Lighting can account for 15-20% of your monthly electric bill. With recent advances in LED technology we are able to reproduce the same level of brightness for 1/5- 1/10th the power. This is a huge savings. If we all work together we can reduce this country’s electrical draw by 10%! That equates to a lot …
The Brooklyn green show house has a green roof, solar panels, and solar water heater panels. Needless to say that is a lot to fit on a 600 square foot space. So we’re looking at ways to fit it all in. Considerations are: Make it look nice from the street and back yard. Make it …
Berkeley,California, is one of the few places in the world where the ideals of the 60’s went beyond drugs and loose sex and actually blossomed into some very powerful things. Green building is one of these. Berkeley has examples of green building that carry a direct lineage back to 1960 hippie ideals. The houses are …
Here is a cool app courtesy of NaturalHomes.org. It shows all the natural homes in the world (at least the ones they know of, which is probably one tenth the real number). The map at first only shows the US, but we’ll forgive them their nationalism in light of our recent and proud presidential election. …
The process of building green is different than normal building. There are new considerations to include in the mix. Here is an example. Solar PV is a smart choice in NY I think. NY gets a lot of sun and although a Californian electrician might scoff at it, most NY professionals think it is a …
Solar Panels, An Example in Green Considerations Read More »
Above: Facade with planter and recycled joists. Originally the top facade of the building had a lot of rotted wood. And there was a great view. So in the heat of the summer I tore down the wall and planned on adding a wall of glass. It would have been magnificent. But then as the …
I have relationships with the contractors in the neighborhood. These oak floors were perfectly fine but the owner wanted to replace them with cherry wood floors. Instead of put them in the dump I got them. The lower floors of a brownstone are dark so I like light floors to maximize the light.
The American Solar Energy Society has been around since 1954, way before most people even knew what solar was. Visionary is the word. They also put out a very useful magazine. Now of course they are huge and respected. More at ases.org
After a disastrous few weeks on Wall Street, the renewable energy industry has come out a winner. It seems there’s always a silver lining in even the worst developments. The long-awaited extension of the Production (PTC) and Investment Tax Credits (ITC) were finally passed as part of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (H.R. …
Jack Johnson shows off his solar studio. JACK JOHNSON – TRAILER SLEEP THROUGH THE STATIC by Jack-Johnson
