I like when good things get better, sort of like the when the iPhone 3G was released or even better when Toyota announced the totally redone Prius for 09′. It’s great, something that is very good already gets tweaked and rethought to make it more efficient and even better.

When we started getting ready for phase 2 of the Good project we decided it was time to do a little upgrading ourselves. So without any further ado….. its with great pleasure that I introduce to you Good, the 09′ models.

We spent the last several months listening to comments and talking with engineers about areas we can push the limits of sustainability. We tweaked everything we could, added more storage and took an already efficient design and made it even more efficient. Some of the changes are big, and some are just little touches to make the homes more user-friendly, many you would never even know about unless you were digging behind the cabinets or peeling back the drywall. (which we do not encourage). All in all Good just got better and we are darn proud of it.

• Solar – We love solar power, its clean efficient and here in Northern California we have sun light-a-plenty. So why not use it to generate your own electricity, right? The problem is the solar array costs so much to install you won’t start getting a return on your investment for several years. We think we have found the answer! We like what the folks over at Sun Run are doing. What they do is install the system at their cost and all you do is pay them for the electricity at a very discounted rate. So you get good clean power without paying the big bucks! Simple, efficient, clean, it’s sort of a theme for us.

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I have been digging this blog the last few days, the author Alexis Madrigal takes you on a journey through the last 100 years of green technology. I know 100 years, crazy right? Who knew that in 1901 people were already thinking about solar power. I got hooked right from the first post and am now making my way through all the archives. Very cool stuff.  Head over and check it out.

Levi Benkert

Today I walked in the restroom at our office and saw this crazy thing sitting on top of the tank…

We share our restrooms with GreenBuilt and Green Sacramento the two “gods of greenness” so I think its a pretty safe bet to say it was one of those people who put it there, but I have never seen anything like it before and had to stare at it for a while to even figure out what it was.

I am guessing here because of the way it looks that it takes the water that goes to fill up the tank for the next flush and allows you to wash your hands with it.

So instead of going through all the trouble of saving your waste water with a pump and all you can just use it right there on top of the toilet.

When you flush it automatically starts flowing and all the water that goes down the little drain in the middle just goes straight into the tank for the next flush…

I am not an expert on the matter but I think that there are places in the country that are far more desperate for water than we are here in Sacramento, but even here a little conservation never hurt anyone right? Imagine if you put one of these things on every toilet in Las Vegas! You would be really doing some serious good.

Levi

You may have gotten the email but I wanted to post this here as well, just to make sure everyone has a chance to go make some dirt.

A while back we posted about the Naturemill Kitchen compost units that we are putting in each of our homes. I brought one home and tried it out to make sure they are for real and have to say that I think every kitchen needs one.

Since posting about the composter I have gotten a barrage of email requesting that we put together a bulk order…We finally had some time to sit down with Josh from Green Sacramento and figure out how he can offer them for sale. Josh called up the good people over at NatureMill and is all set for a bulk order.

Here is what we came up with.

There are two models, a super deluxe model that sells at $399 on their site but with a bulk order we can sell them for $365 plus tax and the $299 models would be $275 plus tax with no added shipping if you can come pick them op at Green Sacramento.

So…Interested in making your own dirt?

We are going to place the order on October 5th so if you want one send Josh an email and he will write back with all the details…And you will be in the dirt business!

You can email Josh(at)greensacramento(dot)com

Levi

I am intrigued, just the thought that this car might actually be for real makes me excited. If the stated 125 mile range is for real and $2 re-fueling, then this thing could change everything….You can read more here.

We are only about 2 weeks from finishing the first phase of homes in Good and that means we are going to be installing the Naturemill kitchen composter soon. They all arrived yesterday and I quickly brought one of them home to try it out.

Its an amazingly well built little machine. I was surprised to see that the whole thing was made out of a type of high density styrofoam. But after trying it out I can see that its design is thought out perfectly.

Last night we took all the scrap veggies from the Thai soup we made and took some of the.. seen better days, leftovers out of our fridge and dumped them in.

This morning I woke up and found this inside.

It literally took a bunch of food and made almost perfect dirt out of it overnight! I have no idea how it does it so fast.

I spoke with Josh from Green Sacramento yesterday and he is going to be looking into carrying them at the store. I am going to post on here when he has them in stock, now that I have seen it in action I think every kitchen needs one.

Levi

We have a very cool countertop in our Good project called Paperstone. I was wary at first just for the simple fact that it is made from paper. Well I do think my concern is unfounded. We have had 5 or 6 pretty serious dinner parties in the kitchen now and the counters look great, like they did when they were installed. Anyway a friend sent me this article today about granite countertops. Being the construction guy at LJ, I get lots of questions about products and whenever people are telling me that they are putting granite in their remodeled homes, I always remind them that it is cheap for a reason. Usually the reason is because it came from China, but now I have a whole new argument to not recommend it.

Last week we had a meeting over at the Good project with the staff from West Sacramento Planning and building departments. They wanted to come see the finished product after working with us for the last two and a half years to make this project happen.  We we supposed to meet at 3:30 but at around 3:15 people on bikes started showing up and locking their bikes to the fence….  I sort of looked at them with a puzzled look, thinking that they were just a bunch of random people from the neighborhood who stopped in but then I noticed that they all had city badges on?!?  Apparently the city went out a few weeks ago and purchased a bunch of Electra bikes for the staff to use when they have meetings in town.   How cool is that?

If that is not proof that high gas prices are a good thing for the world than I do not know what is…

(I had to sneak to take a picture of them with my phone so it did not look all fake and posed. Thanks guys!)

Levi

If you stopped by the Green Living Center opening last Saturday you may haveseen Brian from Urban Earth Solutions out front molding some sculptures with cob – a mixture of earth and straw.  I got to talking to him and realized we need to work some earth building into our projects!  Not only is it the most local building product of them all, but earth has thermal mass qualities that can help prevent air conditioning.  I think cob would be a great way to build the benches in our plaza, and rammed earth may be the way to go to get the thermal mass we need on some walls in the Gallery.  At 12-14 inches thick, it has more potential in our tight sites than straw bale and adobe which tend to be thicker.

Plus it has an echo to what we are supporting in Burkina Faso!

Steve

I have been waiting until the ball got rolling to do this but now it is rolling, boy it is rolling.

We are looking for a positive, intelligent, knowledgeable, organized, balanced, energetic person to work for LJ Urban.  We need someone who knows the nuts and bolts of construction, likes being in the field, doesn’t abhor doing office work, can manage others, and wants to be challenged.  You will be asked to plan work flow, schedule, eat and breathe sustainable construction methods and products, implement plans and specifications, call for inspections, order materials, use software like Excel and Suretrack, and be comfortable with a computer, make sure the recycling is in the recycling and the trash in the trash, make decisions that best represent what LJ Urban is about, and oh yeah build sustainable infill projects in Sacramento and West Sacramento.  If you are interested or know someone who would be, please email me at Micah at ljurban.com and we will set up a time to meet.  We don’t want resumes but would love to see your eighth grade science project if you still have it.