Green Studio Blog

To Build or not to Build...

The markets continue to tank. It's a bear out there. We don't understand what will happen in the next week, month, or year. What should one do if, like my potential client Marina, one needs a bigger house, one's existing house needs repairs and investment, and one can't find a suitable house in the area?

To build or not to build...how does Marina answer that question? After analyzing this dilema from all angles, it is still not clear what she is to do, given that the price of land, of construction, of services, are all in question at the moment. We don't know if they will hold. The demand is shrinking, people are nervous about the future, and it feels like and odd time to stretch into one's next house.

"Can we build green, at a moderate price per square foot?" Marina asked. "It's not even in question", I answered. To make any move towards the future, to take risk at this moment in time, it's GOT TO BE GREEN.

I tell my clients that, not unlike the correction in attitude that is happenning in the markets, we must correct the reasons and expectations behind building a house, altering the human landscape, changing the Google map cyber space.

#1- It's not worth our collective effort and price to build anything but green.
#2- It's important that we build green for our personal enjoyment and not just for resale value.
#3- Expect that if you are building green and the house of your dreams, that you should live in it at least 5, probably 10 years to capitalize on your investment.
#4- Embrace the lifestyle and new and different joys that come with living in a green house
#5- In the resale market of the near future, the inventory will be divided into green and not green. Green will always be a better investment.

As I write this blog, I'm already planning on picking the perfectly ripe, sweet papaya from my backyard for breakfast; a perk of having a green home and garden. As for the stock market, I called my husband to buy me Apple, and he asked how many, and did I need milk too. I meant for him to buy me Apple stock, when it was at an all-time low. Monday we will have a new chance to build green or to buy Apple. It's all about investing for the future, wouldn't you agree?

Could the Radon in your granite make you sick?

My friend Connie called today. She is remodeling her country house kitchen, wants to do it as a green
remodel, and prefers to use granite for its natural and longevity qualities, but is concerned about the possibility that the granite she has chosen emits Radon. Did I have a list of countries from which one should avoid getting granite slabs?

Connie- I don't have such list, but I have some knowledge about naturally occuring Radon. For the record, I tested my granite slabs for Radon, 6 months ago, under the pilot program in Houston conducted by the non-profit Build Clean, and the tests were negative. It was important to ascertain this, because - unlike Connie's 100 year old farm house that is built like "swiss cheese"- my green, Energy Star, high efficiency home is built tightly, and Radon can and will acumulate in the indoor air.

Is it possible that we are endangering our families by introducing natural stone in our homes? It is.
The best research on this subject has been done by Rice University Professor W.J. Llope, who published his research in April of 2008. According to Professor Llope,"naturally occurring Uranium nuclei decay into
an element called Radium, which produces an unstable gas called Radon. Breathing airthat contains radon thus deposits radioactive elements directly into the soft-tissues of the lungs and can cause lung cancer."

Is it possible to test the material before purchasing it? Not easily at the moment, but that time is coming, and it will depend on consumers getting serious about ascertaining that these natural materials don't come from quarries that have a high ocurrance of Radon. I'd like to see testing happening before the imported slabs arrive at our ports, given that in this capitalistic nation, if the material is here, it will show up in some unsuspecting victim's home.

If you are ready to know if your existing granite or stone countertop or floors are emitting radon ( it takes guts to deal with the possibility of having to change your countertops or floors), hardware stores sell Radon testing kits. Make sure that the one you buy states "“meets EPA requirements" and that it is listed in the National Radon Safety Board's devices list.

As for acceptable concentrations of Radon in your house, Dr. Llope states:"The EPA suggests
remediation for radon concentrations exceeding 2 pCi/L, and strongly recommends remediation for concentrations exceeding 4 pCi/L. These administrative limits are our best guide of what levels of exposure are dangerous and what levels aren’t. However, there is no safe amount of radiation or radon."

What can we do if we find the aforementioned levels of Radon in our homes?

If you own natural stone countertops, here are some suggestions from Dr. Llope's report:" Ventilate your home as often as possible by opening windows - this exchanges potentially radon-laden air from
the inside of your home with essentially radon-free air (at least in the Houston area)
from the outside. The radon concentration in an unventilated volume of air reaches its
saturation density in about 27 days - so open your windows for a half-day once every few
weeks. Make sure that you follow the manufacturer’s recommendations on the regular maintenance of your countertops, which typically call for regular resealing of the surface (once per year)."

Connie, I will add that before installation, the granite slabs can and should be sealed on all four sides. I don't believe in too much regulation, but when it come to our collective health, green building equals best practices, and our government needs to protect our people from ending up with high radon stone. Thank you for asking Connie.

Unsustainable Greed

Open your eyes, as we are living a history we thought only existed in the stories of the Great Depression of the older generation. We are now the generation with a story, and it's an unsustainable one. It is a story of boundless and irrepressible greed that didn't regard the well being of all Americans. It is also a story of lack of personal responsibility with regard to how we conduct ourselves, how much debt we have accumulated, and what value, if any, we are creating in society.

I sound old fashioned, but doing things right, for the good of society, and making sound decisions are not old fashioned notions; on the contrary, they are back in vogue. I didn't read that anywhere. I just know that after we come out of this economic and financial debacle, we will start seeing the return of principled thinking.

Principled thinking is what the new green economy is about. Green thinking was taking a hold in America, and my prediction is that it will grow faster as a direct result of the collective dissappointment we are experiencing in government and the financial institutions that were once the pillars of our country. It's about sustainability, dummy.

Our economy couldn't keep growing at the pace that it was growing. Our houses couldn't keep appreciating endlesslyat the rate they were; our debt -personal and national- couldn't keep accumulating without consequence. We were living unsustainably, and it has come back to bite us.

We continue to live unsustainably, given that all the arguments above can be used on the environment, on our communities, on our unsustainable houses. Principled thinking is what we need to use to do the right thing for our houses, our workplaces, our schools, our communities.

Principled thinking is green thinking without greed. Lets make sure ( without issuing credit default swaps) that our children inherit a sustainable world....even though it doesn't look good right now. ">Judge for yourself.