Reason, I let the algae & the ivy grow on it. Plus, I don't mow my grass....that's more to upset my nieghbors though. I guess you can say that my 'green' work is more on the passive side. Geesh, it almost sounds passive-aggressive.

Seriously, as someone who has never formally studied LEED, I am of the mind that you can do a lot of good by reusing materials that you or others would ordinarily throw away. I'm not an advocate of the Fred Sanford lifestyle, but I think that reuse of basically, scrap & junk reconfig'd into something of craftsmanship, or dare I say , beauty, is about the most honorable thing that someone trying to be conscientious can do.

As for your rainwater collection apparatus, that would, in many instances be super-easy to do because you're really talking about a low-tech system that can be built totally from off-the-shelf items (or, in my case, out of the dumpster)

- rainwater collection
- sod ( green ) roof
- geo exchange system ( ground source Heat / cooling )
- passive solar / photovoltaic panels
- recycled materials
- engineered wood products ( no first growth timber etc. )
- micro hydro power ( I have a creek in the back yard )

It actually wasn't that difficult to pull together, if you are LEED certified you should be capable of resourcing some of the stuff through the web. Often the stuff for S F Residential is a little more difficult but most regions will have people who sell rain barrels even. Don't expect to see it at Home Depot just yet. But the stuff is out there If USGBC doesn't have stuff in Canada we have an organization called CMHC ( Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.) that is a public body that produces a ton of material and resource on just this stuff. ( I think its www. cmhc.ca )

I live alone in a rented apartment, and am single more often than not. This leaves my full size fridge cavernously empty most of the ime, and thus very inefficient, so I filled a couple of shelves w/ jugs of water and big 3"x8"x24" slabs of sandstone i had around.

I don't know if that's green, economical, or just common sense (or if there's much of a difference between the three), but it works.

Thanks for the response.
whistler, I wonder if you know there is a system to recycle waters. I found a lot of water wasted when washing things. I used to reuse them to water the plants with a bucket, but it too much work to continue doing it.

I painted a wall green.

Hey JohnProlly,
I did too!!! But then we painted it yellow. I guess we can't start a club, now :(

Try www.bcwwa.org its a local / regional group ( British Columbia Waste Water Association ) they put on seminars and have some reference info that might help you search a little closer to where you live. They brought in a bunch of guys from Australia where rainwater harvesting is pretty much the norm. It was a great discussion and learned a lot.

reason, sounds like you need a propper reed bed

link

Bamboo flooring, cork flooring, wool carpet - all on cork underlayment.

Reusing some things we have around the arch office - a faucet that was never used and non-returnable, a damaged sink, a cooktop from a client's kitchen we are demo'ing that they don't want.

Building an outdoor shower that will drain to the plants. And intend to install several bat boxes around the property!

If my firm takes off and I start making serious money - a turf roof.

i leech field and compost the sewer line. Not suprisingly, my garden plants and vegetables grow tremendously well.

Would you like some garden fresh salad? or a nice crunchy fresh carrot?

i gave up my car two years ago and walk pretty much everywhere now. no mean feat here in the midwest. in fact i just had about a four month stretch where i hadn't traveled beyond my neighbohood, downtown and points in between.

this probably won't last forever, but i am going to resist the default American lifestyle as much as possible

Good for you, puddles! After a car-free ten years I'm embarassed to admit how much I have become part of the default car culture. Kudos to you.

thanks.

what i find really puzzling is how many people complain about long commutes, traffic gridlock, roadrage, gas prices, parking (not enough of it and how terrible it looks) but then everybody just shrugs their shoulders and rhetorically asks "yeah but what can you about?" well, stop driving and start walking...its really pretty simple. it will change your mental perspective, keep you fit, and save you a bucket load of money

enough of my ranting.

there's a book called "green remodeling" your home

LB,
I promise, I'm not following ya (although I'm probably visting the "Archinect Crushes' page soon). Same blog hours, I guess. Hawhawhaw!
Speaking of Turf Roofs, did you see that new Ford Plant up in Michigan?
I can't totally recall, but I think I saw it in 'Architecture' last yr. That thing is huge, green & probably gotthe biggest turf roof in the world.

I guess you could say it's ironic that a car co.did this. Maybe it's for PR, but that's a leeuva'n investment for PR.

I guess it's also ironic that ya'll were talking about living w/out cars & I brought up Ford's example. Not trying to be a wiseguy, the dilema just caught up to me. (oh yea 'leeuva'n=helluva'n, my typing sux)

can i join the green wall club..i painted all 4 of my bedroom walls green

JdesP, I can't find the book called "green remodeling", but find a web site, http://www.ci.seattle.wa.us/sustainablebuilding/greenhome.htm#Green%20Home%20Remodel
Can you give me the full name of the book, so I can search again? Thanks!

BOTs, where can you buy the weed beds?
liberty bell , thanks for sharing your ideas!

hey Reason,
"Green Remodeling:changing the world one room at a time"
by Johnston and Master

I think they sell it at [http://www.solarliving.org]

okay I did that wrong but you get the point

installed a solar thermal system (7 4x10 panels) on the roof that is tied into a radiant floor heating under the existing subfloor... it's not yet operational...but i can't wait - should be a huge savings!! and toasty warm

Also in terms of the orig. question. we've made rainwater collectors out of wood whiskey barrels. they are located at each downspout. you can also buy them at larger nurseries, landscaping stores...

Hey a3,
What do you think your payback period on your solar upgrades will be?
I've got a hellascious gas bill & something's gotta give.

a3, I think the problem with rain collectors in Seattle is, it's rains all the time in winter and hardly any rain in summer. I don't think the barrels can help much. Solar system is a good idea. Where did you get the system?

Not sure if it has been mentioned but:

Tankless hot water heaters.....

www.controlledenergy.com

I paid 400$ and another $250 to have my electrician install it....If you currently have a gas hot water heater, a tankless electric model can save you big time...

Plus, the units can be very easially wall mounted and can fit in a closet or small space....

So $650, plus extra electricity usage vs. new gas Water Heater @ $300 installed. There could be a reasonable return on investment, there.

The tankless systems I've seen don't handle a lot of volume, but I haven't actively researched those for a while, so I may be showing some ignorance. I'll re-start my WH research.

The problem with the Tankless hot water heater is you can only do one thing at a time. It is not feasible with a big family. I wonder if you can connect it with one appliance up stair separately.

our solar thermal system is not operational yet. we scored the panels for free (my husband installs them for a living) off of a job in a snotty little town nearby (the owner thought they were ugly) we should have no gas bill from april to october (coastal mass.) as they will be heating only our domestic hot water. we'll see what happens this winter, we're hoping to cut our 200$/month gas bill significantly...

generally speaking, solar thermal panels pay for themselves in 5 years or so (heating domestic hot water only - our system will do most of our heat as well since we connected radiant floor piping to it as well) and pv panels take a bit longer to pay for themselves - 10 years or so. depends on local rebates, etc...

i live on the second floor rear of a 2 flat... have western exposure... gets really hot in the afternoons, so we tacked up a giant old bed sheet to block the direct afternoon sun... my AC and our fans run much less now as it made seirously a 10-15 degree difference in the living room

Reduce: low flow water usage, don't water lawn at all (only herb garden), buy products that have less packaging, turn off lights, turn down heat in winter, exchanged incandescent lamps for flourescent, summer time night flush, winter time waste heat capture, hang dry clothes rather than use dryer
Reuse: back side of office paper for house hold lists, reuse grocery bags when at the store or bring own canvas bag, demo deck and using salvaged wood for garage shelves, buy necessary items (tools, furniture) second hand
Recycle: recycle all paper scraps, metal and plastic items, compost non-meat food waste, buy whenever possible items with recycled content (wood, paint, rugs)

not much individually, but everything adds up.

- low voltage bulbs
- recycle glass and paper (some say it's actually useless if not environmentally more damaging than just disposing of it with everything else, can anyone confirm?)
- commute to/from work on foot
- don't own a car
- cook my own meals as often as possible
- try to make sure i turn off the light when i leave a room

definitely not enough but if everybody did that for a start then maybe we could start turning things around.

removed asbestos siding from house
plant drought tolerant plants
compost yard waste
don't water my grass

if you are in a de-regulated state, switch to a clean energy provider.

http://www.greenmountainenergy.com/

is what i use and it is no more expensive.

i instituted the family-flush policy when entertaining company to conserve water.

i put a brick in my toilet's tank.