Green

Chaka Fattah and NASA Chief Technologist Visit West Philly Hybrid X Team

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Our company has been very excited to watch the incredible successes of the West Philadelphia High School “X Team” as they take on other competitors with very deep pockets and many years experience for the coveted “X Prize” for high efficiency vehicles. In fact high end Tesla Autos recently dropped out of the competition, perhaps because they couldn’t compete against the West Philly High School team!

We are excited to see our local congressional representative Chaka Fattah also supports these kids. We would like to see Philadelphia as a city get behind these kids and others in our city who are also passionate about learning.

City kids get a bad rap when it comes to their performance in school. The West Philly High “X Team” is proof that urban kids want to learn. The are smart, hard working, successful people. And our company supports the notion that “learning with your hands” is where it’s at.

You can read about the recent visit these kids had with Chaka Fattah and Dr. Braun, NASA’s chief technologist here:

West Philly High “X-Team”

Save Thousands of Dollars By Using One of These!

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We get a lot of calls from home owners who have stars in their eyes for solar arrays, geo thermal heat/cooling, or other fancy expensive “green” gadgets.

Here is a device that costs around $100 or less that can save you thousands of dollars in energy bills. Better yet, you can buy one at the home center and even install this yourself.

These are programable thermostats. A programable thermostat allows you to program various temperature settings into it, so you only use the fuel you need to be comfortable when you need it.

The thermostat on the left handles whole house/zone heating and cooling. You can see, its set for 57 degrees. Thats our “away” setting for the house. This thermostat, combined with some new insulation and the low settings when we were sleeping or away from home saved us well over 20% in heating costs last winter.

The thermostat on the right is for the electric radiant heat in our foyer area. This can be an efficient way to heat a room but it has to be planned for before renovation.

Call us if you need a hand.

Greening Your Home: Ask the Experts

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Today and tomorrow, Tamara and D. Hassen Saker, owner of Organic Home LLC, will be at Bloomingdale’s chatting with eco-conscious shoppers about important strategies for greening their homes and lifestyles. Don’t miss these “Greening Your Home: Ask the Experts” events and your chance to ask questions and receive valuable advice pertaining to your own home.

Thursday, April 29th – Bloomingdale’s, Willow Grove Park Mall
2400 West Moreland Park Road
Willow Grove, PA 19090
11 am – 2 pm
Willow Grove: Cosmetics Dept., Level 1

Friday, April 30th – Bloomingdale’s, The Court at King of Prussia
2 Rt. 202 North 660 West DeKalb Pike
King of Prussia, PA 19406
11 am – 2 pm
King of Prussia: Housewares, Level 3.

Home Energy Audits – Part I

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As you may already know, we supply home energy auditing for our customers, usually as part of larger home-renovation projects. It’s with these larger projects that we attend to enough area of the home to really affect the home’s total energy performance. But even with smaller projects, energy efficiency is top of mind during design and construction.

As part of the home efficiency testing, auditors get a look at past utility bills and existing appliances, and they test the tightness of the home. They should also test for indoor home air safety, including C02 and other toxins. We find that drafty windows and doors, uninsulated spaces in walls, and breaks in the vapor barrier or thermal envelope of the home are the usual sources of air leaks. And air leaks are very costly because they cause you to use more energy keeping your home comfortable in hot or cold weather.

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Myers Constructs, Inc., to Present at 2010 Old House Fair

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Myers Constructs, Inc., will be on hand at The Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia’s 2010 Old House Fair on Saturday, April 3rd, at the Germantown Friends School, located at 31 W. Coulter St., in Philadelphia. (Hours are 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.)

At 1:00 p.m., Myers Constructs, Inc.’s recent customer, Caroline West, will receive a Homeowner Award.

At 2:00 p.m., Tamara Myers, LEED AP and window expert, will host ”Refurbish, Renovate, Replace: A Look at Historic Window Projects,” a presentation on window renovations that preserve the historical integrity of an older home while providing energy savings.

Admission fees for the 2010 Old House Fair are as follows: $10 for general admission, $5 for Preservation Alliance members, and free for children under 18. Contact Amy McCollum, Old House Fair Co-Coordinator, at amy@preservationalliance.com or 215.546.1146 x7.

Construction Pros Who Study/Think

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At our company, we are curious. We are always on the lookout for new and better ways of doing things.

In the modern world, many of the old ways of building no longer work. The building materials of old are no longer available. People live in their homes now very differently than they did 20 to 50 years ago. These changes are even more apparent when we work on an 80 – 100-year-old home. Kitchens are no longer in the shed out back to prevent fires from consuming the whole home. Bathrooms have moved from the back yard or back porch into the sleeping quarters and near new kitchen locations inside, thanks to indoor plumbing technology — which is amazing if you think about it.

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Anti-Vinyl, And Proud of It

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One of the things that distinguishes a higher-end remodeling project from a lower-end one is the products that are used.

Typically, a less-expensive project will use cheaper products. Many times, these cheaper products will not last as a long as higher-priced ones. If you think about it, you can purchase cheaper products two or three times over within the same time frame that a more expensive product would last.

Another thing to remember is that cheaper products will typically pollute more than more expensive ones. An example of this is vinyl siding. The case against vinyl siding is illustrated nicely in this video clip from the documentary Blue Vinyl.

Vinyl siding is not recyclable. It pollutes when it’s made — and later when it’s removed and goes to the dump. No one else will tell you this. The guy selling vinyl siding door-to-door in your neighborhood is certainly not going to tell you this. He will tell you it’s a green product that insulates your home. He wants to sell vinyl siding, a lot of it.

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