I met some kindred spirits on the Save Soil Walkathon at Lake Bde Maka Ska on Saturday, June 18. We walked around the lake on a gorgeous day and shared our experiences with friendly, generous people. Young and old walked to save an important part of our legacy for our children and children’s children. Being a big fan of food and fresh air, it is important to me that we protect our soil and help it flourish as it once did and can again.
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Decrease your cooling bills. Don’t cool your house with your refrigerator. And stop cooling the outside air with your house!
The sun sends us more solar energy to create our beautiful warm summers. Besides melting the snow and ice, it warms the ground, water and air. Since heat energy always moves from higher concentrations to lower, a house that is now cooler than the outside air is one place for the heat energy to go. Outdoor heat heat moves through our roof, walls, windows and doors inside, trying to cool the outside by warming our house. So in the summer time, our houses are actually trying to cool the outside air temperature by absorbing some of the heat. In the winter, our homes try and warm outside air by losing heat out. Obviously, this is expensive because we pay for the energy to cool our homes in the hot summer, and warm our homes in the cold winter. And our homes can never overcome the climate around them. How does a thermos know if the contents are hot or cold? It doesn't matter as the joke goes. Improving the thermal properties of our homes, by improving the quality of doors and windows, and adding insulation to the walls and attic, increases the thermal performance of our homes. Since we lose less energy, it takes less energy and it now costs less to cool and heat our homes. Most existing homes in America are ready-made for improving their thermal performance. Ask us how! Decrease your cooling bills - by improving your homes insulating value. And close the refrigerator door! "Living soil is vital to life". "52% of agricultural soils are already degraded." We can ill afford to allow our ability to grow food on land. There is a Save Soil Walkathon this weekend starting on the south shore of Lake Bee Make Ska Park at 10am. I hope to see you there.
I am hopeful we can save our soil, our oceans, lakes and rivers. More common sense reasons to decrease our carbon footprint. https://www.consciousplanet.org/walkathon "By 2045, it is expected we will be producing 40% less food than what we are producing right now, and our population will be 9.3 billion people. This is not a world you want to live in, and that is not a world you want to leave our children. - SADHGURU
All of our clients are unique. All with individual and family needs. With varied life-styles, from homebodies, family gatherers, entertainers, or needing to flex between them. From individuals, couples starting a family, families outgrowing their homes, empty nesters downsizing, couples preparing to welcome an aging parent or people preparing to age-in-place at all ages. From commuting workers to families expanding home office and study spaces.
We love designing homes to fit the individual needs of clients. To do this, we ask important questions and listen to your answers. We take notes and discuss them with you to be sure we get it right. We develop our proposal of services to work with you with this understanding. When we begin our contract working you, with expand the detail level of our understanding. We develop a written document, a program, that we use to guide our design together. We review our designs and construction documents to confirm we have met the goals we have set. It is normal for some goals to evolve or change during design. We present design options that demonstrate the outcomes and benefits of different design directions. With this process, we can balance sometimes competing needs for function, space and budget. We would love to talk with you about how we can support your living needs and style. Thoughtful. Considerate. How you want your home to be. Beginning to live outside more is a sign of spring and summer in Minnesota. Shedding our coats, the warm sun and breezes feel great on our face and newly exposed arms and legs. The fresh, almost balmy, moist air soothes our lungs, now used to wintry cold dry air. Many of us also enjoy being outside in the winter, when the air is fresh, crisp and clean. It wakens us and makes our minds sharper. We love fresh air. We open up our houses with the warmer weather to bring the fresh air in.
Passive Houses provide us fresh air year round, 24/7/365. Fresh outdoor air is brought into our homes, filtered, conditioned (heated or cooled, humidified or dehumidified as needed) and delivered to our living spaces. The incoming outdoor air is fresh and full of oxygen. The air is filtered of outdoor contaminants, allergens, pollutants and smoke. Used indoor air is extracted from bathrooms and kitchens, removing: odors, indoor allergens from furniture, finishes or pets, and bacteria and viruses and exhausting them outside. All the air in our homes has now been filtered and conditioned, set to exactly how we like it. Rather than drafts and noise from furnaces turning on and off, air is slowly, continuously, silently delivered, draftless. The indoor air quality is exceptional. Fresh, comfortable and full of oxygen. It brightens your day. You will be surprised how it helps you feel less tired and worn-out. And you will be healthier. |
Mark Anderson, AIA, CPHCFor my day job, I'm an architect focused on green design. Not a bad gig! Caring for the planet is a theme throughout my life. This page is where I like to talk about how that love for the earth plays out – in architecture and in my life. Archives
July 2023
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