You’d think bamboo floor is pretty cut and dry, but EcoTimber, a leader in the push towards environmentally-friendly flooring options, has found a way to innovate in this area.  They’ve just released a new, prefinished, strand-woven bamboo flooring that doesn’t look like your regular bamboo.  The top image is a blown-up version of the amber color (view others below).  Looks like a regular hardwood, doesn’t it?  It actually acts like a hardwood, too.  It took about two years to develop and can be sanded and refinished just like regular hardwoods.  With a suggested retail price of $5.99 sf, there’s no reason to stick with the old growth products.  Seriously. 

Here are a few green reasons to like this new EcoTimber Bamboo offering:

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I just received a tip on this modern, LEED for Homes-built home being built and sold in Portland, Oregon.  It looks like a great design for a tough, slanted site.  Located at 9130 SW 7th, this 1,982 sf home has a cool, two-story, up-down feel that’s common in townhouses, without the hassle and noise of a party wall (technically, it’s in the garage).  Nice.  I’m just going to roll through some of the green features, just to get a general idea of how green it is:  reclaimed Oregon Myrtle wood floors on second level, durable standing seem metal roofing, IceStone countertops, radiant heating system with solar hot water assist, whole house heat-recovery ventilation and air filtration, occupancy sensors for efficient lighting, rainwater catchment system, photovoltaic solar electric system, formaldehyde-free cabinets, and radiant concrete first floor, etc. 

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Zorlu Ecocity is a Llewelyn Davies Yeang project located in Istanbul, Turkey.  It’s a mixed-use development located at the southern extremity of Buyukdere Street in Istanbul.  The plan is conceptualized as a "city within a city" and conforms to the city’s planning strategy to multiply the number of urban centers throughout the Marma region to relieve pressure on Istanbul’s historic core. 

Zorlu Ecocity will have 588,850 sm (6,338,329 sf) of accommodation, which includes office towers, residential towers, two hotels, apartments, and resort-style elderly units above a three story retail complex.  In total, we’re talking about 14 towers ranging from 8 to 26 stories. 

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• Target’s future stores will be bigger and greener.  Oxymoron, what?
• In many communities, it’s not easy going green.
• New green REIT aims to make investing in green retrofits easier.
• How about award-winning landscape architecture for low-income housing?
• Let’s start thinking about geothermal as a renewable energy source.

*WIR = Week in Review; a Saturday showcase of excellent links.

We have to be skeptical with small wind because it’s been so shady up until now, but Mariah Power is seriously poised to release their vertical axis wind turbine this spring for $3,995.  This is incredible news.  They just passed the ETL (safety) certification and also comply with UL1741 and IEEE 1547.1.  Translation:  the Windspire is safe to go to market.  But you’ll notice that the Windspire features a new design, which is expected to produce about 1800 kilowatt hours per year in 11 mph average wind conditions.  That amount of wind power is roughly 25% of a typical household’s energy. 

The Windspire has several features that make it a likely candidate to dazzle the market.

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