Why not?

Buildings around the world account for a major portion of our energy consumption, and the choice of facade materials can make a big difference between a clean, green structure and a polluting, brown one. So if you want to build one of the greenest, most sustainable and most energy efficient cities on the planet, it’s vital to know which materials to pick and which to avoid.

That’s why Masdar — Abu Dhabi’s clean-energy initiative — plans to establish a facade test center as part of its über-green Masdar City project. To do it right, it’s partnering with Germany’s Fraunhofer Gesellschaft, which already operates just such a test center near Munich.

“Sustainable building materials’ testing is a leading item on the Masdar City technology roadmap as we believe this is an area where we can provide technology leadership to the region,” said Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, CEO of Masdar.

Each test room at the Masdar center will allow for facade materials to be measured for energy code values, thermal and light transmission properties and overall performance. Construction is expected to start by the first quarter of 2012.

Buildings that have been constructed or renovated to meet LEED certification or earn Energy Star ratings from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) enjoy both higher value and demand in the marketplace, according to a multi-year study being conducted by the commercial real estate service firm CBRE Group (formerly CB Richard Ellis), the University of San Diego’s Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate and McGraw-Hill Construction.

LEED-certified (the US Green Building Council’s system for rating efficient buildings) office spaces have a 3.1 percent edge over standard buildings in both rental rates and occupancy, the study found over a course of three years. The benefits of green offices are especially strong in mid-sized markets.

Green buildings aren’t good just for owners and managers, though. Tenants in offices where utility use is sub-metered, for example, see energy costs that are 21 percent lower than average. Some 94 percent of tenant managers say employees in green office spaces report higher satisfaction compared to those in “regular” buildings. And nearly one out of five tenants surveyed — 19 percent — said a green building promoted increased productivity.

The study is tracking around 150 CBRE-managed office buildings and more than 2,500 building occupants. The largest and longest running research project of its kind, the study benchmarks and measures green building benefits and resulting economic outcomes as a framework of investment criteria for retrofit activity.

The 2011 findings were made public at this week’s US Green Building Council Greenbuild International Expo and Conference. A full update to the study’s 2011 report, “Do Green Buildings Make Dollars and Sense”? is expected to be released later this year.

That’s the motivation behind a new competition sponsored by the San Francisco chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E). The first-of-its kind Architecture at Zero competition is aimed at finding ways to create buildings that produce as much clean energy as they use during a year through a combination of designed energy efficiency and on-site, grid-tied renewable energy production.

Open to everyone, the Architecture at Zero competition will focus on the design of an urban infill site in Emeryville. The deadline for entries is Nov. 29. Entries will be judged by international experts, with up to $25,000 in total prizes to be awarded in early December.

“We believe this competition will garner a tremendous amount of interest from a wide range of professions,” said Margie O’Driscoll, executive director of the AIA San Francisco chapter. “Our goal is to stimulate people to think about the challenge of zero net energy differently, and we look forward to seeing the innovative designs submitted as part of the competition.”

The new competition supports the California Public Utilities Commission’s goal for all new residential construction in California to be zero net energy by 2020. The commission also aims to have all new commercial construction achieve zero net energy by 2030.

Competition entries will be judged by Susan Szenasy, editor-in-chief of Metropolis Magazine; Bob Berkebile, a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (FAIA) and a principal at the firm BNIM; Lawrence Scarpa, FAIA, Brooks + Scarpa Architecture; Allison Williams, FAIA, Perkins + Will; and Steve Selkowitz of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

E.ON is offering a total of €1 million for research with the theme “Smart home: A new customer relationship with energy.” It’s seeking research project proposals looking at how smart homes can integrate systems for energy supply, home appliances, mobility, security and consumer electronics.

The company is already engaged in a number of pilots related to smart homes. It is testing new kinds of digital grid systems, developing and marketing recharging systems for electric cars and working with partners like Deutsche Telekom on a common technical platform for new products.

E.ON aims to back up these activities with further scientific research supported through its grant program. Its goal is to identify the economic potential the smart-home trend offers for international energy companies like E.ON.

“We regard the research initiative not only as a means of promoting science and research,” said Urban Keussen, who is responsible for Technology & Innovation at E.ON. “We also expect it to provide important external stimuli for the development of new business areas.”

Proposals for research must be submitted by Nov. 30, with projects to be completed within one year.

In previous years, E.ON research grants have focused on energy storage, the application of nanotechnology in the energy business and heat storage for concentrated solar power.

The Door Energy Ratings (DER) scheme extends the rating system already used for doors on fridges, freezers and other white goods to standard residential doors as well as French, folding and sliding glazed doors. The new system is the biggest extension of BFRC ratings since 2006.

The ratings will affect a British door market worth £772 million a year — that’s 1.7 million doors — and for the first time will provide homeowners with a way to assess how energy efficient various types of doors are.

All kinds of external pedestrian doors — solid doors, partially glazed doors and fully glazed doors — will be included in the scheme. The system, with ratings from “A” (most efficient) to “G (least),” will rate doors whether they are constructed of PVC-U, aluminum or timber or are a composite-type door.

While solar gain won’t be included in external pedestrian door ratings, as it is for windows, air leakage rates will be taken into account. “A” ratings will be reserved for the best performing doors currently available. “F” and “G” rated doors wouldn’t meet existing building regulations, but are included to cover products for, for example, historic or architecturally sensitive buildings.

Solar gain will be accounted for in ratings for glass doors.

In a new report, The Climate Group China identifies ways to boost energy efficiency through four case studies of green development: the Beijing Olympic Village, Nanjing Tiptop International Apartment, Siemens Centre Shanghai and Siemens Centre Beijing.

While China now has the world’s largest housing market, energy efficiency in the country’s buildings needs improving.

The Climate Group China report recommends that:

• Green building development be integrated with the goal of carbon emissions reduction;
• Further green building incentive policies should be introduced;
• Public education be promoted to recognize green building projects.

The 1,667-foot (508-meter) tower in Taipei has earned the US Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum certification, the highest level for energy efficiency and environmental design.

Working in partnership with EcoTech International and Steven Leach Associates, Siemens‘ building technologies division helped TAIPEI 101′s operators maximize the skyscraper’s green features. Over the past two years, TAIPEI 101′s building automation and energy efficiency were optimized to achieve a 10-percent saving in electricity usage, water consumption and garbage production. As a result, the tower’s energy consumption is 30 percent lower in comparison to that of an average building, which helps reduce energy costs by some $700,000 a year.

The building’s cooling system was made more efficient by applying improved algorithms for the chiller plant and changing the sequence of operation, as well as through energy modeling, energy audits, commissioning services and the installation of additional sensors.

“Buildings account for 40 percent of the world’s energy consumption and 21 percent of the global CO2 emissions,” said Hubert Keiber, CEO of Siemens’ Building Automation Business Unit. “The energy and cost saving potential is substantial. Owners or operators of green buildings can not only generate a significant impact on environmental mitigation, but they can also substantially save costs over the entire lifecycle of the building.”

“What makes the ‘going green’ of buildings attractive is that it’s technically feasible and that the return on investment is guaranteed,” added Peter Weiss, CEO of Siemens Ltd. Taiwan. “Buildings in Taiwan — new or old, private or commercial, single-story or skyscraper — are capable of becoming certified green buildings, thus helping to shape sustainable development in Taiwan.”

Completed in 2004, the 101-story TAIPEI 101 is the second-tallest building in the world, surpassed only by the 2,717-foot (828-meter) Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

The Better Buildings Challenge, announced by President Barack Obama in February aims to improve the energy efficiency of commercial buildings across the US by 20 percent, a goal that could help businesses save up to $40 billion a year on energy costs. The challenge this week took on its first 14 partners:

• Best Buy, which aims to improve efficiency at its more than 55 million square feet of retail space;
• Green Sports Alliance, an organization of 25 sports teams in 17 cities representing more than 20 million square feet of sports arenas;
• Lend Lease, which plans to improve energy efficiency in nearly 40,000 homes for military families;
• Transwestern,which has committed to reducing energy consumption in 78 million square feet of managed properties;
• USAA Real Estate Company, which aims to reduce energy use in its 50-million-square-foot property portfolio by 5 percent per year;
• Abundant Power, which has committed to providing more than $50 million in financing for commercial building efficiency projects over the next 18 months;
• Cit, which over the next 18 months plans to support at least $250 million in financial for commercial and other property type energy efficiency projects.
• Green Campus Partners LLC, a portfolio company of Hudson Clean Energy Partners that plans to invest more than $100 million in commercial, industrial, hospital and university energy conservation projects over the next 18 months;
• Metrus Energy, which plans to finance more than $50 million in industrial and commercial building efficiency projects;
• Renewable Funding, which expects to provide more than $50 million in financing for clean-energy and energy efficiency projects over the next 18 months.
• Transcend Equity, which has committed to more than $75 million in financing for energy efficiency projects in commercial real estate, private higher education and healthcare.
• The city of Atlanta, which has started an energy efficiency benchmarking initiative for its 220-block downtown improvement district.
• The city of Los Angeles, which expects to leverage $7.5 million in Recovery Act funding into $30 million for energy upgrades affecting 22 million square feet of downtown buildings;
• The Seattle 2030 District, which aims to transform 23 million feet of downtown buildings into the first large-scale, high-performance building district in the country.

The US Green Building Council’s (USGBC) LEED Demand Response Pilot Credit is designed to encourage increased participation in automated demand response programs. To satisfy the credit requirements, LEED projects must show they can shift energy consumption during peak events by 10 percent of peak load demand. Projects will earn a point towards LEED certification when they
participate in existing utility-sponsored demand response programs that meet the pilot credit guidelines. Additional points are available for projects that implement semi- or fully automated demand response programs in their buildings.

“(W)e believe this credit will really make a difference in the overall smart-grid adoption by the commercial sector,” said Jim Anderson, vice president of Schneider Electric’s US utility and smart-grid business.

The USGBC is currently finalizing plans for a market test of the Demand Response Pilot Credit. The market pilot test will be launched in select utility territories. The council will also launch an education and market feedback program to foster knowledge-sharing and
measure the impact the building community can have on the grid and the environment.

“Demand response is unique,” said Mark MacCracken, chairman of the board of USGBC. “We believe that the new requirements create a straightforward framework for LEED teams to implement demand response, while delivering benefits to both the power grid and to the environment.”

The latest figures from the UK’s Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) show that only 57% of Britain’s lofts have been properly insulated and only 58% of cavity walls have been filled. Insulating lofts and cavity walls helps to reduce energy bills by cutting down on energy leakage.

“At a time when money is tight and with energy prices predicted to rise, householders are missing out on over £100 of savings every single year by not getting their lofts lagged and cavity walls filled,” said Chris Huhne, Energy and Climate Change Secretary. “We are making energy companies do more to help their hard pressed customers, with another 3.5 million households set to be protected against higher bills by the end of next year.”

Britain’s coalition government has told energy companies to increase their efforts to help people insulate their homes and save money. The government’s tougher Carbon Emission Reduction Target is expected to benefit a total of 3.5 million homes by December 2012.

Since adoption of the new target, some 479,000 professional insulation measures have already been installed, with more than three million more homes expected to be treated by the end of 2012. That averages out to more than 140,000 insulation measures a month.

Set to launch next year, the government’s Green Deal aims to help even more people improve the energy efficiency of their homes. The scheme will involve an extensive range of energy efficiency measures including installing insulation, replacing leaky windows, or upgrading inefficient old heating systems to the latest high-performing models. Homeowners will be able to invest in such improvements at no upfront cost and repay the costs through their savings on energy bills.