Archive for January 22, 2006

Retrofitting Suburbia

January 22, 2006 at 7:52 pm · Filed under Green Home Building, Home building on the Web, Lawn and Garden

From EcoStreet:

So you’ve had one child and there’s another one on the way. You decide to move to the suburbs to be a stay-at-home-mother while your partner commutes to the city. You start house-hunting in earnest, your head filled with ideas and ideals: the big garden, growing your own veggies, somewhere safe for the kids to play. But the commuter-belt is almost as expensive as the city and you can’t afford the home of your dreams. In the cold light of day it looks like you’ll be buying a three-bed semi with a small(ish) back garden and a front garden that someone has thoughtfully concreted over to park both their cards. Sound familiar?

David Holmgren (co-creator of the permaculture concept), comments in this essay that the Australian suburbs have become “sterile wastelands, lacking in any true spirit of community, impoverished of local resources, and filled with fearful people whose daily efforts are focussed elsewhere”. The same could be said for the UK’s suburbs and commuter belt areas.

grow your own tomatoes

Holmgren suggests implementation of permaculture principles to greatly increase the “sustainability and livability of today’s suburbs”: ensuring food security by growing your own fruit and vegetables and passing on this valuable skill to the next generation; improving your family’s health by gardening for exercise as well as eating super-fresh produce grown in your back yard; saving money by growing your own and not depending on food transported from miles away to feed yourselves; fitting a greenhouse to your home to both insulate your house and increase the growing season; rainwater harvesting and greywater treatment to reuse water; keeping small poultry to eat kitchen scraps as well as laying eggs and providing manure; reclaiming the streets by walking more; and recycling creatively and as much as possible. David offers these and more ideas to improve the sustainability of suburban living in his essay entitled “Retrofitting the Suburbs for Sustainability”. Read the full document here.

Original source: sustainablog

Photograph by Rod Miles

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Earth Energy: Part of Canada’s Renewable Energy Strategy

January 22, 2006 at 6:53 pm · Filed under Green Home Building, Heating and Ventilation

From Natural Resources Canada:

In responding to the climate change challenge, the Government of Canada recognizes the importance of the role of renewable energy (earth, sun, wind, biomass and hydro) in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Natural Resources Canada’s (NRCan’s) Renewable Energy Deployment Initiative (REDI) promotes investment in renewable energy technologies for heating and cooling. Not only can renewable energy technologies contribute to the reduction of GHG emissions through the increased use of sustainable energy sources, they can also help reduce a building’s energy costs.

Earth energy systems (also referred to as ground-source heat pump, GeoExchange or geothermal heat pump systems) are among the renewable energy systems included in the REDI program. These systems transfer solar heat from the ground to warm or cool buildings and to heat water. They are considered to be the most energy-efficient, environmentally clean and cost-effective space conditioning systems available.

Read the full article on Ground-Source / Geothermal Heat Pumps at the Government of Canada’s Natural Resources web site. They also include a collection of Earth Energy links

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Straw, Sticks & Bricks – An EcoMaterials Resource

January 22, 2006 at 9:50 am · Filed under Green Building Tips, Green Home Building, Home building on the Web

From http://www.treehugger.com:

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Looking for a one-stop-shop to buy the various green building materials we are regularly noting here? Give Straw, Sticks & Bricks a whirl. We picked just a few from their vast selection for our little photo montage above. First is bamboo (nuff said!) flooring, followed by Durapalm, a palmwood lumber created from plantation palm trees no longer producing plam nuts (often after 80 years). Next in line is yet another Treehugger fav: Green roofs) can now be created as a modular system – 24″ x 24″ “trays” complete with the soil medium and plantings appropriate for your climate. The rich, gold coloured timber then along the collage is Mesquite salvaged from the burn piles of agricultural land clearing. And last, but not least, is Interface’s FLOR carpet derived from an annually renewable resource – corn. These materials and a whole whack more can be supplied by Straw, Sticks & Bricks, who’ve had a retail store in Lincoln, Nebraska since earth day 2004, and recently opened another in Kansas City. They also ship nationwide, via their website ::Straw, Sticks & Bricks.

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Green Startups Will Be the Big Business Trend in ‘06

January 22, 2006 at 9:49 am · Filed under Green Home Building, Heating and Ventilation, Home building on the Web

From http://sustainablog.blogspot.com:

That’s the concensus of five big-name Silicon Valley venture capitalists, according to an article in Red Herring (via Shea via The Entrepreneurial Mind).

Among the VCs’ predictions? Green technologies that will improve quality of life without harming the environment will become even bigger in 2006, said John Doerr of Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers.

Green is the new red, white, and blue, said Mr. Doerr, whose firm is investing in more energy, environmental, and public health startups, echoing comments made by New York Times writer Tom Friedman in a recent column. Kleiner Perkins has invested in some of the world’s best-known tech companies including Amazon.com, AOL, and Google.

Agreeing with Mr. Doerr was Steve Jurvetson of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, who said there will be a biological renaissance in the coming year, with biological sciences becoming more popular with college students as a major.

All the breakthrough development in science and technology will increasingly come from bio-derived or bio-inspired origins, Mr. Jurvetson said, citing examples of the Human Genome project, cloning, and cleantech technologies.

Looks like it’s time to get that VC proposal together, greenies.

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As Suburbs Grow, so Do Environmental Fears

January 22, 2006 at 9:48 am · Filed under Green Building Tips, Green Home Building, Home building on the Web

From http://www.residentialarchitect.com:

SAN FRANCISCO — With low population densities, green lawns, big houses and quiet streets, suburbs are some of the fastest-growing areas in the USA.

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Yale Architecture School to Offer Sustainable Design Degree

January 22, 2006 at 9:36 am · Filed under Green Building Tips, Green Home Building, Heating and Ventilation, Home building on the Web

From http://www.treehugger.com:

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We’ve pointed out sustainable reasons to be at Yale, and eco-pioneering reasons to leave. Now we’ve heard about a new joint degree between the Architecture School and the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

“We are combining both the skills of architecture and ecology, so that our buildings and landscapes can result in less adverse effects on the natural environment and create more positive connections between people and nature,” said Environment School professor Stephen Kellert. “It’s an attempt to really focus on the challenge to build a more sustainable human-built environment.”

The Ivy League is doing its part, people! :: Yale Daily News

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