Building buildings takes a lot of energy and once done the built structure continues to consume energy and have a carbon footprint. Many options exist to reduce the carbon impact of buildings from the point of construction all the way to deconstruction, but the industry still needs to adopt these
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Things Are Good: Architects Need to Build Their Knowledge to Build a Sustainable Future
Current popular building practices lack a nuanced approach to sustainability due to years of it being culturally ok to put future generations into ecological debt. Thankfully, things are starting to change and architects want to build a sustainable future, and fast. Prior to mass industrialization buildings were constructed using locally
Continue readingThings Are Good: Let’s Live in Mushrooms – It’ll be Fungi
Our current selection of building materials tend to be carbon intensive and can have long lasting unhealthy impacts on humans. This issue (and others) have led some to look into alternative forms of building which are healthier and sturdier than what we currently use. There have been attempts at this
Continue readingThings Are Good: To Build a Green Future We Need Green Buildings
Buildings suck up a lot of energy and thus are massive contributors to our collective carbon footprint. After they are built ongoing operational costs are incurred, and the costs are greater on buildings which are inefficiently deigned and built. This has led a team in the states to call for
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Tiny Homes Now
While sitting immersed in thought this morning, planning out my tiny house design, for the creation of a tiny home construction business, I hear a family walking down the street after the rain, and I think, how wonderful to hear families walking together, and talking happily. I stood up
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Green Homes: The New Gold Standard (Beyond Net Zero & Passive House Design)
The newest Earthship green home design would seem to be the best performing home design overall, beating typical Net Zero or even Passive House designed homes. However, it would be even better if 50″ or 60″ thick straw bales were used instead of tires and rammed earth for walls. Firstly,
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: A Revolution In Green Homes: Systems Thinking Required
Or, Revolutionizing The Leading Edge Think outside the box – outside ALL boxes, including the club we’re in. This short video presentation (below) is the best summary I have seen so far as to the core principles of leading edge green home design and building construction. It still
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Architecture & Home Design: Raising the Bar
This is my favourite home design so far. (Video below) Every home and building should be passive solar, and every home or building should be an Earth Home – meaning, it uses heating and cooling from the sun and the earth. Anything less is radically substandard, and in light
Continue readingThings Are Good: Timber Towers
Skyscrapers have been made out of concrete, glass, and steel since the first skyscraper was built. Before these building materials were used it was impossible to build that high – wood wouldn’t cut it. Wood wasn’t strong enough so steel had to be used for the core support structure. Thanks to new techniques, that we’ve […]
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Continue readingThings Are Good: Architecture Should Be A Story
For architect Ole Scheeren, the people who live and work inside a building are as much a part of that building as concrete, steel and glass. He asks: Can architecture be about collaboration and storytelling instead of the isolation and hierarchy of a typical skyscraper? Visit five of Scheeren’s buildings — from a twisted tower […]
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Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Hemp Revolution
Hemp has enormous potential to help us build an ecologically sound society. It can replace most uses of tree-derived paper products and lumber, thus saving vast amounts of forests. It can eliminate and replace most uses of synthetic fibres, which are used in clothing, furniture, carpets and textiles, and
Continue readingcartoon life: The staircase
More from Popsicolor savaging the work. These are photos documenting the progress of the stripping and refinishing of the staircase. The filters put the image in a space I wouldn’t normally imagine. Filed under: art Tagged: bones, building, filter, filters, house, old fashioned, Popsicolor, staircase, stripping
Continue readingThings Are Good: People Recycle More in Green Buildings
Researchers at UBC have studied the recycling behaviour of people who work in green buildings to those who don’t and found that – regardless of their past habits – people in green buildings recycle more. This is really nifty because it proves that design of an interior space alone can
Continue readingCarbon49 - Sustainability for Canadian businesses: Obama’s State of the Union Address on Climate Change
“If Congress won’t act soon to protect future generations, I will,” says Obama in his 2013 State of the Union address which devoted a substantial portion on climate change. Direction is set for more oil and gas drilling, but also more funding for electric cars and energy efficient buildings. The
Continue readingCarbon49 - Sustainability for Canadian businesses: Ontarians Want More Sustainable Communities
Eight-nine per cent of Ontarians feel their communities would benefit environmentally and economically by incorporating green alternatives, according to a new survey conducted by Research House. Green product manufacturers and suppliers may look into upcoming community development projects such as public parks and community centres for potential collaboration opportunities. The
Continue readingThings Are Good: Bamboo is Super!
Bamboo grows quickly and so to is the market for bamboo. The plant can be used for many different things from building to bicycles, but what’s so great about it today is that more construction sites are aware of how great bamboo is. Bamboo can be used to build stand-alone
Continue readingThings Are Good: The Growing Industry of Green Cement
Cement is a very popular building material for a lot of good reasons, the problem though is that the process of making it requires a ton of energy. This problem has led to a growing number of people looking into ways to make cement less damaging to the planet. We’ve
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