Reviews written by Diego Fonstad

I live in Northern California and am always shocked when new homes are built without whole house fans. They are quite simply, the easiest, cheapest way to cool a house and in a part of the world with cool evenings and warm days, are truly a no-brainer.

They really ought to be required by code.

The biggest complaints about them have historically been noise and looks, and then a slight concern of loosing heat or cool through them. That's what I like so much about the AirScape solutions. With their dampeners and quiet motors, they've eliminated any concern you could have about using a whole house fan.

I was going to use American Clay in certain rooms but my plasterer was so excited to have a "green" house in his resume he gave me a price I couldn't refuse to do the whole house with American Clay.

And it's beautiful.

People walk in and can feel the warmth of the walls... truly stunning.

But to paraphrase the plumber "Moonstruck"... It's good, until something goes wrong... and something always goes wrong...

So what goes wrong with this? Dings, scratches, anything that needs a repair... because you really can't. I have yet to find a way to repair the wall without it being obvious... especially when using any color.

So my advice is this: Find that special room you want people to swoon over. Figure out how to protect it from accidental bumps, scratches, etc. (wainscoting, furniture placement... lots of options) ... and by all means use American Clay... it's beautiful, green, and will make that room feel different.

I recently completed a LEED Platinum home and if there's one thing I wish I'd done was install one of these. If you dig into the logic, science and economics of them, they simply make sense.
Of course, you need to think ahead during rough framing and I didn't... but the time I understood how logical these were to install and use, I'd already had the pans in place and the area was inaccessible. The principle is simple: as hot water from the shower goes down the drain, cold water going into the shower goes through a heat exchanger wrapped around the drainpipe and warms up so that less hot water is required to blend with it to reach your target temperature. You effectively re-use the energy that had gone into the heating the water
The best analysis of why these make sense is at this web site http://www.greenerhouse.info/showerheatrecovery
The only reason I'm not giving it a 5 in "How Green" is that it is made of copper and some people have issues with copper...

I bought the first generation of these bulbs over a year ago and while they were clearly an impressive feat, screw-in LED with warm natural light, the first generation was clearly underpowered and nowhere near the claimed 40W equivalent brightness of an incandescent. They were pricey as well.

So I was excited to see they had newer, brighter and cheaper models out, and unlike the bulbs promised by Phillips, these are available right now!

Lets start with the brightness.... I still don't know why they claim these can replace a 60W bulb. In fact, if you look at the EnergyStar requirements for lumens equivalent (http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=cfls.pr_cfls_lumens) you'll see that these wouldn't achieve the minimum lumens output to replace a 40W bulb!

That said, I did put them into an application side by side with a 40W and I thought they felt slightly brighter. Perhaps because they were a slightly whiter (but in no way cold) light than the more yellow bulb they were being compared with.

The positives on these is that they are as easy to install as a traditional light bulb and I tested it with my new Belkin Conserve Insight and they really do only draw 6W! So even if you are replacing a 40W, which is a legitimate option, you're using 85% less energy.

My advice is that if you have a few decorative fixtures that are used frequently and require a traditional shaped bulb, these are worth considering. If you have a can or need a brighter light, these won't work.

I've tried just about every variant of energy efficient lighting and can say unequivocally that this is the best solution currently on the market if you have a 6" can and want a retrofit. Why?

Lets start with the underlying technology of this light because while it is an LED light source, it's unlike any LED you've ever seen. Most of us know LEDs as the little button lights that have a plastic bulb that serves as a lens. LEDs, or Light Emitting Diodes, generate light through the electro-luminescence of a phosphor inside the bulb. Historically, it has been very hard for LED lights to generate "white" and as a consequence, most of us have had to suffer with a very "cold" blue-ish light.

These lights use a novel phosphor designed by a company called Intematix that effectively reproduces the color temperatures we're accustomed to in traditional incandescent light bulbs. They also use a large disk of phosphor that luminesces instead of multiple little points. These two factors combine to produce a light quality unlike any I've seen from energy efficient lighting. They even feel brighter than their rated lumens, matching (and possibly exceeding) the perceived light output of an adjacent 80W Halogen light I had on while testing them.

Finally, these are pretty darn good looking lights! Really, they have a much cleaner look than a recessed can and after putting them into one room, I'm now ready to swap out the entire house.

If you are building a Spanish/Mediterranean style home, nothing beats the look of antique roof tiles.

Beyond aesthetics, they also have some green benefits:

- Reclaimed material: Antiques are, after all, reusing old materials. Antique roof tiles have a wonderful patina and by reusing them we're keeping them out of landfills. Some might argue that the carbon impact of shipping offsets the benefits of reclaimed materials. I've calculated that a container shipped from Spain is about the same carbon impact as a truck from the East Coast so while locally reclaimed would be best, water shipping is relatively good.

- Reduced heat island effects: Thanks to the folks at the PG&E Tool Lending Library I was able to borrow an Albedometer to measure the reflectance of the roof tile. We then calculated the reflectance as >50% which according the Lawrence Berkeley Labs Heat Island Group, is the equivalent of standard white painted roof and better than traditional Spanish tiles.

Which, when you think about it, makes sense. After all, people living in southern Spain have needed to keep cool for hundreds of years so of course they would choose a tile color that would help them keep their homes cool. Sometimes old technology works great!

The biggest problem with reclaimed antique tiles is cost or inconvenience. I've handled the shipping directly myself and have had some "groundhog day" moments in dealing with customs. If you purchase it through someone locally, it is typically much more expensive but much more convenient... its your call.

Fireclay Tile is an amazing find that I can't recommend strongly enough to anyone if you are looking for top quality artisanal tile.

I am very picky about my tile, I've travelled around Spain looking for tile, and have purchased absurdly expensive tile from Italy and top American vendors: I just wish I'd found Fireclay sooner.

Not only do they have amazing color selection, designs, and aesthetics, they've been leaders in green building for years. And for anyone who lives in the SF Bay area, you would be doing yourself a disservice if didn't visit their Boneyard and see the amazing deals they have there.

Landscape controllers based on weather data are now mandatory in California (starting Jan 2011) and frankly that's because they just make sense. There are two basic types: sensor based or weather data based.

I opted to try the Cyber Rain because I liked the computer based interface and I also liked the logic of Internet based weather tracking instead of sensor based tracking. My concern was that sensors could get clogged up and stop working.

After a few months of use, here's my verdict:
Positives:
+ I like the UI for managing my zones. I'm a visual person so it is much more intuitive for me than a typical dial where I have to look it up on a board.

Negatives:
- Since this has to be connected to the Internet through a computer, I got a dedicated netbook for this... unfortunately, the screen is too small to see the entire UI layout. I also had to tweak the power settings so the computer wouldn't keep falling asleep.
- Initial setup took some hand holding because the XBee wireless can only be so far from the computer...

Overall, if you're starting without an exisitng system (both Hunter and Irritrol make add-ons for existing controllers) and like to tweak your irrigation remotely, consider purchasing a Cyber Rain.

Whenever anyone asks me a good place to start saving energy, I always recommend they get themselves a Kill-A-Watt because at $20, it is the cheapest, most educational way of learning where you are using electricity in the house.

This is an essential tool in anyone's toolkit when doing an energy audit and it is also fun and educational with chidren. You can learn how much those "phantom" loads really are drawing and what its costing you to keep your laptop plugged in.

A showerhead is such a simple piece of equipment but it is directly tied to happiness: If you don't have a good shower, you're miserable for the rest of the day.

That's why when I knew I had to use a low flow showerhead, I bought multiple and tried them.

Some out there are downright miserly in the water they give you... that leaves you cold and spending longer in the shower anyway. Others pelt you with a high pressure wash... that's no fun either... I'm not a driveway that needs to be powerwashed. I even tried flow restrictors on traditional showerheads... not a good idea, it just gives you an anemic stream of water.

That's what's so great about the Alson Fluidics: it gives a comfortable stream of water and best of all, you'd never know you were using less water.

Finally, two things clinched the deal for me:
1. It looks pretty good... at least not horrible.
2. It actually comes in a satin nickel finish... good luck finding a good showerhead like that.