January 30, 2009
by Environmental Building Strategies
in Energy
Tags: climate, climate change, energy, sustainability, Sustainable Site
So I flipped on CNN this morning early as I usually do and was shocked that I hadn’t heard about the ice storm back there. Apparently Kentucky and Arkansas are badly hit by a winter storm that has left droves of power outages in its wake. Here is an article for you if your still behind the times (as I was as of this morning). Below is an excerpt from the article:
Many Kentucky hotels offering discounted “power outage rates” reported being fully booked with people escaping frosty neighborhoods. Those who hunkered down in their homes face long lines to buy generators, firewood, groceries — even bottled water because power outages crippled local pumping stations.
Truckloads of ready-to-eat meals, water and generators from the Federal Emergency Management Agency were expected to arrive Friday at a staging area in Fort Campbell, Ky., said Mary Hudak, a spokeswoman for FEMA’s southeast region.
In Paducah, Amber Fiers and her neighbor Miranda Brittan tried a half-dozen filling stations before finding one where they could buy kerosene. The two were in a line that swelled to 50 or more at the 13th Street Station, which began pumping kerosene after its owner set up a generator.
So here’s my thing – this guy gets on the TV and goes “WE NEED FUEL – WE NEED GAS!!!”
In the background is footage of lines of cars wrapping around the block and hillbillys screaming “we’ve been here for like two hours!”
When will this society realize that its reliance on fossil fuels is completely unsustainable. Its like building a massive structure and leaning it on an earthquake fault.
I mean you have to be kidding me – people are freezing over there and starving because we can’t and haven’t come up with smarter – and yes I do mean smarter – ways of producing energy.
And to boot even if we did have a completely open grid with solar power plants everywhere and electricity powering our every move, we still have the issues of transmission lines.
My advice to you is get off the grid or stock up on coal, oil and kerosene – in the meantime, have fun with the price fluctuations, embargoes, middle eastern conflicts, and land pillage. We need a better solution and I’m glad that Obama is considering rerouting NASA to focus on climate change – who the hell wants to live on Mars anyway.
–The EBS Team
January 28, 2009
by Environmental Building Strategies
in Lifestyle, Sustainability
Tags: green, sustainability
So almost a month ago I wrote an article titled Top 100 Ways to Continue F*%#ing the Future. To be honest it got quite a bit of press and I have to say I’m somewhat proud.
I didn’t think I had the potential to generate that much conversation. But this blog and EBS’s presence in the field has drawn criticism and compliment from all over including Las Vegas (EBS was there last week for the International Builders Show), North Carolina, and Connecticut.
Some people were honestly pissed! I mean really pissed. I posted the link to our blog on LinkedIn and boy did some people freak out. For the most part it was comments like “inappropriate language in a public forum” but some were down right nasty. I actually had to remove the postings for a while there as I didn’t want to destroy our/my name.
So with that said, I have brought it back. Of course as you see above I changed the uck in the F word to symbols as per many of your suggestions. It’s a good idea. I can’t realistically expect this book to sell if I plaster the F word all over Barnes and Noble. God knows they are too noble for that.
So back to the good stuff: Here is what I’ve seen recently that pisses me off!
1. Keep promoting Green NAHB
–The fact that the International Builders Show can promote “green” (like it was their job somehow revive their industry) when their sustainability efforts fell miles – let me repeat – MILES short of those at GreenBuild. No sustainable ware, distribution material and the waste stream – I can’t even imagine!
2. Keep saying your sustainable
–WalMart’s sustainability efforts are a joke. Do they really think that putting solar panels on their roof’s will allow the public to just pass by the fact that they raped economies all across rural America and placed so many small businesses out of business. The joke is that we’ve let them get so big that they mind as well start a sustainability arm of their company to teach classes – I mean hell – they’d be good at it right?
3. Use those cleaners under the sink.
–I need people to realize how bad the chemicals are underneath your sink. These are poisons. And where does the water you release from your sink and drains go? The long and short of it – the GROUND! So when you go to plant those tomato plants and get ready right around August for those tender tomatoes, just remember where they came from. There are green cleaning products out there that don’t cost a penny more. Check out Green Works
4. Wrap that sh*t in plastic
–Do you have a pet? Well if you do lets think about picking up after them. Waste from our bodies is naturally a very compostable product. So why cover that with a plastic bag – plastic takes years and years to bio-degrade. Buy the bio bags people – they don’t cost anymore and REMEMBER to put them in the compost bin.
5. Print that paper
–Switch your paper to double sided printing. If it has this option set the printer to default double sided printing. Adobe saved $22,000 a year as a result of double sided printing. It just makes sense and we will stop wasting paper. Or if that doesn’t work then consider options like Fiberstone. Its a paper that doesn’t actually have any paper products in it – made from recycled Limestone quarries.
Ok that’s all for now – I will rant some more next week. For now keep F – ing the planet and bucking nature. . .
–The EBS Team
January 26, 2009
by Environmental Building Strategies
in Energy, Green Building, Uncategorized
Tags: cool roofs, Green Retrofit, Home Improvement
I recently learned a few things that I was a little shaky on.
This article talks alot about one of those things.
That is the power of WHITE – and yes I mean the color. 
For the majority of people out there we understand the ability of light colors. They reflect while dark colors absorb. And we are talking about heat for those of you just joining the conversation.
And a majority of us have heard of the concept of cool roofs. That is you paint or put some sort of white membrane on a roof and it dramitically reduces the cooling loads of a building because the temperature of the roof surface drops by 50+ degrees.
However in the above mentioned article you can read about the actual effects of a study that was conducted. This study has the audacity (a good audacity) to claim that adopting a cool roof and cool pavement strategy would change the climate drastically – drastically like 44 billion tons of CO2-
“That is more than all the countries on Earth emit in a single year. And, with global climate negotiators focused on limiting a rapid increase in emissions, installing cool roofs and pavements would offset more than 10 years of emissions growth, even without slashing industrial pollution.”
Pretty incredible! I also learned this weekend that shiny metal (which tends to reflect more than white surfaces) is not a good roofing strategy (actually it can be you just need to be aware of how to install it). This is because using a shiny metal as a “radiant barrier needs to have an air space accompanying it. Metal is a conductor and if it is placed next to another surface (i.e. you covering your roof with shiny metal) it will conduct that heat through the surface it is touching.
So what this means for you is – don’t get suckered into buying a foil faced foam board insulation to put on your roof. When you lay roofing shingles on top of it (or whatever you roof it with) you have eliminated the purpose of the radiant barrier all together. Hope this helps!
–The EBS Team
January 24, 2009
by Environmental Building Strategies
in Energy, Green Building, Uncategorized
Tags: architecture, energy, Green Retrofit, Home Improvement, organic
While gearing up for the new presidency and getting excited about him closing Guantanamo, I also think now is the time to actually get things done. President Obama to me seems like the type of man who is no bullshit, real, and measurable.
This means several things for us as peons. It means we will actually see things happen in the United States instead of that wait and react feeling we’ve had for the last several years (oh wait, let me correct myself and say last 8 years!). The good news is we’ve already see it.
Our last post revolved around the idea of Obama and energy efficiency for government buildings. Thats great and I’m happy for the government. Maybe they will set the example for the rest of us so we can actually look up to our leaders instead of following in their footsteps (look to American debt vs. other countries like Japan if you don’t agree – classic example).
With that said, you are probably wondering how you can contribute.
Well below is from the Organic Architect’s website.
EVERY Project should include these!!
1. Every project should be a Passive Solar design, orient to the sun and incorporate passive cooling.
2. Double the minimum amount of insulation required. Use only non-toxic or recycled content
insulation.
3. Use Low/No-VOC and Formaldehyde-Free Paint. Use Solvent-Free Adhesives.
4. Use Low VOC, Water-Based Wood Finishes.
5. Use certified wood or finger-jointed wood for all finish trim.
6. Expose the structure to avoid the need for additional finishes.
7. Avoid wall to wall carpet, or use carpet tiles with a company with a take back program.
8. If you must use drywall, use recycled content drywall. Try other natural wall finishes.
9. Use composite lumber for all exterior decks.
10. Replace up to 35% of the Portland Cement in the concrete with Fly Ash.
11. Avoid vinyl products. Alternatives include rubber, turned up carpet, linoleum, etc. As an
alternative to vinyl flooring consider linoleum, made from wood flour, resins and linseed oil. It’s
available in a variety of colors and can be cut and pieced in to any pattern you can dream up.
12. Specify a light color roof in warm regions; a non asphalt roof allows for future water catchment.
13. Avoid standard particle board cabinets and use formaldehyde-free medium density fiberboard,
plywood or wheat board for cabinet boxes.
14. Consider bamboo, reclaimed or sustainably harvested wood, and wheatboard for cabinet doors
and drawers, and sealed with a no- or low-volatile organic compound clear finish.
15. On-demand hot water pumping system rather than a whole house re-circulating hot water loop,
which has proven to be inefficient for delivering hot water quickly.
16. Any new toilets should be dual flush type. For $20, EcoFlush makes a kit to retrofit existing
toilets to dual flush.
17. Recycle Job Site Construction and Demolition Waste. Change your general demolition notes to
salvage all removed doors and windows for possible salvage or reuse.
18. Use treated wood that does not contain Chromium, CCA or Arsenic for decking and sill plates.
19. Landscaping uses drip irrigation system to save water and indigenous xeriscaping plants that
require little water.
20. Incorporate permeable paving at all driveways and exterior surfaces.
21. Reuse concrete form boards, or reusable slip forms.
22. Insulate foundation before backfill.
23. Substitute solid sawn lumber with engineered lumber.
24. Use OSB for subfloor and sheathing
25. If you are going to use stucco siding, use integrally colored stucco.
26. Install a whole house water filter.
27. Provide conduit for future solar addition.
28. Provide dimmers on all light switches. (Wattstopper)
29. South and west facing walls to have a high thermal mass material (concrete, or earthen).
30. All appliances to be high level EnergyStar models.
31. Pre-plumb for solar water heating.
32. On demand, tankless water heaters
33. Provide heat reclaimation GFX exchangers at all high use showers.
If you don’t understand what this stuff means then look it up and do your homework. This is real, its now and it needs to be known.
–The EBS Team
January 22, 2009
by Environmental Building Strategies
in Energy, Green Building, LEED
Obama is in office and already teaming up with the USGBC on setting a goal to have all federal buildings become carbon neutral 2025. What does that mean? achieving net zero carbon emissions by balancing a measured amount of carbon released with an equivalent amount sequestered or offset. Obama also stated that he wants all newly constructed federal buildings to increase initial energy efficiency by 40 percent within five years, and existing buildings would have to increase efficiency by 25 percent.
Here is the best part. The plan for federal buildings is similar to the one proposed for all new buildings in the United States. President Obama is going to follow the guidance of Architecture 2030 and their carbon neutral challenge for new buildings and a 25 percent increase in existing buildings. New grants will reward the adoption of sustainable building codes by states and localities and provide matching funds toward retrofitting.
As someone that is obviously very active in the green movement it’s great to have a leader that understands the value that green buildings can bring to our lives. It’s great that President Obama has gone to the most recognizable green building organization, the USGBC, and asked them for assistance in implementing a plan. Smart decisions like this got President Obama into the office and are going to help him succeed in straightening out our economic situation.
–The EBS Team
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