DISQUS

Mr. Sustainable · 1 year ago

This project is proof positive that energy utilities can be pressured peaceably but persistently to change their ways. For years, the environmental community told Duke Energy that it had to clean up its act and it turned a deaf ear. Yet, we persisted. Now, look at the results!

Ben Ray · 1 year ago

I don't know if I'd call Duke Energy completely won over yet--their Ohio-Kentucky chair recently told a conference that their "cathedral strategy" here was all nukes and clean coal--but this is definitely the sort of progress that is most encouraging. The fight won't be won by crushing the energy giants, it'll be won by co-opting them.

Not that I don't WANT to crush them, of course. But this seems like a much better solution.

Mr. Sustainable · 1 year ago

With friends like Duke Energy, who needs enemies? I'm right there with you. However, as you so rightly put it, this battle won't be won by crushing the utilities, no matter how tempting (from an environmental perspective) such a proposition may be.

Through my work in the Sierra Club, I've become friends with two executives in the Florida division of Progress Energy, an equal opportunity coal and nuclear proponent. These friends of mine are good people trying to turn the titanic with an oar. We must work from the inside out, which is why I accepted Progress Energy's offer to install extra energy monitoring equipment in my home after the installation of my solar water heater. My energy profile is quite different from that of my neighbors but every day I'm contributing a tiny bit to the solution. Who can argue with that?

Hun Boon · 1 year ago

Hello there,

I'm a distributor of bamboo flooring in Singapore. Was quite surprised to hear that bamboo flooring could be sourced locally in USA.

As far as I know, most bamboo flooring is made in China (ours included). Would you have any more details about their supplier?

Also, bamboo can fully regenerate in 4 to 6 years, that's about half the 10 years mentioned in your article.

Cheers
Hun Boon

Chris Baskind · 1 year ago

Bamboo does grow here in the U.S. -- about 60 varieties, most originally sourced from China. I noticed this link on the topic:

http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/bamboo.html

And you're right: it grows quickly. I'm looking at a 30-foot stand in my neighbor's yard right now. Most of it was destroyed during Hurricane Ivan. That was three years ago. Amazing.

Perhaps Ben has info on where that project's bamboo was sourced.

Family Footprint · 1 year ago

It's so big though! which kinda defeats the point of green building I feel.

Ben Ray · 1 year ago

Yeah--that did jump out at me, but then again, the point of this was to be a demo home, showcasing every environmental technology that it possibly could. In that respect, it's understandable that it's large. I am kind of afraid that it'll inspire a boom of green McMansions.

Then again, that's still far better than non-green McMansions =)

E. D. Bud Moon · 1 year ago

We went to see this awsome house with 3 other couples. We were awed by everything that we saw. We saw green ideas that we did not know existed. We thoroughly enjoyed our tour. E. D. Bud Moon

Online Cricket Games · 1 year ago

It's about time more people pay more importance to using green energy to conserve energy and produce alternative energy. Maybe Mr. Obama should give start offering incentives to family using solar panels or other forms of green products that can help reduce electricity bills and reduce the dependence on electricity. Countries in Asia are already doing that and the Singapore government has done that also to help poor families.

eddiepetosa · 2 months ago

So the future looks good for ecologists. We will have a dedicated server that will let us know what appliance isn't behaving and is consuming more energy than it should. Perhaps that same server will make me toast in the morning...