LEED H for HOMES. Rating service for Florida

Veterans Energy Solutions and Sebastian Eilert Architecture, Inc are your one source to provide US Green Building Council, LEED H (Homes) rating services for qualified green homes, in Miami, Florida and beyond.
If you are thinking about building a green home and like to get recognition for it through the recognized LEED brand of green buildings, work with the best.

We can also advise on solar installations, energy and water savings design and other building resource management issues.

Miami Green Man
http://www.ves1.com/
http://www.sebastianeilert.com/

Miami Dade County LEED Silver GSA Ground Breaking with Mayor Alvarez

The first LEED certified building for Miami Dade County had its ground breaking today, Friday February 20, 2009 @ 10 am.
Mayor Alvarez attended the proceedings that were put on by the contractor MCM on at the site of the new building.

The GSA Trades Shop Facilities will be a 100,000 sq/ft building with warehouses and offices. To meet the county required LEED silver certification, the design team, lead by John Junkin of PJB Architects, incorporated a substantial number of energy and water saving measures. The building will reduce waste by design and current construction waster diversion is at 85% with only the demolition phase completed.
The project will of course include sustainable materials, best practices for air quality and a number of measurement and verification tools. Recycling will be taken to a level beyond the LEED requirements as the site will serve as a destination to recycle light bulbs and other construction related materials.

Sebastian Eilert, AIA, LEED AP, the Miami Green Man, is the LEED consultant to the team and ensures that the owner required goal will be met. The Design submittal for the project is drawing near and the team will have a pretty good estimate as to the actual level the project will achieve.

We are all proud to be part of the team that delivers the first LEED building for Miami Dade County.

Watch out for more updates on this exciting county project.


Miami Green Man

Dade Heritage Days 2009

The Dade Heritage Trust, Miami Dade County’s largest preservation organization, has again launched the Dade Heritage Days.

This year’s Theme: Building History; Making Memories offers a wonderful array of events throughout the month of March and April; some free others for a small charge and all worth attending.
Numerous walking tours of the different historic parts of the city are available, including the Art Deco Architectural tour (W,F,S @ 10:30), Secrets of Coconut Grove (Friday March 06, 6 pm) and the Julia Tuttle, Mother of Miami tour (March 01, noon).

There are a number of event revolving around the preservation efforts for the Miami Marine Stadium. Notable is the World Dragon Boats Miami Boat tour (April 25, 9am). Also look for other events and updates for the preservation effort or consider joining the cause! http://www.marinestadium.org/

The DHT Heritatge days are a gret way to get to know your city and the rich history that Miami has to offer. Lookout for the schedule at you local government office, school and many other locations. You can also check the schedule online at http://www.dadeheritagetrust.org/ .

See you there…

Miami Green Man

How to survive in a recession – your small business that is…

Just returned from a small presentation by Gil Zapata, hosted by the Partners for self Employment about how to keep your business running during a recession. The presentation was informal, following print outs of a power point presentation.
Even though the turnout was rather small, Gil did an excellent job at going over a few key points that are sure to keep me thinking.

Generally setting up the talk with a positive mindset, the key aspect is to remain positive, keep a positive outlook and adapt to the current state of the marketplace and the economy. Change, rethink. Go back to the basics. The fat years are gone. Morph!

Another important component was to slim down and cut; any expense you can think of, labor, accounting, materials. Before firing, talk with your employees to reduce salary and eliminate benefits. Even better, as an employee suggest this to your boss. You are sure to be the one not be let go, if and when the decision comes. All in all good points.

When all this is done, rethink marketing. Do it on a low budget, remember how it was done when starting out. Knock on doors if you have to.
“We are in a economic Hurricane – it will pass. The question is when”

I appreciate the sentiment and hope that some of these ideas will be useful for others. Back to the business of Green.

Miami Green Man, Sebastian Eilert.

STOP the Stop signs

I have been witnessing an amazing increase in stop signs in my neighborhoodsand also in other parts of South Florida. Additional signs are being added to many intersections that have minimal traffic and apparently no history of accidents. These added stop signs contribute to the fuel consumption by preventing a smooth, already slow speed in many neighborhoods. By adding them additional energy is necessary and increase in fossil fuel burning the result.
Why do these signs continue to appear and who is making the decisions to put them up?

This is not the preferred way to regulate traffic and the impact on the environment is substantial by increased exhausts. Not to mention the aggravation of having to make additional stops as a driver with no one anywhere around and the increased wear and tear on the car, specifically the brakes.

I say STOP the STOP signs (that are not needed)!