Practical Eco

Brac grey water systems in the news a lot

I wrote about Brac back on Oct 31. It's a marvelous piece of technology that can save homes or businesses about 30% of their water consumption by recycling water from sinks, baths and showers for use to flush toilets. The "grey water" can also be used to water plants. 

Now TreeHugger, one of my most watched blogs, ran a piece yesterday about Brac.

The next issue of New Homes and Ideas will highlight ways to cut water use and will mention Brac in the article, I'm told.

Yes, it's a great solution to cutting water use without changing your lifestyle. And yes, I sell them in North Carolina. Get in touch with me now if you are interested as there's an end of year sale on for the last remaining units in stock before the 2008 models come in at a price that's likely to be around $500 more. For now, at least, you can get one of these installed into a new construction for under $2000. Retrofits will typically cost a few hundred more for plumbing alterations.

powers of ten

This may be a little "off-piste" but Treehugger ran an item titled "The Power of the Power of Ten" which I enjoyed because I got to see this wonderful Eames film once again. Who out there HASN'T seen The Power of Ten film by Charles and Ray Eames? It was often played in school when I was young and I saw it twice, but many years ago. Whether you have or have not it's only 10 minutes long and worth viewing. Not least because the Eames' were such a dynamic couple to have been film makers, furniture designers, architects and so much.  Refreshing my memory on the Wikipedia article about Charles, I couldn't help but notice that he gave his daughter the same first name we gave ours - Lucia. I love little meaningless coincidences.

NC producing a disproportionate amount of CO2

According to the Southern Environmental Law Center, North Carolina's coal-fired power plants produce a disproportionate amount of pollution that causes global warming. NC ranks 14th in the nation for CO2 output.

The SELC is a Charlottesville VA-based organization that pushes for conservation. They say that North Carolina's many coal-fired plants are the prime cause of the state's 77 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions annually. This is very nearly equal to California's 79 million, which is shocking in itself.

The report goes on to identify Duke Energy as the nation's third largest CO2 producer with 41 million of its total 108 million tons of CO2 coming from its plants in NC.

full story in Biz Journals

Ethanol from trees?

Right here at NC State researchers are working on ways to genetically modify trees so as to make them a more viable source of cellulose from which to make ethanol.

Dr Vincent Chiang received, last year, a grant from the Department of Energy to find a way to make ethanol from trees. It basically involves modifying the genetics to reduce the amount of lignin in trees, thus enabling the cellulose within to be more easily converted to ethanol.

The New York Times carries a well balanced article on the issues.

Or see the original press release from NCSU

Bitublock - building blocks from garbage

Scientists at the University of Leeds in the UK have created a building block that is basically made of garbage.

The Bitublock is made from crushed glass, fly ash, steel slag and even sewage sludge, all bound together by bitumen. The mixture is compacted in a mold and heat-cured, which oxidizes and hardens the bitumen.

The blocks are also six times stronger than concrete according to the data from its inventor, Dr. John Forth.

Read more about the Bitublock in Building Green TV,  Science Daily, EcoGeek, Inhabitat and a nifty must-read blog called Rolland Piquepaille's Technology Trends.

From : Building Green  TV

Seal up the attic door and save energy

I saw this nifty product at the Energy Star event today and immediately wanted one for myself.

I would have made my own hatch cover out of foam board like some builders I know have done. But my attic is so low, with barely 2 feet of clearance above , that I have no place to raise and reposition such a thing.

The Attic Tent gets right around my problem. Plus it's much more professional looking as well as being a proper air barrier. That's important because air can be drawn into the house through that hatch affecting your air quality, or it can leak from the house into the attic losing energy.

[Addendum 1/10/08] I finally got round to installing my Attic Tent! Once I got the bead of caulk in, while I was still on the stairs, someone came into the house and I could literally feel the "puff" as it tried to leak into the attic but simply bowed the tent in then out a bit. That showed me it was doing its job. It fit in very quickly and easily too. I'm very pleased with it so far and along with all of my other house sealing tactics I'm sure my energy consumption will be much lower this winter.

The candidates' positions on renewables, energy etc.

The League of Conservation Voters, who describe themselves as "the independent political voice for the environment," has put together a website at www.heatison.org where they track the positions of the presidential candidates on key environmental issues.

There's an excellent table on this page, that summarizes every candidate's stance on issues like a Carbon Cap, Fuel Efficiency, Renewable Electricity, Efficiency Targets and Coal Power Plants. This is a great high level view and the LCV did a great job of putting everyone. But I still find it nearly impenetrable with so many candidates and so many nuances.

However, what comes through clearly are the candidates I don't want to vote for. Though I might have guessed who they were without much study since most are from the GOP.

Is Concrete Green?

I caught this article on Greener Buildings and it has got me thinking again about this marvelous material.

Not long ago I was on the fence about concrete. I think a lot of people see concrete as a cold and hard material so therefore not very "green". Then there's the issue of embodied energy, or the energy that it takes to make and transport the product.

Concrete just doesn't have the warmth and natural feeling of wood, brick or a lot of other building materials. But then it also isn't a source of food for mold which is essentially a plague on buildings here in the Southeast. It also can provide a pretty air tight envelope quite easily, which can mean better air quality indoors as part of a complete well designed system.

Plus, it's fire proof, pest proof and super strong.This means as a home owner you'll save money on insurance and pest protection year after year. Not to mention that a concrete building will likely far outlast stick built homes even if you don't have hurricanes, tornadoes or other disasters that will demolish the typical home.

We offer insulated concrete forms, or ICFs, which is a great way to achieve a quick build, good insulation and all of the great properties of concrete.  And we also offer E-Wall which is perhaps my favorite build system now. E-Wall is a hybrid of structural insulated panels, SIPs, and ICFs. It's a panelized system that is assembled quickly on site then filled with a concrete pour to produce a solid monolithic wall.

Berkeley creates solar financing district

My once home, Berkeley CA, just yesterday approved a new plan to help home owners finance solar panels through a voluntary tax. Effectively the city will use its volume borrowing rates to finance the purchase of solar systems over a 20 year period with the home owner paying a voluntary tax to cover the payments. The tax will be set to be less than or equal to the expected savings on the home's utility bills. The agreement is also transferable if the home is sold.

So will my new home town please start considering something similar?

Cherokee gets LEED Platinum for their Raleigh HQ

Cherokee Investment Partners are a local private company that specializes in cleaning up and developing real estate. They're committed to sustainable development and built a "mainstream green" home in Raleigh last year.

Now they've achieved the first LEED Platinum building in North Carolina for their own headquarters building. To do it they rehabilitated a former furniture warehouse.  Some of the key features of the building include a highly insulated, reflective roof to reduce heat gain, ENERGY STAR-certified office equipment and efficient lighting systems; water-saving faucets; waterless urinals;  zero- or low-VOC paints, adhesives, sealants, furniture and
carpeting.   The building includes showers and bike storage to encourage additional alternative transit options.

The urban office space retains 60 percent of the existing building interior, and when compared to traditional buildings it reduces water use by roughly 45 percent, energy use by 25 percent, and it provides 90 percent of occupants with natural light and views to the outdoors. In addition, the office workstations use 82 percent recycled content. 

See their full press release here.

Greenbuild 365

For those of us who don't make it to Chicago this year for the Greenbuild Expo Nov 7 through 9, the US Green Building Council has put together a new site www.Greenbuild365.org which will feature live streaming video of the key speakers and a running journal of conference events.

GE's new Homebuilder program?

I thought when I read this item that GE was positioning itself to offer the next green building program. With something like 80 programs out there across the country, why not another one? GE's new Homebuilder Program claims to be "groundbreaking".  Hey, it offers 20% savings in household energy and water costs versus the average home. Pardon me if I'm not impressed when I know builders who are doing much much better than that around here.   

On the other hand, I've made the point several times that someone who can paint a pale shade of green across a wide area can do much more good than many small dark green efforts. And if anyone can paint green across a wide area it's GE. So, perhaps I won't write this off with snide remarks just yet.

Still, when I look into the program a bit more I realize that it's mainly just a way of dressing up their appliances and electronic gizmos, like their new eco-dashboard, and selling them as a package deal.
 

To make it happen they've partnered with Environments for Living who are verifying the homes at their "guaranteed performance" level.  I've got pretty mixed feelings about this and a sense of foreboding at the idea of a giant like GE stepping into the green homebuilding arena. Will it help things to move along or will it be a great big greenwash?

NASA's Hansen speaking Nov 16 & 17 in Charlotte and Chapel Hill.

The nation’s foremost climatologist brings his urgent message for immediate action on energy and climate to North Carolina in November.  Dr. James Hansen is head of NASA’s Goddard Institute and an outspoken proponent for rapid reductions in greenhouse gases. He will outline his five-step plan for solving the global climate emergency at upcoming forums in Charlotte and Chapel Hill.  The forums are called “AVERTING CLIMATE CATASTROPHE: Power Plants or Clean Energy – Who Decides?”

The Charlotte event is hosted by Carolinas Clean Air Coalition and will take place on November 16 at 7pm at Queens University of Charlotte.

The Chapel Hill event is hosted by NC WARN of Durham and will take place on November 17 at 3pm at The Friday Center.

Dr. Hansen's leading recommendation: a moratorium on coal-fired power  plants such as one planned by Duke Energy at Cliffside, North Carolina. Mike Nicklas, an internationally recognized green architect and leader in renewable energy, will join Dr. Hansen in laying out a societal      path that can cut global warming pollution rapidly through clean energy and by avoiding dangerous new power plants.          

Admission is free but seating is limited so reserve your seat now by visiting the respective sites linked above.

* Post event article in the News & Observer here

Green Community in the heart of Charlotte

Celadon is a unique community with a green vision. Developer James Funderburk seeks to "lessen our footprint on the Earth by promoting smarter development," according to  their website.  There's no denying it's a very slick urban development. And it's obviously struck a chord as the 24 units are nearly sold out, with only two remaining.

Celadon's location is directly on the Wesley Heights Greenway with extensive walking and biking trails. Plus it has a dedicated bike trail that runs directly uptown on the 4th Street Extension. 

The units will feature Low VOC paints, bamboo flooring with low VOCs meeting the European E1 standard, dual flush toilets, tankless water heaters, high efficiency HVAC, "cool roof" technology to reduce the heat island effect and many other green features.