The following research activities are planned pending grant funding:

Tunneling Through the Cost Barrier
The claim that is hardest for building owners and design professionals to believe is that a more efficient building can actually cost less, not just to operate, but to build if it is designed as a whole system incorporating major strategies that eliminate most of the energy the building would otherwise use. People intuitively have difficulty getting past the higher costs of the individual energy-saving or building-enhancing strategies to accept that synergies between these strategies can result in vast downsizing or even elimination of costly conventional systems. Although we have a few stellar examples, GDS would like to generate a greater number of recent case studies that establish hard data. What would the building have cost had it been conventionally designed? How did the building systems interact to cumulatively reduce energy use? Which strategies were most effective? If we can successfully conduct and widely publicize this research, it has the potential to effect market transformation in the building industry as perceptions that "green building costs more" are reversed.

Applicability of New or Experimental Technologies
There are many exciting new building technologies (for example, radiant roof-cooling systems, horizontal light pipes, fiber-optic lighting) in various stages of development. We intend to study the feasibility of these technologies for current building types. In particular, how can we integrate a "package" that includes these newer technologies into a whole-system design? What are the implications on the design—how will a typical building need to be adjusted and what kinds of benefits (energy or quality enhancements) could be realistically expected? What are the major obstacles to overcome?
 
Distributed Energy Generation for Buildings
Distributed energy generation is the likely future of electric girds. To date, the majority of the conversation has been about the utility and regulatory implications of the new distributed technologies and their integration into a grid. Other than some work on building-integrated photovoltaics, very little has been written on the implications of integrating bundles of new generating technologies into the fabric of commercial and residential buildings. From our work with the University of Texas Health Sciences Center and other projects, we are coming to realize that there are thermal, control and spatial needs and opportunities that have not yet been fully considered. We propose to look into the building implications of distributed energy systems.

Biomimicry
Nature has evolved systems that demonstrate optimum material efficiency fine-tuned to a specific need; that operate in closed loops and run off current solar income; and that neither pollute nor require extreme heat or toxic chemical inputs. How can we mimic this natural wisdom in building design?

RMI has been working with the Biomimicry Guild to build a prototype database of nature's strategies for the built environment. We began with 12 of architecture's biggest challenges, including: color, adhesion, dehumidification, foundations, building materials, protection from disasters, protection from elements, seasonal response to environmental conditions, sound, light, the building skin, and service distribution. We have biologist interns working on gathering nature's solutions to these challenges and entering their findings into a database. We also have a handful of volunteers who have been researching current "human" strategies to these challenges. The database is scheduled to be released to the public in the fall of 2004.
See: Summer 2003—"Biomimicry in Communities—Shared Resources Work"

Biophilia
Increases in occupant health, welfare and productivity was a "surprising" reported result of energy-efficiency improvements in many buildings. In GDS's 1994 report, "Greening the Building and the Bottom Line," eight documented case studies demonstrated that environmental quality improvements resulting from efficient lighting and thermal comfort delivery and control alone can increase worker productivity, decrease absenteeism, and improve quality of work. This led to an experiment at Herman Miller's SQA manufacturing facility in Zeeland, Michigan, which in turn built on the work of Harvard's E.O. Wilson and others on "biophilia"—human response to environments and how that response relates back to evolutionary conditions. Similar to our work in the original "Greening the Building and the Bottom Line," we would collect literature and talk with researchers and host sites to attempt to develop a set of case studies on biophilia and the design of human environments.
See: Spring 2004—"An Introduction to Biophilia and the Built Environment"

 
Green Building Market Transformation
A growing number of clients and regulatory agencies are embracing green development concepts and incorporating them into their work. Green development consultants operating independently or within architectural firms or other types of firms (such as law firms), are setting up shop to meet the increasing demand. We propose to research ways in which the market is being transformed, document the new types of organizations which are being created and services which are being offered, determine the principle drivers in this transformation, evaluate the effectiveness of existing tools, and determine the need for new ones. These findings will help direct GDS's future efforts in several areas.
 


Interested in Funding
If you would like to contribute feedback on any of these proposed projects, or if your organization might be interested in funding one, please contact RMI/ENSAR Built Environment.