Since Eco Brooklyns larger projects in New York are all Passive House standard now we have become very interested in Energy Recovery Systems (ERV). An ERV passes air between the house and the outside so that there is a constant fresh supply of air in the house. This is needed since Passive Houses, and all good green […]
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EPA Makes Final Decision: Newtown Creek is Added to Superfund List Release date: 09/27/2010 Contact Information: John Senn (212) 637-3667, senn.john@epa.gov (New York, N.Y.) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today added Newtown Creek in New York City to its Superfund National Priorities List of the country’s most hazardous waste sites. The final listing will allow
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Here is a great video of sewage overflowing into the Gowanus Canal. Very graphic! I have been a member of the Gowanus Dregders Canoe club for years and after seeing this video admit that perhaps I have been a little too nonchalant about the actual toxic state of the canal.
The book Good House Cheap House: Adventures in Creating an Extraordinary Home at an Everyday Price doesn’t set out to be about green building. It aims to show nicely designed and affordable homes. But it ends up showing good green building as well. The many case studies in the book show a pattern. Firstly all the
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Copenhagen has become the model for making streets bike friendly. I went there about 15 years ago as part of a construction and city planning tour to check out the city and it was amazing. At the time they had a 15 year plan to drastically reduce their cars and turn the city over to
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Yesterday I went to a workshop hosted by Expedition Gowanus an “underground” group looking at local and alternative ways (vs. Superfund ways) to remediate our waterways. Expedition Gowanus hosts a series of workshops on DIY sustainability techniques that will culminate in the final design of an off grid, regenerative, floating structure on the Gowanus Canal
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Eco Brooklyn uses a lot of natural coatings on our Brooklyn brownstone walls, among them Milk Paint and clay. Both milk paint and clay are both matte finishes and anyone who has painted using matte paint knows that it scuffs a lot easier than glossy paint. So when we want a more durable finish we seal the
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Eco Brooklyn’s clients usually get a gray water system. And our clients tend to be natural minded anyway, with a healthy dose of liking to save money. Thus comes the interest in making your own laundry detergent. Store bought laundry detergents are full of chemicals. In fact they are packed with fertilizer! Plants love laundry water that has
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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 to
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Sheet rock isn’t very green. It requires a lot of heat to make it and the ingredients are not great. I’ve had little luck finding sheet rock alternatives. Plaster and lath is one but the labor costs make it hard to compete with sheet rock. The best I do so far is use salvaged sheet rock.
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