Monday, September 24, 2012
Insulated Concrete Forms
The crew started placing insulated concrete forms today. They are stacking the pre-fabbed styrofoam today and will pour cement into the space between the 2 layers of styrofoam tomorrow. The blue connectors keep the space uniform and will hold re-bar.
Profiles in building: Gary Steps
As part of this blog, we'd like present the cast and crew of our project. Over the next couple weeks we'll introduce Gary Steps, Ralph Wafer, Anthony Garavaglia and Greg Swetz. The blog may be a little delayed, however, as we anticipate the birth of our newest family member today (or maybe tomorrow morning).
Gary Steps - energy consultant
Gary was born in Kansas and attended the honors program at University of Kansas. He then left his PHD program to move to DC and become one of the founders of Mensa College. He moved to St Louis to begin a 30 year career for IBM that took him all over the world. In 2004 Gary launched Steps Systems, then started Butterfly Energy Works in 2007.
Gary has been an environmentalist since his childhood, long before the term existed, and believes that his interest was sparked by his father's career as a civil engineer. His father spent most of his career as the engineering head of the Kansas State Water Resources Board where his job was to worry about the quantity and quality of water in the state. He was involved in one of the first cloud seeding programs anywhere and was one of the first people to worry about states sharing rivers.
Gary's mother was one of the first women to graduate from college. She passed away of breast cancer at 82 and his father died of old age at 97. He has three siblings, an older sister in San Diego, an older brother in Mechanicsburg Pa, and a younger brother in Silicon Valley
Gary has been responsible for multiple certified green homes, and has audited and helped improve the energy efficiency of grocery stores, churches, warehouses, office buildings, and a laundromat. Each has it's own challenges from an energy standpoint. He is also helping bring multiple leading edge products to the marketplace. Several will be evident in the Berg/Ong home. This will be one of several zero or near zero net energy buildings he is working on.
As part of his role on our house, Gary is performing energy modeling to determine the proper amount of insulation under the floor, on the walls and in the roof as well as the most advantageous placement, sizing and typing of the windows and awnings. He is also advising the team on the type and size of heating, ventilation and air conditioning system to use. He is involved in other aspects of the building as well.
Gary Steps - energy consultant
Gary was born in Kansas and attended the honors program at University of Kansas. He then left his PHD program to move to DC and become one of the founders of Mensa College. He moved to St Louis to begin a 30 year career for IBM that took him all over the world. In 2004 Gary launched Steps Systems, then started Butterfly Energy Works in 2007.
Gary has been an environmentalist since his childhood, long before the term existed, and believes that his interest was sparked by his father's career as a civil engineer. His father spent most of his career as the engineering head of the Kansas State Water Resources Board where his job was to worry about the quantity and quality of water in the state. He was involved in one of the first cloud seeding programs anywhere and was one of the first people to worry about states sharing rivers.
Gary's mother was one of the first women to graduate from college. She passed away of breast cancer at 82 and his father died of old age at 97. He has three siblings, an older sister in San Diego, an older brother in Mechanicsburg Pa, and a younger brother in Silicon Valley
Gary has been responsible for multiple certified green homes, and has audited and helped improve the energy efficiency of grocery stores, churches, warehouses, office buildings, and a laundromat. Each has it's own challenges from an energy standpoint. He is also helping bring multiple leading edge products to the marketplace. Several will be evident in the Berg/Ong home. This will be one of several zero or near zero net energy buildings he is working on.
As part of his role on our house, Gary is performing energy modeling to determine the proper amount of insulation under the floor, on the walls and in the roof as well as the most advantageous placement, sizing and typing of the windows and awnings. He is also advising the team on the type and size of heating, ventilation and air conditioning system to use. He is involved in other aspects of the building as well.
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Groundbreaking!
We finally broke ground Sept 19! It was very exciting. We have been waiting for this day for a very long time.
We were also waiting for baby dragon to enter the world. His due date was September 16, Mexico's Independence Day, but he failed to make an appearance. My friend Lisa says that he is on 'Latin time.'
Uncle Michael at ground breaking
Uncle Michael at ground breaking
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