by Lester Graham - The Environment ReportListen to the NPR story here:
Maybe a brand-new home equipped with all the latest technology isn’t in your budget. The Environment Report’s Lester Graham reports on another approach that takes an existing house and recycles it. Environmentally friendly architecture is becoming very common. Architects are designing innovative, cutting edge, energy-efficient homes, using renewable resources. But, Lester Graham reports on another approach that recycles an entire house:
You know, we’re always hearing about new green building construction - new homes with all the latest. That’s nice, but it’s a little ironic to think about all those resources being used to build new to save resources.
That’s why I kinda got interested when I read about Matt and Kelly Grocoff. They bought a modest, century-old house and started making energy-efficient changes. A lot of them as Matt showed me in the bathroom.
“We have the motion-sensor light. We have the compact fluorescent bulbs. We have a dual-flush toilet that will use only (flushing sound) use point-eight gallons for a flush. This is actually a one-gallon-per-minute shower head by Bricor [Note: Standard showerheads are 2.5 gallons-per-minute]. It will save you at least $120 in electricity your first year of having that because of the sixteen-thousand gallons of hot water that you’re going to be saving. (faucet sound) This faucet aerator is also point- five-gallons-a-minute. It’s plenty of water to wash your hands. Most people will never notice that they’re using two-gallons-per-minute less in this faucet than another faucet.”(stairs sound)
And that’s just the bathroom. As the couple took me upstairs, they
told me about the really, really efficient geo-thermal heat. They insulated everywhere. It’s tight. But everything was off-the-shelf. None of that, ‘oh this is custom, you can’t buy it anywhere’, type stuff.Kelly Grocoff says if your house is a statement about you, then having a low-impact on the earth’s resources and reducing greenhouse gas emissions is part of the statement they want to make.
“For us, we proclaim loud and clear 'this is where our values are. And this is where we’re going to spend our time and it’s incredibly important to us'.”
And with all the efficiencies, all the updates, the house looked normal, comfortable. And the Grocoff’s say that’s the way it should be.
Matt: “One of the things with building green, everyone thinks that you’re going to sacrifice something, you’re going to spend more money and you’re not going to be as comfortable. And that is completely not true anymore.”
Kelly: “We have made zero sacrifices. We have gained enormously. And we have no time to waste. Your house is the number one place where you can make a significant impact on a daily basis. For me there’s no other choice to be made.”
Matt and Kelly Grocoff say doing something about reducing energy use, reducing the emissions that are causing global warming, and re-using old lumber and this old house is just a start for them. They want to help other people do it too. That’s why they’re launching an online site for do-it-yourselfers called ‘GreenovationTV.com’
Matt: “Uh, through Greenovation TV, we’re going to take everything that we’ve learned from this house and teach others about it.”
Kelly: "We need that kind of resource there as we're going through this process. And so there was hours upon hours spent researching things. And that's kind of the goal with this station."
Matt: "Once you have the knowledge to do it, it's really, really easy."
The Grocoff’s say the one thing holding people back from making their homes more environmentally friendly is they feel like they have to do it all or it won’t be right. They say just take the first step. Even if it’s just changing to a lower-energy compact fluorescent bulb, it’s a good start.
For The Environment Report, I’m Lester Graham.
6 comments:
Each and every people like to do different things while constructing new home.Every people have their own dreams in that like me.Yes I am planning to construct new home.For that I wanted to know about new model shower heads.Please suggest me any...
There are some great options for efficient and very comfortable showerheads. My favorite is the 1.5 gallon per minute showerhead by Bricor. It will save a family of 3 over 11,000 gallons of hot water each year. That could save about $150 per year. They cost about $79 online, but will pay for themselves within 7 months. http://www.water-energy-savings.com/bricor-b150che-el150.html. Other 1.5 gallon per minute shower heads are available from Kohler and Hansgrohe for under $40, but their comfort is a matter of preference. If you like those, they are certainly worth the money!
Great choice on the Caroma Colonial Dual Flush toilet! Not only is it a great looking toilet, it also is one of the best performing Dual Flush toilets available on the market!
Toilets account for approx. 30% of water used indoors. By installing a Dual Flush toilet you can save between 40% and 70% of drinking water being flushed down the toilet, depending how old the toilet is you are going to replace.
If you are serious about saving water, want a toilet that really works and is affordable, I would highly recommend a Caroma Dual Flush toilet. Caroma toilets offer a patented dual flush technology consisting of a 0.8 Gal flush for liquid waste and a 1.6 Gal flush for solids. On an average of 5 uses a day (4 liquid/ 1 solid) a Caroma Dual Flush toilet uses an average of 0.96 gallons per flush. The new Sydney Smart uses only 1.28 and 0.8 gpf, that is an average of 0.89 gallons per flush. This is the lowest water consumption of any toilet available in the US. Caroma, an Australian company set the standard by giving the world its first successful two button dual flush system in the nineteen eighties and has since perfected the technology. Also, with a full 3.5″ trapway, these toilets virtually never clog. All of Caroma’s toilets are on the list of WaterSense labeled HET’s http://www.epa.gov/watersense/pp/find_het.htm and also qualify for several toilet rebate programs available in the US. Please visit my blog http://pottygirl.wordpress.com/2008/08/01/what-you-should-know-about-toilets/ to learn more or go to http://www.caromausa.com to learn where you can find Caroma toilets locally. Visit http://www.ecotransitions.com/howto.asp to see how we flush potatoes with 0.8 gallons of water, meant for liquids only. Best regards, Andrea Paulinelli
Going along with greenovationTV installing a wateter efficient toilet saves a household over 3,000 gallons of water per year. Water efficient toiletS such as a dual flush can save the average home $25 dollars a year.
Going along with greenovationTV, using a water efficient toilet saves a household over 3,000 gallons of water per year. Saving about 25 dollars per year
Going along with greenovationTV installing a wateter efficient bathrooms saves a household over gallons water per year.Good I to want such option in my house thank for information
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