Sustainability in Building

More and more people are realizing how important it is to lead a life that makes a minimal impact on the environment. Every person making their own individual contribution can lead to substantial difference for the future and protection of our planet. A big step that you can take is to use sustainable materials when constructing your home or commercial business. Appreciating how these green materials can be included into your life can go a long way to lessening your impact on the environment.

The best place to start when trying to understand what sustainable materials are-is to first understand what the term "sustainable" refers to. Sustainability means consuming quantities and categories of resources in such a manner that will make sure that the resource will be there for generations to come. Another way to think about this is as resources that renew themselves. This concept can be better understood through illustrations. Building with wood is an excellent example of sustainability. By Planting trees, a forest can be re-grown. Then wood can once again be used as a building materials A counter example would be the use of steel for a building. Although steel cannot be replenished, it can at least be recycled.

The other aspect to sustainability is recyclable materials. Many metals are recyclable. You can use these materials for areas like floors, walls and countertops. You can also get recycled stone to use as a material as well.

As you pick and choose materials for your home, if you are going for sustainability, an aspect of the issue is understanding how much energy is used to get materials to you. Try to locate materials that have taken less energy to transport. For instance, if you fancy granite for a countertop, then go with the local manufacturer rather than purchasing it from a far-off provider such as Malaysia. Much more energy will be consumed getting that material from the Malaysia to your home than from the local supplier.

Using sustainable materials is just one step on the path of having an eco-friendly property. You also want to bring all of the other elements together, such as the architecture, materials, and the construction methods. Map out your plans for things like your water usage, energy usage, and make sure that the building site blends in with the natural locale of the home. You want to take as little as possible from nature and be mindful of your consumption.

Converting your home to a sustainable household is not something that you have to do all at once. Instead, you can convert your home over the course of time. When you have occasion to renovate or improve, pick sustainable materials. In place of of paint, use natural fibers that will make your home's air quality better. Rather than tile, use bamboo as a floor covering. For countertops, give cork a try in place of granite. Each of these changes will help make a difference.

Sustainability Works in Rural Mid-West Town

Imagine A whole town living off the grid. This is the Sci Fi stuff you see on TV. Maybe an episode from Eureka or something. Think again!
There is a small mid-west town in NW Missouri doing just that. Welcome to Rockport MO. This little town in wired to 4 wind turbines in the area. The excess is sold back to the electric company. No fossil fuels no nuclear waste . . . just wind power. The local farmers get income from the leases and local workers maintaining the towers and turbines make a living in small town America. It is a win-win situation.

Jim Crawford of the University of Missouri extension office says,

“We’re farming the wind, which is something that we have up here,” Crawford said. “The payback on a per-acre basis is generally quite good when compared to a lot of other crops, and it’s as simple as getting a cup of coffee and watching the blades spin…Anybody who is currently using Rock Port utilities can expect no increase in rates for the next 15 to 20 years…”

Take a look for yourself. The title to this post is a link to another article about this phenomena.

Are You Driving a Pig!

Many of the vehicles driven today fall into one of four categories; van, car, pickup or an SUV. Very few of the American models get the mileage they should. Everyone is up in arms about mileage these days and here we are with an American automobile industry that is tooled up to manufacture vehicles that average 20 miles to the gallon(I'd say that estimate is being generous).

I couldn't figure out for sure what people were thinking when they would buy an over sized 4 wheel drive to get groceries and go to work. I live 20 miles from town in South Dakota and I never owned one myself. I couldn't justify one then and I darn sure can't justify it now.

I used to have a 1986 Pontiac with a 4 cylinder motor in it. This little car was every misers dream. The dang thing got 36 miles to the gallon on the interstate driving 70 mph. What happened to those cars anyway? Sheesh, if you were mad at it and drove it 75 or 80 it still got 28 mpg.

How fast do we have to get places anyway? My little Pontiac probably wouldn't do 60 mph between stop lights like cars made now but you could sure pass a lot of gas stations. Last year I had to go European to get a car that would get in excess of 30 mpg and still haul my family without stacking them in. German actually . . .first time I ever bought a vehicle that wasn't made in the USA; it bothered me too. . .not too bad though. I mean really; what options did Detroit leave a person that was concerned about fossil fuel consumption? None that I could see.

I read an article today published in the Topeka Kansas newspaper. It was written by a lady that claimed she was upside down on her SUV. She claimed not to be able to trade it even on a brand new economy car; the dealers won't take them. Now this is an intelligent person; educated and teaching at a mid-west college. What are people like this thinking of when they buy one of these 4 wheel drives? I don't think they are thinking. How can reasonably intelligent people quit thinking when they go buy a new vehicle? What really gets me is like most everyone; she justified her purchase by giving us the classic answer everyone gives when you ask them about there SUV.

"I'll be glad I have it when the snow comes and the roads get slippery."

Every time I hear this statement I want to scream! If I count the number of days of work I've missed in ten years because of the weather I can come up with about four . . . well maybe five days . . . in ten years. Now how can you justify the extra expense of fuel, maintenance and payments on an SUV for a measly four or five days in ten years. It is impossible.

I will get off my vehicle soap box now. I think everyone has the picture. I will not mention it again. It is a very sore subject now with many people. BTW, I sure like my Mercedes Benz I bought last year.

Local or Global or Locally Global!

I've spouted off about what the clever people and the people with money should do to save us from ourselves and our oil habit; now what can I do? Yup, me! What can I do in the mid-west to help alleviate the problems of global warming and consuming our depleting, nonrenewable natural resources?

There are many things I can do that cost nothing or actually save me money. Gardening can save me money in numerous ways.
1) I don't have to buy a certain amount of my food.
2) I don't have to travel to town after the food that grows right outside my door.
3) Because I am not consuming food grown by someone else I am saving fuel because the store does not have to truck in as much food.
4) I can sell or give away the excess food I don't need to others or barter for things they have I need. This cuts down on manufacturing costs.
5) If I barter for a ride to town I can save fuel that way plus cut down on my share of carbon emissions.
6) Growing green plants cleans the air naturally.

This may seem trivial to many and the old argument is that, "Oh, what can you actually save by doing any of those things."

This statement misses the point. Point being; if many of us do this we can save LOTS of nonrenewable natural resources and cut out a great deal of carbon emissions therefore downsizing our carbon footprint.

The UK has come up with an organization called the "Carbon Trust". This Trust will analyze the various stages that a product goes through from the beginning all the way through to the consumer and give the product a carbon footprint measured in grams. Thereby allowing one to know how large a carbon footprint one is leaving on the globe. If a person buys all the products they consume from eco-conscious companies that participate in this plan; one can feasibly keep track of ones own carbon footprint measured in grams.

St Paul Minnesota heats much of its downtown area with a clean burning incinerator, burning wood waste that otherwise would be thrown out. This runs the boiler system that runs under the streets to the individual buildings heating them during the long winter months up north. It has taken many years and a lot of effort but this process leaves an extra 6 million dollars a year in the city that would otherwise be paid out in fuel costs.

There are many other projects out there that are helping in other ways also. If we stick together we as a nation can lick this love affair we have with foreign oil.