Installing Living Walls and Green Roofs not only provide a refreshing natural aesthetic in a concrete jungle, they also reduce electrical costs and help combat the heat island effect. The heat island effect is an urban phenomenon in which a bubble of heat surrounds a city. The bubble is caused by the development of urban populations […]
Living Walls, Green Roofs, and the Heat Island Effect Read More »
As a NY living wall installer I just devoured Garden Up, Smart Vertical Gardening for Small and Large Spaces by Susan Morrison and Rebecca Sweet. Humans have become very good at building up with cement and metal. We cover large parts of the planet with buildings of all sizes. We all see the value of building
Vertical Gardens – Living Walls Read More »
Native plants are equipped to live under a specific set of conditions including but not limited to climate, soil types, amount of sunlight, and surrounding species of flora and fauna. Plants and animals that have evolved together depend upon one another for survival. Native plants do a better job of providing food and shelter for
Greenbelt Native Plant Center Read More »
Everyone in the NYC building industry has their personal horror story of dealing with the Department of Buildings. My favorite: I was looking for some information and I was sent to seven different offices, eventually ending up at the first office I visited. It was like a sick joke. One time I was looking for a
Department of Buildings Offsite Folder Request Read More »
The 2015 Northeast Pool and Spa Show is coming up this January. It is a big deal. All the players are there. It is the BIG event for pool people on the East Coast. They have hundreds of classes, seminars and presentations. And not one on Natural Pools… As a natural pool builder I just
Northeast Pool and Spa Show: Where’s the ECO? Read More »
A recent article in the Home Energy Magazine analyzes the embodied energy of different wall structures for Passive House construction in cold climates. Basically, it’s great to have super insulated homes, but home much extra energy does it take to build them? Said another way, how many years will it take before the embodied energy it
What is the best wall construction for Passive House? Read More »
We at Eco Brooklyn have been in love with Hempcrete – a mix of lime and hemp for walls – for years. A hempcrete wall provides strength, protection and insulation all in one. Compared to stick and frame building it uses much less wood and is much more solid of a structure. A hempcrete home
Hempcrete for Brooklyn Brownstone Extensions Read More »
A little while ago we visited a green pavilion with “sustainable” oak floors. We were intrigued by the concept of sustainable oak since oak trees are protected by law and the meaning of sustainable is often skewed by marketers. After some research we found that there are more than 50 certification systems worldwide, the two
Wood Certification Read More »
Are Illegal Drugs Green? The answer is no. Reason being anything that isn’t regulated is driven purely by monetary benefit without any rules or oversight. If you think big corporations are bad for polluting rivers, think what damage a large meth lab can do. Not only do they have a lot of chemicals to dispose
Are Illegal Drugs Green? Read More »
Eco Brooklyn installs different kinds of green roofs but the basic technology is always the same: to replicate a normal soil environment in a very shallow depth and a harsh environment. The basic components are plants, growing medium and then an assortment of water retention, drainage, root barrier and soil retention. This can be one
