As a member of the Dallas Green Building Alliance I feel it is necessary to let consumers know what green building programs are in our area.  Green Built Texas has been a valuable resource to the green community for some time now.  All members of the Dallas Green Building Alliance are members of Green Built Texas.

What is Green Built Texas?

Green Built Texas is a voluntary partnership of local home builders, industry supporters, and sponsors committed to creating awareness and interest in the construction of higher-performance, lower-impact residential homes in Texas. The program has a construction protocol that Home Builder Association (HBA) members have deemed essential in order for a home to be recognized by the program. Homes built to this protocol conform to higher standards of site management and waste recycling, water efficiency, indoor air quality, energy efficiency, materials, and homeowner education.

Membership in Green Built Texas is open to both Builder and Associate members of the Home Builders Associations in the State of Texas. Through special events and media outreach, the HBA endeavors to make homebuyers more aware of its green building program and its participants. Green Built Texas also provides educational seminars and is affiliated with the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) National Green Building Program as its certification processes offer an alternative method to Green Built Texas recognition. A similar agreement with the U.S. Green Building Council enables homes built to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Homes (LEED-H) protocol to enjoy the same benefit.

GBT is better able to serve its members thanks to the resources offered by these national programs. Meanwhile, the national programs benefit from a vibrant state and local initiative serving as a conduit for certification.

The HBA’s goal is to establish a green building program that is recognized by municipalities and consumers throughout the state. Green Built Texas has also established a program for low and mid-rise multifamily construction and will soon create higher levels of green building achievement that will allow builders to advance their building product to meet both consumer desires and their own business plans.

www.greenbuilttexas.com

Benefits of a Green Built Texas Home-click on this link to view benefits

http://www.greenbuiltnorthtexas.com/benhome.htm

Construction Protocol- Click on this link to view protocol:

http://www.greenbuiltnorthtexas.com/documents/GBNT_ProtocolVersion2_official.pdf

(Photo by Muffet)

Here’s a quick and easy way to save water. Try this do-it-yourself trick for your toilet tank.

Simply take two empty plastic bottles and weigh them down with either sand or pebbles (about 2”). Be sure the bottle fits the height of your tank. Then, screw on the lids and put them in your toilet tank away from the operating device. When the toilet is flushed, the tank will not fill up with as much water.

Julie Zidell

In one of our recent projects, we installed a rainwater harvesting system that captures 100% of the roofs’ runoff water. The water is captured through gutters and then routed into a 16,000 gallon tank. For this purpose we installed a “trunk line” all the way around the home’s perimeter. All the downspouts of the gutter system “feed” into this trunk line which is connected to the tank. The water is pushed into the tank by gravity and then pumped out when needed. One important aspect of the system is the pre-filtering system, on this project we used a product called “Gutter Foam”. You can find details about their product at http://gutterfoam.com. You can see in the picture that the foam piece is wedged in the gutter and prevents any debris from entering the system.

The tank is a galvalume tank with interior liner set on a sand & gravel base. It has a backup line from the city water meter in case the water level ever drops too low. At this point the backup kicks in and fills the tank to minimum level with city water. Water is pumped out of the tank with a Grundfos pump and filtered through a UV-filtration system. That way the water will not carry and “foul” odor, especially if it is used for toilets or exterior water faucets. In this home the rainwater harvesting system supplies 100% of the irrigation water and 100% of the water for all toilets and the washing machine. This dramatically reduces the use of city water and also helps with managing drainage around the homes’ perimeter.

The first thing that comes to mind when picking a lot for your dream home should be, which lot is going to save me money.  Can a lot actually save money?  Yes, with the help of solar landscaping.  Good landscaping practices offer one of the most practical methods of reducing energy consumption in homes. When done effectively, it can also increase real estate value and enhance the attractiveness of homes and communities.

Trees can significantly reduce summer temperatures.  Shading the roof of a house from the afternoon sun by using large trees can reduce temperatures inside the home by as much as 8 to 10 degrees.  If a home can be situated to take advantage of shade from existing trees on the southeast and west exposures, energy expended to cool the house can be reduced. Deciduous trees provide summer shade, and then drop their leaves in the fall.  This allows the warmth of the sun to filter through their bare branches in the winter and helps warm the home.  If there are no existing trees on a home site, tree selection and planting is still a good idea.  The temptation is to plant the fastest growing species available.  However, this is usually a poor choice for several reasons.  Trees that grow at more moderate rates usually live longer are less likely to break in wind and ice storms, and are often more resistant to insects and diseases.

Windbreaks obstruct and redirect the flow of wind.  As wind strikes an obstruction, it can move over, around or through it.  The extent of protection on the leeward side is related to the height and length of the windbreak.  Impenetrable windbreaks create a strong vacuum on the protected or leeward side, which reduces the protection.

In addition to traditional windbreaks, shrubs can also be used closer to the home for winter protection.  This is more practical for small areas and subdivision lots where space does not allow the use of conventional windbreaks.  For this type of protection, a combination of dense evergreen plants and groundcovers are most appropriate.  They should be planted close enough to eventually form a solid wall as far enough away from the house (about 4 to 5 feet, minimum) to create a dead air space.  The relatively still or dead air has much less cooling power than moving air, which can decrease the loss of heat through the walls.

As I was looking on the web for some information about bottled water, I stumbled on to this article. I feel that there is a bit more to building a green project, than products or services. I believe its a “Life Style.”  Wanting to do our part as individuals, check out this article below, and you will see why!  It might just make you think twice about “Bottled Water.”

Last year Americans spent nearly $11 billion on over 8 billion gallons of bottled water, and then tossed over 22 billion empty plastic bottles in the trash. In bottle production alone, the more than 70 million bottles of water consumed each day in the U.S. drain 1.5 million barrels of oil over the course of one year.

Ban The Bottle

Though the sale and consumption of bottled water is still on the rise, certain policy makers and activists have taken steps to reduce it. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order in June that bars city government from using city money to supply municipal workers with bottled water, and New York City, where residents consume nearly 28 gallons of bottled water each year, launched an ad campaign encouraging residents and tourists to forego the bottled beverage for the city’s tap, long considered some of the best water in the country. Even upscale eateries in Boston, New York and San Francisco have taken bottled water off the menu, offering filtered tap instead.
Improve Your Health
Not only does bottled water contribute to excessive waste, but it costs us a thousand times more than water from our faucet at home, and it is, in fact, no safer or cleaner. “The bottled water industry spends millions of dollars a year to convince us that their product is somehow safer or healthier than tap water, when in fact that’s just not true,” says Victoria Kaplan, senior organizer with Food and Water Watch, a nonprofit that recently launched a Take Back the Tap campaign to get consumers to ditch bottled water. “As much as 40 percent of bottled water started out as the same tap water that we get at home,” she adds. A 1999 Natural Resources Defense Council study found that, with required quarterly testing, tap water may even be of a higher quality than bottled, which is only tested annually.

Water aside, the plastic used in single use bottles can pose more of a contamination threat than the water. A safe plastic if used only once, #1 polyethylene terephthalate (PET or PETE) is the most common resin used in disposable bottles. However, as #1 bottles are reused, as they commonly are, they can leach chemicals such as DEHA, a possible human carcinogen, and benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP), a potential hormone disruptor. Also, because the plastic is porous you’ll likely get a swill of harmful bacteria with each gulp if you reuse #1 plastic bottles.

Noting that the federal share of funding for water systems has declined from 78 percent in 1973 to 3 percent today, Kaplan urges consumers to “support public policies that promote safe, affordable, public tap water for future generations.” Visit www.foodandwaterwatch.org and take the pledge to take back the tap, promising to choose tap water over bottled whenever possible and to support policies that promote clean public tap water for everybody. And meanwhile, invest in a safe, reusable bottle.

http://www.thegreenguide.com/food/buying/tapped-out/1

For generations, homeowners and business owners alike have used brick by brick masonry veneers to protect and beautify their buildings exteriors.  However, with the rising costs of raw materials and experienced labor, the extra costs involved with extended footings for brick ledges, scaffolding, cleanup, etc…, this is no longer a luxury most can afford.   Until now…

Performance Brick is a panelized product composed of up to 60% recycled gypsum; reinforced with high-density polymers. Molded with a no-repeat pattern; providing the natural surface texture of conventional handmade brick.

Performance Brick is the next generation in brick veneer. It is easy to install and can be installed 4 times faster than conventional brick. And with our “Fast-Track,” technology, Performance Brick can be installed year round in almost any climate with no specialized trade tools. Fast Track technology allows the panels to be screw-installed, followed by mortar application. Performance Brick Panels need no brick ledge or wider foundation for support and are suitable for both new construction and remodeling.The brick panels are water resistant, mold resistant and fire resistant. This is truly a product that has to be seen to be believed.

The fire-resistant bricks also resist mold, algae, insects, and UV rays. The non-porous panels are suitable for interior and exterior applications. The product offers a 50-year limited lifetime warranty. Performance Brick contains 60 percent recycled material, and is eligible for LEED or NAHB-Green credits.

For more information: www.performancebuildingproducts.net

Rainwater harvesting captures, stores, and diverts rainwater for later use. The captured water is used for landscape irrigation because the water is free of salts and other harmful minerals and does not have to be treated. Capturing rainwater for the landscape not only makes great use of a valuable resource, it can also save money on the water bill.

Harvesting rainwater not only reduces the demand on our city and state’s water supply, it can also prevent flooding and erosion by slowing runoff and allowing it to soak into the ground. Reducing run-off helps to reduce the contamination of surface water with sediments, fertilizers, and pesticides in rainfall run-off.

For each 1,000 square feet of the roof area or catchment surface of your home, a harvesting system can collect approximately 620 gallons per 1 inch of rain fall.

Catchment is the surface of your roof that rain falls onto and collects from. The catchment area a home is larger than the square footage of a floor plan. It includes garage, covered deck area, and the amount of eave overhang. The vertical slope of your roof does not increase your catchment area, so only the "footprint" of the roof should be considered.

(photo by Yuliya Libkina: Rain In Summer)

The mineral gypsum has many uses in today’s society.  In addition to the manufacture of drywall for building construction, gypsum is also widely used as a soil amendment, in the production of cement, and as an ingredient in the manufacture of many types of commercial products.  Since the gypsum makes up approximately 90% of the weight of a piece of drywall, if the gypsum can be recovered from the drywall, the majority of the material can be recycled.  Scrap gypsum drywall is currently being recycled in several locations in North America.  Examples include:

• The manufacture of new drywall
• Use as an ingredient in the production of cement
• Application to soils and crops to improve soil drainage and plant growth
• A major ingredient in the production of fertilizer products
• An additive to composting operations

Despite its successful use in many locations, most drywall in North America is still disposed in landfills.  Challenges to widespread recycling include collection and separation, low landfill disposal fees, and the need for more education of potential end users of the recycled material.

More and more markets are putting programs in place to recycle drywall. In DFW area PremRock Drywall Services, has a recycling program for builders or homeowners. They place a container on job site, for drywall only. After installation of drywall, the container is removed from job site, and taken to a recycling yard close to Fort Worth. The recycling yard implements the same examples listed above. The Drywall is weighed, and a ticket is issued, for third party verification. This program helps builders, and home owners that are building a “LEED,” certified project.