Green building: Is Saving Money Enough?

by Rob Jones on March 18, 2010

Buying a home is an investment, with an expectation for a long-term return.  And with an energy efficient home, there is the hope of a shorter term return as well in the form of reduced heating and electricity bills.  It’s no wonder that home buyers are favouring homes that feature tankless water heating, energy-efficient windows, low-flow plumbing, and other energy (and money) saving amenities.

energy-efficient-home

According to USAToday’s Greenhouse blog, green homes sell at a better return, and faster here in the Pacific Northwest.  I suspect that this is becoming true across the board as well, for reasons of energy savings as much as for the preservation of the environment.

I don’t think that this need to save money in a depressed economy necessarily diminishes what I feel to be a cultural shift.  After all, economics and culture are strongly entwined.  But a question I can think of is this:  is simple economics enough? [click to continue…]

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More About Green Walls For Green Building

by Rob Jones on March 10, 2010

This post is kind of an addendum to the post I wrote about the green wall in the Vancouver INGDirect offices.  I suppose I’m still kind of thinking about this simple means of providing good air quality and overall humanity and comfort in spaces that are perhaps not known for either – like banks, and office spaces.

green-wallIn any case, here’s another link to a blog post about green walls. This post goes into a bit more detail about different styles of green wall, or living wall.  One such style is a sort of ‘wall of planters’, which (as the blog post points out) might be a bit more high-maintenance if you had to get up on a ladder to water them.

One thing that the post brings up is the installation of an irrigation systems, onto which a solid green wall would be backed.  I wonder of grey water or rainwater harvesting might be the source for this kind of system?  The integration of technolgies, it seems to me, is what really makes for the best ‘green result’.

Anyway, I’ve posted the question in the comments section on that post.  Post your own comments over there – and here too – especially if you’ve got a green wall of your own and know a thing or two about day-to-day upkeep!

Cheers!

RJ.

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Voices For Green Building and Sustainability

March 4, 2010

‘Green’ and ’sustainability’ are complex terms, it seems to me. Both evoke all kinds of associations for many people; some commonly shared, and some not. It’s like looking at a collage, where your eye is drawn to one area, then to another, but difficult on first or even second glances to get a whole picture. A lot of what you see here in this video is a sampling of some of these, and illustrates the point pretty well.

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Green Walls: Commerce and Nature

March 1, 2010

Recently, I attended an event put on by INGDirect at their Howe & Pender branch here in Vancouver. It was a launch of their newly renovated space, which effectively turns the model of a traditional bricks and mortar bank branch into something more. They’ve made their Vancouver INGDirect branch into a free wifi cafe, and have invited the community to come in to use it. A great idea!

A priority with this project has been making sure that the space ‘breathes’, that it is imbued with a welcoming atmosphere. To help with this, they’ve had a green wall installed.

What’s a green wall?

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A Green Olympic Games: In Process

February 24, 2010

…It takes years and years of training to get to Olympic levels of competence in any sport. And we as spectators get to see that final result. And the same is true, I believe, when it comes to reaching Olympic standards of sustainability, as it were. As such, I don’t think we’ve arrived. We have yet to see that final result. We’re still at the training stages.

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A “New” New Orleans With Green Building and Community Volunteering

February 17, 2010

A big theme on this blog of ours, and in some ways in all of the blogs you’ll find attached to BuildDirect, is the idea of transformation and all of the things which that concept implies.
In reference to green building, one big theme I’ve been reading about in the wider world is the human tendency [...]

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Integrating Personal Public Transit and Green Building Best Practice

February 11, 2010

In thinking more and more about how accessible public transit and urban planning using green building principles can dovetail, I came across this video.  Take a look!

The system is to be implemented as a means of accessing Terminal Five at London’s Heathrow airpport by the Spring of 2010.  A test track is currently in place [...]

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Public Transit and Green Communities: Eat Your Vegetables!

February 8, 2010

Perception is a funny thing.
In some cities, doing without a car and relying on public transit is no big deal. In others, the very idea is entirely alien, even if the option of public transit is presented as a viable, and logical, option.
I don’t want everyone to think that I am down on car [...]

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Green Building and Retro-Fitting: Economic Engine to the Future

February 1, 2010

At this point in history, everyone who is in the know, and even most who are not, are worried about the state of the economy. Previously stalwart industries are on shaky ground, and indeed have needed the help of governments just to limp along though the trials of the recession. It is projected that much like 2009, this coming year will not be so much the rebound year as it will be the lead up to the rebound year. But, how do we get there?

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Green Building: Eco-Districts Need Eco-People

January 26, 2010

There is a ton of news out there, seeming to be coming in by the minute, about specific buildings gaining LEED status.  Some of these buildings are quite high profile, which means that as a culture, we’ve got shining examples of what is possible when thinking about commercial scale buildings that are considered to be [...]

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