There are several ways we can improve the efficiences in the framing of outside corners. A California Corner is one designation for a wood framing pattern that rotates one of the three studs in exterior corners. On exterior walls this allows insulation to proceed all the way to the corner rather than creating an insulation void.
This month is National Landscape Architecture Month. April is also African American Women’s Fitness Month, International Cesarean Awareness Month, Emotional Overeaters Awareness Month, Irritable Bowel Syndrome Month & Nationally Sexually Transmitted Diseases Month just to name a few. (From the site here.) I’m promoting Landscape Architecture since I have a Bachelor’s of Science in Landscape Architecture (B.S.L.A.) from Purdue University. I am a Registered Landscape Architect with the State of Indiana. I am a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA).
I wrote about Greenwashing before. I ran across an article in Landscape Architecture, of all places, that I think is a prime example. I couldn’t find it online, but I scanned a copy as a JPG here. In a nutshell, several cruise lines are adding vegetation to their ships. Green roof technology is letting them grow grass. The boardwalk on the Royal Caribbean Oasis of the Sea has trees and shrubs. Celebrity Cruise Line’s Solstice has a Lawn Club.
It will be interesting to see how this is marketed. www.cruisecritic.com says things like this about Oasis of the Seas, “…like the foliage-filled Central Park (12,175 plants!)” and this about Celebrity Cruise Line’s Solstice, “Kick off your shoes and stroll through a half-acre of real grass.” I haven’t seen these things marketed as “green”, but I can’t think that they are anything but the opposite by the time you figure the additional fuel to move tons of plant matter as well as their support structure. Add to that the manpower for care, fertilizer and maintenance equipment necessary to keep these plants in an alien environment. Heck though, maybe research to keep plants alive on cruise ships will translate into research for sustainable plant communities on the space station and extraterrestrial colonies…
If cruise lines want to be green, wouldn’t it make sense for them to be exploring some of the options that the transatlantic freighters are using such as adding sails and the novel idea of the giant kites? Freighters are also currently slowing their speeds to save fuel and are often making the crossing at slower speeds than the old sailing ships, though carrying much greater quantities.
In any case, I think the agenda is to seem green. Not everything has to be, but it is the trend of the day. Everyone is putting a leaf in their logo and changing their packaging to the drab color of a grocery sack. But everything doesn’t have to be 100% green. I’m not even sure if that’s possible. I do know that forcing a look of green rarely results in real environmental or economical savings.
As I’ve said before, being green isn’t a bad idea. It can be good for the planet and when done right, good for the economy. Easterday Construction Co., Inc. promotes the ideas that make sense. Greenwashing just plays on your guilt.
ECO is a new countertop by Cosentino. It’s not one that I have seen personally, but I have read several articles about it. It is made of 75% recycled materials. According to their website, this includes:
These items are bound together by an environmentally friendly resin that comes in part from corn oil.
One of the articles I have read on this was from the December 2009 issue of Multifamily Executive where it is touted for its durability. It is apparently comparable to granite for durability. It is also in the same price range.
Pre-Engineered Metal Buildings (PEMB’s) are one of the most environmentally friendly forms of construction for large scale projects. Almost by definition, the PEMB is optimized to provide the required building function with the minimum of waste. Couple that with the fact that steel is a recyclable material and this adds to the green aspect of PEMB construction.
We recently received a letter from Butler Manufacturing Company (BMC) talking about the new EcoCalculator and how it applies to PEMB construction. The letter included the following quote: “Our type of construction customarily instills a level of predictability in terms of cost, erection time and quality,” said David E. Evers, PE, vice president of research and development for Butler Manufacturing and chairman of the Energy Committee for the Metal Building Manufacturers Association. “The growing interest in applying metal building structural, roof and wall assemblies to ‘green’ buildings has led to their inclusion in the development and acceptance of a tool known as the EcoCalculator for Assemblies developed by The Athena Institute, in association with the University of Minnesota and Morrison Hershfield Consulting Engineers (http://www.athenasmi.org/tools/ecoCalculator/indec/html). This remarkable software provides architects, engineers, contractors and others instant access to Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for hundreds of common building sections, including a number of typical metal building assemblies.”
Metal Building construction is one of the “green” ideas that makes sense. Easterday Construction Co., Inc. has been a Butler Builder for over 30 years and has always been pleased by the quality of the BMC product. This is one of the construction ideas that was “green” long before green grew to its current popularity!