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Archive for May, 2009

Citizen Scientist

May 19th, 2009 by snugganut

Perhaps Team Nauhaus should choose a project to let our idle office computers support.

The Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC) is a non-commercial middleware system for volunteer and grid computing. It was originally developed to support the SETI@home project before it became useful as a platform for other distributed applications in areas as diverse as mathematics, medicine, molecular biology, climatology, and astrophysics. The intent of BOINC is to make it possible for researchers to tap into the enormous processing power of personal computers around the world.

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Posted in The Awesome | 1 Comment »

Local Wood Products

May 18th, 2009 by brinker

RUSTIC EDGE

http://www.rusticedgefurnishings.com

About

The start of the design process

This is where our design process begins!

Our work has always taken a top down approach. From our more rustic days till now, we have always thought it important to know where your materials come from. The finished piece is more real when there is no disconnect between the cutting down of a tree and the application of the last coat of oil. Having control of every step of the process not only gives us unique design capabilities but it is almost virtually wasteless. Trees, which would normally see a quick ride through the mulcher, get whittled down in a way that allows them to recognize something more meaningful.

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Posted in Building Materials, Countertops, Wood | No Comments »

Reuse Warehouse

May 18th, 2009 by brinker

Reuse Warehouse Now Open

Reuse Warehouse

StormCenter Communications, Inc.
Ellicott City, MD

Article Courtesy of:
Sandra Jackson
Assistant Public Information Officer
City of Houston Solid Waste Management Department

REUSE WAREHOUSE NOW OPEN

The City of Houston’s newest recycling jewel, The Building Materials Reuse Warehouse, is a little rough around the edges now but there are big plans ahead. To polish this gem, project organizers from the Mayor’s Office of Environmental Programming, the Solid Waste Management Department, Public Works, Health Department and the Police Department are working together on an ambitious agenda. Their goal is to provide a one-stop recycling shop. The site will be used for storing and distributing building materials, a neighborhood depository, a recycling drop-off center and office space. It’s worth noting that the project itself is an example of reuse; the facility lay vacant for five years before being repurposed for this project.

Reuse Warehouse

The Reuse Warehouse
Photo Credit: Danny Hinojosa

The driving force behind this project is Sarah Mason, an environmental analyst with Mayor White’s Office. When tasked to think of new recycling programs, Ms. Mason looked around for inspiration. That’s when she heard about Dan Phillips and the Phoenix Commotion, a recycling project run in conjunction with the City of Huntsville that allows building contractors to drop off excess materials at a storage site for other people’s use, including the building of affordable housing.

Sarah Mason
Photo Credit: Danny Hinojosa

She took Mr. Phillips’ basic idea and modified it to fit Houston’s needs. Contractors can drop-off excess materials at the Reuse Warehouse which benefits them in three ways: 1) eliminates landfill fees, 2) provides a tax deductible donation, and 3) provides LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification points. Citizens can also make donations. The warehouse allows non-profit organizations to take the donated materials for their use. This provides a direct benefit to the city in reduced landfill consumption. The warehouse is equipped with scales to measure donations for LEED scoring and to track the amount of material diverted from landfills.

Long-term plans include finishing the office space and cleaning a second warehouse to host do-it-yourself classes. Although the materials donated are building materials, the hope is that some non-profits, especially the ones that work with children, will take these materials and reuse them as birdhouses, dog houses or other such crafts.

mason

The Warehouse with Donated Lumber
Photo Credit: Danny Hinojosa

The Reuse Warehouse opened on April 29, 2009, mostly to get inventory before the grand opening scheduled for June. To make a donation call Project Manager, Jonathan Lohn at 281-814-3324. Items accepted include cabinets, fans, sinks, showers, windows, concrete blocks, pavers, copper, doors, windows, flooring material, glass and gutters. For a complete list and additional information, visit www.greenhoustontx.gov/reuse.html

Site Supported By: Information Provided By: Site Presented By:
Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board (TSSWCB) Environmental Protection Agency Galveston Bay Estuary Program Houston-Galveston Area Council (HGAC) Information Provided By StormCenter Communications, Inc.

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Posted in Building Materials | No Comments »

Grid Parity

May 17th, 2009 by Seldom

I keep being surprised that people who should know this don’t.  This is from Wikipedia:

Photovoltaic production has been doubling every two years, increasing by an average of 48 percent each year since 2002, making it the world’s fastest-growing energy technology.[4]

For the last 40 years, every time the world production rate of PV doubles, the price falls by 18%.  See this earlier post for more information:  PV Price Declining Again

Grid parity, the point at which photovoltaic electricity is equal to or cheaper than grid power, is achieved first in areas with abundant sun and high costs for electricity such as in California and Japan.[77]

Grid parity has been reached in Hawaii and other islands that otherwise use fossil fuel (diesel fuel) to produce electricity, and most of the country is expected to reach grid parity by 2015.[78][79]

General Electric’s Chief Engineer predicts grid parity without subsidies in sunny parts of the United States by around 2015. Other companies predict an earlier date:[80] the cost of solar power will be below grid parity for more than half of residential customers and 10% of commercial customers in the OECD, as long as grid electricity prices do not decrease through 2010.[81]

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Posted in Photovoltaics | 1 Comment »

Residential Energy Use, House Size and Cost

May 14th, 2009 by hana

Why does energy use continue to increase despite the constant appearance of better, more efficient technology?  Given that energy consumption per dollar of GDP is decreasing (energy intensity is increasing), some people might say that energy subsidies are justified, at least in the industrial and commercial sectors.  So, why should energy consumption increase in the residential sector?  By far the greatest single use of energy in the home (almost half) goes towards heating (only 6% goes towards air conditioning) [DOE]–and let’s face it, the climate ain’t getting colder.  If we look at the residential energy use patterns over the years, a surprising trend is visible.  The greatest energy-using states go from the North (in the 1970s) to the South and Midwest.  Something besides a winter storm is brewing.

Price certainly plays a large role.  The states whose per capita energy consumptions were the highest in the last five years of data do have some of the cheapest energy prices in the country  (North Dakota, Kentucky, Nebraska, Missouri, Tennessee, Indiana, Oklahoma, and Alabama had the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 9th, 14th, 15th, and 24th cheapest residential electricity prices in 2007) [DOE].

Another factor to consider is the square footage of the residences, which has also been continuously increasing over the last few decades [US Census].

This doesn’t mean that price per square foot is decreasing, however.  If we look at the median selling prices of new homes over the same time period (discounted to 2007 dollars), this is also increasing [DOE].

It’s no wonder that the current credit crisis started in the housing market.  We’re making bigger and bigger investments on bigger and bigger houses–and then paying energy bills to keep all the extra space running.  Per capita income may be increasing with GDP, but not as fast as home price is rising.  If we divide median selling prices of new homes by median income, the quotient is increasing over the years.

The question is: why do we need all this extra space when household size is decreasing?

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Posted in Energy, Resource Management | 2 Comments »

Vapour Permeable Paint

May 13th, 2009 by Seldom

Buildingconservation.com has some good articles about limewashes, milk paint, and silicate paints:

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Posted in Paint | No Comments »

Telephone Pole Spliff: CNBC Weighs in on Industrial Hemp

May 12th, 2009 by Clarke

We are presently using a hemp insulation product (Tradical Hemcrete) in our Nauhaus prototype project , but we can’t currently manaufacture hemp-based insulation in the US.  Luckily, this  issue is getting more and more media play. Here’s a very positive little piece from CNBC.

Industrial Hemp fun facts:

  1. The US is the only country in the world in which industrial hemp is illegal to grow.
  2. Industrial hemp is the only plant in the US that is illegal to grow, but legal to buy. We are huge consumers of a variety of legal hemp products.
  3. Industrial hemp is not a drug. Quote from the video: “You’d have to smoke a joint the  size of a telephone pole to experience any effect.”

    4. ______________________________________________________________

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Posted in Hemcrete, In the News | No Comments »