Category Archives: tips

Japan’s Wind Power Still Working (Plus Tues Tip)

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Japan wind farm

Recently I came across some good news out of Japan:  their wind farms are still working, despite the calamities that nation has faced in the past week.

As I previously noted, wind power is picking up speed as a viable green energy source.  The news out of Japan gives wind power another “feather in its cap”.

According to Yoshinori Ueda, leader of the International Committee of the Japan Wind Power Association & Japan Wind Energy Association, there has been no wind facility damage reported by any association members, from either the earthquake or the tsunami. Even the Kamisu semi-offshore wind farm, located about 300km from the epicenter of the quake, survived.

To read more about how the Japanese wind farms survived, read the full story from Kelly Rigg, HuffPost writer. 

Tuesday Tip: 

Ms. Riggs is also Executive Director of the Global Cool Cities Alliance (GCCA), which has a very interesting website  which explains the science behind  reducing Heat Island effects in cities through the use of light-colored, reflective roofs.  

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 Photo:  A wind farm in Kuzumaki, Iwate, Japan via jasohill.

ConsensusDocs v. AIA: a useful chart (Tue Tip)

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one large and one small strawberry

Which strawberry (er, form contract) will YOU choose?

Here is a handy comparison chart  common ConsensusDocs forms to their standard AIA counterparts.

The chart is produced by the folks at ConsensusDocs, so I’m sure any ambiguities were interpreted in their favor.  That being said, if you are considering using a different standard form contract for your next project, you might want to check it out!

Have you taken the plunge into the ConsensusDocs?  Prefer to stick by the tried and true AIA documents?  Are you an EJCDC maverick instead?  Drop me a line to tell me why you use the contract you do.

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Photo (c) This is Chris via Creative Commons License.

Are there Enough Incentives for Green Building? (guest post)

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For today’s Tuesday Tip we have a guest post by Drake MacDonald. 

According to Drake, his brief experience in construction introduced him to the profession’s many shortcomings, and as an editor and writer for ConstructionManagement.net, he works to promote construction management education in the hopes of raising industry standards of organization, communication, and sustainability.

Today, many construction projects are aimed toward going green. Not only does green construction benefit the environment, it also helps people save money on energy bills. To someone who doesn’t know anything about construction management, green construction may seem daunting. Many associate going green with spending more money on construction. However that isn’t always the case. [Editor’s note: As previously discussed, sometimes costs are too high.]  Some government incentives actually help people save money on green construction projects. Yet, oftentimes these incentives don’t go far enough. Here is a look at some of the incentives owners get for green buildings and what the government can do to improve them.

The biggest government incentives for going green are the tax breaks, which apply to both individuals and corporations. Individuals can enjoy a number of tax credits for going green. For instance, the Residential Energy Efficiency Tax Credit provides people with a tax credit for making everything from their windows to furnaces more energy efficient. The Residential Renewable Energy Tax Credit goes even further, by offering an even larger tax break to homeowners who build or remodel their homes to take advantage of solar or wind energy. Likewise, businesses can receive tax credits for showing a commitment to renewable energy as well as investing in new energy.

Beyond tax breaks, there are rebates, exemptions, grants and loans geared toward helping people with green construction projects. There are rewards for energy performance as well. There are also state incentives, including rebates for using renewable energy, which allow homeowners to further capitalize on building a green home.

Essentially, almost any green improvement an owner makes to his building will allow him to take advantage of at least one of these incentives. These grants and loans can help curb the financial stress that comes with a green construction project. Additionally, energy incentives save the owner money over the long-term, and that should be factored in to cost considerations.

keep my money GREEN sign

While the government does an exceptional job of providing people with plenty of incentives to go green, it can do more to promote them. Many owners are not even aware that these incentives exist. In order to better advertise these incentives, the government should set up a universal Web site where those interested in green building can discover all available incentives for which they qualify. The government should also consider sending out mailings, as well as television advertising to promote its green building incentives.

The government should also focus on gearing more incentives to individuals. While several incentives for homeowners do exist, the majority of green building incentives are designed to benefit corporations. Furthermore, the government should remove all expiration dates on existing incentives. Many incentives have already expired or will expire in the coming months. Owners should be rewarded no matter when they make green improvements, and the elimination of incentives is likely to only deter green building from continuing.

Clearly the government has started a great incentive program for going green; however, it needs to continue, through both advertising and through making green incentives permanent.  If the government is truly dedicated to promoting green building, it needs to make an effort to grow the program instead of phasing out incentives.

Melissa again:  Do you agree or disagree with Drake?  Drop Drake and me a line in the comment section below.

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Photo by smiteme via Creative Commons license.

Micropiles for bad soil: a Tar Heel victory

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Kenan constructionDespite foundation challenges, construction is almost complete [note: this article was originally published on March 14, 2011] on the expansion at University of North Carolina’s Kenan stadium.  The project started with a deep foundation system from design-build contractor GeoStructures.  Known as the Carolina Student-Athlete Center for Excellence, the addition was built on a parcel with a knotty mix of fill soils, subsurface boulders and varying depths to rock.   To achieve uniform foundation support, GeoStructures designed a Micropile system (also known as a Mini pile system) which could be drilled into the variable ground conditions.

After an pre-production load testing program that provided an optimized design, GeoStructures proceeded with installation of 265 micropiles ranging in capacity from 80 tons (160 kips) to 175 tons (350 kips) each. Although most were designed for compression loading only, designs in some areas called for tension resistance due to lateral loading. All of the micropiles were cased to rock with internal reinforcement and socketed into hard bedrock present at the site.

For a video peek into the various construction phases, check out UNC’s  “Hard Hat Hits”.

Do you have experience wiht micropile systems?  Foundation or soil tales of woe?  Just love the Tarheels?  Drop me a note in the comments section, below.

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Photo (c) GeoStructures 

Bayonne Bridge: Herculean Engineering Effort (Tue Tip)

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Map of Bayonne (Click on image to enlarge)

[note:  this article was originally published February 22, 2011]

Incredible feets of engineering are being planned for at the $1 billion-dollar Bayonne Bridge height raising project,  a project of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.  Engineers plan to raise the road from 151 to 215 feet above the Kill van Kull while simultaneously keeping the bridge open to traffic, a measure some are calling  “a Herculean feat of engineering and construction.”  The project is required to accommodate larger container ships (especially those arriving after the widening of the Panama Canal in 2014) to ensure continued viability of the port industry, and raising of the roadbed is the quickest and cheapest solution to the clearance issue.

“It’s truly an exciting engineering project, by all means,” said Peter Zipf, the Port Authority’s chief engineer. “It’s a completely challenging project, and that’s an engineer’s delight. It’s coming up with a regional solution to a regional need.”   As an engineering precedent, Zipf said the Bayonne project will be the first time a replacement roadbed is constructed above the old one, with traffic remaining open, before the original structure is removed.

bridge construction rendering (Click on image to enlarge)

According to nj.com, during construction, the two inner lanes will be closed to traffic and used as a staging area where a crane will likely be used to hoist a series of 84-foot-wide girders into place, forming the steel structure underpinning the new roadway. Like the original, the new roadbed will be suspended by steel cables from the bridge’s original 79-year-old arch.  The two existing outer lanes will remain open, shielded from the work overhead, providing one traffic lane in each direction. To rise to the level of the higher roadbed, Zipf said the bridge approaches will be made slightly steeper and longer, constructed in a similar method from staging areas on the original approaches.

About the Bridge

When the $13 million Bayonne Bridge opened on November 15, 1931, at 1,675 feet it had become the longest steel-arch bridge in the world, an honor it held for the next 45 years.

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Thoughts on the engineering task ahead of them in maintaining traffic while raising the bridge?  Thoughts on possible legal implications should the project not go as planned?  Sign up for email delivery of the Blog’s posts to your inbox to learn the latest news concerning architects, engineers, designers, and other construction professionals.

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Photo credits: Map via Wikipedia/Creative Commons License; Plan sketch via Frank Cecala & Andre Malok/The Star Ledger.