Sustainable Downsizing: Have Your McMansion Reincarnated

Is your home now too big since the kids moved out?  Sick of paying huge bills to heat and cool your large?  If you answered ‘yes” to these questions, think about having your home reincarnated into a smaller dual, or tri-dwelling structure.

The McMansion Reincarnated is the brain child of architect/artist Matt Gallois.  He proposes to take your existing McMansion, pull it apart and architecturally rebuild it using the original materials and sustainability principles.  New dwellings include solar panels, insulation and water tanks and the entire process will be zero emission.

Benefits to the owner include dramatically reduced energy bills, better utilization of space – for example a unit can be built and rented-out, elderly family members can move in and your property value can increase.

To qualify to have your McMansion Reincarnated the floor space of your home must exceed 360sqm, council must allow dual occupancy in a residential zone and you will need to make a financial contribution to the project to match sponsorship, around $200,000.

Visit the site: Reincarnated McMansion

Or email reincarnatedmcmansion@gmail.com

Christine Watson

Green Computing

Quite simply, if you’re reading this article you’re online and the following tips will help in making your computer usage more environmentally friendly.

Try and follow as many of these green tips as possible:

- Digital downloads are the “green” answer to demanding fewer resources for your computer’s needs. What you get is software with an environmental footprint of zero while still staying up-to-date.

- Limit screen-saver use (did you realise that a screen saver does not actually save energy?!). In fact, more often than not, a screen saver not only will draw power for the monitor, but also will prevent the monitor from shutting down. Instead, set your computer to turn off the monitor first, then go into standby mode after a longer period of inactivity.

- Many popular computer games and other third party software packages that run in the background will not allow the computer to go to sleep – even if they are paused or the active window is minimized.

- Some web sites or pages that have active banners and or animated advertisements will not allow the computer to sleep on its own and must be closed, or the computer put manually into a sleep state.

- Enabled power management to place your monitor, hard drives and computer into a low-power “sleep” mode after a period of inactivity:

• Monitor/display sleep: Turn off after 15 minutes or less;

• Turn off hard drives/hard disk sleep: 15 minutes or less;

• System standby/sleep: After 30 minutes or less.

- Advanced users may wish to establish multiple power schemes to address different usage models. For example, you can create a power scheme for playing music CDs that shuts off your hard drive and monitor immediately, but never puts your system into standby mode.

- To further reduce power consumption, turn off computing and peripheral devices that are not being used or being used for an extended period of time such as overnight.

- Plug all your electronics into one surge protector, so you can easily switch them all off when you leave the room or go to sleep. Most power supplies (such as your cell phone charger) continue to draw power and generate heat even when not attached to a device.

This information was provided by DigitalRiver.com

“Villa Panorama”: Environmentally Friendly & Environmentally Flattering

Inspired by the broad horizontal lines of the Dutch landscape, Björn van Rheenen of Sponge Architects, has used these lines to create “Villa Panorama” which blends seamlessly into the environment.

Featuring a large glass façade and long small pond that cleverly appears to flow from the garden into the spacious living area, there is also a flat roof with a “lawn” atop, thus ensuring indoors and outdoors are perfectly merged.

Sustainability was a very important issue in the design process, meaning that environmentally-conscious techniques are highly evident in “Villa Panorama”

“Villa Panorama” is a project of Sponge Architects Amsterdam in cooperation with Scope Bouwmanagement BV., Almere.

Simon Turner

Los Angeles Flexes its Structural Muscles: The South Central Re-Devlopment

Los Angeles’ glass tower, designed by Eric Owen Moss Architects, is completely revitalizing the locale.

With the aid of a rail line to encourage the redesign, the tower is part of the redevelopment of South Central LA, an area plagued with poverty and violence.

The design invokes the theme of a ribbon that allows each floor of the structure to be entirely open.

Constructed using steel tubes filled with concrete, the variance lies in the changing of each floors’ heights.

Simon Turner

Clear the Air, Marquette Turner

The Harvest Green Project for 2030 Eco-Friendly Living

The “Harvest Green Project’ by Romses Architects has been announced as the winner of “The 2030 Challenge” organized by the City of Vancouver “to address climate change plans and to guide greener and denser development, reducing carbon emissions for the future.”

The concept of ‘harvest’ is explored in the project through the vertical farming of vegetables, herbs, fruits, fish, egg laying chickens, and a boutique goat and sheep dairy facility.

The structure of the winning green design will harvest renewable energy using photovoltaic glazing and small and large-scale wind turbines to support the solar and wind-farm infrastructure.

Other features include:

- renewable energy will be harvested via green building design elements harnessing geothermal, wind and solar power;

- the buildings have photovoltaic glazing and incorporate small and large-scale wind turbines to turn the structure into solar and wind-farm infrastructure;

- using the concept of vertical farming potentially adds energy back to the grid via methane generation from composting non-edible parts of plants and animals;

- a large rainwater cistern terminates the top of the ‘harvest tower’ providing on-site irrigation for the numerous indoor and outdoor crops and roof gardens;

- the proposal purposefully incorporates program uses for residential, transit, a large farmers market and supermarket, office and agricultural research and educational facilities, and food related retail/hospitality.

Simon Turner

Marquette Turner Luxury Homes

Environmentally Friendly Interior Design: Green Pockets for Green Fingers

These ceramic tiles, created using recycled materials, attach to any wall to create the illusion that whatever’s inside—herbs, plants, a flower or two—are growing through the walls.

Designed by Maruja Fuentes and first featured at the 2009 Milan Furniture Fair, these “pockets” give a healthy dose of all the benefits that greenery brings to an inside space.

Simon Turner

Cascade Green: The Beer That is Good for Everyone!

Beer is often good at the best of times (to drink that is) – and of course in moderation – but the Tasmanian brewery Cascade has gone one better and brewed, full-flavored, preservative free, low-carb beer made from pure Tasmanian ingredients that is 100% carbon offset and certified Australian Government Greenhouse Friendly™.

The emissions that haven’t already been reduced have been offset through accredited offset programmes.

A beer that gives back – definitely worth trying.

Visit cascadegreen.com.au

Simon Turner

Clear the Air