Geopolymers (coined by joseph davidovits) and the broader alkali-activated cements are possible alternatives to cement. Check out this video where they reproduce the pyramid blocks. In New York and Brooklyn a lot of cement gets used to make concrete cellar floors. As a green contractor we are always looking for an alternative. We have made […]
Fracking, the toxic method of squeezing gas out of the ground is yet another coffin nail in the long line of destructive activities that the oil and gas industries have wreaked on our planet. Check out this cool video below. Get active against Fracking. New York and New Jersey have more Fracking going on than
Fracking Joke – Stop Your Gas Consumption Read More »
Here is a video camera that has been placed in an eagle’s nest. It streams 24/7 all day and switches to night vision at night. Live coverage of our noble wildlife. Very high tech and a little sad in some ways that our wildlife has been put on stage like that. But forgetting the small
The answer is no. Here is what the Green Roof and Solar Department at the NYC DOB told me: The building code does not explicitly provide a threshold for when a green roof installation would require a permit. The department is currently developing rules to provide guidance. In the meantime, a green roof installation is
Do You Need a Permit to Install a Green Roof in New York? Read More »
A couple blogs (1 , 2 , 3 , 4) have picked up the goings on at 22 2nd street, the Eco Brooklyn green show house and my home. What sparked the interest is a recent screw up by the DOB where they gave me a permit to build a storage room in my front yard and
Green Building in Brooklyn Read More »
Reading the book “Designing Your Natural Home, Over 200 Rules of Good Architecture You Can Apply to New or Renovated Work by Award-Winning Designers, Charles G. Woods and Old Malcolm Wells” (long tittle!) is like sitting with two friends on a quiet evening. Each night after a long day in the field I would come home
Designing Your Natural Home Read More »
Eco Brooklyn is a New York clay wall installer. We don’t use any brand name clay mixed but prefer to mix the clay ourselves depending on the use. We recently installed some cool clay concrete base molding onto a clay wall. The challenge was that the clay wall was not flat enough for salvaged wood base molding. There
Clay Concrete Base Molding on Clay Wall Read More »
Have you ever wondered what fire rating a bulkhead wall needed (1hr)? Or the legal height of a railing on a roof (42″) ? Or how many layers of roofing you are allowed to cover up with a new one (no more than two)? These questions can only accurately be answered by the NYC building
New York City Building Code Read More »
If you ever wanted to know the full legal verbage to the New York green roof tax rebate bill green_roof_legislation. It goes into great detail about definition and requirements of a legal green roof installation in New York. The reason it is important to have this document is that the Brooklyn and New York DOB
New York Green Roof Legislation Read More »
Eco Brooklyn just came out of a renovation of a four story brownstone where the budget was very tight. We took the job full of idealism believing we could make green building affordable to somebody with a small budget. It ended badly. We had to hire workers willing to charge lower salaries which resulted in
Building With Awareness Read More »
