Round two for Bill the green builder guy, again, some decent information, though he is a big lovable dork – I agree with a youtube poster that Vinyl Windows get an “F” for sustainability. Spray foam options can be sustainable from the perspective of higher insulation and better energy conservation, I have used them and they can be effective. As for composite decking made from recycled plastic – as much as I hate it, I give it a nod as it is recycled. So long as they source the material from the waste stream and keep it from going into the landfill for a time, I suppose its preferable. Whenever I think of plastic I think about this article in the Chronicle from 2006, and it never fails to piss me off.
Dwell Magazine has a great piece in this month’s issue on Eco-Friendly House Paints. I would link the article but Dwell’s site is clunky and I can’t find it. Good rag though, I always like thumbing through it, and its a local SF business so props to them. Anyways, I have much love for low/no VOC paints. Painting is one of the easiest and most cost effective renovation jobs a person can take on, and it can be an opportunity to go and save green at the same time.
I was at Cole Hardware the other day checking out their low/no Benjamine Moore paints, and the prices are very comparable to the regular stuff – within a buck or two. I have seen the same aggressive pricing at the Kelly Moore stores as well, (BTW – were these like a brother sister family thing, the Moores – that decided to get all competitive with the paint?)
So why low/no VOC paint? Well, let me tell you, it doesn’t smell like a chemical factory for one thing, so you do not have to fill your lungs with the crap they mix into standard paint. Less chemicals for your house as well, which is always good.
What are these evil VOCs? As near as I can tell, not being a chemist, they are chemicals like Acetone, Ammonia and Formaldehyde. In regular paints they are found in concentrations of over 125 parts per liter. Low VOC paints have less than 20 parts per liter, and no VOCs have, well, I will let you figure that out. I myself use low/no voc paint exclusively in my rental units and in our remodels. I have no complaints, it is safer for my workers, better for my tenants, good for the environment, and pretty much the same price.
A reader sent me an email the other day asking for a site or calculation that could help him determine how much money he would save if he installed higher R factor insulation. It is a damn good question, and while I referred him to SustainableSpaces for bids and/or an energy audit, it got me thinking about cost savings. Exactly specifically to the dollar and cent how much do we save when we install energy & water saving systems into our homes? It is a personal question as it relates to your baseline usage, and savings will flow from each person differently – my wife likes to point out that I take very long showers, so if I were not so much of a water pig, how many dollars would that add up to over the course of a year? There is this great article on Energy Use from National Geographic that has be inspired to go on an energy diet…I think I will get some baseline costs up, and track how changes in behavior and the installation of new systems impact actual costs, and report back on the savings. I haven’t a clue how to do it, and I should probably let my wife know also, but I will figure it out and post as I go.
Great piece in the Chron today on a new twist in green/sustainable home building; free and low cost architectural drawings available for down load online. A few different companies are cited in the article; and one, FreeGreen offers not just open sourse style plans but green features as well. Free Green also has tons of tools to help you tweak your dream and see how many dollars it would set you back. Drawings for your home or addition can cost big bucks, so it is nice to see alternatives like these on the web.
I am a big fan of FSC Certified wood and wood products. The Forest Stewardship Council oversees the management and production of wood, ensures that forests are not clear cut, that the rights of indigenous people are respected, that proper forest management protocols are observed, and that the wood that you buy has not been swapped out with other, poorly sourced product. The FSC has a chain of custody process that is in my opinion a model for other sustainable building materials.
Here are some highlights(Taken from the FSC Site):
More than 100 million ha forest worldwide were certified to FSC standards in April 2008, distributed over 79 countries.
FSC certified forests represent the equivalent of 7% of the world’s productive forests.
FSC is the fastest growing forest certification system in the world (UN FAO, 2007)
With over 7’500 certificates, the number of companies along the forest product supply chain committing to FSC certification peaked at 40% in 2007.
The value of FSC labeled sales is estimated at over 20 billion USD.
This is Sidebar 1. You can edit the content that appears here by visiting your Widgets panel and modifying the current widgets in Sidebar 1. Or, if you want to be a true ninja, you can add your own content to this sidebar by using the appropriate hooks.
Default Widget
This is Sidebar 2. You can edit the content that appears here by visiting your Widgets panel and modifying the current widgets in Sidebar 2. Or, if you want to be a true ninja, you can add your own content to this sidebar by using the appropriate hooks.