June 5, 2010
NAREE CONFERENCE: Architect Peter Pfeiffer: 'Eco Bling' Syndrome Dogs Energy Efficient Design
By David M. Kinchen
Huntingtonnews.net Real Estate Writer
Austin, TX (HNN) - Those who always wanted to hear an architect speak up about the absurdly expensive energy efficient buildings with butterfly roofs and solar collectors up the wazoo were rewarded with a talk by architect Peter Pfeiffer, FAIA, during the 44th annual NAREE journalism conference that concluded today in Austin, TX.
Pfeiffer, of Barley & Pfeiffer Architects, Austin, TX has all the credentials: the founding partner (with Alan Barley) of his firm, Pfeiffer is a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) accredited design professional who was designing "green" buildings before there was such a term.
If anyone is qualified to define as "Eco Bling" the butterfly roofs and sod on the roof and $340,000 houses in New Orleans touted by Brad Pitt as a "Make It Right" solution to post-Katrina 9th Ward (in place of $65,000 houses destroyed by the hurricane) it's Pfeiffer. Design elements like these look cool, he said. (He didn't say "cool" like a Toyota Prius, but that's the image that jumped around in my head!).
Pfeiffer noted that the active solar system installed on his own house in Austin in 2004 has a 32-year payback, adding that well designed window shading delivers more bang for the buck than a $16,000 solar collector. An $800 pool pump hooked up to the house's heating and air conditioning heat pump saves twice as much energy as that $16,000 solar PV collector. Interconnecting the swimming pool pump to the house's heat pump heats the house in winter and cools it in the summer, Pfeiffer said.
The point Pfeiffer was trying to make was clear: Design your building from the start as environmentally correct and friendly as you can and you can do away with much of the "Eco Bling." Left unanswered was the question about the Bling being an important indicator telling the world that the house is "green." Sometimes symbolism is everything and sometimes a cigar is more than just a cigar (with apologies to Sigmund Freud).
LEED was developed in 1998 by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) to provides building owners and operators a concise framework for identifying and implementing practical and measurable green building design, construction, operations and maintenance solutions.
LEED addresses both commercial and residential building types. It works throughout the building lifecycle – design and construction, operations and maintenance, tenant fitout, and significant retrofit.
BPA, founded in 1989, says on its website: it is "proud to be recognized nationally as pioneers in the environmentally responsive green building movement. A full-fledged commitment to this movement was the founding basis of the firm over two decades ago. [We] were 'green' before there was such a term."
Photo: Peter Pfeiffer (left) and Alan Barley of BPA, Austin, TX
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NAREE CONFERENCE: Architect Peter Pfeiffer: 'Eco Bling' Syndrome Dogs Energy Efficient Design
By David M. Kinchen
Huntingtonnews.net Real Estate Writer
Austin, TX (HNN) - Those who always wanted to hear an architect speak up about the absurdly expensive energy efficient buildings with butterfly roofs and solar collectors up the wazoo were rewarded with a talk by architect Peter Pfeiffer, FAIA, during the 44th annual NAREE journalism conference that concluded today in Austin, TX.
Pfeiffer, of Barley & Pfeiffer Architects, Austin, TX has all the credentials: the founding partner (with Alan Barley) of his firm, Pfeiffer is a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) accredited design professional who was designing "green" buildings before there was such a term.
If anyone is qualified to define as "Eco Bling" the butterfly roofs and sod on the roof and $340,000 houses in New Orleans touted by Brad Pitt as a "Make It Right" solution to post-Katrina 9th Ward (in place of $65,000 houses destroyed by the hurricane) it's Pfeiffer. Design elements like these look cool, he said. (He didn't say "cool" like a Toyota Prius, but that's the image that jumped around in my head!).
Pfeiffer noted that the active solar system installed on his own house in Austin in 2004 has a 32-year payback, adding that well designed window shading delivers more bang for the buck than a $16,000 solar collector. An $800 pool pump hooked up to the house's heating and air conditioning heat pump saves twice as much energy as that $16,000 solar PV collector. Interconnecting the swimming pool pump to the house's heat pump heats the house in winter and cools it in the summer, Pfeiffer said.
The point Pfeiffer was trying to make was clear: Design your building from the start as environmentally correct and friendly as you can and you can do away with much of the "Eco Bling." Left unanswered was the question about the Bling being an important indicator telling the world that the house is "green." Sometimes symbolism is everything and sometimes a cigar is more than just a cigar (with apologies to Sigmund Freud).
LEED was developed in 1998 by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) to provides building owners and operators a concise framework for identifying and implementing practical and measurable green building design, construction, operations and maintenance solutions.
LEED addresses both commercial and residential building types. It works throughout the building lifecycle – design and construction, operations and maintenance, tenant fitout, and significant retrofit.
BPA, founded in 1989, says on its website: it is "proud to be recognized nationally as pioneers in the environmentally responsive green building movement. A full-fledged commitment to this movement was the founding basis of the firm over two decades ago. [We] were 'green' before there was such a term."
Photo: Peter Pfeiffer (left) and Alan Barley of BPA, Austin, TX
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