A Blog by WARM Training Center
air and health
Air and Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) – generally these topics have the largest impact on the health of a building.
Buying a new home…
Jun 24th
My spouse and I are probably going to buy a loft in Midtown over the next few weeks. The first step was making a reservation to hold the unit, which we did. Then we’ll meet with the architect to design the space and pick out the floors, counter tops, etc. Then we’ll put a deposit down to start construction. Then we’ll close. I’m writing you because we’re meeting with the architect on Thursday, and I want to know if you could suggest any questions we should ask, options we should explore or requests we should make around making our home the most environmentally friendly and energy efficient it can be. Also, we’ll have to purchase things like a washing machine, dryer, fridge, etc. so advice there would be helpful too.
– Brittany, Detroit
Congratulations! There’s lots of specifics we could get into, depending on the exact details you’re interested in, but here’s the essentials:
1) Energy Star certification — ask what the rating is for these units on the HERS index, which is the measuring system underneath the Energy Star certification process. If they don’t know, then ask them to find out. Try to push them to hire an Energy Star consultant to be able to answer these questions – put it as a consumer rights issue: you should be able to know what to expect out of the energy usage. But know that they probably won’t know and might not agree to find out for you. In which case, you should hire one yourself. You can hire WARM (but there are lots of other great folks too, see this list: http://resnet.us/directory/raters.aspx) to work with you and the architect to figure out how to make this really energy efficient most inexpensively and get real data on what that energy efficiency will cost you, etc. This also becomes useful for possible eventual resale for you. It’s a buyer’s market these days, so hopefully you should be able to get them to run the Energy Star numbers for you. Continue reading “Buying a new home…” »
Vapor Barrier Paint
Apr 6th
I’m working on improving the insulation and air sealing of an existing home. I’ve heard there are paints that can be used as a vapor barrier. Is that true? What are they?
- John, Detroit
Yes, some paints can be used as vapor barriers. To be effective, of course, you have to first make sure all regular air leaks are sealed in the wall using caulk, socket sealers, etc. The paint needs to have a low perm rating – specifically a 1 or lower. See this article from the excellent EERE website for more technical info on this. Also, here’s a nice overview of some additional considerations including potential problems and solutions with vapor barriers from the Natural Handyman site. Continue reading “Vapor Barrier Paint” »
Buying Green Supplies – locally!
Mar 3rd
Where I can I find green supplies (paints, recycled flooring, etc.) locally?
– Ilene, Eastpointe
I get asked this question all the time, and I’m happy to report that I have some new answers. Continue reading “Buying Green Supplies – locally!” »
Green Janitorial Trainings
Feb 5th
Has WARM ever provided trainings for janitorial staff for nonprofits? I’d like to suggest this if it hasn’t been done before.I don’t see a wide range of relevant development opportunities for these staff and it would be great to have a training that leans green. My maintenance staff person, who is also our bus driver, is asking for training. She can’t attend the Feb. workshops because she’s driving our bus from 3-5pm. If there is someone else who already does this well, that would be good to know too.
- Amy, Detroit
Local Motion, a nonprofit in the Detroit area that focuses on the links between environmental toxins and human health, does something like this, specifically focusing on cleaning products, etc. They specifically have a safe schools program that focuses on staff education and may be useful here.
We also can do a basic intro to green building seminar that would cover essentials of green building, including some basic energy tips, healthy buildings, etc. SO… it’s not specifically a janitorial training, but it might be a good start. We also do a general class on energy efficiency for employees – biggest energy saving behaviors in the workplace, that kind of thing, but I’m not sure if that would be the perfect match either. Continue reading “Green Janitorial Trainings” »
Humidifiers
Jan 29th
I’m in the market for a single room humidifier, from what I’ve read it appears the ultrasonic humidifier is the most energy efficient. Could you please tell me if this is true? Are they effective or is there a brand that you recommend?
- Marcia
Hi Marcia, thanks for the question. If you want to buy a humidifier we would normally recommend finding one with the Energy Star label – Energy Star is the government’s energy efficiency rating system – so any humidifier with this label would be more energy efficient than it’s competitor. Unfortunatly, Energy Star has not come out with recommendations for humidfiers yet, so until they do the ultrasonic versions are generally more energy efficeient (but consider the model you choose as this will affect the energy efficiency) Continue reading “Humidifiers” »