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Being a New York green contractor involves pushing two very important elements through DOB code approval: 1. composting toilets 2. gray water and rain water for flushing toilets. We recently tried to get composting toilets approved for our Passive House in Harlem but it got shot down. We will persevere trying to get it legalized in NYC [...] Here is a great Gray Water Study done by some college students that addresses the main concerns of residential gray water reuse. It is strange that gray water is such an under developed industry since it is such an important part of green building everywhere. Eco Brooklyn is currently designing three gray water systems for residential [...] The book “Complete Guide to Water Gardens Ponds and Fountains” gives you everything you need to know to build and run a small to medium sized water feature in your yard. The book lays out every detail in clearly worded and well organized sections with plenty of supportive photographs and images. It is focused [...] As part of our service in the green renovation of a brownstone Eco Brooklyn looks at the brownstone plot in its entirety. This means we don’t just gut and renovate the interior. We also look at how the interior effects the exterior. As a NY green contractor we look at the whole system, from [...] We have a gray water system installed in our Brooklyn green show house. Unfortunately we were using the Brac system, which sucks. We were having so many problems with it that we took it out and made the house conventional until we design our own system. Until then all waste water goes down the [...] In Eco Brooklyn’s brownstones we are still weighing the options of using rain water or gray water for flushing the toilets. So far we have always decided on doing the gray water, letting the rain water drain into a dry well in the back yard. Here are two sketches Joe Schafer my water engineer drew up [...] Every Brooklyn brownstone should have a gray water system to feed the toilets, green roof, living wall and garden. Unfortunately there are few systems to choose from. They range between $2,000 and $7,000 for the unit not including running the extra drains from the shower, bathtub, sink and washing machine. Right now in the [...] The book Graywater, the Next Wave is one of many graywater books I have read in my ongoing search for a viable graywater system for Brooklyn brownstones. The book offers a great beginners introduction on how to build a residential graywater drainage system. It doesn’t answer my questions thought. Firstly because they flat out [...] Brac Graywater Systems is the graywater system we have in the Brooklyn Green Show House. We bought it because we were not fully educated on the graywater needs a Brooklyn brownstone has. Unfortunately it was a huge mistake. We do not think the Brac Graywater unit is intelligently designed. In fact it is over designed. Apart [...] We’ve been looking for a chlorine alternative for our Brooklyn brownstone gray water systems. Chlorine is not ideal because it gives off fumes. I’ve also read that when the chlorine molecules bond with the soil particles it alters the chlorine into a form called Chloramine that causes cancer. This is a concern if using the [...] The way Brooklyn brownstones are currently renovated does not work. It does not work for the environment nor for the inhabitants’ comfort and utility bills. Eco Brooklyn is focused on redefining how a brownstone gets renovated. We use the Brooklyn Green Show House as an example of a renovation template that works for [...] Gray water systems in Brooklyn brownstones, where you collect shower, bath, sink and clothes washer water in a tank and then pass the gray water back to the toilets when you flush, essentially eliminating any use of water for toilets, makes a lot of sense. I am really into gray water systems of this [...] In the past I have posted the NY and Brooklyn DOB code for gray water systems. Henning Grentz, Consultant and Sales at New Eco and distributor of Brac Greywater Recycling Systems just sent me the most updated code. It is a newer version of the NYS Plumbing Code of 2007 (the most recent [...] We are installing a gray water system. It is still pretty unknown to most DOB inspectors in NY and Brooklyn. But it is legal if you use the right system. We got a Brac Gray Water System from their local distributor New Eco. Here is the info you need if the inspector should [...] Today’s issue of the NY Daily News mentioned Eco Brooklyn and quoted Gennaro Brooks-Church. They posted the below pic and had this to say about Eco Brooklyn and Gennaro: Here, Gennaro Brooks- Church is renovating his home, on 2nd Street in Brooklyn, here with his 5 and a half year old daughter Saomi [...] My manager Jack and I were talking about the direction of Eco Brooklyn today and we were trying to put into words the concept of Eco Brooklyn’s services. Jack came up with a genius term: Urban Off Grid. That is exactly what Eco Brooklyn does. We create urban off grid houses. This does not [...] Here is my take on green building in Brooklyn over the next 5-10 years. It is actually a lot wider than Brooklyn, but that is my focus. Rising fuel costs will drive people back into the city, this means there will be an influx of people into Brooklyn. This will keep housing prices more [...] Here is a copy of the code relating to gray water systems in New York and Brooklyn. It lays it out pretty clearly. Our green show house has a gray water system and we offer it to anyone wanting to green their brownstone. Gray water systems are a crucial part of any green [...] |
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