So says the National Recourses Defense Council in a recent article posted by our friends at “Living Green Magazine”.  We’d like to share the article with you.  We agree that Modular Construction is at the forefront and leading the Green Revolution in construction. 

Within the past year, Capsys has achieved a LEED Gold certification for our Park Terrace apartment building project in Yonkers, NY and achieved LEED Platinum for our Building 92 project in Brooklyn, NY. Our steel frame, midrise modular construction system, while aimed at a different market segment of construction than the corporate examples named in the article, will continue to contribute Sustainable Construction solutions to our clients.

http://livinggreenmag.com/2012/02/29/home-garden/how-green-are-todays-modular-homes/

We’ve been testing a suite of products from Verve Living systems in our office and, so far we are very impressed.  Verve’s products provide easy, convenient or even passive ways to save energy.  Their products fall into four main categories:

• Occupancy detection devices that sense motion and, when no motion is detected over a given time span, can wirelessly communicate with lighting and HVAC systems to close circuits or kick back temperature settings thereby saving on energy costs while keeping the space comfortable.  We see a wide range of applications in the Hospitality Industry for these products.
• Heating and cooling controls produce energy savings by adjusting the thermostat automatically. This technology is useful for all types of residential applications.
• Battery-free or lumen/solar powered user interfaces – door/ window switches and remote controls – that allow you to wirelessly control the lighting and temperature.  Imagine never having to change batteries in your remote controls!
• Lighting and load-control products that enable total control over lighting and outlets.  So you can sit in your living room with the wireless controller and turn on or dim lights anywhere in the house.

A link to Verve’s web site is listed below.  Please visit them.  We think their products, when used in conjunction with our Modular Construction technology offer almost any residential or hospitality construction project a sustainable, energy efficient alternative to conventional site/craft construction.

http://vervelivingsystems.com/

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.

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.

You’ve probably heard by now that developer Bruce Ratner and his Forest City Ratner development group want to build their 1600-unit Atlantic Yards project using modular construction.  We’re not surprised and we wish him well.  Capsys has been supplying hundreds of modular buildings to many developers for over 16 years using modular construction.  We believe in the combination of factory built precision and compressed schedule that modular construction can provide.  It offers a tremendous opportunity to both large developers like Mr. Rattner and to mid-sized developers alike.

The Atlantic Yards apartment buildings would be up to 50 stories in height and would be the tallest modular buildings in the world.  We applaud the Forest City group for attempting to stretch the horizon of modular construction.  Our Capsys structural system is approved up to 12 stories.  We have proven, cost effective system which time and time again has been successful for developers of projects as small as 20,000 SF and as large as 400,000 SF.     

If you would like to explore modular construction for your next project, give us a call.