New York Times on Real Estate: Not the Green Issue
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto 
on 03. 6.06
Reading the New York Times Magazine section on Real Estate was frustrating, everything is so big, so expensive, so excessive. It was with relief that we found two items worth reporting: How to Build a Low-PVC, Reduced-Plastic, Polar-Bear-Sensitive House where Tony Grassi, a former chair of the Nature Conservancy built a very green and low- PVC house- (click on picture to enlarge) It was impossible to go completely chemical free but they manage to avoid formaldehyde, copper plumbing (copper mining produces arsenic) and PBDE flame retardants. There was also a brief article on Prefabs With a Modernist Sensibility" ::New York Times
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I was also disappointed in the lack of greenness in the massive NYT real estate magazine (not to mention the entire sunday paper)- a mere two page spread. But I suppose it's better than nothing...
I was also disappointed in the lack of greenness in the massive NYT real estate magazine (not to mention the entire sunday paper)- a mere two page spread. But I suppose it's better than nothing...
Pipe fitters union will love the black iron plumbing. The switch to lapboard shielding from pressed board, however, brings hidden trade offs, such as increased site labor costs and far greater wastage of lumber to sawdust per area shielded. We would need to know that the sawdust is either put in someone else's ply board or perhaps fermented into ethanol, for example, before it can be declared "better" to revert to this old technique.
This is the first time I've heard of PEX plumbing. Oh how I wish I knew about it before I re-did my sprinkler system!
Next time I run a supply line I'm definitely using that stuff--it is cheaper than PVC and better for the environment. Perfect!
-Riskable
http://www.riskable.com
"I have a license to kill -9"
PEX is pretty cool stuff with many benifits, reducing the amount of damage caused by prducing copper is one to add to the list. This Old House used it in a project last year. It can be pulled like electrical wiring and since there are fewer joints it saves on labor. The pipe connects to copper stubouts to hook up to fixtures. Wish I'd have known about it before replacing the plumbing in my house. I went from 45 year old galvanized steel (which was taken to a scrap yard for recycling) to copper. PEX would have been faster, cheaper and simpler to install.
Copper tends to prevent the growth of bacteria in the pipes. Does PEX have the same effect?
I find I have to look at Dwell Magazine to find anything that has to do with more down to earth real estate and design. However, sometimes I feel like I have to be the guy from Sprockets on SNL to want to live in those homes.