Environment

Great article in the NYT on Wed about the small house movement. It certainly seems like its time has come. Tumbleweed Tiny Houses, weeHouse, and others are making their move and with great success. And while some companies would like to sell us the ‘prefab’ version of the small house, I am more interested in the DIY versions; a punk-inspired ethic using scavenged, used and abused materials and doing it all yourself.

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The BLOOM was one of my favorite contenders at the last Solar Decathalon and now it seems to have found a new home. The famed Texas MacDonald Observatory is the lucky recipient of this great structure, which, in its new environment, seems to be thriving:

From Treehugger:

"When we arrived, Sam pointed out that the batteries were way
overcharged. Even though the state-of-the-art inverters are set up to
divert the excess energy to the three hot water heaters and outdoor
Dutch Tub (which can hold five people by the way), there was still too
much charge in the batteries. Our job was to waste as much energy as we
could to bring the energy stored in the battery bank back down to a
safe level. We left the doors open, while we used the AC, the
microwave, the full size freezer/refrigerator, the convection counter
stove and oven, and we also had music playing through the giant plasma
flatscreen TV for hours. Hap even let the on-demand water heater run for an hour to heat the Dutch Tub.

By morning, we were able to bring the energy storage to just above
its ideal limit capacity. But by then, the sun was beginning to rise
again and restart the cycle. Once the sun gets through its morning
stretching routine, the up to 5 KILOwatts
the panels gather, prevents any appliances from accessing the battery
bank. At that point, all the power comes directly from the panels. Even
the most wasteful occupant couldn’t use more than the energy the panels
can capture. Did I mention the plug in electric cart outside? It
doesn’t put a dent in the system."

Solar week continues with this great project out of the UK which has the potential to actually reverse the devastation caused by current greenhouse technology which is depleting water tables around the globe.

The Sahara Forest project
would marry huge greenhouses with concentrated solar power (CSP), which
uses mirrors to focus the sun’s rays and generate heat and electricity.
The installations would turn deserts into lush patches of vegetation,
according to its designers, and without the need to dig wells for fresh
water, which has depleted acquifers in many parts of the world.

Read the rest after the jump…

After the Labor Day break, we’re doing a solar week theme. Up here in the Northwest we tend to get as much sunshine after Labor Day as before so the theme seemed apropos.

First up, Roofray.com, a new site that integrates Google Maps to give homeowners a ballpark idea of cost/savings benefits of various solar options. Simple to use and fun, Roofray will likely put you off the idea at least until the up-front cost comes down. My system came in at 200K! and a breakeven date 20 years down the line.

Check it out here, http://www.roofray.com/

More good news for Seattlites; our South Lake Union Discovery Center earned an AIA/COTE Green Design award! One of ten awards given out this year, the Center is a model of green and modular thinking.

I love the design, and how amazing is it to be able to reuse these modules! Just unbolt and go, like an upscale shipping container, to any site you like. I read somewhere that an UW arch studio workshopped different ways to use them next and one group suggested upending them, transforming the horizontal into vertical! Just like playing with Legos back in the day! Congratulations to all…

From GreenSource:

“For moving purposes, Miller Hull’s team carefully determined the maximum dimensions allowed on the roadways to the most likely new locations, arriving at a 40-by-73-foot optimum bay size. Working with engineer Jay Taylor of Magnusson Klemencic Associates, the team chose a simple structural system of quadrilateral steel bents that could be fabricated offsite. With gluelam purlins supporting the roof, the bents create a clear-span structure in which a service corridor of restrooms, a catering kitchen, and a sales office sit “a bit like a mobile home” inside. The glass front slopes inward beneath deep overhangs, giving the building the feel of an oversized screened porch. The resulting quartet of modules easily bolts together at three joints to create an 11,000-square-foot building. Splice plates “zipper” the floor seams while the gaps in the standing-seam metal roof panels are bridged by a simple cap flashing. Mechanical units bolt to the top with minimal ducting routed under the bents.”

read the rest after the jump…