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Miscellaneous Schmidt

Sustainable Water Options

by schmidt on August 31, 2010 · 0 comments

The amount of water we use on a daily basis is monstrous. However, there are many opportunities for your household to conserve water. Here are four ways to save some water (and a lot of money!):

Collect rainwater

For a low cost, you can purchase a specially designed barrel or a building block to hold rain water. You can reuse this rainwater to water your garden. Using this system can translate into saving you hundreds, if not, thousands of gallons a year. Rain Harvesting Systems sells rain barrels that are convenient and affordable. For a different look, check out some building blocks that can be put along your fence or under your house.

Drink clean water

If you have a water cooler/dispenser in your house or business and refill it every week with another 5 gallon jug of water, you should check out the DewPointe filter. You will no longer need to buy the jugs of water because this filter accumulates the moisture in the air and converts it to drinking water – a true renewable resource. To give you an idea, a gallon produced by DewPointe costs 60 cents. This translates to $3 for 5 gallons of water, in comparison to a water distribution company such as Alhambra, which costs around $9 for a 5 gallon jug. Sure, the DewPointe is an investment, but translates into an overall profit.

Buy a new toilet

The average toilet uses up to 5 gallons on each flush. In a family of four, this roughly translates to almost 40,000 gallons of water a year. These days, toilets are much more efficient. You can buy a dual flush toilet and save tens of thousands of gallons of water every year. Look around the Caroma website to see what options would be good for your household.

Install Rain Panels

Made from 100% recycled paper, rain panels make a stylish, affordable, and sustainable product. Whether you are remodeling your house or wanting to improve your draining system, rain panels is a great option. The product, RainStone, can be arranged in various ways for looks, a draining system extension, or a combination of both.

These are just a few ways you can save thousands of gallons a year. Remember that when saving a gallon or two is applied to a large scale, it can mean the difference of hundred of millions of dollars.

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Cash for Crappy Boilers

by Sustainable Andy on August 24, 2010 · 1 comment

in Miscellaneous Schmidt

If you have been thinking to replace that old inefficient boiler of yours that is wasting space and money, now is the time to act! Recently Helmut was able to attend a meeting held by Matt Greco, Program Administrator for the SF Department of Environment, dealing with a new incentive program involving boiler systems. Fortunately, the federal stimulus package included this block grant that can give a large incentive (up to 30%) for the replacement of an old boiler.

I just spoke and scheduled a free on-site assessment with Mr. Greco at an 11 unit apartment building on Guerrero street. We are hoping to find out how efficient the current boiler is, how realistic it would be to replace it, and whether or not it is eligible for this incentive program.

If you have an old boiler you are looking to replace, you can set up a free on-site assessment at your location by contacting Matt at:
(415)355-3708
Matthew.greco@sfgov.org

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Sustainable Lighting Options

by schmidt on August 24, 2010 · 2 comments

in Miscellaneous Schmidt

Looking to replace your inefficient old-fashioned light bulbs for some sustainable lighting? Whether for home or commercial use, installation of sustainable lighting can translate into a large transformation of energy savings in your next monthly bill.

If you are doing a remodel or just want to install efficient light fixtures, Energy Savings Technology is a great place to start searching (based in CA). They offer a wide variety of household lighting options that offer an easy way to install and save. WattStopper, switches the focus on light reduction to save energy in a household or business. With dimming, time interval, audible, and sensor switches, energy is saved no matter what you choose.

Lutron, a more sophisticated company compared to WattStopper, not only explores more options for light reduction, but also sells light fixtures that are extremely sustainable and efficient. A service called “Quantum” accounts for natural lighting and manipulates the electricity flow in specific rooms to increase or decrease depending on how much natural light is available. This is a very advanced option that is great for office buildings to maximize savings over many rooms.

Many office buildings are required to have lights on 24/7, and often we forget to turn off the lights in our own homes. For this, it is vital that we understand that there are opportunities to save money, electricity, and even comfort by exploring sustainable lighting options. To give you an idea, when the New York Times building in NY adopted Lutron technology, the 600,000 sq. ft. building began saving over 70% in energy savings and $30,000 per floor each year.

In the outdoor setting, streetlights are also very important to think about – They are on at night every day of the year. A few companies including Zemos create lights for uses such as street lights that are powerful, durable, yet also efficient. They have a lot of lights that are perfect for long-term outdoor uses. If you are considering putting flood lights in your backyard or light panels around your house, look into Zemos’ website.

From a bulb replacement in a bedroom to a full scale building remodel, make sure to check out your sustainable lighting options.

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Roof Gardens

by Sustainable Andy on July 15, 2010 · 1 comment

in Miscellaneous Schmidt

In dense cities such as San Francisco, roof gardens are becoming an increasing popular way to go green. In fact, we are exploring options for some roof spaces available on apartment buildings in the Tenderloin & Mission districts and plan to publish our preliminary research soon.

Design Ecology offers a variety of gardening services and water saving devices. Live Roof is a more sophisticated and popular roof option using engineering techniques to use a minimum amount of soil, save the most amount water, and be readily available to most buildings (even those on slopes). Furthermore, the plants come pre-grown so once installed, it’s ready to go.

In addition to the live gardens available for roof space, native gardens are also available. Native gardens are unique because they promote natural wildlife including insects and birds (10 – 50 times as many compared to non-native). Most likely, this is the type of garden that will be on the roof of our buildings. A few companies that offer quality native plants and trees are the Buckeye Nursery and Central Coast Wilds.

In South Boston, one of the first all green structures made was the Macallen building. You can check out a review here of the building, and make sure to look out for the amazing rooftop garden!

So if you are looking to use that empty space on the roof of your house, know that you have the option to build an eco-friendly garden!