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.