The blades of a spinning turbine blur, pumping electricity as the wind whips through them — but it’s not the Altamont Pass, but rather the home of Brad Laschinske, Oroville resident and alternative energy enthusiast.

Those whirring blades already are saving Laschinske about $400 a month in powering his six-acre ranch, dropping his monthly bill from $600 to $200. And it’s not even prime wind season yet.

When seasonal winds pick up this month, Laschinske’s bill likely will drop to zero for three to five months, then return to about $200.

Estimates vary, but smaller homes in metropolitan areas can save as much as $2,000 a year using a wind turbine, experts say.
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As energy prices continue to rise, more and more housing consumers in the U.S. are looking for ways to save money on home energy costs. VOA’s Jeff Swicord reports on an environmentally friendly, green building movement in the United States.

From high-rise apartment buildings to single-family homes, so-called “green building” is the hottest trend in architectural design today. Simply put, green building takes into account the energy efficiency of the design and the environmental sustainability of the materials used.

Susan Piedmont-Palladino is an architect and curator at the National Building Museum in Washington D.C. She explains the concept of green building. “Green building is thinking about where it comes from and where it goes. That goes for the material as well as the energy. How are you getting the energy, what systems are you using to heat your house and cool your house? And where are the waste products going to end up?”

The National Building Museum has assembled part of a green house designed by California architect Michele Kaufman as part of its exhibit on green building. Susan Palladino points out some of its green features. “The first one to notice is this generous overhang.” Read more…

Yalick Farms, being developed on 56 acres that once produced crops sold at a stand on the other side of Memorial Highway, is the first project of its kind in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Mostly residential, the “luxury condominium village,” as one partner described it, will include a clubhouse, an Olympic-size swimming pool, tennis courts and small shops.

Lead developer J. Naparlo said Yalick Farms would not be considered unusual in the Williamsburg, Va. area, where the Plymouth native now lives.

“There are projects like this down here,” he said recently; developments that include small shops with housing above or nearby.

Partner Perry Dunford, who also is the general contractor, said the first of a planned 112 townhouses will be ready for sale within weeks. A sales office will be set up in the clubhouse and initially they will be marketed directly by the developers.

Both Naparlo and Dunford tout the building quality and amenities at Yalick Farms. Read more…

Sisters Amie Sikes and Jolie Sikes-Smith knew there was no time for tears. The duo had spent several months last year designing young country sensation Miranda Lambert’s tour bus on paper. And now the owners of the Junk Gypsy Company, the catchall boutique of vintage clothing and kitschy furnishings in College Station, had only two weeks to do their first-ever finish-out before delivering it to Ms. Lambert in Nashville.

The women, known for their rock star-cowgirl style, got the assignment to design the bus one night while in Los Angeles with Ms. Lambert. Ms. Lambert had been a fan of their aesthetic, and their families had become close. The singer was spending more time on the road, playing about 300 dates a year, and was leasing a new tour bus. Her mom, Beverly, wanted it to feel like home and asked the sisters and their mother, Janie, to dress it up in the cowgirl-glam look that is the Junk Gypsies’ signature.

Of course, there’d be problems. Like the fact that the bus company was hesitant to turn over a vehicle to a couple of novices with no real interior design experience. “They were worried it would be ugly and that they’d have to gut it and never use it again,” said Ms. Sikes. But the sisters didn’t mind. At least at first. Read more…

Tip-toeing to the tipping point of sustainable buildings and a solar future. That’s one way to describe current activity in local construction.
While most homes and commercial buildings constructed over the past few years rarely go above mandated codes for energy efficiency, some daring developers are pushing the envelope.
Taking risks. Using innovative building practices. Sketching the promise of near-Zero Energy construction for the Georgia coast.
“I’m a plant man.” That’s not only a definition of himself, it also defines Gregg Bayard’s philosophy. A burly former forester and horticulturist, comfortable under a fine patina of dust from a roadway under construction, he and his business partner Curry Wadsworth, with 20 years experience as a landscaper, are turning a heavily wooded, former fishing camp on Salt Creek into a housing development overlooking — and preserving — the marsh. Read more…

Energy plays more of a role in building and design than ever before, and it has just as much to do with health and the environment as it does with operations and the bottom line. We have entered an era in which a building’s energy productivity looms ever larger as a factor in business and global competition.

The global industrial sector accounts for 27 percent of the total projected increase (57 percent) in the world’s liquid energy demand between 2004 and 2030, as IMT noted last week based on the recently released Energy Information Administration (EIA) “International Energy Outlook 2007” report. Only the transportation sector surpasses industry’s projected demand.
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PACIFIC PALISADES has been a cool escape from Los Angeles noise, grit and heat ever since Sunset Boulevard was extended to reach the beach in the 1920s. It offered the ocean views of Malibu, the canyon hideaways of landlocked Hollywood Hills and a cloistered playground for Beverly Hills movie stars. The enclave, one of Southern California’s most treasured locales, also became a palette for pioneering architects who embraced the distinctive topography with experimental glass houses.

The Palisades, it can be said, shaped the houses, rather than the houses shaping the Palisades. After World War II, Richard Neutra, Charles Eames and other Case Study House designers landed in the woody bluffs here. Read more…

Atlanta, GA - Georgia Gulf Corporation recently announced that it has completed a 250,000 square foot expansion to Royal Group’s building and home improvement manufacturing plant in Bristol, Tennessee, which will enable greater penetration of the growing Southeastern marketplace. The plant expansion brings the total extrusion manufacturing footprint in Bristol to 400,000 square feet. The Bristol facility will continue to produce Royal Mouldings’ extensive line of cellular PVC decorative trim products and Royal Trim Boards, as well as commence production of rigid PVC window and door profiles. Production is scheduled to commence in the expanded portion of the facility within the next 45 days. Read more…

A new home improvement product for the bathroom has been released by Décco Bath & Shower Works Corporation. “The Works,” as referred to by inventor Andrew Lethert, replaces shower doors and shower curtains with a unique and versatile architectural frame. The product has received high ratings from various focus groups used to test its appeal.
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According to a study of return on investment conducted by Remodeling Magazine, two of the top five home improvement projects for maximizing return on investment (ROI) are kitchen remodeling and new house siding. RenovatorsPlace.com, an online, interactive home repair resource, can help homeowners make the best decisions on which top ROI remodeling projects to complete. Homeowners interested in making smart choices on these remodeling projects can turn to RenovatorsPlace.com for articles and advice on kitchen remodeling and siding, as well as a directory of qualified contractors (http://www.renovatorsplace.com/). Read more…