350.org is a site worth knowing about. It is at the helm of a very sensible movement to get the CO2 levels of the world back down to 350 part per million, which is a safe level. Right now they are at 387 and it isn’t very clear whether they will keep going up or […]
350.org and Turn Brooklyn Green Read More »
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
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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 »
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
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Thinking of upgrading your HVAC system? Heating and cooling a Brooklyn brownstone is a multifaceted thing. There are many ways to do it. Is there one best way? Maybe…generally speaking….but I am not there yet with the definitive answer. Most brownstones have the same characteristics so I think there are probably universal applications….but I’m still
As green builders in Brooklyn we are always looking for small heating and cooling units for green, well insulated, brownstones. You don’t need something super large if the brownstone is built along the Eco Brooklyn lines. Just something to take the heat away during the couple days in August. And because many of the good
High Efficiency HVAC Read More »
We just installed a solar tube in a Brooklyn Carroll Gardens carriage house. We love them so much. They are the epitome of smart green design: energy efficient (most hover around R22) cost nothing to “run” provide healthy light
We just added another bike to our small fleet of Green Building Transportation. Unlike new construction (yuk!) where you can plan the process better, working in a Brooklyn Brownstone has a lot of surprises. So it is common to need a small thing to keep the job going – a certain size screw, some brackets,
The Passive House guidelines are the best benchmark I know of right now for building a house. According to the Passive House Planning Package, there is no requirement that a house be designed by an official Passive House Consultant. The main requirements are: 1) Maximum of 15 kWh/(m^2a) heat load 2) Maximum of 0.6 ACH(50)
I came accross HealthandEnergy.com while looking for examples of Heat Recovery Ventilation duct work installations. It is a very good site for forward thinking ways of looking at energy and how it relates to health The site covers many things more general than how to run the duct work for an ERV, but if you
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