Makes Things Go - MakesThingsGo's Blog - Bakersfield.com

We Can Solve It

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 09:15:24 PDT

Al Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection has been running some new stunning ads on TV. They are stunning to me because it shows that we may finally be reaching the point where we're no longer fighting over the reality and actually moving to a place where we will take some serious action. All of the major Presidential candidates affirm the reality of climate change and now the decisions are essentially basically over what the best ways to move to a post-carbon society are.

Anyway, check the videos and check their website. We *CAN* solve it, but we gotta get started now.

http://wecansolveit.org/

Carbon Rally

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 08:56:25 PDT

So here's a cool idea I came across in GOOD: There's a website called CarbonRally.com where you read about ways to help the environment by cutting CO2 emissions. Well, that's not such a big deal, since there are about 5 billion websites out there dedicated to helping people help the world. But Carbon Rally has a cool hook:

It was early in 2007 when we put our heads together and began discussing how we could have an impact on climate change. More than anything, we wanted to combine our knowledge of consumers, software, and environmental studies to find a new approach to the problem. We talked about our personal attempts to reduce global warming, and we quickly realized that we shared a common frustration. The issue seemed just too big for any single person to make a meaningful difference.

We understood the basic links between energy use, CO2 emissions, and climate change. We also knew that we were comfortable in our habits of consumption, and that big changes weren’t going to happen overnight. We needed to identify some realistic steps to rein-in our behavior and make a plan to accomplish them. Still, it would be hard to get excited about our plan without some sort of feedback loop that showed real progress.

And what fun is that?

That’s when we hatched the idea of Carbonrally. We would create a place where many people could discover and commit to small, positive actions over time. People on the site could propose great ideas for reducing carbon dioxide emissions, and the community would choose the best ideas to pursue as a team. We’d track the collective impacts, and show the power of many people getting the job done together. Bit by bit, the community would learn the connections between climate and lifestyle, and rack-up literally tons of carbon benefits along the way. The Internet would make the process surprisingly fun and social… we’d celebrate and we’d compete!

Let's face it, we all want to do what we can to help the planet, but there's nothing like a competition to make something like this fun. I mean, what's the point of saving the planet if you can't rub it in someone's face? Or something like that.

Seriously though, it's a pretty good way of making that one lightbulb you change or that one paper cup you save part of something bigger. And when you can see how your little actions add up, it starts to seem like a doable thing.

Another Local Maker - My Imaginary Boyfriend

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 08:27:25 PDT

As much as I like talking about me, sometimes I like to talk about others as well. This week I wanted to talk about a local crafter/maker who runs My Imaginary Boyfriend. Her work has been in a number of magazines like Adorn and Bust and featured on boingboing and a whole host of other online sites. The proprietress (and dear friend of mine) Erika has been in the crafting business for a few years now professionally, but my own shelves are adorned with her cool stuff going back 10-15 years. She's been showing at craft fairs across the country from New York to San Francisco and will be at the Maker Faire in San Mateo on May 3rd and 4th. I wrote a piece on my trip to the Maker Faire last year and I'm looking forward to seeing her set up there.

Her work is pretty wide ranging, but most of it is either a bit geeky, a little kitsch, or just pure awesome style. She has a felt pillow that looks like a log and small felt robots. She's also made some really cool geek gear like a tie that is quite reminiscent of Doctor Who's tie (the 10th doctor). What would you expect from someone who made a tiny felt TARDIS to hold her cell phone? On top of that, the other half of her items would look quite at home in a high end shop or in a quite stylish home.

It's always fun to spend time with people who love making stuff but love making stuff so different from the stuff I can make. Anyway, if you like the pictures, head on over to her website and check out her blog and show her some love. You could also head to her store and show her some love too. :)

[edit: Looking through the photos I chose, I pulled a lot of wood grain. This isn't a representative sample, just stuff that jumps out at me. You should definitely click here. Heh. ]

World's Largest Green Building

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 09:01:17 PDT

So maybe I have been spending too much time just cribbing from EcoGeek, but boy do they do a good job. Today's article on Chicago's Merchandise Mart (a 4 million sq. ft. building with its own zip code) is pretty eye opening. Aside from Ecogeek's recent realization that buildings use more energy than pretty much all the transportation used in the US is not big news to people in the trades, but as this seeps into the national consciousness, hopefully we'll see more upgrades occur.

The Merch Mart in Chicago did a number of things to achieve their goal of going green. From EcoGeek: http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/1475/66/

Most of the 4,000 windows were replaced.
Water waste was tracked, to determine which of the 2,000 toilets needed to be replaced with more efficient ones
Leaks in the air conditioning were tracked down and fixed, saving over $4,000 a year.
Many of the buildings spaces were metered individually, to determine high energy use areas, and bill tenants accordingly.
A supply shop for tenants was opened in the basement, making everything from low-vapor paints to high-efficiency bulbs available, inexpensively, to all tenants.
Lighter carpets make rooms brighter, meaning less electricity is needed
A Bulb-Eater in the basement eats fluorescent bulbs, contains their toxins, and produces waste bins that are recycled properly.

I like the light carpets and the supply shop. These are both easy and durable changes that can be implemented quickly across the country.

As always, this is your green, building, and green building open thread.

7,000 Miles Per Gallon?!?!?!?!?!

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 06:57:30 PDT

Actually, a bit more. At Shell's yearly Eco-Marathon, the winner this year was a French team from St. Joseph La Joliverie, who went 7,148 miles on a single gallon of fuel. It makes 4 dollar per gallon gas seem like a real bargain.

Of course, these cars will not be coming to a showroom near you anytime soon, but the ideas are out there. One of the issues I'm sure is that construction costs probably make the price of a Tesla look like a Fit. Another is that the vehicles are so light and fragile that any collision would likely turn any occupants into what was colorfully termed "street pizza" on another blog.

Everything I'm reading is saying that super-efficiency is great and that ethanol is great, but it's time to make the big switch from combustion to electric. Lighter engines with less heat mean better miles per energy unit and tighter body construction which helps with aerodynamics. Still, 7148 mpg? Sweet.

BTW, I'll be trying to post more home repair stuff in the next few weeks. If you've got a home repair issue or just want to talk about home stuff, this is the place.

Microcars!

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 07:04:16 PDT

OK, so you can't buy any of these cars new today and the safety regulations pretty much have eliminated them from ever being mass produced again, but I love these little microcars. The video is from a show called Top Gear, an English show for fans of car buffs, fans of things getting blown up or crashed, and for general English silliness. If you like cars, this show should be on your "must watch" list. In the video, Jeremy Clarkson, the 6'5" host of the show, drives around town (and around office buildings) in the Peel P50, the smallest car ever to go into production. Advertised as "almost cheaper than walking" it got 100 miles to the gallon. Of course, it got that 100 mpg at 30-35 mph max.

The video got me thinking about cars though. There's a Fiat 500 Giardinieria for sale down the street from me which could actually be converted to electric. I went online to find more treasures of this kind and came across the holy grail of microcars: The Microcar Museum in Georgia. This is really a tresure trove of microcars and has piles and piles (well, not literally "piles") of cars that make the Giardiniera look like a bloated Humvee. Sure, some of them run on moped motor. Some are even pedal cars, which I think is cheating. But these little suckers are cute and look fun to drive.

Why Move To Another Country?

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 07:29:38 PST

So I was browsing around my normal haunts for a green energy story to write up and came across this short excerpt about starting your own country over at WorldChanging:

Step 1: Make sure you are eligible

As tempting as it might be to declare your cubicle a sovereign state, customary international law actually does specify minimum standards for statehood.

1. You must have a defined territory.

2. You must have a permanent population.

3. You must have a government.

4. Your government must be capable of interacting with other states.

Hmmm, seems interesting. Turns out the real guide is at ForeignPolicy.com

Step 2 continues:

Congratulations on joining the ranks of Transnistria, Somaliland, and a host of other countries that won’t be marching at the Olympics anytime soon. Just because you’ve met the qualifications and declared yourself independent doesn’t mean that you’re going to be taken seriously. Even the Principality of Sealand—located on a 10,000-square-foot platform in the North Sea—has tried with mixed success to claim sovereignty under these qualifications.

There are a few more steps after the link, including how to get recognized internationally, but let's not put the cart before the horse. The most important thing to do before we decide to take over the Californian building and declare ourselves an independent state, we should find out if they have showers. After that, we'll declare statehood and settle on a name. I do think we can rule out anything with ".com" at the end since there will be an impulse to call our citizens "dot commies".

Anyone want to continue with this? If you were starting your own country, what would it called and what would the big rules be?

Photo Blogger

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 08:27:01 PST

You want it, you got it. I'm going to be working with some folks at the paper to implement some features for the photo blog. In the meantime, let's kick this thing off right away. I've included a pic of mine here that still needs a bit of photoshopping but I like the lines and the light.

So, couple of orders of business: First, I'm thinking we'll just dedicate this thread to posting whatever pictures people want, but we'll also find a way to put up a weekly challenge to get people out and about.

Second, I'll get us a dedicated name for the blog by next week and I'll cook up a banner as well. The hope is that as time goes on, we'll add a bunch of user photos to the blog banner.

Anything else you'd like to see here?

New Users Click Here and Open Thread

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 07:50:00 PST

OK Folks, it's Monday morning and you've survived another weekend. After last week, I figured I'd give a go to taking over the ill-fated New Users Click Here series and try to breathe a bit of life back into it. As an added bonus, we'll also turn this into an open thread for everyone, meaning that you can pretty much talk about anything you want. Have a story that you've been meaning to blog? Post it here. Have a problem with the blog? That can go here as well.

As for me, I'm trying to figure out how to embed YouTube Videos in comments. I've seen it done but when I use the "embed" tag I end up displaying all the code, plus a few bits where the software picks URLs out. So, if anyone can show me how that gets done or lemme know if it's unsupported, that would be great.

Happy Monday!

New Users Click Here - Browsers

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 09:10:30 PST

So I know this is Jason's title, but I'm going to borrow it for today. We've had a number of people, myself included, who are having some browser issues and so I thought we could all share our tips and tricks for getting the site up and running on our respective setups. For myself, I use Firefox mostly with my Toshiba laptop running XP. Runs really well and fast. I've tried to access the site using my HTC Mogul running WinMo 6 and IE and Minimo kinda make the site unreadable. Opera Mobile renders well and fast, but doesn't allow me to post.

So, what browser issues are you having?

Photography - Now In Stereo!

Wed, 09 Jan 2008 10:21:17 PST

Photography has long been a hobby of mine, coming and going in waves. I'll take a 500 pictures one month and then not pick up the camera again for two months. I'm sensing a new surge coming on though, this time spurred by my recent purchase of a stereo camera.
We're all familiar with stereo (or 3D) photography. Some of us remember the old stereoscopes from the early 1900s (can't say "turn of the century" anymore) with the stereoscopes and collections of cards. Some of us young'uns only remember the little red View-Masters. I enjoy them all a lot and have a collection of photos but never was able to take my own pictures until now.

The way it works is simple: people perceive depth because their eyes are a small distance apart and your brain has learned how to calculate the distance based on the the difference in perception between each eye. OK, so that's actually REALLY oversimplifying it. Lots of things affect depth perception including shadows, size, and even the expected amount of particulate matter in the air (ever notice how the mountains look closer after it rains?). But the reason regular photos look so flat is because there is no difference between the images that reach each eye. By taking two photos from two lenses spaced about 20cm apart and then presenting only one of the photos to each eye, you can trick your brain into perceiving depth.

Anyway, I just got my camera on Monday night and we've had nothing but rain since. Today is looking promising though and once I get some pictures (and get them developed) I'll post some up here with instructions for viewing.

Americans with Disabilities Act

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 08:56:46 PST

I've done a lot of work related to the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) over the years. This area of the code generally covers commercial construction and multi-tenant housing for things like handrails, door swings and door hardware, ramps and thresholds, etc.

San Francisco has some of the most restrictive codes in the country, in some cases even specifying specific hardware that doesn't exist. If you're not a bit of a jerk, you can get stuck with literally no options for compliance. Usually the inspectors have some leeway in their judgment and a good faith effort combined with knowledge of the code can get you to a compliance level that is agreeable to everyone.
I was the lead on a commercial to residential zoning conversion in San Francisco and installed all of the handrails, braille placards and door openers for the building. I even installed a second, lower set of call buttons for the elevators. On the inside of the elevator, the top button on our panel was half an inch too high and the inspector asked us to change that. After explaining to him that that would actually be a huge hardship, he decided that half inch was very important to him. So then I told him that rather than moving the panel, we were just going to raise the floor. After that, he signed off. (Another funny thing that came out of that conversion was the fact that our Braille placards were required to be 5 feet high on center and we were not allowed to add additional ones at 42 inches where the elevator call buttons were. If you were blind, you'd be fine and if you were in a wheelchair you were fine, but if you were blind nd in a wheelchair, there's nothing I can do.)

Despite the sometimes nuttiness of ADA codes, I strongly support them. I'd like to see more homes incorporate basic ADA features on the ground floor of houses. 36" doors are a good start as is getting rid of the stoop step that seemed so popular at one time. I've done a few jobs for a great long term care place in Bakersfield called John's Haven, and they went above and beyond what they needed to do for ADA (and a bunch of other things). I helped them plan out their design so that if the code tightens in Bakersfield, they'll still be in compliance as well.

Many Shades of Green

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 09:44:38 PST

Just came across an interesting piece (via EcoGeek) that looks at green power and sets up a matrix of "response scenarios" for global warming. It's a pretty cool way of at least analyzing the road ahead. The drivers in the matrix are centralized/decentralized and precautionary/proactionary. Also, I love me some matrices, so there's that too.

I'll snip a bit about the possible scenarios below:

http://www.openthefuture.com/2007/11/green_tomorrows_the_scenarios.html

"Power Green" -- Centralized and Proactionary: a world where government and corporate entities tend to exert most authority, and where new technologies, systems and response models tend to be tried first and evaluated afterwards. This world is most conducive to geoengineering, but is also one in which we might see environmental militarization (i.e., the use of military power to enforce global environmental regulations) and aggressive government environmental controls. "Green Fascism" is one form of this scenario; "Geoengineering 101" from my Earth Day Essay is another.

"Functional Green" -- Centralized and Precautionary: a world in which top-down efforts emphasize regulation and mandates, while the deployment of new technologies emphasizes improving our capacities to limit disastrous results. Energy efficiency dominates here, along with economic and social innovations like tradable emissions quotas and re-imagined urban designs. The future as envisioned by Shellenberger and Nordhaus could be one form of this scenario; the future as envisioned by folks like Bill McDonough or Amory Lovins could be another. Arguably, this is the default scenario for Europe and Japan.

"We Green" -- Distributed and Precautionary: a world in which collaboration and bottom-up efforts prove decisive, and technological deployments emphasize strengthening local communities, enhancing communication, and improving transparency. This is a world of micro-models and open source platforms, "Earth Witness" environmental sousveillance and locavorous diets. Rainwater capture, energy networks, and carbon labeling all show up here. This world (along with a few elements from the "Functional Green" scenario) is the baseline "bright green" future.

"Hyper Green" -- Distributed and Proactionary: a world in which things get weird. Distributed decisions and ad-hoc collaboration dominate, largely in the development and deployment of potentially transformative technologies and models. This world embraces experimentation and iterated design, albeit not universally; this scenario is likely to include communities and nations that see themselves as disenfranchised and angry. Micro-models and open source platforms thrive here, too, but are as likely to be micro-ecosystem engineering and open source nanotechnology as micro-finance and open source architecture. States and large corporations aren't gone, but find it increasingly hard to keep up. One form of this scenario would end with an open source guerilla movement getting its hands on a knowledge-enabled weapon of mass destruction; another form of this scenario is the "Teaching the World to Sing" story from my Earth Day Essay.

What I also find interesting when reading through this is that people's reaction to a green future depends on which future they see as the most likely. When people argue against going green, they often argue against it based on the first scenario. When people argue in favor, they generally argue in favor based on the second or third (interestingly, I think Americans are biased towards the third).

When we talk to each other about our green future, maybe an understanding of this will help us to talk more to each other and less past each other.

Hey Baby

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 08:34:26 PST

Yesterday, I spent the day with some dear friends of mine who just had their first kid. He's was born Friday and as we were hanging out we got to talking about baby-proofing. I haven't done a lot of it, though I have installed some of these devices for a long-term care facility so I'm familiar with some of the hardware.

One of the problems with baby-proofing is that there is a lot of bad info out there and a lot of it is coming from companies that compete with each other for market share. I've tried to wade through some of it and come up with a few things I've used or things that just made sense to me.

The main concern of most parents seems to be electrical outlets and there's a dizzying array of ways to child-proof them. From my childhood, I think we just learned that sticking metal into outlets was bad by doing it a few times. (Ouch! That hurts.....Maybe it was just a fluke....OUCH! Nope. Maybe if I hold it differently...OUCH! Maybe I should try finding something to drink under the sink instead.) I think the plastic covers were around as well and they seem to work, though a few sites I read said that babies will pull the plastic covers off and choke on them and then stick their fingers in the exposed outlet while they are choking and now your baby is dead because you're a bad parent who wouldn't spend a few dollars more for a superior product. (As a strange side note, there aren't that many companies out there making this stuff, so you'll see a product that won't kill a baby like a lower cost item put out by the same company that also sells the lower cost item. Either their ads are lying or they are really heartless.) For the money, I'm going with the plastic plug covers on this.

The other big one is baby-proofing the kitchen drawers and cabinets. I think my mom's way of baby proofing the kitchen was to keep us out until we were two and then put us to work when we did come in. (Just kidding, Mom.) The product I like here are the magnetic releases where you move a magnet over the surface to unlock the drawers (check out Tot Locks). They are simple, easy to use and require both special knowledge and a special tool. The plastic catches work well too, though the small gap they provide might seem like a raccoon trap to some people. If anyone here has something they've really liked or hated, lemme know in the comments.

Another way to solve the low cabinet problem is just to empty the out for a few years or fill them with stuff that won't hurt a kid, though after reading the list of hazards, you'd basically have to coat them in Nerf, pump fresh air into them with the exact oxygen ratio they require and find some way to take out the gravity.

As for all of you, what's the best piece of advice you can give, baby-proofing or otherwise, for a couple of new parents?

Windows So Nice, They Hung Them Twice

Wed, 07 Nov 2007 08:10:20 PST

One of my recent projects was replacing all of the 100 year old double hung windows in a house with new windows. During the project, I also had to rebuild a pass though, which was also single hung. I love these old windows because the mechanics are so simple yet so over the top compared to most things we see in homes today and the last literally for a century.

For those of you who aren't familiar, a single hung window is a window that sides up and down and has the ropes or chains on the sides that run over a pulley and to a counter weight inside the window trim. A double hung window is the same type of window but where both the top and bottom panes move. They cause problems in homes these day for one of a few of reasons.

The first main complaint is that they are drafty, which makes since most of them were installed before the advent of rubber, so sealing them just meant wood on wood. 100 years of paint jobs and the house moving around tends to make those seems a little less tight. You can get weatherstripping for them which will solve most draft issues.

The second problem is the windows get stuck. The main cause of this I've found is just exterior paint. Use a utility knife to cut the seam and your window should be able to move again. Occasionally, you'll also have trouble with the rope that holds the weights. The ropes are easily replaced with a couple of quick steps.

You'll need to remove the interior window guide, that piece of trim that rests against the interior face of the window. I like to remove both sides, but sometime you only need to remove one. Next, the window should come out towards the inside. The ropes will still be holding it and you'll need to remove the rope from it's track on the side of the window. The knot on the end should keep the rope from falling back into the wall which makes life easier, though if it does, all is not lost.

Now that your window is free, there will be a small panel on each side of the window frame in the track where the window runs. It should be held by one or two screws. You can open this and access your counterweights. If it's not there (or you've lost your rope inside the wall cavity) you can also access the weights by pulling off the trim.

At this point if you haven't already, pick up some rope to match the size of the rope that was in your walls. Some hardware stores will actually have rope just for this purpose. If not, anything smooth without a lot of spring will do nicely.

Now you're ready to run the new rope. I like to tape my new rope to my old rope and pull it through that way. If you've lost the rope in your wall, you can try feeding it through though most likely you'll need something more rigid like a coat hanger to snake it. Make sure you tie the new rope off securely to the counterweight so that when the weight is touching the bottom of the cavity, your rope is just poking out the top. Tie the second knot and slip that back into the sides of your sash and put the sash back in the window. Put all your trim back up and you're all set.

Sometimes You Gotta Say No

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 09:00:34 PDT

I got a call to do a job out in Concord, CA last week and set up an appointment for Monday. When I got out to the job, the guy was looking for someone to run some plumbing and electrical for a new pool heater and pump. Didn't seem like a big deal at first.

When I got out there, the guy had dug the trench for the plumbing already, but it wasn't quite deep enough. Then it turns out the heater and pump is for a spa, not a pool. He's using a pool heater so he can heat it faster. Um, ok. Next up is the spa itself. It's not mounted and the shell is sitting on the ground with a couple of hoses loose. Last, we get to the heater and pump. Bought off of Craigslist with no labels and filled with cobwebs.

The guy seemed like a great guy. If he was my buddy I'd have probably helped him on the weekends and we could have figured everything out over a few beers. Instead, I walked him through everything he needed to do and said he should give someone else a call. I've got a thing about hooking people up with stuff that doesn't work and doing things the wrong way. Now there is always the risk that he'll end up with some joker who comes in and takes his money and ends up blowing things up anyway. I know it happens. That's why I started fixing things myself. On other people's jobs though, sometimes you just gotta walk away.

How Green Is That Green Car?

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 08:53:41 PDT

I've talked before about Smart, a car company owned by Chrysler that cranks out really sweet little cars for the European market and are planning full roll out in America next year. It's time to add another feather to their cap. The Financial Times just came out with a story about the top green cars and the top two cars were both made by Smart. What's interesting is that the Financial Times went beyond the normal measure of simple miles per gallon and evaluated the the whole lifecycle of the car from the raw materials to disposal of batteries.

The buzz was created because the Prius ranked number 12 on the list of green cars. The Prius has essentially become a moving billboard that says, "Hey, look at me! I care about the environment." (Though one poster on another board said he drives one just for the mileage and would still drive it even if it ran on baby seals.)

So why did the Prius do badly? The first and foremost reason is that every single car that beat it weighs about half as much. When you factor in raw materials alone, you're at a huge disadvantage. The other reason is the batteries in the Prius. Batteries are simply nasty things. One of the reasons so many ecogeeks are leaning away from hybrid cars is because the batteries are toxic and driving a car with two engines rather than a single more efficient one makes little sense. Last, and to give another leg up to our local Prius drivers: Only one of the other top 12 cars is even available in the US. The other car is the Yaris.

So how do you know how green your car really is? Gas mileage really counts for the most. Some companies are working on greener factories with more daylight and less toxins in their dyes, paints, and other materials. But in the end, if each car is driven 100,000 miles or 200,000 miles, it's good to get a car that gets good mileage and lasts a long time.

For those keeping score at home, here's the list:
1. Smart Roadster
2. Smart Fortwo cabriolet
3. Citroen C1 1.0i
4. Peugeot 107 1.0
5. Citroen C1 1.4 HDi
6. Fiat Panda 1.2
7. Ford Ka 1.3
8. Toyota Yaris 1.0
9. Fiat Panda 100hp
10. Peugeot 206 1.4
11. Mini Cooper D
12. Toyota Prius 1.5

And here's the link which also has some other rankings for off-road, family, etc.: http://www.clifford-thames.com/news.aspx?PageID=55&NewsID=24

Switch On, Switch Off

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 09:50:39 PDT

I've been doing a lot of thinking about switches over the last week both because I've had a bit of electrical to do and because politics is one of the most metaphorical of businesses. Electrical and electoral ideas about power are poorly matched for a number of reasons, and when the terms cross over they tend to obscure rather than (ahem) illuminate.

One of the main problems is that with enough time and energy, you could probably map our political system using electrical terms. You'd have to use signaling devices and photovoltaics and relays and dimmers, but it could be done. We tend to think of politics in terms of binary systems mainly because that is how the choices are presented. An up-or-down vote, Democratic or Republican, yes or no. Lights on, lights off.

In reality, things aren't quite so clean. Politics is like an old city, with layers of systems in all sorts of places. Some of these systems keep life going, in hospitals and homes. Some are mainly for convenience. Many of the systems that require resources don't actually do anything but are still connected to the grid and draw from the system. Some systems that seem wasteful to us are central to the lives of others. Other things draw on the system just because they were built in but you can't shut them off without losing a whole system (does anyone actually use the clock on their VCR?)

The arguments about politics generally come in two flavors. The first one is one that is the bane of people in facilities management: the "Too Hot, Too Cold" Argument. According to surveys, the most common complaint in workplaces is that the office is too cold. The second most common complaint is that the office is too warm. People think of this in terms of turning the AC on or off though that's a pretty gross oversimplification. System balancing, distance from vents, vent air velocity, etc all play a part in this.

The other argument in politics is of the efficiency variety, or what systems are critical. Leaving lights on, turning off computers etc. As with politics, there are a lot of legends surrounding energy efficiency, including whether it takes more power to leave something on or only turn it on when it's being used. It also gets into arguments about the necessity of certain systems that are for emergencies. If you never have a fire, what good is a fire alarm? If you do have a fire, what is the cost of a fire alarm vs. the cost of not having one?

In the end, there is no ontologically perfect system where everyone can be convinced by facts about energy usage and ideal temperatures. Politicians make these choices for us for the most part and we flip an array of switches controlling different levels of the system. The switches are poorly marked and many times don't do what they say they will. Through observation and history, we make choices and hope for the best.

Or at least hope no one else flips a switch that ends up burning the whole place down.

Ecogeek

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 08:49:23 PDT

A little while back, a buddy of mine (well, acquaintance anyway) set up a blog called Ecogeek.com He's an awesome guy and I've been remiss in not cross posting most of his stuff. Anyway, stolen directly from the pages of EcoGeek for your reading pleasure:

An Off-Grid Vertical Farm for Downtown Seattle

Mithun won a best of show prize (Cascadia Region Green Building Council's Living Building Challenge) for their urban farm design that integrates farming (vegetables, chickens) and housing to a high-rise in downtown Seattle.

The Living Building Challenge is a competition that encourages building owners, architects, engineers, and design professionals to build in a way that advances knowledge and innovation in the sustainable building industry. The term "living building" comes from the idea that it is possible to create a structure that functions like a living organism - able to survive using only the natural environment around it.

Some features of the "Center for Urban Agriculture" (CUA):

Fully self-sufficient building: in energy and water.
- 31,000 sq ft rooftop water rainwater collection
- Recycling of gray water (including an ability to handle some of the surrounding area's waste water up to "20 times its own discharge potential")
- 34,000+ sq ft of solar PV cells with hydrogen gas backup
"Agricultural features include fields for growing veggies and grains, greenhouses, rooftop gardens and even a chicken farm."
- Local produced food is critical for changing energy patterns as "40 percent of an individual's ecological footprint is generated by the embodied energy in food."
318 apartments (studio, 1 & 2 bedroom units)
Restaurant & Cafe (The "Greenhouse" using building grown food.

What is the site requirement? .72 acres!!!

Images from Mithun's PDF entry found at the Cascadia Regional Green Building Council

Pretty cool stuff and shows a real shift in the mindset of architects.

Coved Ceilings

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 08:11:51 PDT

One of the challenges that has come up during this phase of this construction project is dealing with the coved ceilings. Coving was done in the public rooms (entry, parlors, dining room) of many American houses from 1900 up until the Second World War. There are some post war examples (one of our bloggers here lives in just such a house) but they are few and far between.

We've already taken the plaster out and we're installing sheetrock over the lath. The coving required some special treatment though. We're using 1/4 inch sheetrock in the space, wetting it down and then slowly bending it into the coves. The lath is helping to support the form and the process has gone quite well.

Because this is a preservation project, the decision to remove the plaster was something of a big deal. Of course you make compromises when doing restorations when you add efficient lighting and upgraded electrical. No one wants to live with 5 ungrounded outlets in a 1000 sq. ft. house. The sheetrock was a necessary compromise here as well. With the seismic issues and the existing damage, we needed something that would last another hundred years. We will later be adding a finish to replicate the plaster look and I'll have some before and after pictures up soon.