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The Five Eco Principles – Healthy Environment

by Jeff on September 8, 2009

While in Chicago in April, I had a chance to visit the museum of science & industry.  The experience was great, and my friend and I thoroughly enjoyed the museum.  We were both intrigued enough to pay the extra ~$25 or so to see the smart house.  We were not disappointed, and left with some good ideas about things to re-use and things to purchase made from re-used items.  Recently, I thought it would be a good idea to share the principles with the readers, and figure out how you can best take advantage of them.  Today is the fifth one, focusing on a Healthy Environment.

Ensuring that you live in a healthy environment is paramount.  You are in your residence a significant portion of time, so if something potentially harmful to you (or your loved ones) has the potential to cause problems at best, and can be lethal at the worst.  There have been some spectacular incidents that can illustrate this problem perfectly, and show you a few:

  1. Asbestos - This used to be used in multiple products in the home (floor tiles, roofing, fire retardant) and elsewhere around the home (brake pads).  Asbestos poses no threat until its been disturbed.  During a home remodel or other disturbing event to the asbestos, the fibers can become airborne and inhaled.  This is obviously not good for you, and can lead to serious lung problems in the future.  Asbestos is no longer common in building materials, and is currently regulated by the EPA.
  2. Lead – This used to be found in gasoline and paint.  Poses huge risks to our children (those six & under), and can cause learning disabilities, behavioral problems and possibly death.  This is also something that you dont want floating in the air in the place where you spend most of your time.
  3. DDT – Probably one of the most infamous products ever used in or around the home.  Typically, it was used to kill mosquitos carrying malaria.  This chemical became very popular around the home, and was eventually linked to multiple problems, such as appearing in humans, thinning eggshells of wildland creatures and showing up in the fats of fish.  It was one of the first major environmental campaigns, and was brought on by the book Silent Spring by Rachel Carson.

There are also plenty of modern day examples.  One of the current ones is VOC Paints.  VOC (aka Volatile Organic Compounds) are in some paints, and can seep out after the wall has been painted.  Something else that could pose a problem is your granite countertop.  Some granite countertops house uranium, which is not only radioactive, but can release radon gas, which can cause lung cancer. The amount of uranium that is most likely contained in your countertop is not suspected to be enough to pose a significant risk to your health, but are you willing to find out the hard way if that ends up not being true?

Now, think about how much time that you and your loved ones spend inside your home.  There are a few things to think about when it comes to these type of pollutants.

  1. How worried do I need to be about these products? No one really knows what the long term effects of these chemicals will be.  Do you want to be one of the first to file a lawsuit because you found out?
  2. To what degree do I want to protect myself and my loved ones? – Many of the things that can mitigate potential sickness cost more.  How much more  are you willing to pay?

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Green Roofs

by Jeff on August 20, 2009

While at the American Planning Associations 2009 National Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota, I was able to attend a conference session on green roofs in urban areas, and this post has been created with information from that session, as well as more sources.

Green roofs are a simple concept, and they date back to the time when humans were first learning to farm.  Green roofs are simply roofs planted with some type of vegetation, or a growing medium.  They are meant to replace the vegetation that was (or will be) displaced by the footprint of the house.  They are also called “living roofs” and I will discuss the benefits of the roofs below.

Many people see the urban rooftop as a missed opportunity to grow things, increase solar reflectivity, fight the urban “heat island” effect and absorb (or in some cases, clean) rainwater.  There are two types of green roofs, extensive and intensive.  Along with this, there are benefits beyond the strictly environmental.  Green roofs have a longer life span, and can reduce heating and cooling costs of the building.    The extensive roofs are much heavier and can support a wider variety of vegetation than the intensive counterpart.

There have been many people calling for increasing green roofs, and there are a few great examples out there.  Ford Motors has taken an interest in the green roofs, recently covering its truck assembly plant in Dearborn, MI with a green roof.  Below is a section of the plant roof, obtained from greenroofs.org

The City of Chicago, IL is also becoming a leader in green roofs in the US.  Many corporations are beginning to give green roofs a serious look due to their low maintenance costs and longer life span which is estimated to last ~ 2 times as long as a traditional roof.

Lets do a cost comparison between a green roof and a traditional (asphalt) roof for a 2,000 sq ft house.

Estimates put the cost of a green roof at $5-10 per square foot, and according to improvenet‘s calculator, a roof in the zip code 82070 will cost ~$3,000-4,000 dollars, and has a lifetime of approximate life span of 20 years.  Clearly, a green roof is more expensive, costing ~$10,000 for the same size roof.  However, we need to take in the replacement cost, as one wouldn’t replace the roof on a house they were not planning on living in for a while.  So, in 20 years when your asphalt needs to be replaced, your green roof will still be going strong.

If you are of the unfortunate case that you need to replace a roof when you buy the house and plan to stay in the house for a while, you could easily replace the asphalt roof 2 or even 3 times during your tenure in the house (although I hope you are not that unlucky).  The replacement cost of the asphalt comes close after the second, and will eclipse after the third ($12,000 v $10, 000).  Or, using the lower estimates, would put it at a measly $1,000 difference.  Factor in the heating and cooling savings you’ll get, and your payback period will get even shorter.  If you’re ambitious enough to garden up on the roof, then you can recoup faster with food savings.

After reading about green roofs, you may think “well, if the last so much longer and the cost is comparable, then why aren’t more people (like you) doing it?”

Well, that’s a question I cant answer, but maybe you can, in the comment section.

Thanks for reading!

For more information, see www.greenroofs.org

Questions? email me at info@sustainablelifeblog.com

Follow me on twitter @sustainlifeblog

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Income from Properties

July 30, 2009

Money Spent today: none. Weekly total: $27 (gas) I felt like I gave a fairly detailed view of retirement cash accounts in my earlier post this week, and can be found here.  So, today I will cover income streams from income properties.  I must admit that I have never owned an income property, and am [...]

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