The Lazy Environmentalist » Green Building

Tankless Hot Water Heaters Up to 50% More Energy Efficient

AK — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 15:37:51 +0000

What makes a tankless water heater so efficient?

Tankless water heaters heat your water directly without the use of a tank. The most obvious benefit is the endless supply of hot water, no chance of running out because there is no tank to bleed dry. The only drawback is the reality that a single unit might not heat your shower in addition to the dishwasher and washing machine. But there are plenty of tank-backed systems that won’t do that either. On the upside, you don’t ever need to worry about one of the kids flushing the toilet in the other bathroom while you’re rinsing the all natural shampoo from your hair.

For homes that use 40 gallons of hot water or less, the average energy efficiency improvement over a standard water heater is 35-45%. Additional efficiency can be attained by installing additional tankless heaters to minimize the distance between the heater and the appliance; it’s also recommended that you run insulated pipes or non-metal pipes to minimize the effect of the water traveling from the unit to the appliance through cold pipes.

Installation

Beyond fuel type — electric or gas — the three biggest concerns are location, size, and demand (flow). Keep in mind that gas tankless water heaters require a vent (not an issue with the electric models), so you will have to factor that into your decision with regard to placement in your home. On the upside, if you’re getting rid of an older tank, you can now convert that corner into a closet because the new tankless water heater takes up little to no space, many can be mounted directly to the wall. You’ll also want to consider how many appliances will be connected to the heater so that you can minimize the distance your hot water travels.

Bosch Aquastar 7.2 GPM Tankless Natural Gas Water Heater

Bosch 1.5 GPM Point-of-Use Tankless Electric Water Heater

Bamboo Floors: Strand Woven, Laminate, Installation, and Cleaning

AK — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 19:14:34 +0000

Bamboo is holding strong as the poster child for sustainability, but not all bamboo is created equal. There are still questions, concerns, and considerations from “I hear they scratch easily” to “What are my color options?” to “Should I get the cheap stuff or pay a little extra for the goods?” Like any flooring decisions, it depends on the usage. If you’re putting it in the kids’ playroom or laundry room/dog pen, it’s going to get beat up (like anything else). If you’re putting it in the dining room, make sure you love the aesthetic above all else. This might seem like common sense, because it is. So, where do I go from here?

Here’s what you need to know for making a decision about bamboo flooring:

You get what you pay for

If you’re going to put bamboo in a kitchen, den, or other area that gets a lot of foot traffic, variety of use, and so on, use the good stuff – Strand Woven Bamboo is the most durable. How do we know? There’s actually an industry-accepted rating system called The Janka Ball test which measures the force required to embed a 0.444″ steel ball to half its diameter in wood. Accepted industry wide, this test reflects a particular species’ ability to withstand denting and wear.

What makes one bamboo variety better than another?

Age. The best, highly rated bamboos are usually aged 5.5 – 6 years. The technical crowd will go on and on here but for all practical purposes, that’s what you’re paying for: longer growth means a more mature, harder, more durable raw material. And yes, technically, bamboo isn’t a “hardwood” at all; bamboo is more like a plant (grows like a weed, which is why it’s considered more sustainable than woods that have longer growth cycles).

Installation

As always, if you can afford it and you’re a true Lazy E, you’ll just let the pros handle it. But if you’re feeling lucky (or something like that), you can take the DIY approach. Bamboo laminate flooring rests on top of an installation surface, like tile. You put that stuff down, then you snap in and/or nail down the bamboo. If you’re going DIY, definitely get the slotted, tongue and groove variety — you can thank us later.

Additional concerns

Besides the quality of the raw bamboo itself, pay attention to what adhesives are used to bond the board into shape. If you’re particularly concerned with indoor air quality, you’ll want to pay extra attention to be certain that you’re not getting a chemical, toxin, or VOC-rich adhesive.

Dark bamboo finishes are made by (basically) cooking the bamboo to color, so all other things being equal, the darker colors are less durable.

If you leave in an area with humidity issues or there is a particularly humid (or dry) area in the house, that probably won’t be the best place to put a bamboo floor but that is true for most any hardwood material.

It is a good idea to pick up a proper non-toxic floor cleaner for your bamboo floors and always pick up the big stuff beforehand to avoid surface scratches from cleaning. And please, for the love money, pad the bottoms of all furniture legs and check the bottoms of rugs before putting them down on your brand new, beautiful bamboo floors.

Green Building Materials and Remodeling Part 2: Bathrooms

AK — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:12:27 +0000

When considering remodeling a bathroom, your first priorities are likely the aesthetics and the resale value of your home. There are many different versions of a bathroom remodel: a small bathroom remodel might require little more than a fresh coat of paint and new fixtures while others know they’ll be tearing out walls and committing the plumber’s cell phone number to memory.

Beyond the feel-good fuzzies of environmental ethos, there are three things that matter when considering whether to go green in the bathroom: conserving water, conserving electricity, and your indoor air quality. A green bathroom should save you money and contribute to your well-being.

Now a closer look at the available options:

Conserving water with low flow bathroom fixtures

Most bathrooms will have a minimum of three fixtures which include the showerhead, vanity sink, and toilet. There are almost infinite options when it comes to bathroom fixtures these days. Luckily, most of the best showerheads available today were designed for water efficiency and include a number of desirable hand-held, setting, and color options. We Lazy Environmentalists believe the low-flow showerhead is one of the best investments available for greening your home that’s both cost-effective upfront and resource-effective in the long-term. The next best improvement or upgrade is a low-flow, high efficiency toilet. Older toilets can use as much as 5 gallons per flush, while newer models use as little as 1.28 gallons per flush.

Using less water and less energy to heat that (lower quantity of) water quickly adds up to substantial savings on the utility bills. If you’re going beyond the new fixtures and new coat of paint remodel, many people will also consider installing an energy-efficient tankless water heater, but the cost-benefit analysis is still inconclusive from a Lazy Environmentalist perspective.

Walls, Shelves, and Vanities

If you’re going to carry your remodel this far, it would likely pay to bring in a kitchen/bath designer. These people have more knowledge of the latest trends, best fixtures, and most sensible layouts than other professionals including architects, contractors, sales people at the big box store, and your jack-of-all-trades brother-in-law. Hiring an expert kitchen/bath designer will ensure that you maximize your remodeling budget in a way that also maximizes the future resale value of your home. What you pay a qualified designer you will often save on materials through the designer’s purchasing knowledge and connections.

At all costs, avoid particle board in vanities and shelves, because it’s packed with formaldehyde and other VOC-laden toxins. An additional benefit of hiring a kitchen/bath designer is to keep it local. Hiring professional, local craftspeople means greater freedom and customization with regard to measurements (spec) and materials (FSC-certified woods and non-toxic glues and finishes).

These pros should be able to guide you toward the best local resources for countertops, tiles, and the like. You can get a sense of the best countertop materials, which include everything from recycled glass to new eco-friendly linoleum.

Few factors can remake a bathroom – or your mood for that matter – like a fresh coat of clean, green, eco-friendly paint.

Afterthoughts

Once this thrilling process is complete, nothing will drive home the value of what you’ve accomplished like some green finishing touches, so be sure to stock your bathroom with green cleaning products, green bathroom accessories and furnishings, and an energy-efficient nightlight.

Green Building Materials and Remodeling Part 1: Kitchens

AK — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:00:07 +0000

As much as we all might want to build our green dream home from scratch, it might be more realistic to think about green remodeling. For one thing, it’s debatable which is greener but considering the reduce, reuse, recycle mantra, doesn’t remodeling just feel greener? Equally important, that’s what most of us are more likely to wind up doing. It might seem like a great way to go to hire the best green building consultant, but if you’re more the DIY or quasi-DIY type, you’re simply better off making improvements on what you have.

If you’re going to be remodeling, it pays to invest in the environment. Think about it logically (just for a second), how many ways are there to make a house stand out in tomorrow’s housing market? There’s already a surplus of homes with shiny chrome kitchen appliances, marble counters, and recently remodeled bathrooms. If you’re going to remodel, do it in a way that not only pays you back in years of enjoyment but also pays you back as a (green) investor.

Green or not, remodeling for smart homeowners begins in the kitchen and bathrooms (particularly the master bath):

Green Kitchen Remodeling Basics

First things first: Hire a kitchen/bath designer every time. These people have more knowledge of the latest trends, best fixtures, and most sensible layouts than other professionals. Architects are not Kitchen Designers. Those Sales Clerks in the big box stores are not Kitchen Designers (at all). The contractor who is putting an addition on your home or remodeling your kitchen is not a Kitchen Designer. Your brother-in-law who installed his own kitchen is not a Kitchen Designer.

The kitchen is the most energy-intensive room in your house, which means a kitchen remodel is the best place to try conserving energy. Also consider that the cabinets, counters, et cetera where we store and prepare food can have a measurable effect on the toxicity levels of the items that go into your body. Yes, really. You can read more about green counter materials: recycled glass, corian, granite, and concrete here.

Green Kitchen Appliances

Next comes the best green appliances for your kitchen. What makes an appliance green? Efficiency. That’s the bottom line, the appliance is designed to save energy for both you and the planet. EnergyStar is the top governmentally controlled rating in the efficiency business. Be sure to tell your kitchen designer that you’re planning to install a recycling organizer, composter, etc. so they can help you plan accordingly to reduce waste.

Cabinets

Another reason to hire a kitchen designer is their services — with any number of certifications from AKBA to CKD to CMKBD — are free (ahhhem, built in) when you buy their cabinets. If you just hire the services of a kitchen designer, their fee is usually 10% of the total kitchen job and they’ll stick with you for the whole job as Project Manager. This can be your best chance for going local. Local crafts people can usually make anything that you and the designer can conjure, meaning they’re not limited to the specs of any manufacturer. Read: You choose the materials, shapes, sizes, and other custom touches while keeping it all local. You can choose FSC certified woods, recycled glass, water-based finishes (low VOC or no VOC as well as no formaldehyde or sulfur), and GreenGuard laminates.

Natural Light and Ventilation

Not all kitchen remodeling includes windows and ventilation, but if you’re feeling so inclined and you can afford to do so, you will find few better ways to invest in your physical and mental health as well as the value of your home. Without getting too touchy-feely, natural light and air quality have an immeasurable effect on your well being. You’ll likely want to work with the pros on the window front, but here are a number of energy-efficient ceiling fans which will add a unique touch to most any kitchen area.

Finally, it’s worth mentioning that you’ll be well-served in preserving the luster of your newly renovated kitchen as well as your indoor air quality by employing green kitchen cleaners.

In Part 2 of the Green Building Materials and Remodeling we’ll discuss Bathrooms.

The Coolest Ceiling Fans Save Energy and Save You Money

Melanie McGee Bianchi — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:15:02 +0000

The rickety faux-wood ceiling fan is a fossil best left to back-of-the-plaza insurance offices. There’s no call for ugly fans when the market favors a slew of missile-sleek models that look awesome and also save energy.

True to its cosmic name, the Zen Ceiling Fan by Minka Aire ($249.95) boasts an Energy Star rating for superior power conservation, and its lamp can be capped when not in use. The four rounded, wing-like blades are made of brushed nickel; this matte metal look can blend in with almost any interior. (Also comes in other finishes.)

Matthews Fan Company offers the made-for-tight-spaces Bianca Directional Ceiling Fan ($490.20). For all its innovative construction – the head’s positioning capacity spans 180 degrees – this piece resembles an old-timey wire fan hung upside down. Its energy-saving potential is ultramodern, though. Handcrafted in the U.S.A.

The Mandalay Ceiling Fan by Monte Carlo ($538.91) looks like it might stir up lazy tropical breezes when you turn it on. Its extra-wide paddles are made of bamboo – a hot eco choice – and suggest post-safari daiquiris sipped slowly in the sunroom. Hemingway’s ghost not included.

Emerson’s Midway Eco Ceiling Fan ($399) comes loaded with the kind of features usually trumpeted in the automotive world. It has “aerodynamically designed” blades that “move up to 40% more air” than standard fans, plus an integrated fluorescent light and “a high-efficiency EcoMotor.” It all translates to major power-bill savings. And, unlike some high-performance vehicles – er, fans – the Midway is offered in a good range of styles.

Light and breezy (pun intended), the Edgewood Decorative Ceiling Fan by Fanimation ($171.33) is a pragmatist’s dream. Recessionistically priced, it features reversible blades for a color change: neither your air nor your style will stagnate. Energy Star-rated for its high efficiency.