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Great idea, right? Well… Not so much. Despite the entrance of famed architect Daniel Libeskind into the prebuilt fray, Build LLC is declaring the whole prefab fling dead.

Read the whole article and their 10 reasons why: here.

architecture, rural, suburban, urban, prefab, house, home

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From Fox 16: The first U.S. Green Building Council certified homes are built in Arkansas.

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In California, for instance, public utilities are required to purchase power back from customers. This is called a “grid-tie” system. Businesses sell all the power they generate to the power company and then buy their power back as per normal, ensure a steady flow of reliable electricity. If properly designed, the alternative generation system can be a money maker for the company. Consumers, on the other hand, get offsets for power generated. Generation surpluses are carried forward to offset  future deficits. A properly designed system can reduce a home’s utility bill by 90% or more.

Financial incentives for alternative energy generation

Beyond just the straight reduction in utility bills, there are a number of programs available to help offset the cost of installing an alternative power system. While these programs are changing all the time, here’s a short list:

• Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency (DSIRE) is a “comprehensive source of information on state, local, utility, and selected federal incentives that promote renewable energy”: (www.dsireusa.org)
• U.S. Dept. of Agriculture’s 2002 Farm Bill Initiative—”Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Program” provides information on USDA grants “available for eligible agricultural producers and rural small businesses to purchase renewable energy systems and make energy improvements”: www.rurdev.usda.gov/rd/farmbill/9006resources.html
• California Energy Commission (CEC): Emerging Renewables Program Rebates: www.consumerenergycenter.org/erprebate/index.html
• NYSERDA Rebate Program: www.powernaturally.org/Programs/Wind/Installers_all.asp?i=8
• The Energy Trust of Oregon is an organization funded by “Public Purpose Funds” which supports Oregon renewable energy and energy efficiency projects through grants: www.energytrust.org/RR/wind/index.html

In California specifically there is also:

• The Net Metering program
• The Feed-In Tariff
• In San Bernardino County, the Green Building Incentive
• In Santa Monica, the Green Building Grant Program
• And the Self-Generation incentive Program

And Federally there are also the:

• Residential renewable Energy Tax Credit
• Business Energy Tax Credit

It’s Cool But Not Cheap

As with all things new and or in vogue, alternative energy is still not cheap. Well designed systems start at $10-$12 per watt and go up from there, depending on individual choices for generation systems, additional systems desired (such as battery backup or completely “off-grid” systems) and so on. Home owners can expect their new alternative power system to pay for itself in 10-15 years, depending on local utility costs.

A business system can take significantly longer depending on the size of the system and how it is used. This is because, in California anyway, businesses must sell their power to the utility company at wholesale rates, which is about half of what they pay to purchase that power back.

Solar

The best known alternative source of power is, of course solar. It’s the great granddaddy of alternative energy and has long been the darling of alternative energy enthusiasts. Things have changed since the early days of solar power. Now not only are the familiar crystalline panels more efficient than ever before, solar roofing systems are also available. Some of them don’t even look like solar panels!

As with all alternative power systems, there are many do-it-yourself kits out there for those who are handy. But the best systems are always professionally designed for the specific application and location.

Wind

Small scale wind power is the new kid on the block. As such, it’s poorly understood. Companies are sprouting up all over the place touting their product’s abilities, taking advantage of consumer ignorance.

Wind energy functions on a very simple principle of physics: The amount of wind a turbine can generate is equal to the cube of the wind speed. Therefore the holy grail of wind turbines is rotor size. (Laymen refer to the “rotor” as the “blades”.) The larger the rotor—or more accurately, the more surface area available to catch the wind—the less wind it takes to generate a given amount of power. It’s that simple. It’s also why commercial wind turbines are well over a hundred feet tall with rotors a hundred feet in diameter. The power company wants maximum power generation at the average (or “rated”) wind speed for the locale.

So don’t be fooled by manufacturers touting the energy output potential of their products. You’ll never hear an expert in wind energy talk about a turbine’s power “size”. What you’ll here them discuss—at length—is it’s rated power at its rated wind speed. In other words, how much power the turbine will produce at the speed the wind blows most of the time at that location.

Of course, there are many different ways to increase surface area on a turbine, and all seem work equally well.

Consider the turbine show at right. While the manufacturer didn’t have a spec sheet available at the time this was written, according to the faq, at a speed of 28 mph this turbine  produces half its rated power of 10kw. And at 14 mph, it outputs 2kw. Not significantly lower than the 2.4kw produced by the more traditional tower shown above with it’s 12 foot rotor.

The Ideal System

Beauty, they say, is in the eye of the beholder. Likewise with alternative energy. Wind offers a viable (though no cheaper) alternative to solar power in some parts of the country. In many places, combining the two would provide all the energy needs of a home or business, making an off-grid option fully viable.

Personally, I think a combined wind/solar system with a grid-tie and a battery backup is the idea system. If the worst happens, the grid is still there, but by in large, the property is energy independent.

There’s no doubt in my mind that not only are are alternative energy sources here to stay, in another couple of decades they may well make up a significant portion of our national power grid! I sincerely hope so!

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alternative, power, generation, solar, wind, rebate, tax, grants

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I took some pictures as I did the job so I could make this post for you. I’m finally getting the time to do it!

As you can see, the post held up a banister in the middle of a concrete porch. It’s held by two mounting brackets. One is fastened to the concrete stem-wall below the banister, the other holds the post from below. (Click on the images to enlarge them.)

The problem, in this case, turned out to be not broken concrete, but the use of the wrong type anchor. See the lag bolt hanging out of the middle of the anchor in the picture to the left? That is all that was holding these post anchors to the concrete. This particular post anchor was made to fasten a post to a wooden girder, not to concrete. As it aged, the torque of people swinging around the post wore on the metal (and the concrete), loosening it. So, it started to “wobble”.

The anchor at right is but one style designed for embedding in concrete that could have been chosen. It’s also the one we’ll be using for this repair; it will replace both of the old anchors, and will hold the post more securely than both of the originals combined. The bottom shows the tangs that will be embedded in the concrete. The upper ears will grip the post. Lag bolts will go in the two holes the manufacturer drilled into either side — a total of four bolts in all.

But before we can set the new post anchor we have to make a hole in the concrete large enough to receive it. The easiest way to do this is with a jack hammer, of course. In this case I’m using a miniature version. I could have sliced a nice neat square with a masonry saw, but that would have made a bigger cut that I needed, so I didn’t.

Don’t forget to wear eye protection during this phase! As you can see in the picture, there are chips and concrete dust all around the hole I’m breaking. It can, and probably will, get in your eyes too if you don’t protect them.

Once the hole is big enough — with a bit extra around the edges to make sure the concrete patch can get a good grip on the anchor — it’s time to soak it down and mix up the patch. For this job I chose a product called “Rockite” because it’s designed to bond to existing concrete  without scoring and washing the old concrete with acid, and it hardens in less than thirty minutes.

That also means you have to work it fast! Make sure you mix up enough! Too much isn’t a bad thing. But with Rockite you have to do the entire job in one pour, so to little can be a disaster! Mix it up to a thick batter consistency, making sure to mix thoroughly. You don’t want any dry clumps running around in the mix. When it’s thoroughly mixed it should be like a thick batter, but thin enough not to form air pockets in the hole.

Just pour it in and let it spread out. Pour it just a little shy of completely full because, remember, you’ve got to push your post anchor down into the new concrete. If, after doing so it still looks a little shy of full, pull the post anchor up just a bit, pour a bit more of the Rockite into the hole, let it settle for a second or two, then push the anchor back down.

Now you get to take a break while you wait for the Rockite to harden. As it does it will become very hot, so be careful if you go over to touch it. The anchor can get quite warm.

Anyway, you’ll have about enough time for lunch before you can put things back together again. If the Rockite is ready, it’ll be — well, as hard as concrete when you tap on it, though it might still be a bit warm.

At right are the before and after pictures. The “before” picture shows the original post anchor setup after I’ve removed the lag bolts. The bottom picture shows the banister back in place, attached to the new post anchor. Don’t be confused by the discolored spot on the front of the post. That’s just bare wood that was hidden beneath the old anchor. The owner didn’t want me to repaint because the entire building was going to be repainted anyway.

Good luck with you next embedded post repair!

post, concrete, anchor, fence, banister

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tools, jobs, construction

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construction, lending, mortgage

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The first city in the world to be completely carbon free is being built in the Gulf state of Abu Dhabi. When it’s finished, there will be no cars and all of the city’s energy will come from the sun and wind. (Dec. 30)

green, construction, building

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To give you an example (and if you’ve heard this story before — I tell it rather often, I’m afraid - my apologies): About ten years ago a long standing customer of mine called me after one of our bad January storms. Her roof was leaking. Her five year old 30 year warranted roof! Naturally I went to have a look, and you’re not going to believe what I found.

The company, the largest roofing company in our area, had installed a new roof everywhere you could see from the ground, but not over her dormer which couldn’t be seen by either the home owner or the building inspector from the ground. (If you’ve ever seen a building inspector “inspect” a new roof, you know why. They usually look up at roof from the ground and go “yup, that’s a new roof”, and sign off the form.)

There are several important factors  I consider when choosing a roofing subcontractor. All of them can be found right on the home page of the The Kirberg roofing company:

• The ability to listen and understand what’s being communicated. I don’t care if you’ve installed one roof or one thousand. Every job is different. If you can’t listen, you’re not going to figure that out.
• Up to date on the latest in roofing technologies. The building industry is changing faster today than at anytime in the last several hundred years. Don’t come to me with yesterday’s answers. Come to me with today’s answers!
• The ability to translate industry knowledge and expertise into answers for my job. My old engineer used to like to tell me this little joke: Do you know the difference between an engineer, a builder, and an architect? The architect is the only one that doesn’t know what to do with a hammer. Academic knowledge only goes so far. You have to know how things are really going to work on the job.

The Kirberg Company is one of those companies that “gets it”. A national company that has installed roofs on such well known buildings as Anheuser-Busch Hall at Washington University, they’re also up to date on the latest in green roofing technologies. And, if you’re in the St. Louis, Springfield, or Jefferson City (MO) areas, or in Kansas City, they’ll put that expertise to work on your home too.

Give them a call. Tell them Michael from Alternative Building Services sent you!

roofing, contractors

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I’ve been a linux user for eleven years now. And in that eleven years linux has come a long way. Today there are linux support experts in almost every community that will, for a small fee, get a linux based system up and running. If you’re a little more adventurous (and knowledgeable) you can try installing the distribution yourself. It’s still not quite as easy as Windows, but almost. If your business is networked, you’ll definitely want to consider hiring someone to set things up for you. It’s not hard, but linux does things very differently than windows, and that can take some getting used to.

One major difference between Windows and linux is choice. For your Windows style interface there are two major choices, for instance: Gnome and KDE. And even within those two choices for “desktop environments” there are choices in how the desktop looks and feels and functions. Which is better, Gnome or KDE? Both have rabbidly loyal followings; it’s largly a matter of personal choice.

Each distribution also comes with an enormous amount of software — thousands of dollars worth, if you were to have to buy it for Windows.

When it comes to running your business, you’ll need something that not only replaces the Microsoft Office suite, but that can also import all those “word” documents and “Excel” spreadsheets:

In your menus you’ll probably find “office”, with a selection of choices: “Word processor” and “spread sheet” and “presentation” and so on. Welcome to the Open Office suite, the linux user’s MS Office replacement. (Actually, even if you’re still a Windows or Mac user you can replace MS Office with Open Office.) Open Office can import your Word, Excel, Access and Powerpoint files. And it can export back to those formats as well — though because Open Office offers functionality that MS Office doesn’t, you’ll want to be careful how you create your new documents (spreadsheets especially) to make sure they’ll be at least reasonably compatible with MS Office.

If you think MS Office is the bees-knees, you’ll probably also love Open Office. My dad threw over MS Office for the Open Office suite; he thinks its easier to use. Personally, I hate Open Office. I use it because I have to, not because I like it — and when I don’t have to, I avoid it like the plague. It’s not really the fault of the software or the developers, I just find the MS Office style of software, with its endless streams of menus within menus a pain in the neck.

If it’s not installed on your new linux system by the distribution, another piece of software you’ll want is Novell Evolution, the linux answer to MS Exchange. It will integrate your email, calendar, tasks, and contact management much like Exchange did. It can also be synced with your Palm or Blackberry address book, calendar, tasks, notes, and so on.

If you’re in the building trades you’ll probably want some kind of drafting software. There are many different options out there for the linux user — most of them bad. For simple drafting, one good option is Qcad. It’s included in some distributions and is stable. It also has the advantage of using a generic version of the DXF file format to store your data, so your files can be imported into AutoCad — sort of. Unfortunately AutoCad is very proprietary about its file formats, so complete compatibility of any third party software with any given version of AutoCad is questionable.

If you’re an architect, designer or engineer, my personal choice is Cycas. It’s a full 3D design and visualization modeling cad package that imports and exports in many different formats. It’s been around awhile and has become the choice of many architects and engineers and choose not to spend a fortune on AutoCad.

If you need a CRM management system, take a look at Concursive. There are many other options out there of varying quality. Most of them are commercial and no cheaper than the Windows software you’re trying to eliminate. Concursive isn’t free either if you need more than “four chairs”. But for a small office, you can use their fully functional platform without charge.

The other main piece of office software you’ll need — unless you pay a bookkeepr — is bookkeeping. And here, unfortunately, linux still does fall way short. If you need a full ERP package you can look at Compiere or one of its free spin-offs, OpenBravo or ADempiere. I played with these programs for over two months. I found them very hard to use, poorly thought out, and time consuming. Your office phone bill, for instance, is considered “inventory” (as is your mortgage, your utility bill, and virtually everything else!). So to pay it, it first has to go through the requisition process and the receiving process before it can go through the payables process and actually be paid. My accounting teacher would go nuts!

Another program by a different developer (in England, I think), but one that has a similar look and feel, is webERP. I played with this program some, but once I noticed that its approach to data entry was very similar to that of the Compiere family of programs, I stopped there.

Another major failing of these programs, in my opinion, anyway, is their lack of banking support. None import or export to the QIF or OFX file formats; and none offer HBCI banking support. So here in the web linked 21st century your bookkeeper will still be doing bank transactions and reconciliation the way we did in the 1930s: By hand!

There is one Quick Books style program available for the linux user. I use it myself. And it does use the QIF and OFX (QFX for you Quick Books users) import, and it also has HBCI support. It’s called GnuCash, and unless you need serious inventory or payroll support, it’s a nice little program.

GnuCash was originally written for personal finance, and still has more features developed for that function than for business. It will automatically adjust your balances for changes in your stock portfolio, for instance. But it has no support for payroll or depreciation, or inventory tracking at all.  Nor does it having a “closing” function to account for deferred and accrued income and expenses at the close of the accounting period. All these things must be handled “manually” outside the system, and inserted (and then sometimes removed after report generation) in summary.

Another limitation is its choice of data storage formats. GnuCash stores its data in an XML formatted flat file. Multiple users acess on a single set of books is, therefore, not possible. Work on moving PostgreSQL and MySQL for storage has been stop and start for several years.

Two attempts have been made to find funding for the GnuCash project so it could be expanded out into a full blown GNU Licensed competitor to Intuit’s Quicken and Quick Books programs. But both attempts failed, leaving project development in the hands of a dedicated team of volunteers.

Finally, for those who don’t want to, or who can’t leave some of their Windows software behind (like Quick Books), there is a solution. It’s called Crossover Office by Codeweavers. Crossover Office is neither free nor perfect. It is based on free software called “Wine”, which you’re welcome to try. I found configuration of Wine to be so arcane I couldn’t make it work, so paying Codeweavers for their work in humanizing it made good sense to me.

I say Crossover Office isn’t perfect because it focuses Wine’s Windows interoperability on only supported, (i.e. critical and/or popular) software. Other software may or may not work, but Codeweavers only guarantees that certain implementations of certain software will run. That said, the list of supported software is impressive, and is growing all the time. You can see the full list here.

So if you’re thinking about switching and saving your company money, don’t be shy! I can’t honestly say linux is yet on a par with Windows in its ease of installation and maintenance, but it’s certainly close. And for daily use, it’s every bit as easy. And in my opinion, with the exception of accounting, I’ve found the quality of software far superior to that of most Windows applications.

linux, business, gnome, kde, open office, novell, evolution, qcad, cycas, concursive, compiere, openbravo, adempiere, weberp, gnucash, crossover office

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