Tag Archive for 'green building'

SuperForester Emily Presents: Totally Self-Sustaining Cabin!

melissa published on December 13, 2010 in art, build, celebrity, technology and zeitgeist. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , .

What’s the use of a house if you haven’t got a tolerable planet to put it on?

Those words, from the mind of the amazing Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) (who, I think, bears an uncanny resemblance to Abraham Lincoln, and lived nearly the same years (1809-1865,) inspired Texas Tech Associate Professor of Architecture, Upe Flueckiger, and his students to design and build this amazing Sustainable Cabin. It is a totally self-sustaining dwelling that now sits on its permanant home in Fourd County, Texas and will be used to test and quantify sustainable architectural concepts.

The Sustainable Cabin was constructed from the recycled metal chassis of a double-wide mobile home, with the exterior cladding made from corrugated iron and cedar. The inside includes bamboo flooring, yellow pine claddings and thermal insulation made from recycled cotton (mostly recycled blue jeans). The Morso stove is made from reused scrap iron, and electricity comes from photovoltaic solar panels.

The performance of these systems will be tested and evaluated. The data will then help future architects make crucial and lucrative design decisions, and help them to envision how to retrofit existing homes with sustainable technology.

This little place makes my heart feel super happy! Maybe by Superforest Summit 2012 there will be one of these at Zero One!

In this video, Professor Flueckiger discusses how they made it.

I want one. Oh…but the Binishells!  I want one of those as well. What’s a girl to do…

Much Love, Emily

Live at the Living Roof

jordan published on March 3, 2009 in build. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

A while back, I believe SuperForest posted about San Francisco’s amazing new architectural wonder, the California Academy of Sciences (though I can’t find the post to link to it).

Aside from being a pretty cool museum, what makes the Academy of Sciences so amazing is it’s new building.  As their website states: “The Academy is now the largest public Platinum-rated building in the world, and also the world’s greenest museum.”

What does this mean, and how green is green?

  • 90% of all demolition materials were recycled
  • 32,000 tons of sand from foundation excavation applied to dune restoration projects in San Francisco
  • 95% of all steel from recycled sources
  • 15% fly ash (a recycled coal by-product), 35% slag in concrete
  • 50% of lumber harvested from sustainable-yield forests
  • 68% of insulation comes from recycled blue jeans
  • 90% of office space will have natural light and ventilation
  • 60,000 photovoltaic cells; 213,000 kilowatt-hours; 5% to 10% savings of electricity
  • 30% less energy consumption than federal code requirement

And of course, the crowning achievement (pun intended) — the living roof. Which this weekend I had the pleasure of visiting in person.

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At 200,000 sq ft and 1.7 million native plants, it is a beautiful sight to behold.

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To learn more about the Academy’s living roof (it’s design, construction, 1.7 million native plants), click here. For more info on green roofs around the world and how to build your own: www.greenroofs.com.  Curious about LEED, the green building certification organization?  SuperForester Julius shows the way in this post here.

May we continue turning the concrete jungle into a real one!

-SuperForester Jordan

Daniel Libeskind Tower for NYC!

niki published on December 9, 2008 in celebrity, technology and zeitgeist. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Good Morning!

This just caught my eye on Inhabitat:
This proposal is for a building at One Madison Avenue (at 23rd street).
“Daniel Libeskind recently unveiled a soaring green skyscraper for New York that is constructed of mostly glass and stands to be the city’s tallest residential structure at 900 feet. Dubbed the New York Tower at One Madison Avenue, the 54-story apartment building features a series of ‘sky gardens‘ cut out from its facade that provide green space and terraced balconies for residents. Terraced gardens are becoming quite popular as a means for people to have an outdoor connection, fresh air, and even a place to grow their own food.”
Here is a link to an article in New York Magazine where Daniel Libeskind discusses this spectacular building.
I normally wouldn’t post about buildings that are not in the process of being built, but the thought of living down the street from where I currently reside, high in the sky with a wonderful garden outside of my door, got me very excited!
Please bring more nature to us city folks!!
Have a wonderful day!
Niki

Green Fire Station

spoon published on November 7, 2008 in Uncategorized. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Happy Friday peeps!

I just read an article in our local newspaper, Orlando Sentinel that made my day. The City of Orlando is building a new headquarters for the fire department. New facilities for our hard-working firefighters are great, but what tickled me is that they are building it using eco-friendly designs.

(Oh yeah, that’s a green roof!)

I’ll let the writer, Mark Schlueb, explain:

“Like four smaller fire stations opened since last year in distant parts of the city, the new downtown station has been designed according to environmentally friendly building standards.

The concrete torn up from the old downtown bus station will be crushed and reused for the new station. Extra insulation, including traditional insulation in the walls and a roof partially covered with grass, will reduce heating and cooling costs. To cut operational costs further, architects included high-efficiency air-conditioning systems, low-flow plumbing fixtures and sensors that turn off a room’s lights when no one is present.

‘We get more bang for our buck when we build in that fashion,’ Mayor Buddy Dyer said.”

I love that last quote. What a practical view to building more effectively and efficiently. The building was designed to achieve the “silver” certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

And the best part? I can watch the building rise up from my own office window:


Happy Days,

Spoon

Sweet Solar Panel Building in Brooklyn Found!

niki published on October 21, 2008 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Hey!

SuperForester Jackson posted about this building he passed in Brooklyn covered in solar panels, but couldn’t find any more info on it.
Well, I just happen to come across it on a blog called NY Eco Spaces:

 

“Located at 439 Metropolitan Avenue, this LEED-Gold building designed contains two duplex condos that have been designed and built to be healthy for the environment and for its occupants.

Green features include:

-Photo-Voltaic (PV) Arrays capture solar energy. Your electricity meter will actually run backwards when you generate more electricity than you use!
-Passive Heating and Cooling System: Large, south-facing windows naturally warm your apartment on sunny winter days. High-mass walls and floors help regulate temperature fluctuations in all seasons.
-Radiant-Floor Heating, along with an energy-recovering ventilation system, helps reduce energy bills and increase indoor comfort.
-Air filtration ensures the air you breathe is near HEPA standards and is some of the cleanest in NYC
-Green Roof
-Sustainably harvested bamboo floors
-Double-Glazed, laminated Low-E Glass Windows
-Energy Star Appliances
-Water-saving fixtures, including dual-flush toilets
-Built-in Recycling Receptacles
-Motion Detector-Controlled Light and Ventilation
-Low- and no-VOC finishes and materials
In addition, this development is located near three subway lines (L, G, and JMZ) and a block away from a Zipcar station, so you can easily decrease your transportation carbon footprint. And for all your organic dining needs, there’s a 24-hour organic food store only a couple blocks away. So if you’ve ever considered buying a home in Williamsburg, but wanted to make sure you made the green choice, check out Metropolitan Green.”
Nice. Go Brooklyn!
Niki 

The Vieger House

taylor published on September 26, 2008 in Uncategorized. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Hiya! Recently my wife and I got an older house in a neat-o neighborhood built in 1957. We were blessed with the chance to renovate it and turn it into something spectacular. With this great opportunity came an important and fun responsibility of making sure the final product was something not only built with environmental awareness and efficiency in mind while it was being built but also in it’s use, everyday. We kept blue orby care, enjoyment and living all in mind.

Here are some products we offered to the house. It accepted!

Ranai Tankless Water Heater

Eurofase Low Voltage Lighting

Kohler Low Flush Toilets

It has “Dual Flush Technology” which includes a 1.6 gpf and also an eco-friendly, 0.8-gallon flush option. The daily devotional derriere domicile saves as much as 6,000 gallons of water annually over a traditional 1.6-gallon toilet. However, we still use the practice, “If it’s yellow…

Compact Fluorescent Bulbs 6500 K

K.I.S.S. Below Flow Sprinkler System

Succulents and local grasses

Radiant Barrier Paint and Radiant Barrier Insulation In attic and underneath Pier and beam foundation

Jenn Air Refrigerator-it has an alarm that goes off if the door isn’t closed all the way. It says” Hey you! Stretch! Close me, I’m wasting energy! but I still love you”

All the major points of entry front, back and side doors are double sealed. They make a great “Psshhhhhhhunk!” sound when you close them! Ooooooooh space crafty!

And we went with Green Mountain Energy. They would ensure we get our power from wind and solar~ Thank you wind!!!Thank you sun!!!

This whole project has been quite an outstanding sophomore class in building right and right living. We loved it!

and we’re getting better at it everyday~

Love,

TV

Green Building in Battery Park

niki published on April 14, 2008 in Uncategorized. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , .

Good Morning!

If you are moving to NYC or already living in New York and are looking for a new neighborhood, how about trying Battery Park? Many developers have been attracted to the area and there a couple options for cutting edge “green” buildings.

The Riverhouse and the Solaire.

By comparison:
They both have on-site water and air filtration systems for the purest air and cleanest water. Both use materials that are locally acquired and renewable. They use non-polluting emitting paints and materials (you know, all the nicey nice woods and flooring), Energy Star appliances and lots of other good stuff that has been carefully thought through to make your surroundings as environmentally responsible as one can expect from a luxury high-rise building in Manhattan.

They both also have Photovoltaic panels that convert sunlight to electricity.

Some differences are the Riverhouse seems to be more luxury and cater to the more posh crowd. Yes, this is the one that Mr. Dicaprio might be moving to.

The Solaire also has a neat water system. They use an in-building waste water treatment system that supplies toilet water and make-up water for central air conditioning. They also catch the rainwater from the rooftop garden for irrigation.

Neither one seems to address the issues of composting or recycling programs, but maybe in time…

These aren’t new concepts or something that hasn’t been done before, but they are novel for these urban environments. It is very forward thinking for developers to hop on the “green” trend and realize that just because we live in a loud, dirty, congested and polluted (but absolutely spectacular and inspiring) city doesn’t mean our homes need to be that way.

We can look forward to going home at night and enter our own oasis amidst the chaos.

Nice progress New York!
Live well!
Niki

This is from The Solaire’s website-I just think it’s funny:

We All Get To Live Green!

jackson published on April 10, 2008 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

As anyone who has recently sat near an open window can tell you, New York city is abuzz with construction. Everywhere you look cranes are hoisting materials and cement mixers are laying foundations.

Aside from the noise, this is a very good thing.

Because “green” is so hot right now, builders and designers are really outdoing themselves trying to create healthy and sustainable living space. Everywhere you look, it seems a new LEED certified condo or office building is shooting up.

This is a good thing because the trickle down effect means that soon we’ll all get to live green.

Celebrities and tastemakers now demand to live green, that means that their former digs will empty out, and new groups of people will be able to live in the non-green luxury spaces. Those people will have vacated their own nice spaces which leaves room for a wave of owners and renters that otherwise would have been unable to afford such fine living, because if a space isn’t sustainable, it will be cheaper.

This trickle-down/move-up effect will ripple through the NY housing market as celebrities flee their current apartments for greener pastures.

There’s nothing wrong with living non-sustainably, as long as you’re aware of the fact and seeking to change and improve it. We’ve lived non-sustainably for years, and will continue to live that way for a while.

In a few years, when material science has introduced entire new methods of construction using lighter and stronger materials than anything we’ve got today, everyone gets to “move-up” again.

If this years’ Green Skyscraper is carbon neutral, has en-suite parking, passive solar heating and cooling, and central composting/recycling centers, then next years will be carbon-negative (producing power, not just using it up,) have composting toilets, living roofs and walls, combo piezo-electric/solar skin, and a personal helipad.

The sky’s the limit.

But we all win.

Everyone gets to live sustainably.

Go New York!

Nahalal

jackson published on January 23, 2008 in build, technology and zeitgeist. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .


(image via yannarthusbertrand.com)

(image via nahalal.org)


Nahalal is a planned agricultural community in Israel.

It is also, needless to say, visually stunning.

A recent National Geographic article points out that Nahalal has “one structural kink (in) this design: Growth is limited. Once a rigid circle is drawn, there’s little room to go forth and multiply.” – Alan Mairson

I politely disagree.

There is always up.


(image via inhabitat)

Here’s the wiki: Nahalal