Building Green Doesn't Mean It Has To Be Modern

I think there's a group of folks out there that are apprehensive about green building and sustainable design due to the number of projects that have a very modern, minimalist design aspect to them. To some folks modern design can have a sterile, cold feel to it, especially for folks that are drawn to traditional styles such as Victorian or Cape Cod.

On a recent visit to New Orleans I witnessed many green building projects that were embracing the traditional Spanish and French styles of city such as Creole cottages and "shotgun" homes. A city like New Orleans strives to preserve it's architectural heritage and even when it comes to modernization of building components or sustainable upgrades, the builders, designers, and architects still manage to protect architectural aesthetics and historical design significance. Witnessing this evolution of building and design really gave me a lot to think about with regards to Sacramento and those who have a stigma against green building and design.

Green building and sustainable design does not have to consist of metal, concrete, and wood slathered interiors and exteriors. Sacramento architecture is known for it's wonderful American Craftsman style and Spanish Revival homes, and we could easily use some of the design features of these architectural styles in new green homes or green remodels... some features of these older homes were "green" before "green" existed!

Take Spanish Revival and its Mediterranean cousin: passive solar and excellent thermal design qualities, use of courtyard design for maximum air circulation... constructed using thicker, plaster covered walls, use of tile for longevity and wear, and the list really does go on. American Craftsman architecture gives us wonderful large eaves and overhangs for shading, excellent use of interior space with the incorporation of built-ins, deep set window casings for natural shading, beautiful porches to protect from the elements, and the list also goes on too.

I believe the best route for going green is to first develop an architectural style and then find a way to work in green materials and products, reclaimed and recycled materials, and sustainable principals so that you don't let the materials dictate the outcome. You can get all the LEED points in the world, but if you're not truly comfortable in your home or with your home's aesthetics you are only asking for trouble down the road with regards to the sustainability of your home.

Check out these links to see what's happening in New Orleans:

The Green Project

Make It Right

Musicians' Village



Getting the most from your ceiling fan

With the heat finally here in Sacramento it's time to start looking at our methods of keeping our homes effectively cooled. Many homes in the California Central Valley have ceiling fans, but a large majority of folks out there are not educated on how they can get the most efficiency from their ceiling fans.

Ceiling fans can rotate either clock-wise or counter clock-wise and each direction serves a different purpose.When using your ceiling fan for cooling purposes, it's very important that you have your fan set to rotate counter clock-wise allowing for the fan to create a breeze that makes your body feel cooler. Ceiling fans are meant to cool people, not rooms... the cool breeze effect will allow you to raise the thermostat of your A/C reducing usage, but a ceiling fan is not designed to cool a room, only people in the room.

A lesser known use for a ceiling fan is warm air circulation in winter when home heating is necessary. When you are heating a room in cold seasons, a ceiling fan can be switched to rotate clock-wise allowing for the rising warm temperature in a room to be pulled down from the ceiling and distributed throughout the room. It is very important that when using a ceiling fan for warming a room you should keep the fan speed very low or else you'll be feeling a breeze that's more useful in warmer seasons.

Just like any appliance, ceiling fans also have ratings for efficiency and some even come backed by ENERGY STAR. Make sure you you get the best out of your ceiling fan(s)... they've stood the test of time for a reason and who really doesn't like to get the most out of something?

Find New Homes For Your Junk... Out In Your Yard

In the age of sustainable design, why is it that I still find myself driving by mountains of junk sitting in front of people's homes waiting for trash pick up? Instead of spending tons of money at home stores and nurseries why not repurpose your old junk into new landscape creations.

Anything can be reused or repurposed with a little elbow grease. Do you have an old, broken ironing board you want to get rid of? How about turning that old ironing board into a plant shelf or maybe a whimsical cocktail bar?

There are so many options when you reuse or repurpose things you consider junk. An old BBQ can become a fire pit or a rustic planter, broken pottery or glass can become decorative mulch for planters, old counter tops can be broken into pieces and become stepping stones, the list truly is endless.

Anyone can be green and practice sustainability if you stop and think before you throw things away. Take a step back and look at the item, use a little imagination, you never know what you might come up with. People always use the expression, "one man's junk is another man's treasure", but maybe we can figure out how our own junk can be made into our own treasure?

Check out Energy Upgrade California

If you haven't already... be sure to check out the Energy Upgrade California website. All you have to do is enter "Sacramento County" and you will be brought to a specialized page that gives you rebates and incentives that are available in Sacramento County for doing "green" upgrades. You can also locate certified contractors in your area along with all kinds of tips and facts.
This is a cooperative program that is funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and managed by the California Energy Commission. The basis of the program is to help raise energy efficiency percentages for California residents while helping out of work contractors get the necessary training to do the energy retrofit work. This program is truly a "win win" program for residents of California.

Check out my new column at the Sacramento Examiner

Along with my own blog here at It Pays To Be Green In The Valley I am now writing for the Sacramento Examiner as their Green Building Materials Examiner. If you have time you should definitely check it out:

http://www.examiner.com/green-building-materials-1-in-sacramento/benjamin-griffin

Nature's Affordable, Efficient Patio Cover

Valley residents love to get their shade from pre-fab, aluminum patio covers. Proper shading of one's home is essential in the sunny California Central Valley, but at what price? Why not take advantage of one of Mother Nature's greatest patio covers... trees.

When properly placed on your lot, a tree can be the best kind of patio cover. Whether you're looking for shade all year long (evergreen), or you're looking for low winter sun to warm your home (deciduous), the right kind of tree can fit your needs.

Besides being green and environmentally friendly, you can also have your natural patio cover free if you live in the Sacramento area. Through a partnership with SMUD and the Sacramento Tree Foundation, Sacramento County residents and SMUD customers can get shade trees free of charge. This service allows you to have a community forester come to your home, check your lot and home dimensions for perfect placement, and figure out what would be the best option to shade your home and help you with energy costs and carbon offsets. It really is a great program in so many ways.

With all of this being said, would you rather spend thousands of dollars on an aluminum patio cover that's comprised of materials from all over the world with who knows what kinds of chemicals; or would you rather have a beautiful  shade tree that helps you, your neighbors, and probably the greater community?

A Public Service Announcement For Those Who Water The Road...

This is my PSA for all of you out there who waste water with your lawn sprinklers! Either you have no idea they need adjusting, you don't know how, or maybe you just don't care? Whatever the reason may be, as a homeowner or building owner it may be worth your while to learn how to take care of your lawn irrigation system or possibly hire someone to do it for you.

I know there is information all over the place regarding taking care of your lawn irrigation system. I see information from water districts, pamphlets at hardware stores, television campaigns, and even signs on buses going down the street... what will it take for people to take notice of their water wasting ways? I implore you to take a look at your water bill... what does it show? Would you like it to be lower? How about going "green" without spending tons of money ripping out your lawn or installing expensive irrigation equipment?

Well, this is my list of common problems I see on a continuous basis and how you can correct them and save some money and conserve water:

• Please don't water you lawn or planting beds in the middle of the day... you lose tons of water to evaporation and if the temperature is hot you run the risk of scalding your plants or lawn. Every water district has a watering time frame they tell their customers... watering in the early morning from 1AM to 5AM is a great time frame to run sprinklers.

• There is no need to run your sprinklers every single day, especially in wet seasons! It's funny, even in the summer months I water my lawn 2 to 3 times a week and my lawn is just as green as the folks next to me who run their sprinklers every single day... they even run their sprinklers in the rainy season! With proper maintenance and spray measurements you can easily maximize your watering and eliminate the need for constant and over-watering.

• Please take notice that your sprinklers are watering the road or your neighbor's house! There are different sprinkler heads for different uses and they can easily be adjusted with a screw driver if they're standard spray heads or adjusted by hand if you have impact rotor sprinklers. All sprinkler heads state the pattern of spray and how far the spray can travel. If you have a 3' section of lawn, please don't install a sprinkler that sprays 10' in a full circle pattern! If you match the right sprinkler with the right size area to be watered you will save water, head aches, and lots of money in the long run.

• If you have a broken sprinkler head... replace it. Whether it's you or the gardener down the street, someone needs to replace the broken sprinklers in your yard. Maybe you don't notice because your sprinklers run at night, but you will notice when you look at your water bill a little closer. A broken lawn sprinkler head can waste gallons of water and hurt you lawn and plants by either over watering or under watering depending on which way the wasted water is flowing. If the broken sprinkler is close to you home or garage you may develop foundation problems over time if all that wasted water is soaking into the ground where a building's foundation is located. The choice is yours... spend a couple dollars to fix a sprinkler or suffer the consequences down the road in a more costly situation.

If you pay attention to your lawn irrigation system you can really do your part to conserve water, help the environment, and also put a little "green" back in your pocket at the same time. You don't have to go out and put in a drought tolerant garden or permeable paving... you just need to be a little more consciences and take care of what you all ready have. Too many homeowners and business owners are out there right now wasting water and money just because they're lazy or they just don't care. It's up to you to do your part... now go outside and do some "public service" and make sure your lawn sprinklers are watering your lawn... not the road!

Brick In The Tank???

How many people remember the old brick in the toilet tank trick for saving water? It was a clever trick during those water shortages and droughts of the past, but never truly a great fix for those water wasting toilets. I always wondered if people considered the downside of putting a brick in a tank of water... how about the clay residue clogging pipes and the flushing mechanism? Many other ideas came throughout the years after the "brick trick"... bottles full of sand, metal such as bolts and screws, and bottles full of water.

There were all kinds of novel ideas, but many failed due to trapped air, evaporation, or too much movement causing conflict with the toilet's mechanics. Even more prevalent was the fact that a small bottle of water only displaced a small amount of water compared to the gallons flushed of all the toilets before the standard 1.6 GPF, (gallons per flush).

New low-flow and dual flush toilets have now entered the picture and become the standard for green building enthusiasts, but what about those who have a perfectly good toilet and don't want to spend or waste the money for a new toilet? How about a water displacement bag designed for toilet tanks or a conversion kit that converts your standard toilet to a dual flush toilet?

There are a lot of great products on the market these days to help folks who have water hogs for toilets. It's very important to focus on toilets when it comes to water conservation; a large amount of your home's water usage is due to flushing toilets. Current plumbing code standards call for a minimum of 1.6 GPF, but I know there are still a large number of toilets out there that are flushing at a rate of 3.75 GPF and higher... which means it's time to take action, and figure out what you can do to fix the problem and save yourself some money.

In the Sacramento Valley you can find water displacement bags and dual flush conversion kits at some large hardware stores and limited small hardware stores. The best source is to order from the internet from Amazon.com and their associates or from conservation sites like the following:

New Resources Group

http://www.nrgideas.com/ 

its easy being green

http://www.itseasybeinggreen.com/

It's also a good idea to check with your local water provider to see if they offer any incentives or free products!

Just Because You Go Solar, Doesn't Mean You're Green...

The other day, a member of my family asked me if I thought their roof was suitable for solar panels. I went outside, took a look, and said, "sure, but why do you want solar panels?"The response I got was pretty funny... "I figured with all the incentives right now, I could get some solar panels and then I'd be doing my part by being green...". This response from a member of my family is pretty common these days, with so many people and companies pushing "being green" so many in the general public are so misinformed. This is my queue... my chance to spread the word.

Photovoltaic systems are awesome... if I had the funds, I'm sure I would be right there with the rest of the folks setting up appointments with the local solar salesman, but I tend to know a thing or two that keeps me away from PV systems... besides not being able to afford it.

Would you ever go out and buy new tires and an alarm system for a car you that you don't have? How about a new surround sound system and DVD player for the TV that you don't seem to have?? What I'm trying to get at... is why spend thousands of dollars on a new photovoltaic system for your house if the rest of your house is an energy efficiency "nightmare". If your home isn't energy efficient you'll never truly see the rewards promised by that solar salesman when you spent those thousands of dollars.

I always tell people that solar panels are an expensive band-aid when the envelope of your home is like "Swiss cheese". By "Swiss cheese" I mean that your home is leaking energy due to poor insulation, bad windows, poor heating and cooling, and so on... just like the holes in Swiss cheese. How about a home energy audit to see how much energy you're consuming and where you're wasting it? How about switching your incandescent bulbs to CFLs? What about the instant savings you get when you spend the money and time on weatherizing your home with weather stripping, spray foam, and caulking?? There are so many things a homeowner can do to be more energy efficient, truly "green".

After a fun, lengthy discussion I actually saw the light bulb go on inside my family member's head... "why don't they tell you about these things when you're considering buying solar panels?", was one of the many questions I heard throughout our discussion. I had to explain that at the end of the day it's a business just like any other money making business, people are into making "green" off of people trying to be"green". It's a shame that people take advantage of those who are trying to do good for the environment and be more sustainable. These are the kinds of discussions we need to have with our families, neighbors, friends, and coworkers. The more we educate one another the better chances we have at doing good and doing things right. It really does take more than solar panels to be "green" in this ever changing world.

One Bulb Can Change A Lot...

As the selection of light bulbs grow in the aisles of the nation's hardware stores, many arguments have begun to surface regarding which is better, worse, and everything in between. Like many products, there are pros and cons and these pros and cons only continue to multiply as the technology continues to grow.

On a short list it's pretty clear to see that CFL bulbs are better than incandescent bulbs, and LED bulbs are better than both of them, but one must really pull back the layers of the onion to see the true pros and cons for each comparison.


Here's a great comparison video courtesy of alternativee.org:



It's pretty easy to see where the energy efficiency lies, but many other factors come along with each type of bulb. In my own home, I have opted to go with CFL bulbs in almost all my fixtures minus the fixtures that are on occupancy sensors. CFL bulbs can't handle the constant on/off from the sensors compared to incandescent bulbs. I would love to use Edison base LED bulbs in my home, but the price point is still too high and the technology still has a little ways to go before they can truly compete with CFLs. I do recommend using LEDs for under-cabinet lighting, holiday lighting, and flashlights/lanterns since the technology is pretty stable and the use factor is pretty low.

Each bulb type has a few major drawbacks for me, but as long as you weigh the pros and cons it's easy to derive at a choice.

• Incandescent bulbs use a lot of energy and actually lose a majority of that energy through heat loss. If you live in a hot climate, you really don't need your light bulbs raising your home's temperature causing more money to be spent on cooling. Due to that heat loss, your incandescent bulbs are expelling more heat then you're receiving in actual lumens, i.e. LIGHT.

• CFL bulbs contain mercury which can be dangerous in certain amounts. Due to the mercury in CFL bulbs special precautions should be taken when disposing burnt out or broken bulbs. You should always dispose CFL bulbs at specialized recycling centers... never throw them away with your trash! Some people feel that the actual light output from CFL bulbs is sub-par to incandescent bulbs, but I have never personally had a problem.

• LED bulbs are still just too new in the market place to really be measured against other standard bulbs. Price is certainly a factor right now, but other factors include actual measurement of bulb life span, proper bulb ventilation for cooling, size retro fitting, and actual light output compared to incandescent and CFL bulbs.

There are many types of lighting available in the market place these days. There are also many other bulb types that I did not mention due to there use in commercial settings or the low level of use in residential settings. Lighting technology is still ever changing and manufactures are coming up with new ideas everyday... even the incandescent bulb is still being advanced to keep up with all the other new technological advances. It really comes down to what you want from you light bulb and how much you want to invest in it. Nothing is ever perfect, but as long you do your homework, the power is ultimately in your hands...

All hardware stores including major and mom and pop retailers carry some sort of line of incandescent and CFL bulbs, but LED bulbs are little harder to find. It's always smart to check with you local utility provider before going out to purchase light bulbs, some utility providers provide rebates, coupons, or even discount purchase programs for energy efficient light bulbs. Please see the links below for the Sacramento Valley:

Sacramento Municipal Utility District-

http://www.smud.org/en/rebates/Pages/index.aspx

Pacific Gas & Electric-

http://www.pge.com/myhome/saveenergymoney/rebates/light/products/