Entry 6: Leed Certification

Hello readers. This entry covers the meeting from Tuesday September 26^th 2006. It was the first meeting after our project had agreed on a GMP, Guaranteed Maximum Price, with Bovis Lend Lease for around 1.95 million. The main points from this meeting were then to discuss the next steps now that the project has a green light, and also update us on our projected LEED Certification Status.

For those of you who don’t know, LEED (Leading in Energy and Environmental Design). Our representative in the project, Isaac Panzarella, provided a presentation on comparing the original goals with the current status of building the Smart House. To give you a brief overview of LEED certification, a building must meet a range of points earned from various categories such as Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy and Atmosphere, Materials and Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality, and Innovation and Design Process. The total amount of points you can earn categorizes the level of certification ranging from certified, to silver, to gold, and finally to platinum. If you walk into the atrium at FCIEMAS, you can see a very large plaque on the wall by the windows like the picture below showing a Silver LEED-NC certification. Our original goal for SmartHouse was to achieve Platinum status, which is a very difficult task to achieve with a limited budget. After reviewing all of the items on the list, we were able to speculate that the SmartHouse will achieve a gold certification if not higher.

As far as the current status on Construction, we concluded that shop drawings need to be approved by Frank Harmon Architects and a permit needs to be given by the city of Durham. Here are some estimated time points according to Bovis; Expect to see some physical presence starting around Monday, October 2^nd (which includes basic cleaning of the site – i.e. removing shrubs). Then, by the end of October, the foundation should be underway and the framing is expected to be up by mid. December. Remember to be aware that these dates are subject to change.

Entry 5: Dirt Will Move

If I could summarize this entry in three words, the phrase would be “Dirt Will Move.” That was the outcome of today’s meeting at the Duke FMD building with Bovis LL, Frank Harmon Architects, and all the other players involved (see Entry 1 for a schematic representation). Everyone involved with the project has devoted more time than expected and the current quote is still higher than the budget. In order for a contract to be settled on between Duke and Bovis LL, these fiscal issues still must come to an accord with both parties. The issue of the meetings is to find ways to lower the projected quote, while preserving the integrity of the house. One example of this is switching the complex framing to a conventional framing. A decision like this takes time because the architect must review the plans, consult with his engineers, and change the plans. I cannot say that we will be finalizing a contract very soon; however, today’s meeting concluded with approval of beginning initial site work very soon. If you’re as excited from reading this as I was when I heard the news in the meeting, (I quickly jotted down a note to see if Tom Rose and I could check out the site pre-construction) you’re jumping up and down.

There are many issues to be solved and future entries will keep you updated, but here are photo’s below from my visit earlier today of the Smart House site.

Photos Taken Before

Evidence of Future Construction

Entry 4: Hitachi Visit

The Japanese technology company Hitachi recently donated a variety of systems to the Duke SmartHouse. These systems include Finger Vein Authentication devices, Smart Cards, and the world’s smallest Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) µ-Chips. All together the donation is worth over $22,000. The CEO of Hitachi and his senior engineer met with representatives from the Duke Smart House to introduce the technology and get feedback and ideas from SmartHouse members. A new team has been created to handle the technology that Hitachi donated. Jack Sullivan and Tim Gu, the head of Industry Relations, are responsible for contacting Hitachi and securing their donation and involvement with the Duke SmartHouse.

SmartHouse members learning to use the technology that Hitachi donated.

Entry 3: Japanese Green Building Founder Visits

Today, a special guest visited Duke University from Japan. Mr. Ishiguro is the Founder and Vice Chairman of the Green Building Council in Japan. He is also a founder and president of an international green commissioning company based in New York, which is where we got the connection (Duke Alum) to arrange a visit. Smart House President Mark Gu presented a brief overview of the Smart House project, which followed with a question and discussion session. Then, we gave Mr. Ishiguro a tour of the Clean Room construction site in CIEMAS. Mr. Ishiguro and his group were very much interested in learning more about our project. In Japan, they work on various commercial green building projects by studying the efficiency, quality, and methods used in construction.

After the tour was finished, we discussed what our relationship will consist of in the future. Mr. Ishiguro would like to return to the US and test the energy efficiency and design of our Smart House right after it is built and 2 years later to draw a comparison. He is very concerned with environmental friendly materials and methods for the building. He was most impressed by the fact that our Smart House will be for the residential market — most of the technologies applied in the current market are used with commercial buildings. We put an emphasis on the fact that our Smart House will serve as a testing site and laboratory for future home related technologies.

All in all, the meeting with the visitors was an educational and rewarding experience. To quote Tom Rose, Program Director of the Duke Smart House, “What I took away from it [the meeting] that was so interesting, was that it seemed like there were cultural differences between the United States and Japan that created a different basis for green building in both of our countries...and that basis didn't necessarily support green building in Japan and he [Ishiguro] was coming here to figure out what can be done to change that, so I was really happy for the Smart House to be a part of that.”

Entry 2: Documents!

Today, I had the chance to go over the construction documents for the house. What are included are a gigantic project manual (well over 1,000 pages) and a set of blueprints. If any one is interested in taking a look at the plans, feel free to contact me and I’d be glad to show you. Let me please advise you not to come to me so that you can find which bedroom to choose when you move in because I have no say in that issue. I don’t think I have the time to read through all the construction documents because they are so inclusive of every detail. But, the actual concept and design of the house is much easier to understand with the complete documentation.