5 Hot Water Heater Options for Green Home Improvement

If you’re remodeling your home, thinking about the water heater might seem rather dull. However, this is one place where a home renovation can save you money. Here are some descriptions of energy efficient water heaters.

Gas Water Heaters: If you want to go with a traditional gas water heater, choose one that is Energy Star certified, guaranteeing the most efficient technology. They are slightly more expensive than less efficient models, but it is estimated you gain back this money in fewer than three years.

Tankless Water Heater

Tankless Water Heater: Conventional water heaters use energy 24/7 to keep your water hot, even when you’re not using it. Tankless or demand water heaters heat the water as it flows through the pipes, so it only heats what you need. This creates a substantial savings on energy costs. Demand water heaters provide hot water continuously, so you don’t have to worry about it running out. They are also quite a bit smaller than conventional tank water heaters and some can be installed outside, saving space indoors. They make an ideal home improvement project because they have a life expectancy of 20 years, far more than conventional heaters.

Heat Pump Water Heater

Heat Pump Water Heaters: A new technology, electric heat pump water heaters could save the typical family quite a bit each year when compared to a standard electric heater. They work similarly to heat pumps that are used for heating and air conditioning purposes and combine with your HVAC system. They work by drawing in warm outside air to heat the water, so they are only effective in warm climates. Homeowners can recoup the higher initial investment over time. (Most estimates are around three years.)

Gas Condensing Water Heaters: This is an even newer technology, only introduced in 2010. Using more efficient heat exchangers to capture heat from the fuel source, gas condensing water heaters can shave 30 percent off your energy bills and reduce your carbon dioxide emissions. Greater efficiency allows them to provide a continuous stream of hot water, so you don’t have to worry if you’re the last one to shower!

Solar Water Heater

Solar Water Heaters: Solar water heaters can cut your water heating bill and your carbon dioxide emissions by 50 percent compared to an electric hot water heater. This is the equivalent of not driving your car four months a year; a solar water heater’s average lifespan is 20 years, much longer than that of a traditional gas or electric water heater. Although solar water heaters take 5-10 years to pay for themselves, you can offset this cost with a federal tax credit. Enterprising do-it-yourselfers can save thousands by building their own systems.

Which water heater are you considering for your next home improvement project?

 

Joaquin Erazo, Jr. is the senior vice president of marketing and public relations at Case Design/Remodeling, Inc. Find a home remodeling company near you or read our home remodeling tips blog.

 

 

 

 

For Earth Day: 22 Shades of Green

Sheri Koones Apr 21st 2015 5:08PM

Updated Apr 21st 2015 5:18PM

 

Courtesy of Mandibule

The Positive Energy ECOXIA House in Yerres, France, is a certified Passivhaus, built for sustainability and efficiency.

 

There are many options available for those who want to build a "green" house. The number of sustainable and energy-efficient options used in the construction is dependent on budget, taste and the level of desire to be independent of the grid and utilize sustainable practices.

Here is a checklist of things to consider when building or remodeling a home to be sustainable and energy efficient:

1. Insulation
First and foremost, use excellent insulation. Be sure there is adequate insulation, whether it is spray foam, cellulose, fiberglass, etc. The foundation, attic and exterior walls must all be properly insulated.

2. Air Sealing
Be sure to check for air infiltration. This can be done with a blower door test that will show where outside air is coming into the house. A tightly sealed home requires less heating and cooling.

3. Windows
Buy the best windows you can with your budget. Today there are many options in design, frame material, color and efficiency of windows. There are double and triple-pane windows, as well as gas-filled ones. Even frames can be insulated. Also, when designing a home, it is wise to have more windows on the south side of the house to take advantage of solar gain. Having fewer windows on the north side of the house prevents solar loss in those areas.

4. Appliances
Use ENERGY STAR-rated appliances. They consume far less energy than non-rated ones. That saves energy and dollars throughout the life of the appliance.

5. Non-toxic Materials
Make sure all stains, finishes, paints and adhesives are no-VOC or low-VOC. These toxins can continue to seep into the air and can cause illness and discomfort.

6. FSC-certified Wood
Using wood certified by the Forest Stewardship Council helps provide healthy forests for future generations.

7. Passive Solar Orientation
Orient the house for optimal solar gain, if possible. This limits the need for artificial lighting and saves money on electricity, while also reducing energy costs.

8. Footprint
Limit the hallways in the house. Space should be used efficiently so there are fewer square feet to heat and cool. When a house is well designed, less space can still provide all the areas and functions desired.

9. Multi-functional Rooms
For example, a guest bedroom can easily work as an office or playroom when friends or family are not visiting.

Courtesy of Jim Tetro

The 4D House built by Team Massachusetts for the Solar Decathlon has a partition wall that can be closed for privacy in the bedroom or opened to increase the entertaining area.

 

10. Flexible Rooms
Walls can sometimes be moved to open up space for entertaining, as seen in a house built by students at the University of Massachusetts for the Solar Decathlon, a competition staged by the U.S. Department of Energy.

11. Ventilation
To maintain a healthy indoor environment, a tightly built house requires adequate ventilation.  Heat recovery ventilators and energy recovery ventilators are systems that continuously exchange the stale inside air with fresh outside air, while retaining the warmth or coolness already created in the house.

12. Low-flow Faucets and Showerheads and Dual-flush Toilets
Both of these substantially reduce the water being used in the house.

13. Recycled, Reused, and Reclaimed Materials
This limits our depletion of natural resources as well as the amount of material that goes into landfills. There are many types of recycled, reused and reclaimed materials -- including countertops made with recycled glass, reclaimed flooring and antique furnishings.

14. Lighting
LED and CFL lighting uses less energy than incandescent bulbs and the bulbs last much longer. The cost of these efficient bulbs is going down, and the variety of bulbs available has expanded.

15. Large Overhangs
Large overhangs around the house block the sun's heat in the summer months when the sun is high in the sky. In the winter, when the sun is lower in the sky (in the northern hemisphere), overhangs allow the sun to come in through the windows and help heat the house.

16. An Efficient Water Heater
Traditional water heaters maintain a tank full of warm water and are continuously using energy. Tankless water heaters heat water on demand.

17. Native Plant Landscaping
Using plants indigenous to the area limits the need for irrigation and fertilization.

18. Permeable Paving
Using paving materials that are permeable, such as gravel, allows rainwater and melted snow to return to the water table.

19. Solar Hot Water Panels
The cost of solar panels is coming down and there are subsidies available to reduce the cost further. Hot water panels can be used to heat the household's water or be used as part of a radiant heating system.

20. Photovoltaic Panels
PV panels can be used to reduce or eliminate the electric load. While connected to the grid, they can provide electricity when it is needed and receive electricity when the sun is not out. Extra electricity can also be returned to the grid to reduce electric costs.

21. Thermal Mass
Stone and other high-mass materials can be used to absorb energy when the sun beats down on them. That heat (or coolness) can later be released when it is needed. Some houses have stone around the periphery of the room where the sun is most likely to hit.

22. Heating System
A heating and cooling system that limits the energy consumed should be used. Heat pumps are becoming more popular in this country and quite popular around the world. They can be used successfully when the house is built with a very energy-efficient envelope.

 

http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2015/04/21/earth-day-22-shades-green-/

 

 

 

 

 

Quiet Treehouse: A sylvan escape that battles noise pollution

Making its debut at the Ideal Home Show in London, Blue Forest's Quiet Treehouse is outfitted with an array of features that drown out modern life's most irritating noises.

Mon, Mar 10, 2014

 

 

It’s a given that sound plays a quintessential role in the “treehouse experience:” the creaking and groaning of your arboreal neighbors as they sway in the wind, the rustling of leaves, the humming of insects, the symphony of birdcalls, the requisite babbling brook, the unsettling animal noises that prevent you from descending from your perch in the middle of the night.

 

But unless you’re fortunate enough to be taking up residence in a treehouse that’s deep into a far-flung forest somewhere, you may also frequently encounter certain sounds — wailing sirens, yapping dogs, whistling smartphones, neighbors having it out in their backyard, you get the picture — that can put a damper on the whole experience. These pesky aural distractions can bring solace-seeking treehouse dwellers in semi-rural and suburban environments, well, back down to the ground.

 

This is where Blue Forest, U.K.-based purveyor of bespoke treehouse escapes and woodsy prefab retreats comes in. The lauded design/build firm’s latest creation, Quiet Treehouse, zeros in on just that: blissful, blood pressure-lowering peace and quiet. Reads a recent news release: "At the heart of all of Blue Forest’s tree houses is a yearning for the carefree abandon of childhood and a desire to escape (even just for a while) from the grinding rat race to a secluded den that is private and importantly: quiet."

 

While Blue Forest states that the selective elimination of annoying noises has always played a key role in its approach to tree house design, Quiet Treehouse serves as a stunning showcase of “low-sound technology” — an “extraordinary tribute to the serene and ultimate luxury of quiet.”

 

 

As you can see, this "modern and luxuriously equipped" escape that Blue Forest considers to be the "pinnacle of quiet retreats" may not qualify as a true treehouse as it’s a free-standing structure independent of a host tree (I'm instantly reminded of an arboreal cake stand). However, the curvaceous structure was directly influenced by the shape of a coppice of small trees and, as with all Blue Forest creations, is thoughtfully designed to blend in with and bring people closer to Mother Nature:

 

Three primary trunks support the cocoon-like creation, which is accessed via stairs to the main floor. Its bold contemporary design can be installed independently of a host tree yet still provides the user with the feeling that they are high in the tree tops looking down on the world below.

 

As for the noise-blocking bells and whistles integrated into the design of Quiet Treehouse, they are numerous. Designed by Blue Forest in partnership with the Noise Abatement Society’s nonprofit product certifying arm, Quiet Mark, and U.K. department store John Lewis, the hushed hideaway includes Acoustiblok, an innovative sound insulation made from natural/organic materials; Rockwool thermal insulation; Soft Cells acoustic paneling from Kvadrat; and Cantifix windows with a special noise-reducing glazing from Pilkington Optiphon. Inside, the Quiet Treehouse is stocked with an array of low-noise, Quiet Mark-approved gadgets and gizmos from the likes of Dyson, Bose, Philips, Mitsubishi Electric, and others.

 

No need to keep a pair of emergency earplugs in the bedside table, folks.

 

The Quiet Treehouse will be on display and open for public tours at the upcoming Ideal Home Show at Earl’s Court Exhibition Centre from March 14 -30. If you happen to be in London and are interested in both top-notch treehouse design and/or the latest advancements in noise-reducing building technology and non-headache-inducing home electronics, this is a must see. Aside from sponsoring the Quiet Treehouse itself, Quiet Mark is a headline sponsor of the show—the first environmental initiative to serve this role.

 

 

As for the Quiet Treehouse’s all-important post-home show afterlife, it will be relocated from Earl’s Court to The Chestnut Tree House children’s hospice in West Sussex where it — a donation, to be clear — will serve as a permanent structure where children and their families can relax and unwind minus the shrill and relentless buzz of modern life. 

 

Says Andy Payne, co-founder and director of Blue Forest, in a press release: “So many temporary structures for shows are designed to only be up for a short while and are then dismantled and the material thrown out which is a tremendous waste. A key challenge of this treehouse project was to design something that could be installed at the Ideal Home Show in only 7 days but that would be durable and long-lasting, providing real value for its final home at Chestnut Tree House Hospice."

 

A question for those of you with treehouses — either homemade or high-end, it doesn't matter — or other structures that you view a place of sanctuary: Does noise pollution negatively impact the time that you spend lofted above the ground? If so, how have you dealt with it? Ambien? Enya? Meditation? Do your efforts to drown out unwanted manmade noises also erase the soothing sounds of nature?

 

http://www.mnn.com/your-home/remodeling-design/blogs/quiet-treehouse-a-sylvan-escape-that-battles-noise-pollution

 

 

 

 

Living Large - But leaving a small footprint.

By Tom Swick

Photos by Kara Starzyk

May & June 2013 | FLMag.com

Enter Carolyn Plummer’s house on Nurmi Isle and the first thing that impresses you is the spaciousness. Soaring ceilings, distant walls. “I removed

one of the barrier walls,” she says. If not for the steps down into the living area you could move the sofas, hang a backboard, invite the neighbors and have a half-court game. Easily.

There’s also the light. Even on an overcast day it streams in through the large windows, and gets magnified by the predominantly white interior.  But probably the most impressive thing about the house is something you can’t see: It is Broward County’s only LEED certified remodel. (LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.) Inside – as well as outside – it appears to be a brand new house, contemporary and clean and, as you discover, eco-friendly. But it is actually a renovation.

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“I wanted to live in this area,” says Plummer, who is co-owner of It’s A 10 Hair Care. She was living in Parkland, and drove up and down the isles on either side of Las Olas Boulevard looking for something that had “good bones.” What she found was a house – “very 1980s” – that had been sitting empty for over two years. Her five-year-old daughter, Kyana, called it The Cucaracha House. “We pretty much brought the house down to the cinder blocks,” she explains. And then she created a minimalist palace with “a modern Zen feel.” The front yard contains a small Japanese garden of sand and rocks, with spare, rustic wood furniture (including a bench that stretches strategically over the gas tank cover). Some of the trees that border it are recycled from the previous landscape. A three-tiered fountain provides a soothing sound and, on the front steps, three large, perfectly smoothed stones sit atop one another.

Plummer’s goal was “naturalist modern,” with “a mixing of elements: water, fire, wood.” In addition to the fountain in the front, the original pool –

now resurfaced – overlooks the canal in the back. Underneath the kitchen sink sits a Kangen water machine, which puts the tap water through an ionization process, making it more alkaline. It also frees Plummer from buying bottled water. In addition, she installed a rain barrel by the side of the house. Even the sprinkler system is conscientious, judiciously seeping water into the lawn rather than spraying onto the street. The kitchen – a high-ceilinged space that flows freely into the living area – has a hibachi grill and an energy-efficient induction stove. Ventilation fans pop up at the push of a button as do, on the counter, electrical outlets. The gas fireplace sits across the way, under a wall of humidity-absorbent tile. Plummer splashes some water onto two small squares to show how quickly the drops disappear. The wood throughout the house is walnut, including the dining table, which is “one huge slab of walnut.” The bedroom floors are American walnut.

The second master bathroom has a champagne tub, its bubbles coming up quietly from the bottom (with none of the noisy pumps of a Jacuzzi). Plummer points to two narrow parallel vents high up in the ceiling; they’re part of the cooling and heating system. The windows all have e-coating for UV protection and also reduction of the sun’s heat. Plummer says her electric bill is $400 to $500 a month, while her neighbor’s is over five times that. The lighting is also LEED certified. “It’s not symmetrical,” Plummer says. “It’s for ambiance more than for direct light.” Outside, a two-story vertical light, encased in granite tile, flanks each side of the main entrance. The lighting, like everything else – temperature, security system, blinds, cable, music – is controlled by Crestron, which Plummer can operate from her laptop anywhere in the world. Sitting in the garage, naturally, is a solar and electric car.

http://www.flmag.com/sites/default/files/issues/pdf/FLMag_May-June%20Web.pdf

http://www.flmag.com/

Is LEED Certification Effective: A Case Study of Destiny USA

Edited from a media release: “Destiny USA, a 2.4 million square foot super regional shopping center which includes a LEED® Gold certified 850,000 sq. ft., is in Syracuse, New York.  It has luxury outlets, company stores, off-price retail, traditional anchors and mall shops that provide something for everyone.”

Is LEED Certification Effective: A Case Study of Destiny USA

By Rob Schoeneck, General Manager, Destiny USA

At Destiny USA there's always a lot of buzz generated around our LEED© certification. When we began the expansion, we wanted to continue the commitment to the environment we began when first building Carousel Center in 1990. Now, having just celebrated our one-year anniversary as Destiny USA, we are proud to be recognized not only as a premier shopping center, but as the largest LEED© Gold commercial retail building in the world. Yet with all the talk around LEED©, many are left wondering what it really means and whether it's actually beneficial.

LEED© stands for “Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design” and is a program run by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) to provide a universal framework for implementing green building design and construction. In addition to the LEED© program, the USGBC offers educational resources, a nationwide network of chapters and affiliates and serves as the host of the annual Greenbuild International Conference & Expo.  Furthermore, they’re driving the green movement within all levels of local and national government.

LEED© & Destiny USA

So that is what LEED© is at a high level, but what does it mean for Destiny USA? Destiny USA was rated Gold for "Core & Shell," which focuses on constructing an eco-conscious, sustainable build-out that will ultimately be filled with tenants. The rating system goes Certified > Silver > Gold > Platinum, and is further broken down into a points system. Out of the 62 total points available, Destiny USA earned 36 to qualify for the Gold rating.

As it specifically applies to Destiny USA, here are a few highlights:

To address a local environmental issue, we chose to transform an environmental wasteland dubbed "Oil City." The land was a former Brownfield Site, meaning it was severely environmentally damaged, and dozens of hazardous oil drums were removed before the site was cleaned and construction began.

Destiny USA scored a 5/5 in the water efficiency category. Part of this included the implementation of innovative wastewater technologies. For example, each of the facility's bathrooms is equipped with low flow sink and toilet fixtures that contribute to the overall water efficiency. We also installed water efficient landscaping, meaning we planted indigenous plants that don’t need potable water brought to them. Finally, we implemented a rainwater harvesting system on the new roof that translates into a 78% reduction in the building's baseline usage.

Additionally, Destiny USA requires all retailers opening within its expansion to obtain LEED© certification, aiming to exponentially increase the impact we’re having. To help, Destiny USA built a unique partnership with the USGBC which provides new retailers with a base set of points to work toward their certification. Since most tenants had never worked with LEED© before, our hope was that the initiative would open their eyes to green building and encourage them to start thinking sustainably. To date, 33 venues, including our new restaurants and entertainment locations, have obtained LEED© certification, with another 30 pending approval. Even more encouraging, seeing the rewards, many tenants have gone above and beyond simply getting certified, and have set their sights on a Silver or Gold rating.

For more information on what they have done, go to: http://destinyusa.com/green/does-leed-certification-work

Sharp’s See-Through Solar Panels Used as Architectural Glass

David Quilty • February 14, 2013

In a move that could soon make solar panels on homes and buildings the norm rather than the exception, Sharp has introduced new see-through solar panels that can be integrated invisibly as architectural glass.
According to a press release from Sharp, the new panels can be used in a conventional manner mounted on the roof but were primarily designed to be used as protective porch railings or as window glass. The semi-transparent black panels are lacking the metal frame found on typical panels and instead are constructed mainly of laminated glass filled with photovoltaic cells. They are each 4.5 feet wide by 3.2 feet tall and only 0.37 inches thick, which is much thinner than standard panels.
One downside? They have a maximum power output of only 95 watts with around 6.8 percent efficiency, which is far below the 20 percent efficiency being produced on today's modern solar panels. However, while they may not be as efficient (and I'm sure over time the efficiency will improve) they are semi-transparent, and thus can be integrated anywhere glass is used in construction. Sharp hopes to eventually integrate the panels directly with building materials so that any available glass surface can be converted into a power-generating solar panel.
If we could retrofit every high-rise building's standard windows with this solar panel glass, our buildings would each become its own power plant capable of generating at least a percentage of its energy needs. The new panels will be launched in Japan but no word yet on price nor availability dates in the U.S. Let's hope it sooner rather than later.
[Image from CNET]

http://thegoodhuman.com/2013/02/14/sharp-see-through-solar-panels/