| Tweet |
Garbett Homes is building something, new, modern and green in Utah’s Daybreak community.
While spec home are just that, spec homes and typically built en masse in communities where everything looks the same, it is always refreshing to see when someone breaks the mold and does something a little differently now and then. Garbett Homes is doing just that in Utah and I love the change.
In the Southwest corner of Salt Lake County a not so little community called Daybreak has sprung up in the area where the old Kennecott Copper evaporation ponds used to be located and were subsequently cleaned up several years ago. (Click HERE for a PDF document from the EPA on this remediation) Daybreak is a community built around green living, close neighborhoods and Energy Star Certified homes, it takes an area where pollution was a problem and makes it a testament to the change that can happen. A light rail line is even being built to the community (someday…) so that residents can move easily to the heart of Salt Lake City and give those who work there an affordable opportunity for green living outside of the locales they would typically consider closer in. The concept is wonderful! However, until that light rail line is built it is a long way from being green when it comes to proximity to services and the current traffic situation.
In it’s short history the Daybreak style of home has leaned toward late 1800′s and early 1900′s styling where craftsman and Victorian homes were the norm. Something new has now come online from Garbett Homes and it is called the Solaris Collection.
What sets these homes apart is that they are in a modern design and a wide and welcome contrast to the the typical Daybreak craftsman redux. Actually, it is exciting! Very Exciting! Now if they could intersperse them amongst the other styles a little more, so it doesn’t just end up as another overabundance of homes that all look the same.
Some other noteable information on these homes is the materials that they are using here as well. From Hardi Board on the exterior, solar included in the price and r38 insulation in the ceilings, they are also making good strides in green building and energy efficiency with these homes. That and the base price is $206,000! Please note that I did not say GREAT green strides. These homes are Energy Star rated so please take that for what it is worth. It is a start and not the top.
Photos of the homes can be seen on the Garbett Website and through posts over at Grassroots Modern and Jetson Green. Once I have a chance to head out that way I will share some of my own photos and tell you more about the homes and my impressions.
The Pickens Plan – What to think of it?
Ever since the much advertised Pickens Plan was announced I have kept myself from jumping on the Pickens Bandwagon. I decided that I had many reasons to distrust an oil billionaire when they suddenly start to care for the environment, so I have stood back and watched. I joined his Facebook fan page, follow him on Twitter and have Linkedin to him all so I could watch and learn more. It seemed too good to be true…. Nice TV commercials though.
Solar and Wind are a good thing. Don’t get me wrong. We need it and we need it bad! But are the intentions of an oilman good? I don’t know. I am torn and I don’t know what to think. But the video from Zaproot below give us all more to think about.
So, now what? I stand back and keep watching. Reserving my final judgment because I so want this to be for the good. Kind of like my opinion of Wal-Mart. They have done a lot of bad, but they are starting to do a lot of good. People can and do change? Can Pickens? Did I open a can of worms with the Wal-Mart comment? That will be another post.
Everything Old IS New Again. Hydrogen powered cars.
Perhaps I will make this a weekly feature. It has been a while since my last EOINA post, but I think there is enough out there to make it a weekly post.
With the recent news in Hydrogen advances and the potential for Hydrogen cars becoming a “new” reality it is interesting to see this video of Jack Nicholson driving a hydrogen car back in 1978. Guess how they got the hydrogen… Solar panels and water. Just like today.
As soon as the energy crisis was over back then, all this new technology was put on the back burner. Why? because we didn’t need it anymore. Right?
Video Source: Treehugger
Solar Guide at Low Impact Living
Low Impact Living has done it again with a post on Solar Energy and a guide to the different technologies available. Solar is a complicated field with all the technology that is out there and this post can answer a lot of the basic questions, so check it out.
The solar topics covered include solar thermal, photovoltaics, thin film, silocn, solar dyes and other radical solar technologies.
Source: Low Impact Living
Al Gore’s Speech – All 27 minutes on YouTube
I have managed to keep all opinions to myself on Al Gore’s speech and for the most part I will continue to do so. I do think his plan is a little ambitious and I don’t necessarily like the way he lives, but the message is good and it needed to be said. We have to do something and we have to hurry. Or is it too late.
So if you haven’t read his speech yet and if you don’t plan to, check out the video. Continue reading
Look to the past and the movies for alternative energy ideas!
Thanks to the Wall Street Journal and Tree Hugger for some video clips and a great story on alternative energy ideas seen in the movies. Remember the Methane from Pig Poop in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome?
Check out the Teaser click below and click the links above for the rest over at Treehugger or WSJ.
Everything Old IS New Again! Ideas on Solar Energy from the October 1934 Issue of Popular Science.
It is funny how there are no new ideas. Just good old ideas that were left by the wayside.
In October of 1934 Popular Science published this article on Solar Energy and the future that it would hold for us. Why does it seem today that we are just getting to the level of information that they had in 1934? Coal and Oil were cheap and easy for so long we forgot the better way.
While you may sound like you heard it earlier today, this was written in 1934
“SUNSHINE, our greatest source of potential power, is now largely wasted. It is highly probable, however, that a few years hence science will find a way to harness the mighty energy of the sun’s radiation. Solar engines and solar heating apparatus will then make it economically practicable for us to use at least a small portion of our now-wasted sunshine to run our factories, light our streets, cook our food, and warm our houses. In the United States we use, each year, something like a half billion tons of coal, a half billion barrels of oil, and fifty billion horsepower hours of water power for heat, light, and power.”
Source: blog.modernmechanix.com
Take down that ivy and let GROW fill the space with power from the sun and the wind!
I came across thison the web yesterday and I have fallen in love with it as a gardener, environmentalist and lover of the modern ascetic! So I emailed them and asked if I could blog about it and they said yes! Read on to learn more and please visit their website.
The product is GROW and has been developed by SMIT (Sustainably Minded Interactive Technology).
GROW offers a new approach to solar and wind power that used small solar panels designed as leaves to both flutter in the wind to generate power and to garner power from the sun with solar panels placed on each leaf. It is amazing and beautiful. I see a ton of possibilities for the south wall of my detached alley garage.
Left Photo: GROW.1 on display at the Museum of Modern Art. Currently in the concept stage.
“GROW.1 is designed to utilize emerging technology of the photovoltaic and piezo industry. Based around a modular brick system, .1 is composed of a small number of different parts. Each brick has 5 solar leaves which have a very flexible piezo generator at their stem. The manufacturing of these bricks could happen in a roll to roll printing process where PV, conductive ink, and piezo generators can be layered quickly and efficiently. The rolls can then be stamped and formed to create leaves and connection points. Each brick is designed so that at the end of their life cycle the valuable components, i.e. photovoltaic and piezo, can be stamped out and up cycled while the reusable material, i.e plastic, can be up recycled back into the production stream.”
Right Photo: GROW.2 will be available soon and is a working model.
“GROW.2 is built on top of a stainless steel mesh system designed and manufactured by Carl Stahl Decorcable in Germany. Their system is designed to enable plants (such as ivy and other crawlers) to grow up the sides of buildings without causing damage to the buildings themselves, a typical problem of many vertical gardens.
Our leaves are made of 100% recyclable polyethylene, and are available in a variety of colors and opacities. The solar cells are thin film flexible photovoltaic modules encapsulated in Tefzel, and are manufactured by PowerFilm Solar. GROW.2 is a flexible system that can adapt to most building types, sizes, orientations and latitudes. We have the ability to provide varying degrees of opacity to modulate heat gain, light transmission and view. Because of our modular design, future iterations of GROW.2 will be able to include more efficient and less expensive PV modules once those products are both available and cost effective. This modularity also makes GROW.2 easy to support and update: if one leaf should fail, we can replace it very easily.”
Source: SMIT
A taste of why we need clean energy in Utah.
I stumbled upon this blog today when doing a search for photos of the dreaded inversion here in Salt Lake City and think it is very worthwhile to post a link on my blog.
If you want to understand my passion for environmental change take a look at this blog. You will see exactly what we are breathing here for most of the winter.
Have you ever seen a wind turbine fail?
All I can so to the video below is wow! Turbines have a governor to keep them revolving at a slow pace during high winds. This one obviously failed. I can only imagine the damage something like this could cause in a large scale wind farm. By the way I am not posting this to in anyway devalue wind power. I feel it is a very important part of our sustainable future. It is just an interesting video.
