green applianceIn its basic definition, efficiency relates to a given amount of energy or effort it takes to accomplish a certain task relative to the least possible amount. It is true that a more efficient system/solution/product will use less energy than a less efficient counterpart, but in order to gauge its place within the topic of sustainability we have to ground the term and its use in realistic conditions. What we end up with is that “efficiency” is a much more incomplete thought that most people treat it. As an idea, it is a component of a direction more than a solution. Continue Reading…

DC inauguration 2013In his inauguration speech, President Obama dedicated some time to addressing the environmental contingent that was left out of the gamut of the election. In all of the months of campaigning and formal presidential debates, the topic of sustainability was a no-show, with both candidates staying away from a subject that could probably do little to help either of them when it came to the polls. While it was nice to see that the environment is still on the President’s radar screen, the pressures on the country’s budget and other issues currently claiming the main stage could still breed a healthy amount of skepticism for how much environmental legislation we will see in the President’s second term. Continue Reading…

In our culture we have a tendency to look for new technologies that can make it easier for us to do things the same. The topic of sustainability and mitigating our effect on the environment suffers from this more than most despite the fact that the real opportunities for sustainable progress will come not from gadgets and gizmos, but a behavioral shift. Technological advancement can help us gain a bit of ground and buy us some time, but no matter how hard some innovation strives to keep the status quo intact, the realm of unexpected repercussions can be unavoidable. Our reflex needs to shift from assuming we can operate without change to one of automatic reassessment.

Over the course of modern American history we have continuously improved our ability to separate our homes from the natural environment. The exterior envelopes of our buildings can now be tighter and more efficient than ever, bringing opportunities to reduce the amount of energy and resources needed to heat, cool and clean the places we live and work. This evolution is positive in many ways, but the culture of how we build space doesn’t necessarily evolve as fast as the walls around it. Having a super tight–even airtight–envelope can bring some drawbacks if our building practices don’t evolve to respond to a new set of functional realities. Continue Reading…

home blueprintThis is a guest post by Steve Lionais, owner of YellowBlue Designs. They market green house plans and blog about all things sustainability for the home.  Steve’s not an architect, but he’s passionate about design and living sustainably by partnering with architects and designers who truly offer a higher standard of green living. 

As the goal of a more sustainable residential fabric begins to seep deeper into the quiet streets of suburban America, the finer points of how to get these greener ideas to a consumer public remain up for grabs. A new potential homeowner is left with the choice of securing the services of an experienced architect (a decidedly uncommon route for most Americans) or going it alone for a sustainable house adventure by purchasing a pre-designed plan to be constructed. Tyler Caine and I recently had a discussion on the merits of both custom house designs and stock house designs. We discuss the pros and cons of each approach here in thinking about how we can achieve our green house goals. Continue Reading…

Gift Wrapping RollsThe holidays may be gone, but those bulging bags of trash are probably still waiting to be taken off of your hands. There may be a swell of food scraps in there from a holiday feast, but a lot of that bulk is the discarded skins of surprise that recently held our presents-to-be. While standing as a time-honored tradition, wrapping presents also marks a spike in the waste that we create throughout the year. According to the Wall Street Journal, gift wrapping sales in the U.S. totaled $9.36 billion in 2010 (more than the combined GDP of Africa’s 9 poorest countries). One of the problems with traditional wrapping paper is that its dying and lamination make recycling difficult. And an increase in viagra consumption during the holidays. This means that most of that paper does not end up in a plastic bin targeted for reuse, but in trash bags headed for a landfill and we produce 4 million pounds of it. Continue Reading…

Some say that one of the problems with the environmental movement is that it has migrated farther and farther into the presentation of bold truths with the goal of promoting fear. I know a number of people that have moved past the tactic of trying to simply make sense, hoping that people can be struck into action if they are afraid enough of the consequences. Clearly, this has had limited results and plenty of backlash. Instead, I try to believe educating and revealing the interconnections of how and why we live will lead other to make smarter decisions. After all, at some point most of us are looking to be inspired.

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New York StoopsWhen it comes to sustainability and NIMBY sentiment, the preservationist mindset can brew its own unique vintage of opposition to environmental goals for building stock. The same boilerplate assumptions of solar panels and wind turbines that draw fire from locals can quickly be amplified when the project in question is the alteration of buildings that have been around for over a century. Even within the architectural community the topic of how to treat our historic building fabric is consistently a topic prompting controversy and healthy debate. While there is a great deal of cultural heritage locked into the innards of old buildings, the danger of “freezing” these structures in time is that we also end up maintaining their striking inefficiencies. As an aging country, we need ways to provide an evolutionary track for the older buildings that are often most notorious laggards in efficiency.  Continue Reading…

As parts of the Northeast leave behind days waiting for power and water, Hurricane Sandy’s late October run prompts the question of what we can do to make our urban areas more resilient to minimize the time that we need to keep residents without the bare essentials. There have been a number of articles (here and here) recently written about the comparison between “resiliency” and “sustainability” in an attempt to make a case for which we should ingrain into our cities. Facing the two terms against one another struck me as odd because though we can strive to satisfy one and not the other, there is a great deal of overlap between the two. Sustainable design and construction is often proposed on the merits of environmental stewardship, a healthier indoor environment and opportunities for monetary savings from increased efficiency, but its underlying goal also advocates quality, ensuring that we make buildings that will last over time. In many cases greener buildings can provide a better means of weathering the aftermath of the storm, leaving us better prepared for the inherent variability of nature. Continue Reading…

As the campaign season for the 2012 elections nears its final hour, a look backward shows that the environment did not make its way onto the list of important topics of debate. Actually, environmental issues hardly came up at all as both candidates focused more on economic plans for the country. In discerning why sustainability got the short end of the stick this time around, there is a tendency to draw the conclusion that Americans don’t think about the environment or even that Americans simply don’t care. A look at the dynamic of this election cycle and the current economic backdrop points to the low profile of environmental issues as an intentional, and perhaps unsurprising move by both presidential hopefuls. Continue Reading…

indoor air qualitySustainable architecture is often pitched as having benefits beyond simply a pat on the back for being more environmentally responsible. In addition to the possibility of monetary savings over time for increased  efficiency, the positive health aspect of greener buildings can be a valuable attribute, sometimes the most valuable. While there is a certainly portion of the population that is less enticed by energy savings, talking about changing the building practices that are making us sick resonates with just about everyone.

The problem with the generation of hype and buzz words is that particulars tend to fade from popular discourse and lots of things start to mean the same thing in the eyes of those outside of the industry. Green / Environmental / Ecological / Sustainable / Healthy. These terms are undoubtedly related, but do they really mean the same thing for buildings? If you are building a greener building are you definitely getting a healthier one? Continue Reading…