You Go Girl - Feed That Grid!

I’m glad we decided to follow the silver pickup, or my husband and I would have given up and turned around six traffic lights back. At 5 p.m., Highway 98 east of Panama City in the Florida panhandle is a confusing traffic-clogged artery, which is why we out-of-towners were trailing a new acquaintance named Diane Bateman. She was leading us to see her soon-to-be-famous house.

For me this expedition was personal. If the housing market hadn’t slid into the ditch in 2006, I would have been heading up a competitive race against Diane’s house to complete the first Platinum LEED certified house in Florida. I was working with a homebuilder contemplating a Zero Energy Home. That one never happened.

But, while I focused on coaxing a big bucks luxury builder toward creating an energy producing showcase house, Diane, a single woman of modest means, went off and found a manufacturer of modular houses to build a net Zero Energy Home for her to live in. Together they did it for under $250,000 in a new infill neighborhood where a trailer park once stood. I’m happy Diane appears to be winning the Florida race. You go girl!

Diane’s house is a milestone in workforce housing. Going way beyond “energy efficient,” the house’s photovoltaic panels captures and delivers energy into the power grid. That's the goal of a net zero energy home. To deliver as much power as it consumes.

There’s more in this house. The hot water system is geo-thermal, using the air conditioner to heat water and sending it underground where it waits to be called into use.

There’s more. While it looks like a life-size dollhouse, the two-story frame home was created from four factory-built modular boxes. Diane, who is a biologist, is intuitively interested in green building so her choice of bamboo for the floors and Energy Star appliances was for her a no-brainer. But she thanks her builder, StalwartBuilt Homes for the many green building features that come standard in the modulars they construct.

Famous is subjective. This house will be famous with energy geeks like me and with proponents of affordable workforce housing. But it would also be popular with readers of Build My House Better, if such a magazine existed.

For more information on energy efficient StalwartBuilt Modular Homes go to: http://www.stalwartbuilt.com/
Note: Diane's home is registered with USGBC LEED-h, certification is not yet complete.

Bottle Brawl Averted at Writer's Home

After my February 8 post, Joe Average, a.k.a. my husband Rob, got riled. Something I said made him doubt what he believed growing up. When he read my comment that single-stream recycle haulers don’t relish handling glass, he threatened to quit caring.

Whoa! Calm down, Joe. Tell me your problem.

“Bottle deposits! Ever since I was a boy and had to pay an extra two cents on every pop bottle, I believed that glass was very valuable and that it had to be returned and reused. By collecting bottles, I made money! I’d find them along the road and take them to the store. The store kept them until the deliveryman took them back. The bottles were cleaned and reused, or so I thought. Now you’re telling me they don’t like hauling glass? Or that it just gets crushed and melted? I feel defrauded. Why bother? I’m too busy.”

This outburst is interesting. I think it’s my fault.

First, Joe, don’t be confused by my last post. Single stream recycling haulers and glass recyclers are usually two different entities. Haulers just haul - - that is, they pick it up here and deliver it there. In the single stream or co-mingled recycling process, one container holds everything from cardboard to cans to applesauce jars. Trucks grab your bin from the curb with a hydraulic arm, dumping it and moving on. In the jumble of it all, the glass falls into the truck and often breaks- - it’s not pretty. And it’s not popular with haulers of co-mingled materials.

On the other hand, the glass recyclers perform wonders crushing, washing, melting glass and recreating new containers with it. Recycling glass is good. Recreating with recycled glass uses only 40% of the energy it takes to make glass from new raw materials.

But, I take your other point about bottle deposit. Where are the bottle deposits now?

It’s not just you, Joe. Opinions run strong on this topic. Here are a few fundamentals.

• Eleven states have laws requiring consumers to pay up to 10 cents for bottle deposits. The laws are referred to as bottle bills. (Florida, where we live, doesn’t have one.) Click here for a map of states with BB laws.
• Seven more states are currently seeking bottle bills.
• Proponents of bottle bill legislation say refundable deposits will reduce the amount of glass and plastic going into landfills
• Proponents say refundable deposits reduce roadside litter
• Opponents say deposit puts too much financial burden on consumers and manufacturers
• Opponents say bottle deposit will be hard on consumers who rely on public transportation who would have greater hardship in returning bottles. They are also those who can least afford the added pennies when purchasing.

Here is a link that will steer you to news articles regarding bottle bill legislation in your state. State bottle bill news.

I'm still pondering my position on this. Remember, I'm the one who wakes up early in the morning worrying about glass falling from the recycle bin.

Vroom-clink Time to Wake Up

The recycling truck comes early in my neighborhood. Very early. Like before daylight early. Sometimes the repeating vroom of the vehicle moving from house to house fits into my morning dream. When the truck gets right outside my window, I hear the clinking of glass tumbling and falling. Suddenly I’m awake wondering about that glass.

We have single stream recycling in our county, meaning we get to put all of the recyclables into one 64 gallon container and wheel it out to the curb. It’s easy. No sorting. But on these loud vrooming glass-clinking mornings, I wonder how well that works. Obviously some glass breaks. I can hear it when the truck’s hydraulic arm lifts and dumps the container. The heavy green and brown bottles might make it okay, but the thinner clear applesauce and jelly jars are in jeopardy.

While attending a Recycle Florida Today workshop recently, I heard that recycling haulers are least fond of glass. It breaks and is easily contaminated by being co-mingled with non-recyclable glass such as Pyrex or window glass. Also, colored glass while recyclable, cannot be mixed. Then there’s the market. Selling glass to recyclers comes and goes. The bottom line is that recycling glass from commingled bins is not a cinch.

Nevertheless, when I remove a full basket of recyclables from under my kitchen sink and add it to the 64 gallon container which I wheel to the street, I feel pretty righteous. Somewhat oblivious perhaps, but righteous.

Factoids about recycling glass:

• Thirteen million jars and bottle are recycled daily in America
• Using recycled glass to make new glass products requires 40 percent less energy than making it from all new materials. The reason - - crushed glass melts at a lower temperature than the raw materials used to make glass.
• New glass is made from sand, soda ash, and limestone.Once color is in the glass, it cannot be removed. Green bottles are recycled back into green glass and brown bottles the same.
  
• Crushed glass is also used in road pavement
• Window glass contains additives and is not recyclable