Naturally Connected

Local and National Advances in Green Building

I attended the West Coast Green building conference in San Francisco in September and realized that the posting I started about the conference never made it to the site.  I left the event with a feeling that green building awareness had really advanced even in the 12 months I was living outside the country, and it seems much closer to mainstream awareness.  Several presenters mentioned that the costs of energy hitting peoples pocketbooks and the growing awareness of climate change have increased attention toward green building in the past 6-12 months. 

I was reminded of the topic today when I read an article in the SF Chronicle discussing the plans San Francisco has to become a nationwide leader in green building with its legislation requiring privately developed buildings to meet stringent environmental standards.  SF follows several other Bay area cities that have implemented similar regulations as part of their building code.  From my notes from a presentation at the green building conference on the new LEED for Homes certification program, I had jotted down that there were 70 local and regional green building programs in the country at the time.  The Chronicle article mentioned publishing giant McGraw-Hill suggesting the possibility of 2007 being the "tipping point" for the green building industry in their publicaitons, predicting that green building will become the standard within ten years.  According to the National Association of Home Builders survey referenced at the conference, 50% of builders were focusing attention on green building issues in 2006.   

One of my favorite quotes about green building from the conference was from Santa Rosa architect Carol Venolia, was "It's not about the materials.  It's about how you interact with the natural world."  That says it all!

Building Green TV - on PBS

Corey Freed at OrganicArchitechtblog mentioned a new show beginning on PBS this October that I am looking forward to checking out called Building Green.  The first season will chronicle the entire process of building a strawbale home in Santa Barbara, CA.  It includes episodes on topics such as the foundation, steel framework, flooring, exterior finishing, interior finishing, energy, plumbing etc.  You can view clips for a sneak peak.  Here is the latest listing of stations where it will be showing. 

LEED Certified Hotel in SF

San Francisco is going to have its first LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) Certified hotel open this summer, The Orchard Garden, in Nob Hill.  I read about it in Sustainable Industries.  If you know anyone looking for a place to stay in the city, this would be my choice. 

ZERI Training Course in June

There are six openings still for the ZERI Certification Training Course with Gunter Pauli
at the Findhorn, Scotland Ecovillage 17 to 26 June, 2006.   Please spread the word to anyone you think may be interested.  It is the first time the course is being offered in Europe.  The Zero Emissions and Research Initiatives (ZERI) Certification Training is designed to provide a deep understanding of systems thinking and to develop skills in using the ZERI methodology. ZERI's emphasis is on meeting society's basic needs for food, clean water, healthcare, shelter, clean energy. It provides a framework for creating jobs and building a society founded on a high quality of life.
    

How Green is Your House?

National Geographic has a fun flash quiz on their website that takes the user through all the rooms of the house to look at alternatives to save energy in the home.  There are 18 questions total, and each answer either adds to the green meter or the red meter to see how energy efficient your choices are.  Sometimes you may seek an answer that differs from one of the choices, so then you just have to choose the option you think is best. 

Breathable Homes

In architecture, the concept of breathable homes includes walls that enable moisture and air to ventilate and "breathe."  Moisture and other air particulates are able to move in and out of the home more readily.  Most modern homes are not built to breathe in this manner, and instead are built to prevent air from escaping to seal the house for energy efficiency.  Chemicals from houshold cleaners, dust, pollen, smoke and offgassing from paint, sealants and carpets can become trapped in the home causing harmful levels of indoor pollution.   Oram Miller of Environmental Design and Inspection Services discusses this concept more on his website. 

The images here from Costa Rica casita I am renting are an extreme example of a breathable home.  The open tile roof enables moisture (not rain), dust from the forest, leaf clutter and insects to come right in.  As you can see the top 24 inches of my walls open directly to a screened in porch area.  This house can get quite drafty when the wind blows.  If I were to redesign this home, I would add screens to these upper walls, as well as have a barrier below the roof tiles that would capture some of the moisture and allow it to travel downward from the roof rather than into the home.