conservation

The US Green Building Council offers a free PDF download of their “REGREEN Residential Remodeling Guidelines” at their Green Home Guide site.

From the introduction:

Green remodeling is the design and construction of projects that reduce the environmental impacts of remodeling, including energy, water, and materials consumption; waste generation; and harmful emissions, both indoors and out.

It’s 180 pages of information, photos, how-to guidelines, case studies and strategies, including sections for each room in a house and chapters on home performance, major additions, gut rehabs and deep energy retrofits.

More about the USGBC:

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is a nonprofit composed of leaders from every sector of the building industry working to promote buildings that are environmentally responsible, profitable and healthy places to live and work. Our more than 15,000 member organizations and our network of 75 regional chapters are united to advance our mission of transforming the building industry to sustainability.

Download the PDF
Green Home Guide site


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The amount of packaging we use really concerns me, especially for short-term consumption. The amount of the plastic and paper cups, wrappers and bags that are handed out to hold something for 2 minutes before being thrown away is just astounding. And so pointless. Food places and pharmacies look at me like I”™m crazy when I say, “no bag” for a single item like an energy bar or a bottle of shampoo. And those bottles of shampoo, while used for longer than a couple minutes, are ultimately a lot of plastic to be disposed of.

Awhile back I was walking in to work and came across some folks handing out promotional single pieces of gum. The gum pieces were less than an inch square, in a single serving wrapper. That was placed on a four by six inch printed card. Then, the part that I find particularly appalling, those items were wrapped in clear plastic. What is the point of the clear plastic? The gum is already wrapped. It could simply be glued to the card. So the plastic is just sheer waste which will last for years and years buried in the landfill or blown out into the middle of the ocean.

The gum samples were being handed out three to five per person. Lots and lots of plastic being ripped open and thrown out for a single piece of gum.

There is some progress being made on the plastic front. San Francisco recently banned plastic bags from large grocery stores, then large pharmacies. They now use paper bags and bags made from corn, which are biodegradable and can be composted. It doesn”™t generally take long to find a clever solution to a problem, so long as companies and organizations are required to do so.


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I was at Starbucks today (I know, but they’re everywhere, thus basically impossible to avoid) and mentioned that I figured out why I think they look so “corporate” and “McDonalds-ish” — the tile flooring.

“You’re, like, obsessed with flooring,” my companion replied. I don’t know about that, but I think mom ‘n’ pop coffee shops with funky old wood floors and big shaggy area rugs are a lot more homey and comfortable than the chain stores with “industrial strength” tile floors. I realize tile’s easier to clean, but I want to feel like I’m in my living room at the coffee shop — if my living room had strangers walking through and demanding coffee drinks while I surfed on my laptop on the wifi connection, of course. That would be pretty cool.

Anyway, I do like flooring, especially wood flooring. I think the floors in my apartment are oak; they’re old and a little scuffed up — I tell myself that adds character — and look pretty good. When I went looking for my apartment wood floors were a must; to me they really set a nice tone for the whole space.

If I were going to install new wood floors, I’d choose bamboo. Yeah, bamboo! It seems to be getting more popular these days since it looks great, is durable and has environmental benefits. Bamboo can grow three to four feet day, so it’s really easy to harvest and renew. It’s amazingly strong with a tensile strength similar to steel. I’m not sure how that translates to flooring strength, but it seems like a good start (my flooring reviews are very scientific, eh?).

Of course my bathroom floor is a whole other story… it desperately needs some good tile to replace the tacky vinyl there now. There’s a place for everything, right? That’s a project on my “in the future” list.

Thanks for enjoying this random rambling about coffee shops and flooring and my living room. Yeah.

Image: Wikipedia/Pbroks1


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Okay so the last post got me thinking about dual-flush toilets. I’ve never seen one, though it was readily apparent to me that they would be toilets that flush different amounts of water for liquid or solid waste (“number one” or “number two” as they say, right?).

A couple clicks later on the InterWebs and I landed at the EcoTransitions site. They sell Caroma dual-flush toilets that use 0.8 gallons for liquid waste and the standard “low flush” 1.6 gallons for solid waste.

A really great — and really obvious — idea! I’m going to look into purchasing one to replace the hideous blue toilet my my bathroom (seriously, a blue toilet… what were they thinking?) at some point. Right now we tend to leave the liquid waste (I love that that’s the term they use) sitting through the night to save water anyway, but there’s just no way around the idea that doing so seems kind of gross.

I always wonder how far good ideas can be pushed. Do we really need to flush 0.8 gallons for pee? I bet that number could be tuned way down. I mean, a gallon or gallon and a half is a lot of water to toss out any time nature calls.

I’ve noticed a urinal at UCSF that is made by “Falcon Waterfree Technologies” — it doesn’t have any incoming water and instead uses a drain at the bottom (very clever!) combined with some kind of deodorizing bar. Now we’re talking. I’m amused to report that their website has a program called “Pee Green” promoting retrofitting existing urinal installations with their models.

From LEED to pee… yes I said pee again… how fun is this?

EcoTransitions
Caroma
Falcon Waterfree Technologies


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