Lennar commits to SF

From Builder magazine's Feburary 22, 2006 issue:

"Lennar Homebuilding announced Wednesday that, beginning immediately, all of their new communities constructed in the greater San Francisco Bay market will be equipped with a roof-integrated solar electric system from PowerLight, a subsidiary of SunPower Corporation, as a standard feature. The launch begins with the introduction of Milano, a 77 luxury home development in Danville, Calif.

... Milano is one of 25 California communities that are under construction and using PowerLight's solar electric system. In addition to a one-time $2,000 federal tax break, home buyers will also receive a $5,000 to $6,000 California Energy Rebate and an average electric bill savings of 40 to 60 percent or up to $1,000 a year. Kelly says the cost to the consumers for the system is $23,000 to $25,000."

ASLA's green roof project

The ASLA (American Society for Landscape Architects) green roof project site lets you follow this particular roof from concept through execution. (There's actually a live web cam, so you can even watch the breeze hit the grass if you're so inclined.)

Their fact sheet generalizes the specs: this roof could accomodate up to 40 lbs./SF and used a dual-wave design to hide the HVAC system. And even though the cost details are a vague sketch, at $20/SF on the high end, the cost relationship of green vs. traditional is approximately 2 times, with a corresponding expectation that the green roof will last twice as long while reducing heating and cooling costs by 10-20%.

Don't stop there if you're seriously considering green roof technology: Check out the schematics from Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc., the project's architect.

Photo credit: ASLA

Because it's Friday...

Behold the Kohler Steward -- the company's waterless urinal whose profile is much, much more flattering than the traditional models'. We've been told (as we wouldn't know) that, unfortunately, these products are a plumbing nightmare because of crystalline buildup in the pipes. At $525 it's a hefty investment for more work, but it leads into the necessary discussion about whether we occasionally go too green too quickly, and miss better options like grey-water tanks, etc. Still, as they say:

"Waterless urinals can save 40,000 gallons of water per fixture per year, based upon a typical commercial installation. Further, this product has redefined the paradigm for urinal design and functionality by offering a virtually splash-free surface along with odorless, easy-to-maintain performance." More...

Brent Comber Gallery Collection

Each one-of-a-kind piece from Brent Comber's three colletions deserves to have the entire room all to itself, but they work so well paired with anything intricate and delicate (see his custom commercial work at Avenue's Other Blog).

The Vancouver designer was using sustainable pricinples before it was the "thing to do": "Most of our woods are reclaimed or recycled. Cedar, Douglas fir and maple come from fallen or already-harvested wood that would have otherwise ended up as wood chips or waste. We find our alder in places where “progress” (construction) is about to clear it out, for example, on roadsides and under power transmission lines. We ensure that our sourcing of wood supplies has minimal or no negative impact on the environment.

Every piece of wood we select has a story. We partner ourselves with individuals and small sawmills and manufacturers that share our vision and assist us in sourcing wood that we can bring to its full potential. They set aside odd-sized off cuts that make them less desirable for manufacturing but which, in our hands, can be transformed into beautiful sculpted solid wood furniture." Read more.

SF's Greenest Architects

KMD architects states that 90% of their projects are green (and almost entirely by clients' requests now, so the firm is spending less time selling the concept and more time executing it). They're not just pushing the commercial and residential curve in their office-headquarters town of San Francisco, but across Europe and in Mexico too. Their work is beyond compare and deserves more than a blog note, but their site conveys it much better than we can.

SF Environment Green Building Projects List

It's not entirely up-to-date, and doesn't include the new multifamily projects like Arterra (which many consider green or light green by relative standards), but SF Environment maintains a list of green projects in the city, as well as a (mostly) local green resource guide and an event listing for the EcoCenter (11 Grove Street, right across from the south entrance to the Main Library. Open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.).

Philadelphia Freedom

Philadelphia continues its progressive makeover by reviving the restaurant scene, courting gay and lesbian travelers, and entertaining re-used rubber and tires in sidewalk construction.

Slightly-Green Sale: 1401 Eddy Street #3

This 23-year old 1BR/1BA condo near Fillmore has a solar-powered hot water system and, at a sales price of $385,700 for its 588 square feet, went a nice 3.3% under asking in September 2006. And that, friends, is the cheapest home with some sort of green-ish attribute that closed recently in SF.

EcoSmart Fires

Featured above: "Vision"(left) and "Cube"(right). Freestanding modules that use flueless burners and EcoSmart fuel. At $4,000-ish for the fireplaces themselves, and about $15 per use, they meet the good ole joke that "green" means money. Still, we have to applaud where this is going... there's not a stove with a deserted-ski-lodge-look in the bunch.

IceStone - a Granite Alternative

Every builder who isn't looking to build green seems incredulous when we say we think granite's on its way out, all sustainability talk aside.

We haven't worked with IceStone yet in one of our projects, but have heard it doesn't stain the way the first line of products did, because the company has added more glass to the recycled glass/cement ratio and has come close to perfecting the sealing process, which is technically all they'd have to do to nearly stop staining. Cost-wise it's still 1 to 1.2 times the cost of a good granite countertop.

Scratch-resistant and precast, but customization is available: Showroom locator.

LEED, TOD, and L.A. Too

Kudos to The South Group of Los Angeles for not only developing to LEED certification standards in a prohibitively expensive construction market, but for its attempts to create a "neighborhood" with its three residential towers Elleven, Luma, and Evo. Not exactly mud huts, the residences won't meet die-hard green building fans' standards, but in a market like L.A. one could argue that there may not be 800 buyers who mandate "pure" green building and are also willing to live in, and pay $750,000 for, a (luxurious) box in the sky.

The projects' sales offices are located at 707 Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles.