Tips on Lowering Your Energy Bills
February 9, 2010
St. James Plantation, NC home builder Mark Johnson Custom Homes knows that energy bills can get pricy in the winter months. These cold-weather tips, courtesy of Progress Energy, are great ways to keep energy costs down:
Keep the thermostat on your heating system at the lowest comfortable setting. Progress Energy recommends a setting of 68 to 70 during the day and 60 to 65 at night.
Check filters at least monthly and clean or change them as needed. Dirty filters can increase operating costs by 20 percent and can damage equipment.
Use insulated or heavy curtains on windows facing the north side of the house. Keep curtains and shades closed at night and on cloudy days.
Caulk any space around windows and other places where air leaks to prevent cold drafts and heat escape.
If your home has a fireplace, be sure the damper fits tightly, and close it when the fireplace is not in use. Add a glass fireplace screen.
Use microwave ovens whenever possible. They use less than half the power of a conventional oven.
Whenever possible, wash full loads in the dishwasher and clothes washing machine, rather than partial loads.
Take short showers instead of tub baths and install a flow restrictor or energy-saving shower head.
Look for EnergyGuide labels on most major home appliances. The more efficient models save you money in the long run.
Courtesy of: Progress Energy
Green Up Your Valentine’s Day
February 8, 2010
Pender County, NC new home builder Mark Johnson Custom Homes would like to wish all of our reader’s a Happy Valentine’s Day and share this very informative article courtesy of NC GreenPower that gives Green gift suggestions for this special day.
Flowers, cards, candy? GREEN up your Valentine’s Day with these ideas that both your significant other and the environment will appreciate!
- Instead of traditional flowers for Valentine’s day, give a beautiful, long-lasting potted plant from a local garden.
- Cook a romantic meal using all organic ingredients from local markets. www.carolinafarmstewards.org
- Want to take your date to dinner? Then think about supporting a restaurant that uses locally-grown produce.
- Around a billion valentines are sent each year globally, making the day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year behind Christmas. Those one billion cards laid end to end would stretch around the world 5 times! That’s a lot of trees. NOT including cards exchanged in classrooms between children, 180 million Valentine’s Day cards are exchanged in the U.S. alone. So forget traditional paper Valentine’s Day cards! Instead send an e-card that will save paper and get to your Valentine right on time.
- If you’re really splurging this year and want to get jewelry, find a jeweler who uses conflict-free diamonds, like www.brilliantearth.com. Brilliant Earth uses Canadian diamonds and recycled gold, which means their sales never support slavery, child labor, or terrorism.
- Take a green vacation with your loved one – visit our website to purchase carbon offsets for your trip.
- Send your sweetheart organic fair trade chocolates this V-day. www.equalexchange.coop
- If you want to get a really unique gift, check out Ten Thousand Villages. It’s not only a socially responsible business but also eco-friendly.
- For a simple $24 tax-deductable donation, you can also give the gift of clean air with an NC GreenPower gift card! www.ncgreenpower.org
- Consider natural perfumes. Other fragrances are synthetic and often from toxic petrochemicals from crude oil.
- Take a trip to your local park, aquarium or zoo. Or better yet, make a donation to the ASPCA or Humane Society.
- If Valentine’s Day is an important day for you, show a bit of extra love for the environment by carefully considering what you buy.
Courtesy of: ncgreenpower.org
California Adopts Statewide Green Building Codes
February 7, 2010
Landfall, NC custom home builder Mark Johnson Custom Homes would like to share with our readers and article written by Stephani L. Miller of Custom Home Magazine regarding mandatory green building code for residential, commercial, and public projects in the state of California.
Why does this matter to our readers on the East Coast? It’s because a lot of our building codes related to energy efficiency follow that of Western states that have experienced the Energy Crises in the past. Items like occupancy sensors which are mandatory in California will likely be mandatory for us someday soon.
The California Building Standards Commission has unanimously voted to adopt the nation’s first mandatory green building code for residential, commercial, and public projects.
The California Green Building Standards Code (CALGreen), which will go into effect Jan. 1, 2011, provides guidance on the implementation of energy efficient and environmentally responsible building methods and aims to reduce the water consumption of all new buildings in the state by 20 percent, divert 50 percent of construction waste from landfills, and improve the overall indoor environmental quality of all buildings. According to the California Air Resources Board (CARB), the mandatory codes will reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions by 3 million metric tons in 2020. It also will help the state achieve its goal of 33 percent renewable energy by 2020 as well as help mitigate global climate change. More stringent voluntary provisions also are part of CALGreen, which the state’s government hopes communities will pursue.
Mandatory residential construction measures under CALGreen address nearly every aspect of the process, from site selection and development, reuse of pre-existing structures, energy efficiency, and indoor and outdoor water use to materials conservation, resource efficiency, and indoor environmental quality and comfort.
Courtesy of: CustomHomeOnline.com
Turtle Lovers, Gill-Netters Head Toward Showdown
February 7, 2010
Wilmington, NC remodeler Mark Johnson Custom Homes would like to share an article written by Gareth McGrath of StarNewsOnline.com regarding protecting sea turtles in our area.
A traditional way of fishing in North Carolina’s extensive inland and near-shore waters is under threat because of its impacts on an already endangered species.
The N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries has proposed a temporary closure of large-mesh gill net fishing from May 15 through Dec. 15 for most areas south of Orgeon Inlet – including the Cape Fear River south of Snow’s Cut – as it struggles to balance the popular and economically important fishing practice with federal rules protecting sea turtles.
The National Marine Fisheries Service has called the growing number of interactions between sea turtles and fishermen in the state’s inshore waters “excessive and unacceptable,” and the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center in Topsail Beach could soon move the matter into federal court.
“We haven’t seen or heard anything that meets or addresses our needs and concerns,” said Executive Director Jean Beasley, adding that the filing of a suit could be imminent.
Gill nets, used up and down the coast in a number of fisheries, are stretched from the water bottom to the surface. They are effective fishing tools in the state’s extensive estuaries and sounds.
But the nets, which are often left out overnight, catch everything that swims into them – and that includes sea turtles. The animal’s head or flippers can get caught in the net, and the air-breathing turtles eventually drown.
That has incensed environmentalists, who consider the nets among the biggest controllable threats to sea turtles. They also note that North Carolina and Mississippi are the last states still allowing the fishing practice. To read the complete article, click here!
Courtesy of: StarNewsOnline.com
Government Issues Guidance on Identifying Problem Drywall
February 4, 2010
New Hanover County, NC remodeler Mark Johnson Custom Homes would like to share an interesting article written by By Stephani L. Miller with CUSTOM HOME Magazine on how to detect problem drywall.
Following up on months of research into complaints of imported drywall causing corrosion in homes, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently released a set of guidelines to help contractors and builders identify problem drywall in homes. Developed by the Interagency Task Force on Problem Drywall, the two-step guidance requires a visual inspection to detect the presence of metal corrosion followed by collection of corroborating evidence.
”This guidance offers homeowners, contractors, and state and local authorities a course of action for knowing if they’re dealing with problem drywall or not,” said Jon Gant, director of HUD’s Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control, in an announcement about the guidelines.
To determine whether a house has been negatively impacted by problem drywall, the initial Threshold (visual) Inspection, performed by a trained inspector, must show a) blackening of copper electrical wiring and/or air conditioning evaporator coils; and b) the installation of new drywall (for new construction or renovations) between 2001 and 2008.
After establishing both of these conditions, individuals evaluating affected homes should move forward in gathering evidence of conditions in the home that confirm the presence of problem drywall. The task force notes that collecting this evidence may require contracting with professional assessors and possibly analytical laboratories for testing.
Homes that display the characteristic metal corrosion and had new drywall installed between 2005 and 2008 must also show at least two of the following corroborating conditions; homes that had new drywall installed between 2001 and 2004 must show at least four of the corroborating conditions:
- Proof of corrosive conditions in the home by the formation of copper sulfide on copper test strips that have been placed in the home for two weeks to 30 days, or by confirming the presence of sulfur by the blackening of the grounding wires and/or air conditioning coils.
- Confirmation of drywall bearing Chinese origin markings in the home.
- Drywall core samples containing strontium levels that exceed 1200 parts per million.
- Drywall core samples containing levels of elemental sulfur exceeding 10 parts per million.
- Elevated levels of hydrogen sulfide, carbonyl sulfide, and/or carbon disulfide emissions from drywall samples tested according to ASTM chamber tests.
- The formation of copper sulfide on copper metal during chamber testing using drywall samples from the home.
CPSC is continuing its testing and studies and will refine and update this preliminary identification guidance as necessary. Full details and rationale for the identification methods is available at www.drywallresponse.gov, the task force’s Drywall Information Center website.
CUSTOM HOME previously reported on the task force’s research findings that linked Chinese-manufactured drywall to metal corrosion in homes in December.
Courtesy of: CustomHomeOnline.com
Appraisals an Impediment to More Green Homes, NAHB Says
February 2, 2010
Brunswick County, NC Green home builder Mark Johnson Custom Homes would like to share with our readers an article that was released on January 20, during the International Builders’ Show in Las Vegas, NV.
Kohler, Marvin Windows and Doors and Whirlpool are three manufacturers ready with new lines of green and sustainable products for today’s new homes, company representatives said today at the National Association of Home Builders’ International Builders’ Show in Las Vegas.
But until lenders and appraisers learn to recognize the value of green innovation and the money it can save new home buyers, there is not enough incentive in the marketplace for large-scale implementation, said Bill Nolan, the Florida home building consultant who moderated the first of three press conferences in commemoration of Green Day at the Builders’ Show.
Kohler’s water-saving toilets use an average of 39,000 fewer gallons of water per year for a family of four – a lifetime of drinking water for three people, said Shane Judd, senior marketing manager of water conservation for the company. New products will incorporate rainwater reuse and gray water – using the water draining from the shower stall to fill the washing machine, for example.
Marvin emphasizes long-term sustainability rather than first-time costs and also pays close attention to green practices during the production process, said Brett Boyum, director of marketing. Each year, 8,500 tons of shavings and other wood waste are used to heat the company’s manufacturing plant.
Ed Linder, division director, Whirlpool Corporation, said his company is manufacturing ranges that use 40 percent less energy and appliances that are “smart-grid” ready and is exploring shared-power technologies: for example, using the energy generated from a refrigerator condenser coil to heat the water in the dishwasher.
For innovation to leap forward, it must be cost-effective, and that can’t happen until the additional first-time costs and long-term savings of most green technologies are appreciated by appraisers and bankers in the underwriting process, Nolan said.
”We can’t get lenders to appreciate the value of the net costs, and if we can’t get the values recognized, [manufacturers] can’t justify moving these products forward,” he said, noting that NAHB is working to educate appraisers and lenders. “The goal should be long-term energy efficiency.”
Courtesy of: NAHB.org
Selecting Green Paint
February 2, 2010
Wilmington, NC custom home builder Mark Johnson Custom Homes would like to share an informative article from GreenHomeGuide.com that explains things to look for when selecting Green paint. A new coat of paint can make a room feel fresh again, but it often has the opposite effect on the air quality in your home. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), paints, stains, and other architectural coatings produce about 9 percent of the volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from consumer and commercial products, making them the second-largest source of VOC emissions after after automobiles. For the complete article, click here!
Courtesy of: GreenHomeGuide.com
15 Green Projects for Under $500
January 28, 2010
New Hanover County, NC Green home builder, Mark Johnson Custom Homes enjoys the informative articles on the U.S. Green Building Council’s Green Home Guide website. One particular article outlines 15 Green home improvements, each under $500. Below is the list written by Jeanne Huber of This Old House and to read each one in more detail, click here!
- Build a clothesline
- Add a tube-type skylight
- Put a recirculating pump under the sink
- Insulate hot-water pipes
- Plant deciduous trees
- Install a programmable thermostat
- Create a rain garden
- Install a smart ceiling fan
- Replace can lights
- Build a worm bin
- Install aerators on faucets
- Clean your refrigerator coils
- Replace weatherstripping
- Reduce light pollution
- Clean green
Article Courtesy of: GreenHomeGuide.com Photo Courtesy of: Rob Howard
The Wilmington Chocolate Festival
January 28, 2010
St James Plantation NC remodeler Mark Johnson Custom Homes recommends those in the Cape Fear area to attend the Wilmington Chocolate Festival, which kicks off Friday, February 5th, 2010 with the annual Chocolate Gala. This promises to be one of the area’s most fun Galas of the year. It’s also a great value at only $25 in advance. Friday’s Chocolate Gala features wonderful appetizers and hors d’oeuvres, free wine tastings, artisan beers, live music, and of course the “Unlimited Chocolates and Desserts”! The following Saturday and Sunday will be a business showcase of proprietors in our area who make or sell chocolates and other sweet treats. The Festival also includes “Spotlights,” exhibitor’s demonstrations of their techniques involved in creating their chocolate delights! Tickets for Saturday and Sunday are $5 in advance or $8 at the door. The weekend’s events will be at the Senior Center on 2222 S. College Road in Wilmington, NC. For more information, call 910-798-6402 or 910-264-9379 or visit www.WilmingtonChocolateFestival.com.Ed Newsome’s Hardwood Floors
January 28, 2010
Pender County NC custom home builder Mark Johnson Custom Homes is proud to have Ed Newsome’s Hardwood Floors as one of our trusted trade partners. For 16 years, owner Monty Newsome has personally been overseeing the business that his father started in 1985. Ed Newsome’s Hardwood Floors has run an honest company that provides quality work on every job. Their professional approach, timeliness and ability to keep customers well-informed at each step of the installation process ensures a high customer satisfaction rating. For your hardwood flooring needs, contact Monty by phone at 910-791-9000, email (monty@newsomefloors.com) or visit their website!
