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{Re}habitat
Learn how adaptive reuse and upcycling can add hip design to your home, apartment, or yard with the Go Green channel's {Re}habitat series. Follow host Rachael Ranney as she shows you how to repurpose salvaged and found materials, adding fun and function to your space without breaking your budget.
Remodeling Magazine’s 2011-2012 Cost vs. Value Report: The Rise and Fall of Home Improvement
Written by Fernando Pages Ruiz Thu Dec 29 2011What home improvement projects will offer the best return on investment (ROI)? As the economy continues to falter, enhancing curb appeal is still your best bet … however, the ROI of a few projects that made Remodeling Magazine’s Cost vs. Value list this year may surprise you.
Every year for the last quarter century, Remodeling Magazine has published the results of its survey comparing the cost of home improvements with the value of those improvements at resale. Remodeling 2011-2012 Cost vs. Value Report examines 35 popular projects ranging in scope from under $1,500 to over $225,000, and, in drill-down fashion, provides national, regional, and city averages on how the projects fare as investments.
House of the Month: A Crystal in the Desert by Circle West Architects
Written by Murrye Bernard Wed Dec 28 2011Old is made new again – and made greener – in this Phoenix-area home, designed by Circle West Architects.
Is an architect's toughest client himself? Not when he has a crystal clear vision for his family’s home. Phoenix-based architect Peter Koliopoulos, AIA, founder and president of Circle West Architects, drew on his Miesian training at the Illinois Institute of Technology to transform a 30-year-old concrete block and stucco home in the residential neighborhood of Paradise Valley into a modern crystal that rises from the revegetated desert landscape.
Green is here to stay! Here’s what to watch for in the next few months.
With 2011 quickly drawing to a close, it’s time to take out our crystal ball and conjure up the green home trends that will shape our choices in the coming year. Many of these trends will sound very familiar; some have evolved out of economic necessity, while others exist thanks to great advances in technology. Whether you already own a home or plan to build a new one, there’s bound to be at least one trend that appeals to you.
Oversized homes are going out of style. Check out these seven ways to live more graciously in a small space.
Are you ready for a pop quiz? True or false: it’s easier to live better when you have more.
Conventional wisdom would have us believe it’s true, but it’s 100% false, says designer John M. Stephens, ASID, owner of John M. Stephens Design in New Orleans. Living well is a way of being in your space and caring for your things. “Gracious living is living in the best possible way no matter what your circumstances are,” he says. It’s about taking the time to make the small details special, from how you display your favorite pieces to how you make guests feel welcome. “It’s really taking all the small pieces of your life and putting them together so they make the whole better,” Stephens says.
A challenge of mining operations and any project that disturbs large volumes of earth below grade is the potential to generate contaminated water runoff at the surface known as acid mine drainage (AMD). Precious metal and coal mine shafts traditionally require excavation below the water table, exposing metal sulfides in the disturbed earth and waste soils to the atmosphere and water. Similar exposure can occur during major highway construction projects. Stormwater runoff and water discharged from dewatering pumps related to these construction activities can be very low in pH (acidic) and can contain harmful metal ions. Eric McCleary of Greenhorne & O’Mara helped develop the successive alkalinity-producing system (SAPS) process to treat this AMD water and shares insights regarding this innovative technology with the Buildipedia audience.
COP17’s Failings and Where Our Poker Chips are Better Played
Written by Emma Stewart, Ph.D., Senior Manager of AEC Sustainability Solutions, Autodesk Fri Dec 23 2011In this guest post for Buildipedia, Emma Stewart of Autodesk shares her experiences from Durban, where the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) recently took place. What kind of international progress can we expect to happen as a result of this conference, and what can we do if that progress doesn't seem quite 'progressive' enough? Emma offers some insight concerning how climate change can truly be addressed.
If it had been an exercise in cultural diplomacy, I would declare it a success. I shared a shuttle bus home with a Cameroonian Member of Parliament up for re-election. I sweated in the South African heat with Tata’s sustainability head, whose job of influencing 450,000 employees makes mine look like child’s play. I had a drink with the CEO of the Carbon Disclosure Project in the world’s most impressive soccer stadium. I marveled at South Africa’s sparkling new airports and highways, welcome leftovers from the World Cup 2010 (unlike the sound of vuvuzelas, which I still hear ringing in my ears). I encountered climate change education everywhere in Durban, even at the airport baggage carousel. I tried a few words of Zulu only to find that “COP17” translated into every local tongue. I chuckled at UN Security’s attempt to “lock down” the Botanical Gardens in advance of Secretary Ban Ki-Moon’s address. And, while Greenpeace protested our proximity to the talks, sustainability business leaders met at various “side events” to cheer on one another’s (admittedly incremental) progress.
FM Systems are the most important tools a facility and property manager has to manage his or her responsibilities. They provide critical visibility into the operations, information for decision making and analysis and improved processes and efficient services. All of this results in lower costs and better services.
Arc fault circuit interrupters (ACFIs) de-energize circuits when an arc fault is detected, preventing overheating and possible combustion. ACFIs enhance safety in any home and are required for some new construction, varying by state.
Over the past decade or so, a discussion about arc fault circuit interrupters and their required use in residential construction has raged among officials, organizations, corporations, and individuals related to the construction industry. Change can be difficult but “only the wisest and stupidest of men never change," as Confucius said. Change has occurred consistently in residential electrical systems since Thomas Edison unveiled the first electric light on New Year’s Eve, 1879. Knob and tube, cloth-braided, PVC-jacketed, two wire then three wire, fuses then breakers… the list goes on and on. Change happens. Most of that change can be attributed to our steadily increasing understanding of electricity since we were first electrified. With its increasing use in our homes, and the considerations of inhabitants’ safety and the prevention of property damage, it is not surprising that regulations have continued to change. So why do we resist? We should expect change and grow with it, particularly when it is in the interest of our own safety and can prevent the loss of property.
