In May, Green Dean had the opportunity to check out the green roof on top of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) headquarters in Washington DC. Completed in the spring of 2006, theASLA Green Roof continues to be a model, laboratory and classroom for anyone interested in the green roof movement.

Well, rest easy. Turns out the manufacture of common kitchen sponges is easy on the natural world. Most sponges are a synthetic version of the naturally occurring creature found on the sea floor. That’s right, you clean your pots and plates with a synthetic animal! They are one of the most basic animals in the animal kingdom, but they are indeed creatures of the sea.

Synthetic sponges are made from cellulose, sodium sulphate (found in its natural form in the mineral mirabilite, but also as a by-product of making hydrochloric acid), and hemp. Yep, you also wash your plates and pots with…well, you get it.

The manufacture process is simple. Basically they mix up the ingredients and cook them up, much like you would brownies. No harmful ingredients and very little waste. The imperfect bits of material that are trimmed off of the market-ready sponges are just added back to the mix.

But we DO have a tip that might save you some Green: sponges can pick up bits of food and breed bacteria. We all know what a well used sponge can smell like. But if your scrubber has life left in it structurally, throw it in your next laundry load (probably best not to run it through the dryer!) and it’ll smell April fresh!

I had the pleasure of meeting Dan Smith at the Plyboo booth at GreenBuild07. Dan is a wealth of information when it comes to anything bamboo. Dan took the time to talk with me about the manufacturing process of bamboo products, which has always been a mystery to me. I mean, how do you take a round raw material and make it flat?

Well, thanks to Dan, now I know! Dan was also happy to explain the carbonization process and how to spot quality bamboo flooring. He was heading to China after the show to oversee the manufacturing process. I hope that he takes a video camera! In the meantime, check out this video where Dan shares a bit of his great information:

Check out Dan on Google Videos!

Passive solar gain is the heat energy that is created as sunlight passes into a building. Solar rays coming through windows create a greenhouse effect that warms the interior spaces of your home. This is desirable during cold winter, but not so much during the summer.

Did you know that approximately half the heat gain in your home is from sunlight coming through windows?

Managing the sunlight that enters your home can help you keep your house warm in the winter and cool in the summer. For instance, shading your windows during summer months will significantly reduce the ambient temperature and put less of a burden on your air conditioning. Heating a properly designed solar home can cost 80% to 95% less than a conventional home of similar size. Saving $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!