Globe of Blogs
As a person who studies design, I found this construction of a "clip-on" porch quite interesting. This attachment onto the usual apartment complex, allows for the owners to take advantage of the sun and rain as a resource. Read More »
As a person who studies design, I found this construction of a "clip-on" porch quite interesting. This attachment onto the usual apartment complex, allows for the owners to take advantage of the sun and rain as a resource.
Americans take an average of 15 minutes to shower, and use 2 gallons of water per minute. Therefore, every shower uses around 30 gallons of water - hot water that is. Not only does a 15 minute shower waste fresh water, but energy as well. Read More »
Americans take an average of 15 minutes to shower, and use 2 gallons of water per minute. Therefore, every shower uses around 30 gallons of water - hot water that is. Not only does a 15 minute shower waste fresh water, but energy as well.
Throughout human history, home building has developed and different materials have emerged to increase durability, resistance to storms and pests, strength, and longevity. Now there is a new characteristic added to the list, efficiency. Building efficient structures requires employing local materials which are plentiful, reduce transportation costs, avoid pollution, and support local manufacturers. Today, this refers to locally grown woods, tree farms, etc. Taking a step back one century ago whatever was available was used, it didn’t make sense to ship wood across the US to build your home, and it still doesn’t make sense today. Conserving energy in the construction phase is vital to building green. Ensuring that energy used to heat or cool a home is saved, effective insulation can be energy’s best advocate. By just improving insulation, we can greatly increase energy conservation through the entire stage of a building’s life cycle. Straw bale seems to live up to the chall ... Read More »
Throughout human history, home building has developed and different materials have emerged to increase durability, resistance to storms and pests, strength, and longevity. Now there is a new characteristic added to the list, efficiency.
Building efficient structures requires employing local materials which are plentiful, reduce transportation costs, avoid pollution, and support local manufacturers. Today, this refers to locally grown woods, tree farms, etc. Taking a step back one century ago whatever was available was used, it didn’t make sense to ship wood across the US to build your home, and it still doesn’t make sense today.
Conserving energy in the construction phase is vital to building green. Ensuring that energy used to heat or cool a home is saved, effective insulation can be energy’s best advocate. By just improving insulation, we can greatly increase energy conservation through the entire stage of a building’s life cycle. Straw bale seems to live up to the chall ...
Picture all the floating plastic the size of Texas located in the middle of the Pacific near Hawaii with an estimated three million tons of debris. This alone answers the question that plastics are a huge problem for our environment and health. Plastics biodegrade very slowly, it could take up to 600 years for a plastic bottle to decompose, therefore, even long after it is thrown away, whether it remains in the landfill or reaches the ocean, plastics look like they are here to stay. So what’s the answer? “If you can’t beat them, join them,” we’ve all heard this adage before, but one company is taking this message one step further in the battle against plastics. 2K Manufacturing located in Luton, England, is taking on the challenge of turning our plastic trash into plywood, or Read More »
Picture all the floating plastic the size of Texas located in the middle of the Pacific near Hawaii with an estimated three million tons of debris. This alone answers the question that plastics are a huge problem for our environment and health. Plastics biodegrade very slowly, it could take up to 600 years for a plastic bottle to decompose, therefore, even long after it is thrown away, whether it remains in the landfill or reaches the ocean, plastics look like they are here to stay. So what’s the answer?
“If you can’t beat them, join them,” we’ve all heard this adage before, but one company is taking this message one step further in the battle against plastics. 2K Manufacturing located in Luton, England, is taking on the challenge of turning our plastic trash into plywood, or Read More »
Summer is almost over and a new school year will begin for millions of students, from preschool to pre-med. What they all have in common is that in order to succeed and achieve high-performance education they all need to learn inside high-performance buildings. The association between poor indoor air quality and low test scores is intensely studied. The consensus surrounding these conclusions is that there seems to be a positive correlation between the two. This comes as no surprise; the exposure to toxic chemicals during crucial stages of cognitive development will have serious long-term affects. According to the EPA, spend 90% of their time indoors, buildings must be designed and constructed to ensure health is not jeopardized. Schools are especially important because children and adolescents are most vulnerable to the ill effects of poor indoor air quality. Chartwell School located in Seaside, California, overlook ... Read More »
Summer is almost over and a new school year will begin for millions of students, from preschool to pre-med. What they all have in common is that in order to succeed and achieve high-performance education they all need to learn inside high-performance buildings.
The association between poor indoor air quality and low test scores is intensely studied. The consensus surrounding these conclusions is that there seems to be a positive correlation between the two. This comes as no surprise; the exposure to toxic chemicals during crucial stages of cognitive development will have serious long-term affects. According to the EPA, spend 90% of their time indoors, buildings must be designed and constructed to ensure health is not jeopardized. Schools are especially important because children and adolescents are most vulnerable to the ill effects of poor indoor air quality.
Chartwell School located in Seaside, California, overlook ...