Green Expert Coming to Austin

Carol Venolia, author, columnist, and eco-architect extraordinare will be in Austin next week for three events that are open to the public. Carol's latest book (with co-author Kelly Lerner), "Natural Remodeling for the Not-So-Green House" is a very popular and well regarded book on how to go green without building new. With one speaking event on Thursday, June 17th and two events on Saturday, the 19th, you have plenty of opportunity to hear from one of the leaders and most respected authorities in the green building and remodeling movement. Go to the Design~Build~Live website, the sponsors of these events, for all the detailed information you need regarding topic details, workshop information, times, tickets, and locations.

Free Design-Build-Live Austin presentation: Sustainable Water Treatment and Reuse, November 16, 2009

From Design-Build-Live:

Sustainable Water Treatment & Reuse
A Design~Build~Live Special Presentation at City Hall
Monday, November 16, 2009, 2:30 – 4:30 pm

Sustainable development today is grappling with how to treat and reuse water in projects. LEED gives credits for water treatment and reuse, and the Living Building Challenge, at the forefront of green design, mandates it. Conventional treatment technology is centralized, expensive, energy intensive and difficult to translate onsite to buildings or developments. This presentation will discuss proven onsite water treatment solutions that offer the benefits of being attractive, inexpensive, flexible, robust, and low maintenance while using little-to-no energy.

Come learn about alternatives to centralized water treatment systems – alternatives that are sustainable and distributed, making treated water available for reuse locally where it’s needed. Both residential and commercial systems will be discussed. Also included will be a brief digression with pictures on European natural swimming pool technology which uses constructed wetlands instead of chlorine.

Presenters: Whole Water Systems principals are pioneers in sustainable onsite water treatment and have been designing biological treatment systems including constructed wetlands for more than twenty years. www.wholewater.com

Morgan Brown, LEED AP, NABCEP Certified Solar PV Installer, BS electrical engineering. President, Whole Water Systems

David Venhuizen, P.E., MS civil engineering, BS biology. Principal Engineer, Whole Water Systems
Decentralize water treatment pioneer with 25 years design experience
 
Who should attend? City/regional water and stormwater regulators, civil engineers, landscape architects, architects, permaculturists, motivated general public.

Location: Austin City Hall, Council Chambers, 301 West 2nd Street, Austin, TX 78701 (Map) Note: Parking in the City Hall parking garage beneath the building is free if you bring your parking ticket in for validation.

Admission: Free and open to the public

Thanks to Council Member Chris Riley for sponsoring this DBL water conservation event at the City Hall Council Chambers.

Natural Swimming Pools and Constructed Wetlands, A Design Build Live Austin monthly presentation, Wednesday November 18, 2009

Austin's Design Build Live, our much more proactive and natural building oriented cousins have done it again.  Their November presentation covers two very interesting water related topics.  Artificial wetlands for wastewater treatment can solve a lot of problems.  Imagine being off the wastewater grid.  It is possible.

From DBL:

Natural Swimming Pools and Constructed Wetlands
      A Design~Build~Live Monthly Presentation: Water as a Cherished Resource


Wednesday, November 18, 7:00 – 9:00 pm
Lance Armstrong Foundation, 2201 East 6th Street, Austin,TX 

Continuing with DBL’s water priority, our guest presenters will discuss two wonderful, sustainable alternatives to conventional water systems:

Beautiful, healthful swimming pools that rely on biological systems rather than toxic chlorine to treat the water.

Attractive, vegetated constructed wetlands that treat wastewater naturally, as an alternative to conventional septic tanks that simply dispose of it.

Guest Presenters:
Morgan Brown, LEED AP, NABCEP Certified Solar PV Installer, electrical engineer and President, Whole Water Systems, www.wholewater.com

David Venhuizen, P.E. civil engineer, biologist. Decentralized water treatment pioneer with 25 years design experience

This presentation is free and open to the public. No reservation required. For more information contact Gayle at gayle@designbuildlive.org or 512-478-9033.

Renowned clay plaster artist, author and natural builder Carole Crews in Austin Thursday November 5, 2009 for free presentation

From Design Build Live in Austin:

Earthen Plaster Slide Show and Book Signing
A Design~Build~Live Special Event

Thursday, November 5, 2009, 6:30 – 8:30 pm

Earthen Plaster Presentation and Book Signing by Carole Crews of Taos, New Mexico

Carole Crews, is an artist, author, natural builder, and plaster guru who has worked with mud and finishes for earthen buildings professionally for 25 years. She specializes in aliz (clay slip finish), historic restoration and making art from simple materials. Copies of Carole’s much-anticipated book will be available for sale and signing. Visit Carole’s website for more info on the author/artist/artisan and photos of her work.CaroleCrewsDome

Hosted by: Stanley Architects and Artisans (Watch for a future DBL site visit to Lauren and Lars Stanley’s permaculture homestead featuring a green roof and rainwater harvesting)

Location: 1901 E.M. Franklin Ave., Austin, Texas  78723

Note: The venue is on the northeast corner of MLK and E.M. Franklin. Please park on E.M. Franklin and enter the site via the gate near MLK. We will meet in the studio that fronts on MLK. Seating may be limited, so please bring a folding chair if you can.

This event is free and open to the public, but modest donations to DBL are always appreciated.

Visit Craig Sommers' Smithville Cob Cottage, Saturday October 10, 2009

From Austin's Design Build Live:

This is a great opportunity to see, touch and be inside of a local cob cottage. This home was built for Barefoot Builder co-founder Craig Sommers during their 2008 Owner-Builder workshop. During this site visit you will see:


◊ A two story cob cottage
◊ Passive solar design features
◊ Rainwater harvesting system
◊ Conversion to solar energy in process

Donation: $10 (children accompanied by an adult are free)

Registration required. To register, click HERE.

If you don’t already have a DBL account, you will be asked to create an account. Once you have created an account and are logged in, select “Current Events” from the “What would you like to do?” pull down menu.
Craig will also be hosting two workshops in the near future:
Cob Owner-Builder – October 22 – 29
Cob Oven – November 1
Visit the Barefoot Builder website for details.

The cottage is in Smithville which is southeast of Bastrop on the road to La Grange.

Learn about and build an infill straw bale wall with Bill Christensen of Sustainable Sources

From: Austin's Design Build Live (the SASL's far out accomplished cousin):

Straw Bale Wall Raising Workshop

Saturday, August 22, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
Instructor: Bill Christensen, Sustainable Sources
Location: Between Blanco and Wimberley, Texas (off RR 2325)
Experience Level: Beginner to Intermediate
Fee: $75 - Registration required

* To register, click HERE. If you don’t already have a DBL account, you will be asked to create an account. Once you have created an account and are logged in, select “Current Events” from the “What would you like to do?” pull down menu.

Walls built of straw bales offer incredible thermal insulation, sound isolation, beauty and permanence. Over seventy-five straw bale structures have been built in Central Texas over the last two decades, ranging from garden walls to three storey homes and even commercial buildings.

Straw bale wall raisings, like old-fashioned barn raisings, bring people together to share knowledge, skill, work, food and camaraderie. During this upcoming workshop participants will learn many of the skills needed to build a house of straw, including:

– Preparing foundations for straw bale walls

– Stacking and securing bales

– Making custom bales

– Stabilizing with external pinning, as required

– Attaching window and door bucks

The project is a 2,000 square foot home for Cindy and Eric Gerber, where the wood-framed floor, wood columns and SIP panel roof are ready to receive the straw bale wall infill. This workshop offers the fairly rare opportunity to learn how to stack straw bales on edge, as opposed to the more common flat position.

Bill Christensen, founder of Sustainable Sources and one of the co-founders of the Sustainable Building Coalition (DBL’s predecessor), will lead the workshop.

Fee for the workshop is $75 and includes a healthy vegetarian lunch and all necessary workshop materials and tools. Water, tea and snacks will also be provided. Enrollment is limited to twenty people. Register for the workshop HERE or contact Gayle at 512-478-9033.

Design Build Live: June 17. David Venhuizen, PE on "What regulations say and don't say on gray water and rainwater harvesting"

From Design Build Live Austin:

Wednesday, June 17, 2009, 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Greywater & Rainwater - What the Regulations Say (or don’t)

Guest presenter: David Venhuizen, PE

Location: Casa de Luz, 1701 Toomey Road, Austin, Texas

As we, and many places in the world, continue to suffer from drought conditions, it would behoove us get more stingy and creative with ALL of our sources of water. Rainwater and reclaimed water such as greywater (typically defined as water from washing machines, showers & bathtubs, and handsinks) offer potential for significant contributions to an integrated water system.

But do our local and state regulations cramp our style with regards to what we can do with harvested greywater and rainwater? Local civil engineer and advocate of integrated, decentralized water/”wastewater” systems, David Venhuizen, will interpret the regulations for us. As David says, “It’s all water and it’s all good!”

This presentation is free and open to the public (donations to help cover room rental gratefully accepted). No RSVP required. For questions, contact Gayle through “Contact Us” or 512-478-9033.

There's Way More to Rainwater Harvesting than Gutters and Cisterns

Our friends in Austin, Design, Build, Live are sponsoring a series of events around rainwater harvesting. This post focuses on one of the events surrounding the visit by Brad Lancaster.

Integrated Water Strategies for the Home, Landscape, Garden, Farm & Community – by rainwater rockstar & author Brad Lancaster
A dynamic slide presentation on how to integrate rainwater, greywater and stormwater harvesting to create water abundance in place of water scarcity. Practical, doable, inexpensive ways to maximize the use of rainwater. Book signing follows the presentation.

Time & Location - Saturday, May 30, 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm, at AMD Lone Star Campus, Austin, Texas
Admission – $15 in advance, $20 at the door. $13.50 for DBL Donor Partners (Check out the many advantages of being part of DBL.) Advanced registration recommended.

Details & registration at www.DesignBuildLive.org

Design Build Live: May 20 Build Your Own Affordable Rainwater Harvesting System

Jody LaRaine Grenga. author of A Year of Drinking Berkey Purfied Rainwater is the featured presenter at May's Design Build Live Meeting. Here is an article about her system from lifegetinit.com.

From the DBL, Austin site:

Build Your Own Affordable Rainwater Harvesting System

Wednesday, May 20, 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm – D~B~L Monthly Presentation

Guest presenter: Dr. Jody Grenga

Location: Casa de Luz, 1701 Toomey Road, Austin, Texas

Rainwater harvesting systems don’t have to cost an arm and a leg. Come and learn how to build an “el cheapo” system for your home and landscape. Dr. Jody Grenga, resource mizer and author, will describe how she devised a very inexpensive way to collect and purify rainwater for drinking and watering the garden.

This presentation is free and open to the public (donations to help cover room rental gratefully accepted). No RSVP required. For questions, contact Gayle through “Contact Us” or 512-478-9033.

Austin LEED Platinum home makes EcoHome Magazine cover.

The March/April 2009 issue of ecohome magazine features an Austin's first LEED platinum home on the cover.

The 3, 082 square foot home designed by LaVerne Williams of Environment Associates of Houston features aerated concrete walls, rainwater catchment to meet all household needs and mud plaster created by Design Build Live's own Frank Meyer, the Thangmaker.

Fortunately the article "Living Off the Land" is on line.

EcoHome published by Hanley Wood is a trade publication for residential builders, remodelers, designers, and product specifiers . Their website features news and links to reviews, articles and educational pieces that would be of interest to people outside the trade. It can be viewed without needing a subscription to the magazine.

To see if you qualify for a subscription follow this link.

Austin's Design Build Live an indispensable resource for natural home building in South & Central Texas

Austin's Design Build Live grew from Austin's Sustainable Building Coalition. The Austin SBC was the inspiration for the San Antonio SBC which is of course now San Antonio Sustainable Living.

While our group continues in the tradition of the Austin SBC as a group which is interested in all aspects of green building, the Austin SBC evolved into a more hands on group focused on gaining and spreading natural building skills and changed their name to Design Build Live.

Design Build Live has an active membership that includes such natural building notables as builders Frank Meyer and Norm Ballinger and architects Gayle Borst and Ben Obregon.

In the tradition of energetic activism that seems to be part of living near Austin, the DBL has committed to an ambitious schedule of workshops that we in San Antonio can take advantage of. Workshops have included such topics as earth floors, rain collection jars, natural plaster, strawbale wall raising, permaculture and almost any aspect of natural building.

Be sure to bookmark their workshop schedule page, though we will try to keep you up to date with their programs, they seem to always be coming up with something new so we might miss some.

Design Build Live Rain Jar Workshop

This came from the Design Build Live website

Rain Jar Workshop
Saturday and Sunday, March 28-29, 9am - 4pm

Norm Ballinger and Lester Germainio are hosting a rain jar workshop. Rain jars are ferro-cement “jars” from 75 gallons to huge for harvesting rainwater. Jars are built in place and finished to look like large ceramic pots. The workshop is free for those who sign up. This workshop is limited to 20 people. But don’t worry, we will have more!

What to bring: Pot luck dish to share, eating utensils, beverage, pliers (lineman’s pliers work best).

Please call (512-921-9482) or email Norm (n_ballinger@yahoo.com) if you’d like to participate.

Design Build Live: Straw Bale Wall Raising

From the Design Build Live Website

Saturday, April 4, 9:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Instructor: Norm Ballinger

Location: Between Manor and Elgin, Texas

Fee: $75 - Registration required (You will be asked to create an account. Click HERE if you already have an account.)

Experience Level: Beginner to Intermediate

Straw bale walls are perhaps the best known of all the natural building elements. These thick walls are valued for their incredible thermal insulation as well as their beauty. Several straw bale structures have been built in Central Texas over the last two decades, ranging from garden walls to three storey homes and even commercial buildings.

Straw bale wall raisings, like old-fashioned barn raisings, bring people together to share knowledge, skill, work, food and camaraderie. During this upcoming workshop we will learn many of the skills needed to build a house of straw, including:

Preparing foundations for straw bale walls

Stacking and securing bales

Making custom bale

Stabilizing with external pinning

Attaching window and door bucks

The project is a 2,000 square foot home for Sarah Graham and Brent Jones, who fell in love with the beauty and sustainability of straw bale construction after reading just one book on the topic. Read about their story and see the project’s progress at www.safiandshmuel.com .

Austin musician and natural builder Norm Ballinger will lead the workshop and complete the walls. Norm and his wife, Cat, live in “The Treehouse”, a three-story straw bale home in South Austin.

Fee for the workshop is $75 and includes a healthy vegetarian lunch and all necessary workshop materials and tools. Water, coffee and tea will also be provided. Enrollment is limited to twenty people. Register for the workshop HERE or contact Gayle at 512-478-9033.