With all the interest in green homes, it’s not often one comes on the market. That changed yesterday, with a beautiful, century-old Craftsman now for sale in Palo Alto. This home blends the character of an old home with modern comfort and conveniences.

Palo Alto firm Topos Architects remodeled this home following LEED Residential standards. They claim that, had the rating been available when the home was completed, it would have qualified for a LEED Gold rating.

How does this home qualify as being so green? Much of the existing building material was re-used within the remodel. Recycling efforts for the unusable material far exceeded Palo Alto’s requirements to minimize landfill.

Energy efficient design exceeds the California Energy Commission standards (Title 24) by 3%, reducing the owner’s energy consumption and utility costs. This is enhanced by passive solar design and tracked through an innovative resource monitor.

Building components that create the energy efficient envelope include highly rated windows, exterior doors, and insulation. Interior energy savers include the furnace, air conditioner, ventilation fan, water heater, toilets, and lighting with a lighting control system. Energy Star rated appliances (refrigerator, clothes washer, and dishwasher) add the finishing touches. 

If you’re ready to move into a green home, the $3 million price tag is a good value for the neighborhood. If you’re a do-it-yourselfer, there’s a tear-down in a nearby neighborhood for almost $2 mil. You can still have your green dream home – it will just take longer to move in.

I see gray piles of crushed concrete as I’m driving by construction sites, looking like gigantic abandoned sandbox projects. We’re likely to see more of these piles as green concepts permeate the building industry.

According to the Concrete Network, recycling concrete from demolition project can result in considerable savings since it saves the costs of transporting concrete to the landfill (as much as $ .25 per ton/mile), and eliminates the cost of disposal (as high as $100 per ton). This savings to the contractor also results in greater environmental benefits, such as protecting natural resources, fewer pollutants from the transport of materials and reduced impact on our landfills.

Palo Alto’s “construction and demolition” program requires 90% of concrete and other inert solids be diverted. Santa Clara requires 50% to be recycled. San Jose, most of the cities within San Mateo county (and the County itself), and nine cities in Alameda county have also implemented these reuse and recycle programs.

Recycling of concrete is a relatively simple process. It involves breaking, removing, and crushing existing concrete into a material with a specified size and quality. The goal of a green remodeler is to use as much onsite as possible, says Iris Harrell of Harrell Remodeling.

Concrete Technology gives five applications of unprocessed recycled concrete, then five different applications after processing, including new concrete. So concrete really can be recycled into more concrete!

The photo is at 3270 West Bayshore as seen from 101. Other concrete piles can be seen at 899 Charleston and at Page Mill and Park. All are in Palo Alto.

I admit it. We save wine corks. They’re a reminder of good wines and good company. We hate to throw them away, but really, how many trivets can you make?

Enter an innovative wine cork recycling project by Yemm & Hart. Send your wine corks to their ongoing collection as they experiment with converting them into cork floor tiles. This would extend the life of this natural resource for decades more, while keeping the material out of our landfills. Yemm & Hart currently recycles tires, plastic detergent bottles, and PVC plastics into commercial and residential materials. 

Producing cork for wine bottles is already a sustainable practice. The bark is harvested in a way similar to sheering a sheep, allowing the trees to thrive. Cork oak forests provide a diverse ecosystem for plants and animals as well as serving as a barrier to the encroachment of the Sahara desert into Europe. All parts of the cork are used, so nothing is wasted until it gets to our table.

Plastic corks and screw top caps are threatening the cork producers and forests. So, drink wine stoppered with real corks, and then ship them off. Yemm & Hart accepts natural corks from anyone, consumer or retailer.

Wine Cork Recycling

Yemm & Hart Ltd

610 South Chamber Dr

Fredericktown  MO  63645

Thanks to Kirsten Flynn of Sustainable Home for bringing the program to my notice, and The Green Guide post.