Cal Poly students create "recycled" solar energy system

This month, a group of Cal Poly Pomona graduate students completed work on a rooftop photovoltaic (solar cell) system for the school's prototype "Habitat 21" house.

What makes the project unique is the students' concerted effort at material reuse. The panels themselves were salvaged from a defunct "solar park", while previously-used charge controllers, batteries, breaker boxes, and other miscellaneous parts were donated by a local company. For the interior of the dwelling, LED-powered light fixtures are fashioned out of dried gourds (that's right, gourds), radiator fans provide ventilation, and a car stereo (wired to indoor and outdoor speakers) gives life to the party.

This project, along with other examples of sustainable practices can be seen in person at the John T. Lyle Center for Regenerative Studies at Cal Poly Pomona.

City Museum Re-Did it Right!

Posted by Jacqueline Moy (DRN Intern)

An example of a really outrageous use of deconstruction and recycled materials is the CITY MUSEUM in St. Louis. It is a veritable wonderland of found objects from around the city. They have used all manner of parts and scraps in unbelievably creative ways.

One may find themselves crawling up stories of twisting wire tubes to exit into a salvaged plane or school bus. The museum is just a really excellent example of what you can build out of scrap if you use a little ingenuity and resourcefulness.

From the museum’s website, “Housed in the 600,000 square-foot former International Shoe Company, the museum is an eclectic mixture of children's playground, funhouse, surrealistic pavilion, and architectural marvel made out of unique, found objects. The brainchild of internationally acclaimed artist Bob Cassilly, a classically trained sculptor and serial entrepreneur, the museum opened for visitors in 1997 to the riotous approval of young and old alike.”

Cassilly and his longtime crew of 20 artisans have constructed the museum from the very stuff of the city; and, as a result, it has urban roots deeper than any other institutions.

Reaching no farther than municipal borders for its reclaimed building materials, CITY MUSEUM boasts features such as old chimneys, salvaged bridges, construction cranes, miles of tile, and even two abandoned planes!

"CITY MUSEUM makes you want to know," says Cassilly. "The point is not to learn every fact, but to say, 'Wow, that's wonderful.' And if it's wonderful, it's worth preserving."

Interesting Ideas from TED2009

Cool video from TED2009:
Kevin Surace suggests we rethink basic construction materials -- such as the familiar wallboard -- to reduce the huge carbon footprint generated by the manufacturing and construction of our buildings. He introduces EcoRock, a clean, recyclable and energy-efficient drywall created by his team at Serious Materials.

Rethinking Your Remodel

Posted by Lyndsy Czapla (DRN Intern)

At DRN we are always asking, “Why fill up our landfills with valuable building materials that could be deconstructed and reused?” One Florida family has answered that question with their newly remodeled home & setting a great example for neighbors. When Claire Sever and Jeff Bunkin first discussed their visions with their contractor, the couple was informed that their house would basically need to be completely torn down for their vision to come to like. Since the intended renovation was so extensive and involved a huge amount of structural changes it would cost less to do a complete tear down and rebuild from scratch. Following their contractor’s advice, Sever and Bunkin made the big decision to tear down their home, but made an even larger decision to do it as green as possible. Sever and Bunkin next hired a local company near their Florida home to come and remove and recycle every single building material and supply that could be reused by either them or somebody else.

The materials to be reused included everything from light fixtures and doors to wiring and even the stone around the fireplace. They were also able to get their outdoor porch and concrete slab from their backyard patio deconstructed. All the materials were removed by deconstruction to get a second chance at life so they wouldn’t end up adding to the 130 million tons of construction debris that annually overload our landfills. What’s super neat about Sever and Bunkin’s remodeling project is the fact that they found some cool, new ways to reuse old materials. Their old custom cabinets were creatively transformed to be used as doorway trim and floor moldings. Since Sever and Bunkin didn’t reuse all the deconstructed materials for themselves, they passed along the rest to a local reuse store. What’s pretty cool is the fact that it was that very reuse store where the family bought all of their flooring for their bedrooms, making their deconstruction efforts come full circle. For those people who may be curious about how deconstruction and remodeling a green house is not only beneficial to the environment but fulfilling for homeowners who choose to do it, contact us and be sure to share Sever & Bunkin’s story.