Little house: the remake
ecoMOD3 saves, greens, and adds onto historic Fifeville home
 John Quale says that for the historic house he and his students are renovating, "The worst possible scenario would be to beautify." |
In 2004, the small, ramshackle house at 223 Fourth St. SW faced a bleak future. The City was considering demolishing it, along with one next door, to make way for three new structures. John Quale, a UVA architecture prof, expected to build one of those along with his students in the ecoMOD program, a six-year series of modular design-and-build projects. But then the house’s history came to light: It had been built in the mid-19th century, either as slave quarters or by a freed slave. A demolition permit was suddenly much less likely.
“This house tells the story of affordable housing in Charlottesville,” says Quale. “It’s an amazing collage of materials; people with limited means, but building skills, [were] adding on and improving their home.” Now Quale and ecoMOD have returned to the site with the goal of preserving and restoring the historic house, while adding a second, modular (and green) unit behind it. The Piedmont Housing Authority will sell the two units as affordable housing. Quale’s hope is that a nuclear family could occupy the old structure with grandparents in the addition.
What’s green about this plan? “Historic preservation is inherently green,” says Quale —there are carbon emissions associated with new construction, and in this case materials will be reused whenever possible. Restoration will also include making the old house energy-efficient—which, of course, benefits both the planet and residents’ wallets. —Erika Howsare
Bigger savings
In the city, recycling options grow
 That’s right, plastic in the recycling! It’s a brave new world. |
Before you toss that empty soda bottle into the trash, remember that as of February, the City added plastics and corrugated cardboard to the list of stuff Charlottesville residents can recycle. This means your empty orange juice bottles and detergent containers belong in the curbside recycling pile, to be picked up on the weekday assigned to the neighborhood where you live.
All your recyclables can be put in the same recycling containers you’ve been using, and the different materials don’t have to be separated or sorted. (Unless you want to—”good citizen” contest, anyone?) And although you can’t recycle office paper curbside, that doesn’t mean you can’t you can take it over to the McIntire Road Recycling Center, or just flip it over and reuse it as scratch paper. To sum up, here’s what you can put in the bin:
Recyclable
Corrugated cardboard
Plastics (PET #1 and HDPE #2)
Glass jars and bottles
Aluminum and tin
Magazines and newspapers
There you have it—no excuses, folks! When your kids (or you) are done playing forts in that cardboard box the new refrigerator came in, you know what to do.—Nancy Chen
That’s right, plastic in the recycling! It’s a brave new world.
Winds of change
Rooftop windmills provide clean, low-cost energy
 Rooftop windmills don’t exactly look quaintly Dutch, but they do gather energy from a time-tested source. |
Want to get a little less talk and a little more walk into your eco-friendly lifestyle, without breaking the bank? Although solar panels may save you money in the long run, few people have $20,000 lying around to fund a full solar electric system. Luckily, if you happen to have the same environmental convictions as Brangelina and little of their bank, you can still make a difference. Introducing the rooftop windmill: a microturbine engine that generates energy from wind power and connects directly to your home.
Besides limiting your dependence on foreign fuels and reducing CO2 emissions—up to 1.4 tons of CO2 per year for an average rooftop system—these wind turbines also greatly reduce your energy costs. Depending on average wind speeds for your area, you could save up to 30 percent off your annual electricity bill. With the cheaper models costing upwards of $2,000, these windmills do demand an up-front investment, but pay for themselves in as little as five years.
Don’t worry about bothering the neighbors; the windmills are relatively small and produce almost no noise pollution. If you’re interested in buying, several different companies offer turbines and installation at competitive prices. Scottish companies Windsave (www.windsave.com) and Renewable Devices (www.renewabledevices.com) offer windmills and installation for under $3,000. If you would rather opt for the deluxe models, U.S.-owned Southwest Windpower (www.windenergy.com) has quality turbines running from $8,000 to $10,000.—Stephanie Woods
Paper or plastic? No.
Five ways to avoid packaging, period
 Trying to cut down? The bulk aisle’s where the magic happens. This one’s at Whole Foods Market; Integral Yoga Natural Foods has one too. |
We’re hopefully all familiar with the bring-your-own-coffee-mug idea by now, but there are many more things you can do to avoid excess packaging. Check out the tip list—some adjustments require hardly any effort at all.
1. Bring your own bags. Everywhere. And don’t bag up all your fresh produce! For those that actually need bags, take a look at the produce-preservers at www.reusablebags.com.
2. Designate your Tupperware, glass jars or plastic tubs as homes for dried beans, rice, and such, and buy them in bulk. When they’re empty, just take them with you to the grocery store and fill ‘em up again. The cashier will happily weigh your containers before you shop.
3. If you’ve got to buy something packaged, buy the largest quantity available, and don’t buy individually wrapped anything—divvy up chips and snacks in reusable mini-containers for school lunches.
4. Tweak your eats: Buy bulk granola or oatmeal instead of boxed cereal, loose instead of boxed salad greens, homemade cookies made with bulk-bought ingredients. Be creative.
5. Tweak your drinks: Get a filter for the tap; don’t buy bottled water. Or have it delivered! You can have 5-gallon bottles delivered to you for $5 each, and rent a cooler for $5 a month, from Shenandoah Spring Water (www.shenspring.com). Get a juicer. Oh, and drink what’s on tap at the bar. Mmm.—Katherine Cox
Stink-free indoor compost?
Yes! All you need are a couple thousand worms
You can actually make compost indoors, and it doesn’t stink! Turn your veggie waste into nutrient-filled fertilizer with 2,000 new friends—specifically, earthworms. Try it out:
 Cute little guys, eh? Well, maybe not, but they’ll do a beautiful job making compost in your basement. |
1. Find wooden or plastic boxes—one large (i.e. a big dresser drawer) or several small, 8-10" deep—and drill about 10 half-inch holes in the bottom. Set on bricks to raise the bottom off the floor, and place a plastic tray underneath.
2. Fill box(es) 3/4 full with a combination of shredded newpaper, fall leaves, straw, or other similar materials, and a few handfuls of dirt, then moisten very lightly (think wrung-out sponge) and lift up the mixture gently to create air spaces.
3. For 1 lb. per day of food waste, add 2 lbs. of worms (about 2,000). You might want to calculate your daily waste first for space purposes. Cover box with burlap.
4. To add scraps (no meat, wheat, or dairy—stinky!), move a corner of the bedding aside, stick them in, and replace bedding over top.
5. Continue, checking on worms, moisture, and bedding periodically for 10 weeks. Liquid that drains to the bottom tray, or “worm casting tea,” is excellent fertilizer, notes local permaculture teacher Christine Gyovai. At the end of 10 weeks, separate worms and place in new bedding.
For information on where to get your worms, check out www.cityfarmer.org.—K.C.
