I don’t get many phone calls, but for the third time in two days, I just received another sales call from some solar company. I support solar power and had actually looked into getting it for our house at one time. I went through the calculations and talked to a salesperson. But we live in […]
Category Archives: old houses
For generations, we have spent the first third of our lives acquiring the college degrees we need to find jobs. These degrees are the stamps on our professional passports that paved the way for the remaining two-thirds of our journey. ~ Ravi Kumar and Steve George “Don’t use force; get a bigger hammer.” […]
“… it was all about refurbishing and reusing existing buildings. Wainright’s meaning is much more sophisticated; we may not keep every building forever, but if they are designed for deconstruction we can keep using all the parts. That’s the way to truly ban demolition.” ~ Lloyd Alter It was a hard lesson for a young […]
“New Urbanism is an urban design movement which promotes environmentally friendly habits by creating walkable neighborhoods containing a wide range of housing and job types.” – Wikipedia New Urbanism is one of our primary tools against sprawl. Greater density, alternative transportation, layered development, increased diversity — all contribute to a more efficient community. I had […]
“… the growing number of empty and under-performing, especially retail, sites throughout suburbia gives us actually a tremendous opportunity to take our least-sustainable landscapes right now and convert them into more sustainable places. And in the process, what that allows us to do is to redirect a lot more of our growth back into existing […]
“..the comfortable walk has to do with the fact that all animals seek, simultaneously, prospect and refuge. We want to be able to see our predators, but we also want to feel that our flanks are covered. And so we’re drawn to places that have good edges, and if you don’t supply the edges, people […]
“Water go down the hole.” -Plucky Duck, Tiny Toon Adventures A friend’s four-year old boy was fascinated with the toilet — totally amazed that when you flushed it; water went down the hole. It was a real mystery. In a related way, he was terrified of the toilet plunger. It brought things up from the […]
It is now legal for homeowners in Colorado to capture the runoff from their roofs and store it in up to two 55-gallon barrels. It sounds like a great innovation, but I’m unsure that it will save much on water use. Our annual precipitation is about 16” and about half of that comes as snow. […]
