Green Building : Jetson Green

November Monthly of Green Articles

It's been another record breaking month here at Jetson Green and we're excited to welcome all the new readers. Greenbuild 2008 was incredible and inspiring: In the future, we plan to speak more on issues of biomimicry and social equity in green building. In the meantime, we've linked to our main articles from last month and organized them below. There's tons of innovation in green prefab and home design, but there's also a lot going on with green innovation and products -- if you missed any, make sure to take a gander.

Envision Prefab Ships e-House to Florida

[Sponsor article from Envision Prefab]

UPDATE 3/16/09 - Envision Prefab has gone dark.  The website was shut down.  Apparently, the company was sold to some company in Panama -- Aaron Newman says the terms of the sale are confidential.  If you have any concerns, feel free to contact us. 

Container architecture has taken on various forms over the last few years. We’ve seen many building types constructed with creativity as architects and developers experimented with cargo containers, from office buildings to apartments, and single-family homes. South Florida based company, Envision Prefab, is bringing container architecture to a new level by creating complete modular housing out of these frames. Envision has tracked the progress of a model home from its initial cutting and through the factory process, ready to be shipped. If you've ever thought about using containers in home design, make sure to read below:

Healthy Buildings, Green Jobs, Net-Zero Energy Buildings, + Green Funding

• Green projects may have an edge in getting funding.
• Sustainable building is a necessity, not a trend.
• Green homes: solar energy versus energy efficiency.
• Green nightclub trend hits New York.
• Sometimes green buildings may not be healthy buildings.
• Will Obama's stimulus plan spur green jobs in U.S.?
• Upstate NY office makes more energy than it takes.

Blogs worth reading: Green Inc. + Earth2Tech.

Shout Out for Thanksgiving 2008

Hope you're all enjoying this fine autumn holiday and hanging with friends and family. Not to get all historical and such, but Thanksgiving has some interesting roots. It's my understanding that the holiday we now recognize harkens back to when the colonists and natives got together and had a meal of thanks in celebration for the harvest. Imagine all the work and sweat and travail that went into the harvest. Imagine those years when the harvest was slim. When the harvest was abundant. Life is crazy like that.

I certainly have nothing to complain about and want to shout out to you for your readership, comments, emails, and friendship. Let's turn this thing up another notch over the next year and meet back. And just so you know, posting on this end is going to be a bit slower because I'm with family and, well, wireless internet is sort of non-existent.

Image credit: Nature_photonutt.

Green Construction Starts Could Reach $140 Billion by 2013

Over the last month, I’ve seen several reports on green building, and we’ll try to address them all in due time.  With reports like this, though, we have to spread it out – this is geeky stuff, it’s not leisurely eye candy or anything like that.  But we like to follow the numbers in anticipation of future trends.  In that regard, the Green Outlook 2009: Trends Driving Change report by McGraw-Hill Construction has some interesting information.  According to the report, the value of green building construction starts was up five times from 2005 to 2008, with values escalating from $10 billion to $36-$49 billion.  Also, by analysis, the report estimates that construction starts could triple over the next five years and reach $96-$140 billion.

Green Blogs and the Environment

Last Thursday, I had the opportunity to sit on a Greenbuild panel with four other respected and popular bloggers: Lloyd Alter of Treehugger, Willem Mass of Green Home Guide, Stephen Del Percio of Green Buildings NYC, and Leigh Stringer of The Green Workplace (moderator).  In preparation for the panel, we sent out a survey and the basic results of that survey are embedded above.  Click through it, you may see some interesting information.  The panel raised several interesting issues, and some of those have been discussed below.  I also wanted to clarify my thoughts on things like Twitter and PR because I think my perspective may not have come through adequately.  First, let's check out the interesting survery stats:

Eleek Offers Recycled Metal Products

Eco-friendly hardware can certainly be a challenge to find, but Eleek Incorporated of Portland, Oregon offers a hip line of recycled metal hardware for your home.  Their offerings include door handles, door pulls, switch-plates, house numbers, and signs in addition to unique lighting options and beautiful recycled metal sinks for bath and kitchen. 

Reclaimed Space Prefab Minimizes Impact of Construction

Why not build a prefab almost entirely out of reclaimed materials?  That's what Reclaimed Space founder Tracen Gardner wants to do.  Mr. Gardner was in between contracting jobs and began constructing a portable building using primarily reclaimed materials.  In the process, he liked what he was doing so much that he decided to create Reclaimed Space to continue building modular, passively-designed cabins.  To start off with, the company will build spaces from 240 square feet and at prices in the range of $115 to $160 psf (min. $25k). 

Big Box Reuse, Carbon Neutral Zone, Green Tricks, + Smart Grid Money

• Blue is the new green.
• Green gap: who's doing all the green work?
• First carbon neutral zone created in U.S.
• Boston: an old city learns new green tricks.
• Debating the green building premium.
• Smart power grid will create ~$65 B industry. 
• Why are green apartments so rare in D.C.?
• Tired of high water bills?  Harvest the rain.
• Big box reuse grows as a phenomenon.

Blogs worth reading: Sustainably + Design Green.

Photo Tour: FROG Zero Classroom

The classroom of the future was on display throughout Greenbuild 2008 and it's safe to say that attendees were impressed.  Project FROG built the classroom using their FROG Zero system of modular construction -- a zero-energy building system.  What's interesting, though, is that the contractor, Fisher Development, assembled and finished it in six days.  And it's beautiful inside and out.  The company has received venture funding and can sell their classrooms for 25% cheaper than the competition.  Soon enough, we'll all be able to watch the proliferation of healthy, architecturally-designed learning environments.