MARY'S "MEANDERING"

It's funny what you notice when you live with, travel with, and work with architects, designers, urban planners and landscape architects....  Larry Gilland and I came to Grand Junction for him to attend some classes, and me to wander the streets, (and get some work done too).

I don't know the Urban Planner "Lingo", but the streets of downtown Grand Junction were designed in a way so that the traffic moved from one side of the street to the other in a serpentine fashion with bits of diagonal parking on one side or the other depending on which way the way the traffic was flowing.

There were lots of great sculptures along the way, and it made for a very nice, pedestrian friendly downtown (except for the 100 degree temperature the day we were there).  John Olson and Colorado Springs Urban Intervention would be proud of me for noticing that you could sit either way on the benches, facing into the street, or into the shops.
It's always fun to explore what other cities have done with their downtown areas, and I'm excited to see what is happening in Colorado Springs.
 

While we were there we drove to the Gateway Canyons Resort for dinner, and the scenery was s
stunning.  There is only ONE who could design the structure shown behind Larry in this photo.

Greenhouses

Do you live in a cold-snowy arid climate? Do you struggle to keep your plants alive? Would you like to have your own permaculture-based indoor oasis for you and your plants that is warm everyday? It might seem like a fantasy, but this is the scene you can create in a tropical permaculture greenhouse of your very own. 

Permaculture gardeners embrace Mother Nature’s systems and attempt to replicate her genius and efficiency in their designs, and there are a number of permaculture practices on display throughout forest gardening, maximizing edges, capturing and harvesting energy (see our article on Photovoltaics), and producing no waste. Minimizing the miles your food travels, eating fresh produce and spending time around green living things doesn’t have to stop with the end of summer. A greenhouse is not only a microcosm of plant life but also a testing ground for permaculture principles and your imagination. 

In a permaculture greenhouse, the ethics of caring for the Earth, caring for the people and sharing of the surplus overlap and support each other in every design element. You can kick back and relax while enjoying the fact that your self-indulgence is a self-sustaining ecosystem. Besides, who does’t like to taste of homegrown foods that you can watch grow?

Home Energy Rating’s Explained

When first getting into the realm of Home Energy Ratings, the lingo can be slightly confusing. HERS, the Home Energy Rating System is based on a home’s energy rating, which is an analysis of a home’s energy performance that includes energy modeling with accredited software. The HERS Rating is based on the HERS Index, the official number that comes from the rating. A home that just meets code has a HERS rating of 100. For every point above or below 100, the home is that many percentage points less or more efficient than the same home built to code. Lower numbers are better, they mean the house is more efficient. For example, a HERS Rating of 30 means that this home performs 70% better than the same home built just to code. A HERS Rating of 0 means it is a Net Zero Home which means it produces as much energy as it uses each year. 

How can you improve your HERS Rating?

A HERS Rater can do a comprehensive rating on your home to assess its energy performance. There energy rating will consist of a series of diagnostic tests using specialized equipment, such as a blower door test, duct leakage tester, combustion analyzer, and infrared cameras. These tests will determine the amount and location of air leaks in the building envelope. the amount of leakage from HVAC distribution ducts, the effectiveness of insulation inside walls and ceilings, and any existing or potential combustion safety issues. Some other variables that are taken into account include floors over unconditioned spaces (like garages and cellars), attics, foundations, and crawlspaces, windows and doors, vents and ductwork, water heating system and thermostats. These tests will allow you to fix any problems that may be decreasing your HERS Rating. Using these tests will give insight into potential issues in your home. For more information on common issues during the building process, check out our other articles on Building Sciences. 

Once the test have been completed, a computerized simulation analysis using RESNET Accredited Rating Software will be used to calculate a rating score on the HERS Index. 

Whether building a new home, remodeling an old home, or if you are just curious about the rating and efficiency of your home, the HERS Index is one of the most widely known and used tests around.  

Photovoltaics

Photovoltaics, also known as PV Panels, are used to convert solar energy into direct current electricity. A photovoltaic system employs solar panels composed of a multitude of solar cells to supply usable solar power. This form of energy has been long seen as a clean, sustainable energy technology that draws upon the planet’s most plentiful renewable resource, the sun. Direct conversion from sunlight to electricity occurs without any moving parts or environmental emissions, making it an eco-friendly alternative to common fossil fuels and natural gases. 

Since the first designs of solar panels more than 50 years ago, the efficiency and price of PV Panels have greatly improved. After hydro and wind power, solar power is now the third most important renewable energy source in terms of globally installed capacity. More than 1000 countries use solar PV regularly. Large installations are often ground mounted, however, typically they are built into the roof or walls of a building for residential and commercial use. 

In 2013 alone, the fast-growing capacity of worldwide installations of PV Panels increased by 38% which is sufficient enough to supply about 80% of the electricity demand worldwide. China, followed closely by Japan and the United States, is the fastest growing market, while Germany remains the world’s largest producer, contributing almost 6% to its national electricity demand. Using PV Panels is a highly powerful step toward the future of our planet. 

Photovoltaics are best known for generating electric power by using solar cells to convert energy from the sun into a flow of electrons. The photovoltaic effect refers to photons of light exciting electrons into a higher state of energy, allowing them to act as charge carriers for an electric current. The solar cells must be protected from the elements and are often packaged tightly behind a sheet of glass. 

The first practical application of photovoltaics was to power orbiting satellites and other spacecraft. Today, however, the majority of photovoltaic modules are used for grid connected power generation, although many are using PV Panels to reduce their grid dependencies, in hopes of going “off-the-grid”. Electric vehicles are also well known for trying to integrate the useful system. 

As technology improves, photovoltaics will be less expensive and more efficient to use on an every day basis. They are the next up-and-coming idea for the future of power and clean, green energy. 

Bungalow Style

Bungalows are very convenient for the homeowner in that all living areas are on a single-story and there are no stairs between living areas. A bungalow is well suited to persons with impaired mobility, such as the elderly or those in wheelchairs.

A bungalow is a type of building. Across the world, the meaning of the word bungalow varies. Common features of many bungalows include verandas and being low-rise. In Australia, the California bungalow was popular after the First World War. In North America and the United Kingdom, a bungalow today is a residential building, normally detached, which is either single-story or has a second story built into a sloping roof, usually with dormer windows. Full vertical walls are therefore only seen on one story, at least on the front and rear elevations. Usually the buildings are relatively small, especially from recent decades, however, early examples may be large, in which case the term bungalow tends not to be used today.

The term “bungalow” originated in India, deriving from the word baṅgalo, meaning "Bengali" and used elliptically for a "house in the Bengal style". Such houses were traditionally small, only one story, and had a wide veranda. The term was first found in English from 1696, where it was used to describe "bungales or hovells" in India for English sailors of the East India Company, which do not sound like very grand lodgings. Later it became used for the spacious homes or official lodgings of officials of the British Raj. It was well known in Britain and later America, where it initially had high status and exotic connotations, and began to be used in the late 19th century for large country or suburban houses built in an Arts and Crafts or other Western vernacular style—essentially as large cottages, a term also sometimes used. Later developers began to use the term for smaller houses.

Neighborhoods of only bungalows offer more privacy than similar neighborhoods with two-story houses. With bungalows, strategically planted trees and shrubs are usually sufficient to block the view of neighbors. With two-story houses, the extra height requires much taller trees to accomplish the same, and it may not be practical to place such tall trees close to the house to obscure the view from the second floor of the next door neighbor. They are a very cost-effective way of living. On the other hand, even closely spaced bungalows make for quite low-density neighborhoods, contributing to urban sprawl. In Australia, bungalows have broad verandas and as a result are often excessively dark inside, requiring artificial light even in daytime.