Happy Earth Week everyone!
I learned something new in the past couple of weeks. We recently closed on a house (yay!) and one of the first things I mused with our realtor about was, “should we install A/C?” The Bay Area in general has great weather, but the last few summers have had a few days here and there where temperatures were above 90 degrees, making it unbearably hot indoors as well. Today happens to be one of those days - yesterday, temperatures were almost 90 in our apartment, and today, it definitely went past the 90 F mark. It’s hard to resist the temptation to install A/C on days like this.
Anyway, our realtor mentioned installing an attic fan instead. Have you heard of these? During the summer, the temperature in your attic can get well over 100 F. Without an attic fan, heat gets trapped, and it makes your house warmer. An attic fan helps cool down your attic, making your house much cooler. IF you also happen to have A/C running, an attic fan improves efficiency; there’s less work required by your A/C unit to cool down the house. I’ve read that it can save up to 30% on cooling costs, so in the long run, it may be cheaper for you to install one in your own home.
By the way, attic fans are electric or solar. I think they may also come in hybrid versions but I haven’t seen any so far. We’re thinking of installing the solar fan since no energy would be required to run it. Now we just need to figure out where to buy one of these and who can install it. Anyone have any recommendations?
I’m in the process of house hunting, which is a long, tortuous affair. I won’t bore you with the details.
Anyway, our realtors always tell us to look at our potential neighbors and figure out whether they are the Clampetts - will they keep their yards nice and tidy, or will there be junk strewn out day after day, which could erode the value of your home?
The other day, we took a look at a house which had nice curb appeal, but the next door neighbor, while they were far from the Clampetts, had the most derelict looking treehouse in their front yard. It looked like it should be condemned. It definitely looked far from these cool “ecocoons” I’ve seen online. Have you heard of them?
Ecocoons are aesthetically pleasing, eco-friendly treehouses, with features such as dry toilets, rain water harvesting showers, bio mass heating and photo voltaic panels.
It seems like a concept at this point but if our neighbor had one of these in their yard, I don’t think they would be categorized as a Clampett. 
I’ve got real estate on my mind these days. I just hired a realtor to help me sell my townhome (hopefully not for a loss; I will be happy to break even!) and I’m looking for a new place to buy.
Unfortunately, I haven’t seen a ton of places that meet my (long list of) requirements. One idea that has really intrigued me, though, is buying a plot of land, as opposed to buying a pre-existing home.
This is old news, but Dwell Magazine (do you guys read this? It’s one of my favorite publications) announced a few years ago their line of pre-fab homes. According to Wikipedia, a pre-fabricated home is manufactured off-site in advance, usually in standard sections that can be easily shipped and assembled. They are generally earth friendly - typically incorporating sustainable materials and energy efficient design. The techniques used are designed to reduce waste and improve manufacturing & construction efficiencies.
I’m totally in love with the idea of getting a pre-fab home - it’s too bad that land in the Bay Area is not only scarce but expensive. However, I’d love to know if any of you have ever thought about pre-fab homes for yourself, or better yet, if you’ve taken the plunge and gotten one?
Anyone interested in going to Dwell on Design? It happens June 5-8 at the LA Convention Center, and includes an exhibition of 200 exhibitors, a Speakers Conference of 50 speakers, and full size Sustainable Pre-Fab Neighborhood built on site, as well as 16 Home Tours of private green residences and evening parties at the Dwell Ford Brady (www.fordbrady.com) and the Museum of Contemporary Art (www.MoCA.org).
We were contacted by the good people at Dwell, (or their people, anyway) and have some free tickets to the exhibition, discounted conference tickets, and access to a free electronic issue of the magazine. Enjoy!
Codes and Links:
- Registration Link http://www.dwell.com/peopleplaces/conferences/17691009.html
- Free Ticket To the Dwell on Design Exhibition: BDODEC
- Discounted Conference Ticket ($50 Off): GRP22SP
- Digital Issue of Dwell Magazine: http://www.zinio.com/delivery?issn=1530-5309&of=PHoneissue
Did you know you can build a house out of straw? Yeah, I didn’t either until someone at work decided to build one. But apparently it’s an age old building technique which is surprisingly relevant today. Some benefits of building using strawbale, including:
- Cost of materials - a 2000 sq. ft home requires about 300 ‘3 wire’ bales of straw, and cost only about $1000.
- Strawbale is a renewable resource, and helps lessen our reliance on wood.
- Strawbale houses are extremely well insulated, and are highly efficient
According to the Department of Energy’s Building Technologies Program website,
Properly constructed and maintained, the straw-bale walls, stucco exterior and plaster interior remain water proof, fire resistant, and pest free. Because only limited skill is required, a community house-raising effort can build most of a straw-bale house in a single day. This effort yields a low-cost, elegant, and energy-efficient living space for the owners, a graceful addition to the community, and a desirable boost to local farm income.
There are a variety of ways to build these houses, including adding strawbale in addition to a wood frame, or using the strawbale as load bearing walls - you just use rebar or something like that to hold the bales in place.
If you’d like to learn more about this, I’d recommend checking out the DOE’s great site, which has some background, some fascinating case studies, as well as information about other energy saving building techniques.
