Sea Glass wins AIA Award

Sea Glass of Sanibel, created by Benchmark General Contractors, received the 2010 Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects Florida (AIA) in the Unbuilt Design category. In the picture above, Martin Gold, Director at the University of Florida’s School of Architecture (center), accepted the award on the team’s behalf from AIA President Richard J. Logan (left) and AIA Immediate Past President Gerald Steven Jernigan

Mark Anderson, owner of Benchmark General Contractors, and business partner Ron Rosen announced that the design for Sea Glass of Sanibel, a 12-acre sustainable residential community, received the 2010 Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects Florida (AIA) in the Unbuilt Design category. The award was presented recently at the AIA convention in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.



The jury of architects, chaired by Kirsten Murray, AIA of Olsen Kundig Architects and the 2009 AIA Firm of the Year, said AIA is excited to see this type of project in Florida.



“The use of new urbanist ideas is ideally suited to this climate and informal lifestyle,” Murray said.



In collaboration with the University of Florida’s School of Architecture and the Florida Community Design Center (FLCDC), the neighborhood includes approximately 12 single-family homes along Periwinkle Way on Sanibel. The property was previously the site of the Old Schoolhouse Theater and the home of the Sanibel Landscape Company, the first landscape nursery on the island.



Other highlights of the eco-friendly community include allocated nature areas, cluster development, a civic green promenade, butterfly meadow, water harvesting, and a community building dedicated to environmental education and shared resources.



“Our unique, groundbreaking lifestyle concept will reduce our footprint on the environment, an environmentally sensitive design that could become a model for future coastal communities in our region,” said Anderson.



Martin Gold, director of the University of Florida’s School of Architecture and executive director of the FLCDC, leads the design team which has submitted the schematics that integrate coastal ecologies, social connectivity, permaculture and sustainability as core principles of the neighborhood planning and architectural design.



Building is expected to begin later this year.

Copenhagen Wheel

It is not easy to reinvent the wheel, but researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are giving it their best shot.

The Senseable City Laboratory at MIT has designed a wheel that captures the kinetic energy released when a rider brakes and saves it for when the rider needs a boost. While technically sound, the wheel’s true challenge may be in winning over cyclists. For centuries, bikes have been beloved for their simplicity, not their bells and whistles.

But, said Carlo Ratti, the laboratory’s director, “biking can become even more effective than what it was”. What the lab is working on, he said, is “Biking 2.0”.

The new wheel uses a kinetic energy recovery system, the same technology used by hybrid cars, like the Toyota Prius, to harvest otherwise wasted energy when a cyclist brakes or speeds down a hill. With that energy, it charges up a battery inside the wheel’s hub.

The sleek red hub, called the Copenhagen Wheel, was to be unveiled on Tuesday in Copenhagen. It can be retrofitted to any bike’s rear wheel, and it includes sensors that track air quality, a meter that logs miles and a GPS unit to track routes. All that data can be sent via Bluetooth to a rider’s smartphone and shared with others.

The laboratory is trying to eliminate the clunkiness of other electric bikes with heavy batteries and unwieldy wires by placing all the technology into the wheel, said Christine Outram, the project’s lead researcher. “It’s a technology that can get more people on bikes,” she said.

This is a period of change in the bicycle design world, said Jens Martin Skibsted, a Danish designer who owns the biking company Biomega and the design firm Kibisi. Skibsted believes that over the next few years several popular new designs will emerge to serve an increasingly urban population trying to wean itself off cars.

In such periods of change, he said, “the winner will seldom be the one that’s most functional, but rather the one that can become an inherent part of our culture”.

“This wheel looks nice,” he continued. “Whether it will be long lasting, I cannot say.”

Back at MIT, another research group is hedging its bets on a different wheel model, spurning regenerative braking as an excessive addition. “Regenerative braking hardware adds mass, complexity and cost, and the energy efficiency gains from it turn out to be surprisingly limited,” said William Mitchell, who runs a lab at MIT called SmartCities.

One of Mitchell’s doctoral students, Michael Lin, is also building an electric bike wheel, but it has to be plugged in to charge. Lin is considering adding regenerative components as an external accessory, but not as a component embedded into the wheel’s hub.

Reprinted from CopenhagenWheels.com

A House Too Big

When I’ve heard clients over the years refer to home amenities needed for “resale value”, I’ve often wondered who these potential buyers are. Apparently from the decisions I’ve seen clients make to appease this crowd, these buyers must like monochromatic off-white walls, bath tubs that admittedly rarely get used, a formal dining room that sits empty while everyone hangs out in the kitchen, and a living room that seems to never get lived in. Of course there’s other items that seem to collect dust also like a fireplace in the master bedroom, a “morning kitchen”, or a master bath the size of a small garage.

It’s interesting that most clients lament about designing for “resale” and yet most give in to this unknown entity and add the bathtub or formal dining room or whatever. I usually tell clients that unless they have very bizarre tastes, if they like it, most likely some future buyer will also.

Our homes should be designed for us, efficiently and economically, for the way that we live. Unneeded space is a waste of resources and costs money. The costs for these “unneeded” amenities have been rationalized over the years by the belief that someone will come along who wants and demands this extra space and stuff because the “marketplace” mandates it. We seem to have fallen prey to some sort of Martha Stewart Ponzi scheme where we have kept adding beautiful and expensive products and amenities that we’ve been led to believe will forever help to maintain the high market value of our home. Apparently not so, many of the “hot buttons” have gone cold! The “marketplace” appears to be telling us something.

But are we listening? Old habits are hard to break. The first step is to develop a new vision of the needs and expectations of a home and lay a path towards that goal. It’s absolutely necessary to develop an exciting plan that functions effectively for the way we live while still honoring our past and the emotional relationships that we have with our homes. The old models of building and development were overdone because builders and owners perceived them as “safe” alike. This way of thinking is apparently collapsing because of it’s own weight; a change is upon us. Build what you really want, be creative, and most of all, be brave. The time requires it!

Jeff Good
Benchmark General Contractors, Inc.

Aurora Gold Award for Benchmark project

We are pleased to announce that one of our projects “The Stephens Residence”, located in South Seas Plantation on Captiva Island, was recently awarded the Grand Gold Award (best in show) at the 2010 Aurora Awards. Designed by K2 Design Group, from Bonita Springs, Florida, this Gulf Front home was completed in 2009.

The Aurora Awards is a architectural and interior design competition sponsored by the Southeast Builders Conference and the Florida Home Builders Association. The awards were held at the recent SEBC convention in Orlando, Florida. This is the second Benchmark project to receive an Aurora Award, the Larson Residence, located on Sanibel Island, received an Aurora award in 2002.


http://www.theauroras.com/winners/index.cfm?method=cWinners.main&thisYear=2010&sortOrder=winnerType

Jeff Good
Benchmark General Contractors, Inc.

Paralyzing the PACE

Paralyzing the PACE: Florida’s property assessed clean energy program likely strangled by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
Posted on July 19, 2010 by greenbuildingsubcommittee

The Florida legislature recently took a step towards creating a more sustainable future for our state. On May 27, 2010, Governor Crist signed into law House Bill 7179, which created Florida’s version of the Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program.

lorida’s PACE bill enables local governments to levy non-ad valorem assessments to fund improvements related to energy efficiency,conservation,renewable energy and wind resistance. This type of program is more commonly known as a land-secured financing district or special assessment, which Florida municipalities have long used as a tool to finance projects that serve a public purpose, including street paving and the creation of parks. The novelty of the PACE program is that it is not a mandatory ad valorem property tax, has minimal fiscal impact on local governments, is not linked to the financial credit status of the property owner, and is completely voluntary. The program shows promise as an innovative, no-taxpayer subsidy approach to financing individual energy efficiency and renewable energy projects without the traditional barriers: large upfront costs and difficulty of financing them.

Under a PACE program, property owners borrow money from a newly established “municipal financing district” to purchase eligible technologies that are determined at the local level.

PACE programs are funded through the issuance of local revenue bonds. A PACE bond is a bond where the proceeds are lent to commercial and residential property owners to finance energy retrofits (efficiency measures and small renewable energy systems) and who then repay their loans over 20 years via an annual special assessment on their property tax bill. The bonds therefore act as a lien on the property until the amount is paid off. If the consumer sells the property, the tax would then be paid by the new owner. For many home and business owners, the annual energy cost savings from the retrofitting will exceed the cost of the annual repayment.
Unfortunately, on July 6, 2010, the Federal Housing Finance Administration (FHFA), the agency that regulates mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, issued a letter effectively bringing PACE programs across the Country to a screeching halt. The July 6th letter expresses FHFA’s new requirement position that it will not purchase loans subject to PACE liens. The tension lies in FHFA’s concern with the “senior liens” or “first liens,” which result from the tax assessment on properties participating in a PACE program. The significance of the senior PACE lien is that if the property goes into foreclosure the PACE lien must be satisfied before the mortgage lender gets any money. In short, FHFA has “safety and soundness concerns” resulting from a combination of “first liens that disrupt a fragile housing market and longstanding lending priorities, the absence of robust underwriting standards to protect homeowners and the lack of energy retrofit standards to assist homeowners, appraisers, inspectors and lenders [to] determine the value of retrofit products.”

From a practical standpoint, FHFA’s blanket rejection of residential loans subject to PACE liens eliminates or restricts one of the most appealing aspects of the PACE program: the ability to make energy efficient improvements today and either pay the costs off over time or pass the costs off to future purchasers. Banks generally want to sell their loans to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, so under FHFA’s new rules, whenever a homeowner with a PACE loan seeks to refinance, the homeowner will have to pay off the PACE lien in full. In addition, whenever a homeowner with a PACE loan seeks to sell their home to a buyer using financing, the homeowner will have to either pay off the PACE loan or negotiate full payment of the PACE lien by the purchaser. The restrictions created by the FHFA’s position and the orders it has issued to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the 12 Federal Home Loan Banks have served to bring PACE programs everywhere to a complete halt.

There will have to be a significant push in favor of PACE programs on a state and federal level if one of the most promising renewable energy programs to date is going to be saved. Some commentators believe the only way to cross the proverbial “line in the sand” drawn by the FHFA is for Congress to take action on this pressing issue. If implemented in Florida, PACE programs could rev-up the state’s economic engine. The promises of an accelerated rate of renewable energy production, energy independence, green job creation, and greenhouse gas emissions reductions are all reasons to fight for PACE programs.

Submitted by Stephen A. Liverpool. Mr Liverpool is a third year law school student from Tampa, Florida. This December, he will graduate from the Levin College of Law at the University of Florida with a certificate in environmental and land use law. He is currently a summer associate at the law firm of Hill Ward Henderson and can be contacted at salpool@ufl.edu.

Opportunities and Dangers in Developing Florida's Solar Potential

Opportunities and Dangers in Developing Florida's Solar Potential

Big House-Small House

For most of us baby boomers, chances are great that the houses we live in now are bigger than the houses we lived in when we grew up. Nothing is more cost effective in controlling energy usage and carbon impact than good design. It’s no coincidence that many of the rating systems, such as LEED for Homes, Florida Green Building Coalition and others give credits to encourage smaller home sizes. Our culture's thirst for oversized homes, which have been so fashionable over the last few decades, have many homeowners realizing that maybe too much space is not so great after all.

Is it possible to live smaller with a higher quality of life? Is there a greener future for our homes? Sarah Susanka, author of the “Not So Big House”, believes that anything that is well designed will stand the test of time and will sustain our inhabitant. The wise use of both energy and monetary resources is a core element of good design, since over 20 percent of our carbon emissions come from our existing housing stock.

Sarah Susanka has been credited to have started the small house movement. In The Not So Big House, Susanka urges people to create homes that are designed for themselves and the way they live by carefully considering comfort, detail, and the importance of space and the spatial use to the residents. She encourages homebuilders to discover what ceiling heights and overall room shapes bring them into a peaceful state of mind. She stresses the importance of ceiling heights being in proportion to the rest of the room and giving every adult occupant a private place of which they can take ownership. Certain architectural details are central to her philosophy, such as stair railings, moldings surrounding windows and doors, and built-ins. Small does not necessarily mean plain. A basic concept is smaller and more personal spaces but still retaining a high level of quality, detail and craftsmanship. Sarah hopes that people building homes will discover what they like and what makes them feel at home--not just naming certain square footage or a number of bedrooms and bathrooms, or picking a generic plan provided in a builder’s set of fixed options.

The finishes and types of building materials are also important in her construction. Susanka stresses the use of renewable materials, building with energy efficiency in mind, and constructing homes to last for future generations to enjoy. Knowing and understanding what rooms and spaces one likes, the use for the space, and how often that space will be used are some of the building blocks Susanka utilizes for planning a home. Some examples include determining which rooms are public and private or which need to contain spaces for both, such as a window seat in an otherwise public room in which two persons may sit and converse away from others. Addressing the issue of the use of space, Susanka also discusses the duplication of functional spaces throughout the house, such as multiple dining areas, somehting most can probably relate to. One would translate these ideas and concepts into reality by determining one’s wishes and the feasibility of ideas, as well as considering what she calls the “three variables” of “quality, quantity, and cost”.

These factors form the basis upon which she makes decisions finding that one of them will often dictate another. For example, the size or number of rooms and the quality of interior finishes will decide the cost of space and materials. As one works with an architect and builder, Susanka believes persons building their home must determine which of these “three variables” is most important to them and their lifestyle.

Jeff Good
Benchmark General Contractors, Inc.

A Truly Green Device

Since residential energy use comprises about 26% of all the energy used in the state of Florida and in south Florida, about 35% of this annual residential energy expenditure is for cooling the home during Florida's 5- to 7-month-long summer, I started to look for a new device that I could use to reduce the energy consumption of our home. I got ideas from an AC guy and I learned a lot about insulation and glass shading co-efficients and such, but I found what I was looking for in my back yard. A tree!

Glass windows and doors can account for between 30 and 60% of a building's total heat gain in the summer. As much as 270 Btu’s of direct and diffused solar radiation can enter a home or building through each square foot of glass on the east and west sides. For example, direct sunlight on a clear glass window on a west wall can require more than one ton of air conditioning to remove the heat gained from this source alone. This is more than eight times the heat gain caused by conduction and infiltration. We don’t use clear glass anymore, but you can get the point.

So what would be a more aesthetically pleasing way to shade this window than a tree. Naturally this assumes that this doesn’t place a tree between your window and the Gulf of Mexico. Placing a tree to shade a home involves consideration of the angle of the sun's rays in summer and winter, mature tree height and structure height. In general, the target areas for shading during Florida's warm months are the walls on western, eastern and southern exposures, in that order. Though an exposure facing due south receives little direct sun on June 21, by August the sun will be lower and as we Floridians know, it’s real hot in August.

It’s possible to achieve as much as a 30% reduction in cooling and heating costs through careful landscape planning. Landscaping can reduce direct sun from striking and heating up building surfaces. Trees can prevent reflected light from carrying heat into a house from the ground or other surfaces. Shading the air conditioner can also improve its efficiency by as much as10 percent. Trees can shade a roof and walls from the hot summer sun. They can also create a cooler atmosphere around the home, cooling sidewalks and driveway that normally reflect heat.

So again it’s possible to trump the use of technical gadgets with good design and common sense! Go plant a tree!

Get the Lead Out

Lead is a neurotoxin and even in very small dosages it can be a very dangerous substance. It’s right up there with mercury as far as bad stuff to have in us and it is especially damaging to children under age six whose bodies are still developing. Lead can cause nervous system damage, stunted growth, and delayed development. It can cause kidney damage and affects every organ system of the body. It also is dangerous to adults, and can cause reproductive problems for both men and women. It’s also been linked to ADHD. I do remember my brother chewing on the door casing, come to think of it.

Anyway, the ban on lead paint started in 1897 when Australian doctors discovered that there was a connection between lead paint and childhood illnesses when they noticed that children who were eating lead paint from porch railings were getting sick. This conclusion led European countries, such as France, Belgium, Austria and Great Britain, to ban lead-based paint in the early 1900s.

“Lead” paint was banned in US homes in 1978 by the Consumer products Safety Commission somewhat after our European neighbors got the lead out. At one time, the majority of homes in the US had lead based paints at their interiors and especially exteriors, as lead was (is) an excellent additive for durability. Less and less lead paint was used as we progress through the 1900’s until it’s removal from the marketplace in 1978.

A very small amount of lead, even a gram or less, can be very dangerous. One myth related to lead-based paint is that the most common cause of poisoning was eating leaded paint chips, like my brother. In fact, the most common pathway of childhood lead exposure is through ingestion of lead dust through normal hand-to-mouth contact during which kids swallow lead dust dislodged from deteriorated paint or leaded dust generated during remodeling or painting.

Like it or not, the EPA has taken a very strong step towards controlling the presence of lead “dust” in construction projects. Owners of houses built before 1978 or contractors who work on such homes should pay special attention. Supposedly, on or after April 22, 2010, companies working on pre-1978 homes as well as child-occupied facilities must be certified and use lead-safe work practices during any renovations.

The rule applies to remodeling projects that disturb more than six square feet of painted surfaces inside, or 20 square feet outside, of residential structures built before 1978. It requires that the contractor and certain subcontractors be certified to work with lead-based paint under the EPA's Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule (RRP), and follow specific "lead-safe work practices" to prevent lead exposure to humans. That includes testing for the presence of lead-based paint in the work area.

The rule does not apply to homeowners working on their own houses. If one is a contractor who is not certified, they can be fined $37,000 per day per rule violation. The EPA licenses certain organizations, such as local building organizations, to administer training and certification courses to become a Certified Renovator.

Jeff Good
Benchmark General Contractors, Inc.

The True Cost of Oil

The recent and ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is just one tragic and ugly incident in the history of the world oil industry, as miners’ deaths are to the coal industry. To be fair, most industries have a dark side to some extent.

Usually when the subject of using alternative energies, such as solar or wind, to wean us of our “addiction to oil” comes up, there’s always the complaint that such technologies only work if they are subsidized and can’t be competitive with oil and coal.

The Gulf oil spill is just a small example of the peripheral costs of the oil industry. But wait, there’s more! To get a true idea of the cost of a gallon of gas, we need to look at such things as the cost of oil-related defense expenditures, the loss of jobs and economic activity because of the trade imbalance (foreign oil imports are a significant part of our chronic trade deficits), the loss of government revenues, and the cost of periodic supply disruptions.

The National Defense Council Foundation has estimated that after 2006 the annual cost to defend Persian Gulf oil was approximately $140 billion a year, the loss of domestic employment from sending our money overseas was approximately $118 billion a year, and the cost of spending our industry reinvestment money overseas was close to $400 billion a year. When we spend our dollars overseas, our jobs go with it. The Department of Energy has estimated that every $1 billion dollars of trade deficit costs America 27,000 jobs and that we have spent over $7 trillion dollars on our oil dependency over the last 30 years.

The estimated cost per gallon for our oil dependency would add anywhere between $5.00 to $8.00 per gallon on top of what we pay at the pump. This doesn’t include, by the way, the lives of our soldiers and others who have died protecting our oil supply. So the next time someone, be they Democrat, Republican, Tea Partier or whatever, complains that we shouldn’t support domestic home grown energy technologies because they cost too much, have them do their homework. Maybe they can take their laptop to the beach!

Who/what is TED?

The Energy Detective, also known as TED, is an energy demand feedback device that promotes energy conservation by making residential consumers aware of how much electrical energy is being used in their homes. Reportedly, this device can help reduce energy consumption by 10%-20%. This device provides immediate feedback on your energy usage so you can decide where and when to reduce your consumption. But of course, like all advice, you must take it in order for it to work.

Essentially, TED is no different from the utility company energy meter on the outside of your home, but it’s displayed indoors at a place where it can be more conveniently read, and displays some extra information of interest to the user. This device comes in two parts - an electromagnetic transducer that sits at the power mains to measure the total power usage and transmits it over the power wiring, and a receiver device that receives the signal and displays it to the user.
TED tracks kilowatt-hours, and optionally computes cents per hour and estimates the month's electric bill.

TED's transmitter only transmits its signal over a single phase of household wiring. Most houses have two incoming phases divided evenly throughout the house. TED's receiver usually can only receive if it's plugged into an outlet on the same phase as its transmitter. A phase bridge, such as one compatible with X10 home automation equipment, can overcome this limitation. Despite TED's ability to only transmit over a single phase, it does include the necessary equipment to properly measure power usage on both phases.

A research project by the Florida Solar Energy Center has successfully used the device to develop a protocol which can be used to inventory the electrical demand of all household appliances. This same research has installed the device in twenty households with the intention of evaluating pre/post household behavior after a year of having the device available.

The TED receiver displays power measurements with a resolution of 10 watts, and updates every 1 second. The actual measurement hardware in TED may have a higher resolution, with a granularity as low as 1 watt. All data is stored in nonvolatile memory, so there is no data loss on power outage.

One of the coolest aspects of the TED is the use of the “Footprints” software which allows you to monitor your usage on your PC. The software will cost you $50+/ -. There is a brief You Tube video which explains this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5l_XIOp19kk.

Although ours is being installed, it is supposedly easy to install by a “qualified” homeowner, whatever that means. When I open an electrical panel, I personally prefer to have an electrician standing next to me! The cost for the TED 1001 is about $150.

Jeff Good
Benchmark General Contractors, Inc.

Luxury Home Quarterly

There's a short article on Benchmark and our work on Sanibel in a great new magazine, Luzury Home Quarterly. Go to:

http://www.luxuryhomequarterly.com/lhqmarapr1/pages/86.php
http://www.luxuryhomequarterly.com/lhqmarapr1/pages/88.php

to read this. Also, check out the magazine, it's a beautiful edition.

Jeff Good
Benchmark General Contractors, Inc.

Leaking by design

Leaky Attic?

We can spend a lot of money on technology that improves efficiency and gets to showcase some cool toys. But nothing beats just having good design.

Do you have a house where the insulation is laying against the ceiling drywall and there’s a big old attic above where your ductwork lives? There’s probably a bunch of recessed lights and other things penetrating the ceiling drywall and anyone who’s had the fun of crawling around in a Florida attic knows that the insulation doesn’t really seal all that well like it should.

Most air ducts leak, some a little, some a lot. When you have leaky ducts in the attic described above, guess what the air leaking out of the ducts does? As the air is being drawn out by the air handler and some leaked into the attic, a negative pressure field builds up in the house. A negative pressure field draws attic air not just into interior framing but also down exterior walls, adding humidity as it goes. It also picks up contaminants. There’s also humid air coming from every conceivable opening your house, be it doors and windows, mysterious holes in the slab, etc. The end result, besides inefficient AC, is discomfort, mold, and all the problems that eventually come with damp building components.

Is there an easy fix? I say yes. Just change the attic from an unconditioned space to a conditioned space by installing an open cell or closed cell foam insulation system to the underside of the roof deck and making the attic “unvented”. This puts the air distribution system within the conditioned space and reducing the major adverse effects of system leakage. This also improves the durability of the AC equipment and ductwork and adds to the efficiency.

Give us a call if you need more information.

Jeff Good
Benchmark General Contractors, Inc.

Sanibel Land Use Plan

The Sanibel Comprehensive Land Use Plan is a groundbreaking document. The City of Sanibel has been successful in preserving its unique character and beauty thanks to our “founding fathers and mothers” and the plan they developed back in the 1970’s and have improved upon since then. We’ve been given the plan some scrutiny and we’ve realized that portions of it actually discourage certain beneficial activities. These portions of the code, especially in a “unified cluster development”, can be roadblocks to concepts and technologies that can have great benefit to our island and the conservation of it’s resources:

New Section 126-855: While the intention of the CLUP is to limit development on building sites on Sanibel, the definition of “developed area” is limited to portions of the property that is covered by impermeable structures as well as “used” by permeable areas (i.e. walkways, permeable driveways, etc.) In fact the vast majority of areas on most parcels is subject to construction activity to accommodate vegetation relocations, landscaping arrangements, water retention and drainage systems.

Cisterns, for example, are part of a mechanical system that conserves water, for potable or non-potable uses, and enhances the drainage and water retention function of the property. Their coverage area should not be calculated as part of the developed coverage anymore than a perimeter swale or water retention area would be. The size of cisterns can be as simple as a rain barrel or a tank that may be 50 to200 square feet or larger. Also, many cistern systems can have a sub-surface installation similar to a septic tank or chambered septic drainfield. Before the installation of sewer through most of Sanibel, these domestic waste system enjoyed exclusion from developed coverage calculations.

Ground mounted solar thermal heaters for pool or domestic water or photovoltaic arrays have the obvious benefit of reducing electrical demand and reducing the “carbon footprint”. In cases where these products can not be mounted on a roof plane, it seems counterproductive to conservation principals and counter to the mission of the CLUP to count the areas covered by these devices as either impermeable or developed areas.

Likewise, in many cases a solar thermal or photovoltaic system that is mounted on a roof plane may be considered above the maximum building height. These devices are appliances and should be given the same exception as other appliances, such as fireplace chimneys, are. Again, these situations appear to counterproductive to conservation principals and counter to the mission of the CLUP.

The intention of this new amendment is to encourage the use of resource saving technologies and systems, the present interpretation application of these uses in fact discourages their use and penalizes the user.

Amendment to Section 86-112 Setbacks (b) and Amendment to Sec 86-134 Single Family Dwellings: Roof overhangs should not be considered as part of the building setback for the obvious reason that larger overhangs greatly add to the sustainability and efficiency of a building, Sanibel City Building being a prime example. Conversely, smaller overhangs add to a buildings exposure to the degrading effects of rain and sunlight. Also, the installation of solar thermal and photovoltaic devices can require large roof surfaces because they generally work best on unshaded and properly orientated surfaces.

The present system of counting the overhang as part of the structure discourages the use of larger and more protective overhangs.

There are no access, life safety or fire code standards that are jeopardized by exempting roof overhangs from setback and building requirements.

In a unified cluster development, exempting roof overhangs from building setbacks and building separations provides for the creation of more open and “green” space to the project.

Amendment to Section 126-854 Recycling and Trash Disposal Facilities: This exemption has already been passed for the resort housing district. Unified Residential Cluster Developments should receive the same consideration. Centralizing the storage and collection of trash and recyclables is a more efficient means of collection, decreases vehicular traffic, and can minimize neighborhood trash contamination from careless human activities and animal disruptions.

Amendment to Sec 126-976: Good planning with the intention of creating the most efficient and best use of properties through the aggregation of two or more ecological zones make this amendment necessary. Present regulations can encumber the conservation process, encourage the use of planning strategies that have greater negative impact on a subject property, and penalize development strategies that attempt to conserve the natural resources of the property.

Amendment to Sec 126-077: Part of the mission of the CLUP is to effectively create and preserve habitat on Sanibel for plant, bird and animal life. The expansion or creation of such habitat, all as approved by the Natural resources Dept and Planning Commission should be encouraged and given a priority.

Jeff Good
Benchmark General Contractors, Inc.

East meets West

When I lived in rural Maine in the 70’s, land use planners were considered to be “communists”. Mainers, like most of us, don’t like being told what to do. Unlike in the now gone Soviet Union, most of us have come to realize the benefits of good planning.

The City of Sanibel was formed in 1975, about the same time the “commies” were conspiring to deprive Mainers of the use of their land. Sanibel residents fought back against not "commies" but lax county development standards to protect Sanibel from overdevelopment and a potential rapid unsustainable population growth by establishing the Sanibel Comprehensive Land Use Plan in 1974. This was done to help maintain a balance between development and preservation of the island's ecology. On a national level, this was a major initiative and a progressive step in land use planning. Now, in 2010, there is little doubt that Sanibel is a better place because of the CLUP.

There was another place in the US going through similar changes, Boulder, CO. If you thought there were “commies” in running amuck in the woods of Maine, you obviously hadn’t been to Boulder. In 1978, Boulder adopted its own land use plan (BCCP). This was developed "to respond to the widely accepted principle that the myriad of future land use decisions affecting the county’s lands should be made in a coordinated and responsible manner." It implemented such things as channeling growth to the municipalities, protecting agricultural lands, and the preservation of the environmental and natural resources being a high priority in making land use decisions. Sounds like Sanibel to me.

So Sanibel had a sister community out west. Sanibel is a special and great place to live and visit, as is Boulder. Now thirty years later or so, Boulder has changed and adjusted to the times, Sanibel not so much.

Unless you’ve been living in a cave or one of those people who think we all will be after the government has its way, most realize the importance of implementing sustainable and efficient planning and technologies into our homes and communities to lessen our dependence on foreign resources and generally make where we live a better place. Call it “green” or whatever, we all know what it is in concept.

In November 2008, Boulder implemented a mandatory “Green Building and Green Points Program”. This requires all commercial and residential construction to conform to increased energy efficiency standards. All buildings must follow a “Green Building and Green Points” program. You can view the required document at:
http://www.bouldercolorado.gov/files/PDS/green_points/902.pdf .

Essentially, this requires all homes and building to meet certain HERS ratings, based on size, and to attain a certain number of points from a variety of site development, building technology and design areas. The scoring template Boulder uses is reminiscent of a simplified Leeds program, Florida Green Building Coalition standards and others (there are many). Most of the scoring items “make sense” and many of the possible points are things that Sanibel already mandates such things as the use of native vegetation, irrigation standards, recycling, etc.

Is this the time for Sanibel and other local communities to become leaders and raise the bar? I believe so.

Jeff Good
Benchmark General Contractors, Inc.

What's a RESNET?

RESNET

What’s a RESNET? You’ll probably be hearing more about it in the years to come, or not. Or not because RESNET is an organization that nationally oversees the development and administration of residential energy analysis software that provides your home with a HERS rating (“home energy rating system”). Actually, it’s a HERS rating you’ll either be hearing about or you’re already familiar with it.
RESNET’s (Residential Energy Services Network) mission is to ensure the success of the building energy performance certification industry, set the standards of quality, and increase the opportunity for ownership of high performance buildings. RESNET is a 501-C-3 non profit organization.
A HERS Index of 100 represents the energy use of the "American Standard Building", or an average home, and an Index of 0 means that a proposed building uses no net purchased energy (a Zero Energy Building). You’ve probably heard the term Energy Star, developed by the Department of Energy. Presently an Energy Star home has to meet a HERS rating of 75. Although the HERS rating is not perfect, it can be used to measure the energy impact of specific changes to a given home. For example, if a solar water or upgraded AC equipment is added, the energy savings can be quantified.
Find a rater and have one done on your home today!

Jeff Good
Benchmark General Contractors, Inc.

What water?

Where’d the Water Go?

There are some legendary “wasters” of water. How about Celine Dion using a whopping 6.5 million gallons of water in 2007 at her home on Jupiter Island, Fla., according to a study done by the Palm Beach Post. Cry me a river! There’s also the estate of wealthy Atlanta investor Chris G. Carlos whose property consumed 440,000 gallons (1.67 million liters) in September 2007 alone. After a public outcry, Carlos dramatically reduced his monthly usage to just 12,000 gallons.
Some of our biggest and most unusual “wasters” of water aren’t all that glamorous. The Scientific American recently compiled a list of some interesting water sucks. Here they are:

1. Doing the Dishes: By Hand or Dishwasher?
A typical by hand session will go through about 20 gallons or so. But if you leave the water running while scraping at those last grisly bits on your fine china, you may use more than twice that amount. Modern electric dishwashers, in contrast, need less than 10 gallons (38 liters) per average load.

2. Washing the Car (and the Driveway)
According to a west coast chain, a home car wash can go through 80 to 140 gallons of water, whereas a wash at one of its garages will take about 30 to 45 gallons. Many professional car washes also utilize methods that recycle water.

3. Slipping Through the Cracks
A swimming pool naturally loses about 1,000 gallons a month to evaporation, although the local climate and the pool's overall surface area determines the amount that's actually lost. A bigger problem arises from the leaks that pools often develop during their lifetimes from cracks in a pool’s foundation, liner tears and pipe damage.

4. Lawn Sprinklers: Fountains of Backyard Verdure or Pernicious Aquifer Guzzlers?
The water sprinklers that keep our grass green and flowers growing can consume 265 gallons an hour. Landscaping usage generally rivals or exceeds estimates of what an average U.S. household uses daily. A good tip: unless you’re going to eat what you grow, don’t plant that which needs copious amounts of water to live.

5. Well-Watered Desert Resorts
You don’t see a lot of water around Las Vegas. The Venetian canals of the Bellagio, as well as the Mirage's water-and-fire volcano, seem to be on the “most wanted” list of water wasters. This is not as bad as it seems though. Apparently the Las Vegas Strip accounts for just three percent of local water use. Nearly 70 percent of the Las Vegas water supply goes toward irrigating the 60-plus golf courses and the many residential lawns in the area. Grow rocks; they don’t need so much water.

6. Biofuels' Hidden Downside
Just because biofuels burn cleaner than fossil fuels and therefore emit less carbon dioxide into the air doesn’t mean that there’s a dark side. Plant-power sucks up ridiculously large quantities of water compared with oil and natural gas production. For example, producing a gallon (3.79 liters) of corn ethanol consumes 170 gallons of water in total, from irrigation to final processing. Soybean biodiesel manufacture needs some 900 gallons of water per gallon of fuel. On the other hand, the water requirement to make a gallon of regular gasoline is just five gallons.
7. Agriculture in the Arid Southwest
much of the U.S. Southwest is a desert and about 90 percent of the Colorado River's water is today diverted into the Southwest for agricultural irrigation. It’s been estimated that almost half of the water could be lost through evaporation and seepage. Many farmers rely on flood irrigation, which, though inexpensive, is a highly inefficient means of delivering water to crops. The Colorado's dwindling water flow threatens the supplies of at least seven states; water rights are the new range wars.

8. Alfalfa Farming Woes
many think of alfalfa mainly in terms of the sprouts that end up on sandwiches, but most of the alfalfa crop feeds livestock. The relatively low-value crop uses up about a quarter of California’s irrigation water but contribute only 4 percent to the state's total farm revenue. The main issue is that farmers grow alfalfa year-round in what is essentially a desert climate in the southwestern U.S.

9. The Ruin of the Aral Sea
The Aral Sea in central Asia was once the fourth largest body of freshwater on the planet. Where did it go, did they drink it. Well sort of… But by siphoning off waters from the massive lake for irrigation, local farmers and governments in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan have drained the Aral Sea to about 10% of its original size. The Aral has split into three parts, two of which are so salty that all the fish in them died!

10. Saving the Saddest for Last
Ah beer! It may be refreshing and cool but it's likely to leave you less hydrated than you were before you started. Alcohol is a diuretic, which means it makes you want to go. And when you go, you have to drink more water to make up for that which was spent. Alcohol suppresses an antidiuretic hormone called vasopressin that tells our kidneys to reabsorb and conserve water. The more you drink, the more the hormone level falls, and thus the more water you lose. Don’t blame the beer, it’s the dehydration.

Should there be a cistern in your future?

Cisterns on Sanibel

Cisterns have been used in many areas for centuries, predominantly in places where ground water is scarce, such as the Virgin Islands, Bermuda, etc. Even though Sanibel’s Island Water Association (IWA) appears to have access to abundant aquifer water, does it not make sense anyway to conserve rain water as much as possible? On Sanibel, wells into the aquifers are not allowed and many island homes use more water for landscape irrigation than they do for potable uses. So we’ve done a brief study of cisterns that could be used locally.

Since many homes on barrier islands, such as Sanibel and Captiva, are elevated on pilings or raised stem walls, they provide ideal areas for water storage. Cisterns come in many forms, so estimating the cost is difficult. Most literature I’ve come across refers to the cost of a cistern as being about $1.00/gallon. Cost for cisterns in the USVI, built as part of the home’s foundation, appear to run about $1.25-$1.50/gallon.

I’ve looked at a product called “Rainpillow”, which is essentially a plastic bag. These come in a variety of sizes (1,000-40,000 gal) and are lightweight (a 3000 gallon kit weighs a little over 100 lbs.). The costs appear to run from $2.50/gal (1,000 gallon kit) to $.60/gal (10,000 gallon kit).

This is based on the use of a 10000-gallon “Rainwater Pillow” (size is 23’ x 23’x 3’) as a storage device, as a model for our Sea Glass project, for example, since information is readily available for all required equipment, i.e. tank, filters, pumps, etc. Also, this size tank would most likely fit and could be set up under a raised stem wall foundation. I’ve been told from the company that it can be accessed through a 4’ x 4’ access hole. This projection is also based on the use of stored water for landscape purposes only. Accurate information on the cost of equipment necessary to make cistern water potable was not readily available.

While stored water can be easily treated to be used for “greywater” devices, it would appear that landscaping might be the most directly beneficial since there is light treatment involved and irrigation water, on Sanibel, has to come from the IWA. The IWA has stated that a typical Sanibel home with a “conservation” landscape package would use approximately 9,000 to 14,000 gal/month to support the landscaping. A key problem with water storage for landscaping is that during the “dry” half of the year, when irrigation is most important, the average monthly (November through April) rainfall is only 1.9 inches/month, according to UF extension service tables. One inch of water is collected at the rate of .6 gallons per square foot of roof area. So a 3,000 sq. ft. roof area will collect 1800 gallons of water at the rate of 1”/month.

Since the landscape area for a typical home in Sea Glass would most likely be smaller than a typical Sanibel lot, I’ve taken the liberty to estimate the landscape water demand at 6,000 gal/month. Under this scenario, it appears that the 10000-gallon storage tank would need replenishment water from the IWA for about 5 months of the six-month “dry” season. This replenishment would not be required during the months of the average “wet” season since the s month average is approximately 7.0 inches/month.

This is the 20 year projection for this system:

Total gallons of water collected from cistern: 1498400 gallons
Total supplemental irrigation water purchased: 188000 gallons for $752.00 (present cost)
Total system cost: $13,759.00
Cost of system per gallon/stored: $1.37
Cost of water per 1000/gallon: $9.18

The cost of water is approximately twice what the cost of the IWA would be as it is now. This could be easily offset if any type of rebate or tax credits were to be involved if forward thinking law makers were act as they should.


Jeff Good
Benchmark General Contractors, Inc.

Serenbe?

What is Serenbe? It is a funny name. Evidently the developers, restaurateurs Steve and Marie Nygren of Atlanta thought it fit their concept of an ideal community to be built south of Fulton County, Georgia, in Palmetto.
Serenbe is in the middle of the 40,000 acre Chattahoochee Hill Country and the owners were obviously determined to make a statement about showing how this area can be home to many and still be preserved. The idea was to preserve 80% of the open space, create and environment where the residents could be part of an active sustainable community centered on the local environment, live in close proximity to forests and community gardens, and be part of the Nest Concept. What’s this? How about downsizing with a brain.
“The ‘Lew Oliver Nest’ cottage is not simply downsizing, it is a lightening up, bringing about an increase in quality of one’s life,” said Lew Oliver. “Simple living patterns and increased leisure time are consequences of life in a Nest house. All of the luxuries found in the McMansion are found in the Nest Cottage, only much more efficient, green, and up-to-date, without the overwhelming maintenance and mortgage associated with the typical house,” added Oliver.
Check it out at www.serenbe.com.
So plan a road trip. See what else is out there. But does this idea sound familiar? How about applying this concept of creating a small sustainable community (a nest) in close proximity to existing growth areas? How about downsizing with a brain? Aren’t we all ready for a change in how we live and our attitude towards our community? Think globally but act locally? Creating a small “nest” is a lot easier that the usual multi-hundred PUD. How about areas of Florida? Check out Sea Glass on Sanibel.

Jeff Good
Benchmark General Contractors, Inc.

Ken Kern is Dead!

But his ideas seem to be alive. Most people in the 70’s, who wanted to build a home more in tune with their particular climate or by themselves had a copy of Ken’s book “The Owner Built Home”. This book was much more than how to construct a foundation, build a wall, shingle a roof, etc. Although the book covered everything from selecting building sites to painting, Ken’s work was best known for introducing us to some “unconventional techniques” when designing and building our homes. What were these techniques? I’m glad you asked.

These were some of the “unconventional techniques”:
Placing a home on a site to take best advantage of compass orientation. For example, in northern climates concentrating glass in directions that would maximize solar gain and installing less glass on the “cold”side.
Again in northern climates, constructing an overhang that would shade glass in warm months and then allow sunlight in colder months.
Using “insulated” glass.
The use of innovative insulating techniques, i.e., incorporating dead air spaces in wall systems and the use of reflective products in wall and roof systems.
Orientating room layout to make best use of the path of the sun during the day.
The use of trees and vegetation to shade certain portions of the home.
Developing internal ways of circulating interior air flow in order to minimize the load on the heating and cooling systems.

These were generally radical ideas at the time, especially in the early 70’s, when energy was cheap and the country was still debating the issue “is smog really bad for you?”

Ken also wrote a book in 1978 called “The Healthy House”, addressing the idea of indoor air pollution and the use of contaminants inside of our homes. Whoever thought that our houses could make us sick? Ken Kern’s ideas were marginalized and considered to be “wacko” tree hugger concepts. Now we get LEED points for addressing many of these same concerns. Today’s architecture and especially the “green” movement are founded in many of Ken’s ideas. While Ken Kern did not develop these concepts, he certainly put them in a simple form that many of us could understand.

Ken, an architect by education, traveled the world studying the home building techniques of indigenous peoples. He presented us with ways to get efficiency and sustainability out of low-tech materials and systems. Good lessons for all of us now concerned with these issues.

Ken actually died in a home he designed. A concrete slip form home he built collapsed during a freak windstorm. If you’re going to go, it might as well be with something you love. If you find a now out of print copy of “The Owner Built Home”, keep it. It’s a collector’s item.

Jeff Good
Benchmark General Contractors, Inc.

Community Gardens

Residents of Lee County who have wanted to start gardening but either lacked the space or know how, or both, will now have the opportunity, thanks to the Lee County Parks and Recreation Department. The Lakes Park Enrichment Foundation, in association with Lee County Parks and Recreation, recently announced the creation of the Community Garden of Lakes Park, which is the first phase of the Lakes Park Botanic Garden. The Community Garden will be comprised of fifty-three (53), 4’ x 8’ raised garden bedsin a sunburst arrangement.

Beds rent for $50 annually, all proceeds will benefit the Lakes Park EnrichmentFoundation and will be re-invested back into Lakes Park. Parks and Recreation is refering to it’s garden plot renters as “Local-Vores”, a.k.a. community citizens wishing to cultivate produce or flowering species within the Community Garden of Lakes Park. This is a progressive concept to revive the practice of growing produce and plantings close to home. This is an excellent opportunity for anyone who wants to jump into this activity. Each Community Gardener will be required to sign an agreement, to uphold the regulations of the Community Garden, namely restrictions on the use of pesticides and fertilizers, pledge to maintain the Community Garden plot and attend quarterly meetings/classes. Gardeners will supply their own tools and plantings.

Volunteer Garden Manager Austin Tincher will direct sign-ups and operations. Call (239) 533- 7529 or e-mail gardenplots@leegov.com. Applications to lease a garden plot are also available at the LPEF Web site, http://www.lakesparkenrichmentfoundation.org/. Classes, demonstrations and other opportunities will be available to registered gardeners.

Renovation Incentives

If you installed windows or insulation in 2008 and are looking for a tax credit, sorry, but you’re out of luck. But, hey, it is now 2010 and times have changed. So, it’s drafty, your electric bills are looking like a mortgage payment and your windows were installed by Noah’s Ark Windows & Doors, LLC. You’re ready for a change!

Here's a look at what's available:

•A tax credit for 30% of the cost of energy-efficient doors and windows, insulation, air conditioners, furnaces, heat pumps and boilers, up to a lifetime cap of $1,500. This credit is available for 2009 and 2010.
That means if you spend $5,000 on new windows this year and claim a $1,500 tax credit on your 2010 tax return, you won't be able to claim an additional credit in 2011.
This is a more generous credit than the one that was available in 2006 and 2007, which covered 10% of the costs, up to a lifetime cap of $500. The old credits also contained individual caps, such as a $200 limit on new windows. With the new credits, you can claim 30% of all your energy-efficient costs, up to the lifetime cap.
For windows, doors, insulation and other similar projects that tighten up the "shell" of your home, the credit is limited to the cost of materials.
However, if you buy a new air conditioner, furnace, heat pump or boiler that meets the energy-efficient guidelines, you can include the cost of installation in calculating the credit.
Only improvements to your primary residence qualify for the credits, unlike other tax credits, there are no income phase outs. In addition, taxpayers who are subject to the alternative minimum tax — a parallel tax system that often affects people who pay high property taxes — will be able to claim the credit.

•Expanded tax credits for more ambitious projects, such as solar water heaters.
Starting in 2009, homeowners who install solar water heaters, geothermal heat pumps and wind energy systems are eligible for a tax credit of up to 30% of the cost, with no caps. Previously, caps on these types of projects ranged from $2,000 to $4,000. These tax credits are available through 2016, and both labor and materials qualify.
So, look to the future, realize that what you spend today, wisely, can enrich your life and be a small part of a better world.

Jeff Good
Benchmark General Contractors, Inc.

The Small House

The McMansion it’s not; many are opting for living in a “Small House”. Living “small” is hardly a new concept. Henry Thoreau moved into a 150-sq.-ft. house on Walden Pond in the 1840s, and the city of San Francisco built some 5,600 cottages for survivors of the 1906 earthquake. But over the past decade, dozens of architects and builders have begun specializing in tiny-house designs. After Hurricane Katrina, Architect Marianne Cusato designed a series of homes, called “Katrina Cottages”, that were meant to replace the much maligned FEMA trailers. These homes ranged in size from 308 ft to 437 ft. and some of the models, as well as others, are now available as kit homes from retailers such as Lowes. The cottage in the photograph was designed by Bud Lawrence of Period Style Homes.

Many home buyers are motivated by the desire to simplify their lives, use fewer resources and save money. Many are falling in love with the little things. It has been estimated that anywhere from a few hundred to a thousand homes measuring less than 500 sq. ft. and costing less than $100,000 have been built since this trend was first noticed around 2002.

“It’s a very exciting moment,” said Shay Salomon, a green builder in Tucson, Ariz., and the author of “Little House on a Small Planet” (Lyons Press, 2006), “because it feels like a chapter of American history might be ending, the chapter called ‘Bigger is Better.’ I’m not the Gallup poll, but I hear the same story over and over: I got rid of that big house, and now I have time to see my husband. Before, we used to work all week and then we’d spend the weekend on the house.”

Small homes make sense not just for the frugal or displaced but also for single city dwellers like students or business travelers. In Germany six students at the Technical University of Munich spent a year living on campus in cube-shaped Micro Compact Homes, designed by British architect Richard Horden. Measuring about 74 sq. ft. and selling for $95,000, the houses are modeled after a Japanese teahouse, with a sunken eating space and a bed that folds up against a wall. Building a minihome offers the challenge of figuring out how to make every nook and cranny count. A recent design for a 625-square-foot guest house uses a loft sleeping area and built-in beds to create more room below. Windows were added in the loft and alcoves at the head of each bed with recessed lighting fixtures to facilitate reading in bed.

Designers believe amenities typically found in “Small Houses” prove that downsizing doesn't mean downscale. "When you build smaller, you can put in a lot more quality than you can in a larger space," says Geoffrey Warner of Alchemy Architects in St. Paul, Minn. Warner's weeHouses, shaped something like shipping containers, start at $69,500 for a 364-sq.-ft. studio with bamboo flooring, built-in cabinetry and floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors.

Many times “efficiency” in building design can go well beyond just making large spaces more efficient to operate. While "small houses" are well suited for a special client, many of the concepts can be incorporated into condensing a "normal" sized home. There are many ways to approach the issue of sustainability and efficiency if we have an open mind.

Jeff Good
Benchmark General Contractors, Inc.

New Developments in Lighting

Generally speaking, about 30% of your electricity bill is spent on lighting in your house. You can reduce this expense by using energy efficient light bulbs. By using the energy saving light bulbs you can decrease the amount of your electricity bill by getting the same amount of light like the standard light bulb with the use of less electricity. These new developments in technology tells us that energy saving light bulbs can be up to 8 times more efficient than the standard light bulbs. Energy efficient light bulbs use very low energy for the lighting purpose and provide you with a number of varieties of energy saving bulbs as well as fittings. You would generally get the same amount of light using less wattage. These bulbs and fittings are best suited for your outdoor as well as indoor lighting. You can also get a wide choice of LED fittings and LED bulbs. You should know that the working of energy efficient light bulbs depends upon some special units. Some will not work with the standard dimmers, timers and sensors. Check the capabilities of each type of bulb before installation. The different types of domestic light bulbs are as follows:* Halogen Bulbs- they have a small pocket full with halogen gas that emits a bright and a white light. A great degree of light is emitted as compared to the standard light bulb having similar wattage and using less electricity at the same time. In addition, they also a longer time of burning, about 2000 to 3000 hours. The old units of halogen needed a transformer and ran at a low voltage. Thus, their output was limited to about 20W. But now the halogen bulbs are available that do not need a transformer any more and at the same time would give you better outputs.
* Standard Fluorescent Bulbs- these are thin and long tubes that are generally found in the offices of garages. They are considered as more efficient as compared to the standard light bulbs as heat is not produced in them. They have a burning time of about 10,000- 20,000 hours. They can last for about 10-20 years long due to this longevity in life time.
* Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs- this fluorescent bulb is recommended greatly over a regular bulb. It produces about 4 times more light as compared to the regular bulb of the same wattage. The lasting period of the fluorescent light bulbs is about 10,000 hours. If you are thinking of replacing the standard light bulbs in your house with an energy efficient bulb, then the compact fluorescent light bulb will be one of the best options available to you.
*LED Lighting-Perhaps the most exciting development in energy efficient lighting is the development of LED (Light Emitting Diode) lighting. Small and highly efficient, these products are highly efficient at converting electrical energy to lighting energy, about 80% efficient as opposed to 20% for incandescent bulbs. While cost has historically been prohibitive, the cost has been dropping dramatically as technology and production improves. Also, the lifespan of many LED products can be in excess of 40,000 hours.
There have also been some interesting developments with high efficiency fluorescent fixtures, such as T5 & T8 bulbs, more about that later. Everything has it’s cost and everything has its return. Contact Benchmark General Contractors, Inc. for information of how these energy savings devices can improve the performance of your building or home and save you money!.

Let's Go to the Bathroom!

We all want our homes to be attractive, function well and create a feeling of comfort and refuge. Often times knowing that our spaces are well designed and energy efficient can add to our enjoyment of our homes. Let’s start with the bathroom!

There are a number of design features and fittings that can improve bathroom energy efficiency and reduce energy bills and our “carbon footprint”. Whether designing a new bathroom or remodeling an existing one, there are simple ways to save you money and energy. 1. Energy Efficient Hot Water System Select an energy efficient hot water system and place it as close to the bathroom and laundry as possible to reduce pipe length and reduce heat loss. 2. Install Energy Star rated Ventilation Fans: Bathroom moisture is often controlled by the use of an exhaust fan. The fan sucks out the moisture-laden air, which is then replaced by drier air. Fans help move out moisture, which can increase the level of humidity in your home. High humidity can damage building materials. Worse, high humidness can cause mold growth and mold may affect your family's health. 3. Install Compact Fluorescent or LED lighting: Another easy way to increase your bathroom’s energy efficiency is to install light fixtures that use compact fluorescent or LEDE lighting. These products are increasingly more affordable, have a much greater lifespan add value to your home as well as reducing home energy bills. 4. Insulate Walls and Ceilings: The walls behind tubs or showers often have many floor, wall and ceiling penetrations. These can be sealed and insulated to prevent air and moisture intrusions. 5. Energy Efficient Windows and Doors If you are replacing or installing new windows, doors, and skylights, consider those with Energy Star certification. 6. Energy Efficient Fixtures: The shower can be the largest user of a family’s hot water. Install a solar thermal water heater. These are generally easy to install and function well. There are also federal tax credits as well as many state rebate programs available. These products can pay for themselves in a very short period of time.
7. Water Pipes and Water Saving Devices Also, there are many water saving fixtures available such as dual flush toilets, flow restricting shower heads, etc., that are not expensive. Check with your plumber or contact us at Benchmark to see what is available.
Lastly, pay attention to your design. Are you using too much space, do you have too many fixtures? It’s often harder to design a small well functioning bathroom that is smart and efficient than a large opulent bathroom. While large and opulent may look good in the magazines, it can be inefficient to live in and maintain.