The book 101 Things I Learned in Architecture School by Matthew Frederick is a great little read and it even endears yourself to Architects. On the job site Architects from my point of view as a green contractor are not liked that much. They get in our way. A green builder is a very educated […]
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The book Green By Design, Creating a Home for Sustainable Living by Angela Dean is a good exploration of green design and the process behind it. In green building the process is just as important as the end result. A beautiful home is not beautiful in the green builder’s eyes if the materials are not
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Green roofs use an engineered substrate, rather than natural soil, to support plant growth. There are a number of commercial varieties available, but these are often shipped considerable distances from supplier to consumer and can be expensive. To reduce the cost of our roofs, it would be best if we could produce our own green
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A green builder should be treated the same as a coroner or dentist. You don’t call them if you don’t have to. The greenest building is to not build at all. At the industry’s current evolutionary state in building it is best to avoid building if possible because building inevitably consumes resources and destroys things.
A green builder is a reluctant builder Read More »
The book Mini House Now is a picture book of small houses, specifically houses with less than 1080 square feet. They are all free standing houses, most of them in the country side but one or two surrounded by other houses. The pictures are great. Do you have any idea how hard it is to
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We just installed a solar tube for a client in a Brooklyn brownstone. Brownstones tend to be dark. So we are big fans of solar tubes. As a solar tube installer there is nothing more satisfying than installing one in a Brooklyn brownstone. The results are so drastic. We passed this particular solar tube through
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Here is a green roof and deck we are designing for a job in Park Slope Brooklyn. The deck area ranges from 900-1100 square feet. It would be made out of salvaged fir or possibly Black Locust if budget permits. The pergolas are intentionally without many beams. The vegetation will be the main source of
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Well before you go hooking wires up to any LEDs you should first know a little about electricity. First of all there are two main forms of electricity in commercial use today. (All of which are dangerous even if you know what you are doing. So with that in mind do not attempt to play
AC/DC the shocking difference Read More »
An LED driver is a self-contained power supply that has outputs matched to the electrical characteristics of your LED or array of LEDs. There are currently no industry standards, so understanding the electrical characteristics of your LED or array is critical in selecting or designing a driver circuit. Drivers should be current-regulated (deliver a consistent
In this post, I’m going to diverge from the format of my past several entries a bit and explore strategies for installing green roofs on pitched surfaces. The International Green Roof Association (IGRA) states that roofs with up to a 30 degree pitch can be outfitted with a green roof, and that “traditional” green roof
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