Blogs

In the race to save energy and carbon in the residential housing arena I’m concerned that we will play down the indoor air quality of homes. One of the reasons green building took off in the marketplace the way it did is that green building treated the house as a system, including residents. According to market research, the second most important driver for homeowners to buy green homes was improved indoor air quality, especially when children are in the house.

The Economic Blame Game

Why does it continue to be so tough in the building industry? A lot of our current economic situation is a direct result of banks and their lending practices. Somehow the blame for the sub-prime meltdown has been deflected from the banks to the “greed” in the building industry. I for one have known very few greedy remodeling contractors who are big enough to rattle the global economy. Production builders have always followed the market, “if there is demand for housing we will provide it”.

Corrugated Fiber Cement Boards

Corrugated Non-Asbestos Fiber Cement Boards can be used for Roofing or Siding.  With many different sizes, corrugations, and colors available, the options are endless.

For roofing, the sheets are made with polypropolene reinforcement strips inserted along precisely engineered locations, which run the full length of the sheet in each corrugation.

Isn’t It Time You Start Saving Money On Utilities!!

WHAT IS THE LARGEST OPERATING EXPENSE A HOMEOWNER HAS?
ANSWER: UTILITY ENERGY.

Your government wants you to save energy and they are getting ready to help you do it. The buzz from Washington is a "Cash for Caulkers" program that puts your home front and center. Nobody knows what this really means yet, but you can bet the Energy Audit will be a central part of it. Many local utilities and cities have already made energy audits available. A home energy audit provides an invaluable diagnostic of the two largest energy and comfort issues of a home: air infiltration through the air barrier and heat loss/ heat gain through insulation.

Welcome to the holiday gift guide from the sustainable line. Rather than soap boxing about how you should stop buying more stuff (want less) or to start giving your money to well-deserving charities, I thought that this holiday season we could celebrate by buying more that uses less. First, of course, don't buy gifts that are cheap crap.

 A house essentially acts as your third skin. The second skin is your clothing and the first skin is what you buy all those moisturizers for. Comfort and protection is the name of the game. Your own skin is excellent at this. Your clothing is not so bad and when it doesn’t work you can put on something else. Weirdly, to me, your third skin often does a miserable job at keeping you comfortable. The unfortunate thing is you’re willing to pay so much for it none the less.

 Ideally, sustainable building is about setting priorities and moving to the next decision when the previous one has been adequately addressed. Simple as a concept, but often not a reality when you hear different green building folks chime in to say that they have the “green” solution for you. In this spirit, I have tried to boil down what I think of as the core principles that guide sustainable building and how they should be ranked in importance. This is for new and old buildings, large and small.

The Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) is an innovative climate change and energy saving scheme for the UK. It will encourage improvements in energy efficiency which can save organisations money. The scheme has been designed to generate a shift in awareness in large organisations, and to drive changes in behaviour and infrastructure.

When international mining group Rio Tinto decided to relocate their senior management team from their inner city office in London to Paddington they chose to use office fit-out and refurbishment specialists IOR Group.

Rio Tinto’s city office was exclusively fitted-out just 18 months ago however, rationalisation within the Rio Tinto organisation to streamline the company left them wanting to combine the senior management team with their Paddington office. This meant relocating to Paddington and closing down the city office.