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Miscellaneous Schmidt

All the different shades of green

by Sustainable G on June 29, 2011 · 0 comments

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Every week I try and give these posts some form of organization and give these posts a smooth flow to them.  This week, there is no smooth flow, it is merely a compilation of random articles that I found to be cool and interesting.  The waters of this post are choppy, you have been warned.

With the death of guitar hero and the imminent rise of the next generation of video game consoles, people are going to start having old, plastic guitars and outdated consoles piling up.  Find out how to discard your used toys here.

I like being able to hear news about our government and be able to say, “fail” (with added face palm), this time is no exception.

I did not realize that this was such a big dilemma but, evidently, some parents have a hard time choosing between biodegradable and cloth diapers.  This article is a little old, but that’s okay.

In more recent news, the Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit by several states which attempted to make utility companies reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

PG&E is trying to guilt trip its customers into saving trees for an additional sixty dollars a year.  Bad PG&E, bad.

Ugly or Not Ugly

For more on this house click here.

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The lighting breakdown

by Sustainable Nikos on June 28, 2011 · 0 comments

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Hello readers,

Today, Helmut, John, and I went to the Pacific property in order to meet with a representative from the SF Department of the Environment. The representative was helping us understand some of the rebates and programs put in place by the city. He was also at the property to do a compliance audit for our piping insulation installation. However, while he was there, he also alerted us to the existence of some of the services the city would also provide to help buildings stay “green.”

The most fascinating of these projects was the city’s project of incandescent to LED replacement. The city of San Francisco offers a program wherein they will replace a homeowner’s incandescent bulbs and cans for LED ones. LED lights are very energy efficient, but are also potentially expensive. Whereas standard incandescent bulbs use an average of 60 watts, fluorescent bulbs use 23 wats, and LEDs use only 4. To increase the number of people using LED’s and helping the environment, the city offers to replace the incandescent bulbs with LED’s to help achieve greater sustainability. Unfortunately, they won’t subsidize the transition from incandescent to LED.

All in all it was a very informative meeting. And, if you have incandescent lights, and wish to be more sustainable, call Ryan Chan at the SF Department of the Environment to switch them out!

Stay Dry,
Malachi

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Kyle’s Kitchen: PCBC

by Sustainable Kyle on June 24, 2011 · 0 comments

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On Wednesday I got the opportunity to check out the Pacific Coast Builders Conference, PCBC, for the first time.  The Moscone Center was jam-packed with an impressive variety of tradespeople advertising their product.  Despite this, Sir Helmut was tripping pretty hard about how few people there were (and sober, no less!).  Apparently, PCBC has been struggling with attendance for the past couple years since the economy went south.  The numbers aren’t out for this year’s conference, but this article discusses past attendance issues the conference has had in previous years.  Nevertheless, I was introduced to a lot of new, innovative products at PCBC that I’d like to share with you:

  • Cabinets: Executive Cabinetry has come out with a line of cabinets, “EcoFriendly.”  This product is certified to the highest GreenGaurd standard: Children & Schools.  The cabinet is made with FSC certified wood, and finished with water-based products that emit zero Formaldehyde.
  • Insulation: Owens Corning has released a new insulation product that is also GreenGaurd Children & Schools certified.  Their pink EcoTouch insulation also helps prevent indoor air pollution by being Formaldehyde free.
  • Solar water hearing: The Velux solar water heater was something I found particularly innovative.  This is an Energy Star qualified system that should drop energy consumption for heating your water by 50-80%.  I really liked this system because it could be installed in conjunction to a skylight you could use for your bathroom.
  • Roofing: I’ve never really thought to use recycled rubber and plastic to roof a home, but EcoStar has provided us this service of sustainable roofing with a line of tiles made out of 80% post-industrial recycled materials.  I saw for myself at PCBC that these products look almost exactly like the tiles or wood shake they emulate.  This roofing is warrantied to last 50 years.  This product is recyclable, so once that time is up just toss them in the blue bin.

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Kyle’s Kitchen: Green Building Bucket List

by Sustainable Kyle on June 23, 2011 · 0 comments

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I’ve been busy at the office researching/googling a host of different aspects to green building–in the hopes of gathering research for my sustainable apartment kitchen project.  I have stumbled across a good amount of interesting websites and articles, and thought it would be a good idea to share it with you all.  My first “green building bucket list” goes as follows:

  • GreenPoint Rated: If you think you own a “green” home or are considering building one, try putting that “green”-ness to the test with the systemized rating system from The Green Building Council.  This GreenPoint Rated system certifies that the property you own or plan to build is more comfortable and healthier, while simultaneously lessening your impact on the environment.
  • PG&E sham(?): An interesting article from SFGate exposed a PG&E carbon offset program to be more marketing sham than sustainable function.  This “ClimateSmart program highlights the complex and murky relationships among big business, state regulators and conservation groups working on climate change – a relatively new and untested system in which a huge amount of money is traded without much public scrutiny.”
  • Noise Abatement: If you are looking for some way to muffle your neighbor’s noise next door, Keene Building has a line of products called Quiet Qurl that are made out of 40% recycled content and are designed to absorb sound in apartment or dormitory complexes.  This polymer matrix that you apply between walls or under flooring in conjunction with gypsum concrete can also help if you are looking for LEED certification.
  • Alternative Countertops: On the subject of kitchen countertops, few consider using butcher block.  ”Butcher block countertops are natural, beautiful, practical, renewable, economical, and, contrary to popular belief, one of the safest, most sanitary kitchen work surfaces available.” Helmut has also noted other cool alternative countertops to the traditional laminate or granite.

That is all I got for now. More soon.

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Apps to Save Our Planet

by Sustainable Nikos on June 21, 2011 · 0 comments

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Hi guys,

Today I sidetracked from my normal garbage duties and did some research to help make saving the environment a little more convenient… For Android and Apple users, that is. I searched through various websites, the Android App Market, and the App Store to find “green” applications for phones with the Android or Apple operating system. The point of this research was to inform you all about the various apps that can help one save the environment, as well as to learn more about the app market, with the hope of releasing an SRELP app. Here are my findings:

The vast majority of applications can be divided into 3 categories: 1) Apps that provide simple daily tips for one to help make one’s life more green; 2) Locator apps, or apps which help one locate environmentally friendly businesses; and 3) Calculator apps, which help one calculate ___ (water, carbon, power, etc.) usage– and in so doing, inform one as to the ways he or she may be using resources excessively. The vast majority of these applications focused upon carbon footprints, food sustainability, and phone energy optimization. As you may have guessed, there are many applications that provide the same exact services– services which, more often than not, are pretty useless. The lack of ingenuity in this fascinating field seems almost pathetic.

Despite the multitude of similar applications, a few stood out for providing more useful and unique information.

3rd Whale’s application Findgreen is a Locator app that helps the user find various green businesses in their area, provides an address, and notes whether the user can walk or ride a bike to get to said business. This application is available for Android and iPhone for $1.99.

Locavore is an application that lists what produce is in season, updating this list on a weekly basis, as well as telling you which businesses provide locally grown produce. This application is FREE for Android and iPhone.

Android provides an application called the Compost Calculator, an application which calculates the Carbon:Nitrogen ratio and moisture percentage in the user’s compost bin– helping the user create a compost mix that is most healthy and fertile for soil. This app costs $1.99.

The Goodguide available for both the Android and Apple operating systems, lists sustainable food and health products and includes the ability to take a picture of an item’s bar code and search the item’s sustainability or lack thereof. This application is FREE.

Smartmeter, which is available for the iPhone, is an app that allows one to search one’s energy usage, as well as the energy bill breakdown. http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/smartmeter/id332471201?mt=8

Granted, these applications are only as useful as the user, use– not simple ownership– of these apps, is really what helps one save the environment.

Enjoy your first day of summer!

Malachi

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