Archive for June, 2008
June 26th, 2008
$100K Green Home Project
Stumble it!
Think green building is too expensive? Well so do the folks by the 100K House project.
The 100K House project is a case study started by a small development team in Philadelphia. Two homes are being built first and the name of the project comes from the target construction cost for the smaller of the two homes. The homes will have a modern and green design and the goal of the case study is to prove that green homes can be built affordably if designed properly.
The design team is aiming for a LEED Platinum rating– nothing to sneeze at. It will also be Energy Star certified. The home will be 1,120 square feet and have two bedrooms and one bath. The house will utilize solar hot water, rainwater collection & reuse, radiant floor heating, structurally insulated panels, and ivy-covered “green walls”, just to name a few of the green features.
The design team includes developer Postgreen, architects Interface Studio Architects, builder Built It Green Philly, and energy consultants Zero Energy Design.
According to the designers, “The basic concept of the 100K House is to offer an affordable home that places a high priority on quality, design, energy efficiency, health and sustainability rather than ‘bells & whistles’ that can drive the price of new construction out of reach from the majority of home buyers….A high priority is placed on the modern architectural design as well as the most cost effective green building materials and methods in order to provide the greatest value at the lowest price to a discerning client.”
The design looks amazing and the objective of designing and building a low-cost, cutting-edge green home gets our A+. We wish them luck and look forward to seeing these 100K homes come onto the market.
June 25th, 2008
Home Depot Will Recycle Your Used CF Bulbs
Home Depot has just announced a couple of important green initiatives. First, they will now be accepting all compact fluorescent bulbs for recycling in their stores in the U.S. and Canada. This is be offering in over 2,100 stores, so it’s a major step in the right direction.
At each Home Depot store, customers can simply bring in any expired, unbroken CFL bulbs, and give them to the store associate behind the returns desk. The bulbs will then be managed responsibly by an environmental management company who will coordinate CFL packaging, transportation and recycling to maximize safety and ensure environmental compliance.
In addition to the CFL recycling program, The Home Depot has also launched an in-store energy conservation program to switch light fixture showrooms in U.S. stores from incandescent bulbs to CFLs by Fall 2008. This is another great sustainability measure and they believe it will also save the company $16 million annually in energy costs.
And another important public service message: please do not give up on CF bulbs because they contain mercury! Lots of people seem to have been unnecessarily scared off of these energy-saving bulbs because of mercury. They contain only trace amounts and are SAFE for use in your home! Please click here to read more on this topic. You can also learn more about it from the EPA.
Find great CF and other energy-saving lighting options here.
June 24th, 2008
Green Condos Coming to a City Near You
Do you long to live in an attractive green home with the latest and greatest in green building technologies, but know you can’t afford to build one? Then you and I have something in common.
But do you know about all the amazing green condo developments cropping up across the country? There are gorgeous, cutting-edge eco-friendly condos available or being built now in cities all around the U.S. We can’t possibly cover them all in this post, but we’ve selected a good sample. I will cover green condos in the West next week. Read on to find what might become your dream green home!
In Chicago, eco18 is an interesting development currently underway. Located in Chicago’s South Loop area, it provides access to plenty of public transportation options and also green spaces. eco18 is striving to attain a Gold Certification under the LEED program of the US Green Building Council. This is a lofty goal and we hope they make it! Their plans include a massive green roof, solar water heating, geothermal heating and cooling, rainwater reuse, energy-efficient lighting and much more. You can get a 1 bedroom/1 bath unit for around $285,000 or a 2 bedroom/2 bath unit for about $430,000. Learn more about eco18 here.
In New York there are many outstanding green condo developments. One I particularly like is the Kalahari in Harlem. The Kalahari’s distinctive facade design is modeled on motifs from the San Bushman of Southern Africa. The building was designed and built to the US Green Building Council’s LEED Silver Standards with the goal of limiting the building’s impact on the environment while still providing luxurious and modern living options. The building features 25% renewable energy sources (solar and wind), stainless Energy Star appliances, air filters for good indoor air quality, bamboo flooring, native landscaping and (we love this!) an on-site Zip Car service for residents. Learn more about Kalahari here.
Other green condos in the New York area worth checking out are Greenbelt in Brooklyn, The Lucida, and the Williamsburg Edge.
In New England, there are several great options. The Villages at Brookside are lovely Cape Code-style townhomes. (Shown at right.) Homeowner benefits associated with these LEED-certified homes include lower utility bills through energy and water conservation, reduced carbon footprints due to lower greenhouse gas emissions and improved air quality for occupants. The Macallen Building Condominiums in Boston are another exciting green option. In Vermont you’ll find the snowy, sustainable get-away of Spruce Creek at Stowe. Spruce Creak says of its environmental commitment: “Stewardship of the land is a Vermont tradition that has guided Spruce Peak at Stowe since its very beginning…From recycling to the protection of bear habitats, plumbing to wetlands protection, nothing has been overlooked.”
The Southern United States has some wonderful green condos cropping up– in Atlanta, Nashville, Chapel Hill, and several other cities. In Chapel Hill, East 54 will be a new urban eco-village. The project is currently being developed and it is a participant in the US Green Building Council’s Neighborhood Development pilot program. Incorporating sustainable site development measures, water and energy conservation, materials re-use, and indoor environmental features, East 54 plans to achieve or exceed a Silver LEED Certification. Learn more about East 54 here. And to learn about the Terrazzo project in Nashville, click here. To learn about the Brookwood in Atlanta, click here.
Please tune in next week when we cover green condos in the West!
To find green real estate for sale across the US., please click here.
To find real estate agents specializing in buying and selling green homes, click here.
June 24th, 2008
How Green Are You?
Dwell.com and the American Institute of Architects (AIA) would like to know, “How Green Are You?”
The contest, which runs now through June 30th, is your chance to show how green you are, and to win some great prizes for it!
The most inspired entries will be posted on the competition pages on Dwell.com and evaluated by Dwell’s editorial staff and AIA architects. The grand prize winner receives $1000, and two runners-up will receive $500 each from the AIA to apply toward their next big Green Project!
To enter, simply pull together up to four images of your green or sustainable project, and write a simple yet specific 250-word description of the project that highlights the most important aspects of the project, including material names, vendors, etc.
Projects will be assessed on their sustainability, functionality, originality, cost effectiveness and design, and the submissions will be judged by Dwell.com editors and AIA architects.
To enter, or to find out more information, visit Dwell’s “How Green Are You?” page at http://www.dwell.com/services/contests/how_green_are_you.html
June 23rd, 2008
Reclaim Your Plate! The Sustainable Food Diet
Written by Caroline Savery, courtesy of Sustainablog
The jury is in: the most sustainable way to feed yourself is to grow your own food. There are many factors to consider when evaluating food sustainability. The primary concern is: what is the ratio between how much land is used, and how many calories are produced?
In asking this question, we can immediately eliminate meat from our sustainable diets. Pigs and cows are extraordinarily “inefficient converters of grain energy to calories,” as put by the executive director of Steel City Biofuels, speaking generally about fuel efficiency. In her presentation about Organic Farming during Pittsburgh’s Farm to Table Conference 2008, Dr. Patricia DeMarco, executive director of the Rachel Carson Homestead, noted that raising meat in the U.S. comprises 79% of all agricultural resource usage. While the health benefits of going vegan will be endlessly debated, at least doing so will be much more healthful for our environment.
The next question naturally becomes: how can we grow food in a way that nourishes the soil, produces a vast yield in a little space, and is maintained by nature?
Surprisingly, all of the above is easy to do, if you’re using the right methods. John Jeavon’s book “How to Grow More Vegetables Than You Ever Thought Possible” describes the biointensive method: growing food tightly together in ways that foster symbiotic relationships between plants, like those that would organically occur in nature. For instance, marigolds ward off common insect pests for their companion plants, tomatoes. But biointensive gardening is more than just knowing companion plant lists and spacing maps. It is understanding that each time you take a piece of food that you grew out of the ground, you are removing nutrients and minerals from the earth. It is essential that you find a way to return those resources. Maintaining soil health is the cornerstone of sustainable agriculture.
So you’re a greenie, just like me. You believe in doing everything you can to live a more sustainable lifestyle. Now that you’ve got the facts about sustainable eating, you recognize the importance of starting your own garden. However, you were raised watching TV and eating potato chips on a couch. If you’re like me, you know nothing whatsoever about gardening.
In this case, where do you start?
Follow the instructions on the back of the seed packet, and put some seeds in the ground. That’s what I did! Even better, follow the biointensive guidebook to learn which plants thrive beside each other and which tend to compete for the same nutrients, and arrange your bounty properly. Keep the seeds continually damp until they germinate. Then provide lots of sun.
I always believed there was something deceptively simple about that formula… but in my own practice, I found that ancient wisdom to be profoundly perfect.
I am “camping” in an urban forest, where natural forces have reclaimed previously “residential” property. Thus, my area’s soil is probably extremely unhealthy and heavily contaminated. Knowing this, I planted beet, carrot, swiss chard, nasturtium, cucumber, bean, and radish seeds (all fairly shade-tolerant species), with some leaf compost, expecting nothing to grow. And then, everything did. In concert with fermentation, a person can grow many meals worth of vegetables and fruits–for all seasons–in one smart garden.
Here are some helpful tips I picked up while being tutored in basic biointensive gardening.
+ To deal with pest infestations (commonly: aphids), spray the plant with garlic or onion oil, or with a mild soap/water blend. This is a very effective, environmentally harmless remedy.
+ Plant tomatoes (and others with tender stalks) up to the growth of their youngest two leaves (see photo).
+ When winter is on its way, help to prevent erosion in your yard by planting cover crops, such as oats, cereal rye, or legumes, etc. These plants have short but hardy roots, which maintain nutrients and nitrogen while suppressing weed growth. Tear them up and use them as compost in the spring!
You can also learn more about Organic Gardening 101 here.
June 22nd, 2008
Get with the Program: Green Building Trainings
Move over LEED, there are some worthy contenders in the green building market that are now gaining a lot of steam with green building professionals looking to measure high performance homes and buildings. There is no doubt that the LEED rating system offered by the US Green Building Council offers the premier rating systems on the market, but what if you just aren’t up for such high standards?
I was recently fortunate enough to be able to attend the Certified Green Building Professional program offered through Build It Green. Build It Green is a non-profit membership organization whose mission is to promote healthy and efficient building practices in California. While headquartered in Northern California, Build It Green has just expanded into Southern California. Not only do they provide extensive training and educational forums, their green home rating system, GreenPoint Rated provides a new 3rd party verification program for homeowners searching for an alternative to LEED.
As a LEED accredited professional and designer by trade, I went into the Certified Green Building Professional Training course thinking I had a lot of knowledge in the green building movement, and soon realized that there is always more to learn. As we all know in the green building industry, things change daily and we should be updating and refreshing our knowledge on a regular basis. This course was insightful and chock full of great information to apply to green buildings. The strategies were real and completely achievable, and the instructors were very knowledgeable. This course takes you through a step-by-step analysis of all systems, materials, and technologies involved with building or renovating a home. All of the discussion focused on buildings that embrace energy-efficiency and health. There was no “green guilt” placed upon anything or anyone, and the emphasis was on knowing the benefits of green building rather than focusing on the consequences of “non-green” approaches.
We all know that connections with other green professionals are a huge benefit. Not only does Build It Green provide great education, they emphasize the necessity to connect with other professionals. This philosophy is actually what makes the green movement so unique. If we truly want to make a difference on the planet, we should be making every effort to support and learn from each other’s expertise.
I am sure you are all asking what to do if you are not in the state of California. Although you will not be able to certify your home to the Green Point Rated level, I would not discourage any green professionals from taking this course. However, if you are not up for a trip to California, there are many local and national programs that provide valuable green building guidelines. The US Green Building Council has a great list of programs across the country, which you can see here. In addition, ASID which is the American Society of Interior Designers, has their own set of green guidelines for remodeling, called REGREEN. The National Association of Home Builders also has green building guidelines you can see here. One last option is using the Energy Star green building guidelines, which you can review here.
Whether you choose to certify yourself or your home, make sure the benefits achieve your personal green goals and don’t over-focus on the points of a particular program. Keep in mind that points are not the point, and the bigger picture is making a positive environmental difference.
