Green Building : Jetson Green

Tiny House Iterative Design Process

In the news, there's a lot of talk about process journalism and using a feedback loop to evolve stories.  It made me think about iterative design and the potential role of blogs and new media to transform projects.  Probably, one of the most interesting and current examples I can think of comes from Michael Janzen, who's behind Tiny House Design, Nine Tiny Feet, and Tiny Free House, among other ventures.  Using Google SketchUp, Janzen transformed a shed cluster (through comments, analysis, feedback, and subsequent iterations) into a sustainable dogtrot home.  Check it out:

ReModern Movement, Is Now The Time?

Chances are, if you've ever researched modern homes online, you've seen the name Gregory La Vardera.  In addition to maintaining a house plan blog (and contributing to a number of other sites and forums), he's on Houseplans.com, Twitter, Tumblr, Flickr, and probably a thousand other services.  Frankly, he's all over the place, and he's trying to incite the kind of housing rebellion we're interested in seeing.  In a blog article dated May 14, 2009, La Vardera describes the ReModern Movement -- a time when people build their own modern or green house -- and provides a list of reasons for why now is the time:

The Venus Project, a Total Redesign of the World

The great American architect Daniel Burnham once said, "Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men's blood."  The Venus Project is no little plan -- it's a proposal for a total redesign of the world.  From cities on the sea to mass transit, mega sky scrapers, and even colonies in outer space, it covers every angle.  Furthermore, it proposes to achieve all of this by switching to a resource-based economy and adopting radical lifestyle changes.  The plan is large, thoroughly documented, and beautifully rendered.  The architecture even comes with plans to build the machines needed to build these massive structures.  Here's a look at just a couple of the many concepts ...

Seven Green Trends to Watch in 2009

Last year I talked about five green building trends and most of that, generally speaking, was spot on.  This year's going to be a little tougher nut to crack, however, because things are changing every day.  After a week or two of new information, it could be that everything below will not make sense any more.  I don't believe that will happen, but it could.  Anyway, to cut to the chase, all of this is informal and anecdotal.  I'm making these predictions based on approximately thirty years of seeing, studying, reading, working, and observing as a human being.  You will certainly have a different perspective, but hear me out.  When you're done, make sure to tell me what you think below. 

Thoughts on Al Gore's Five-Part Plan to Repower America

I've always been kind of irked by the fact that President Reagan, after having the White House's leaky roof fixed, never replaced the solar hot water panels installed by President Carter.  But it's hard to judge him because I was barely crawling at the time -- I have no idea what was going on in the collective conscious of that generation.  I mean, Al Gore mentions in Sunday's Op-Ed in the NY Times that President Nixon established Project Independence 35 years ago with a goal to, in seven years time, develop the potential to meet our country's energy needs without having to rely on any foreign energy sources.  Yet, that never happened and Reagan's act, the way I see it, symbolically shut the door on the possibility of American energy self-reliance.  At least for the time being. 

California Finds the Missing Piece of the CO2 Emissions Puzzle

This article was written by Charles Lockwood, a green real estate authority and consultant based in southern California and New York City.  His articles have appeared in the Harvard Business Review, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Barron’s.

California—the state that invented freeways and suburban sprawl—has become a trendsetter again, and not a moment too soon in our new age of global climate change.  In October 2008, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law SB375, which was supported by environmentalists, homebuilders, and cities and counties.  SB375 will limit the state’s CO2 emissions by curbing suburban sprawl and increasing transit-based development through various incentives. 

If a community plans walkable, mixed-use, transit-oriented growth that reduces automobile use and greenhouse gas emissions, for example, it gets moved to the front of the line for state and federal transportation funds.  If a proposed building is located near a transit line, it will have an easier environmental review process.  Why is SB375 important?

Green versus Greed by Rick Fedrizzi

On Friday Rick Fedrizzi, founding chairman of the U.S. Green Building Council and current President and CEO, sent out a letter to USGBC constituents to address general market concerns relating to the economy and future of green building.  I thought the letter was interesting because he mentions something I've been thinking about for over a year now: the allocation of sustainable accountability.  Whether it's the newest green ad campaign or some politician's promise, I feel the prevailing mentality is that the government or businesses or someone else, someone other than me, is going to help us figure out the toughest of tough issues.  Anyway, I don't want to put words in the venerable Mr. Fedrizzi's mouth, so here's the letter if you didn't get the email yesterday:

Will There Be One Global Green Building Standard to Rule Them All?

This article was written by Phil Clark who blogs about green building and development in the UK at Zerochampion.  Make sure to come back after visiting his site ...

Will there ever be one green building standard to rule them all?  It’s an interesting question given the explosion of new ones that are emerging around the globe: in the past month news has reached us over here of a new standard planned by the recently German Sustainable Building Council (this was discovered by Building Sustainability columnist and U.S. expert Jerry Yudelson, a reference of which is in this article) and of a new guide for eco-friendly projects in New Zealand.

Prefab is Not The Answer to Affordable, Modern & Green Homes

This article was written by Chad Ludeman, President of Philadelphia-based postgreen and developer of the much talked about 100k House.  Make sure to come back after visiting his websites ...

Prefab homes seem to be showing up more and more in the media these days, especially with two large exhibits in Philadelphia showcasing their history this year.  Like many, I hoped that prefab would be the answer to bringing modern architecture to the masses in the US and beyond.  I thought that finally, modern home design would be attainable by those of us who aren't pulling in lofty six figure incomes. That was until I conducted extensive research into the possibility of starting a development company in Philadelphia using only prefab homes.

Don't get me wrong, I love prefab and many of the firms out there with cutting edge designs in the prefab realm.  There are also a variety of building lessons that can be learned from the prefab methodology.  I just don't believe it is the best way of delivering modern design to the average new home buyer.

Below we will look at this issue from two points of view.  First, we will look at the prefab industry and try to dispel some of the myths that have arisen around it.  Second, we will take a quick look at how the housing industry may be able to learn from both prefab and site-built homes to create a hybrid approach that will provide a better, more accessible solution to the home buyer and hopefully reduce the barrier of entry to modern, green, and unique residences.

Names and firms have intentionally been left out of this post in an effort to discuss only the facts, dispel some of the myths of prefab, and possibly look towards a better method for bringing modern homes to the average American.

Must Follow Green Twitter Feeds

The venerable HuffPo just posted a list of what they call the "Best Green Twitter Feeds."  It's an okay list, but when you name streams like @Sprig (13 total updates and nothing in 7 days), @globalwarming (sporadic tweets with nothing in 7 days), and @greennews (sporadic tweets and nothing in 12 days), it's tough to take the list seriously.  No offense Sprig, GlobalWarming, and GreenNews.  HuffPo's list includes some stalwarts, don't get me wrong, but when you assume the title of "Best," you have to bring it.  You have to name more than sixteen or seventeen Twitter* feeds.  Right?

Anyway, here's my list (not a "best" list, just a list) of environmental and green related twitter folks that you might be interested in following.  To clear the air, we're @jetsongreen.  Some of the following are no different than straight blog feeds.  Some are mixed blog feeds with conversation.  Others are pure conversation.