One area of research that they have excelled at is Low Impact Development. They have create a Technical Manual on Low Impact Development (LID) which is a must read. It talks about the different types of LID which can be used in New and current developments to control storm water. Many of these techniques can be used to REPLACE those large ugly detention ponds.

The Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency website provides a searchable comprehensive database of state, local and utility based incentives.

Visit their library to learn more about Federal tax credits and to access links to tax forms.

Here is, Silicon Energy, a company that is a spin off of another electrical company located in Arlington, WA. This will be great since they are in the back yard of one of my projects, Lake Riley Estates. Silicon Energy should be open this year.

• Green Washing - Making an items seem ‘greener’ than it really is. In this day and age there are lots of ‘marketing’ schemes being used to make people think they are helping the environment. One item to consider if you are taking ‘too much’ from the environment, is how much embodied energy are you using.
• Embodied Energy - is the total energy it takes to create an item or product. So how much ‘total’ energy does it take to make a dime? Does it cost 10 cents? Really? Or does it cost more, but because it lasts longer, the total energy is less. Think of it in terms of socks. I can go to a big chain outlet (no names please) and spend $5 on 8 pairs of socks. But they only last a year. Or I can go and spend $5 per pair of socks and they last 5 years (or more and still be comfortable). So which on uses more energy? Really the you need to count how many times you went to the store plus the energy used to make the additional socks, how far did it travel, etc. There are a lot of variables and they all ad up to more energy and more money.
• Fly Ash – A by product of a coal fired plant. Is coal the best energy source? Maybe not. But we have many around the country and there is one in Centralia, WA. Does it make sense to just scrap it? I am not sure about that. What about it’s fly ash? Where does it go? Right now most of it is stockpiled. Where can it go? It can be added to concrete (locally in Washington). It is a great additive. Plus it does not then end up in land fills.
• Sustainable Development – think smart and be responsible. What happens with the wildlife, the water flow, etc when development comes into an area. I believe we should be responsible and develop in a sustainable manner. The earth is not getting bigger and so far as I know it. We only have one planet that we can live on. We better take care of it.

This will be the site for Green Drinks for the month of June.
Hosted by: Sustainable Development Task Force of Snohomish County (SDTF)

Never heard of Greendrinks? It began in Europe and now sustainability people in over 342 cities all over the globe meet monthly for libations. It is a lively mixture of people from non-profits, academia, government and business and is a great way of catching up with folks you know and for making new contacts. Greendrinks is simple, unstructured and rather organic. People have found jobs, developed new ideas, done deals and had epiphanies at Greendrinks. Check out all the ways to have Greendrinks at www.greendrinks.org.

Basically a bioswale is a ‘ditch’ that can hold and filter the water into the soil and keep it on site rather than enter into a large detention pond and be sent into a storm water system or other off-site facility.

The bioswale helps filter the pollutions of water run-off via infiltration and attempts to mimic the natural conditions of a site.

Tags: low impact development

I mentioned pervious concrete in an earlier blog. Here is a little article that talks about Porous Asphalt. It handles the water in a similar method as the pervious concrete.

The idea behind both methods is infiltration and recharge of the surrounding ground water. Consider too, that both these items are less labor intensive on the installation end and could save a developer money. ]]> http://redonegreen.com/blog/archives/14/feed 0 http://redonegreen.com/blog/archives/7 http://redonegreen.com/blog/archives/7#comments Tue, 13 May 2008 20:04:52 +0000 Dale Hylton http://redonegreen.com/insulation-no-super-insulation/ Everyone knows that all new homes are insulated to what is ‘code’. Is this enough though? I do not think so. ‘Code’ just states that this is the minimal amount required.

More and more homes are being ‘super insulated’. What is this you ask? It is insulation that is above code and provides for the best energy efficiency. If you heat and cool a home that is super insulated, you are only changing the temperature a few degrees. In older homes and standard construction, your temperatures are more drastic due to the heat loss. 8 inches, 12 inches, even 18 inches of insulation may not be enough to keep you home from drastically changing in temperatures.

Some methods being used for Superinsulation are SIPs (Structural Insulated Panels), ICF (Insulated Concrete Forms) and double 2×4 or 2×6 construction with standard insulation (fiberglass or foam). Now each has their own benefits and disadvantages. But in the long run the Superinsulation is a better solution than to just follow ‘code’.

I will cover each of these techniques in later blogs.

How much energy does you home use?

This article in WIRED magazine helps to understand that while the earth has lots of water, it is not all drinkable. And we need to help preserve this precious resource. Consider it. The NW has lots of it now, but we need to strive to keep it that way.