A Wetlands in a School?! Amazing!
Thursday, November 15th, 2007 Sidwell Friends School in Washington D.C. is my dream school, it has a wetlands in the middle courtyard! Can you imagine!? Take a peak at their interactive tour! [ here ]From the American Institute of Architects: Top 10 Green Building Projects of 2007
Designed to foster an ethic of social and environmental responsibility in each student, the facility demonstrates a responsible relationship between the natural and the built environment.
Bicycle storage and showers are available, and the building is located within walking distance of a subway stop and several bus stops. Parking is available in an underground lot. A green roof and constructed wetland reduce stormwater runoff, improve the quality of infiltrated runoff, and reduce municipal water use. The wetland treats wastewater for reuse in the toilets and cooling towers.
The building was sited to take advantage of passive solar design. Together with high-efficiency electric lighting, photosensors, and occupancy sensors, daylighting minimizes lighting energy use. Solar-ventilation chimneys, operable windows, and ceiling fans minimize the need for mechanical cooling. Rather than develop a utility plant for this building alone, a central plant was created to serve the entire campus. A photovoltaic array generates about 5% of the building’s electricity needs.
Reclaimed materials include exterior cladding, flooring and decking, and the stone used for landscaping. Interior finishes were selected for their high levels of recycled content, low chemical emissions, and use of rapidly renewable materials. [ continue reading ]
Posted in Build It Green, Education, Waste | Permalink
Promoting Re-use at NYC.gov
Monday, November 5th, 2007 Coming on the heels of the news that New York City is conducting a modest expansion of its public recycling program, comes the new NYC Stuff Exchange. I believe that this is a new endeavor building off of the Dept. of Sanitation’s Wastele$$ program, and it promises to help New Yorkers find ways to donate/sell/buy/rent/repair their “gently used” items of all kinds. They are also hosting a calendar of events to keep track of the various book fairs, donation drives and swap meets taking place around the city. Should be a valuable resource as we gear up for a holiday season full of parties, good cheer, gifts, leftovers and a whole lot of extra waste.These are small steps for a city that has not made much progress at improving its recycling and diversion rates, and that lags well behind cities like Seattle and San Francisco, but at least there are steps being taken. We’d still like to see the adoption of some ambitious goals (up to, and including Zero Waste), as PlaNYC was largely silent on the matter of waste and the cost of disposing on NYC’s trash in the far-flung landfills of Virginia, South Carolina and beyond is only going to get more expensive (and carbon intensive - all those truck miles!).
For more options for re-use and waste prevention, check out Freecycle NYC , Wa$tematch, and the NYC Materials Exchange Development Program.
And we’d be totally remiss to not remind you (as always) that Build It Green! is the place to go for building materials, paint and a whole lot more at deeply discounted prices. Wine cooler, anyone?
Posted in Build It Green, New York City, Recycling, Waste | Permalink
BiG! Press & Job Opening
Thursday, October 18th, 2007 Build It Green! gets a nice mention in today’s New York Times as part of an article on the growing trend of home deconstruction. As an alternative to demolition, deconstruction is a great way to reduce the flow of material into landfills, to reduce the use of virgin building materials and even to save some money. Among the more interesting points from the article:Today, according to the Building Materials Reuse Association, up to 85 percent of the average house can be recycled or reused; the hard part is harvesting the materials in a way that preserves their integrity
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While the standard demolition quotes were around $25,000, the couple spent $38,000 to have a contractor….unpiece it over six weeks last summer. They expect to come out even or better after selling door hardware, windows, appliances and other components at a salvage auction and reaping a tax deduction by donating the rest to a reuse store.
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Build it Green! NYC, a reuse shop in Astoria, sells sets from nearby film studios alongside items rescued from residential demolitions. Recently, $25 diner stools from “The Knights of Prosperity,” a short-lived ABC show, were for sale alongside $40 doors from “The Sopranos” and a set of cherry-finish kitchen cabinets removed from an Upper East Side apartment.
We encourage anyone considering a home improvement project to check out the great (and cheap!) stuff that Build It Green! has to offer. And if you’re interested helping to broaden the market for reuse in the NYC area, they’re also hiring a warehouse & sales associate.
Posted in Build It Green, Green Building, Recycling, Waste | Permalink
