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There is a huge amount of existing buildings not in used anymore, and we need to be smarter about disposing of them. Particularly if you look at the older structures, they are wonderful from a design perspective. With high floor-to-floor ceiling heights that allow us to bring in a lot of natural daylight, allowing for good circulation systems, optimizing how you set up your lighting systems. And of course, the buildings themselves are pretty strong, sturdy buildings. They've been around so long and they have a lot of materials in them that you take advantage of.
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Vacant, run-down buildings are usually viewed as a community liability, with quick demolition seen as the only solution. A more eco-minded approach, however, is deconstruction, which allows for the salvage of the building's still-usable pieces. This activity is defined as the selective dismantlement of building components, specifically for re-use, recycling, and waste management. It differs from demolition where a site is cleared of its building by the most expedient means.
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Founded in 1993 by partners Ada Tolla and Giuseppe Lignano in New York city, LOT-EK (pronounced low-tech) is noted for its inventive reuse of prefabricated objects and industrial materials. The firm is committed to ecologically responsible methods of construction, and incorporates unexpected elements such as oil tankers and shipping containers in its residential, commercial, and institutional projects.
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Vinyl is one of the largest-volume plastics used in the United States. Some 15 billion pounds are produced annually. About 70 percent is made into durable building and construction products such as pipe, windows and siding. Some of the material is also used commonly as car upholstery. Once the auto has reached it's useful life, the material is discarded to the landfill.
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Guerilla gardening has a new meaning as street artist Edina Tokodi grows site-specific moss installations of animal figures on wooden construction planks, utility poles, and billboards. Her idea of graffiti, or 'grassfiti' rather, invites the viewer to explore with touch and reclaim a bond with nature. These works of greenery really pop in contrast to the surrounding condo-clustered Brooklyn neighborhood of Williamsburg
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Concrete is the most widely-used construction material with over ten billion tons produced annually. About 7% of global CO2 emissions come from concrete production. The primary source of these emissions generated by concrete manufacturing is Portland cement, responsible for about 77% of total CO2 emissions. Now a sustainable substitute for concrete is being developed by civil engineer Dr. John Forth from the School of Engineering, University of Leeds, in the UK.
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Construction and demolition (C&D) materials account for almost 22 percent of the waste stream. Many of these materials can be reused or recycled, thus prolonging our supply of natural resources and potentially saving money in the process. Common C&D materials include lumber, drywall, metals, masonry (brick, concrete, etc.), carpet, plastic, pipe, rocks, dirt, paper, cardboard, or green waste related to land development. Of these, metals are the most commonly recycled material while lumber makes up the majority of debris that still goes to a landfill.
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AP Bank is a nonprofit financial organization (NPO) that lends money at low interests for various environmental projects such as a natural energy research, eco-constructions, etc. Because it is not a one time charity, the activities can keep on going into the future. This bank was launched in 2003 by three stars of Japan's pop-music industry and is garnering attention for the contribution it is making to tackle environmental problems. Are you listening Bono?
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Heritage Salvage has a lumberyard on the river in Petaluma, CA selling reclaimed wood and milled windfalls, custom furniture, repurposed paraphernalia and building consultation. 100% of the wood products are sourced from windfalls or existing structures; chicken shacks, barns, houses, water tanks and other buildings destined for deconstruction.
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