There are many conditions that determine the effectiveness of any building material to provide comfort and energy efficient performance. R-Value is only one of these factors or measurement tools.

R-Value is the measure of resistance to heat flow through the defined material. The higher the R-Value the less heat will transfer through the wall, making the system more energy efficient.

R-Value is determined by testing or by the addition of tested components. When “effective” R-value is used, it represents that at a given condition or circumstance, the system performs the same as a product with the “real” R-value.

It is important to understand the conditions at which the “effective” R-value was determined, and see if your application is the same. For example, a masonry wall may have a high “effective” R-value for a 5 hour test period, but have a very low R-value during a 24 hour test period. Where “real” R-value products will have the same R-value during both test periods.

There are several items to consider when evaluating R-Value and it’s effect on your project

Effective R-Value

An example would be masonry products. Masonry product have a very low R-Value but have a high thermal mass. Foam type products have a high R-value but low thermal mass. There is not a standard measurement or number for the energy effectiveness of thermal mass. While R-value resists the flow of heat, thermal mass delays the transfer of heat but does not reduce it. During a short period, thermal mass has the same “effective” R-value, so it is sometimes advertised with this R-value rating. It is not a real R-value but, under those conditions, an “effective” R-value. Please review other technical bulletins for more details and other related items.

Installed R-Value vs Advertised R-Value

It should be noted that R-Value of an item is the value that was tested in a laboratory and is real, but the item may not perform at the same R-value when installed. Most insulating materials obtain their insulating values from trapped air spaces, often the higher the density of air pockets, the higher the R-value. If these air spaces are compressed, a lower R-value will result. For example, batt type insulation may be rated at R-19 in its free state, but requires a 6 ½” thickness to obtain that value. When this material is installed in a 5 ½” frame cavity, the batt is compressed and the R-value is less than R-19. Likewise, putting two batts in the space for one does not increase insulating value; it might even reduce the R-value. Review the Technical Bulletin on Air Infiltration in Insulation for more related information.

Nonuniform Material

Whole wall R-value is the term used to describe the average R-value for the total wall taking into consideration variations and non-uniformity’s in the insulating material. Often, the R-value of the insulating material is advertised without stating the effect of the total system.

An example would be installing an R-19 batt insulation in a 2×6 frame wall. The resultant “whole wall R-value” is the average of the R-19 insulation and the R-5 stud. Tests have shown that the actual “whole wall R-value” of an R-19 wall system to be R-13.7, much less than the R-19 advertised. This applies to all non uniform wall systems.

The R-value of building materials may be effected or altered by the following items.

• Non uniform material
• Thermal shorts
• Material compression
• Air infiltration in the insulation
• Humidity
• Temperature swing or range of environment
• Effects of time and aging.

Along with R-Value, several other factors need to be considered to determine the overall energy efficiency of a building structure.

• Thermal Mass
• Air infiltration in the building
• Radiated heat gains
• Internal heat gains
• Latent and Sensible heat transfer

Originally posted 2010-03-05 00:01:00.

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3. The Skinny on Thermal Mass

This post comes from Stephanie O'Hara, Planner Analyst for EVstudio. Immediately prior to joining EVstudio she worked for Jefferson County, Colorado for 6 years in various planning roles. EVstudio looks for planning opportunities in both the public and private sector:

While working at Jefferson County I developed the 2005-2010 Consolidated Plan which is a strategy for housing and community and economic development. The plan outlines goals, objectives and policies based on the housing and community needs for low to moderate income, homeless and special needs populations.

The plan was developed over 2 years with extensive community and stakeholder involvement. A technical steering committee was formed consisting of non-profit organizations that serve the target populations, representatives from participating jurisdictions and governmental/quasi-governmental entities involved in housing, and community and economic development.

The public was involved throughout the process. Numerous community meetings and events were conducted as well as a 30 day comment period when the final draft was completed.

Originally posted 2009-02-25 00:01:48.

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2. Affordable Housing is Important
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NOTE: THIS POST REFERENCES OUR OLD PHYSICAL ADDRESS ON SANTA FE. EVSTUDIO'S NEW DENVER LOCATION IS IN THE EVSTUDIO BUILDING AT 1117 CHEROKEE ST., SUITE #100 DENVER CO 80204

The EVstudio Denver office is located at 771 Santa Fe Drive, Ste 200 in Denver. We are just south of the corner of Santa Fe Drive and 8th Avenue.

If you are arriving from I-25 or 6th Avenue the best way is to take 6th Avenue East while staying in the left lane so that you can turn left on Santa Fe and we're 1.5 blocks ahead on the left. If you are coming from the northeast you'll need to lap the block by taking take 8th Avenue west to Kalamath south and then 7th east to Santa Fe north. The map may make more sense.

Parking is generally available on Santa Fe for two hour parking and on other side streets for extended parking. Our logo is on the door and our office is at the top of the stairs.

You can also find us by looking for EVstudio on Google Maps.

Directions and Map for EVstudio Evergreen Office

Originally posted 2008-10-23 15:55:09.

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1. Directions to our Evergreen Office
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The Evergreen Terraces office building located in the heart of downtown Evergreen, Colorado is being designed and built as a high performance office building with sustainability in mind. Although ‘green’ is a word being thrown around quite liberally lately, there are specific determinations and measures that can certify and prove that a building has been designed as a high performance sustainable building and has true ‘greenness’ according to nationally accepted and criticized benchmarks. The Evergreen Terraces project is attempting to achieve a number of designated measures of sustainability benchmarks including a Silver Certification under the LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) Program for Core & Shell projects by the U.S. Green Building Council, a Federal Tax Deduction for Energy Efficient Commercial Buildings under the Energy Policy Act of 2005, and several of the Energy Conservation Rebates & Incentives available from Xcel Energy.

The building has a total square footage of 11,764 square feet which includes a covered parking structure under the building measuring approximately 3,800 square feet, and two levels of tenant space equaling approximately 8,000 square feet. Although many portions of the building and site as a whole include a number of sustainable strategies, the sustainability benchmarks for the project focus only on the Core & Shell portion of the project because of the speculative nature of tenant finish needs. There will be a Tenant Design Guideline included in the project that will be made available to the building tenants in order to inform them of the buildings green features and ways that they can utilize and build upon those features in the design of their spaces as well. Approximately 3,000 square feet of the buildings finished space is included in the Core & Shell portion of the project in addition to the garage portion (3,800 SF) for a total of approximately 6,800 square feet.

LEED-CS Silver Certification

The LEED program for certification of the Core & Shell includes sustainable measures and strategies for the building and site in it’s entirety that have a great many benefits for the people inhabiting the building, the building and it’s site and the surrounding community. The LEED Rating System is broken down into six overall categories in which credits are given to the project including Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy & Atmosphere, Materials & Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality, and Innovation & Design. The Evergreen Terraces project is using a variety of strategies in all of these categories which will help to achieve a Silver Certification for the building:

• Sustainable Sites: The building is located on what could be called a ‘challenging’ site which made sustainable design for the site not just a good idea, but necessary in order to protect the valuable resources of the community and area around the building during and after construction. Some of the important strategies used in the design of the site include:
  • Stormwater Design: Quantity and Quality Control
    • 100% of stormwater retained on-site
    • Filtering of stormwater to reduce any contaminants and prevent them from leaving the site
  • Heat Island Effect: Reducing the heat created by blacktop
    • 90%+ Covered parking under the building
  • Light Pollution Reduction:
    • Fixtures both on the site and within the building that prevent light pollution from leaving the site
• Water Efficiency
  • Water Efficient Landscaping:
    • No potable water is being used for landscaping
    • Native plantings being used
  • Water Use Reduction:
    • A 30%+ reduction in water usage will be achieved in the building through the use of a water efficient system and fixtures in the building ($100+ savings per year)
• Energy & Atmosphere
  • Commissioning (third party verification) of the buildings fundamental systems under operation will assure that the systems are calibrated correctly and are performing at the projected efficiencies to create actual energy savings
  • No CFC’s are used in the buildings fire suppression or HVAC systems so the building will not be contributing to ozone depletion.
  • The buildings energy usage has been optimized, modeled and designed to achieve at least a 14% reduction in energy use over a building designed to the minimum of code compliance. This has been achieved in the Evergreen Terraces project through strategies such as Daylighting and optimization of the HVAC system, lighting and thermal envelope. Some of these strategies include usage of a heat exchanger in the building, optimized energy management systems, usage of operable windows (people will accept a larger variation in heat if they feel they have control), usage of high performance HVAC equipment.
    • 14% reduction (as a min.) in energy usage could save over $1000 per year in energy bills for the Core & Shell portion of the project alone! (based on average costs and usage info provided by Xcel Energy)
  • Green Power – Some of the buildings energy will be produced on-site through the use of Solar Panels and a contract for the purchase of clean, renewable energy through the ‘Windsource’ program provided by Xcel Energy will provide power to the building
• Materials & Resources
  • Designated areas for the storage and collection of recyclables, along with recycling pickup services will be provided at the building
  • The materials used in the construction and finish of the building contain a minimum of 10% recycled materials and a minimum of 20% regional materials that are extracted and manufactured less than 500 miles from the site. This reduces the impact of industrial manufacturing and transportation for the building materials overall and helps to put money into the local economy.
    • Example material: Concrete deck pavers consist of 85% post-consumer recycled material generated from the recycling of the concrete runways at the former Stapleton Airport into aggregate that is mixed with a small amount of new Portland cement to create new pavers – the pavers are also both extracted and manufactured within 500 miles of the site for regional materials credits
• Indoor Environmental Quality
  • The indoor environmental quality in the building has been improved upon the design of a typical commercial office building through a number of measures that contribute to the health and well-being of the occupants. These include strategies such as Daylighting, usage of operable windows and natural ventilation, use of low VOC materials in the building (paints, adhesives, sealants, carpet, etc.), and optimization of the thermal comfort and ventilation systems in the building.
• Innovation & Design – This project could achieve some of the credits for innovation and design based on its exemplary education and outreach program, increased usage of regional materials and inclusion of an accredited sustainability consultant on the design team.

The Federal Tax Deduction and the Conservation Rebates & Incentives that are being attempted by the project are based on the energy efficiency portion of the green strategies employed in the design.

• Federal Tax Deduction – There are several levels at which the Federal Tax Deduction for Energy Efficient Commercial Buildings can be achieved and result in anywhere from a $0.30 - $1.80 per square foot tax deduction in the year that the building is built. Although this is a one-time financial incentive, it can be quite substantial depending on the project parameters. The Evergreen Terraces project is attempting a 16 2/3% energy reduction which could achieve a tax deduction of $0.60 per square foot for the buildings developer equaling up to $7000.
• Conservation Rebates & Incentives – A number of rebates and incentives are available through Xcel Energy for implementing strategies that will increase the energy efficiency of a commercial building. Some of the ones being attempted by the Evergreen Terraces project include the Solar Rewards Rebate for Photo Voltaic Systems, Custom Efficiency Rebates for equipment in the building and Lighting Efficiency Rebates.

Summary

The Evergreen Terraces office building is being designed, built, verified and certified as a high performance sustainable office building. It will be the first ‘green’ office building in Evergreen and among the first ‘green’ buildings in the entire Front Range. Achieving a LEED certification of the building along with the Federal Tax Deduction and the Xcel Conservation Rebates and Incentives will prove conclusively that the building performs as designed and is sustainably designed and built. The building will be a benefit to the community, the tenants, the users and the owner.

The decision to create a Green office building was based partially on the health and well-being benefits of the building and the benefit of a sustainable site & building to the community. These benefits alone can create a unique marketability for the building that stands above the rest of the market. The decision to ‘go green’, however, was also based on the substantial financial benefits attributable to the buildings energy efficiency and the tax deductions, rebates and incentives currently available for implementing sustainable strategies. Although there is a cost premium during the design and construction of a sustainable building which currently averages 2% - 5% of the construction costs (according to the U.S. Green Building Council), the financial incentives can offset and even provide returns over time on this initial added investment in the building. For the Evergreen Terraces project, these financial incentives could specifically add up to an annual water/energy savings of approximately $1,500 per year in addition to the initial $7000 Tax Deduction and the accumulative rebates and incentives that will be determined by Xcel Energy. The cost premium for the project could be calculated at approximately $25,000 (2%) which would be fully returned within 10 years of operation.

Originally posted 2008-06-02 12:56:20.

No related posts.

We work with a broad range of private and public clients on project types including detached and attached single family housing, multi-family housing, schools, offices, medical, and retail spaces. Our services include streetscapes, parks and recreation, land entitlements, design guidelines and even HOA retrofits.  We practice sustainability with all of our landscapes selecting appropriate plant material for the context and working closely with our civil engineers to manage and utilize storm water effectively.  We offer full service landscape architecture including necessary construction documentation and specifications.

Our Director of Landscape Architecture is John Olson, RLA, LEED-AP, CNU-A. John has over eight years of landscape architecture experience and has worked on projects in a variety of climates across the country.  John will be your landscape architecture point person on your project. Some of his recent work includes landscape architecture improvements at Medinah Country Club (home of the 2012 Ryder Cup), the Pueblo Justice Center in downtown Pueblo and planning and entitlements work for The Mountain Preserve, a luxurious sustainable development south of the Broadmoor Hotel of Colorado Springs, owned by famous folk singer Pat Boone.

Originally posted 2010-05-07 00:01:22.

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There are a few reasons for this.   Even if an isolation valve is provided to isolate the makeup water from the heating water unless it is manually opened, this valve can easily be left open.  This introduces makeup water to the heating water system automatically and has the potential to create a serious problem.  If for some reason the heating water system suffers a severe leak or break in which a significant amount of its water is drained in a short period of time, a permanent hard connection can then begin introducing a large amount of cold water to the system as it tries to compensate for the leak.  If this were to happen when the boilers in the heating water system were firing and hot, then cold water could be introduced to a hot boiler.  Hot boilers can react badly to having cold water dumped in them.  This cold water basically flashes into steam, and in the process, expands greatly in a very short period of time.  This could cause loud knocking or hammering in the boiler, or in the worst case, the boiler could explode.  It isn’t hard to imagine the potential for loss of property or life and the associated legal ramifications that could result from a boiler exploding.  Even if your heating water system never springs a leak big enough to require a great deal of water to be introduced into the system and cause a boiler to make scary noises (and believe me, unexpected loud noises coming from boilers are scary if you’re standing right next to them) a permanent hard connection of makeup water to the heating water system can mask small leaks.   If the water lost due to a small leak is automatically replenished, it may go unnoticed and unrepaired.  A permanent hard connection of makeup water can also introduce air into the system.  Permanent connections could also have the potential to dilute an antifreeze solution.  If this dilution were to happen to a heating water system that has exposure to freezing temperatures and the water in the pipes froze and caused a break in the line large enough to drain a significant amount of water from the system, then we’ve created the unfavorable conditions described above.

To avoid all of this, the EVstudio Mechanical Department recommends that a makeup water line be brought into the boiler room and provided with a backflow preventer, pressure reducing valve, isolation valve, and threaded hose end.  A pipe branch can then be provided on the heating water system with its own isolation valve and hose end.  Then, when there is ever a need to provide makeup water to the system, the makeup line can be connected to the heating water system with a hose.  Water can then be introduced in this manner without a permanent hard connection and hopefully avoid a bit of potentially serious trouble.

Originally posted 2011-01-14 02:17:46.

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This is a must see for architects, real estate agents, housing property managers, and owners of rental housing. In addition to the free lecture DORA provides stacks of detailed brochures and other materials you can take and hand out at your office to build awareness.

The material covered in this presentation includes an overview of the many levels of fair housing regulations, how they overlap and how to be sure you comply. Fair Housing regulations cover a broad range of classes and vary at the Federal, State and Local level.

Federal Law requires that one can not discriminate based on:

• Race
• Color
• Religion
• Sex
• Handicap (disabilities)
• Familial Status
• National Origin

Colorado State Law adds:

• Marital Status
• Creed
• Ancestry
• Sexual Orientation

Local Ordinances (City and County of Denver) add yet again:

• Age
• Military Status
• Gender Variance

Keeping in mind that fair housing covers many different protected classes the most common issue for architects is disability. Many of the discussions I have had with clients that must provide accessibility in their buildings revolve around the loss of square footage in a living room or bedroom due to more space required in bathrooms and kitchens. Of course, if these requirements are carried out within the building it could result in very costly alterations in the future in order to comply. During this lecture you are given clear ideas of how to communicate why these requirements are necessary.

Educating architects, real estate agents, developers and owners on this topic is one way to ensure we are preventing future noncompliance. This key for the DORA Civil Rights Division because currently the division is a reactionary or complaint-driven agency. Meaning, the division needs to improve its education and outreach to transform into a more preventative department.

The more we can educate our clients the more we can provide fair housing! The next FREE lecture is June 1st 9:30 am-11:30 am offered at 1560 Broadway, Conference Room 110 B (first floor), Denver. The following two lectures are offered September 7, 2010, 9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. and November 2, 2010, 9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. at the same location.

Another helpful organization to check out is Fair Housing Accessibility First. This site gives you a detailed look at design and construction requirements with regard to accessibility.

Originally posted 2010-04-13 00:01:57.

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1. AIA Denver Housing Committee and the Housing Investment Fund Initiative
2. ANSI 117.1 Accessibility Standard Voluntary or Enforceable
3. SB 29

If you're already in Copperas Cove, our office is easy to find, just off 190 at 913 South Main Street.

If you're not familiar with Central Texas, our office is north of Austin and west of Temple, within easy driving distance of the major Texas cities.

Originally posted 2009-06-02 00:05:59.

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There is a Virtual Tour of the De Bruin Duplex on Homestore.com.

This half of the duplex is currently for sale through EV Real Estate.

Originally posted 2008-10-06 16:17:58.

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Headed up by Sean O'Hara, the managing principal for EVstudio Denver, we have navigated the many challenges that a wide variety of projects face with various regulations and have had tremendous success with our construction documents during the permitting process. Just recently, we walked the Denver International School (formerly Montclair Academy) project through the building department without a hitch. Kudos to the EVstudio Denver staff and if you have a project in the Denver Metro area and are looking for a great local Denver Architect, there is only one place to call 303-670-7242.

Originally posted 2009-02-12 22:54:22.

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