Posts categoriezed as Green
Make Every Day Earth Day
I’ve been seeing lists of items people can do the one day of the year (today) that we recognize Earth. First of all, one day per year isn’t gonna cut it. Secondly, although planting a tree is great, it’s not something everyone can readily do.
So here’s my own list. In no specific order. Many are included in other, more official lists.
1. Get those reusable shopping bags. Don’t leave them at home when you go shopping.
2. Don’t leave your windows open when using heat or air conditioning. Seems like the most simple thing in the world, but I’ve seen so many people do it. Usually they are my tenants.
3. Spay/neuter your pets.
4. Spay/neuter yourself. Seriously, what’s wrong with adoption? You could be just like Brangelina!
5. Unplug appliances when not in use. I’m too lazy to do this, but my husband does.
6. Get your fat ass out of the car and walk alittle!
7. Instead of throwing away used building materials and furniture consider the fact that one person’s junk is another’s treasure. Do a curb alert.
8. That not only goes for building materials. If you have a bunch of “garbage”, perhaps an artist can use it for a project? Craig before trash!
9. Switch to CFL bulbs. Get a rain barrel. Buy energy star appliances. Use cloth diapers (or see #4). Yada yada.
10. Go vegetarian! Hey, there are only a handful of times during the year that I can get preachy on this subject and today is one of them. Save the cows! Save the pigs! Save the chickens! And little fishies too!
Zero VOC Paint at Home Depot?
You know the green building movement has taken off when Home Depot starts selling no VOC paints. Fresh Aire Choice is the latest zero VOC paint to hit the market and it’s being sold exclusively through that orange big box store.
Now I don’t know my paint science, but the company claims that chemicals are put back into other paints once the color is added. Fresh Aire technology uses a pre-measured ColorFresh™ colorant pouch which dissolves into the paint base without expelling any chemical odor.
The paint comes in 65 colors and is Green Guard certified.
Via Leed Pro
Reclaimed Forum
Ever notice how nothing ever happens on the forum? No? That’s because you never visit. Because nothing ever happens. But I’m still trying to make it work, goddammit. I just posted a couple of new listings for people, but feel free to post your own. Categories: Salvage, Events/Sales, Pets, Sustainable Living, Real Estate and General. What are you waiting for?
1930’s Dining Room Set: $500
New York City College of Technology Division of Continuing Education
Home Design and Green Design Courses: Spring 2008
An ongoing series devoted to city people who live in and love their urban homes
Anatomy of a Brownstone: Green Roofs, Green Homes
A seminar devoted to the art and science of sustainable homes, NYC style
Saturday, April 26 Atrium Amphitheatre 300 Jay Street
2 sessions, (morning and afternoon) $40
10 am to 12 pm 300 Jay Street, Downtown Brooklyn
2pm to 4pm
Forum post/course schedule
Local Reclaimed Lumber
It’s not like there’s a reclaimed building material megastore store in every neighborhood. Using second hand lumber is a labor of love. The day we launched we did a post on reclaimed flooring resources, but it was internet based. Since then, we’ve been trying to find local…and less expensive….wood.
Craigslist has been the best resource. If you go this route, you really need to start thinking about your project months in advance and check the postings religiously. The listings exist, from someone who ordered too much flooring to someone taking up a subfloor to someone tearing down an entire house. You should be able to transport the material at the drop of a hat and be willing drive to CT and NJ. It can be a full time job.
M. Fine Lumber is located right here in Brooklyn. They are not some new fancy pants green building supply company. They’ve been in business since the 1930’s and carry all sorts of recycled wood.
Build It Green in Queens is a re-use store. You would have to be extremely lucky to find 500 sq ft of wide plank flooring here. But keep in mind that wood studs and molding don’t grow on trees and yet they can be found here. As well as used electric boxes, cabinets, etc. (Editor’s note: Ok, I know that studs and molding ARE trees. Poetic license.)
The Old Barwood Site is for serious builders. These are whole barns up for sale. National listings but there are a few in upstate NY and PA. If you’re working on a huge project with a contractor, perhaps you can talk the contractor into it. Too much to take on for a simple DIY job.
Recycled Switchplates
I usually try to find vintage switchplates on Ebay or I embellish existing ugly ones with wallpaper scraps or antiquing techniques. But I wanted to see what else is being offered out there. So, here are some recycled switchplates: all too pricey for moi.
Eleek makes some gorgeous plates. Not cheap though. The “Crosshatch” pictured above is $68. Using these for every switch in your house would cost more than a used car. Perhaps not, since they don’t make outlet covers.
Boris Bally designs these football shaped switchplates using recycled street signs. I can see them in a few rooms, but not all over the house. Don’t get me wrong….I like them. But they scream teenage boy’s room to me. $39.99 at Green and More.
Tin Can Sally makes her switchplates out of…you guessed it. Although most of them look “kitcheny”, perhaps the plain tin, which I actually prefer, can be used all over the house. Her designs average $22, which seems like a steal compared to the other companies.
Etsy designer Debby Arem uses circuit boards for her switchplates. Some of the colors are really nice, but I prefer the plate pictured above because it’s not obviously a computer part. $28 for the 3 switch cover.
A Walk Around Sustainable Flatbush
Another video from those crazy kids at BCAT. Anne from Sustainable Flatbush is in the spotlight this time. Special guest appearance by The Flatbush Gardener.
Stone Fruit Floors
Alla le Roux came across his first peach pit (or “pip” as they say in South Africa) floor at the age of six when his parents took him to Klein Zoar in Cape Town.
When Alla purchased an 1860 home years later, he remembered those floors. After much trial and error, he successfully laid his flooring. He registered the design in 2007.
The home in Paarl is now an art gallery called The Orange Mill. The floors were so popular that Alla and his partner Liz entered it as a business concept in the FNB Enablis Business Plan
Competition. They were finalists.
The floor consists of peach pits that are packed by hand onto a glued surface and filled
with a silica sand and resin mix, then sealed with a twin pack urethane. Sharp edges are ground down exposing the red hue. Design and color can be customized.
I’m not sure if you can order this in the states yet, but if you enjoy your peaches and you feel like taking on a project, go for it!
Via Inhabitat
A Walk Around My Big Fat Ass
“A Walk Around the Blog” Reclaimed Home segment with architect Mark Helder
has been aired. I told myself I wouldn’t post the video if it’s too embarrassing, but I just had to share.First of all, when they say TV puts 10 pounds on you, they ain’t kidding! I’m not that fat! My ass takes up the whole screen!Ok, and what’s with my goofy smile? Can ya tell I felt alittle self conscious in front of the camera?
And do I really sound like that? I think I was trying so hard not to sound “Brooklyn” that I sound…I dunno….like, Valley Girl? How about that voice over where I’m obviously reading from a script in the studio after the taping?
Ok, enjoy the laugh. Hope you don’t have nightmares about my Godzilla thighs.
And then let’s forget this whole thing ever happened.
McTreeHouse Development
A tree house development in Costa Rica. I don’t know about this one. It’s eco friendly construction, but come on, how can it not interfere with the indigenous people and species?
Finca Bellavista, a 72-lot “sustainable rainforest community” is the brainchild of co-founders Matt and Erica Hogan, a sports marketing consultant and a former newspaper editor. The couple fell in love with the area while vacationing there a few years ago and decided they “just had to” build a vacation home there.
The couple tells the National Post that they wanted to share their passion with others and “…bring something totally different and adventurous into peoples’ lives.” And you were thinking it was just a scheme to make money!
The 310 acre property is located at the base of a 6,000-foot mountain on the South Pacific coast of Costa Rica. The region boasts the highest percentage of land devoted to National Parks and Forest Reserves in the country. The world’s first tree house subdivision will be accessible only by foot or the Sky Trail network, an interconnected system of ziplines and platforms that allow users to access different portions of the community.
Roderick Romero, a designer known for his eco-friendly creations, participated in the project. He has worked with Sting in Tuscany, Val Kilmer in Texas, Julianne Moore in NYC, creating treetop hideaways for their kids.
Rainwater will be funneled into each home from a catchment system on the roof. It will then be distributed to sinks and bathrooms via pipes. A hydro-electric power grid was created for the community. The system uses the water flowing through the mountain-fed Rio Bellavista to power a turbine attached to an electric generator.
Finca Bellavista’s Phase 1 lots, priced at $40,000, are almost sold out. Phase 2 lots are available with prices ranging from $50,000 to $65,000 (higher for riverfront and ocean-views). Phase 3 details have not yet been announced.
Yeah, I do the eco travel thing sometimes. I stayed at a lodge in the Peruvian jungle and I swam with dolphins. Would I like to vacation in one of these homes? Hell yeah! It looks awesome! But a subdivision? That’s going too far. Just seems like some wealthy people looking for a guilt free way to rape the land in a more gentle manner.
Eco my ass.
439 Metropolitan -LEED Platinum Pt II
Last December we reported that NYC’s first LEED Platinum mixed use building project was underway in Williamsburg. I recently visited the site to interview architect Mark Helder for BCAT Brooklyn Review’s A Walk Around the Blog.
The building is slated for completion by July 2008. That seems a long shot at the moment (see photos), but Mark assures us that the most difficult part is behind him now. Because they saved the existing walls, underpinning the foundation was an arduous task.
The building will house Mark’s design studio on the ground floor and cellar and will have two residential duplex units above that. The first unit will be about 820 sf and the penthouse, about 1050 sf. Each apartment will have a private balcony and in addition, the penthouse will have exclusive use of the roof garden.
Because of the space constraints, the building was designed with as thin walls as possible while not sacrificing thermal or noise benefits.
I thought it was interesting that the greenest building in Brooklyn sits right near the BQE. But then again, that’s the ONLY kind of building that should be situated there. 100% of the ventilated air will be filtered to near HEPA standards. The building will have one of the best indoor air qualities in the city, far exceeding the American Lung Association’s standards for their Health House certification.
Heavy laminated glass windows will mitigate noise pollution. Concrete floors with an acoustically insulated radiant floor slab will further help with noisy neighbors.
See the blue on the front of the building? Solar panels.
Mark Helder moved to the states from Amsterdam when his wife Nikki felt it was time to reconnect after being away for a decade. Whenever he would visit NYC, he always looked around in astonishment at the abundant building opportunities. Lots of empty and smaller spaces and in general, an aging building stock with opportunities for improvement.
He also noticed that building technology followed the money and was of low standards as compared to what he used to in the Netherlands. Even though there were budgetary constraints back home, it seemed to him that the quality was higher even in the very low budget segments of the market. He feels it’s just what people are used to / demanding to get for their money.
Mark goes on: “In that sense it’s easier building green in the Netherlands, first, because it is a national consensus and people are aware of the long term maintenance effects when building a building which lasts for at least 50 years. Second, building standards and codes are kept up-to-date to the current (energy) developments. The minimum energy efficiency requirements are set to a relative high level in relation to the regularly available building technology and is updated every few years or so. In the US the minimum energy standards are relatively low and building a better performing building is basically voluntary. The gap between the minimum requirements and the regularly available building technology is large.”
Brooklyn Review airs Monday, March 10th on Time Warner channel 56 or Cablevision 69. Check listings for encore presentations. I’ll post the video here if it’s not completely embarrassing.
Green Furniture on a Budget
The Lazy Environmentalist posted an article last week entitled “Green Furniture For All Budgets”. I thought “Hey, this is great!” I love Vivavi’s designs (The company behind the Lazy E). I just can’t afford them.
But alas, there was nothing for my meager budget in that article. I have a few theories as to why this is so:
1. Everybody out there is earning WAY more than me and the hubby. Ok, I’m a freelancer and winter is my slow season. I’ll give you that. But hubby? Steady paycheck. Decent salary. We’re DINKY’s. I dunno.
2. I’m extremely cheap. This is true! Only cheap with certain things. I will blow $300 on a dinner for two, but I would NEVER spend over $30 on a sweater. I let the hubby do that. And then I wear his clothes.
3. I don’t see the value in “new crap”. Give me antique over modern any day of the week. That Target coffee table pictured above is $339. Can I afford it? Yeah. But it looks cheap to me. I could pick up a great coffee table on Craigs for under $50. And it would be green because it would be recycled.
LE states that it is getting easier as there are more options for the consumer now. True, but I still don’t think it’s affordable to everyone. Case in point, the green Crate and Barrel sofa he shows listed for $2299 and the Vivavi sofa for $4200. I’m not sure if he was trying to say these are affordable, but if so, he’s out of touch with reality. Or maybe I am?
As someone who is cheap, first and green, second, I make up my own rules.
1. If it’s second hand, it’s green. Save it from a landfill. Recycle it.
2. If it’s a closeout or liquidation, it’s green. You’re not buying a new product that will need more production. They are just trying to get rid of what was already made.
3. Leftover materials from other’s jobs=green. People/contractors often order too much flooring, sheetrock or tiles and sell off the remaining for half the price. Take advantage!
Now, if you’re looking into green options because of health concerns, you will have to go with the formaldehyde-free, non toxic choices. But if it’s for the environment, then why can’t RE USE be the #1 rule?
So, there you go. It’s easy to be cheap (or poor) and green!
VitraStone Eco Friendly Surfaces
VitraStone manufactures sinks, countertops and tiles. The material looks like concrete, but in fact it’s a blend of ceramic cement, fly ash and recycled glass.
70-85% of the material is recycled glass. The glass is pulled from the local recycling center. It’s crushed there and then delivered to the VitraStone facility.
The fly ash used in production is a bi-product of local coal burning plants. Millions of tons go to waste in landfills and flyash waste ponds every year.
Ceramic cement is used instead of Portland cement because the production of Portland cement accounts for 7% of all Carbon Dioxide emissions from human resources. Chemicals such as water reducers, plasticisers and acrylics that are not used in the proprietary blend of VitraStone ceramic cements.
The products come in a range of colors and can also be customized. Stained glass, fossils, stones or metals can be inlaid into the material which is then sealed with a deep penetrating sealer (food grade, no VOCs).
On the down side, VitraStone is located in Colorado. The closest showroom seems to be in Philly.
Oh yeah, and it ain’t Home Depot prices.
Vintage Linoleum
I did a search on vintage linoleum and it only brought up one source which I had already known about. The good news is that source is located right in here in Tribeca.
Second Hand Rose carries linoleum from the early 1900’s to the 50’s. All of the floors and lino rugs are in new condition and prices start at $10 per square foot. Warning: some of the rare rugs may cost as much as $3500 so don’t get yourself too excited.
Original linoleum was manufactured by oxidizing linseed oil to form a “linoleum cement”. It was then mixed with wood flour and pine resin and baked in large ovens.
Second Hand Rose advises installation by professionals only. I wonder why. Modern day sheet flooring is easy to install. Anyone know if there’s really difference? Or are they just covering their asses?
The £4000 House
Software engineer Steve James calls himself an “envisioneer”. He envisioned the £4000 eco-friendly home he built in Scotland and he envisioned other house plans that are copyright free for anyone wanting to take advantage of his designs.
James concedes that his straw and turf home would’ve cost £1000 less had he chopped the wood himself instead of using a sawmill.
This is probably a bit too “green” for New York standards. Although it is warmed by a wood burning stove and remains watertight, the home lacks some modern day conveniences that even the most fervent eco Nazi would back away from. The rainwater filtration system sounds fine, but it’s the compost toilet and car battery energy that I might have a problem with. Hmm, would that be to code in NYC?
Anyway, kudos to Mr. James for building this very cool home. His motto, “Be the world you wish to live in.” is truly inspiring. But I just need a toilet that flushes.
Check out the Independent article for details on how he assembled the home.
Envisioneer website has tips, diy and slideshows if you can get it to load properly.