Check out the newest pictures of Park Terrace, a multifamily building,  located in Yonkers, NY. This four story building which consist of 114 modules was completed in 2011. Currently most of the 49 one bedroom apartments are occupied.

Public/Private Residence Hall construction is a fast growing trend in the academic world.  Below is a link to a New York Times article about this trend. Our non-combustible modular construction system is the perfect solution for providing precision-built, green and sustainable residence halls while minimizing campus disruption by using our system that reduces construction times by 50%

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/25/realestate/commercial/public-college-private-dorm.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1328122784-fZniCYPSqLpCQRB6QuMHNA

For more information on our GreenFlex Residence Hall solution along with sample plans, please visit our website also linked below.

http://www.greenflexsystem.com/

Our friends a Building Design+Construction magazine do a great job and we recommend that you keep up with their highly informative website and magazine.  The article linked her is entitled: “Rental Renaissance, The Rebirth of the Apartment Market”.  It details how the Rental Market is finally starting to pick back up since the 2008 collapse of the entire housing market.  It’s definitely recommended reading. 

Please click on the link below:

http://www.bdcnetwork.com/rental-renaissance-rebirth-apartment-market

Safety and efficient response will always be paramount in fire safety.  Getting occupants to a safe area and allowing dedicated professionals to effectively extinguish fires and other hazards are number one!

Capsys is engaging in thorough research and study to increase the efficacy of passive methods for ensuring this.  Sprinkler systems are a highly effective active protection measure, but not the only one.  We must spur innovative passive measures and research to provide for safer and more safety.

It is a pretty often scene in garbage cans and recycling containers to see an abundance of empty water bottles.  A new phenomenen has been showing up in student housing, campus facilities and airports.  Refill those bottles at stations dedicated for that purpose.  A lot of us do remember when drinking water came from a faucet, its time to go back!

With the start of the New Year it seems we are bombarded with predictions of future trends from every futurist or futurist wannabe.  But many of them are fun and thought-provoking so it seems a good idea to gather a few of the better ones together and let you scan them.  We at Capsys hope your New Year is safe, prosperous and “Sustainable” (to use 2011’s most overused buzz word one more time!) 

Leading Leglobal green building consultant Jerry Yudelson, says green building will continue its rebound globally in 2012 in spite of ongoing economic difficulties in most developed economies.

“Green Building Consultant Lists Top Ten Green Building Mega-Trends for 2012”

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/12/prweb9037435.htm

Our friends at Focus on Renewable Energy published this list of the articles published in their newletter that generated the most hits and comments during the last year.

“Top 5 favorite articles published in 2011”

http://www.renewableenergyfocus.com/view/22861/top-5-favourite-content-2011/

The good folks at the website Jetson Green published this list of “What are the 5 major

“Green Home trends for 2012”

”http://www.jetsongreen.com/2012/01/five-green-home-trends-buildipedia.html

And lastly, the folks at Green Building Advisor listed these as their annual picks for the most innovative products for the coming year.

“Top 10 Green Building Products for 2012”

http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/energy-solutions/top-10-green-building-products-2012

As earlier blog entries have informed you, in 2010 Capsys was contracted to supply 24 modular sections to be used as an exhibit space and administrative office complex for the official museum of the Brooklyn Navy Yard – Building 92.  The Navy Yard is where our manufacturing complex is located, so we leap at the chance to be involved! 

Building 92 has recently been recognized by the US Green Building Congress with certification as a LEED Platinum project.  We are very proud to have played a part in the project and thought you might enjoy seeing some additional images of the Building 92 museum.  The following web-link is to an article in “Inhabitat New York City”   a website devoted to green design, architecture and innovation in New York City.   The web link contains a 14 image slide show of image of building 92.  Enjoy!

http://inhabitat.com/nyc/bldg-92-at-the-brooklyn-navy-yard-opens-its-leed-platinum-seeking-doors-to-the-public/

Some very interesting facts and great new innovations in the November 2011 issue of ASHRAE Journal.  Drain water heat recovery is an extraordinary opportunity to reclaim energy that is literally washed down the drain.  Water heating accounts for 17% of residential site energy consumed, when heated water is sent down the drain it still contains 80% + of the energy infused into it.  Various units are available to recover much of this energy and use it to temper the water being heated for the same use.  Capsys will be exploring this technology and use on future projects as we strive to continuously improve on the energy efficiency of our buildings and product.

The European home construction marketplace has thoroughly embraced off-site construction.  Over 30% of all of the new housing in the UK is built using factory construction methodology.  Why then has the US been slower to adopt modern modular construction techniques such we employ here at Capsys?  Interestingly, the author of the following article suggests that the UK was forced to adopt sustainable construction earlier than the US due to its adoption of the Kyoto Protocol in the late 90’s that required substantial reductions of greenhouse gas emissions. 

While we talk a good Green game here in the US, the British have become leaders in Energy Efficient building and Modular Construction is their secret weapon.

http://www.jetsongreen.com/2011/10/modern-methods-offsite-construction-mccaughey.html

This month, we came across an excellent article by Nancy B. Solomon, AIA that was first published in the July/August 2011 issue of GreenSource magazine and is now located on-line at the GreenSource website.  We are providing a link to the article below.

The article, entitled Code Green reviews several recent attempts by Cities, states, and national organizations who are working to establish minimum, enforceable sustainable construction requirements to complement—not replace—highly popular above-code incentive programs such as USGBC’s LEED certification program.  The article describes the process behind such newly implemented codes as:

• The California Green Building Standards Code, or the CALGreen
• The Massachusetts Stretch Energy Code
• New York City’s attempt to review the existing code and recommend advances that would advance sustainable construction by asking the Urban Green Council to establish a task force to that end,
• ASHRAE Standard 189.1 “Standard for the Design of High-Performance Green Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings,”
• International Green Construction Code (IGCC)

http://continuingeducation.construction.com/article.php?L=5&C=811&P=1