Brendan Coburn, an architect, turned the interior of an 1847 row house into a sleek, modern space. The switchback staircase in the middle of the house has landings made of slabs of glass and is topped by a skylight.

IN late 1999, when Bertina Ceccarelli moved from California to New York to work for an Internet startup called GiftCertificates.com, and bought a one-bedroom apartment in Murray Hill, among the first things she needed was help with the outdated kitchen. A friend suggested Brendan Coburn, a former boyfriend whom she described as a “brilliant architect.” Ms. Ceccarelli was impressed by such a glowing recommendation of an old flame, and even more impressed by what Mr. Coburn envisioned.

“He sketched everything out perfectly, to a T,” said Ms. Ceccarelli, now an executive vice president of the Wildlife Conservation Society, which is headquartered at the Bronx Zoo. “Originally, I just wanted to redo the kitchen. But Brendan suggested things like staining the floors black to emphasize the horizontality and make the space seem larger. I was bowled over.”

At the time Mr. Coburn was working from his parents’ apartment in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, and at night, he and his client, then in their mid-30s, often studied drawings and examined samples of cabinetry and countertops over drinks.

Once his work was done, Mr. Coburn called Ms. Ceccarelli with a proposal. “Could we have dinner and talk about something other than your apartment?” he asked. The dinner turned out to be a bona fide date — no samples of kitchen tile or wood veneers this time. The next day Ms. Ceccarelli broke up with the man she had been seeing, and by March 2001 she and Mr. Coburn were engaged.

But their wedding, which took place five months later, occurred during a tumultuous period. Mr. Coburn’s father had died in May. His brother had divorced. Then came Sept. 11.

“It had been an intense year, with lots of untethering in the world,” Mr. Coburn said. “All these things made us feel that we needed to build a home.” Weeks after the attacks, they began house hunting.

The couple had two criteria. As Mr. Coburn summed them up: “The place had to be a dump, so we could redo it. And there had to be a garden on the south side of the house.” He loved row houses, the defining architecture of his Cobble Hill childhood, but having grown up in one that faced east and west, he knew they could be dark.

The house they settled on, a two-story structure on Sackett Street in Carroll Gardens, had been built in 1847 and according to Mr. Coburn, “had been getting worse for 150 years.” Ms. Ceccarelli agreed. “During the open house,” she said, “people were literally rolling their eyes.”

They bought the building for $575,000 in March 2002, and over the next nine months spent $550,000 to transform it, a cost that would have been far higher had Mr. Coburn not served as both architect and general troubleshooter, working closely with Marty McKenna, his general contractor. They moved into the house in March 2003, three months after the birth of their son, John.

Few people strolling along Sackett Street would guess that behind the worn red brick facade with the weeping cherry out front there sits a sleek modern structure in which everything — walls, floors, the top-floor extension — is brand-new. The parlor floor seems as open as a loft, and even on the darkest days, the rooms are unexpectedly bright.

“The big design idea,” Mr. Coburn said, “was to make the house into a light box, one that captures different light all day long and all year round.” To achieve this, he used two major elements.

One involved building a switchback staircase in the middle of the house, punctuated with landings made of slabs of glass and topped by a skylight that lets sunlight flood the room. The other involved constructing huge windows facing the rear garden. “One of the most compelling architectural qualities of row house neighborhoods is the relationship between the house and the garden,” Mr. Coburn said. “And Brooklyn is particularly blessed when it comes to finding and exploiting this relationship.”

For some couples, allowing one member to design an entire building would be a sure-fire recipe for disaster. Marriages have teetered over the choice of doorknobs. Yet Ms. Ceccarelli struggles to remember something about which the two of them disagreed.

“The only thing we didn’t see absolutely eye to eye on was the Viking stove,” she said. “I wanted something sexier, like maybe a Gaggenau. But really, it was such a silly conversation.”

And while Mr. Coburn privately yearns for a proper dining room, as opposed to the table by the front window that seats six, there too the couple were on the same page.

“We had to be honest with ourselves,” Ms. Ceccarelli said. “We hardly ever use the dining-room table. Most of the time when we have guests, everyone sits in the living room and we serve them wine and cheese.”

The parlor floor opens onto a deck that leads down to the garden, designed as a series of outdoor rooms. John has a treehouse, with a secret door so his friend from next door can visit. The tenants in the basement apartment also have outdoor space.

The second floor is home to Mr. Coburn’s tiny office, along with what he describes as the “TV and Lego pavilion.” In the rear is John’s room, outfitted with his father’s wooden building blocks, along with a huge map of the world on which John can trace his mother’s travels — most recently a safari in Bangalore, India — and a large plush tiger. (Having a mother with an office at the Bronx Zoo has its upside.) The top floor is devoted mainly to the couple’s bedroom.

Architects invariably yearn to build something of their own, or at least to get their hands on buildings they can retrofit. Mr. Coburn is no exception. “If it were up to me,” he said, “we’d have a tiny Greek Revival farmhouse somewhere in the country and change row houses every couple of years.”

Ms. Ceccarelli looked slightly ashen at the possibility. “Um, maybe not,” she said. “I didn’t quite sign up for that.”

Source: nytimes.com E-mail: habitats@nytimes.com Tina Fineberg for The New York Times

We always like to hear about what’s going on with the LEED program here at Trilogy Partners. Recently, we learned that the historic Gragg Building of the Houston Parks and Recreation Department achieved LEED Gold status after undergoing a $16 million, two year renovation process.

The department director, Joe Turner, said in a statement that when the renovation project began, the department asked the architects to preserve the Gragg Building’s historic significance while updating it so it can continue to be used for years to come. “By being responsible stewards of the Gragg Building and its history we hope to serve as an example of how historic preservation can go hand in hand with sustainability and green design,” he said.

The Gragg Building is very significant to Houston, as it was home to NASA’s Manned Spacecraft Center from 1962 to 1964. It was purchased by the city of Houston in 1976. Its recent renovation involved reusing the entire original shell of the building and bringing in natural light into about 82 percent of its interior, The Houston Chronicle reports. Additionally, reclaimed mahogany paneling from the original building was reused when possible, and the new materials used in the renovation were either made of recycled materials.

We think the Gragg Building’s renovation and achievement of LEED Gold status is great proof that green, LEED-certified renovations and remodeling is possible!

Image Courtesy of Swamplot.com.

 

Going green is all about going with nature as far as possible, not fighting it and trying to control forces that are a whole lot bigger than you are. Think about it this way – who’s going to be the ultimate winner? History shows that you can score over the universe in the short term. But if you really get into ecologically friendly ways of living you’ll know you have to take a wider, longer and more integrated view.

Once we got out of caves, we were concerned about basic protection from the world outside. That’s a basic roof on the basic walls, to keep out the rain, cold and summer heat, as well as nature’s predators. In a way, nothing’s changed. Some human needs are timeless. But also everything’s changed. We have choices like never before.

If you’re really dedicated to green remodeling you can’t go wrong by looking at the past. Not just what our ancestors did right. We can now take that to the next level. We can also use technology to solve problems that were way beyond our forebear’s capacity. We can take traditional building methods, building on the bonuses and use modern knowledge, science and technology to go one better.

Here’s a simple example. Windows were once small, because glass was expensive and windows lose heat in a big way. If you’re planning an extension, you can design your windows to make maximum use of available light. You can double-glaze or coat them to let the light in without the UV rays coming and the interior warmth escaping.

You can make use of skylights, so you don’t have to turn on the electric light. You can pitch your roof at the right angle to admit light and to mount solar panels that will harvest the free sunlight that can power your home – naturally, economically and without excessive environmental impact.

Good architectural design today incorporates green ideas wherever that can be done. This doesn’t just apply to new builds. Whatever changes you are making to your home, you can build in green ideas, from the past and from the forward-thinking green designers and architects of today.

Green remodeling is an attitude. Lateral thinking plus sensitivity to place, space and the living world all come together. If you are extending or altering your home, check out the hundreds of solutions that work with the environment instead of trying to keep the world out.

Hopefully, everyone was aware that this past Friday was Earth Day. Much of the annual event’s focus was to increase public awareness of ways to reduce pollution. There were also a number of community clean-ups, including one in Perry Hall, as well as public gatherings to promote more sustainable policy decisions with regard to environmental protection.

I would like to offer, however, some thoughts on what could really turn the tide in support of saving our planet. As is widely known, skyrocketing fossil fuel costs have increased the necessity for all sectors of the economy, leading industry leaders to consider ways to control their energy costs. One area with a great deal of promise is the comprehensive integration of energy efficient and environmentally-friendly practices into the maintenance and development of various structures, from business facilities to residential communities.

In 2007, as part of the New Direction for Energy Independence, National Security and Consumer Protection Act, federal government officials expressed their desire to advance this process. It involved the construction of new, energy-efficient buildings and the targeted retrofitting of energy efficient devices into existing facilities.

All levels of government have since begun to promote environmentally sustainable practices. These efforts will certainly promote energy efficiency and also stimulate the growth of a broad green jobs industry. Baltimore County, for example, has devised a sustainability strategy for government operations and is now working to create a community-wide sustainability plan. As a result of this and related state initiatives, there will be a substantial need for a green labor pool capable of meeting the workforce needs of this emerging industry.

But what exactly are green jobs? Green collar jobs are ones that focus on the conservation of natural resources, the restoration of the environment or the mitigation of pollution. Thus, green collar jobs include the installation of green roofs, the auditing of energy use for an office building, brownfields restoration, installing energy efficient retrofits in existing industrial facilities or dismantling and recycling computers. Jobs that help to promote the more efficient use of commodities (such as fuel and lumber), or help to clean up previously unusable industrial sites, certainly help to benefit both our economy and our natural surroundings.

The promotion of green jobs can simultaneously help our environment and economic viability and also create new job opportunities for unemployed or underemployed Baltimore County residents. The emerging cadre of green or environmentally-driven employment opportunities could offer many area job seekers the chance to be productively engaged in the workforce, helping them support themselves and their families financially. Additionally, as more employers integrate new energy efficient practices into their businesses, many existing jobs will become more “green” and incumbent workers will need to upgrade their skills in order to stay qualified for their jobs and retain their employment.

Policymakers and citizens at-large have made it a priority to promote a sustainable, environmentally-responsible future. Not surprisingly, there has been heightened interest on what impact these efforts may have on the job market. A 2007 study conducted by the Cleantech Network, an organization which tracks green investment, indicated that for every $100 million in venture capital targeted to green industries, approximately 250,000 new jobs could be created.  Thus, if our nation accelerated the emerging transition to a cleaner economy, millions of jobs associated with the construction of green buildings and alternative energy could be created.

As exciting as these projections may be, they will only become a reality if individual consumers change their lifestyles to include sustainable practices. New jobs—green collar, blue collar or some other color—don’t just grow on trees. Our willingness to reduce, reuse and recycle will help create the demand, which is the only sure-fire way to guarantee the creation of green jobs. These jobs could offer many area residents the chance to support themselves and their families, all while helping us to preserve our planet.

Source: PerryHallPatch.com

On the 41st anniversary of Earth Day, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reminds consumers that an investment in energy and resource efficiency can pay real dividends by reducing a home’s energy use and the associated costs.

This year, the Earth Day Network is encouraging people all over the world to contribute to “a billion acts of green.”

“Something that makes a home more resource efficient is definitely an act of green,” said Eric Borsting, chair of NAHB’s Green Building Subcommittee and a builder from Stockton, Calif. “And being a good steward of the earth’s resources can also help a family save money on utility bills over time.”

There are many ways that consumers can make their homes more resource efficient, such as improving insulation and installing energy efficient appliances and lighting, high performance windows and doors, on-demand water heaters, and high efficiency heating and air conditioning systems, just to name a few, Borsting said.

And whether a family is considering a remodeling project or buying a new home, Borsting encourages them to look for a new home certified under the National Green Building Standard or plan a remodeling project that qualifies for certification. The National Green Building Standard (ICC 700 National Green Building Standard™) is the first point-based rating system for green residential construction, remodeling and land development to be approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).

To date, more than 2,200 residential projects nationwide have been certified under the National Green Building Standard.

To comply with the standard, a builder or remodeler must incorporate a minimum number of features in the following areas:

Lot and site development; Energy, water, and resource efficiency; Indoor environmental quality; and Home owner education.

Under the standard, there are four threshold levels – Bronze, Silver, Gold and Emerald. These allow builders and remodelers to quantify and qualify green building at various levels. At the Emerald level, the highest rating for a residential green building, a building must provide energy savings of 60 percent or more.

“Earth Day provides an opportunity for all of us to take stock of what we are doing to make the world a greener, healthier place,” Borsting said. “The green building movement is going to have a significant positive impact as the years go by.”

Visit http://www.nahbgreen.org/ for more information about green building and the National Green Building Standard.

Nearly one year after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake rocked the Republic of Haiti, engineering and concrete experts at Georgia Tech report that concrete and other debris in Port-au-Prince can be safely and inexpensively recycled into strong new construction material. 

In a paper published in the Bulletin of the American Ceramic Society, researchers Reginald R. DesRoches, Kimberly E. Kurtis and Joshua J. Gresham say that they have made new concrete, from recycled rubble and other indigenous raw materials using simple techniques, which meets or exceeds the minimum strength standards used in the United States.

Most of the damaged areas of Haiti are still in ruins. The trio says their work points to a successful and sustainable strategy for managing an unprecedented amount of waste, estimated to be 20 million cubic yards.

“The commodious piles of concrete rubble and construction debris form huge impediments to reconstruction and are often contaminated,” says DesRoches, professor and Associated Chair of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Georgia Tech. “There are political and economic dilemmas as well, but we have found we can turn one of the dilemmas — the rubble — into a solution via some fairly simple methods of recycling the rubble and debris into new concrete.”

DesRoches, who was born in Haiti, traveled several times in 2010 to Port-au-Prince to gather samples of typical concrete rubble and additionally collect samples of two readily available sand types used as fine aggregates in some concrete preparation.

He and Gresham also studied the methods, tools and raw materials used by local laborers to make concrete mixes. DesRoches recalls they encountered no mixing trucks. “Instead, all of the construction crews were manually batching smaller amounts of concrete. Unfortunately, they were mixing volumes of materials ‘by eye,’ an unreliable practice that probably caused much of the poor construction and building failure during the earthquake,” he says.

Before leaving, DesRoches and Gresham manually cast an initial set of standard 3-inch by 6-inch concrete test blocks using mixes from several different construction sites.

They returned to Georgia Tech with their cast blocks, sand samples and notes, where they were joined by Kurtis, also a professor and Chair of the American Concrete Institute’s Materials Science of Concrete Committee.

They quickly discovered that the concrete test samples cast in Haiti were of poor quality. “The Haitian-made concrete had an average compressive strength of 1,300 pounds per square inch,” says Kurtis. “In comparison, concrete produced in the U.S. would be expected to have a minimum strength of 3,000 pounds per square inch.

They then manually crushed the samples with a hammer to provide course aggregate for a second round of tests. In this round, they made concrete samples from mixes that combined the course aggregate with one of the two types of sands they had collected. However, instead of “eye-balling” the amounts of materials, in this round of tests they carefully measured volumes using methods prescribed by the American Concrete Institute. The materials were still mixed by hand to replicate the conditions in Haiti.

Subsequent tests of samples made from each type of sand provided good news: The compressive strength of both of the types of new test blocks, still composed of Haitian materials, dramatically increased, showing an average over 3,000 pounds per square inch.

“Based upon these results, we now believe that Haitian concrete debris, even of inferior quality, can be effectively used as recycled course aggregate in new construction,” says Kurtis. “It can work effectively, even if mixed by hand. The key is having a consistent mix of materials that can be easily measured. We are confident are results can be scaled up mix procedure where quantities can be measured using common, inexpensive construction equipment.”

DesRoches is pleased because recycling eliminates two hurdles to reconstruction. “First, removing the remaining debris is nearly impossible because there are few, if any, safe landfill sites near Port-au-Prince, and the nation lacks the trucks and infrastructure to haul it away. It is better to use it than to move it. “Second,” DesRoches says, “Finding fresh aggregate is more difficult than getting rid of the debris. It is costly to find, mine and truck in.”

The trio notes recycled concrete aggregate has been used worldwide for roadbeds, drainage, etc., and that many European Union countries commonly use 20 percent recycled aggregates in structural concrete. Published research by others has also demonstrated that the use of local-sourced recycled aggregate concrete production can be more sustainable.

Because of the urgency of quick and safe reconstruction, the researchers urge that recycling the debris quickly move from proof-of-concept to large scale testing. “More work must be done to characterize the recycled materials, test additional performance parameters and gauge the safest ways to crush the rubble. Seismic behavior and building codes must be studied. But, these tests can and should be done dynamically, during reconstruction, because the benefits can be so immediate and significant,” says DesRoches.

DesRoches, Kurtis and Gresham say they plan on sharing their research with Haitian government officials and nongovernmental organizations working on reconstruction projects. DesRoches is hopeful that a debris strategy and infrastructure will eventually emerge from the government once the disputed presidential elections in Haiti are resolved. “Some think that many rebuilding projects have on hold for the past few months because of distraction from the elections. The next round of elections is this month, so it soon may be possible to accelerate reconstruction.”

Source: Science Daily

Source

Homeowners with good credit scores, manageable debt, and some home equity could be eligible for a federally-insured loan to help them finance home energy upgrades. The Obama administration announced last week that “PowerSaver” loans will be available at or below market rates and can be used to finance efficiency measures such as adding insulation, sealing ducts, replacing windows, upgrading HVAC systems, or installing geothermal heating and cooling systems, according to USA Today.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu was present at last week’s announcement and said “We’re making it easier for American homeowners to save money by saving energy,” also noting that the average household spends about $2000 on utility bills each year.

The “PowerSaver” loans of up to $25,000 are a part of the Obama administration’s broad efforts to improve home energy efficiency in America. Shaun Donovan, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, expects that the loans will assist around 30,000 homeowners and “will not only save them money on energy bills but also reduce pollution…”

You can learn more about the “PowerSaver” loans at USA Today.

Photo credit: Yourgreenfriend.com.

 

As the 2010/11 ski season nears its end and Earth Day 2011 celebrations begin, CSCUSA is highlighting resort environmental efforts. By implementing new means of generating and conserving energy, sourcing more sustainable ways of construction and snowmaking, and making it a priority to give back to their communities, CSCUSA resorts are leading the way in protecting one of Colorado ski industry’s most valuable assets for future generations of outdoor enthusiasts.
Colorado Ski Country USA (CSCUSA) is the global voice of Colorado’s ski industry and represents the world’s premiere ski destinations. With 22 member resorts, CSCUSA encompasses 28,791 skiable acres, 3,623 snowmaking acres, 2,328ft average vertical rise, and 1,749 trails. Resorts offer a wide variety of terrain by utilizing the natural landscape of Colorado’s Rocky Mountains, hence, CSCUSA resorts are making it their duty to be good stewards of the environment in which we ski.

Alternative Energy
While resorts are long-standing proponents and users of alternative energy, many resorts are adopting new wind and solar energy sources to power their on and off-mountain operations while always exploring new forms of alternative energy and energy efficiencies.

In effect since 1997, AreaNet has expanded each year to now control snow melt systems with moisture and temperature sensors, ensuring that heat will not be used unless it is wet and below freezing at Snoasis, Sunspot, Mary Jane, the Village Cabriolet lift, the Private Lesson Center and Zephyr Mountain Lodge. AreaNet also has some control over gas appliances and heat as well as shutting down snow-making equipment when temperatures are too warm for optimum snow production.

•    Winter Park installed a small wind turbine at the top of Parsenn Bowl to provide power to the lift shack. The turbine offsets energy consumption and increases lift operation efficiency. Also, Winter Park’s electrical foreman designed and built hardware and software to create a resort-wide automatically controlled system – AreaNet – that shuts down heat to lift shacks and lift motor rooms when not needed.

•    Copper Mountain harnesses solar power with photovoltaic panels that line the south-facing roof of the Transportation Center in the Alpine Lot. The 4.2 kW solar installation provides a portion of the electricity for the building. The resort is also working to retrofit lighting fixtures with more energy-efficient light bulbs.

•    Through solar energy, Aspen/Snowmass generates a total of 171.2kW with 147kW coming from a solar array installed at the Colorado Rocky Mountain School (CRMS) in Carbondale. The $1 million system sits on one-half acre of ranchland owned by the high school.

The electricity generated by the CRMS solar array powers the school’s science building, with excess energy fed into the town of Carbondale’s power grid. Annually, the installation will produce 200,000kWh (enough power for 20 average American homes) and keep 400,000 lbs of carbon dioxide out of the air each year.

Along with solar arrays, Aspen/Snowmass has explored alternative energy using spring runoff. The resort installed a 115kW micro-Hydro plant at Snowmass that produces power from melting snow. The golf clubhouse system reduces natural gas consumption by 2/3.

Several other facilities around Aspen also make use of solar energy including a 2.3kW solar installation at Aspen Highlands ski patrol headquarters; a 10.6 kW solar installation at Thunder River Lodge; an employee housing complex in Carbondale; a 5kW array at The Little Nell hotel; a 4.3kW array at the Snowmass Club; and a 2.0 kW array at the Sundeck atop Aspen Mountain.

•    Wolf Creek currently purchases 100 percent of its power usage from a green power supplier, and has been recognized by the US Forest Service for its commitment to alternative energy.

•    At Monarch Mountain, the majority of lighting is done with energy efficient light bulbs, with motion-sensor lighting in some areas.

•  Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR) completed a full energy inventory of its Mountain Operations in 2008. The inventory included lifts, snowmaking, facilities and vehicles. As a charter member of the Colorado Industrial Energy Challenge, CBMR set the goal to reduce its overall energy consumption by 2 percent per year. Since 2008, through conservation and management, the resort has reduced electrical use by 17.15 percent, fuels by 28.5 percent, natural gas consumption by 47.2 percent and pumped 8.3 percent less water, exceeding the resort’s goals. Part of this reduction resulted from relocating the resort’s park and pipe area to a new location that requires less energy to pump water and air.

Through its energy efficient measures, CBMR is running a more cost-effective business and has reduced carbon emissions by more than 11 percent.

Additionally, CBMR has installed timers on the heaters in its lift shacks, enabling employees to be more comfortable while also significantly reducing energy use.

Renewable Energy Credits
Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) are another method many resorts use to offset energy consumption. Each REC represents one megawatt hour of electricity as generated from a certified renewable energy source. Many of CSCUSA’s member resorts are using RECs to offset their energy use, especially in areas where alternative energy is not readily available.

•    Wolf Creek offsets 100 percent of year-round operations with RECs, while Powderhorn offsets two of its three lifts with RECs and is planning to purchase RECs to offset more of the resort’s energy use in years to come. Steamboat’s RECs offset three percent of the resort’s total electricity requirements, while Telluride‘s RECs offset 1,000,000 kWh of electricity use each year.

•    Winter Park’s RECs offset the Panoramic Express, Eagle Wind, Super Gauge Express and Village Cabriolet lifts, which combined equal 6.4 percent of the resort’s total electrical usage.

Construction
Through the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or the LEED Certification System, and other green building initiatives, many CSCUSA resorts are dedicating themselves to sustainable and environmentally-responsible development.

•    Aspen/Snowmass has instituted a Green Building Policy that aims to reduce the impact of building and development by adhering to green building guidelines and participating in the LEED certification program. The Snowmass Golf Clubhouse, Sam’s Restaurant, and the Aspen Holiday House Employee Housing are all LEED certified buildings.

•    At Copper Mountain, the Woodward at Copper action sports facility was awarded a Green Globe third-party certification for green building practices and design. The Woodward building features energy-efficient heating and cooling systems, low volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and energy-efficient lighting.

•    Over the past two years, Purgatory implemented conservation measures as it added terrain with the Legends expansion and created The Ambassadors Glade, which further increased the resort’s skiable acreage and improved forest health and wildlife habitat through a selective tree clearing and thinning process.

Purgatory also constructed the half-pipe and other terrain park features out of dirt and utilized a new technique and product called biochar, which helps store carbon in the ground, improves water quality and increase soil fertility for forest rehabilitation.

Land Management
Many resorts have developed land management programs that protect vegetation from snow making/contouring equipment and maintain maximum vegetation cover.

•    Steamboat has programs for slash management to prevent run-off and land degradation, re-vegetation for natural grasses and plants, and habitat management for native species.

•    Sunlight developed a vegetation management program to balance maximum forest cover with safe and varied terrain.

•   Telluride is also working on a vegetation cover analysis to increase on-mountain vegetation while maximizing space on the slopes.

•    Winter Park continues to work with the United States Forest Service on its award winning Pine-Beetle Mitigation.

Recycling, etc.
Nearly all of CSCUSA’s resorts have recycling and re-use programs in place that reduce waste and increase awareness of the environment.

•    At Crested Butte, the resort recycled more than 50 percent of solid waste products in 2010 and set a goal to recycle more than 65 percent in 2011. Additionally, Crested Butte uses Green Seal Products in its operations and lodging division as part of the Green Purchasing Program.

•  Recycling and composting are top priority at Arapahoe Basin. A recycling policy and waste reduction guidelines were implemented recently and have had a major impact on the amount of recycling and compost being diverted from the landfill. Arapahoe Basin composts in the kitchens of both restaurants, at all after-hour events, and with its Snowsports School lunch program. The resort also allows its employees to bring all compostables from home. To date Arapahoe Basin has diverted approximately 20 tons of compost from the landfill.

•    Monarch Mountain recycles everything possible at the resort, from office materials to food and beverage utensils. Monarch also re-processes used oil and grease for re-use.

•    Wolf Creek recycles kitchen oil, equipment oil, steel, aluminum, cardboard, paper, batteries, uniforms, ink cartridges, office equipment, and phone books.

•    Copper Mountain increases its resort-wide recycling program each year. The Copper Conference Center has a pilot composting program to encourage staff to compost all food scraps.

•    Powderhorn recycles everything including glass, plastics, aluminum, office paper, newspaper, cardboard, uniforms, printer cartridges, oil, skis, and some metals. The Fleet Maintenance at Powderhorn installed a used-oil burner to reduce propane use and eliminate sending waste oil to third parties for disposal. Powderhorn also gives old rental skis to a local carpenter who uses them to manufacture deck chairs and benches.

•    Silverton Mountain follows the ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’ mantra in nearly every aspect of its operations. The Base Lodge was donated by the town of Silverton, the equipment facility is run out of a used school bus, the mountain’s only lift was purchased from Mammoth Mountain in California, and all mountain vehicles, radios, furnishings, carpeting, bar equipment, ski patrol toboggans, and ropes were donated as well. As a result, Silverton produces very little waste.

•    Purgatory has a resort-wide recycling program that encourages all guests and employees to recycle. Purgatory recycles all construction material and is home to the North County Recycling Center where residents of North County can bring their recyclables

•    Telluride’s latest “reduce, reuse and recycle” efforts include resort restaurants using natural sugar cane take-out containers and printing receipts by request only, saving approximately 2,000 receipts daily. Ski school utilizes paperless check-out systems, saving 10,000 triplicate forms. The resort reduces paper-usage by digitalizing all legal files and has developed a paperless database.

Recycling at Telluride is available at all guest service kiosks, and at the snowcat fuel island. The maintenance department uses bulk chemicals having phased out aerosol cans, and has transitioned to cloth rags for cleaning instead of paper towels. One of Telluride’s more creative initiatives was the purchase of a waste oil heater. This heater burns all food and beverage fryer oils as well as most maintenance shop oils including hydraulic fluids, used motor oils, and more, saving heating bills and hazmat hauling fees. Skiers and riders will also notice Telluride’s trail sign posts, made from old rental shop skis.

•    Steamboat’s award winning Zero Waste Initiative eliminates the amount of trash sent to landfills with the goal of producing zero waste in the future. The Initiative utilizes composting, in addition to recycling and reusing. All mountain restaurants and outlets are using biodegradable and compostable products wherever available and eliminated trash by utilizing reusable plates and silverware. Unique recycling efforts include coffee grounds, milk jugs to make patio furniture and old signs and banners turned into messenger bags and totes.

•    To better educate its staff and guests about Winter Park Resort’s environmental initiatives, the resort developed Connexion – an umbrella brand with a distinct look placed throughout the resort on various recycling stations and displayed on signage on the mountain. Connexion’s goal is to inform, involve and educate resort employees, guests and the community about the environment in which they work and play. The program includes energy reduction efforts with the purchase of RECs, the utilization of single-use items made from biodegradable resources, and an expanded recycling program for guests and staff.

Winter Park Resort’s food and beverage department continues to lead the resort’s recycling efforts with restaurants currently expanding the amount of reusable items to completely eliminate waste or by using single-use, environmentally-friendly and completely compostable products like cups, plates, bowls, and cutlery, all made from corn, sugar cane, and potato starch. Winter Park’s resort wide efforts help divert 43 percent of its waste from landfills.

Snowmaking & Snow Equipment
By using more efficient snowmaking machines, as new snowmaking and upgrades to existing snowmaking are brought online, many CSCUSA resorts are saving rather than spending energy when it comes to making snow and slope maintenance.

•    Combining efforts of added snowmaking coverage with state-of-the-art energy efficient guns and constructing its half-pipe and other terrain park features out of dirt, Purgatory was able to reduce water and energy consumption through snowmaking and conserve 190,000 gallons of water during the 2010-11 season.

In addition, new snowcats were purchased for the season, reducing fuel usage and saving more than 14,000 gallons of fuel, greatly reducing Purgatory’s carbon footprint.

•    At Arapahoe Basin, an airless snowmaking system requires 20 percent less energy than traditional equipment, and Eldora continues to improve the efficiency of its snowmaking system, therefore lowering its energy demand. Steamboat uses a similar technology, with nearly nine miles of pipe installed over the past few seasons.

•    Aspen/Snowmass has begun using a dirt-based superpipe at Buttermilk to reduce the amount of snowmaking necessary in the winter. The dirt pipe saves more than $15,000 in electricity and 4 million gallons of water each year.

•    At Telluride, biodiesel fuel is used in most of the on-mountain machinery, including snowcats, trail crew utility machines and golf course utility vehicles.

•    Copper has also been able to reduce its snowmobile fuel consumption by 40 percent in the past few years.

•    Crested Butte made energy reductions by investing in new Low Energy HKD snow guns that were awarded to the resort as part of the 2010 Sustainable Slopes program. Crested Butte also has a sophisticated tracking system for peak energy loads. When temperatures are below 15 degrees, employees shut off the compressed air in the tower and run water instead, saving large amounts of energy.

Alternative Public Transportation
The emergence of energy efficient public transportation has made a positive impact on resort transportation systems while providing incentives and rewards for guests and employees that use the systems.

•    In support of the benefits of public transportation and carpooling, Copper Mountain offers carpooling incentives to guests who arrive with four or more people in their vehicle. On select weekends, Copper offers premier parking in the Alpine Lot for those who carpool.

•    Durango’s carpool program provides incentives of $7 – 10 per day to employees who carpool and includes free, close-in parking and a Carpool-only Parking Lot for cars with three or more people.

•    The Summit Stage bus runs from Breckenridge to Arapahoe Basin, stopping at multiple locations in-between. The Summit Stage reports that riding the bus saves 20 pounds of CO2 emissions per day.

•    Employees and guests at Arapahoe Basin who carpool to the ski area are rewarded for using public transit with discounted lift ticket rates.

•    Environmental efforts of Eldora include public transportation advocacy. Eldora is the only Front Range ski resort accessible via Denver’s Regional Transportation District (RTD) bus route.

•    Monarch Mountain operates a daily shuttle for employees between Poncha Springs, Salida, and the mountain. On Saturdays, Monarch also offers a guest shuttle from Salida through the Parks and Recreation Department.

•    Powderhorn also promotes alternative transportation with a town shuttle from Grand Junction to Powderhorn on weekends and holidays.

•    Each season, millions of passengers use Aspen/Snowmass’ alternative transportation – the Roaring Fork Transit Authority (RFTA). The RFTA operates a number of Hybrid Buses and has increased the percentage of Bio-Diesel buses. RFTA provides an extensive commuter bus services within the Roaring Fork Valley between Aspen and Glenwood Springs.

•    Steamboat’s free busses, used for employee and guest transportation to and from parking, are alternative-transportation vehicles, which reduce the vehicle miles traveled and ultimately reduce emissions and traffic congestion.

•    At Sunlight, the Employee Transit System provides more than 100,000 employee passenger miles per season. The resort’s guest Park and Ride Program provides scheduled ride service from the Sunlight Ski and Bike Shop in Glenwood Springs to the resort.

Corporate Community
While CSCUSA resorts are known for providing world class skiing, they also give generously to local community programs, federal initiatives, and environmental partners.

•    Environmental partnerships are a large part of Telluride’s environmental program. The resort is aligned with the United States Forest Service, United States Environmental Protection Agency, Colorado Division of Wildlife, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Army Corp. of Engineers, Sheep Mountain Alliance, San Juan Fens Partnership, Bonneville Environmental Foundation, Colorado Department Of Transportation, New Community Coalition Sustainability Team, Clif Bar, Chaco, and Fairfield Resorts.

•    At Aspen/Snowmass, environmental partnerships go beyond the corporate realm with more than half of Aspen/Snowmass employees contributing a dollar per week to the Environment Foundation, a nonprofit governed and run by employees. Employee contributions are matched by the Aspen Community Foundation, and again by the Aspen Skiing Company Family Fund. Donations go to local environmental causes such as clean air and water programs, trail maintenance and energy efficiency initiatives. The foundation has donated $1.2 million to various groups in the Roaring Fork Valley since its inception in 1997.

•    Arapahoe Basin offers season pass holders a chance to join the resort’s Snow Huggers Club. The Snow Huggers Club offers its members exclusive discounts for Arapahoe Basin, including a 1/2 price lift ticket, rental or lesson, and discounts at Arapahoe Sports and the Legends Cafe or Black Mountain Lodge. All the proceeds are donated to the High Country Conservation Center, a non-profit organization dedicated to minimizing waste and conserving resources in Summit County and surrounding areas.

•    Guests at restaurants and retail operations at Crested Butte have the opportunity to assure open space in the upper Gunnison Valley. Butte 66, The Ice Bar, Paradise Warming Hut, On Mountain Basics, the General Store, The Woodstone Grille, The Woodstone Deli, The Grand Lodge Gift Shop, the 9280 Restaurant, and Elevation Station are all participants in the 1% for Open Space program. With purchases at these participating locations, customers are given the option to donate one percent of the services provided to them to 1% for Open Space.

•    Local forest conservation plays a large role in Copper’s Environmental Program. Copper has partnered with the National Forest Foundation (NFF) to fund local conservation projects and has committed to donate funds to the Friends of the Dillon Ranger District (FDRD), a local nonprofit partner of the United States Forest Service (USFS). Copper will continue to raise funds through the Ski Area Contribution Program, support local conservation groups, including FDRD, and maintain the local Wheeler Lakes Trail through the Adopt-a-Trail program.

Once collected, the program grants this money to requesting organizations for the protection of open space in Gunnison County. Through these non-profits, land has been preserved on the Woods Walk, the Lower Loop, the Rec Path, Washington Gulch, along the Slate River, and Kebler Pass, among others. Crested Butte has also donated four percent of its Prospect land sales to the Crested Butte Land Trust, a Crested Butte non-profit that works to permanently preserve open space land in the area.

•    Steamboat’s resume of community environmental outreach projects includes a joint project with the U.S. Forest Service and the Boy Scouts of America, in which more than 800 spruce seedlings were planted at the ski area’s kids-only winter adventure park, Rough Rider Basin. Steamboat also worked with the Strawberry Park Elementary School rehabilitation program at Butcherknife Creek and helped with re-grading and re-vegetating stream banks, as well as improving habitat for fish and wildlife.

Steamboat’s annual spring on-mountain project day, now in its 19th year, has been organized with more than 100 resort employees working on projects, gathering litter and other materials from across the area. On average, nearly 100 gallons of trash is removed or recycled from the resort that day.

Additionally, the resort makes an annual contribution of $75,000 for recreational projects including parks, beautification and recreation. In addition, over the past two decades, more than $1.7 million has gone toward community projects. Since its inaugural year in 2004, the Ski Corp. Employee Environmental Fund has granted nearly $200,000 to 42 projects representing a variety of nonprofit organizations across the Yampa Valley.

Industry Awards
CSCUSA resorts are continually recognized for their efforts in environmentalism and sustainability.

•    Arapahoe Basin was voted #3 in Top Ten Green Ski Resorts by SkiNet.com in April 2009. In the same month the resort’s environmental manager, Sha Miklas, was awarded Essential Earthy Employee by High Country Conservation Center. In past years, Arapahoe Basin has also received multiple NSAA Silver Eagle Awards. In 2008, the resort won the award for Excellence in Visual Impacts, and in 2005 won the award for Excellence in Water Conservation.

•    In 2010, Purgatory received the Clif Bar Silver Eagle Award for Excellence in Fish and Wildlife Habitat Protection, one of the ski industry’s highest environmental honors. Purgatory was recognized for its comprehensive efforts in planning and implementing the Legends expansion project, which increased the resort’s total skiable acreage by 10 percent and improved forest health and wildlife habitat.

•    Recent accolades for Aspen/Snowmass include, the 2008 Clif Bar Silver Eagle Award for Environmental Education, the 2008 Snowmass Club Golf Course Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program Certification, the 2008 NSAA Best Overall Marketing Programming (resorts with 500,000+ skier visits – recognizing Aspen/Snowmass’ compact fluorescent distribution program), and the 2008 City of Aspen ZGreen Membership – recognizing exemplary environmental stewardship.

•    Telluride’s recognition for excellent environmental initiatives includes the 2005 NSAA Silver Eagle Award for Protection of Fish and Wildlife Habitat and the 2004 Fully Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary golf course.

•    Winter Park has received several environmental awards including the 2009 NSAA Silver Eagle Award for its Excellence in Visual Impact, the 2008 Silver Partner in Leadership from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the NSAA 2007 Silver Eagle Award for Excellence in Visual Impact.

•    Wolf Creek is one of 11 Colorado ski areas that received the Sustainable Business Practices award by the U.S. Forest Service in 2006.

Source: theskichannel.com

For 13 years Trilogy Partners has been building in the mountains of Colorado and elsewhere. When we reflect on problems that some of the homes we’ve built have encountered over the years, one topic seems to come up again and again. Water.

As we all know, water in its many forms has incredible destructive powers. Tsunamis, floods, hurricanes etc. These events happen on a grand scale and destroy hundreds of homes in a very short period of time. But water in far lesser quantities can still cause tremendous damage to a home. A leaky roof, a bad washing machine line, a slight crack in the plastic feed line to a refrigerator ice maker, all of these small problems if left unresolved can cause thousands of dollars of damage over a short period of time.

The results of a leak can be almost unimaginably catastrophic. This winter we had one particularly deep cold period where the temperature fell to almost 40 degrees f. below zero. When the weather gets like this my brother John usually sends out an email to remind all of our homeowners to make sure their homes are ready for the deep freeze. Because if they aren’t, pipes are going to freeze and rupture. And when they thaw out, water damage from the broken pipes can happen quite quickly.

This winter we had one home that suffered significant damage when pipes froze and then burst during an expecially hard cold spell. This home is a second home and was unoccupied during the freeze. Knowing this John stopped by one evening to inspect and found a side door completely frozen shut from the inside. A pipe had burst in a third story attic space thoroughly soaking the two floors below and freezing where it contacted exterior doors and windows. It was a real mess. So why did the pipe freeze in the first place? The pipe was in an unheated room and a space heater left to guard against freezing had been turned off. The damage to the home was around $100,000. It would have been far worse had John not stopped by that evening as we estimate the water had only been flowing for hours rather than days. We know of at least one incident when a leaking pipe caused a failure in the primary heating system. Ice literally filled the house as the interior fell well below freezing.

Here’s some advice to keep your home water safe. This list is biased toward homes in colder regions.

Visually inspect the roof systems, gutters and flashing each spring and fall.

Address any roof leaks as soon as they occur. Even if the leak is slight and intermittent significant damage to insulation, drywall, structural members can occur with time. Even small and infrequent leaks promote the growth of mold and mildew..

Turn off washing machine supply lines if the home will be unattended for any length of time.

Inspect under sinks especially kitchen sinks for slow leaks or signs of water.

Ice dams on roofs must be addressed by either clearing snow from the roof or for a long term solution, through the installation of heat tape.

Disconnect any outdoor hoses from hose bibs to prevent freezing of exterior water supplies.

Be aware that any plumbing in exterior walls or unheated spaces is especially vulnerable to the cold. Consider adding portable thermostatically controlled spade heaters to unheated spaces. Invest in some heat tape to wrap around pipes that may be particularly vulnerable during cold snaps.

If you are going to leave your home during a cold spell, ask a friend to stop by your home to make sure everything is as should be.

Consider the installation of an alarm system that includes temperature sensors that alert the owner when the interior temperature falls close to freezing.

And last but not least, leave the plumbing to professionals.