We have had the privilege of staying a night in the Phoenix, a Taos, New Mexico Earthship. These friendliest of eco-friendly homes were conceived by architect Michael Reynolds, nicknamed the garbage warrior. He fought for many years to build these off-grid homes and eventually succeeded in getting building permits. The Earthship design principles: Earthship.com: An Earthship is a radically […]
World’s Greenest Home, San Francisco: HGTV video
We visited Robin last fall on our ECO tour and we were amazed at the extent of the green features in her home. The previous post is here: San Francisco Solar and Wind Powered Home. Robin really has to be commended. She installed the first wind turbine in an urban setting. This was to her home in central […]
Worlds Greenest Home, San Francisco: part 1
Robin’s San Francisco home has the distinction of being the first home in an urban U.S. setting to get its electricity from a wind turbine… a fact that homeowner Robin wants to improve. Robin of Whirligig Wind Power spent a considerable amount of time working as an advocate to bring small wind power to urban environments. As […]
EcoNest® Straw Clay Home, Santa Fe, NM
Santa Fe is counted as America’s oldest capital city and has an abundance of adobe-styled homes and businesses. These buildings are distinctive, historical representations, that blend Spanish, Native American and other local cultures and are made by combining sand, clay, water and other fibres like sticks or straw. The look combines design elements of Pueblo […]
The Life Cycle of a Plastic Bag
Plastic never truly breaks down completely. Even the so-called biodegradable products don’t completely biodegrade because modern garbage dumps are not designed to allow this to happen. The only cure for the “proliferation” of this species is to stop using the product in the first place. Below is a great Mockumentary of the life cycle of […]
Introduction to Solar Photovoltaics
An easy to understand YouTube video to introduce you to Photovoltaics. How PV cells produce electricity
Community Solar Projects
I wrote a post on a the Sabin Coop Co-Housing Community in Portland. This featured 4 homes built on a single inner city lot. The homeowners shared a central courtyard, gardens, honey bees, yard duties as well as storage facilities and the list continues. The homes are positioned so the families can interact with each […]
The Dirty Truth about Recycled Plastics
I was on an island in the middle of the ocean, a few miles outside of Belize, no people for miles, yet there were piles of plastic bottles, bags and other plastic garbage washed up on the shore. This was a few years ago and it really opened my eyes to the amount of “recyclable […]
Passive Solar using a Water Wall
I have blogged before on my friend Jack’s passive solar home. He toured us last fall Bellingham, Washington: Passive Solar, PV and Solar Thermal home. Passive solar, combined with a good heat sink (concrete, stone, masonry, water) creates one of the most cost-effective methods to heat and cool your home. With passive solar you have few […]
Touch only Your Camera While Snorkelling or Diving
I live in Calgary, AB, Canada. An area landlocked by mountains on one side and prairie on the other. I have a love of water so when I get a chance to holiday then it is usually somewhere near the ocean. Last March, Mark and I took a trip to Roatan, an island off the […]
Planet Earth Forever
This one of my favourites.
Eco Fables
I have encountered a couple of stories in the last two days that help simplify and support some of the Eco ideas we have been working with. “A dog lies in the shade in the summer time. He lies in the sun during winter.” unknown author This one seems so simple and obvious. It is […]
Heat Recovery Ventilation
There are many reasons to install a HRV system and several of the homeowners we visited included one in their renovation or build. Having a system like this becomes really important when you have a well sealed home and no system of air exchange. Mark and I had one installed when we renovated a log […]
