What this blog is about...

As architects, we get a lot of questions regarding “greening” clients’ homes. We thought about publishing a brochure to be mailed to current and former clients (yeah, we're still kind of old school that way. And while I'm being parenthetical, I've really come to dislike the term "green". Holy moley, even General Motors is green these days! I've noticed recently that they don't make "SUVs" anymore - they're "crossovers." But these days everyone seems to understand the term "green" when it's used as a verb, so I won't fight it.) Instead, we decided to get with the program and start to blog about it.

Our initial thought was to begin to catalog different strategies that regular folks can use to keep their little part of the nest clean. I Googled "green architecture blogs" and found all kinds of information about installing cisterns and fishponds and planting a meadow on your roof, but how practical is that? I'm a practical guy. I'm going to tailor this blog more to the regular schlep who wants to take steps to green up their lives but doesn't necessarily want to convert their car to run on biodiesel. More specifically, I'm going to tailor it to the regular schlep who lives in Austin, Texas, where our practice is located. The information I cover will work most anywhere, so if you're not an Austinite you shouldn't feel left out, you just won't be able to get the same rebates that our local utilities offer.

So, why would anybody want to read my blog? I mean, you ask, "What does this guy know?" Well, I'm a practicing architect and a LEED-accredited professional, so I know a little about what I'm talking about. And our firm, Clark Mente Architects (http://www.cmaia.com/), has been around since 2002 doing some pretty sustainable stuff, so we know how to put it into practice. And finally, I'm a skeptic. I'm suspicious of new technology. But I'm suspicious of OLD technology too.

So here’s the deal. In the course of my career I’ve seen all kinds of print and internet resources - Austin Energy’s Green Building Program (arguably the direct predecessor of the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED program), technical and trade magazines, the Department of Energy information, but also Consumer Reports, Popular Science, Newsweek, National Geographic, you get the idea... My goal is to consolidate in this blog as many useful strategies that contribute to greening your home as I can. Some of them are lifestyle issues, and all of them I do, I’ve done, or they're on my list of things-to-do. And even though I try to use the best science, this blog is mine so I’ll edit the ideas as I see fit. Example - here’s a water saving suggestion from the City of Austin: “Turn the water off while you shampoo and condition your hair and you can save more than 50 gallons a week.” Uh-uh. Forget it. I tried this and all I could think of as I shivered through that shampoo and conditioning was that, maybe the fate of mankind wasn’t that important after all.

So you be the judge. Check out the strategies as we add them, use the ones you want and forget the rest. And check back often!

Clark