GreenGeezer

"Green Homes for Sale" pick of the week: Athens, OH

This affordable green home in Athens, Ohio uses some of my favorite green features: hydronic radiant floor heating, lots of insulation, and water-saving dual flush toilets and rain barrel diverters.  It has a compact floor plan and yet has four bedrooms.  I'll be those clerestory windows also allow for great air circulation,  and along with shade trees negate the need for air conditioning. Check out the full listing at the Green Homes for Sale website.

"Green Homes for Sale" Pick of the Week -- Fredericksburg, TX

This beautiful straw bale home in Texas hill country is designed to foster natural air flow and, even though it has a conventional forced-air furnace, its utility bills are modest.

"All interior exposed lumber is reclaimed longleaf/heart pine. Clerestory design allows for natural air flow when heating/cooling system is not used. All faucets/shower heads/toilets feature low-flow design."  Find full information at Green Homes for Sale.

Pre-Fab Green Home in Sag Harbor, NY

Yesterday's New York Times featured an affordable (for the Hamptons) pre-fab home as a prototype which the architect, Laszlo Kiss, will live in with his wife.  The design has standard design elements such as a front and back cedar porch, and a translucent pergola, but what makes it special is its green features:

• Geothermal heating system
• Solar PV panels that will provide electricity and sell back excess power to the grid
• Light fixtures what will only accept CFLs
• Five sets of sliding glass doors and L-shaped windows which will allow passive solar heat

One of my favorite things about the house is that it is designed to make flexible use of space and is generous with its inclusion of storage.   Oh yeah, and it can be assembled quickly right from the factory. "The Kiss House design is 'exactly the kind of innovative thinking we need to make green homes that large numbers of people can embrace and afford,' said Neal Lewis, president of the Neighborhood Network of Long Island, a nonprofit alternative energy organization.'"  Treehugger shows the house layout and this image in their coverage of this article.

Farm Restaurant Opens in Bloomington, Indiana

FARM Restaurant  has opened in Bloomington, Indiana, bringing to this delightful college town another outpost in the movement to eat local.   Daniel Orr, the chef/owner, was born in Columbus, Indiana, but lived and worked all around  the world, finally becoming the Executive Chef at La Grenouille, New York City's famed French restaurant where he earned a three-star review from the New York Times.  But the best reason to go the Farm is for its food, which will
" focus on the local and fresh ingredients that Orr will incorporate           into his menu items. The fusion of island cuisine and Midwest American           cooking will be the prime focus at FARM."   Can't wait to eat there next time we're in Bloomington.

Update on Ola Brisa, Todos Santos, Mexico

It has been nearly a year (or more) since I spoke to the founders of Ola Brisa, a green community being founded in Todos Santos, Mexico, in Baja California. It is heartening to see how this development proceeds, and that they are taking to heart their mission of being a sustainable community.   I am away dealing with some family sadnesses this week, but hope to reconnect with the founders when I am back at my desk.  As the list of "things we like about OlaBrisa" continues to grow on their website, I thought I would share a few...

"We are proud that OlaBrisa is designed to be highly ecologically sustainable – that each unit is designed to have minimal air conditioning, that we recycle all of our water, that we are on a path where all of our electricity will come from renewable sources, and that we all, as a part of our dues -- offset the carbon emissions from our plane flights to and from our other homes....We like the idea that the landscaping for OlaBrisa is over 80% edible or medicinal, and that we are supporting Gabriel Howearth, the founder of Seeds of Change (who helped with the design and plant selection, and who provided us with many of the original plants) in his efforts to protect and preserve the genetic diversity of plants worldwide."

"Green Homes for Sale" Pick of the Week

The past week has left me little time to post, but here's  a great green home in Golden, Colorado with a whole house water filtration system and whole house solar system.  I can't tell how well it is insulated from the description.  Well, here's your chance to be "off the grid" and have some real solitude.  I like the fact that it looks like an old mountain cabin, though it is newly built.  The view of mountains and forest isn't too shabby, either, though it would be a long walk to town....

Chapel Hill Development Employs Cradle-to-Cradle Principles

There is a new development planned for Chapel Hill, NC that fulfills our passion for green building and our love of the college town. It is also gratifying to see the development arise in town, where it will rejuvenate an area that needs it.  (At least that's what I read between the lines of the copy on their website.)   Note to developers who want their projects to be approved by town planning boards:  the local community loves this development.  The company vision of Greenbridge Developments is an inspiration, but should be a requirement for anyone planning to build dwellings for human beings:

"Greenbridge Developments aims to develop a new kind of community in existing neighborhoods that promotes human and ecological health. A community that restores the air, water, and soil on which life depends, and contributes to the quality, diversity, vitality, and prosperity of its neighbors. An essential component to this will be to embrace new construction methods, innovative renewable building materials, and forward-thinking renewable energy strategies capable of restoring our relationship to the planet."

Bringing Green Tech Jobs to College Towns

Newsweek has a story on high-tech job growth which was also picked up by Treehugger : 

"It's becoming a common bet. With oil prices near record highs and more companies concerned about their carbon footprints, workers are finding job opportunities in the emerging green economy. Companies are hiring scientists to work on renewable-energy technology and business people to market earth-friendly products. Even if some of these nascent companies falter, there's widespread conviction that this sector will become one of the country's hottest employers. "This is the challenge of the 21st century ... and it's not going away," says Kevin Doyle, founder of the consulting firm Green Economy."

Now to get some of those jobs in Bloomington......

Why We Love College Towns

20060918 Indiana 017
Originally uploaded by richmanwisco

Just take a look at the September calendar of events from Bloom magazine and you'll see why college towns, especially Bloomington, Indiana, are such great places to live.  From Andrew Bird, to Rigoletto, to the Bean Blossom Blues Festival to the Lotus Festival , there is such a variety of affordable, high-quality entertainment and, yes, culture.   

Ecological Home Magazine Features Green Communities

The fall issue of Ecological Home Ideas has a great feature on Green Communities, including Atlantic Station in Atlanta which clusters affordable homes around businesses in downtown Atlanta close to dining, shopping and parks.  Hope it helps to reduce Atlanta's hideous traffic problems.  Rhapsody Cove near Kankakee promises prairie restoration and wetlands protection, but it's still way the heck out of town forcing people to drive just to buy groceries.  Sanctuary Place in Chicago, designed by Farr Associates, is an affordable housing complex for formerly homeless women that uses passive solar design and insulated concrete forms to keep the building snug even in cold Chicago winters.  "ICFs are hollow blocks, usually made of foam, stacked into walls that are then reinforced with steel rebar and filled with concrete.  The result is a highly durable, energy efficient wall..."  Tribeca Green in NYC also used concrete walls to help win LEED Silver status.