Pic of the Land

 

Here is a pic of the land we’re going to be building on next year. I’ll try to take a better one sometime so you can get a sense of the layout, etc. It’s a pie-shaped lot on a cul-de-sac, about 0.18 acre.

Touchless/Motion Sensor Faucets

I keep looking for touchless bathroom or kitchen faucets, like the ones I’m starting to see in commercial applications. I like the concept a lot. I found one at Kohler and will keep an eye out for others: Wellspring Touchless Faucet

I like the Contemporary version the best, I think.

Rainwater HOG

Neat product for water conservation, but pretty spendy at about $450 per unit: Rainwater HOG

Smart HomeOwner (formerly Green HomeOwner)

I was just finishing up my Jan/Feb issue of Smart HomeOwner magazine and noticed a little blurb on the last page that said it’s going to be published exclusively online from now on. I went to the site and it said that due to economic reasons they are suspending print editions indefinitely. I emailed a couple of different contact emails that they have on the site but they both came back. Frustrating, b/c I just started subbing to the magazine and now I have no idea what’s up with my subscription. Anyone know anything? I understand economic difficulties, but putting something up on the website and having valid emails would be a nice start to communicating with your subscribers. I suppose I will contact them by mail.

Geothermal Study

This article was really interesting! Several of the industrial applications are local to me, so that was especially helpful. It is an older article – 1998 – but still very informative. I saw a trend of two things:

1) Check your materials (there were a lot of problems with deterioration of parts b/c the fluid was incompatible with tape, fixtures, etc. and so caused leaks), and, 

2) Have someone experienced with geothermal systems do the installation.