How Green Can You Go?

This week was full of starts and a few stops. By that I mean, we were all ready to move into final stages of putting in the finishes when we made some interesting discoveries. I’ll try to highlight a few of them here.

Flooring. EcoTimber (www.ecotimber.com)is ready to be laid, but we spent the week waiting for the Eco Urethane adhesive from DriTac. It arrived a week late and has delayed our start. As it turns out, that was for the best, given some of the changes that we’ll be making after our preliminary energy audit (see later discussion) and the relocation of floor vents.

Packaging. Meanwhile, we began to remove the packaging from the pre-engineered white maple that we are using. And I came to really appreciate the “ungreen” nature of packaging. The plastic and cardboard just kept piling up higher and higher. Yes, it all ended up at the recycling center, but it does raise an interesting question. When are we going to get serious about sustainable packaging? Especially for “green products.”

The adhesive was the worst “green packaging” offender that I’ve experienced. It came in very sturdy plastic containers that were individually placed in thick cardboard boxes and firmly held in place by styrofoam blocks. Way too much packaging!






Our pre-energy audit.

Early on, Cemil had researched to find a consultant that would come in and advise us on just how we can maximize our construction to make a very energy efficient home. Well, we were amused and impressed with the team from ReNu (www.renuyourhome.com).

Their mission:

"The emphasis of our company is to help homeowners make their homes not only better looking but also more energy efficient, more comfortable, safer, and healthier to live in. We perform 'Healthy Home Assessments' and do all the remediation work that would be required to bring a home back into shape. You could think of us as Personal Trainers for your home"

Their methodology:

Cemil and I were reminded of “Ghost Busters” when the ReNu team showed up at the house with 4 people and enough equipment to climb Mt. Everest. An infrared camera was used to point out all the leakage—through walls, around light sockets and electrical outlets. It was clear, that we still have a lot of work to do to “seal” up the house in order to “tighten” it up. But as we do that, it’s important to realize that a tight house requires sources for fresh air to balance it out.

As Robert Mitchell, President, kept pointing out “a tighter house is what we all want but that means a source for controlled fresh air.












The results:

Because we are using ReNu in 2 phases, we won’t know how we perform until we implement their recommendations. A few key areas that we will address in order to have a more energy efficient home:

*use lots of foam to seal the cracks and crevices
*use mastic to seal the grills and exterior exposures
*pay close attention to creating a tighter seal in the crawl space beneath the house
*think about using solar thermal to help diminish the energy used for hot water production
*relocate existing floor vents for AC and heat to ceiling and on walls opposite the windows because our heater unit is in the attic and it is more efficient than what the route that is currently used for getting the heat/ac to floor ducts which are currently placed under windows.
*insulate all the plumbing
*add extra insulation to the attic by using blow-in cellulose
*don’t oversize your heat or AC—bigger is not better in this case

Paint the Town Green

It might seem unusual to be painting the walls of a project that is only half way done, but Cemil feels that having a coat of paint on them would protect the "prone to dings" sheet rock as we head into the installation of cabinets and finishes. I didn't argue because I was so curious about the colors and various paint brands that I had been researching.

So Lester was called in to put up the first coats of paint. I had carefully provided him and Cemil with a spreadsheet of all the colors and paints. All totaled, I ended up using 5 different brands and 10 colors. I'm sure Lester was curious about my hanging out with him all day and "interviewing" him on his opinion about the various paints. He provided some valuable feedback and I got to experience the painting part with him. While I'm not sure I converted Lester (he's a loyal Kelly Moore guy), he did agree that the quality was good, the colors nice, and the lack of smell was new for him. He didn't even have to add vanilla to the paint to kill the odor and I reminded him about the advantages of no lingering off-gassing. He's more informed after our 3 days together, and time will tell if he begins recommending these paints.
Lester and team

Let me first confess that I didn't try AFM Safecoat, the "primogeniture" of green paint companies, because Cemil had not been pleased with its coverage and I found the colors to be less than inspired. Though the president of the company did tell me that they were launching some new "decorator colors." Besides SFM Safecoat (www.safecoat.com), by virtue of longevity, is on every one's green paint check list.

I wanted to try some new brands. After having gotten my paint education at two bay area "contractor" paint stores, Gray's Paints in Palo Alto area and Tamalpais Paints in Marin as well as "green" paint resource, Ecohome Improvement in Berkeley, I was armed with gallons and quarts from 5 different brands.

Yolo Colorhouse. www.yolocolorhouse.com

American Pride. www.americanpridepaint.com

Aura from Benjamin Moore. www.myaurapaint.com

Sydney Harbour. www.sydneyharbourpaints.com

C2. www.c2color.com

And the review:

Yolo. My favorite. The colors are wonderful. I've met the two founders of this company and their creative backgrounds in the ad agency world comes through when you look at the color palette choices, the packaging and the attention to final product. While there isn't an extensive choice of colors with Yolo, the ones the do have are "tried and true" winners. And they coordinate in a way that makes you feel as if a professional designer chose your colors. The product goes on well and even the deepest of colors covers in two coats. There was absolutely no odor with the paint and Lester agreed that it was an impressive product. My only complaint is that it doesn't come in quart sizes. Price: $40 a gallon.

American Pride. More colors makes them a good addition to Yolo. The paint is equally "green" with no smell and also coats well in dark colors. They, like Yolo, have large swatches that you can buy and tape to the wall to see how the color looks without having to paint a sample. As was the case with Yolo, the eggshell finish wasn't chalky in the least.... as some have complained. And it comes in quarts. Price: $36 a gallon.

Aura from Benjamin Moore. The advantage is the access to this through their many outlets. Clearly Benjamin Moore has spent time, money and effort to establish this paint with the professionals. No complaints on the selection of colors. The coverage was as expected with any of their paints. They have yet to launch the semigloss line, but matte, eggshell and satin are all available and perform well to scrubbing. It is fast drying which makes it a favored for paint contractors. The price is competitive. They haven't created an eco friendly PVA yet, so you'll have to use from their old Eco Spec line (seems to be phasing out). There is some odor, so it doesn't feel as green as the other two I've mentioned. Price: $52 a gallon.

Sydney Harbour. An Australian product, this is a beautiful paint line that feels very specialized and high end. The price is $90 per gallon which makes it too expensive for most to use. They do have quarts so I used it on an accent wall. And it was beautiful coverage with virtually no odor either. I can't speak for how it holds up to scrubbing, but it too lacked the chalkiness of the clay and lime paints that are considered the "greenest" of paints. If not for the price, I would have rated this one higher. Price: $90 per gallon.

C2 Paints. I was talked into this as a "low VOC" newcomer. I have to say that the display in the paint store, next to Pratt & Lambert, was impressive. Again, one can buy large sheets to avoid painting splotches on your walls. I've also read that you can return any unused portion and they will "recycle" it for another homeowner who wants the same color. I haven't tried that yet and I do have an extra unused quart. The colors are certainly lovely and coverage is good. But this paint had the odor of any other brand that doesn't claim to be low VOC. So that moves this brand to the bottom of the list for me. Price: $48 a gallon

I won't go into the details on the challenges in VOC ratings with paints. In any emerging industry, the lack of standards makes it hard to compare products accurately. Go here for a good explanation on the paint issues http://www.greenhomeguide.com/index.php/knowhow/entry/920/C224. Suffice it to say, that paint is the area that will need to be monitored for the new entrants and measurement standards. As I was told by the owner of Gray's Paints..... it's all about the fact that glycol is the offender and that's the pigment. So, except for milk paint, it seems that there is no real "chemical-free" paint.

My attitude is that voting with your dollars on better choices for things like paint and wood is helping to build demand. That will, in turn, drive innovation and standards. So my advice: don't be afraid of investing in any of these paints I've recommended. Pay a little extra (not much) and enjoy an environmentally-responsible, odor-free, beautiful end-result.

Other useful information:

http://www.oninteriordesign.com/on_interior_design/2007/01/going_green_wit.html

A handy paint usage calculator:

http://www.benjaminmoore.ca/howto/paint_calculator.aspx

Giant leaps forwards and small steps backwards

My recent trip was unexpectedly extended by a family emergency. I had lots of time in waiting rooms for reading and idle chatter. It seems that in this week alone, there have been some major announcements and media reports about the state of the environment. And still there are skeptics, I've come to discover.

As a new convert, it means that I've been obsessively focused on the impact that my actions have on the environment. I admit that I am probably a bit "evangelical" about my conversion. But given that I spent the last week in South Carolina, you'd have thought that any kind of evangelism would have been deemed as acceptable behavior. I did find the Whole Foods in SC, but was disappointed to see a parking lot filled with SUV's and other gas guzzling vehicles. And I noticed that everyone in the store seemed to prefer plastic bags to paper or providing their own. And as I am prone to do..... I did take it upon myself to instruct the bagging personnel as to why paper was preferable to plastic. I'm sure my instruction wasn't appreciated in the manner that I meant it. I learned that very few customers bring in their own bags, even with a 5 cents per bag incentive. I can only imagine the attitude at the Piggly Wiggly across town.

I had an unpleasant exchange with the specialist caring for my Mother about why he should believe in any of the "stuff that Al Gore espouses." Seems that he repeated a news report (Drudge Report & Fox News) that Al Gore's lifestyle didn't reflect his environmental platform. I looked up the attacks brought by a group that "promotes personal freedom and limited government." I found a considered response about Al Gore's home energy consumption that reveals his large home (which also is his office and accommodates security detail needs as ex- VP) does consume large amounts of energy, but he purchases most of it from green energy sources and offsets the remainder. He happens to live in a state that produces much of its energy from hydro and nuclear sources. My question to this GI doctor.... "what have you done to help preserve our environment?" I guess if he treated asthma instead of colon diseases, he might not have been so quick to dismiss the overwhelming evidence of atmospheric degradation from CO2 emissions and resulting health issues.

As someone who grew up in the South, I'm often defending my region because of its "illustrious" history. However, the reticence to embrace global warming as a crisis is not limited to the South. The weekend before, I had been in Long Island with friends and was equally surprised to find several deli-style eating establishments that did not recycle glass bottles and thought it unnecessary to do so. So ignorance is not necessarily regionally based.

The media seems to have daily coverage on our environment. Happily, Hollywood recognized "An Inconvenient Truth," by awarding it an Oscar. In the week following, though, the Bush administration is releasing a report (a year overdue) that will show "emissions of gasses by the U.S. that contribute to global warming will grow nearly as fast through the next decade as in the previous decade." Of course, it's not surprising given the general tepid, if not hostile, commitment of the Bush administration to saving our environment. (New York Times 3/32007)

Happy to report some positive things that I encountered on my trip:

* Novartis (Swiss drug company) is providing Prius cars for their drug reps next year.

* PG&E is converting their crew fleet of trucks to biodiesel and alternative fuel vehicles

* Wall Street Journal, that protector of corporate activities, devoted a section in the 2/12/2007 edition to green energy. And they were quite bullish on it making economic sense.

* I met with a NYC apartment developer who is considering retrofitting his buildings to be more green.

Next posting-- about paint

Offsetting Your Guilty Conscience

The question. What are carbon neutral or offset (also known as green tags) programs?

You can become carbon neutral by investing in renewable energy and energy efficiency projects that reduce carbon emissions. So on the one hand, you produce, and on the other, you reduce.

As I get ready to drive to the airport, hop a plane to NYC and use a cab to get to my final destination, I can’t help but think about what carbon issues I am causing with all this. My awareness for my carbon footprint came to me early on in my awakened green consciousness. As I result, I’ve bought my carbon neutral driving pass from www.terrapass.com. An alternative is www.driveneutral.com.

As well, Cemil purchased a wind power card for our project, which looks like phone card. It is meant to offset the power we are consuming in the renovation process they are available in more “green” establishments like Whole Foods. Or go to the website www.renewablechoice.com,

Still, my guilty conscience is not totally assuaged by these actions (my boyfriend has termed my green tag investments as 21st century indulgences). I still feel as if I need to offset more of my lifestyle. The upcoming plane ride comes to mind. Just as I prepare for the trip but putting my toiletries in baggies and printing down my boarding card, I will buy my carbon offset for the jet fuel that is about to be consumed…. and the cab ride….. and the energy consumption from my hotel stay. When they say, nothing in life is free, believe it. That includes the energy we used and what it take to produce that energy. The environment deserves its fair share.

Think about it as you do your diet. You know that there is more than the food cost to the chocolate that you are about to consume. You’ve long gotten used to rationalizing to yourself that the eating it will mean 20 minutes more on the Stairmaster. Well the same holds true for energy consumption. Carbon neutral contributions are like your extra time on the treadmill.

Of course, there’s always controversy and a naysayer or two. Just recently, there was some press in the UK about the speculators who have set up scams and schemes under the guise of doing good http://www.enn.com/net.html?id=1841. Sadly, they have tarred the reputation of the good programs. My reason for this post is to set the record straight and provide links and information that will restore your interest or faith in continuing with the contributions.

More Information:

Several months ago, www.ecofabulous, ran a piece about carbon offsets by David Shearer (a respected eco-advisor, www.climateclean.net)

His 6 questions are worth posting here as you vet the organizations you are thinking of contributing to:

1. Can you provide detailed information on specific projects that result from your offsets?

2. Which objective standards do you use to demonstrate the high quality of your offsets?

3. Have your offsets been verified against an objective standard by a credible third party source?

4. Do you sell offsets that reduce GHG emissions in the future? If so, how far in the future?

5. How permanent are your offsets - 10 years? 20 years? 50 years? Evidence of permanence?http://www2.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

6. If trees are used for offsets, how do you measure the carbon reductions? How do you ensure that they are not burned or cut down?

Other resources/research to explore:

www.carbonoffsets.org
www.carboncounter.org
www.myclimate.com
www.renewablechoice.com
www.planktos.com (to offset travel)
www.nativeenergy.com

Space: It’s all about how you use it

I like to tell people that my renovation is about creating a jewel of a house. For a whole host of reasons, I’ve come to prefer small, refined and beautifully crafted spaces to big statements of success. I really abhor the hummer and McMansion society that has defined America in the last two decades…. starting in the dreaded 80’s.

I hope the great awakening in this century is about less consumption, more conservation and less of a desire for bigger cars, homes, possessions, footprint etc. If society would realize that: “bigger isn’t always better;” “more is less;” and my new favorite…… “the wise man carries his possessions within him”.

Let me be honest though, I’ve had my own share of consumption vices in the past. I’m still in recovery from a lifetime of amassing a collection of shoes, dishes, even cats. But as I tell my friends, going green is about making small steps to change some of the more egregious practices that degrade the health of the planet. Eventually those small steps multiply and you are able to do more, comfortably about a new way of living. This is a marathon we are in, not a sprint.

On small space usage.

Cemil, my trusty green guide, has taught me how wasted space in a home is just unacceptable. As a good student, I’ve now become very adept at coming up with solutions for every little nook and cranny in this house project as a result of relocating rooms and walls. And I now have some of the coolest features in my small home and I can’t wait to live with the conveniences that they afford.

My beloved baker’s/butler’s pantry.


I love to bake and in the past I would have to do so while my boyfriend was in the middle of creating some elaborate Mediterranean feast. His garlic mincing would often meander over to my pastry rolling area, exposing it to unsavory additions. Anyone who uses a rolling pin also knows that there is an optimum height and it’s not the same counter height that you use for chopping vegetables. But now I have my own baker’s pantry that has been crafted to my specifications. With: lowered counters; a touchless faucet for floury hands; an extra dishwasher to keep my food processor from being confused with the one making a soffrito. And of course, just the right number of cabinets to accommodate rolling pins, cooking sheets, and measuring cups.

Side note: this space used to be a washer/dryer room that was misplaced in the center most part of the house. The washer and dryer have been stacked and put in the garage and this new center of the house will now produce freshly made cakes and pies!


A corner kitchen desk.

In creating the necessary returns to complete a room design, it often means that there are little niches that are generally unused. One such space revealed itself between the baking pantry and the kitchen. It was just the right space for a little desktop surface and a bookshelf for cookbooks. The counter area is just the size for a laptop, but it means that quick lookups on www.epicurious.com will become easier.

The cat excretorium.

With four cats, one is bound to have issues with cat pans and waste disposal. So Cemil came up with a clever solution that has been coined “an excretorium” by my boyfriend. It’s been carved out of a back hallway that abuts the garage. So on the inside, the cats can enter their own tiled bathroom through a little kitty door. On the outside, I will be able to access the cat pan area from the garage in order to remove the waste, wash down the area with an internal faucet, and whisk the offending refuse away to the outdoors. Cemil will install a motion-sensor fan to come on 10 seconds after a cat leaves the excretorium.

A guitar cubbyhole.


The boyfriend is a musician and he plays guitar. As a result, he has several. In the past, we always leaned them in their cases in the closet or corner of the room. But they always interfered with the space and were constantly being moved to get them out of the way. Cemil pointed out that we had a narrow, but deep space that came about as a result of carving out a coat closet and bookshelves from a wall in the office. As I looked at it, it seemed perfect for tall slender guitar cases. So now the guitars will have their own closet, behind a closet.


Wall safe, James Bond style.

Since the bedroom has been carved up to accommodate a walk-in closet and more spacious bathroom, we felt that we needed to balance it by putting in built-ins. This does two things: 1) the room won’t feel so small as there won’t be lots of furniture to clutter it up; 2) the room is more symmetrical and truly becomes a cozy place that feels “dedicated” to its defined use, as a bedroom. In making these changes, we created a “dead” space that was too small for another built-in. But it wasn’t too small to insert a safe that will be neatly disguised by a movable wall piece and a painting...... hence, the James Bond reference.


Bookcases instead of cabinets.

I have noticed, sadly of late, that homes no longer seem to have a prominent display of books. I will give the benefit of the doubt, and assume that many people just hide their books way. I prefer to think that versus the alternative: which is that people just don’t have books anymore. Anyway, I decided that a significant amount of wall space would be devoted to bookshelves. I’ve added them in as many places as I could and truly believe that they make a good bed backboard, end of hallway statement, and should be a key element of a room claiming to be an office or a “library.” So now all my books can come out of boxes and from storage and beckon to me to reread some of my favorites.

After all, if we carry our possessions with us, let our imagination and knowledge be the result of what we’ve read in literature!

Not all wood is created equal

Little did I think my life would come full circle. 1981 was the year I got my first job and it just happened to be in lumber…… well, in publishing about wood harvesting and production. I was then, a recent college graduate who wanted to work in journalism. So I became a sales representative for a publishing company that targeted advertisers who sold products and services to loggers and wood producers. (www.hattonbrown.com).

And now, 25 years later, I find that I am fascinated by the production of lumber….. again. But I’ve learned a lot in the intervening years. For one thing, the term “FSC” was not one that we bandied about in the 80’s. As with lots of things, we were generally unaware that lumber was a commodity that might one day run out. Yes, there was controversy over the protection of the spotted owl and a general appreciation for “responsible” conservation of forests. In fact, any logger would have agreed that clear-cutting was a myopic way of producing lumber for a consuming nation of wood products.

Sadly, large logging, paper, and lumber producers don't seem to have a “stewardship” philosophy about the forests they are cutting down. And neither does our current government. After a series of EPA chiefs that have been more aligned with lobbyists than the natural resources they were entrusted to protect, we have a scarcity situation on our hands. As with water (see earlier post) and oil, wood is likely not to be readily available to our future generations if we don't change our practices now-- in this generation.

That’s why wood is now a focus for green renovation. How can we consume responsibly? What wood is readily available? What are alternatives?

FSC lumber: It’s the guarantee that lumber has been produced “responsibly” and by using these “approved products,” it effectively assures that there will be more wood for the next generation.

www.sectionz.info/Issue_6/facts_footnotes.html

www.forestfriendlylumber.com

Reclaimed lumber: Lots of industrious people have decided to trade in what others cast off or dispose of. As a result, there are wonderful recycled wood floors, beams and architectural elements that are waiting for a new home. A former Ziff Davis colleague has a thriving business that caters to the high end and the end result is beautiful wood full of sheen and character.

www.restorationtimber.com

Dakota burl and Biofiber sheets: These products are made in Minnesota of waste crop materials-- but the bottom line is that they use less virgin materials, less embodied energy, and less chemicals.

Kirei board: (pronounced ki ray') is an engineered panel product constructed from the stalks of the Sorghum plant. The stalks left over after harvest are heat-pressed with a non-toxic adhesive to form a lightweight, strong, unique product. Kirei Board is used for all interior architectural millwork applications. It is not rated as a structural panel for exterior applications.

Bamboo plywood: is made from 100 percent rapidly renewable bamboo, using adhesives that are both strong and emissions free. It can be cut and sanded using conventional woodworking equipment. It can also be glued or mechanically fastened using the same materials and fasteners commonly used with wood. Bamboo is a low resin, open grained material that takes stains and finishes exceptionally well.

Water, water everywhere?

Sometimes I feel a bit like the Rosanna-Rosanna Danna character that Gilda Radner created on Saturday Night Live. It was like that for me when I first explored my choices for showers and toilets. I was under the mistaken impression that except in those rare cases in California when there wasn't enough rainfall or snow that the globe didn't have a sustained water shortage issue. Or if they did, it was weather-related and would merely mean that every several years we'd have regional droughts and be urged to curtail our water consumption. Oh, did you say water shortage?

But upon further investigation, I've learned that water is a scarce resource as is oil or wood. I'll credit Fine Homebuilding magazine for many of the details that I am about to impart here. But any casual web research will confirm that water is a commodity that must be nurtured and tended to carefully. And in spite of the EPAct of 1992, it seems to go mostly unnoticed that water, as with electrical consumption, was addressed with standards that now seem to be craftily skirted by manufacturers. Thankfully, this law is why many of the new toilets are meeting higher European standards.

But consumers seem to be generally unaware of how irresponsible it is to waste water. Think about it, you don't see car ads (not even for Hummers) that feature the general wanton consumption of gas. However, there are many slick ads for the ultimate shower experience, featuring a glassed-in unit with sometimes 3 or 4 pulsating shower heads. Some boast that they deliver 32 gallons of water per minute. As Alex Wilson, president of BuildingGreen (www.buildinggreen.com) describes it: "profligate waste, tantamount to outdoor air conditioners in the courtyards of Saudi oil sheiks."

So what's the situation with water shortages?

1- Global warming is causing watershed changes and places like the Western United States are greatly affected. Some of the fastest growing cities, Las Vegas and Albuquerque as example, are expected to chronically fall short of their water needs in the next decade, even in the best of weather circumstances. And remember that these locations are expanding their populations and thus expanding water consumption.

2- There is, and always will be, a finite amount of water on the planet. So as populations increase, the same water will be cycled over and over to meet demand. And that cycling requires energy to purify etc. This is a global issue and the situation is already dire in China and Africa.

3- Long, powerful, consumptive showers mean hot water needs to be generated. And that leads to significant energy consumption in order to facilitate the 80 gallons per minute set-up that I recently saw advertised as a "vertical spa environment."

4- Water is a shared commodity. I read an analysis that for every 3 people who put in one of these over the top systems, it negates the efforts of 100 people putting in efficient products. There are Hummer water users living among us!

What to do?

* Think twice before installing multiple shower heads. Install low flow units.

* Repair leaking toilets; replace old water-consuming toilets.

* Limit the number of those long luxurious showers. Luxuries are to be savored and indulged in only occasionally-- thus making them special!

* Don't run the water unnecessarily while brushing teeth, shaving, and washing dishes.

* Hold out for a full load of dishes, or use a shorter cycle. Same for the washing machine.

* You don't have to flush every time.

* Be responsible about water usage in your yard.

Other useful tips and information here:

www.wateruseitwisely.com/index.shtml
www.epa.gov/OW/you/chap3.html
www.earth911.org