Kitchen & Bath Sustainable

It’s the week of St. Patty’s Day and while I’m not Irish, I will be dropping the green puns and double entrendres.  Here’s hoping you find your four-leaf clover this week!

• Kohler has converted its entire line of residential bath and kitchen faucets available nationwide to comply with California AB1953 and Vermont S.015 lead regulations.  There’s stickers on the new products, a 1/2″ silver decal on the box to denote its compliance.  Read the full release here.
• Ecolok furniture doesn’t need nails or adhesives, and the pieces are made from FSC-certified woods–smart stuff, purported to be easier to put together than wares from IKEA (and with peripheral parts you won’t be searching around for that last thing to hold together your Hemnes–full disclosure, that’s the chest of drawers in my bedroom) and extremely functional because the line is designed by architects.  Check out an article about Ecolok on Treehugger here.
• Beer bottle trash house!  Beer bottle trash house!  Click on La Casa de Botellas to see photos.
• Did you know World Water Day is on the horizon (March 22)?  You didn’t?  That’s OK.  But word to the wise: Water efficiency is becoming just as important a consideration as energy efficiency.  TreeHugger explains why water labels are the new Energy Star.

More to come–happy Monday!

The Green BIM conference is coming up in Boston this May, which covers Building Information Modeling and sustainability which, according to organizers: ”These powerful trends are now converging as designers and contractors learn how to leverage modeling, analytical and simulation technologies to improve sustainable outcomes.”

For more info about the event, visit its Web site here.

ASHRAE 189 is the result of such a complicated process that the entire board that was developing it was disbanded and reorganized.  But it was worth it, reports GreenSource: ” the long-awaited first code-enforceable green building standard in the nation has been approved and published.”

Read the complete story here, via GreenSource and BuildingGreen.com.

In the preface to New Green Homes, architect Guillermo Hevia Hernandez spells out his doubts about sustainable architecture’s ability to impact the larger topics of global warming, ongoing and worldwide energy crises, and other topics of environmental calamity. Hernandez writes, “Sustainability is an issue that has come to the fore, although it is still not clear what this concept implies and whether it can be applied to all fields.” His honesty is refreshing, particularly because he goes on to write that the topic’s clarity or obtuseness should have no bearing on the practical reasons for building energy efficient, materially responsible homes–in fact, he seems to tie the architecture which does so to an ethical standard.

New Green Homes by Sergi Costa Duran, Ethel Baraona Pohl and Liliana Bollini, published by Collins Design, is a colorful tour through over 20 homes built using these sustainable practices, with energy- and water-saving features and environmentally responsible materials. From conception to completion, each project is lovingly detailed with an architect’s precision, covering terrain and climate challenges.

Whether the project includes passive solar, photovoltaics, renewable, recyclable or locally- and site-sourced materials, each home is cutting-edge in its use of available technologies.  Full color photos, relief maps of the site’s terrain and layouts with dimensions give a complete picture of the process by which each home came to fruition.

One striking similarity between all of the homes included is a constant biophilic angle to the overall situation of each home: whether it is incorporating a woodland setting or a skyline view, each home includes copious amount of natural light through scores of windows and a subtle marrying of outdoor elements to the indoors.

Last night’s State of the Union address featured some interesting moments, none more so for greenies than President Obama’s strong language on climate change–to meet a middle ground, all green topics have been related to jobs, clearly an important topic in our current economic struggles.

I’ve compiled a list of resources for green construction work for anyone who is currently looking, and it’s after the jump.  Good luck to all of you!

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