Permeable bricks really are water permeable

I didn't see this, but I am told that 1000 gallons of water was absorbed within minutes through the new permeable brick parking lot. That's amazing.

Press Release for Dedication of Geothermal System

Euclid Avenue United Methodist Church
405 South Euclid Avenue
Oak Park, IL 60302
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:
Frank Fletcher
708-524-9152
FF708@aol.com
http://www.euclidumc.org/

OAK PARK CHURCH TO DEDICATE GEOTHERMAL SYSTEM

AND PERMEABLE PARKING LOT NOVEMBER 13

Sunday, November 13, Euclid Avenue United Methodist Church, 405 S Euclid Ave, is dedicating its newly installed geothermal heating and air conditioning system and parking lot, where permeable pavers are laid over the geothermal well field. The dedication is included with Sunday services, 10:30 AM. At 2:00 PM, the church will host an open house for the community. Neighbors of the church and friends of this project are warmly invited to join the church membership for the festivities.

Open house festivities will include a demonstration of the permeability of the parking lot by the contractor, Old World Brick Paving, across the street from the church. Tours will be provided of the geothermal system. The geothermal system contractor, Advance Geothermal Plumbing and Heating L.L.C., will discuss the system and answer questions. The Reverend Dr. Marti Scott, Pastor, will speak. Speakers have been invited from the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation, the Village of Oak Park, Faith in Place, and the Community Bank of Oak Park River Forest. Refreshments will be served.

Pastor Marti references John 3:16 in the Bible, “For God so loved the World . . .” to set the tone for the church’s environmental efforts noting that, “Doing our part to reduce air pollution in the world (through reduced energy consumption) aligns the church with the world’s environmental improvement goals and in the process helps build a faithful community of neighbors, contractors, contributors, and church members. This is doing our part for the salvation of the world.” She adds that, “We look forward to smaller utility bills, too.”

For more information visit the church’s website http://www.euclidumc.org/ and follow the Euclid Geothermal News blog at euclidgeothermal.blogspot.com.

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Making Oak Park Easier to Walk and Bike

What a great piece in the Wednesday Journal! Take a look: National walking and exercise expert Mark Fenton sizes up Oak Park



I love this guy! Imagine how much more people would ride bikes in Oak Park if, for example, they felt safer on the road with cars? If they always had a place to park their bikes?

I think this is really pretty

I love the look of brick pavers. I love them partly because the usual alternatives--concrete and especially asphalt--never look that great to me and eventually look pretty bad after they've started cracking, which they always do.

Besides being so lovely looking, the pavers allow water to return easily back to the earth instead of being routed through drainage systems. They also last way longer than concrete or asphalt, yet another reason to love them.

Here's the view of the parking lot now:

Under the pavers are layers of materials that support the surface. There's also electrical wiring under there to allow for the eventual move to outdoor lighting fixtures that will produce less light pollution.

Something I've learned during this project is just how many things you can do once you decide to change things: geothermal heating/cooling is the main feature, but we also decided on the brick pavers and underground wiring, both of which also reduce the church's environmental impact.

Exterior work continues as interior work ramps up

I visited the work site this past Sunday, Sept. 5. Here's the status of the geothermal field, the area under the parking lot that will host the 50+ wells.

It's hard to see in the picture, but there are coils of tubing that I assume are the "wells." These wells are tiny little things, only about an each in diameter. The hole is drilled down some 100-150 feet, then the tubing/piping is fed down the hole to serve as one of the wells. At Euclid, the geothermal field is under the parking lot and will be connected to the church building via piping under Euclid Avenue. That underground connection will be completed underground and will not require any above-ground digging up of the street, which is awfully nice.

Just some updates on the order of operations. After the geothermal field is complete, the paving company will begin work on paving the parking lot with permeable brick pavers. Simultaneously, work on the geothermal system itself will be concentrated in the church building, including replacing of ducts and installation of the heating/cooling units. In fact, the interior duct work has already begun:

Frogs--even Kermit the--don't know everything.

"I don't know everything?"

It’s not easy being green.

Sometimes, we can get the feeling that greener personal choices are a) hard work, and b) expensive.  In reality, lots of green activities are both easy and (how can I put this delicately?) cheap.

1.       Walk rather than drive.

Oak Park and many other towns have sidewalks everywhere. This makes walking a safe, healthy mode of transportation.

By not driving a car, you’re keeping all those pollutants out of the air. You’re also making your car last longer by driving it less, and you’re obviously saving money on gas.

Walking a lot is a great idea, too, for personal health. Check out this site that promotes walking 10,000 steps a day: Shape Up America!

2.       Ride a bike.

Almost any mode of non-fuel-based transportation is a great choice for the earth.

If you already have a bike, ride it instead of driving. Inflating the tires to the correct pressure will make the riding easier.  If you have a backpack or baskets (or a trailer), you can do plenty of errands on a bike, like going to the grocery.  Bikes are so speedy, they rival car travel in urban areas. I used to commute to my job by bike, and it only took five minutes longer than had I driven a car.

Even an expensive new bike ( $1000-$1500 if you add some equipment like a lock and baskets) is way cheaper than the average, decent used car. A good lock usually prevents theft, and my bike has lasted 15 years and is still running fine. Used bikes range in price from free to whatever. Buy a used bike if that's what you can afford.

A great book about bikes and riding is Urban Bikers’ Tricks and Tips: Low-Tech and No-Tech Ways to Find, Ride, & Keep a Bicycle by Mr. Bike Dave Glowacz.

Oh, and listen to me: wear a helmet.  The brain is a pretty important part of the body to protect, and a helmet costs way less than an emergency room visit. Good for both body and budget.

3.       Eat leftovers.

Much garbage in our country is food. I don’t utter these words too often, but that’s a sin. I have yet to overcome this one completely: we still waste food in our family, and I don't like that.

We often have leftovers that are still perfectly good but that are not enough for another whole meal or are lost in the back of the fridge. One thing we do every once in awhile is to have whole meals that consist only of small amounts of everything left over.  We also try to eat these portions for breakfasts or lunches. This is another area in which improvement is good for the environment as well as the wallet. Wasted food is wasted money.

4.       Drink water from the faucet.

Drink up!

Well, you don’t have to drink it directly from the faucet (or the hose). Municipal water is stunningly cheaper than any bottled water, and it’s often the same quality. Bottled water (and bottled beverages in general) require packaging such as plastic bottles as well as transportation. The packaging is usually disposable plastic, and the transportation is of the worst kind: shipping something heavy (water) by truck.

I love diet Coke. My partner loves diet Coke. Collectively, we love diet Coke. Sometimes we buy it and drink and drink and drink…until we realize how crazy we are. I get tired of lugging diet Coke around (it’s heavy since it’s mostly…water!). It’s expensive. It’s not good for you either.

Unfortunately, I don’t like drinking water, so instead of drinking water from the faucet (as I told you to do) or diet Coke from the store, I make iced tea  and keep it in the fridge in a reusable container.  That way, I’m not consuming the plastic bottles, and I’m not buying a water-based product that was shipped from who-knows-where to my grocery.

5.      Buy new stuff only when the old stuff becomes unusable for its intended purpose.

We have towels in our house that are older than I am (48). My grandmother gave them to me when I went off to college. The towels were old when I got them, though they were in good shape.

Now they are in less good shape, but they are still very usable as bath towels. Plus I’m attached to them because my grandmother gave them to me.

Some things have to be replaced more often—work clothes come to mind. Lots of people can’t wear cruddy clothes to work (depending on the job, of course).

So my point is that this is an individual decision, but there are probably things that you need not replace until they are really, truly worn out. Like my grandmother’s bath towels.

A word on making greener choices…

If you are not doing any of the things I’ve listed, please don’t go nuts and try to do them all immediately. But please do what you can. Maybe try to incorporate one thing into your life as you are able. It’s probably going to benefit the planet, your health, and your finances.

Do what you can, not what you can’t. I have never received a message from God that s/he was mad at me for driving to Walgreens when I could have walked. Sometimes it’s late, I’m tired, and I need to get to Walgreens in a hurry, so I ain’t walking. I have a rule that I won’t be compulsive about any of this: I will do these things freely, as I am able.

Drill, baby, drill!

Now this is the kind of drilling we can be happy about: the kind that allows us to heat and cool our buildings with minimal impact on the environment. Look at this great drill:

And here is what one of the wells looks like as it is being drilled. The actual well is only about 3/4"-1 1/4" in diameter. I had the diameter wrong in an earlier post.

Here the drill is digging down 150 feet:

I am not sure why the drill appears to be at this angle. I had thought it would be drilling straight down. Anyone know about this?

You can see more interesting pictures of the drilling by clicking on the link to the right called View Flickr Photostream. Flickr has all the photos of the project from groundbreaking day to the present.

By the way, if you are viewing this blog with Internet Explorer, you may be missing a lot of features and even the pictures. Firefox works well, and Chrome probably does, too, though I haven't tried it.