[Greenbuilding] 100 miles builds

[Gennaro Brooks-Church - Eco Brooklyn]

My company just built a Passive House in Manhattan. I wanted to build
it all out of garbage. But I also wanted to build it. So I picked the
battles that didn't kill me.
All the joists, bricks, subfloors, floors, studs, insulation, drywall,
and stairs were salvaged within 10 miles and otherwise would have gone
to the landfill. So with the construction of this house the world has
less garbage.
The fixtures (sinks, bathtubs, faucets, lights etc) were a mix of
salvaged and new.
The windows, doors, fridges, washers and dryers came from Germany via
shipping container.
So in my case I decided to ship stuff half way across the world
because I guess over time the energy saved will justify the embodied
energy. I never did the math nor do I know if it is possible given
parts are made all over the planet now.

The original concept is what I call the Zero Building Technique - no
waste is created during demo (it is reused on site or elsewhere), no
new materials are bought (only salvaged) during the construction, and
the finished home uses no off site energy and  creates no off site
waste (in this case we plumbed for gray water from showers to flush
toilets that go to a Sunmar central composting unit in the cellar).
This is a goal.

The other thing I am learning is that if you practically kill yourself
and almost go broke building a green building, sure you helped the
planet, but it is not sustainable if you go out of business. This is
not a problem 99% of builders have, since green is hardly something
they are going to loose any sleep over, but I suspect some of you more
hard core green builders on this list can relate.
So personally I'm trying to find a better balance between my Jesus
complex and my desire to spend most of my life living the good life in
tropical places....

Gennaro Brooks-Church
Director, Eco Brooklyn Inc.
Cell: 1 347 244 3016 USA
www.EcoBrooklyn.com
22 2nd St; Brooklyn, NY 11231



On Fri, Feb 24, 2012 at 2:51 PM, Sacie Lambertson
<sacie.lambertson at gmail.com> wrote:
> FYI:
>
> http://www.good.is/post/100-mile-houses-expands-the-locavore-movement-from-food-to-architecture?utm_campaign=daily_good2&utm_medium=email_daily_good2&utm_source=headline_link&utm_content=100-Mile%20Houses%20Expand%20the%20Locavore%20Movement%20From%20Food%20to%20Architecture
>
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