Totally Green

 

We went for lunch at a Panini/crepe place. This is mine..the brown stuff is balsamic vinegar

The staircase looking down of the Bright n' Green  building that we had our personal tour of
There will be a mobile made up of legos suspended in this space

From the rear. This place is about a 5 minute walk from the Beach

Lots of lighting

Our architect/tour guide in the common space showing where the planters will be. Hot tub is already there

Steve needed to go down a porthole to the tanks where the worms will deal with the sewage.
The newspaper's reporter was afraid to go down as he has a fear of heights..His camera visible in the foreground

Above is looking down the staircase of the totally green building we toured yesterday designed and developed by my SILs friends husband. There will be a mobile suspended in this space.

The building is made of all recycled materials such as recycled glass for the countertops and back splashes. It will be totally off the grid making its own water from rain and recycling, including vermiculture of the sewage (worms!!!).. Heat is generated by heat pumps and solar panels. Excess energy will be sold to the utility company. Residents will never pay utility bills as water, heat and electricity are self generated.

Already the energy produced was useful during Hurricane Sandy, which devastated the area surrounding the green building, Brighton Beach, where Steve grew up. The building remained high and dry and provided electricity to all the pumps needed to dry the area out. There will be 6 units for 13 tenants plus some retail space. No parking is provided as tenants need to be totally committed to the no carbon lifestyle  they can bicycle or use the nearby trains. 

The air in the units will be so clean, no one will ever need to dust nor will any materials be used that are allergens. Units are small to discourage excess accumulation of things. There is a rooftop garden, patio and hot tub for all to enjoy. Although it will marketed to middle income people, by Michigan standards, they better be rich as the largest unit will go for 825K. Brighton Beach has yet to be gentrified so where would they shop? But it is close to the boardwalk and beach.

I went for another run before the rain came, in shorts no less. I will give my legs a day to recover. Now it is cold and windy though less so than back in Michigan where everything was cancelled yesterday.

We ate a nice lunch that featured various panini and crêpes. Tasty. At night, a healthy family dinner with salmon salad and lentil soup. Delicious. Then we all watched Nebraska, which I liked.

This and the following photos are from the building's website. It was raining during our tour so we couldn't take our own

recycled glass

some of the plans

solar panels