Volunteering with the MLK Service Project

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Abe Kruger

Martin Luther King day is a time to give back and help your community. Since I live and work walking distance to the MLK center in Atlanta, GA I am constantly reminded of his message of peace, justice, and support for your fellow man. This year I volunteered with the 10th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Service Project held the weekend of January 14-16, 2012. Volunteers worked at senior citizens’ homes in the Oakhurst neighborhood of Decatur, GA. Continue reading →

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The Goal of Education and a Boy’s Love for Toilets

Posted on December 28, 2011 by Abe Kruger

The goal of education is prepare students for the challenges of life (both professionally and personally). This noble view may seem best suited for primary and secondary education, but I believe it’s just as relevant for professional training. This video of a child’s passion for all things commode reminds me that another goal of teaching is to instill a love for learning. Dustin not only loves toilets, but he also wants to learn more about them. By the end of a course I want my students to be just as excited about green building and driven to continue their educational journeys.

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Green Building Textbook: Becoming a Reality!

Posted on December 15, 2011 by Abe Kruger

This week I visited the RR Donnelley printing facility in Willard, OH. My goals for the trip were relatively modest: take a couple of photos of our book, Green Building: Principles and Practices in Residential Construction, rolling off the presses and to learn a bit about the printing process. The trip was a great success, thanks to the great team at RR Donnelley, especially my tour guide for the day Mike McLendon, and my companion from Delmar/Cengage Learning.

A typical cold and wet Ohio morning.

The drive from Columbus to Willard is about 85 miles of mostly farm fields. In typical Ohio fashion the weather was cold and wet. Despite the outside being thoroughly uninviting, I have to admit I have a soft spot for this weather. Something about it just feels very calm and peaceful. While Willard looks like a typical small town in the middle of crop fields, they have a surprisingly robust industrial base that includes CSX Transportation rail yard, Midwest Industries, RR Donnelley, Pepperidge Farm, and Mercy Willard Hospital. Impressive for a town of only 5,000 people! Continue reading →

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A Few Fun Stats

Posted on December 15, 2011 by Abe Kruger

Yesterday I was able to watch Green Building: Principles and Practices in Residential Building being printed in Willard, OH. The trip was a blast and I’m working on a blog post all about it (stay tuned!). In the mean time I want to share a few stats about our publisher, Cengage Learning.

  • Cengage is the second largest education publisher in the US and have grown by acquiring other publishers, such as Delmar who is publishing Green Building.
  • Cengage adds ~5,000 new products every year (books, DVDs, websites, etc.)
  • They reprint/reissue ~7,000 products every year
  • They have ~70,000 active products available

One more…their central warehouse in Kentucky is the second largest building in the state. Now I know where my next road trip will take me!

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This afternoon I’m hitting the road for Ohio where I will visit the printing presses of RR

Green Building: Principles and Practices in Residential Construction is shipping the end of December, 2011.

Donnelly to see my textbook, Green Building: Principles and Practices in Residential Construction roll off the presses. RR Donnalley, originally known as RR Donnelley & Sons Company, was founded in 1864. They are based in Chicago, IL and have facilities in nearly 40 counties. Despite so many options for printing locations, I’m excited our publisher chose Willard, OH because it’s relatively easy to get to and so close to my alma mater, Oberlin College.

There is no hiding the fact that I’m more than a little ready to hold Green Building in my hand. I first started discussions with the publisher, Cengage Learning/Delmar, almost three years ago to the day. Originally, I was going to be the sole author, but I quickly realized that was simply not possible. I opted to ask my friend, former student, and all around great guy, Carl Seville to partner with me. Even though I like to remind Carl that I taught his HERS Rater course, Carl was a renovator for 25 years and has a great wealth of knowledge. Carl uses the Green Building Curmudgeon as his nom de plume and is a frequent contributor to Green Building Advisor.

Aside from the simple joy of seeing 36 months of hard work turn into reality, I am also excited to learn more about the printing process. I’m curious to see what types of paper, ink, and recycling practices RR Donnalley uses.

I will post soon with my report from Willard, OH!

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Abe Kruger | 2 Comments

What’s in A Name?

Posted on November 16, 2011 by Abe Kruger

At the last Home Performance with ENERGY STAR (HPwES) stakeholders meeting (see my earlier post here), the issue of what will happen to the program’s name when it transitions from the EPA to DOE came up. Ok, “came up” may be an understatement. It was hands down the most contentious issue discussed at the meeting. The DOE explained that the EPA has committed to a one-year memorandum of understanding (MOU) that allows the DOE to keep ENERGY STAR in the HPwES name. The EPA ultimately owns the ENERGY STAR brand, though the program receives support from the DOE, and they want to be control of how it is used.  It is no secret that many believe that the name is cumbersome, too long, and confusing to consumers.  The strength of the name is that it incorporates “ENERGY STAR” and most consumers recognize that program.  But is that enough reason to keep the name?

Say it aint so- I’d hate to see HPwES go!
The word is officially out that the DOE views nothing as sacrosanct and that all aspects of the program are eligible for updates/improvements/fiddling including the name.  Yesterday Efficiency First started circulating a petition to keep the name the same. The argument goes that over the last ten years, home performance companies and local/state programs have invested millions of dollars in building the brand. While I understand this argument, when you look at the nation as a whole most people have simply never heard of the program. Today there are programs in roughly 35 states and over 110,000 homes have participated in the program. Some of these programs are statewide, but most are limited to specific metro-regions. By comparison, ENERGY STAR for Homes is a national program that has certified over 1 million homes. Sadly, I would suspect most homeowners haven’t even heard of the program let alone would they mind a name change. Continue reading →

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ENERGY STAR Multifamily

Posted on November 11, 2011 by Abe Kruger

Recently Kruger Sustainability Group (KSG) partnered with Performance Point out of Charlotte, NC to certify the Alta Glenridge Springs as ENERGY STAR. The project achieved certification under the Version 2.0 standards. The certification process for a multifamily project is nearly identical to detached housing, though sampling (inspecting only a portion of the units) is much more common given the “cookie cutter” similarity of the units. Wood Partners is the builder and owner of the apartment community. The project set out with the goal of achieving ENERGY STAR without breaking the budget and providing real value to their apartment customers. Although you wont find solar panels or other eco-bling on this project, you will find tight and well sealed building envelops.

Does the fact that this project strives for and achieves basic ENERGY STAR certification make it any less green? I would argue that the cliche of “various shades of green” holds true. Yes there are projects of a deeper shade of green, but the Alta Glenridge Springs is just as worthy as any other to proudly carry the ENERGY STAR.

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The Modern Snake Oil Salesman

Posted on September 5, 2011 by Abe Kruger

I’m excited to (finally!) unveil the new banner for the blog. The banner is hot off the presses from my friend, and yoga teacher, Laura Slate Shope. One of the driving forces behind No Faux Green is to provide me with an outlet to write about the green building industry. One week I may cover building science and the next large-scale renewable energy projects. The blog’s title is a response to the rampant use of greenwashing by marketers of everything from homes to bath soaps. Hopefully the irony of the green elixir will not be lost of readers.

Green-wash (green’wash’, -wôsh’) – verb: the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service. From: http://sinsofgreenwashing.org/

The green miracle elixir is a reference to the snake oil salesman archetype. Snake oil is a topical preparation made from the Chinese water snake (Enhydris chinensis). The fats and oils from the snake are high in eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) along with other fatty acids. EPA is an omega-3 fatty acid, which are commonly associated with fish and frequently taken as a dietary supplement. Traditionally the snake oil was used to treat inflammation and pain from such ailments as rheumatoid arthritis and bursitis. Although there was probably some validity to the effectiveness of traditional preparations, unscrupulous salesmen in Europe and the US sold formulations with little to proven benefit and contained probably just as much snake oil!

Today the use of the term has little to do with the actual snake oil medicine and is instead applied “metaphorically to any product with exaggerated marketing but questionable and/or unverifiable quality or benefit” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake_oil).

I think the first time I came across the snake oil salesman character was in Oklahama (Ali Hakim selling a “magic potion”) or an old episode of The Simpsons. Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson also had great fun playing around with the concept in their Say Say Say video. Today greenwashing is synonymous with yesterday’s snake oil salesman.

Do you have a favorite example of greenwashing or snake oil salesman? If so, please leave a comment!

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No Good Need Goes Unpunished

Posted on August 23, 2011 by Abe Kruger

One common refrain within the high performance construction community is that you need to “build it tight and ventilate it right.” In other words, as you tighten up buildings and reduce the natural air changes, you also need to bring in outside air through mechanical ventilation. The fear is that a tight envelope will trap indoor pollutants and increase occupant exposure. Today there is a growing chorus of voices raising concerns with weatherization programs that don’t require ventilation and source control measures when air sealing. Few would argue against air sealing, but it must be part of a systems approach to improving building performance.

Thanet Offshore Wind Farm. Photo by Nuon from flickr.com, used under a Creative Commons license.

Along a similar vein, a new study in Environmental Research Letters looks at the environmental impact of the first offshore wind farm in the Netherlands. When proposing new wind or solar farms, a detailed environmental assessment must be performed. The goal is prevent environmental “punishment” in exchange for the benefits of renewable power. There is a growing body of research on the impact of wind farms on bird and bat populations, but little has been done to establish the aquatic impacts of offshore wind farms. Thankfully, the research shows that there is little negative impact on the marine ecosystem- some species benefit from the wind farm, some lose out, and some are unaffected.

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LEED Funding Cut for Department of Defense

Posted on July 27, 2011 by Abe Kruger

Over the years the US Government has grown to become one of the largest supporters of LEED building certification. While many may assume this is due to some radical lefty conspiracy, it was in fact George W. Bush who signed Executive Order 13423, which set “goals in the areas of energy efficiency, acquisition, renewable energy, toxics reductions, recycling, renewable energy, sustainable buildings, electronics stewardship, fleets, and water conservation.” This relationship may soon come to an end, however, if the Republican congress gets its way. According to Chris Cheatham of Green Building Law Update the National Defense Authorization Act will “prohibit FY 2012 Department of Defense (DoD) funds from being used to achieve a LEED Gold or Platinum certification, however these certifications could be obtained if they impose no additional cost to DoD.” The bill goes on to also state that DoD funds may not be used to achieve LEED Gold or Platinum certification unless they impose no additional cost to DoD. Continue reading →

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