One Big Problem With Green Building

Sticky Post By cdesmond On April 29, 2014

One Big Problem With Green Building markets is that they are falsely selling the gratification of environmental stewardship. All the while, overtaking gross market share of real sustainable development. The reason this problem is so serious is because of the desperately needed economic improvements that social and environmentally conscious development will bring.

Gas Station Turned Community Cultural Exchange Center. (Image: Steve Montpetit)

BP Helios LEED Certified Gas Station. (Image: Azuremagazine.com)

Life-Cycle Building, Not Green Building

Sticky Post By cdesmond On April 15, 2014

Life-Cycle Assessment

My degree is in sustainability, and I would like to share the most valuable concept I learned through my years of studying at The University Of North Carolina’s Institute for the Environment. It is a tool actually, and its called a Life-Cycle Assessment or LCA for short. It’s a simple tool on the surface; you track the costs and impacts associated with doing something. It was designed for risk management, and is also known as a life-cycle analysis, cradle-to-grave, ecobalance and probably a few other things. You can apply an LCA to just about anything. While I will tie this back into Landscape Design and garden construction in the Brooklyn in the second half of the article, I will begin by explaining the concept and the process in more detail. (Image Credit: Solid Works)

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Landscape Design based on Ecological Values

Sticky Post By cdesmond On March 27, 2014

Not your typical ‘Green’ Landscape Design

You must be careful when shopping for landscape design contractors in the New York area in particular. The ‘green’ and ‘sustainable’ fakers are a dime a dozen! If you are wondering how you might detect or confer a true values-based approach to cleaner, more environmentally-sound building practices verses the just-for-show ‘green’ building-light that plagues the market, you are not alone. I hope to delve in a bit deeper and answer some of your questions in the remainder of this post.