GreenBuildIndiana

Our "Radically Energy Efficient" Home Gets Nice Local Press

Thanks to Mike Leonard and Jeremy Hogan -- and to the Bloomington Herald-Times, for the great feature story on our energy-efficient house today in the Sunday paper.

"The home that David and Carol Gulyas are building is based on many of the cutting-edge concepts in green construction and energy conservation, and while it most closely approximates concepts employed in the German passive home, there are differences.

'The German model really emphasizes being airtight, and while that’s a fundamental concept in this house, too, we have a different attitude about quality of life,' Gulyas said. 'In Bloomington, we like to open the windows and let the air in. Feel a breeze. So we’ve incorporated systems to accommodate that as well.'" --Mike Leonard, Bloomington Herald-Times, May 17, 2009.

Systems and features that will make the house so radical include:

• Energy modeling and design by Marko Spiegel and CTI
• Cool, heat reflecting metal roof finish
• 12-inch thick SIP walls and roof from Porter SIPS in Michigan
• Triple-pane Loewen windows
• Ten inches of insulation under the floor slab
• Energy Recovery Ventilator

Plus some not-so-radical features such as excellent construction quality provided by Chris Sturbaum's Golden Hands Construction crew, and outstanding interior design and construction management provided by David Gulyas (full disclosure, the latter is my husband).

Las Gaviotas: A Village to Reinvent the World

Image Credit:  Las Gaviotas.  This tiny hydroelectric turbine is one of four technologies that keeps Las Gaviotas off the grid. It generates 30 kilowatts off a 1-meter drop in a low-fall dam.  Las Gaviotas was a feature in yesterday's "Living on Earth" broadcast on NPR. Founded by Colombian Paolo Lugari, Las Gaviotas has out-innovated some of the world's biggest corporations in its effort to create a sustainable society:

"Built from scratch in a treeless corner of [Colombia], this community of scientists, tinkerers, and refugees - now numbering more than 200 - has created a verdant rainforest where once there was nothing but scrub grass. It has also devised and deployed dozens of inventions with a frequency and success rate that puts some of America's most storied technology companies to shame.

"Its products include a hydroelectric microturbine that generates 30 kilowatts and thousands of RPMs from a mere 1-meter drop in a low-fall dam; a system of solar panels, spherical boilers, and tanks that can provide hot water for housing projects as large as 30,000 units; and a remote-controlled zeppelin that uses video cameras to spot forest fires."  CNN Money

Alan Weisman wrote a book on Las Gaviotas, and he has recently updated it and re-issued it in a new edition. In addition to advancing renewable energy technologies and successfully creating a verdant forest out of nothing, Las Gaviotas has some lessons on what is most appropriate technology for a post-carbon world, and what really makes human beings happy.   Says one of the community's leaders: "We believe austerity is a better path to happiness and to man's comfort. In Colombia's oil camps, what have they gotten? Prostitution and alcoholism, because salaries are too high. Then the oil is gone. What's left is misery." 

Smart Meters Help Even Older Homes Save Energy

Image Credit: www.carboncommentary.com

A story in today's New York Times highlights the gains made in energy savings in the UK through the increasing use of Smart Meters.   Smart Meters provide real-time information on energy use so that homeowners can immediately see the effect of appliances, light bulbs, and computers on their energy usage and, their bills.   It has been shown that such feedback (as any Prius owner will tell you) changes behavior, especially as the cost of energy rises. 

In the UK, where creaking old homes vastly outnumber sleek new "green" homes (as they do in most cities of the world), Smart Meters are fostering such energy-saving behaviors as:

• Installing highly efficient windows
• Insulating under roofs
• Installing solar water heaters
• Using incandescent light bulbs little and replacing most or all bulbs with compact fluorescents
• Giving up using an electric teekettle, a notorious energy hog

Britain's Low Carbon Trust  has been a major force in making the city of Brighton and its neighbor Hove, traditional and ancient towns, into prototypes for the new green village.  The trust is sponsoring home tours  so energy-saving Brighton homeowners can share how they have transformed their older homes.

In the U.S., Smart Metering has been tried in several locations, including Chicago and the state of California. By all accounts, they are a raving success. Duke Energy Indiana  plans to install 800,000 Smart Meters starting this year.  According to Energy Design, Strategy and News:

"Some 50 million old meters in the United States are likely to be replaced by advanced meters by 2010 at a cost of about $18 billion, according to a recent analysis by Deutsche Bank. Worldwide, only 6% of electricity, 8% of gas, and 4% of water meters are even automated, according to Texas Instruments Inc, which sells a variety of chips for meters. In fact, in the electric industry alone, 500 million meters worldwide could be replaced over the next 10 years, resulting in semiconductor sales of at least $7.5 billion.."

Okay, so let's get on with it.

Nature Mill Indoor Composter

If you're like me, you're tired of throwing food down the garbage disposal.  (In our current location we don't have a backyard.)  So I have been watching the development of indoor composters like the Nature Mill.  Check it out and watch the video.  It will compost food scraps in about two weeks; you pull out a tray at the bottom and there it is.   Uses 10 watts per month at a cost of about 50 cents.

Folding Greenhouse Saves Space for Urban Gardeners

This folding greenhouse by Daniel Schipper , a Dutch designer is a creative solution for space-challenged urban gardeners.  Via Treehugger.  The Dutch are so creative about energy and water management and making do with small spaces: think windmills and canals.

National Hanging Out Day Celebrates the Clothesline

TreeHugger has the scoop on National Hanging Out Day, and the many new kinds of clotheslines that are being developed to lure people back to hanging their clothes outside.  There's Nature's Dryer, which looks like a tree. And there's Cord-O-Clip, a more high-tech solution.  Find them all at the Clothesline Shop.

I myself grew up with the classic Tee-Post, shown here.

Arzu Rugs Connect Mothers Worldwide

I went to the Global Activism Expo last night at the Broadway Armory (boy that's a long trip on the Red Line) and was happy to see that the Arzu Rugs  people were there.  Arzu Rugs fulfill all the requirements of a "green" product, in that they are not only 100% naturally-dyed and impact the environment minimally, but they are produced in a socially responsible way.  In fact, the mission of the company is to provide income for women in Afghanistan who produce the rugs using ancient methods.  The rugs are beautiful and of the highest quality.  Arzu uses the company to address the very harsh conditions of Afghan women, including education:

"Arzu’s social contract requires that women attend education classes that cover literacy, basic numeracy and units on health, hygiene, nutrition and human rights. In 2006 we began offering similar courses to men. Arzu partners with other NGOs (non-governmental organizations) to provide these services, such as Shuhada Organization in Bamyan and VUSAF (Verein zur Unterstützung von Schulen in Afghanistan) in Andkhoi.

In 2006, Arzu offered its first scholarship for a girl to continue her education beyond the Afghan equivalent of high school."

Small House Society Folded into Resources for Life

I decided to take a look at what the Small House Society was up to, and noticed they have done a very nice re-design of their website, while reorganizing themselves under the umbrella of Resources for Life.   This is all well and good, but I miss the Small House Society name, and wonder if they are going to give it as much attention as its popularity demands.

BuyGreen Website Good Source for Green Products for Home and Office

BuyGreen.com  looks like a great sourcing website for green products.  How green are they?

 "At BuyGreen, we are dedicated to developing a sustainable business.  In every aspect of our operations, from product shipment to office supplies, we look to reduce waste, conserve energy, and minimize use of resources.  After reducing our carbon footprint as much as possible through these efforts, we purchase carbon offsets to reach our goal of a zero waste footprint.  We are approved by Co-Op America, give 1% of our sales back to environmental causes through One Percent for the Planet, and support various environmental and social causes closer to home."

Living Green or Kidding Ourselves? Sprawl is Not Green

Sometimes we get so excited about the benefits of green building that we fail to keep the pressure on to improve public transportation, and that's a problem.  We can't meet the carbon challenge unless we do, says a leading Chicago architect.

Today in Chicago Life, a supplement to the New York Times, Architect Joe Valerio points out that location trumps green materials in green building.   He uses as an example Prairie Crossing, which bills itself as a "conservation community" and does all the new urbanism things right, yet because it's so far from the city, where most of its residents work, it fails to significantly lower carbon emissions.  He uses a hypothetical family, the Smiths, to illustrate:

"The hypothetical Smiths are hypothetically green. They have made progress towards a green future.  Where a normal suburban household consumes 240 million BTUs (MBTUS) of energy per year to maintain the house and for transportation, the Smiths have likely reduced this number to 164 MBTUs."  But the "disquieting myth" is that the Smiths are still using roughly half of their energy for transportation.   If the normal suburban house, even a not especially green one, is built in a city, Valerio points out, the transportation portion drops to 28 MBTUs and brings the total energy use to 143 MBTUs." -- Joe Valerio, p. 26, Chicago Life, supplement to the April 6 Chicago Tribune.

Valerio continues:

• If you build a green house in the city, MBTUs drop to 89 MBTUs
• Rent or buy in a multi-family "green" urban building, MBTUs drop to 62, or 25 percent of the typical suburban household's energy use

This is a very helpful analysis, and I'm grateful to Mr. Valerio.