GreenGeezer

Aging Cheese in a Solar-Powered Formworks "Cave"

The Chicago Reader ran a story last week on Willi Lehner's Wisconsin cheese operation.  His cheeses are aged in an underground building which stays at a uniform temperature of between 51 and 59 degrees Fahrenheit year-round. The small amount of heat and energy he needs comes from solar panels and a wind turbine.  The structure, from Formworks, cost $130,000 but he expects it to pay for itself in 15 years, just from the money he saves on energy.  Lehner's cheese is highly prized and the New York Times   referred to him as....

"....something of a local legend, the off-the-grid rock star of the Wisconsin artisanal cheese movement. Lehner practices his freestyle alchemy in nearby Blue Mounds, within an underground cheese-curing vault that he excavated from the land. Inside, the beautiful ceilings worthy of an Italian chapelare filled with shelf after wooden shelf of cheese, from complex, English-style bandaged cheddars to the funky Earth Schmier, which Lehner spritzes with a brine culture derived from soil taken from his woods."

Rainbank Saves Up to 40% of Household Drinking Water Supply

Australia's water shortage has forced it to innovate and the result is great products like the RainBank.

"Incorporated into the design of new homes or retrofitted to existing properties, RainBank controls the water supply for toilet or laundry applications by automatically switching the water source from the domestic mains to rainwater when a demand is sensed and rainwater is available in the storage tank."

First Day of the Farmers Market

Today was the first day of the Oak Park Farmers Market, and we celebrated by buying early turnips, spinach, kale, and green onions.   The asparagus was also beautiful.  We ran into a friend, Bernell Loeb, who has put her wonderful art online, take a look.  We ran into other friends, which is the best part of the Farmers Market, after all.

Smart Home Exhibit at the Museum of Science & Industry

The Museum of Science & Industry is hosting a Smart Home Exhibit featuring a house designed by Michelle Kauffman, whose GlideHouse prefab home design we have written about before.  This new design is an attempt to make her prefabs more affordable.  The entire house is contained within the grounds of the museum.   It is a three-story loft plan with a small footprint and a green roof, among other green features, including:

• Daylighting
• Energy-efficient heating ventilation and AC systems
• Eco-friendly building components
• Rain water capture for plant irrigation
• Grey water recycling for toilets
• Recycled furniture and materials

The  Museum is open every day except Christmas day, and its  hours are M-S 9:30-4, Sunday 11-4.

Viking House Shows Passive and Active Solar Technology

This Viking House is a good illustration of passive and active solar tech.  They also offer a consulting service  for owners of older homes.   Too bad they're in Ireland.  Still, their website has great information on several key energy-efficient technologies, such as heat recovery ventilation.

"Between a third and half of an Irish building's heat loss typically occurs through cold air exchange. Heat Recovery Ventilation is a technology that, whilst having been in existence for some time, is now rapidly gaining recognition in Ireland as an extremely efficient, health-beneficial, cost effective solution to saving energy. Scandinavian in origin, the Heat Recovery Ventilation System (HRV), follows the unique approach to environmentally harmonised living the Scandinavians are renowned for."

Our Green Home is Starting to Take Shape

We are building a green home in Bloomington, Indiana.  Our plan is to build it over the next year, with plans for completion in late 2009.    Here is the latest rendering.  The house was designed by Conservation Technology International.   The house is a high-performance, super-insulated version of the German Passivhaus, dubbed a "One Watt House" by Marko Spiegel, principal of CTI, because it will take only about one watt per square foot of house to heat it on the coldest day of the year.  It also incorporates a heat chimney, which will draw air up and out of the house on hot days, allowing the house to cool itself naturally. 

Get Solar Makes Finding a Solar Contractor Easier

Get Solar is a new website providing great information on solar energy, the different types of solar energy, and  how to locate a solar contractor in your area.  It also provides a lot of good information on the benefits of solar on its Why Solar? page.  I appreciate its coverage of green building information, including how the Prefab industry is embracing green technology.  Good to see quality information sources springing up to help people find their way in the solar energy consumer marketplace.

D.C. Gut Rehab Proves Value of Green Homes

NPR aired a story on a gut rehab in Washington, D.C. that is projected to earn LEED Platinum status in the LEED for Homes category.  LEED is a third party certification program for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings, awarded by the USGBC.  Built in the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood of Washington, D.C., it is one of only a few buildings in this category in the U.S., and the first in Washington, D.C. But it's the story of the value that green homes have in this down market that really caught my attention.  Says the owner, Amy Levin in an article in BuildingGreen.com:

"When 1834 Ingleside Terrace was listed, my offer was the first of many great ones," says Amy. "But it was the fact that I wanted to do a green renovation that convinced the owner to accept mine."   

Not only that, but:

• An appraiser valued her townhome at about 10% higher than comparable properties
• Interested buyers made offers (even though the property wasn't even listed) that more than covered the green investments she had made
• Prospective renters were "more than willing" to pay a premium for the "health, energy benefits, and "cool factor"  of the home

Speaking of cool, check out the Interactive Green Kitchen Tour on NPR's website.