Around the world in 1:02

Completely off topic but…

Do you remember how amazed some of us were as kids… reading books about brave adventurers who dared to try and circumnavigate the planet in 80 days?

If you’re not old enough, do you remember your Mom or Dad reading you bedtime stories about the perilous adventures of those same world travelers?

Now, you can fly around the world in a minute and 2 seconds…

And while we reflect on how difficult things are getting, we’re reminded that is a beautiful rock,  indeed…

Now, back to our regularly scheduled program…

ISBU Projects you could be following…

Hi Campers,

As we try to regroup after some recent Tropical  Storm Lee cleanup/mitigation/work…

Here’s what’s in store for you in the coming episodes of “The Life and Times…”

While we begin building our own ISBU prototype…

Our Corganix Hybrid ISBU-Earthbag Home (developed in cooperation with Dr. Owen Geiger,  Director of the Geiger Research Institute of Sustainable Building ) is getting a serious dose of “College Competition”.

We’re currently talking with four University Architectural Departments who are each going to build THEIR own version of the CORGANIX home, in their region.

Each home will utilize an ISBU CORE and be constructed of Earthbags filled with stabilized road base, scoria and even pumice.

We’ll follow along as we watch how these homes are built, from “California Beachfront to Montana  Mountaintop” and all points in-between.

We’re even talking to a University Group in Hawaii who want to try their hand at Hybrid Building.

This should be a terrific test of Hybrid home performance.

We have enlisted some corporate sponsors to help out with this terrific “Academic Experiment in Alternative Housing”.

The only stipulation is that the finished home MUST be given to a family in need selected through a local process after “the dust has settled”.

Because… say it with me… EVERY family deserves a home.

And we’re personally going to see to it that four more families sleep safely. It’s why we formed the Corten Cavalry in the first place.

We’re also going to talk about “Single ISBU Container Solutions”.

I’m calling this “To BUMP – Or NOT to BUMP”.

We’ll look at ways to actually increase the size of your Single ISBU Container to allow comfortable living without breaking the bank.

And we’re going to look at some on-going projects ranging from “budget builds” to all out “OMG! I didn’t even know you could DO that!”

And, these projects will run the gambit from Design Stages all the way to “Oh Crap! I burned myself with the Plasma Cutter! Well… at least it cauterized the wound…”

Here’s a sneak peek;

YES. You CAN live in a SINGLE ISBU Shipping Container.  All it takes is a little imagination and some creative welding…

Want proof?

Can you say “BUMP!”??

Stay tuned.

What color GREEN are you talking about, bud?

Last time you were here, I took a shot at LEED.

Okay, some say I emptied the clip at it. Boo hoo.

I’ve been hearing from a lot of “Industry people” since.

The responses are running about 70/30 “Are you nuts? I never would have said that out loud…”

Look, I ain’t skeered…

The deal is that I’m here to keep you out of harm’s way by making what are sometimes obvious points, even if I have to use a hammer.

If Planning and Zoning guys or LEED Reviewers don’t like me, I’m not going to lose any sleep over it.

Which leads to today’s “$64 Thousand dollar question”:

I get asked all the time by families WHY “if ISBUs are so strong” they aren’t just accepted as suitable building materials?

It’s not just ISBUs. You get the same questioning about Earthbags, strawbales and other forms of alternative housing.

Basically, it’s ignorance and a lack of common sense.

Yes, ignorance. The problem with using a “new” material usually boils down to (a) the powers that be must determine a way to profit from it’s use, and then (b) regulate it’s use to insure they don’t get cheated out of profit.

That said, the next criteria is common sense;

Does the building material lend itself to this use without violating it’s basic design specifications and capabilities?

That is; Is this steel really steel? If so, can it really hold up the roof and keep out the cold?

How do we measure that? Um… usually, it’s with industry standardized tests and certifications that define a product and it’s capabilities. But, those tests are expensive. It can literally run into millions of dollars to get all the right certifications to enable the use of an alternative material (like an ISBU or even an earthbag), under existing or amended code guidelines, without reinventing the wheel.

That means that until someone spends every penny they ever earned getting these certifications, you’re not going to see an ISBU house being built (in what seems like a few days) right next door to you, in most parts of Suburbia.

I recently ran a post about a guy who looked at housing law to qualify and then occupy a home in Texas.

People called him a squatter, a “low-life” and several other colorful terms not appropriate for a family blog. But the reality is that thee neighbors apparently hated him because he found a way to get what they themselves had… for far less than they themselves paid – by working thru the system.

It was bias and maybe even envy. Plain and simple.

That same bias applies to most alternative building processes when you actually try to enter a community to build a home from one of them.

Owen, over at Earthbagbuilding.wordpress.com just tackled those questions by posting his top ten list:

“10 Reasons Why People Don’t Build With Natural Materials”

“Have you ever puzzled over why so many people choose to buy homes at outrageous prices that require 20-30 year mortgages even though they are often poorly built, made with materials that offgas hazardous substances and readily burn in house fires? In addition, these conventional houses are usually energy inefficient, require expensive ongoing maintenance, cause untold environmental damage and are largely devoid of redeeming value. Why doesn’t everyone switch to simpler, lower cost natural building methods such as earthbag, strawbale, stone, pole building and adobe?”

Okay, so he doesn’t mention ISBUs, but he’s still on to something.

Click here to read the rest of his post.

Where are the memorials?…

9/11

A terrible day that actually took days to name.

9/11

A terrible day that we’ll never forget.

Almost everyone that I know knew someone in New York that terrible day… that perished.

9/11 was not a “tragedy”.

It was not even a “disaster” in the traditional sense.

9/11 was an attack perpetrated by terrorists bent on murdering innocent people.

It was an attack on the people of this country.

Many of us know people that paid the price at the Pentagon and on the aircraft filled with brave souls that fought to their deaths, to save others, knowing that they would not… could not possibly survive.

Many of us knew people who died in those landmark towers in New York City.

Policemen ran headlong into hell, knowing that the flames that had killed so many already could take them as well. And they stood those lines with silent resolve as the chaos surrounded and then engulfed them.

And there were firemen who assembled like a division of heroes, wearing their hearts on their sleeves as they did their jobs with bravery and courage.  Men with hearts larger than the 70 pounds of emergency gear they wore on their backs, their only focus on finding and then… saving lives as hell took all it could grasp.

They actually heard hell calling their names and they answered that call with roars fueled with bravery and courage.

The workers in the towers never knew what hit them. But… those firemen, EMTs and policemen did. They knew before hand and they strode forward without hesitation, with no regard for their own personal safety.

You can see the fear in their faces, in the photographs that we see daily that chronicle this tragic event. But it did not deter them. Because they knew that fear brought along with it courage. One cannot exist without the other.

They were from all the boroughs… places like Brooklyn, Staten Island and Queens…

… and they ascended those tower stairs to disappear into the flames and carnage. Some of them never returned to their families and loved ones.

I later read that three hundred forty-three firemen gave their lives that single day.

The number made my heart ache. It was like a cold hand swept heroes from the earth in one swipe.

I don’t honestly know how many policemen paid the ultimate price.

I’m embarrassed that I have to admit that…

What I do know is that is that at the World Trade Center memorial, with all the posturing, camera scrambling and political chaos that is created, no-one seems to be stepping forward to remind us that there is NO statue, NO memorial, not even a scratch in the ground, to remind us of the price these brave men and women paid.

That marker, that memorial would remind us that in these terrible and uncertain times, we are still surrounded by heroes ready to answer the call.

THAT their sacrifice is not recorded there in stone, to be used as fuel for our children… to remind them of the courage that this country is founded on… is the heartbreak that will not heal…

No matter the hardship… America will survive, because she is woven from the fabric of heroes… All we have to do is look around us to be reminded of that.

G_d Bless them… and every one of us.

Lee Raises Havoc in the South… Again… ;)

And I ain’t talking “General Robert E.” either…

In fact, if he could see the mess the tropical storm left his beloved Dixie in, he’d probably shed a tear or two. 

So…

We’re sorry.

We’re not in the office at the moment.

Please leave your message after the tone and then get off your butt and grab a shovel!

This flooding isn’t going to clean itself up…

Yay! It’s… (wait for it)… (here’s it comes)… (any time now.)… mailbag time!

hi,

I’ve been reading this evening that shipping containers are treated with extremely toxic paints (i have read about the floors already).  Building out of ISBUs has been a long-time dream of mine.  What has your experience taught you about the toxicity of the paints?  Do they have to be sand blasted???

Will

*

Hi Will,

You read it right.

The paint used on ISBUs is EXTREMELY toxic.

Anti-fouling paint is “foul stuff” indeed.

Anti-fouling paint is designed to defy Mother Nature at every turn, thus insuring that the contents of said coated Corten Container are safe and snug…

The paint used on the inside and outside of Shipping Containers is based on Lead and Zinc Chromates.

It’s tough stuff and it will defy Mother Nature. It also defies the US Navy, which has banned it’s use for most purposes where humans come into contact with it. In fact, I’m told that the Navy no longer uses it at all. (I’ll double check that later, just out of curiosity.) Anti-fouling paint keeps containers “clean” (“anti-fouling” – non-fouled – get it?) and defies the formation of rust but it’s brutal when it’s exposed to human tissues like lungs and eyes.  You do not want to dislodge or “powder”  this stuff and throw it up into the air you’re trying to breathe.

Couple that with the insecticide that they literally laminate into the flooring and you have your work cut out for you, to turn that steel box into a shelter fit for your family!

After you remove the flooring (or else I will personally come to your house and kick you in a very unpleasant place…), you can either;

(a) sandblast the box to remove the paint (using respirators and breathing apparatus) or you can

(b) encapsulate that horrible crap by using a spray on compound like “Rust-Grip”.

RustGrip is an “encapsulating coating”. Think of it as paint on steroids. It literally bonds itself to whatever is underneath it and then holds on like the devil is chasing it.

That said… I prefer sandblasting.

It’s admittedly more work (okay, a lot more work), but once accomplished… I KNOW that anyone that will ever step foot in that box is now protected. I am seemingly in the minority.

Many prefer “coating the box” to cover up all that horrible anti-fouling paint.

For example… RustGrip (made by SPI Coatings) will safely cover that paint up and get you ready for your next steps.

(You’ve all read my rants about “miracle ceramic coatings”… but YES, I’m actually on record as “supporting” ONE of SPI’s products. RustGrip is great stuff.)

(Excuse me while I go wash my mouth out with soap…)

Whichever route you take, it’s simpler to do your fabrication of the box before you actually seal the box up.

This is accomplished by;

1.  sandblasting the spots where you’ll be “working”…

2.  making your alterations and then…

3.  sandblasting and recoating the entire box.

Why would you do this in this order, you ask?

Well… “Spot sandblasting” prevents the accidental inhalation or ingestion of anything you might release in the grinding, heating, burning, torching, or off-gassing that will occur as you cut, heat and weld the metal surfaces together during the fabrication steps.

When you have everything “hunky freaking dory…”

You shoot on your Rustgrip (you can rent a sprayer to apply it from most big box stores) and then wait for it to dry. Now… everything is safely encapsulated… unless you scratch thru the surface of your outer RustGrip Coating.

Resist the urge to roll RustGrip  onto your containers. You will waste a LOT of the material. Trust me on this.

And yes, before you ask… (and I know I’m gonna get about 50 emails…) I usually go ahead and shoot RustGrip onto the inside of the containers.

Anyone who reads this blog knows that I’m a big fan of  insulating ISBUs on the OUTSIDE with SPF, remember?

Why people insist on making small boxes smaller is really beyond me.

(It should be noted that the only time I’m really a fan of insulating the inside of an ISBU container is when the home owner actually wants to “fly that Corten Flag”  and thumb his/her nose at the neighbors! )

Even though the exterior is completely encapsulated by the SPF ( thus getting a vapor and moisture barrier as an added benefit) I know that the Corten Steel is safely tucked into it’s little laminated bed… ready to spit in the eye of any heavy weather it sees coming it’s way.

And BTW… thanks for your interest in “The Nuts and Bolts of ISBU Buildings”.

We’re waiting on “editorial” now to “clear” the book. Many readers already know that we actually added more information to the book at the last minute and then had to resubmit it to the editorial process.

We expect it will ship in the next few weeks if all goes as expected. Everyone who has reserved a copy will be personally contacted in the first round of distribution, before the book and the CAD packages start to ship.

Special note to people still sitting on the fence:

If you’re thinking about securing a copy at the discount price… you better think fast. As soon as we get the call telling us that it’s time to “start the presses”… the price is going up.

We have extended the period of time to reserve your copy at a steep discount.

People who secure a copy now will save over 25% based on the regular price when we start shipping in the next few weeks.

You can find reservation information in the upper right sidebar.

Never again will we send a book to an outside editorial staff. Oy, the headaches…

Best Regards,

Us.

Alex, I’ll take “Rental Housing for a Thousand”…

As hurricanes, tornadoes and flooding ravages American families…

It just gives fuel to further thought about ISBU based rental projects:

All over the country, apartment landlords are enjoying rising rents and falling vacancies.

According to the Wall Street Journal;

“The average effective rent, the amount paid after discounting, was $997 in the second quarter of the year, up from $974 a year earlier, according to a report scheduled for release Thursday by Reis Inc., which tracks leasing data for 82 markets. Second-quarter rents rose in all but two markets.

Rent levels rose fastest in San Jose, Calif., to $1,501 in the second quarter. The average effective rent in San Francisco was $1,806; Wichita, Kan., $495, and New York, $2,826.”

Where we live, rentals have moved up at a rate of about a 3 percentage points a month, IF you can find a rental unit at all.

Why?

Rental prices are rising  because Real Estate Home inventories simply aren’t moving.

It’s become MUCH harder to get money out of the bank to buy a home. It’s like waiting for really cold honey to drip out of the bottle… Oy.

You know it’s going to be sweet when it finally gets there, but man… the wait will kill you.

And it gets worse as the noose around “house money” tightens.

In October, the federal government will begin it’s first retreat from the mortgage market by reducing the size of loan amounts eligible for government backing.

Three years ago… Congress raised loan amounts to include monster loans of $729,750.

That meant that Fannie and Freddie (Mae and Mac) could guarantee BIG loans.

That made it easier (and cheaper) for buyers in more expensive (primarily metro based) housing markets to obtain mortgages.

Again, I have to ask… Why?

This is ridiculous. This means that you and I personally back (by guarantee – with taxpayer dollars) a guy that we don’t even know… so he can buy a $725,000 home. Think about that.

THINK ABOUT THAT.

You and I are on the hook to the tune of $725,000 for the sole benefit of ONE PERSON/Family.

That’s just stupid.

There are thousands of families who cannot even begin to afford getting into the housing market and we’re throwing money at people who want to take advantage of plummeting house prices to play “Metro-Movin on up…”

I am totally against this.

The government should get out of the mortgage business altogether so that the market, not bungling, self-serving bureaucrats, can dictate loan limits and down payment amounts. In fact, IMHO – FHA, USDA, Fannie, Freddie, HUD, should all be totally defunded over the next 3 years and made to disappear.

FHA, USDA, Fannie, Freddie (and I’m not talking about Freddie Mercury) and  HUD are worse than worthless.

No? You  mean… it’s all worked okay so far?

Did I miss it?

Um… wait… Those “big loan homeowners” are already defaulting by the busload.

They represent one of the largest areas of failure.

Google it. It’s called “Strategic Foreclosure”.

Essentially, they’re walking away from their loans in droves (guided by websites that will show you exactly HOW to do it) because they have the ability to “let someone else take the loss”.

You’re a politician. The Tea Party sent a message. Politicians are nervous. It’s that time again… Re-Election time. It’s time to position yourself to keep your seat.

What do you do?

Well… you reduce your “exposure to loss” target.

As a result, starting in October, loan limits are set to decline modestly in hundreds of counties across the U.S. as the government attempts to reduce its outsized footprint in the mortgage market and create room for private investors to compete.

It should be noted that Government-related entities stand behind MORE THAN 9 of 10 new mortgages (thanks to taxpayers who have sunk over $138 billion into Fannie and Freddie whether we wanted to or not) underscoring the “eagerness” to dial down the government’s share.

According to my banker (I spoke to him today to “fact check”) you can still get a home loan, but in most markets you have to almost double your down payment, in order to actually get it.

Look… I know it’s hard to find a decent home in a good school district and I feel your pain… and… I’m gonna get flamed for this, but… my position is that if you can’t plop down a pretty substantial downpayment (at LEAST 30%) and save six months of house payments in advance,  you probably don’t really “need” that new $725k house.

The lack of job growth isn’t helping matters either.  Again, where I live, unemployment is in double digits. If you actually HAVE a job, the big challenge is to KEEP it. People simply aren’t willing to take the risks that buying “that new house” will bring, due to the economic downturns we’re all feeling.

Despite what your local realtor will tell you – Real estate does NOT drive the economy.

It’s the other way around.

The economy drives real estate.

Any chance at “recovery” won’t happen until jobs come back (from places like Malaysia and Mumbai) and “synthetic efforts” to prop up real estate prices do NOT create jobs.

This is only creating a shortage of rental properties as families all over America “hunker down and hold their breath”.

“Rising rents and falling vacancies are the perfect situation for landlords,” said Rich Anderson, an analyst for BMO Capital Markets. “It’s like drinking without the hangover.”

And as this whole stew cooks down, fewer and fewer apartment units are available. That makes being a landlord a “boomtown” situation. I can just picture landlords gleefully rubbing their hands together as they mop the “worry sweat” off their brows.

Experts are saying;

“Vacancies should continue to decline while rents rise at an even faster pace than we observed in the first half of the year.”

And that means that an affordable, energy efficient, wait for it… sustainable, almost there… weather resistant, here it comes… low maintenance ISBU based housing complex of 4 units would fill itself up, before you even got it built.

And that 30% LOAN DOWNPAYMENT I referred to?

It would BUILD this FOURPLEX with money left  over.

I’m just saying…

LEED asks – “Do you have GREEN to burn?”

As the CORGANIX Hybrid Homes begin to take off, we’re getting feedback from the “Housing Community”:

“Hey, this is pretty cool! IT’s green! Wait… it’s steel. Not so “green”. Wait… It’s earth! That’s GREEN,  er… um… brown… Um… What the heck?”

As the “professionals” try to figure out what slot we’re in, families are trying to figure out if it’s a good idea to “lean GREEN”…

While that’s happening, I’m getting hammered by families asking if CORGANIX is designed to LEED Standards.

After all, we have all seen the “LEED” craze, and how it’s actually driven UP the price of GREEN construction.

What exactly is “LEED” you might ask?

I’m about to take a very unpopular stance here, but here goes:

Well, LEED stands for “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design”.

Sounds good, right?

Well… LEED is a “double edged sword”.

LEED is a certification system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).

According to Wikipedia:

“LEED is an internationally recognized green building certification system, providing third-party verification that a building or community was designed and built using strategies intended to improve performance in metrics such as energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts.”

It’s basically a VOLUNTARY points system where your project gets rated based on how many LEED rules you follow, while being closely monitored by people who are paid (handsomely) to know about such things.

There are seven categories for LEED Certification:

You do get nice buildings. You do pay a LOT of money for those nice buildings. Is it really about GREEN?

I think not.

IMHO – I suggest that LEED is more about driving profits by reapplying new definitions about what “GREEN” really is.

LEED is not a NEW Building code.

Nor does it take the place of building codes. It’s a just yet another way of certifying a building’s design and ultimately it’s construction.

LEED is simply a “scorecard”, based on “points”;

And while it sounds good, LEED is NOT the answer to all of our building problems.

Common sense is.

Yet, jurisdictions across America are putting laws into place requiring that all new government buildings be built to meet “green building” standards designed by (Guess who?) the U.S. Green Building Council.

City and County (even <gasp!> State) Governments are promoting “the NEW Voluntary Standards” – commonly known as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). They’re doing this because they see LEED as a one-size-fits-all strategy designed to make government buildings more environmentally friendly.

Ironically, like most things political recently… the logic is totally flawed.

First, LEED is a “voluntary” program! It was never meant (nor designed) to be forced down the taxpayer’s throats.

LEED standards were not designed to be used in a “one size fits all” manner. The reality is that LEED benchmarks/mandates and “guidelines” are more likely to simply raise the costs of housing for consumers as well as increase tax burdens of citizens in cities and towns that rigidly (and erroneously) apply LEED to “public projects”.

According to most studies, LEED application increases project budgets at least 5%. That doesn’t sound like much, but when you’re building your own home using your paychecks, that 5% can loom like Mt Everest.

Here’s a quote for you (From the Ohio State Real Estate Law Blog);

“The reality is that the money used to pursue the LEED certification could often be better spent on the construction itself to allow for additional green concepts that might otherwise be unavailable due to limited funding. In other words, money spent on LEED certification could be spent on other materials or procedures to make a project greener. The same study which demonstrated that green building is on the rise also showed that most builders’ view of  LEED  has become   less  favorable.”

And worse than that, it’s looking more and more like LEED is just a tool to manipulate a building’s status.

Developers frequently manipulate LEED so that it appears that a project actually makes a significant impact, while not really achieving it. LEED Buildings arent changing the world. In fact, you can usually measure a LEED project “boon” by what are usually measured as “insignificant improvements” when measured against the whole.

And, at what cost?

LEED, in my view, has sadly been reduced to “just another marketing tool to separate clients from their hard earned dollars.

I know this sounds like I hate LEED, but it’s not true. I applaud anything that lends to creating sustainable, energy efficient structures. But, you have to use common sense in their development and then construction. LEED just isn’t panning out. It’s just become a yardstick to gain status by, usually by “fat cats” with money to burn on certifications that will make their street address more lucrative than the one next door.

And when the “fat cat” politicians get into the fray and apply LEED to State and Federal Government Buildings we all know who is paying for those buildings.

Can’t happen, you say?

Ex FL Governor Governor Crist is just one of several Governors who issued an SEO (Statewide Executive Order), adopting LEED -NC  for any new building constructed for or by the state. New buildings must strive for platinum certification – the highest (and by far the most expensive) level possible.

Yep. Bend over. That’s right… 

There’ a distinct difference between a ruler and a hammer.

One architect I’m working with on a large ISBU Based Commercial Housing Project in the “Greater Chicago” area had this to say about LEED:

“Alex, LEED is still an <expletive deleted>  minefield. The LEED “suits”, the actual project “reviewers” are still very inconsistent, inexperienced and for the most part… unyielding.  They’re like kids with new toys. Sure, they have a new ‘power’ that most of us don’t have. They know that they can “make or break us” wielding that set of standards like ‘The Highlander’s Sword’.”

When I asked him why he felt like this  (okay, I baited him… ), he replied:

“It’s like the angst we feel when we submit plans to a planning and zoning desk, only to be told that “the guy with no real education” is in charge of approving them.

Now, I’m not implying that reviewers aren’t educated to specific standards… but because of the growing pains that USGBC and the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI) are going thru, chaos is being created on every front.  And beyond the chaos, they’re making the cost of business (and the timelines) unreachable for many clients. There seems to be a new fee… and a new step…  every time you turn around.

That’s just not smart business in this economy.”

But if you spend any time looking at LEED, people are being taught that LEED is some kind of new “Yellowbrick Road” that we all must follow…

Bull. LEED has been reduced to ” just more ‘green-washing’ kool-aid”.

You don’t need LEED to build GREEN. In fact, in my view, the only thing they have in common is that they share a pair of vowels.

LEED isn’t really targeted at “cleaning things up across the architectural spectrum”. Want some examples?

Commercial buildings are the bread and butter of LEED. They ARE the primary LEED beneficiary, creating 19% of total US greenhouse gas emissions in 2008.

Personal vehicle use — The cars used to actually arrive at these worksites — accounted for over 17%. You don’t have to be a math whiz to see that the cars contributed nearly as much to greenhouse gases as the buildings themselves.

Yet LEED-NC (LEED – New Construction) has 14 points available to reward reduced driving. This can be  compared to the 42 points directly related to the actual energy reduction in the buildings themselves.

So much for “City Planning”…

Can you say “urban sprawl?”

Does this really make any sense?

What you need to build GREEN isn’t layers of fees based on “empire building”… it’s the application of common sense and a deep knowledge of the materials you’re going to use.

You’ve heard me preach it time and time again;

Reuse, Recycle and Repurpose.

Couple those with good design and a realistic view of your goals, and you’ll hit GREEN way before you hit “LEED Anything”.

And your wallet will still have some cash in it, for that Open House at the Certificate of Occupancy Soiree you’re just dying to throw…

So in answer to the question:

“Is CORGANIX designed to LEED standards?”

The answer should be obvious.

“NO…

But if you have money to burn on things you’ll probably never see, it could be… but certainly not by US.”

Which leads us to the next installment;

Why do people hate dirt?

Stay tuned.

Image Credits: LEED images – USGBC