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There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
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A net-zero building is not only specially engineered to maximize energy savings, but also generates its own renewable energy—through methods such as solar panels—to cancel out the consumption of electricity and gas. “It’s very easy to be energy efficient these days,” says Michael Gamble, M Arch '91, associate professor of architecture at Tech. “However, I would say there’s sort of an 80/20 rule. It’s the 80 percent effort to achieve energy efficiency that’s pretty easy and inexpensive. The last 20 percent of working toward net-zero energy consumption—or even positive energy generation—is where it gets much more challenging.” Gamble is working with fellow Tech professors Godfried Augenbroe, Daniel Castro, Russell Gentry, Jason Brown and recent alumnus Stephen Taul, M Arch '12, MCRP '12, to lead a group of graduate architecture students on a three-year project to design, build and eventually occupy a net-zero energy apartment building near campus. Gamble says Tech students certainly aren’t the only ones attempting to create net-zero energy buildings today. But what makes this project unique is that they are tailoring their designs specifically to the challenges of modern, urban life in Atlanta.
