Practical Eco

Cleaning Your Home the Natural Way

The Scrap Exchange in Durham is holding a course on Wednesday October 10th from 7-8pm on how to make your own less-toxic cleaning products.
 

Learn how a few simple ingredients can be combined to form a wide range of products to meet all of your cleaning needs. Save money and reduce the toxic chemicals in your life.

Everyone who takes the class will receive a course pack with information and recipes.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007
7:00-8:00 pm
$15 per household (bring your housemate for no extra charge!)

APT permeable pavers stop storm water runoff

The Advanced Pavement Technology (APT) Ecological Paver System reduces storm-water run-off while it promotes rainwater infiltration and natural groundwater recharge.  The Permeable Pavement System is engineered to support heavy axle loads for roadways and parking lots. Yet, it's a flexible, paver system that adapts to changes in the ground and changes in the weather that would damage conventional pavements.

The Bio-Aquifer Storm System, BASS™, method of construction integrates specifically designed pavers in an engineered system that will allow for collection of stormwater runoff and support heavy axle loads for roadways and parking lots. In addition, due to the types of aggregate used, a natural filtration process will occur and pollutants that are removed from the runoff will be broken down by bacteria contained in the aggregates.

For housing developments this system can reduce the requirement for retention ponds and make more land available for building. That means it can far more than pay for itself and that should be music to the ears of developers and municipal storm water personnel too.

My Home Building Help LLC helps owners build their own sustainable homes

Bill Klotz found his mission in life, helping people to build their own homes. Best of all he's steering people toward sustainable, high-performance building that save owners money.  Bill maintains that it doesn't have to cost much more to build a high performance home. It can be done by following good building practices and paying attention to detail. His company, My Home Building Help, started helping self-builders achieve better results at the start of this year. They offer services from Building Science Plan Reviews for clients anywhere in the country through to a complete General Contractor Package that takes on the full responsibility of the build for a flat fee.  They'll even act as agent when the owner chooses to build with a contractor, and ensure the owner gets what he wants.

What makes Bill Klotz so right for this role? He's not only worked for one of the largest builders in the Country, but he worked with Advanced Energy, a cutting edge national construction consulting firm right here in Raleigh. There he learned about the latest developments in building science and helped builders diagnose and solve problems. And he developed methods to simplify the construction management process so anyone could do it.

Jochum Air expanding into the Raleigh-Durham area

In response to customer demand, Jochum Air is now installing the RGF Photohydroionization® (PHI) cells in the Triangle area as well as the Triad, where they are currently based.  It seems mold and mildew are an expanding problem thanks to the building practices of the past three decades. As air conditioning cools your house it can also draw moisture through crawlspace vents and breed molds in ducts, floors and other parts of the house causing numerous health problems for the residents.

The PHI Cell kills mold, bacteria and viruses in the air, leaving only fresh pure clean air that smells a bit like the air after a storm. Its proprietary technology has been used extensively in controlling the spread of SARS in China and more recently in combating avian flu. It's also used widely in commercial buildings and schools to reduce the spread of disease or combat sick building syndrome. Recently Jochum Air supplied several units to an organic cheese manufacturer who has had excellent results in controlling the growth of unwanted molds.

While good building practice should always include a tightly sealed envelope with a well designed ventilation and filtration system, a PHI cell can greatly improve air quality, reduce smells and eradicate virus, mold and bacteria in the air, leaving you with a healthier home.

Construction Resources exceeds Energy Star standards by 350%

Local builder Construction Resources, has built a home that has been independently rated at 350% above the Energy Star standards for energy efficiency. And no it hasn't been done with any fancy new technology, or at least not much. Basically it's just a solidly build home that has been sealed tight and insulated well with the addition of a solar hot water system.  Of course, it has a sealed crawl space.  Sealing it tight (and this house rated 178% better than Energy Star in the Blower Door test) is all about the details. They've caulked everything including the cabinetry and sub floor.

The walls which are simply framed with 2x6s are insulated for an R21 with fiberglass batts, but the attic has a whopping R-62 from cellulose. And another little detail, there's an R49 hatch cover for the attic stairs, where you'd otherwise have a great big heat loss.  Tech Shield sheathing also does a great deal to hold back the heat in the attic. 

So, according to the independent raters at Southern Energy Management, the home which is about 2500 square feet will cost about $25 per month for heating and cooling over the year. 

Construction Resources' Tom O'Dwyer has shown that attention to detail, good building practices and most of all just caring can do a lot to make homes super energy efficient. 

My new book store on Amazon

I'll keep on writing about books I like or come across, but I've just set up my own 'store' on Amazon which basically just lets me compose my own selection of meaningful and useful items. 

Just for fun, I've included a selection of music too. My musical collection used to be something awesome when I had records and CDs - and my taste remains broadly ecclectic. Now it's all digital, so all I can say is the 60gig on my Ipod is barely enough now.  How does one manage two Ipods? I'll need to look into that one day.

Inside the Not So Big House

Sarah Susanka is doing everyone a service by highlighting the irrelevance of square footage as a measure of a home's worth. I'm tempted to say the stupidity of the modern obsession with a home's size.

Having lived in New York City apartments, or central London houses most of my adult life, I was shocked when I moved back to the US at how big homes have become here. What on Earth does a four person family need with 4,000 square feet or more?

Susanka rightly points out in her original work, The Not So Big House that it's not all about square footage, but rather good design, space utilization and adaptable spaces. 

Now in this new work she promises to expand on the message and by collaborating with design writer Marc Vassallo and visiting 23 houses where they illustrate how attention to detail rather than raw footage makes the real difference to you experience of a home.

This new book is due out on October 2nd, but you can pre-order your copy on Amazon now.

Southern Ideal Home Show coming up this weekend

The Southern Ideal Home show is on at the State Fairgrounds in Raleigh this Friday, Saturday and Sunday September 21-23.

I'm not sure how recently they started the Green Building category but it's clearly growing. I count 18 listed companies at this show compared with 12 at the previous show.  That seems to show either an increasing interest in Green Building from the public (which I think is true anyhow) or a realization on the part of vendors that the show helps them grow business - possibly both. After all I'm now considering if I should be an exhibitor at the next show. 

This year show I'll be there working with one of my partner companies, Healthy Home Insulation. So if you're at the show, drop by and say hi.

Mortgage Lenders Get Behind Green Building

Greener Buildings is reporting that several major mortgage lenders are now offering rewards to buyers of energy efficient homes. Citigroup and Bank of America are both offering $1000 off of closing costs in certain cases. Full Story

Spray foam insulation seals tight

You have many great choices of insulating material these days. Most builders use fiberglass batts, which is the cheapest way to meet the code requirements. But if all you want, or want to build, is a house that meets the code requirements you're probably not visiting this website. After all, code simply defines the cheapest house that can be build without going to jail.  One the other hand, I have known good builders who favor fiberglass, with the huge caveat that it be installed correctly - and that can be a "big if".

Spray foam offers some tremendous advantages over batts, or even blown cellulose. Firstly it's an air barrier, so in one swoop you seal the house tight and insulate well. Secondly, there's a lot less concern about the quality of installation because there are simply a lot fewer things that can be done wrong. Thirdly, if offers the added benefit of superior sound insulation too, so you'll enjoy a quieter home as a bonus.

Solar Hot Water from Solahart

There are several different systems for solar hot water. The Home Power web site has an excellent primer on the different types and benefits of each. For residential applications in this area (NC), I tend to favor the Solahart Thermosyphon models. Though the Home Power prime summary says Thermosyphons are not freeze tolerant, the Solahart is, making it well suited to a climate like ours where there are occasional freezing days.

Simpler Flat Plat collectors may be cheaper but they're much less efficient. In places like Florida where there isn't much of a Winter, that can be the right choice.  Evacuated tube collectors are also great, but a bit pricier. They're so efficient that they often need a heat dissipator to prevent over heating. They're excellent where there are a lot of cloudy or rainy days or where there is a need for very hot water. I recommend them for many commercial situations in this climate, or larger homes.

One of the great things about the Solahart Free Heat series thermosyphon systems is that they're passive which means there's no need for pumps and fewer moving parts. That also means less maintenance and longer life span. Some people really like the fact that it comes with its own tank, so in a new construction you can avoid installing a hot water tank at all. Just rig a tankless hot water heater, like the Rheem model discussed earlier, saving space, money and time.

Advanced Framing - no brainer

Any framing contractor or home builder who doesn't used what's called "Advanced Framing" techniques should be ashamed.  It's simply a better, faster way to frame a stick-built house because the techniques mean less wood is used and there are fewer  thermal bridges so the walls are better insulated.

For example 2x6s are typically used 24 inches on center, rather than 16 - that's about 50% fewer studs to measure, cut, position and nail. That's also fewer studs providing thermal bridges and more insulation for the whole wall.

Other techniques include using less wood in headers within non-load bearing walls, aligning the loads from floor joists directly to the studs below, and where interior walls T onto the exterior wall using a ladder assembly to permit insulation of the exterior wall at that point.

The US Department of Energy has a fact sheet on the techniques here.

The Conserv Membrane ERV

Indoor air quality is of increasing concern since we build houses tighter now. By cutting down on ventilation we're trapping countless contaminants in the home. One way to deal with that is to ventilate more, but you loose the energy you've put into conditioning your air whether warming or cooling.  That's where Energy Recovery Ventilators, or ERVs, come in.

The best one available is made by Dias under the brand ConsERV. It uses a patented membrane that utilizes nano-technology to achieve incredible results at reasonable prices. 

Employing an ERV as part of a good HVAC system design means you can typically afford to downsize your units because up to 30% of a typical system's load is used to condition the outside air. An ERV preconditions the outside air by transferring the heat from inside air as it gets exhausted out. So you can stop cooling, or heating, the great outdoors.

Whether for residential or commercial construction you should consider a ConsERV unit as part of any well considered Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning design.

Timeless Way of Building

I was lucky enough to study architecture at UC Berkeley where Christopher Alexander teaches. Any while I was only there as an undergrad and he only taught grad courses, I was exposed to his work through other professors there.

Christopher Alexander's book The Timeless Way of Building is one of those books that changes the way you look at buildings, but also the whole process of design. It emphasizes a holistic view of design that is only now coming into vogue with the emergence of LEED methodology.

I see C.Alexander and the whole team involved with the development of A Pattern Language as the original 'Green' builders. They encouraged us to view design as something that involved and affected the whole community, the whole world. 

If you're the least bit interested in buildings, architecture, design then you must read this book. If you've already read it, read it again.