My Architect Andre forward this link to me, it has a good outline of the new tax credits available to people who invest sustainably in their homes. These are Federal Tax credits, so they should be good anywhere in the US, but of course talk to your tax person. Many thanks to President Obama for his leadership on this.www.energycode.com
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There is a scarey story hitting the wires today about the rate at which the Antarctic Ice sheet is melting…one number really hit me hard…and I put in quotes
“The head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a group set up by the United Nations, told lawmakers on the Environment and Public Works Committee that Earth has about six more years at current rates of carbon dioxide pollutionbefore it is locked into a future of severe global warming.”
6 years. Six. I am sorry but there really isn’t time for fucking around anymore. Take action. Now.
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Maybe it is counter-intuitive to talk about drought when it is raining, but it shouldn’t be. It can rain all day, all week, all month, so what? We use too much water. Period. Increasing supply is not going to get people to use water sustainably. If anything, more rain is going to let us be lazy when it comes to water use. Honestly, if it’s not on the front page most folks won’t give water a second thought. They probably won’t give it a second thought if it is on the front page anyways, given the declining readership numbers of daily newspapers, but I digress
Nothing promotes waste more than abundance. Let’s say enough rain falls to get our regional totals up to “average”. A family of 4 uses more than 150% more water than they did 50 years ago! “Average” yearly rainfall doesn’t cut it anymore. Agriculture and commercial users have to step up to the plate, sort of – but that does not absolve myself or you, the residential user, from our responsibility to sustainable water practices.
When you remodel your bathroom, think about a dual flush toilet. At the absolute minimum, make sure your unit uses only 1.6 gallons per flush (gpf). When your washing machine breaks, buy a front loading model. You might pay more coin on the front end, but you will lose money over time in your water bills. Do you have to have grass? Maybe you can plant a front landscape of beautiful natives instead. I even stopped showering, and my wife does not seem to mind, though she has taken to sleeping in the next room for some reason.
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Foundations are not like kitchens. People don’t leave a house that is for sale saying “Wow, did you see that foundation, how cool was that!” It is the quiet things however, that can have a major impact. The new concrete on either side of the embedded beam is fly ash concrete. Fly ash is a byproduct of coal fired power plants. It is used to replace some of the cement in concrete.
“For every ton of cement manufactured, about 6.5 million BTUs of energy are consumed…(and) about one ton of carbon dioxide is released. Replacing that ton of cement with fly ash would save enough electricity to power the average American home for 24 days, and reduce carbon dioxide emissions equal to two months use of an automobile.” (source?)
“Experts estimate that cement production contributes to about 7% of carbon dioxide emissions from human sources. If all the fly ash generated each year were used in producing concrete, the reduction of carbon dioxide released because of decreased cement production would be equivalent to eliminating 25 percent of the world’s vehicles” (source)>
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“The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an international organization that brings people together to find solutions which promote responsible stewardship of the world’s forests.”
The FSC follows wood from the forest to the mill to the dealer. When you use FSC wood you can be assured that no ecosystems were wiped out making that 2X4.
Another type of FSC Certified product: reclaimed wood. This is tropical hardwood packing crate material used in global industrial shipping that has been re-milled by TerraMai. Wood that would have previously been thrown out has many uses. In our case, we used it to build a beautiful deck overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
Holding up the roof is a 16 inch think 20 foot long Paralam Beam.It is and engineered piece of wood – a lot of smaller diameter strips of wood mashed together with glue to make one giant, ultra strong beam. There are many benefits to using one of these: reducing demand for big solid beams decreases the pressure to cut down old growth forests; Engineered lumber uses wood fiber more efficiently than conventional lumber; and it prevents big beautiful old growth trees from being chopped down.
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