At Eco Brooklyn we are always looking for ways to reduce, reuse or recycle. Here is a cool thing we just discovered today. Because we refinish a lot of old wood floors, either subfloors or salvaged floors that others deemed too beaten up to keep, we do a lot of sanding. We go through A …
We just had a hell of a time finding a problem in the radiant floor system of the Brooklyn Green Show House. Some of the zones in the house didn’t heat up. Try as we might we couldn’t figure out why. We tested pump pressure, we made sure we hadn’t crossed pipes somewhere, we tested …
The universe is full of electromagnetic energy. It is flowing all over the place. This energy from the universe is not a new thing. What is new is the amount we are creating ourselves. If you live in a city like Brooklyn you are bombarded by electromagnetic energy way beyond anything humans have ever been …
Here is an interesting Comment by John Straube, which was responded to by the Passiv Haus people here.. His comments give good US insights into a German standard. His points are that Passiv Haus standards are not brand new and that US and Canada have had them for a while. Not that many have implemented …
Insight PassivHaus Becomes Active—Further Commentary on PassivHaus Read More »
Reclaimed Home released their second part tour of the Brooklyn Show Green Show House.
Gennaro Brooks-Church was on a radio show with Henry Gifford last week. Henry is a great building energy technician who has pointed out that LEED houses and the USGBC are not exactly transparent in their energy efficiency statements. Turns out LEED buildings are not as energy efficient as USGBC would like us to believe. In …
Gennaro Brooks-Church and Henry Gifford Discuss Energy on the Radio Read More »
As a green builder in Brooklyn we have very definite views on how development should unfold in the neighborhood. This ties us willingly or not to the politicians since they have influence on development. Today I got a generic brochure in the mail from Congresswoman Joan L. Millman and out of random curiosity I decided …
The Magazine called The Real Deal just published a comprehensive analysis of Brooklyn real estate. Bottom line: prices have dropped to 2005 levels. The wost hit were speculative new construction levels like Williamsburg and Bushwick. Carroll Gardens and surrounding areas fared the best because of the lack of new construction. There is a solid houseing …
The Passive House building system from Germany is one of my favorite benchmarks. I have yet to renovate a Brooklyn brownstone by Passive House standards, although the Brooklyn Green Show House of ours comes very close. We hope to do a Passive House brownstone renovation very soon though. A recent article by John Straube of …
Since weather sealing Brooklyn brownstones is a large part of our business we are very into finding good products that seal all the cracks. The best solution on a practical level is Great Stuff Foam sealant by DOW Chemical. We use a lot of it. We use it around windows, doors, and in pretty much …
