23 Apr 2017
Understand the importance of doing a site assessment.
When should a site assessment occur?
A site assessment assesses site conditions before design to evaluate sustainable options and inform related decisions about site design.
What would a site assessment reveal?
An assessment reviews the sites:
This exam objective covers all of the different impacts the design decisions will have once a site is selected.
What strategies will prevent construction activity pollution prevention?
The loss of valuable topsoil is one of the biggest environmental impacts of the site during the construction process. Prior to construction, there must be a plan to address construction activities and prevent erosion and sedimentation. Among the methods to limit erosion and sedimentation are:
What are the benefits of rainwater management?
How can you reduce light pollution?
Good lighting design involves reducing three forms of light pollution: uplight, glare, and light trespass. The backlight, uplight, glare (BUG) method is used in LEED for light pollution reduction.
Automatic light shut offs can ensure that lights are not left on after work hours or when they are not needed.
What is a heat island?
Heat islands are temperature differences between developed and undeveloped areas. The heat island effect is created when developed areas have higher temperatures than surrounding rural areas. An urban heat island effect is caused by sunlight heating up dark colored surfaces such as roads and rooftops. Urban heat islands effects can also be created by narrows streets and tall buildings reducing the air flow through the city, as well as vehicle exhaust.
Urban heat islands refer to the elevated temperatures of up to 10 degrees in developed areas compared to more rural surroundings. Urban heat islands not only create discomfort, but they also contribute to smog.
What is SRI?
The solar reflectance index (SRI) is the most effective measure to determine how a roofing material will reject solar heat.
For non-roof materials such as vegetation, architectural shading devices, and materials that have more thermal mass but are less reflective, the solar reflectance (SR) measurement is used instead.
Another energy use factor is emissivity. Emissivity measures how much heat or infrared radiation a material is able to shed back into the atmosphere. The emittance of a material refers to its ability to release absorbed heat.
The combination of both solar reflectance and thermal emittance gives a more accurate and complete picture of a surfaces’ ability to reduce the energy consumption associated with air conditioning. The solar reflectance index (SRI) is a combined metric of these two factors. A general rule of thumb is the higher the number on a scale of 0 to 100, the better.