I had been avoiding the movie Food Inc for a while. I’ve seen lots of animal rights movies: they are depressing. They make me angry because of the barbarity and frustrated because I feel helpless. But one evening I was feeling especially brave. It turns out the movie is UPLIFTING! Sure it jumps all over […]
Food Inc and Green Building Read More »
“To leave the land no worse than you found it” is the manifesto of Gentle Architecture, a concept coined by Architect Malcolm Wells, who recently died. He made an impression on the green movement of the 1970’s and his work is getting attention with the new green building movement we are currently having. There are
Malcolm Wells, Champion of ‘Gentle Architecture,’ Dies at 83 Read More »
The book “The Wabi-Sabi House: The Japanese Art of Imperfect Beauty” by Robyn Griggs Lawrence attempts to bring the Japanese concept of Wabi-Sabi to the American homeowner. Firstly Wabi-Sabi, like the Zen culture it comes from, is hard to describe even in Japanese. How do you describe the sound of one hand clapping? But trying
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HAVC manufacturing companies throw a lot of info around without consumers really knowing what is true. As an energy efficient HVAC installer we are very interested in the real energy efficiency of a unit. Is it really a SEER 25? How did they do the test? Does it retain that rating when the temperature drops
There are several glues on the market now for attaching wood flooring to the sub floor, considered green glues because they have very low VOC’s compared to typical flooring glues. They tend to be water based instead of chemical based. We have experimented with them but haven’t had good results. Firstly, using anything water based
Here is a funny video. I like it because it takes the piss out of people who take themselves too seriously. It isn’t exactly about green building but it has that tree huger feel. As a tree huger myself I appreciate the self deprecating humor. Also notice the guy charging money for hugs actually gets
Here is a sobering documentary on what is called Global Dimming, the effect of pollution particles blocking the sunshine on the planet. Ironically global dimming helps block the sun’s rays and thus REDUCES Global Warming. But the moral of the story is not very positive. This documentary apart from being fascinating is also a very
This is probably my farewell post to what I think is one of the stupidest building I’ve seen in a long time. I say it is a farewell post because I don’t have much hope for rectifying the problem and am moving on. I’m referring to the 2009 installation of window grilles onto the PS
PS 58 Window Grille Stupidity Read More »
I just go a call from Joel Frank, one of the three members of the Rebuilder Source cooperative in the Bronx. They accept donations of building materials and resell them at good prices. The drive behind them is mostly idealistic: one of making the world a greener place by reusing materials. He was just reaching
Rebuildersource.coop Read More »
A few weeks ago the EPA held a webinar on the safe use of spray foam insulations titled “What You Need to Know About the Safe Use of Spray Polyurethane Foam (SPF)”. We at Eco Brooklyn are not crazy about spray foam so we watched what the EPA had to say closely. Their view in
EPA discusses Spray Foam Read More »
