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ENERGY REVOLUTION: An Overview

 

Exhibit details

Opened: April 2022
Closing: October 17, 2022
Location: Skyscraper Gallery and Rotating Gallery (2^nd level)

 

What is the Energy Revolution? A Conversation with Doug Farr (video)

On April 21, CAC Director of Exhibitions Eve Fineman sat down with architect and co-curator Doug Farr to introduce the exhibition and discuss how each of us can combat the climate crisis by dramatically transforming how we use energy in the built environment. You can watch a recording of that program here using the password ExhibitHost2022.

 

Exhibit Summary
ENERGY REVOLUTION demonstrates how we can actively respond to the climate crisis by transforming our use of energy in the built environment. The exhibition highlights the ways architects, engineers, city leaders and individual citizens can work toward a carbon-free future.

Urbanized areas make up less than 2% of Earth’s landmass, but account for 78% of energy consumption and 60% of greenhouse gas emissions. Sprawling development, inefficient buildings and car dependency all exacerbate global warming. Yet, because urban cores are densely populated, they have the potential to be far more energy efficient than outlying areas. As innovation powerhouses, cities must be global leaders to halt climate change.

Smart approaches to design and technologies like kinetic energy capture and high-performance facades are making net-zero buildings a reality, and the gravitation to renewable sources like wind and solar coupled with electrification is enabling a shift away from fossil fuels. Meanwhile, personal choices like adopting cleaner modes of transportation, planting gardens instead of lawns and installing modern electric appliances can help us live better with less energy.

Time is our scarcest resource. But beyond the dire warnings, this exhibition features inspiring case studies of individuals, places and communities innovating toward a more sustainable future.

INTRO GALLERY (Rotating Gallery Space)

• Introduces the climate crisis as a global issue
• The map shows dramatic population increase in urban areas throughout the world, to underscore why cities are both the biggest culprits but can also be the most powerful mitigators of climate change and its impacts. (density, buildings, transit, infrastructure)
• This is an emergency that requires a shift in mindset, with both individual and collective action necessary for true change
• The emergency warrants a REVOLUTION, full of optimism and empowerment
• In the fight against climate change, time is our most precious resource
• Examples of innovations in sustainable development throughout the world, from green transit to urban forestry
• Information about global warming and its dire consequences if we don’t shift course, including Chicago having the climate of Dallas by 2100, seas becoming toxic.
• Pledge wall where visitors can write their personal action statements – what change they plan to make as soon as they leave the exhibit

 

MAIN SPACE (Skyscraper Gallery)

• The space is organized into four sections, with headings that can be found on the wood panels:
  • Conserve
  • Electrify
  • Decarbonize
  • Optimize
• Walking through the gallery in this order will help people understand a step-by-step process toward severing our dependence on fossil fuels
• Conserve: Use less energy (individual action – take stairs, bike, turn down thermostat), build more energy efficient buildings that require less energy to heat and cool, stack plumbing, etc.
• Electrify: Switch from gas powered appliances, vehicles, etc. to electric powered equivalents. Examples are on the “meet your electric twin” wall.
• Decarbonize: Once we switch to electric power, we need cleaner sources of energy, such as wind and solar. There are also less known examples such as coffee grounds, geothermal, kinetic. There is also information on evolving battery technology, as well as rebates for making switches to cleaner energy.
• Optimize: Often times excess energy is produced and wasted. An example is a freezer that outputs hot air while cooling food. What can we do with that excess heat? Optimization allows us to store our excess clean energy for “on demand” use, resulting in net positive buildings, that produce rather than use energy.

 

CHICAGO ARCHITECTURE THROUGH A CLIMATE LENS

• The 5^th pillar of the exhibit, as shown through the 3 building section prototypes as well as the infrared photography, tells us the story of how buildings in Chicago have performed in terms of energy efficiency, in 3 schools or historical eras:
  • Late-19^th century (Monadnock Building, Burnham & Root, 1891 [north side]; Holabird & Roche, 1893 [south side]) has an EUI of 43. (Energy Use Intensity – the lower the number, the more energy efficient the building is, in terms of insulating from temperature loss to the outside). Although it has no insulation, it has multiple layers of brick plus lath and plaster, which have natural insulating properties. Temperature leaks occur mainly through the single pane glass. Fabric awnings (a simple, passive technology) originally helped to mitigate sunlight from overheating the office spaces. Operable windows allowed tenants to control temperature and airflow. (Fun fact: encased in this prototype is a real Monadnock Building window, found in its basement!)
  • Mid-20^th century (860-880 N. Lake Shore Drive, Mies Van der Rohe, 1949-1951): EUI of 125. The mock-up shows that there is no insulation in the exterior wall, except for directly behind the baseboard heater. Other culprits include aluminum that conducts heat, single pane glass, and a huge amount of fixed glass on the façade. Although we revere the midcentury buildings for their clean, minimalist design, the proportion of glass to the overall exterior envelope is a recipe for a poor performing building. Often, people are heating and cooling these buildings simultaneously (i.e. space heaters at their feet because the AC in summer makes the interiors feel uncomfortably cold).
  • Early-21^st century (Academy for Global Citizenship, Farr Architects, currently under construction near Midway): Projected EUI of 26. You can see the multiple layers of mineral wool insulation, and 4 (!) layers of glass in the operable window assemblies. Not only is the window-to-wall ratio is much lower than in mid-century glass-and-steel towers, we also see a return of window shading in the form of a powder-coated aluminum fins (reminiscent of the fabric awnings on the Monadnock, but updated for a different century).

 

MATERIAL WORLD

• Samples of the components that go into the most energy-efficient building assemblies

 

BIRD GLASS

• We have a sample and also a wall dedicated to explaining why bird fatalities are an issue and how we can solve it through better building materials. (The building we’re in is a perfect example of a bad-for-birds building).

 

BULLITT CENTER

• For aspirational purposes, we include Seattle’s Bullitt Center – the gold standard for energy efficient architecture.
• Produces up to 60% more energy onsite than it uses.

 

THERMAL IMAGING (Hancock Center model)

• Infrared photography can tell us how a building is containing or leaking energy through color. We have projected an example onto the façade of the Hancock (the blue-colored steel is cool, while the windows read as yellow, or warm).
• 80% of existing buildings will still be standing in 2050, so green retrofit is key for reaching carbon neutrality. Willis Tower has achieved dramatic improvements to its systems.

 

DANCE WALL + FLOOR

• We want people to know that making shifts toward ebbing climate change does not have to mean making sacrifices – that we can also find joyful examples of positive change:
• A sample-size kinetic dance floor represents those in active use, mostly in Europe. Harvests energy from movement (human weight and/or body heat), which is stored in geothermal wells and used to help power the club.
• Vertical motion (i.e. stepping, jumping, or dancing) is a type of kinetic energy, which can be transformed into rotational force by way of a mechanism similar to a crankshaft for a car’s internal combustion engine. That rotation is needed to spin a magnet around the coil inside the generator, producing between 5-35 watts of sustained output per person.
• We are planning a dance party on July 14^th with a live DJ and drinks, to celebrate the Energy Revolution on the anniversary of the French Revolution.