March Lunch Meeting

Date: Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Time: 12:00 noon - 1:30 pm

Location: Viscount Suite Hotel (4855 E. Broadway)

Topic Description:

The Net-Zero Energy Building Code is a joint project of the City of Tucson and Pima County with research assistance from the University of Arizona College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. The goal of the project was to develop a building code that will provide a prescriptive set of rules for designing a building that generates as much energy as it uses. Through the course of the research four key concepts were developed:

1. The development of a primary metric called Energy Use Intensity (EUI) to measure the predicted and actual energy use.

2. The embedded energy to deliver water to the building must be offset by on-site energy production to achieve net-zero status.

3. The development of an energy budget.

4. The net-zero certification will be issued after one year of performance demonstrates net-zero achievement.

This presentation will provide an overview of the project including the development process, residential code, commercial code and economics. The code is posted at www.pimaxpress.com/green.

Speaker Bio:

Rich Franz-Ünder is a near-native Tucsonan, a registered architect in California and Arizona, and a U.S. Green Building Council LEED Accredited Professional. Rich has over ten years experience with green building including the initiation, design, and construction oversight of the first LEED certified building in Arizona during his tenure as Director of Facilities Planning for Pima Community College. He also has experience as the project architect for LEED registered buildings. Currently, Rich is the Green Building Program Manager for Pima County Development Services, where he oversees the Regional Green Building and LEED for Homes programs.