Green Construction and Remodeling

• The City of Santa Monica’s Residential Green Building Guide is downloadable at http://greenbuildings.santa-monica.org/whatsnew/moreinfo.html.

• The City of Austin, Texas has developed a green building sourcebook that provides installation guidelines, estimated costs, potential uses and schematic diagrams. The sourcebook is available on-line at www.greenbuilder.com/sourcebook.

• Building Green publishes the Green SpecTMDirectory which provides up-to-date information on green building materials and products. Contact them at 802-257-7300 or visit their website at www.buildinggreen.com to purchase the Directory or receive their newsletter.

• Energy saving building materials and appliances can be found on the web at www.energy-efficient-products.com and www.ebuild.com.

“Green” building also strives to minimize the amount of pollution and waste created during construction. This means using the least amount of raw materials, purchasing the least-toxic materials, and keeping all waste on-site until properly disposed of at a landfill or recycling center. Keeping construction waste on-site is also required by law. See the City or County stormwater ordinance that applies to you, or contact your local stormwater manager to find out more about regulations that may pertain to your project. Always do your research before hiring a contractor to find someone who knows and follows all regulations concerning construction runoff. Even a “small” remodel can contribute a large amount of gravel, dirt and hazardous materials to watershed drainage without proper management.

Remodeling: Encountering Hazardous Materials

Keep in mind that asbestos and lead compounds are found in the construction materials of many homes built before the late 1970’s. These materials can be hazardous to your health if not managed properly.

It is very important that only licensed and certified contractors manage asbestos and lead services.

Contact the California State Contractor’s License Board at 800-321-2752 to find a licensed contractor. For a list of contractors certified to manage lead, contact the California Department of Health Services at http://www.dhs.ca.gov/childlead/html/B40-la.html. For general information about lead, contact the National Lead Information Center at 800-424-5323 or http://www.epa.gov/lead/pubs/nlic.htm.

Resources for Lead Removal

Lead Removal and Abatement Services:

• AFM Environmental 707-452-0966

• CalTec Environmental Inc. 707-257-3564

• Northern Abatement Co. Inc. 707-557-2590

Living off the grid

In our modern lives we depend heavily on service providers and their systems for many of the resources we need to live. For most of us, a power company delivers electricity and natural gas (generated at power plants all over the Western United States) to our homes. Water comes to us through an elaborate pipe system from another County, or the Sacramento Bay Delta, and exits our houses to enter a municipal wastewater treatment system. Phone service is wired into homes from a vast network of landlines. For a long time, this connectivity to the “grid” of municipal and large corporate utilities was considered to be the best civilized society could offer. For many people that is still true, and the “grid” provides all most people will ever need, or want

There have always been people who for some reason or other couldn’t hook up to one or more parts of the giant utility “grid.” Folks in rural areas need septic systems because they are too far from urban sewer lines. Some areas may have no easy access to power lines, or phone service. Some landowners prefer to be as independent of the giant utilities as possible, and so rely on solar or wind generated power, cell phones and independent propane or natural gas contracts. These people live partially or wholly “off the grid.”

Lately, with our increasing understanding of the long term costs of carbon-based energy, more and more people are looking to find alternatives to at least some part of the “grid” for their homes. The expanding field of solar technology has made it both affordable and easy for the average homeowner to generate all or part of their energy needs on their own property. Advances in passive solar design allow homes to require less energy to run from the start. If reducing your ties to the grid interests you, do your homework. Research what County code allows, what is feasible, and what is affordable. Figure out what your goals are, and what your tolerances are for maintenance and inconvenience: if you go off the grid, you will be your own utility, and it will be up to you to maintain and repair all your utility systems.

Resources for living off the grid

• Real Goods- Living off the Grid

  http://colorado.realgoodssolar.com/index.html

• Hardy Solar

  http://www.hardysolar.com/offgrid/