“Sustainability refers to a very old and very simple concept—the ability to keep going over the long haul.  Think of it as extending The Golden Rule through time, so that you do unto future generations that which you would have them do unto you.”

OVERVIEW

ENERGY SAVING

PLANT TREES TO REDUCE FUEL COSTS

BOOK REVIEW: CRADLE TO CRADLE & THE FUTURE OF LIFE

We all know that protecting the health of our planet is important.  We also know that one important way to reduce our impact on the planet is to improve the design of the buildings in which we live, work, and pray.

Energy Saving Methods

$ Replace any incandescent bulbs with CFUs (Compact Fluorescent Units).  Lighting accounts for 20-25% of the electricity used in the United States, therefore any effort to reduce our use is essential.  CFUs will last 9 times as long as a standard bulb while using only 25% of the electricity.  Although the cost per bulb is higher, these bulbs offer a potential savings of over $25 per bulb over the unit’s lifetime.  You therefore stand to not only reduce your electrical consumption, but also to reduce your maintenance costs.

“Installing a single fluorescent lamp…can keep a power  plant from emitting three-quarters of a ton of CO₂.”

$ Set your thermostat 4 degrees lower in the winter and your air conditioner 3 degrees higher in the summer.

$ Install water saving devices on all faucets.

$$$ Replace all standard (single pane) windows with energy efficient models.  In the U.S. nearly 25% of all heating/cooling energy is lost through windows.  Therefore replacement windows stand to reduce the energy impact of a building significantly.  Energy efficient windows typically consist of an insulated frame, two panes of glass, and compression seals on all operable units.

© A & T Design

$$ Seal and insulate heating and air conditioning ducts.

$$ Replace older 10 gallon toilets with water efficient toilets

$$$ Install ‘light shelves’ on larger windows which can increase the amount of floor space lit (for free) by natural sunlight.  You can also build interiors which incorporate what is called ‘open plan design.’  This means that walls do not continue to the ceiling and therefore light is allowed to penetrate farther into the building. 

The Rocky Mountain Institute

$$ Install light sensors within perimeter offices.  This will utilize free daylight during the day while providing artificial light only when the interior brightness falls below a prescribed level.

These and other simple techniques help you avoid draining your wallet to cool your house.

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Houses which are unprotected by vegetation not only look sterile, but consume more energy for heating and cooling  

 By contrast houses which are surrounded by vegetation not only feel sheltered, but in fact are sheltered from extremes of climate.

     Introduction 

An unprotected home loses much more heat on a cold, windy day than on an equally cold, still day. Well-located trees and shrubs can intercept the wind and cut heat loss. Up to one-third of the heat loss may escape through the walls and roof by conduction. Wind also increases the convective air currents along outside walls and roof thus increasing heat loss.

 Infiltration or air leakage can account for as much as one-third of heating losses in some buildings. Cold, outside air flows in through cracks around windows and doors, and even through pores in walls. This produces drafts that may cause you to compensate by raising the thermostat to unreasonable levels just to maintain a modicum of comfort. Both windbreaks and foundation plantings can cut down the penetrating power of the wind.    

Windbreak Benefits

Studies of windbreaks show that windbreaks can reduce winter fuel consumption by 10 to 30 percent. One study in Nebraska compared fuel requirements of identical test houses which maintained a constant inside temperature of 70 degrees F. The house protected by a windbreak used 23 percent less fuel. In 1 month, an exposed, electrically heated house in South Dakota used 443 kilowatt-hours to maintain an inside temperature of 70 degrees F. An identical house sheltered by a windbreak used only 270 kilowatt-hours. The difference in average energy requirements for the whole winter was 34 percent.  

The amount of money saved by a windbreak will vary depending on the climate of the area, location of the home, and the construction material and quality. A well-weatherized house with adequate ventilation won't benefit from windbreaks as much as a poorly weatherized house. In addition to reducing the force of the wind, windbreaks also can reduce the wind-chill impact on people outside the house.

 Windbreaks can be located to control snow too, reducing the energy required to remove snow from around homes, buildings, and roads. Make sure windbreaks are located correctly to have the desired effect on drifting snow.   

The height and density of trees determine the amount of protection they will provide. Windbreaks of 2 to 5 rows of trees and shrubs generally provide good protection. Evergreen trees provide the best protection, although low, branching deciduous trees can significantly reduce wind speed. Even a single row of evergreen trees will give some protection.  

Windbreaks reduce wind velocity significantly for a distance of about 10 times the height of the trees. Maximum protection is provided within a distance of 5 times the height of the trees. Thus a windbreak 30 feet high protects an area extending as far as 300 feet downwind and some protection is provided for as far as 20 times the height of the trees.  

 Foundation Planting

Trees and shrubs planted close to buildings reduce wind currents that otherwise would chill the outside surface. Foundation plantings create a "dead air" space which slows the escape of heat from a building. These plantings also help reduce air infiltration around the foundation of the house. Evergreen trees and shrubs are thicker and are more effective than deciduous plants. To be most effective, the evergreens should be planted close together to form a tight barrier. In summer, the same dead air space helps insulate your home from hot, outside air reducing the need for air conditioning.    

(Originally published as "Landscaping to Cut Fuel Costs," by Jerome R. Smith, former Extension Housing Specialist, in The Virginia Gardener Newsletter, Volume 5, Number 9.)  

For more information visit:

http://www.ext.vt.edu/departments/envirohort/factsheets3/specdesigns/NOV90PR5.HTML

Book Review by  Bill Moore

It is the central thesis of Bill McDonough and Michael Braungart, his business partner and co-author of Cradle To Cradle, that waste equals food. The founders of McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBDC) contend this is how the natural world operates, so why can't we emulate this in our industrial society?

Instead, most of the products we develop are based on a "cradle to grave" approach in which nearly everything we buy ends up as a pollutant in a landfill or incinerator. The tiny percentage of goods that do get recycled are usually turned into something of less intrinsic value that also eventually gets discarded as waste. Little of what we make actually gets recycled back into the natural world or is endlessly reincarnated into products of value.

Please visit EV World for the full text

Book Review by  Edward Wilson

February 2002

The 20th century was a time of exponential scientific and technical advance, the freeing of the arts by an exuberant modernism, and the spread of democracy and human rights throughout the world. It was also a dark and savage age of world wars, genocide, and totalitarian ideologies that came dangerously close to global domination. While preoccupied with all this tumult, humanity managed collaterally to decimate the natural environment and draw down the nonrenewable resources of the planet with cheerful abandon. We thereby accelerated the erasure of entire ecosystems and the extinction of thousands of million-year-old species. If Earth's ability to support our growth is finite--and it is--we were mostly too busy to notice. As a new century begins, we have begun to awaken from this delirium. Now, increasingly post ideological in temper, we may be ready to settle down before we wreck the planet. It is time to sort out Earth and calculate what it will take to provide a satisfying and sustainable life for everyone into the indefinite future. The question of the century is: How best can we shift to a culture of permanence, both for ourselves and for the biosphere that sustains us?

For full text please visit Scientific American