Novaclean ISF Water Filter
March 11, 2010
Just bookmarking the walter filter my folks own.
Electrostatic Air Filters : Dust Fighter 95
February 20, 2010
Electrostatic Air Filters : Dust Fighter 95.
Recommended by a friend of mine, a permanent, washable air filter.
Recycled Glass Tile Site
February 15, 2010
SoyCrete Architectural Concrete Stain – Natural Built Home (www.naturalbuilthome.com)
February 15, 2010
SoyCrete Architectural Concrete Stain – Natural Built Home (www.naturalbuilthome.com).
Hmmm….thoughts for the basement floor.
Vast Recycled Permeable Paver – Natural Built Home (www.naturalbuilthome.com).
Wanting to use permeable pavers for our future back patio.
evolve showerheads ::emperor showerhead
February 12, 2010
evolve showerheads ::emperor showerhead.
Nice hand-held showerhead that pauses after it warms up….
HGTV Green Home 2009 : Home & Garden Television
January 19, 2010
HGTV Green Home 2009 : Home & Garden Television.
Looks like a great resource.
CWHA “Built Green” Association
August 20, 2009
The other day we printed off the checklist for the Central Washington Homebuilders Association “Built Green” program. Wow. I had seen this checklist displayed and filled out in some of the homes during last year’s Tour of Homes, so I wanted to look up what was involved with becoming certified.
It’s pretty interesting, with several levels of certification, some self-reporting by the builder, and some third-party certified. When looking through the list, however, my desire for any sort of certification reached nearly zero. It seems to be a lot of work, and frankly, I felt overwhelmed by the sheer amount of things to consider. I think we will continue to put our energies into pursing the viability of a ground-source heat pump, good windows and insulation, low-VOC paint, xeriscaping, etc. I’d love to do absolutely everything, but financial considerations and the energy that birthing and caring for a new baby are going to be our priority.
Reflective Roofs
July 2, 2009
I was doing some research the other day on types of roofing materials and the pros and cons to having a reflective roof in this climate. There are an abundance of reflective roofing materials, from shingles with reflective particles in them (that allow you to use darker colours but still have the heat reflection benefits), recyclable vinyl roofs, sheet metal roofs, reflective membranes/barriers of various types, as well as “paint on” types of products for existing roofs. Interestingly, my husband remembered that his mother’s business had applied one of those paint-on products years ago to the existing flat black roof and it made a big difference in the temperature (i.e., no longer melting his shoes to the roof!) when he went up to clean out the swamp cooler.
What I found out, however, was in this climate the advantage of a reflective roof would be minimal. The average “cooling degree days” (i.e., how many degrees a year you are cooling to get to 65 degrees F.) is 458. Compare that, with, say, Phoenix, that has nearly the same rainfall as we do annually (i.e., desert) but has 4162 cooling degree days! You can look up your heating/cooling degree days on this website.
There does still seem to be some benefit to having a lighter coloured roof in this climate, so we probably will go with that but perhaps not worry about the speciality products. I’m not sure what the cost comparison is between products, which would be the biggest factor, but it does seem to make more sense at this point to concentrate on high-quality windows and insulation, with a long-lasting shingle (reflective or not).
There is a fair amount of helpful information on roofing material types and benefits at the Roofing Contractor website.
Federal Tax Credits for Energy Efficiency
June 30, 2009
Federal Tax Credits for Energy Efficiency : ENERGY STAR.
Here’s the site with the requirements for the “green” federal tax credits.
