Eco Brooklyn was recently commissioned to insulate a new development in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant. As a specialist in insulation and air sealing we have seen an increase in business from the many new multi unit apartment buildings that have shot up – not during construction, but AFTER construction. As housing demand has continued [...]
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We are earthship enthusiasts here at Eco Brooklyn, and are currently speaking with a client who wants to build an earthship in New York State. Here are some ideas being thrown around between Michael Reynolds, Eco Brooklyn, and the client, that we may be able to help turn into reality. The schematic of this global [...] 
If you are a fan of living sustainably you have most likely felt the urge to reduce your waste and begin composting. But living in New York City often leaves residents without much outdoor space. A large part of Green Building in Brooklyn involves meshing innovative techniques with salvaged materials, which is why do-it-yourself composting [...] BBox radio did a cool interview of Eco Brooklyn Director, Gennaro Brooks-Church. We discussed all sorts of things in the field of radical green building – Net Zero, Passive House, Guerrilla Green Building, Build It Forward and much more. Check it out here!
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX For those of us who live in historic homes we know that our period dwellings bring us both joy and frustration. The frustration is largely attributed to the endless repairs that classic Brooklyn Brownstones require and their not so efficient envelope. Eco Brooklyn has renovated many brownstones and knows first hand how challenging it can be [...] Last week, the interns from Eco Brooklyn went to the Net Zero Symposium sponsored by Das Haus in White Plains, New York to hear lectures and view a model of Das Haus, a passivhaus model made from two shipping containers that functions completely off the grid. The conference was held at the White [...] Last Tuesday the EcoBrooklyn interns attended the dasHAUS symposium and tour in White Plains, New York. The touring exhibition features the mobile dasHAUS pavilion, constructed of fully functioning sustainable energy technologies. The pavilion’s design is inspired by the Technical University of Darmstadt’s winning Solar Decathlon entries in 2007 and 2009. The tour, organized by the [...]
I took the Passive House Consultant course a couple years ago because Eco Brooklyn was becoming a Passive House builder in NYC and I wanted to know the information. I didn’t take the exam to get certified since being a Passive House Consultant wasn’t the kind of work I enjoyed. I like [...] Green building and eco-sensitive design is currently at the forefront of our modern ethos. What this means for the green builders, contractors and architects of NY, and the world, is a period of dramatic change and challenge is ahead if not already begun. A change in the way we think about new buildings and construction, [...] Eco Brooklyn’s director, Gennaro Brooks-Church will be giving a presentation at New York’s 2012 Passive House Symposium. The topic of his presentation is “Radical Sustainability and Passive House.” The all day event is filled with interesting speakers and is a must for anyone interested in the worlds most cutting edge energy efficient building technique. [...] New York Passive House builders are all scrambling to find high quality windows that meed the strict PH air tightness and insulation standards. With the exception of a few Canadian windows there just aren’t any US windows that meet these standards. Almost all good windows come from Europe and the challenge for New York green [...] Ed from NJ Renewable Energy made a great video about the construction of his passive house that you can view below. It discusses the many benefits of building a Passive House, the amazing energy savings that are possible and the details behind how they built this specific one in New Jersey. As a NY Passive [...] Here is a short video we threw together of the Passive House renovation in Harlem. The video mostly discusses the budgeting of the project. Now that the construction is for the most part done I think that our initial budget of $175/sq.ft is not sustainable. Of course it is great for the client in the [...] Part of being a green contractor means studying emerging technologies offering more eco-benefits than conventional construction. In this case we’re looking at old technologies: the rammed earth wall, one of humanity’s oldest building techniques. When it comes to walls, a couple of rammed-earth techniques are available as alternatives to your standard insulation-filled 2×4 frames: The Earthship model uses [...] When you flush a toilet in America you have every expectation that whatever just went in there is going away forever, no questions asked. So why would anyone want a toilet that takes your dirty business, stores it right where you put it, and hands it back to you again after a few months?? But [...] Gennaro Brooks-Church, Director of EcoBrooklyn Inc, discusses the significant element of salvaging materials for use in the company’s green renovations. Currently we are wrapping up a full-renovation of a brownstone in Manhattan where we’ve been working hard to attain its stringent Passive House requirements. Check out our video below, and feel free to leave us [...] In our Manhattan green brownstone renovation in we used Rieder windows because they allow us to meet the stringent Passive House standard. They came from Austria so it took about two months lead time to get them. All said it cost about $30,000 just in window expenses to supply the brownstone with your basic front and back [...] Here is a good article in the NY Times about Passive Houses in NYC. As a Passive House builder we are excited to see growing interest in the technique as we feel it is a key element in building a greener New York. Here is a side shot of your typical Passive House window. [...] Check out this great article about our Eco Brooklyn’s Passive House in Harlem. GreenBuildingAdvisor.com, a great online source for building, designing, and remolding green homes, sent Richard Defendorf to our Harlem site to check out our work. Read his write-up of all the techniques we used to seal our passive house! http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/green-building-news/bringing-passivhaus-harlem [...] At Eco Brooklyn, we do energy-efficiency retrofits that involve huge amounts of air sealing, air barriers, vapor barriers and insulation. We aim for the super stringent Passive House building envelope standard and net-zero energy consumption. This is as radical it gets in energy conservation. Sealing the home in an airtight shell requires a bit [...] Eco Brooklyn’s Gennaro Brooks-Church discusses our clay wall application. Creating a better seal on bricks and more insulation, Eco Brooklyn applies clay to walls all over New York City. Most recently we applied clay in our Harlem Passive House and in the downstairs apartment in our Brooklyn Show House. Check out this great video! [...] Come check out our Open House and Blowerdoor test at our Harlem Passive House renovation. When: Friday, November 11, 2011, 4:30 PM Where: 156 West 130th Street, Manhattan. The New York Passive House community is kicking off the weekend of International Open Passive House days at Ecobrooklyn’s project in Harlem. The house is well underway [...] This Friday at 2pm we will be doing a blower door test at the harlem Passive House. If you are interested in attending please let us know. Eco Brooklyn, NY Passive House Contractor
Here is a cool article from GreenBuildingAdvisor.com. As a New York green contractor we are always looking for local green building materials, especially anything that relates to the super high efficient Passive House construction tools. These windows from Maine look really promising. New Green Building Products High-performance windows, doors, and tapes for your next superinsulated [...] We are doing the flashing and installation of the windows for our Passive House brownstone in Manhattan and needed a scaffold. There seems to be a lot of confusion among contractors around what is allowed for scaffold installation. Here are the official rules for scaffold installation in Manhattan I asked around to my seasoned contractors and got [...] Director of Eco Brooklyn, Gennaro Brooks-Church discusses how the Energy Recovery Ventilator (ERV) will work once it is completely installed in the Passive House building. The NY green contractor is currently renovating this entire Harlem brownstone, and the addition of an ERV is a vital part of the standards that need to be met. Essentially, [...] We just received our triple pane windows from Europe to our Passive House site in Harlem. The windows will help the brownstone achieve its necessary air tight specs and save up to 90% in energy costs compared to an ordinary building of the same size. If you enjoy the video, please give us a “Like” [...] The windows we ordered finally arrived to our Harlem Passive House. They’re not your typical windows though by any means, and unfortunately we couldn’t get them USA made. These are triple pane windows. They’re pretty heavy compared to a typical window of the same size, and a heck of a lot more expensive. As a [...] We just made a last minute switch from Zehnder’s Energy Recovery Ventilator (ERV) to Ultimate Air’s ERV for our Manhattan Passive House project. There were two main factors in this decision: price and USA made. Zehnder is a great unit and Barry the sales rep is a great guy. You’ve got top grade quality and [...] Here is a cool web site about all things Passive House, aptly called, International Passive House Magazine, or IPHM. It is run by Tamas Banki. Based in Hungary he is doing a great job pulling together all the PH info from around the world. As a Passive House builder in New York I found the site interesting [...] |
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