Posts tagged "LEED"

Urban Green Energy’s eddyGT vertical axis wind turbine in St. Louis suburb!

Castle Energy installed 32 wind turbines manufactured by Urban Green Energy as part of the Lexington Farm community’s sustainability initiatives. 32 homes were outfitted with Urban Green Energy’s eddyGT 1kW vertical axis wind turbine along with solar roof panels, significantly reducing the energy costs of the residents at Lexington Farms (Jerseyville, IL). Lexington Farms is the first LEED Platinum community of its kind in the nation. Each home is equipped with the following: 1000W eddyGT vertical axis wind turbine manufactured by Urban Green Energy 7200W photovoltaic roof panels ENERGY STAR appliances U35-rated argon gas filled windows R-21 wall and R-49 attic insulation Low-flow water fixtures and WaterSense toilets Sustainable landscaping with efficient irrigation systems Extensive use of recycled construction materials Solar and wind-powered streetlights Draft-reducing air-tight construction Low VOC paints Energy efficient florescent light fixtures Activated at the beginning of April 2011, the solar and wind devices have caused electric bills to drop from 0-0 to {video_description}- in a few short months.

Babcock Ranch – Solar City

Babcock Ranch in Southwest Florida is trying to become the worlds first city powered completely by solar energy, but critics say it can’t work with current plans.

Any Construction Waste Can Be Recycled, Even Drywall?

Yesterday, Daphne, my little niece came to me and told me that her friend at school told them that carpet could be recycled.

– No it is not recyclable, was my quick answer. It could be possible to use it again, but doubtlessly impossible to be recycled.

As she was keeping on arguing with me and even told me that those carpet recyclers had their own association in America. So I went online and searched it out. As it appear, the little girl was incredibly correct. I learned about the carpet recyclers association. Also there was also a construction waste recycler in my area that handle such items. I found about Recyconstruction and Recymobililer in my city : they recycle all  appliances, furniture, electronic material and construction debris. I spoke to an environment specialist, Jason, and he was explaining to me about all the material that are possible to recycle as of now.

– Carpet is shredded and recycled for its plastic content, it could either end up as a brand new carpet or anything else that is made of plastic.
– Wood debris are transported to an electrical factory, they use it to make power. The process is a smoke less fermentation that do not contribute to climate changes.
– Gypsum walls are going through machinery and shredded, paper and paint are removed, and the gypsum will either serve as fertilizer or serve to make new gypsum drywall.

And the same happens to each type of material. I found it incredibly amazing to realize that we are at that point. To those expecting to earn money selling their old chair or drywall, It would be important to add that there are fees to recycle those items.

– We used to work exclusively in the business of e-waste recycling a while ago. However, since at one point we were exclusively recycling the items that we were getting since it was not worth to sell it,  we started to charge a fee to some material that cost more to recycle than to send to landfill. When we realized that most people were interested in making a difference for the earth and were were OK with paying a little fee to cover our handling of the products, we decided to add extra recycling services that couldn’t be sustainable by their recyclable content to give an alternative to landfill.

– Fortunately, those services received an exceptional response, as it came to the market when people started to realize about their impact on the planet, personally or on a global level. Businesses and building managers are getting more aware of the green advantages, reason why more and more building managers are putting so much efforts to be LEED certified.