Eco Brooklyn Inc.

Praise for Siga high-performance tape

Emery Matson — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:59:57 +0000

As a Green Builder we are always looking at the newest developments in green design. Today the folks from Siga were kind enough to come by and show us their energy efficient air sealing products.

We recently finished a Passive House renovation of a Harlem brownstone and worked closely with the air sealing supplier 475. They sell Pro Clima tape and it worked really well.

Siga seems like a great product too and I welcome the increase in air sealing options to the NY market.

The three key benefits of Siga are its outstanding adhesive qualities (its sticks to any surface), its vapor permeability, and its rain driven protection. Not to mention all their products are VOC free and are made with green technology.

They are certainly worth checking out: http://www.sigacover.com/us/

“The Fracking Truth” Event

Anthony Rivale — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 21:05:59 +0000

New York’s Largest Anti-Fracking Rally is just around the corner. Join us at the event to help limit the hold of fossil fuels and save New York from a dangerous practice. Details at the bottom of the post.

Fracking is a corrosive practice of sequestering more carbon deposits from the earth’s surface in the form of shale gas. Large oil companies offer small compensations for land owners in order to drill deep holes and pump chemicals into the ground to push the gas up. Many other states have seen polluted air, hazardous drinking water, and ecological damage due to the establishment of shale gas development in their area.

Contaminated Water Resevoir

Environment New York

DATE: Monday, June 17

TIME: 12:00 p.m.

LOCATION:
East Capitol Lawn
Albany, NY

RSVP to attend this historic event

Apartment Complex in Flood-Prone Toxic Site

Liza Chiu — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 20:41:16 +0000

An Eco Brooklyn blog reader recently brought up the June 1^st deadline for comments on the Brownfield Cleanup Program application submitted by Lightstone Group for their proposed 12-story, 700-unit development at 363-365 Bond Street, right on the edge of the Gowanus Canal. This reader shared with us that they are very much against building such a project in that area. We agree. It makes no sense.

Photo courtesy of Pardonmeforasking

As most of you know, the Gowanus Canal was once used as an industrial waterway, served as a dumping ground for industrial waste, and continues to collect raw sewage especially when the local sewer system is overwhelmed by storm runoff. It is so toxic that the EPA declared it a Superfund site in March 2010, one of two in the New York City metropolitan area.

Did we mention that it is extremely flood-prone? Here is a picture of the water on Carroll St & Bond St after Hurricane Sandy, which brought on many contamination concerns for the neighborhoods’ residents.

Photo courtesy of the Observer

In short, Eco Brooklyn does not believe that building a massive apartment complex in a flood zone next to a toxic site is the best idea. It is one of the worst we can think of actually. It seems to be driven by many things, profit being a huge factor, but common sense and community interest are not in the equation.

As a green builder with experience in flood management construction Eco Brooklyn is involved in several projects where rising flood waters and nearby contamination are considerations. These are for smaller residences where moving is currently not an option.

But we would never encourage a new building be built in such an area. The only exception is if it were designed as a type of house boat so it could rise with the surge. A 700 unit house boat isn’t really going to work. Maybe we can just park an ocean cruiser on the Gowanus and be done with it.

–Liza Chiu

Klearwall PH Windows

Tim Gruber — Fri, 31 May 2013 15:24:04 +0000

As New York passive house builders, Eco Brooklyn gets approached by many distributors offering Passive House products. Recently Klearwall, a PH window company located in Ireland, informed us of their intended expansion in New York City. Klearwater offers thermal bridging calculations, which shows how much energy will be conserved by the instillation of their triple pane windows. The windows are PH certified and manufactured in a plant powered by renewable energy. The plant is carbon neutral and harnesses its energy from two on site wind turbines and a co-gen plant.

Check them out!

http://www.klearwall.com/

Subterranean Living

Anthony Rivale — Thu, 30 May 2013 18:09:02 +0000

Inhabitat recently posted an article exemplifying innovative underground houses around the globe. As a green contractor Eco Brooklyn is continually using cutting-edge ideas to improve upon Passive House designs. Underground housing can provide New York State with low energy housing at reasonable prices without sacrificing the aesthetic appeal of living above ground.

Living Passively

Structures built underground are protected from large temperature swings and extreme weather. At depths below 3 feet the ground maintains an average temperature of the yearly climate. In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, the benefit of home protection is priceless. The greatest benefit to homeowners is one that benefits their wallet. These buildings utilize the earth’s natural insulation and thus require less energy to heat and cool. Besides saving energy, subterranean buildings provide security though access limitation. They exist within nature instead of disrupting the environment. Under-grounding takes up less space and is less environmentally invasive. Unlike standard housing, driveway and backyard space are unnecessary as those amenities are provided directly above the structure.

One of the novel designers of earth-sheltered housing was Malcolm Wells. His underground designs merged iconoclastic principles with modern architecture. The New York Times stated it best:

“…his designs incorporated the land. He designed some homes (and other buildings) that seemingly burrowed into hillsides, and others whose main living space was subterranean, perhaps with above-ground lean-to roofs or atria and skylights to let in the sun. In general, his roofs were covered with layers of earth, suitable for gardens or other green growth.”

Much of Malcolm Wells’ design incorporated concrete and Eco Brooklyn suggests using rammed earth or tires to add structural support to underground buildings. Gennaro has also developed a design to alleviate the stress of the barrier walls by engineering a bowl-shaped structure with a one-to-one slope.

Eco Brooklyn is currently working with Michael Reynolds to develop an earth-sheltered home just north of New York City, so check back for updates on our Underground Housing

-Anthony Rivale

Everydaytrash.com features Eco Brooklyn

Gennaro Brooks-Church — Wed, 22 May 2013 11:02:31 +0000

Here is a cool little site that highlights everyday trash, that stuff we throw away without thinking much about it. They gave Eco Brooklyn a mention the other day. We build all sorts of things from garbage, from garden patios out of salvaged bricks to entire brownstones. Nice to be recognized for our green contracting work,

We recently built this garden for a client who had high lead levels in his soil. The bricks and bluestone come from a dumpster (several, actually). Eco Gardens are our passion and it starts with rainwater control (notice the sand between the bricks), salvaged materials and native plants.

Snake Propagation Brooklyn Style

Gennaro Brooks-Church — Sun, 19 May 2013 14:40:51 +0000

We are building a native habitat at the Eco Brooklyn show house, inspired by the Mannahatta Project - what NY was like in the 1600′s before white settlers. The ecosystems on the property are full of native plants, animals and layouts. This week we went upstate and collected two Garter snakes. We hope the trauma of removing them from their home is smaller than the benefits of increasing Brooklyn’s natural ecosystems. Below is a video showing our very rigid release protocol.

Air Sealing in Brooklyn

Liza Chiu — Sun, 19 May 2013 14:34:44 +0000

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 to rise in New York City, developers have been driven to build quick, and build cheap. In this process, the basic concept of insulation is bypassed in favor of a quickly constructed shell of a building to show potential residents the physical product, but all too late, residents come to realize that they end up paying enormous utility bills because the units they live in are exactly that – a shell.

A brand new development….

As a Green Builder, energy conservation is an important focus for us. Not only do residents personally benefit from the energy savings (40% of energy costs are due to air infiltration that proper insulation will greatly reduce) and a comfortable sound and temperature controlled home climate, but they put less strain on the energy grid as a whole, which has far-reaching effects for the country and the world.

More importantly, the idea of conservation, to use only what is necessary rather than gratuitously simply because we are fortunate enough to be able to, is a multi-layered concept that is all too easy to forget when one lives in a developed country such as our own. The DOE’s Building Energy Codes Program (BECP) provides a guide for national energy codes.

Major sources of air leaks, image courtesy of the US Department of Energy

The two basic forms of insulation that Eco Brooklyn used are Cel-Pak, a loose cellulose spray, and spray foam.

Cellulose is a green alternative to fiberglass largely because of its mostly recycled content of roughly 85% shredded newsprint that has been chemically treated to resist mold, fire, and pests, without the use of formaldehyde, asbestos, and glass fibers. According to the Cellulose Insulation Manufacturers Association (CIMA), “In 2007 about 3,000,000 tons of newspapers went to U.S. landfills. This paper could have been used to produce an additional 200,000,000 bags of Cellulose Insulation. There is enough paper going to landfills to produce enough Cellulose Insulation to replace nearly all other types of insulation.” The manufacture of cellulose as well requires significantly less BTU to produce that standard fiberglass.

A large benefit of loose cellulose spray is the ability to conform around plumbing, wiring, outlets, and vents, allowing for a custom fit uniform thermal barrier for every cavity. It has an R-value of 3.8 per inch, allowing exterior wall designs to reach a higher total R-value. Though this is not the highest, its cost per R-value is low enough to make it a sound investment.

Holes are drillled into the tops of walls and the spray cellulose is blown in until the capacity is reached. There is a tendency for the material to settle up to 20%, therefore requiring that the application be continued after some settling time. In this case, Eco Brooklyn used this method to insulate the exterior walls of the building.

Holes are drilled into the walls and ceiling

Eco Brooklyn insulated our client’s building with Cel-Pak, a regionally produced insulation alternative.

The spray cellulose is blown in by hoses connected to the spray containers filled with the material.

Closed-cell spray polyurethane foam (SPF) is a cheap form of permanent flood resistant insulation that is easily available. SPF has an R-value of 6.0 per inch, which is greatly superior to that of cellulose. However, the environmental impact from its manufacturing is far greater and the adverse health effects caused by its chemical makeup have been brought up by the EPA, and therefore minimal use is preferred. Eco Brooklyn used SPF in the exterior walls and behind the baseboards of the building where moisture has a greater tendency to collect, It’s waterproofing feature is best used here to prevent mold growth. Rockwool is used as a filler to reduce the amount of foam needed, and the openings are covered with cut foam board. Tescon tape provides an airtight, waterproofed seal.

Rockwool provides most of the filler for insulation.

SPF provides permanent dense waterproofing.

SPF sprayed around the rockwool creates the greatest insulation for the exterior walls.

Foam board is cut to conform around opening.

Tescon tape is used to seal the seems, providing airtight waterproofing.

Holes are drilled into the drywall behind the baseboard.

SPF is sprayed into the holes.

Foam Floorboard Video

-Anthony Rivale & Liza Chiu

Adverse Effects on Children’s Health From Soil Lead Contamination

Liza Chiu — Wed, 08 May 2013 21:13:31 +0000

An article about the adverse effects of soil lead contamination on children’s health was recently published on WNYC. As a green builder involved in garden soil lead remediation this was very interesting to us.

Perhaps it is the spring weather driving children outdoors in droves, but Eco Brooklyn has been receiving a number of inquiries from local families regarding soil remediation. Back when we first tested the Eco Brooklyn Show House soil in 2010 and got lead results far above what is remotely safe, we realized this is a real problem and became by default a Soil Remediation Contractor for NY and Brooklyn brownstones.

Living in Carroll Gardens, one of the more family-friendly neighborhoods in New York City, Eco Brooklyn cannot emphasize enough the importance of lead remediation for the sake of our children’s health. Our recent posts reviews some of the key components.

-Liza Chiu

The Real Cost of Cheap Stuff

Gennaro Brooks-Church — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 13:47:53 +0000

Bangladesh Building Collapse Kills at Least 70

Texas Fertilizer Explosion Kills at Least 16

Boston Bombing Kills 3

All three of these events happened this week. Most people see the third as very different from the first two. I don’t. To me they are all part of the massive hidden cost of cheap stuff produced by the poor for the over-consumption of wealthy countries.

Next time you buy those $20 jeans or eat the 10 cent banana stop and ask yourself how the hell they can sell them so cheap. I’ll give you a hint: it is not because the business owners are taking less in profits. The answer is they rape whoever they can to get the price as low as possible. This could be people, animals, plants, water, earth, whatever will not fight back in the short term.

And thus we get badly built buildings, slave labor, substandard production, and massive ecological destruction. This is why the overcrowded Bangladesh building collapsed, the understaffed fertilizer plant exploded and the angry, disenfranchised youth lashed out in Boston. It doesn’t take a genius to see the connection. Just don’t look for the answers in the media – big business has too much invested in the current setup to expose it’s ugly side.

This is why when people ask me to compare the cost of green building to normal building I don’t say anything incredibly stupid like, ” Green building is 10% more expensive”.

Normal building is five planets more expensive than green building, which is the amount of planets needed if everyone built like America.

So avoid all that slave labor clothing. ’You’ got a deal; ‘they’ got dead/poisoned/in-fertile/ enslaved/ abused…fill in the blank.

Its our appetites that are killing us, killing our fellow humans, killing our Earth planet. Our desires and greed.

Get less and pay more up front for it should be our credo. Maybe then will we get closer to paying the true cost of things.