I’m looking for a book that not so much show you the designs of the buildings, instead I would like a book that show you the idea behind the design.
Also I’m looking for a book about urbanism and sustainable cities or ecological cities.
thanks.

You might enjoy Landscapes of Fear by I-Fu Tuan

We are in the process of building a new home. I’ve opted for the bamboo floors, energy star appliances, front load washer/dryer, programmable thermostat etc. is there anything else I can do to make my home more environmentally friendly and energy efficient? Thank you!

use additional insulation, you can "blow it in" so you don’t have to tear the walls.

Use weather stripping on windows and doors.

Use double pain windows with low e tinting.

There is a product called the "little gray box" it is a timer for the water heater that you program, to start heating the water about two hours before you would need it. Like 2 hours before you wake up, or two hours before you would take a shower at night. The long and short is that it prevents the water from being heated and cool down and reheated while you are not using it.

There is a fan that is desinged to pull all the air out of the house.. like during the summer when the evenings are cool, you crack the windows and turn on the fan. The fan will suck out all of the hot air from the day, and blows it out the attic vents. This lowers the amount of energy used to cool the house.

Zone heating. Set the theromstat on the house at about 63 degrees, put either area heatlers in all the areas of the house that are used most (ei living room, bedrooms and possible dining room) and like ventless fire boxes (for gas ,and oil filled radiant heaters for electric, to heat the room that are in use to 72 degrees or whatever.

Go with radiant heating througout the house, pipes run along the baseboards of the room and heat the floor and then the furniture and then rises.. Central heating heats the air and then the hot air rises leaving the cool air at your level.

I hope that helps some!

With home market gardens designed on permaculture principles? Which nations are the pioneers?

Cuba, Peak Oil and Permaculture

Cuba is THE inspirational model for sustainable living.

The collapse of trade relations with the former Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc countries, and the tightening of the US blockade in early 1990s ceated a major economic crisis in Cuba known as the Special Period. Cuba lost half their oil overnight, lost 80% inport and export markets, food was scarce; people started to starve. They had a food crisis; they were unable to import food, farm chemicals nor use machinery to grow food by conventional means. Cuba HAD to become self sufficient and sustainable. Sustainable agriculture meant Permaculture style: organic farming, urban gardens and allotments, smaller farms, animal traction and biological means of pest control and fertilisation.

Government could not act quickly enough so gave the power back to the communities as people were starving. They made changes in land tenure, promoted agricultural education and training, and technological changes. Individuals and communities used Permaculture principles as the new model of food production using ecological pest management, intercropping, animal traction, organic soil management and the integration of crops and livestock. Without Oil they now live sustainably, supported by organic agriculture, urban gardens, renewable energy sources and they even transformed their transportation systems. There are approx 2.2 million people in Havana and 85% of all food comes from within the city grown on plots, roofs and in community spaces.

Cubans had no choice but to drastically reduce their energy consumption. However, there have been substantial benefits in Health due to improved diet and an increase in exercise from bike riding/walking/gardening. They have had to develop networks so community is strengthened and many say they have a much better quality of life than ever before. Their new values of cooperation, conservation and curtailment have enriched their lives. Cuba has a lot to show the world with how to deal with energy adversery. The Peak Oil crisis will effect us all, will mean a major change in all of our lives, so Cuba is a fantastic model for the rest of the world.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7i6roVB5MI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsnuTb4V9Qo
http://globalpublicmedia.com/articles/657
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~cohousing/cuba/hab9606/hab9606.htm
http://www.cosg.supanet.com/greencuba.html
http://www.cosg.org.uk/book-review1.htm
http://www.thepeakist.com/the-power-of-community-how-cuba-survived-peak-oil/#more-156
http://permaculture.org.au/?p=116
http://www.cityfarmer.org/NunezUA.html
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~cohousing/cuba/hab9606/hab9606.htm
http://another-green-world.blogspot.com/2006/04/how-cuba-survived-peak-oil.html
http://www.newint.org/features/2007/07/01/international/

A house is designed to have passive solar energy features. Brickwork is to be incorporated into the interior of the house to act as a heat absorber. Each brick weighs approximately 1.8 kg. The specific heat of the brick is 0.85 J/g*K.

How many bricks must be incorporated into the interior of the house to provide the same total heat capacity as 1500 gal of water?

Thank you in advance.

i hope you dont expect a dumb brickie like me to answer that one…

I’m considering building a house which balances out its own impact on the environment – solar panels etc. I saw a program on it as a kid and it has been a fantasy ever since. Any tips on how to go about it?

I am in the middle of building an new house and have researched every product available in the eco market, I’ve come to the conclusion the most inportant thing you can do when building a home is insulate, insulate and insulate. Many if not all of the suppliers within the eco market tell you their product is great and will work, if you follow their insulation guide lines. Speak to an insulation supplier/manufacturer and target your home to achieve a very low U-Value ie 150mm cavity walls pumped with insulation beeds, warmroof, PK double glacing all the basic money saving stuff. Its not how you heat the home but making it easy to heat and keeping the heat in. This may not be PC to say but Don’t be talked into fitting planet saving gadged, when their pay back period is reached they will be old technology, have cost a fortune in maintanance and they’ll be at their replacement date. Everyone is caught up in saving the planet but every product has a carbon impact, for example the main stream shops are now selling wind turbines, theres a factory making them, a network of transportation involved in getting them to the store, the store needs to be open (lights on heating on.) all to save you 50p a month on electric and the planet i don’t think so. A note for the eco warrior in us all I sound like my dad now (When I was young its not that long ago, shopping was done from 9am to 5.30pm today you can go to a supper market at 3am with all the lights on the heating blowing full blast and buy an energy saving bulb to save the planet, Thats one example and for what its worth I think individuals saving small amounts of energy is silly when thing like i’ve described go on. So i dont feel guilty that I’m not fitting solar panels a wind turbine and a pellet burner. I hope that helps answers your question although long winded its your money and theres lots of Eco product sales people out there who want to help you spend it to "Help the Planet"

all of the career suggestions that universities make in their prospectuses are a little vague so i would like some specific answers please.

degrees:
animal behavior
zoology
landscape architecture
product design/sustainable design
and geography.

any help would be very much appreciated. thanks

um many , but its not always about degrees its also about your attitude adn excitement for that job, dont ask what you could have ask yourself what would you like, i myself am a 16,male studying marine biology hoping to to do volunteer work for a couple months at the phillipenes to help my career in marine biologys,scubadiving …

My final year project.. ran out of time focusing on exams and now im in desperate help of how 2 start this project which is due in a week today.. A CAD design maybe? a building specification and a total cost for a sustainable house…?

any books would be much appreciated or advice thank you!!!

You should speak to your lecturers about this – the way you work on it will depend on your course and how you’re expected to do it. Speak to some of your classmates if you’re really stuck

I mean how much sun do you need? And, does it work on overcast day’s? And, I figure you probably wouldn’t have any energy during the snowy season. Also, do most people that use solar for their house’s only energize certain lower demanding things?

If you are getting direct sunlight, it shouldn’t matter if it is the snowy season or not.

There are ways to build solar panels that only power a couple of things, or other systems that can power your whole house.

I built one panel of my own just to see how well it would work and I am powering a couple of lamps and a TV from it.

Check out the plans I used here

http://energyfromhome.com/link.html

I am writting a research paper on the same, I have plenty of web sights to use, but the prof. insists that I have at least one book on my works cited page, any help woul be greatly appreciated.

2 suggestions, short of giving you a book title:

1) take a second look at your web sites and check if they cite a book as a reference, then read the book.
2) if you can’t find a book, go to your local library and consult an encyclopedia under "South Africa" or "environment" or "building"; it will provide you with good info and you can cite it afterwards!

I’m building a home and want to make it as self sustainable as possible. What are some sites I can view greywater systems with?

What would be the downfalls with a system like this? Cost of it?

get a tank cistern…. in-ground… direct all rain from roof to tank…..have a diverter set up for washing machine water….. (with an off to stop bleach water from going there)….. install a good pump to bring the water up and out when needed….having the pump able to divert to toilet for waste flush is a goodie!!…. same for kitchen . need to be able to send rinse water or ‘run to hot’ water to cistern, too…even if it’s just by dumping it into the washer and putting it on ’spin’…..only clean water, of course!…..

here’s one…

http://www.ecodepotusa.com/Sustainable%20Community/NewAndResources/Cisterns_Greywater.htm

http://images.google.com/images?q=modern++rainwater+cisterns&hl=en&rls=com.microsoft%3Aen-us&um=1&sa=2&start=0

http://www.google.com/search?q=modern%20%20rainwater%20cisterns&hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=iw&start=0

cost won’t be such a factor if it is installed as you build… it’s the ‘after the house is done’ stuff that gets costlier…. do it now…. you’ll never regret the outlay….

downfall?… you’ll get so used to having it that you’ll depend on it and then there will be no rain for a while….