Our Green Streets Blog

Architect Doug Eichelberger designed this gabion wall barn, collecting scrap rock.

Gabion baskets, traditionally used for building retaining wall and controlling erosion, also can be used as a homebuilding product for emergency settlements or by those wishing to construct walls with new material approaches.

Colorado architect Doug Eichelberger has used gabion baskets to construct an experimental building on his ranch southwest of Larkspur, CO that he now uses as attractive free-standing barn. But he is most interested in the potential use of gabions where natural or human-caused disasters have occurred and there is a critical need for emergency housing.

As Eichelberger writes: “In war and natural disaster situations, emergency housing is one of the first requirements in the lives of survivor/refugee population. Gabion baskets are most often used for erosion control along rivers and streams. The baskets can also be used in a vertical wall structure. Because the baskets are easy to transport and assemble, they can be taken (even by mule) to the most remote locations. The baskets can be filled with rubble from destroyed buildings, then left as is or covered with indigenous mud stucco finishes. The baskets can be arranged into homes or refugee barracks.

Eichelberger says these are features to this structure:

• Baskets can be filled with stone or concrete rubble
• Baskets are easy to transport to remote locations, where they can be filled with material of choice
• Weight of filled baskets makes for stable floating foundation
• Inexpensive materials are used for fill

A gabion walls ready to support roof. gabionbaskets.net

A couple of places worth visiting for gabions are GabionBaskets.net and Maccaferri.  Maccaferri, based in Williamsport, MD is a pioneer company in gabions, constructing its first wire basket in 1893.

According to Maccaferri, the first gabion retaining structure was constructed in 1893 to retain the banks of the River Reno at Casalecchio. It took 650 workers, 34 days to install the 2,900 gabions.

Gabion retaining structures are rectangular wire mesh baskets that are usually (concrete rubble, in some cases) filled with rock at the project site to form flexible, permeable structures such as gabion retaining walls for commercial, industrial and road projects. They are also used for erosion control for bank stabilization, channel linings, and gabion weirs.

Gabion strength lies in its double twisted hexagonal mesh of steel wire which is reinforced by selvedges of heavier wire running along the edges and by transverse diaphragms. The wire will not unravel even when cut. Assembly is easy, requiring no specialized labor and nearby rock is used for fill.

Gabion retaining structures are available with different levels of protecting coating for durability. With 30% voids, gabion structures offer free drainage providing greater bank stability when used for riverbank protection.

Gary Mazzotta's Park Spark Project in Cambridge, MA uses dog waste to feed this anaerobic digester that produces methane to burn the gas lamp. Photo: Park Spark Project

Times change, thankfully. Instead of thinking first about how to get rid of waste, more people are now asking how they might put parts of the waste stream to use.

Some landfills now capture methane to power massive generators that feed electricity to the grid; a California company makes biodegradable plastic from organic waste without using petroleum. The list of companies and people involved in promising and innovative work continues to grow.

Dog poop is now on the list of viable new materials from that can be harvested and used from the waste stream. Last year in Cambridge, MA, conceptual artist Matthew Mazzotta launched the Park Spark Project, using dog feces to power lampposts in a park.

Mazzotta’s Park Spark Project was funded through MIT and created in partnership with the City of Cambridge. Methane, a common greenhouse gas, is created in a methane digester that converts freshly scooped poop into burnable fuel.

Dog owners collect dog droppings in biodegradable bags, then toss the mess into the digester –- a closed cylindrical container, where the dog feces are broken down by anaerobic bacteria. This process creates methane that is then released through a valve and burned to power an old-fashioned gas-burning lamppost in a park.

Mazzotta has said he hopes to install permanent underground digesters in parks, not only in Cambridge, but also throughout the country.

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If you didn’t already know, most commercial buildings are unbridled energy hogs. The traditional glitzy, nighttime pan of a Manhattan skyline, or that of any other large city, comes with a large price tag.

It is estimated that commercial buildings consume almost 70 percent of the electricity consumed in the United States.

Buildings like the headquarters for US Airways feature and EPA Energy Star rating. Photo courtesy of Hines

Measuring and managing energy performance in existing building – a process known as benchmarking – is seen as a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and potentially save building owners money on their energy expenditures.

For those unsure of what energy benchmarking is, it means measuring and auditing the energy use of a building and comparing it to other similar buildings to obtain an energy rating. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency offers a free online benchmarking tool called Energy Star Portfolio Manager (ESPM) that many owners currently use. ESPM scores range from 1 to 100, with a score of 50 being the average. A score of 75 or higher is needed to apply for an EPA Energy Star label.

Benchmarking and auditing represent key first steps for building owners to make in saving both energy and money, says Cliff Majersik, executive director of the Institute for Market Transformation (IMT) – a policy think tank on building energy rating and disclosure. The net result also makes these buildings more competitive in the marketplace.

“Energy is one of the biggest expenses of building ownership and will be an even greater financial burden for owners in the future as energy prices escalate. Owners can’t take control of energy costs if they don’t know where to begin. Benchmarking – or measuring and rating – a building’s energy performance is that critical first step owners can take to start controlling energy costs and saving money.”

A number of different studies linked through IMT  show that buildings with good energy ratings will command higher rents, sell for higher prices and have lower vacancy rates than other buildings.

On its website, IMT states that most U.S. building owners, including governments, have not measured the energy efficiency of their buildings. The result of such inaction has historically limited an owner’s ability to “manage and reduce energy consumption.”

Managing energy consumption also has a direct impact on the overall profitability of a building. According to a March 2008 national study by the CoStar Group, rental rates in Energy Star-labeled buildings command a $2.40 per square foot premium over similar non-labeled buildings and have 3.6 percent higher occupancy rates.

Another study by the University of California at Berkeley reported that buildings with the Energy Star label sold for 16 percent more than identical buildings without such labels.

These are the kind of green footprints that the best parts of many worlds.

Justmeans has published the Global Sustainability Top 1000 list of publicly traded companies.

Justmeans Sustainability Top 1000 List