SanJoseGreenHome.com

When many of us think of a solar home we normally envision a specially designed, carefully crafted construction .  Hardly ever we can think of a modest 1,200 square foot tract home in South San Jose as being a model for passive solar benefits that almost all of us can achieve.  This is exactly what Frank Schiavo did when he retrofitted his 1978 home to harvest our greatest energy source – the Sun. 

Frank was an extraordinary man.  He was an enthusiastic passive solar home consultant, environmental educator at San Jose State and an avid social change advocate.  One of his most fascinating qualities was that he produced no trash.  That’s right; he composted everything and never bought anything that he couldn’t recycle.  He even stopped paying garbage bills to the city which was a highly controversial and highly publicized move.  Gotta love this spirit of sustainability! 

Unfortunately Frank passed away very unexpectedly last January, just a week before we planned to meet, but he leaves his solar legacy behind for all of us to marvel at and learn from.  He really wanted to use his house as a way of teaching others about benefits of a green solar home “on a budget”. 

As a very tiny way of repaying his years of kindness to the community I would like to share with you some of the things that Frank was able to accomplish in his home (more…)

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This is first net-zero carbon house in UK that reaches the highest level of sustainability. Dubbed the Lighthouse, the highly eco-friendly house was designed to “encourage a way of living that is inherently ‘light’ on the world’s resources whilst combining the practicalities of today’s average homeowner.

Almost all of us use the words green and sustainable interchangeably as if they have the same meaning.  But the more one delves deeper into the nuances, the more this funny little feeling starts creeping in that there seems to be some interesting differences there in these two noble concepts.  Why does it even matter?  Simply because by being able to separate the two we can make better decisions as consumers and become more mindful and equitable participants in our society.   

The product manufacturers, as well as building industry would certainly benefit by embracing “Sustainable” vs simply “Green” practices. Whereas green addresses mostly environmental elements, sustainable takes a more comprehensive view, including environmental, economic, social, and cultural elements. 

For example, a more sustainable and socially responsible approach to manufacturing would entail a fair and humane treatment of overseas workers, while the building community would certainly include a standard of quality well in excess of mere code compliance for “green” construction”. 

You see, building a house out of vastly renewable wood from a thousand miles away or engineered lumber, installing solar panels and solar water heater to satisfy the energy needs of the building would be enough to deem it “green”.  However, if the construction quality is poor and not much effort was invested into longevity of the structure (more…)

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When most people think “green” homes they imagine solar panels and fancy energy saving gadgets.  It doesn’t have to be this way.  We invite you to explore with us a passive solar home in Saratoga (Bay Area) designed by a local architect Hari Sripadanna.  The home has achieved a LEED Gold rating and truly stands as a model for sustainability in our community.  After all, Hari bought parts of his house on Craigslist! 

Obviously, we could not cover all the fascinating details in the video so if you want to learn more, please read Hari’s comments and see design plans right below the video.  Enjoy.

by Hari Saripadanna (parts of the article was originally posted on the GAB Report):

With increasing popularity of green building and passive solar design, it is important to understand that sustainable design is more than a collection of credits. The key is to create synergy between building systems and practices that multiply each other’s benefit. One can create more value simply by choosing two or more complimentary sustainable design elements that play off of each other. The combined effect is more than the benefit when these design elements or systems are used alone. 

I would like to share with you some synergistic concepts used in the design of my house and show you how (more…)

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Which part of the world does your bite come from?

It seems not just that many years ago, imported food was considered a status symbol, no matter what condition it was in when it finally arrived at the table.  This was just as true in Eastern Europe, where I grew up.  My mother used to be a “produce director” at one of the biggest grocery stores in town.  Once in the blue moon she would bring home what everyone called “deficit” goods.  Those included exotic nuts from India, baby fruit purées, and of course the mighty banana!  Gosh you should have seen the looks in our eyes.  My sister and I were more excited to see a banana than most people buying a brand new hybrid today. 

Those days are long gone and now Europeans as well as Americans live in economies where food is so plentiful that we are faced with hundreds of choices of fruit and veggies from every corner of the globe.  Things change but today we’re facing a very different dilemma.  There is a growing awareness that the food that ends up on our dinner plates has a much higher price tag than what we actually pay for it with our hard earn dollars.  What does this mean? 

In many cases, Western society routinely purchases food that was grown more than 1000 miles away and transported to the local grocery store.  While food prices in the store are relatively inexpensive, the environmental cost of transporting our food is often very high.  You see, all these trucks, trains, and boats, all of which consume fossil fuels, are the primary methods for transporting large quantities of food around the world.  Inevitably, transportation of these goods leave a trail of pollution and produce (more…)

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It’s been official for months now – California again is facing water crisis. Unusually dry and hot weather had eroded our priceless Sierra snowpack, the supply of much of our water.  Our local reservoirs have been low for years now. In addition, water demand in beautiful state is growing each year and our sources of water are drying up.

Climate change models demonstrate that California will become a much drier place in our lifetimes.  Not only precipitation will likely decrease, but our precious Sierra snowpack is expected to shrink and leave of only with 10% of its current capacity.

Even more interesting, according to the California Energy Commission, 20% of our state’s electricity is used for the treatment and pumping of water.  Groundwater pumping has greatly shrunk our underground aquifers.  Parts of the San Joaquin Valley has now seen soil level drop 50’ from the removal of groundwater. Every single river in California has been dammed, wiping out fish populations, including endangered Chinook salmon. Two out of five most endangered rivers in the U.S. are in California. 

Let’s face it; this is not our grandkid’s head ache. Very soon water will become a treasured commodity.  Sadly, you’d never know it by the way we are dumping it down the drain. A traditional home has potable water piped in from a local water supplier. Amazingly, one half of this water is used for irrigation, where potable water is absolutely unnecessary. Almost all the remainder is used for non-potable water needs in the house, where it is then flushed down the drain to our local sewage treatment plant.

Now that sewage plant spends an enormous amount of time, money and energy treating this so called “greywater” like raw sewage.  This makes no sense, does it?

Here are two ways to re-use water already available to us (more…)

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For obvious benefits, many home owners will remodel their home before putting it on the market for a better re-sale value. Being a busy Realtor, my job requires touring a lot of home listings. What I notice is that following the advice of their agent, the majority of folks pick granite counter tops as the choice to update their kitchens and appeal to the modern buyer. But is granite a true must when it comes to style?

Mining of granite so that our kitchen counters can look just like everyone else’s is not only becoming boring but is also blight on the environment. You see, most of it is quarried from an open-pit mine, which then just becomes an open pit that is often used as a landfill. Plus there’s the issue of how far the granite has to be transported and the carbon footprint it leaves behind. Some of the mines are in desert areas of the United States, but others are in China and India. That’s one long way for it to travel before it reaches our kitchen. That is not necessary.

If you are in a mood for a chic new look and a much more sustainable product check out recycled glass counter tops. You may be absolutely stunned by how great this product looks (I sure was). Your friends will always inquire about it and drop their jaws when they find out how it’s made.

At the West Coast Geen 2009 I interviewed Ryan Bloom. He works with IceStone products for Cerami Inc. In this video Ryan briefly discussed environmental impacts of granite mining and provides an overview of the new recycled glass countertops. It’s only 3 minutes long so enjoy!

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