Green Building
Old homes are not the only ones likely to be contaminated with lead paint. Any home built before 1980 should have it's interior and exterior paint tested for lead. The older the home the more likely a significant amount of lead was used in the paint.
In the mid-19th-century lead was used extensively by the more wealthy homeowners. So if your old home is of better construction and condition it could be more likely toxic. Children are much more susceptible to lead absorption and the consequence is irreversible brain damage.
Lead can be absorbed via fumes but also from paint chipping off and going into the soil or floors. This lead can be picked up in dirt and toys and ingested by children unknowingly.
Lead is most dangerous when sanding and scraping are going on. This ambient lead hazard is caused by lead particles hanging in the air and can be inhaled or settle on skin and clothes.
Jetson Green has tipped us to BuildingGreen's Top 10 list of green building products for 2009. They breakdown their choices with a brief description, why it's green and what level of LEED credit relevance it's been awarded.
One of our favorites is the Pozzotive Plus CMUs and Concrete Brick from Kingston Block.
Pozzotive Plus concrete masonry units (CMUs) and concrete facing brick are manufactured using up to 30% post-consumer recycled glass as a portland cement substitute and an average of 50% post-consumer recycled masonry aggregate from local sources in the Northeast. The recycled glass pozzolan (with the tradename Pozzotive), made by Empire Resource Recycling, LLC, is ground to about 15 microns (a finer powder than portland cement) and used in place of the cement, saving about one ton of CO2 for every ton of cement replaced.
Pozzotive Plus CMUs have been made with up to 90% recycled aggregate, though 50% is typical. Compared to conventional CMUs and brick, Pozzotive Plus products require less energy to produce, are stronger, and have greater moisture and chemical resistance, according to the company.
Re-Nest turned us onto this amazing DIY table built from scraps of wood gathered from an industrial area of decaying buildings. With the help of some friends a little know-how this table is now ready to serve Thanksgiving dinner for 10.
Only tools needed are: a table saw, a circular saw, a power drill/impact driver, hand plane, mallet, some drill bits, and a belt sander.
More on the project from Instructables.
Why not take advantage of the available square footage in your basement and not just leave it as a storage room. By finishing out a basement or at least insulating it, you'll be able to enjoy more of your home as well as save energy.
One Project Closer went through the process of selecting basement insulation and they considered all of the major options including fiberglass, wet cellulose and spray foam.
They chose closed cell spray foam:
While closed cell spray foam is slightly more expensive than other methods, it offers high R-value with the best mold resistance. Given that we've invested thousands of dollars in radiant floor heating, we believe that the higher cost is justified and would recommend this method.
In the ongoing quest to recycle and structures for use as live/work spaces, these train cars have followed the lead of re-purposed shipping containers and are now being transformed into permanent living structures.
Our interview with Kelly Giard of Clean Air Lawn Care was eye-opening and he left us with 3 invaluable lawn care tips that we wanted to highlight again.
His primary mantra sounds like common sense but is more difficult to achieve than you realize and that is to, fight weeds with a healthy lawn, not by spraying herbicides. It's so much easier to just dump chemicals on a lawn rather than take a little time and patience to help nurture your lawn the natural way.
1. Cut your lawn half an inch higher than you usually do (one or two notches on your mower wheels) and notice how much greener it gets, how fewer weeds there are, and how much less water it needs.
We're always inspired by entrepreneurs who see an opportunity that aligns with their passion and dive right in. Kelly Giard of Clean Air Lawn Care fits that description and has been recognized by Entrepreneur Magazine as a finalist in their Emerging Entrepreneur of 2009 contest.
Launched in 2006, Clean Air Lawn Care has become the nation's leading full-service sustainable lawn care company. Dedicated to using clean electric and biodiesel powered equipment for lawn mowing and landscape maintenance that is run on renewable energy. Their electric equipment is charged during the day by solar panels mounted on our trucks and overnight with wind power. For an industry that he calls the "dirty frontier" they are about as clean as you can get.
Kelly took the time to answer a few of our questions about the lawn care industry as well as offering some awesome tips for taking care of your lawn. He's also does a great job of convincing us to re-evaluate our stance on synthetic lawns.
C&H: What's your background and how did you get into the clean lawn business?
Kelly: I grew up in Walla Walla, WA and had my own one guy mowing operation with about 25 clients. I've always enjoyed the work - especially the immediate satisfaction of seeing your efforts in the finished product. I went off to Boston University and got a masters in Econ, but also picked up a bachelors in Environmental Analysis and Policy. After 8 years as a retail stockbroker in Fort Collins, CO, I was getting a little bored and so I started Clean Air Lawn Care out of my garage mostly for fun. I got lucky and business took off, I sold my brokerage business, and made the decision to go big with Clean Air. Clean Air is what I would call the wedding of my high school job, my environmental interests, and my experience in business.
Close loop water systems are sustainable and a major step in water conservation.
Ecologist Brent Bucknum, principal of Hyphae Design Lab in Oakland, California, shares the ABC's of re-routing a home's waste water (greywater) to sustainably irrigate gardens and other green spaces. He takes us from his live/work space in Oakland to several residential sites around Berkeley that feature greywater systems in various stages of completion.
[via Dwell]
The bulky solar panels used to be your only option when considering harnessing solar power. You either had to have the proper roof space or ground space to place these panels
Two new companies are integrating photovoltaics into smaller and more aesthetically pleasing roofing materials such as terra cotta roofing tile in the Southwest and gray shingles of NE cottages.
Here are two of the leading manufacturers:
