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GREEN HOME SHOW #32: From healthy Homes to green Careers: Part 2 Green History and Green Info
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The following content is from THE GREAT GREEN HOME SHOW #32.
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Overall Segment #2 – 12:00
Great & Strange Mom in Green History – 6:00 Sponsored by: CMI Solar Electric
Today we travel back to Italy in 1564 when a small Italian boy was born in the town of Pisa. His name was Galileo Galilei... he was the first of six children from Vincenzo Galilei and as a young man he considered the priesthood... but after meeting a few high school cheerleaders... he chose an alternate course.
His father died in 1591 and Galileo was entrusted with the care of his younger and smarter, but lazy brother, Vinny Jr., who loved Italian food (like gabagool), more than Tony Soprano. This was a relationship that would remain intact until Galileo’s death in 1642...
Galileo was known for his groundbreaking work on acceleration, astrology, physics, and other practical mathematical disciplines. And so, though the younger Vincent was smarter than Galileo, he didn’t like to work very much… well, actually, not at all… and he constantly plagued his older brother for many years by following him around and pointing out the errors in his logic. At first Galileo found this extremely annoying, but as we find now, much of his intellectual legacy was really inspired by Vinny, Jr.
Today we join the two brothers who are standing on a hill in Tuscany and planning the design and layout for the new house in which they will both live, along with Galileo’s pom-pom waiving girlfriend and their growing clan.
Galileo: (Humming Indigo Girls song “Galileo”… how long must my soul...) that's such a nice, catchy tune... gotta a great hook… you know Vinny, I think I'm going to put the house over here, and I'm going to put the back of the house with a deck facing this wonderful Valley... I know you're probably going to say something here, but if the back of the house is oriented towards the Valley, shaded by trees, at night I’ve got a great view of the skies and all the stars and the planets that I'm trying to name. They’re so hard to see in the city with all those lights.
Vinny: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, that's all good, and I know you've been thinking, like, a long time on this one, but let me say a few things. Foist, the valley is north, and you want the front of the house to face north. If you put the back of the house facing the valley, we’ll lose all of the sun that we're going to need to heat the house . And the fact that you put the deck on the same side will preclude any sunlight from entering the lower windows and then consequently, we lose the ability to passively heat our house. Secondly you put the house on top of a hill so now not only is it facing South… it has no protection from the cold with the wind... your bedroom is going to be on that side, not mine... may I makes a suggestion.
Galileo: if you must....
Vinny: May I‘s suggest,.. foist we place the house just below the top of the hill so that the basement and some of the first floor is built into the side of the hill for protection from the cold wind and youse gets free-form of insulation. The hill will also act as a cooling agent during the hot summer.... secondly I suggest that we face the back of the house towards the south and place a good deal of our Windows facing in that direction.... now I know that you still feel that the sun revolves around the earth.... we’ve had this discussion over and over and over again... but go with me here... let's just suppose, just suppose that the earth rotates around the sun along with all the other planets in the universe.... if I'm right then with the back of the house facing south and all the sunlight coming in during the winter, we can use that heat to keep our house warm during the day without burning too much wood and other crude fossil fuels. I mean, a good passive solar design can reduce your heating bills by 50%.
Galileo: Hmmm. The earth revolving around the sun... would you mind if I propose that idea at the University.
Vinny: No, I don't mind, as usual, as long as you bring me back a bowl of double cheese rigatoni pies from Tony's parlor at Padua and fifth… you know that little place with a flag in front of it, I mean, his rigatoni is the best… it’s to die for.
Galileo: You know, if that's true, then that would mean that all of the planets revolve around the sun and are caught in its gravitational field. This, of course, would mean that their paths were not circular, but elliptical in nature... I wonder...
Vinny: Yeah, yeah, yeah... I'll explain it all to you later... but more importantly let's get this house right.... now, number tree… with the house oriented towards the south and the roof angle pointed that way, we can put large tubs of water on the roof and let them heat up on the roof. You know if we was in Delaware, that water could get heated up to 130° or so, even on a partly sunny day. However, we are in Italy in the 16th century. And even though we’re not currently bathing very frequently, we could store the hot water in the basement in insulated tubs and use that water for bathing or washing our clothes and dishes. Shoot, we could even heat the house by running tubing through the concrete floor... that's called radiant heat and you can invent that in a couple years when I get it all worked out.
Galileo: Thanks Vinny… I really appreciate that... radiant heat… I think I get it... it's just like...
Vinny: Yeah, yeah, yeah... I'll explain it to you later... you are going to be famous… that's if the Pope don't get you first... like you, he still thinks the planets and the sun revolve around the earth... ... just a bit self-centered if you ask me... Hey I made a Pope joke...
Anyway you owe me a bowl of Antony's seafood ravioli for that one... but I digress... next, we can put a garden on the flat part of the roof , which will capture water and filter it into a cistern (or rain barrels) that we can use to water the garden, olive trees, fruit trees, and even the lawn, if you wanna get obsessive... that way, we’re not wasting any good drinking water on the lawn or in the garden. Then we plant a couple of trees on the south side of the house... but the kind that drop their leaves in the winter... they’ll shade the house during the summer to keep it cool, and let in the passive heat during the winter to warm the house. Now because of this, I would like to put the kitchen and fewer windows on the north side to keep that side of the house warmer during the the winter and the bedrooms more towards the south so they can stay warm from the sun...
Galileo: It sounds great Vinny, but I want to make sure I can see the stars at night.... I am a famous astronomer after all, and I want to make sure that I can see all the stars...
Vinny: Yeah, yeah, yeah... this one’s going to cost you a complete tray of lasagna... you see because the earth revolves around the sun that doesn't really explain the night sky moving.... It explains a lot but it doesn't explain the movement of the stars and planets across the sky at night... so here's the big kicker... the planet spins one revolution every day as it moves around the sun.... and it is that spinning of the planet on its axis.... and you may use that word “axis”.... that gives you the movement of the stars and planets across the sky at night... And by the way, if the house is just below the top of the hill, you can always use the top of the hill to watch your stars.
Galileo: Now that explains a lot.... you know that's a very interesting theory and I think I can prove it out with mathematics... I wonder… would you mind if I brought that to the University?
Vinny: Yeah, yeah, yeah… but you know it's gonna cost you.
Todays Info Corner – 4:00 Sponsored by: Energy Services Group
To follow up on that enlightening and historically accurate recounting... we're going to talk a little about green and sustainable building technologies. Stuff to build with and stuff that you want to put in your house… almost all of it can now be made of recycled and / or sustainably produced materials... so let's take a look..
Sustainable building... what does that mean?
- recycled construction waste, onsite as it is gathered .. put into separate bins, dumpsters and collectors... everything that seems to be wasted can probably be used again... wood scraps, vinyl siding scraps, concrete, stone, tubing, metal, sheathing, etc.
- Wood... untreated, reclaimed and/or sustainable stock...steel studs,
- Hardy board siding... cement and recycled fiber, recycled siding is coming
- Insulation recycled... cloth, jeans,rags etc...
- Low Voc paints, organic rugs and furniture
- Native plants with Rain Barrel watering for lawn and Green / Garden Roof Garden in city
- Geothermal energy efficient closed loop hvac system... wells vs. ground loop where possible
- Passive solar, or tankless water heater as combo
- Energy star appliances
- CFL and LED
- Solar PV
- SIPs with R20 foam and R35 ceiling insulation. Passive and sidewall passive heating units...
- bamboo or cork floors, low e double pane glass, caulk and weatherstrip package
- Fireplace inserts to prevent heat loss... 80% plus for normal fireplaces
