Emission Buildings

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