green building

Green from the Ground Up

jchatraw — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 03:35:08 -0400

While recently shopping for a house, I was shocked at how often developers throw around the word "green" as if it's as simple to do as saying replacing tile over laminate. What I really discovered was that developers were using the word "green" because it's a buzzword in our culture, not because it truly meant anything. It was just another marketing ploy. Double-paned windows are good, but as Yoda would say, "A green house it does not make."

A friend of mine recently finished the most gorgeous green home I've ever seen. He and his builder attempted to create the highest-rated LEED home in the state. While the final inspection has yet to reveal if they reached their goal, I received a crash course in understanding what green building is truly all about.

If you're interested in this topic, David Johnston and Scott Gibson's book Green from the Ground Up is a must read. It's written for builders, but buyers need to read it so they don't get the wool pulled over their eyes by slick developers who do just barely enough to call something green when in reality they're jacking the price up and selling you short. Here's an excerpt from the book explaining what green building really is:

At its most basic, green building is a tripod of three interrelated goals:

Energy efficiency, the cornerstone of any green building project. A well-designed and green-built home consumes as little energy as possible and uses renewable sources of energy whenever possible. Lower energy use not only saves homeowners money but also has broader societal benefits, including fewer disruptions in energy supplies, better air quality, and reduced global climate change.

Conservation of natural resources. Conventional building needlessly consumes large quantities of wood, water, metal, and fossil fuels. There are great varieties of effective building strategies that conserve natural resources and provide other benefits, such as lower costs. Strategies include the use of durable products to reduce waste and specify recycled-content products that reuse natural resources.

Indoor air quality. Poor indoor air quality is often caused by mold and mildew that are the result of leaks or poorly designed and maintained heating and cooling systems. Another common source of indoor air pollution is the off-gassing of chemicals found in many building materials. Some are known carcinogens.

Book Review: Green Greener Greenest

ellen — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 06:02:00 -0400

Green Greener Greenest by Lori Bongiorno.

First of all, I LOVE lists...all kinds of lists. Anyone who works on green buildings is familiar with lists.

Having written my fair share of green checklists, I was a bit wary of this book, particularly because it was published in the unchanging form of an actual bound book... in green ink no less! However, I was duly impressed by the breadth and depth of information included in this book.

Ms. Bongiorno presents much of the information in a refreshing non-definitive way. It's not argumentative or holier-than-thou either. I'd much rather have an informed discussion about the vagaries, pros and cons of the issue at hand than read a know-it-all paragraph that is merely someone's opinion. She had me on page 158 when she states that "It's a matter of trade-offs and what issues are most important to you.

Ms. Bongiorno clearly spent a good deal of time on research. There are 12 chapters ranging from food and beverages to home building and maintenance, personal care products and items related to babies and children. Each chapter and subchapter lay out environmental problems and steps that can be taken to mitigate them. Part of the fun is seeing how green you are according to her levels. (Apparently I'm greenest in food, beverages and home-related activities, not so green when it comes to clothing and pest control - who knew?)

And I'm always up for learning when it comes to sustainability. Here are a list of sites I never heard of before (in no particular order) that are very interesting. I would highly recommend this book - there are at least 20 dog-eared pages in my copy.

Power Scorecard: Rates the environmental impact of different types of electrical generation in states where consumers can make choices.

National Fenestration Rating Council: Ratings for energy efficient doors, windows and skylights.

Swaporama: Community wide clothing swap.

Kaight: An ethical eco-friendly store in NYC.

Gomi: Eco clothing boutique in NYC.

Under the Canopy: Affordable sustainable sheets

Arm & Hammer: All things baking soda

H2ouse: Sustainable garden irrigation

Children's Gardening info at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden

Composting 101

Find our local air quality levels at airnow.gov

Book Crossing: Interesting book trading group who leaves books for members in public places.

www.ehapc.com

[brooklyn green] www.ehapc.wordpress.com

Aiki Homes Showcased in "Resource Efficient Homes Across America"

AikiHomes — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:21:58 -0400

Homes Across America is a program of Peaks to Prairies Pollution Prevention Information Center. Peaks to Prairies is one of eight EPA-funded centers, collectively known as P2Rx.org and devoted to providing high-quality information to businesses interested in adopting pollution prevention practices. Our online presence began in 2000 as an out-growth of the Peaks to Prairies Residential Construction Topic Hub, showcasing accomplishments of environmentally conscious businesses.

Homes Across America today serves as a major vehicle for sharing information amongst builders, architects, and building associations. The Residential Construction Topic Hub, combined with Homes Across America, receives more site traffic than any other P2rx topic hub.

Aiki Homes Showcased in "Resource Efficient Homes Across America"

AikiHomes — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:16:43 -0400

Click below to go to Homes Across America

http://www.homes-across-america.org/search/details.cfm?who=302&Feature=all&action=showDetails&Query=MultiQuery

Aiki Homes Featured in American Builders Magazine

AikiHomes — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 19:43:21 -0400

"American Builders Quarterly (ABQ) brings its readers a comprehensive look at our nation's entire construction industry by profiling leading companies that consistently perform in all aspects of the building trade. Within the pages of ABQ, readers find unique editorial departments devoted to superficial issues within the industry"

Read the entire article here:

http://www.aikihomes.com/sites/aikihomes/upload/filemanager/Press/ABQ.pdf

Government Involvement in Green Initiatives A Big Trend

jchait — Tue, 27 May 2008 15:42:28 -0400

A "2008 U.S. Construction Overview" released by management consultant FMI shows that construction industry is taking green building very seriously.

Results of the report, posted in Commercial Building Products note the following big points:

Three main trends are happening; a high level of government involvement in green initiatives, residential demand for greener structures, and a better selection of green materials. All are good trends, but one in particular is a trend you should stay on top of.

Government participation in, and support for green building practices has the ability to make or break the amount of green building going on. In 2007 over 100 new bills related to green building were released at the state level. More bills are on the way, and many states are promoting sustainable policy for any new government building being constructed. There's also been a much heavier release of green tax credits in recent years - all of this promotes green building and makes it more accessible.

However, right now green is the new black of building. What's important is to keep government agencies involved, even as the green rush cools. As a consumer, you can help the green building movement to stay fresh by voting for greener candidates and by pushing ideas and questions at leaders in your state.

Resources:

The Green Party

The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC)

Built Green

Green Your Vote 2008

Support that can help you go green with your mortgage

Top Ten Green Building Projects of 2008

Julia — Mon, 26 May 2008 14:59:39 -0400

2008 Top Ten Award Winners:

Yale University Sculpture Building and Gallery (KieranTimberlake Associates, LLP) New Haven, CT
Queens Botanical Garden Visitor & Administration Center (BKSK Architects) Flushing, NY (photo above)
Pocono Environmental Education Center (Bohlin Cywinski Jackson) Dingmans Ferry, PA
Nueva School Hillside Learning Complex (Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects) Hillsborough, CA
Macallen Building Condominiums (Burt Hill with Office dA) Boston, MA
Lavin-Bernick Center (VJAA) New Orleans, LA
Garthwaite Center for Science and Arts, Cambridge School of Weston (Architerra, Inc.) Weston, MA
Discovery Center at South Lake Union (The Miller|Hull Partnership) Seattle, WA
Cesar Chavez Library (Line and Space, LLC) Laveen, AZ
Aldo Leopold Legacy Center (The Kubala Washatko Architects, Inc.) Baraboo, WI

2008 Top Ten Honorable Mentions:

IRS - Kansas City Campus (BNIM Architects with 360 Architecture), Kansas City, MO

Check out the American Institute of Architects' website for awesome photos of the buildings, and the criteria on how each building was judged.

Earth Friendly Building Materials

jchait — Sat, 10 May 2008 02:40:27 -0400

Green is fairly subjective. We do have LEED and independents (folks not following LEED but who do set and follow green building standards), so there is green building and green material use. It's complicated because so far no one has been able to ultimately agree on what's the greenest list of building products. Some people think that a lower VOC paint is just fine, while some think truly green would be no VOC. Some think reclaimed is better than sustainable harvested woods, and some people think you shouldn't build at all new, no matter the greenness of a product.

If you do want to build or renovate green, how then, with all the opinions, do you choose green building materials?

Environmental Building News (EBN) published a useful list that I read a while back with some great tips about how to choose green building materials. Technically it was what makes a material green, but same idea; it helps you choose. Summed up, EBN notes the following traits of green building materials.

Products made from one or more of the following - recycled materials, salvaged materials, or agricultural waste content. This seems pretty basic, but check your products carefully. Some reclaimed or recycled products have newer materials added to them. If your goal is full on green, you'll want to aim for a high percentage of reuse or recycled material.

Materials that preserve natural resources: Materials that last a long time (thus not needing to be replaced), use less of a natural resource than a conventional brand, or materials that we can reproduce rapidly are examples.

Materials that don't produce harmful toxins or emissions, or reduce toxins and other problems (like pesticides) by a decent percentage.

Materials that contribute to a healthy and safe environment: For example, products that help to remove indoor pollution, or block the production of something harmful like mold.

Each of these material issues is made up of many smaller factors and examples. Eventually we'll look at each more in-depth, but now at least you have a good basic check off list.

Green Building - How Much Would You Guess Is Going On?

jchait — Fri, 09 May 2008 02:49:33 -0400

I realized we've never looked at any statistic here. The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) offers the following statistics for buildings - keep in mind this is just in the U.S. Once you imagine how much energy and resources are used all over the world it becomes mind boggling. Although, no doubt here in the U.S. we use more than our fair share.

According to USGBC, in the United States alone, buildings account for:

65% of electricity consumption,
36% of energy use,
39% of greenhouse gas emissions,
30% of raw materials use,
30% of waste output (136 million tons annually)
12% of potable water consumption.

They also break it down further in their Green Building by the Numbers download (April 2008).

One of the scariest statistics is this one:

"The EPA estimates that 136 million tons of building-related construction and demolition (C&D) debris was generated in the U.S. in a single year. Source, and U.S. EPA Characterization of Construction and Demolition Debris in the United States, 1997 Update. Compare that to 209.7 million tons of municipal solid waste generated in the same year. Source: U.S. EPA Characterization of Municipal Solid Waste in the United States, 1997 Update. Report No. EPA530-R-98-007"

Holy, that looks really bad. What looks worse are these statements from the download: "By 2010, approximately 10% of commercial construction starts are expected to be green, according to McGraw Hill Green Building Smart Market Report 2006."

Only 10% of commercial starts? That seems very low. When you start looking at green residential it doesn't look much better. The National Association of Home Builders notes that green residential construction will reach somewhere between 5 percent and 10 percent in 2010. Wow. For some reason I thought the numbers were a little higher - did you?

The numbers above give you something to think about the next time you’re considering building new. Maybe you can remodel your current home to met your needs or renovate another home. A wisely renovated home uses less resources in most cases then building fresh.

You also might be interested in: Home Deconstruction Basics

Green Homes for Less Money

jchait — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400

CNET is one of my favorite websites - mostly because they always offer the best tech advice in town. If you buy a camera or pda they reviewed, you know what you're getting. Because I adore them so, I was happily surprised to see a cool green home article and photo gallery at their site the other day.

The article, Green homes on the cheap, walks through writer Martin LaMonica's home, pointing out the green (and cheap) ideas he's put into action.

Some of the highlights:

Heat: Martin discusses the pellet stove he installed last year. This was a really cool deal to read about for me. When I lived in Humboldt we had no electricity related to heat. The only heat we had in our on-the-beach home was a wood stove. It saved us lots of money, because at the time wood was cheaper than California electricity, but wood is also a hassle. Being on the beach means wet, cold mornings, every morning, and fighting with also damp wood is no picnic when you're freezing. We considered a pellet stove at one time, but moved before we decided. Martin's tips on pros and cons of a pellet stove are great to read.

Energy efficiency: More and more people are realizing that using power correctly is just as big a deal as what sort of power you use. Martin discusses this important topic.

Other topics include, solar chargers, toys, window shades, water barrels, and composting. I loved this article and all the photos were a great touch. This is a must read if you're dreaming of greening your own home, or even if you're dreaming of building from scratch.

[old school wood stove photo via stock.xchng]