R value, Location & Green Leadership
Definitely when discussing saving energy we need to improve. R value is mostly mentioned for a product when what we need to discuss is btus per square foot per delta T per assembly. Location matters and mentioned rarely altitude matters. Sides of valleys and mountain ranges matter.
We are now posting drawings… Robert’s idea to post climate details per discussion is way past time to implement.
If this site is to be a leading site to do with green building the the website should be updated and regularly.
Martin, time to lead.
Add an Android app, Apple app, iPad app. If you beat Construction Master to a construction app for Android look at the following you would get with that alone!
How many programmers work at Taunton?
Let’s discuss this then let’s see some of this happen.
Happy Thanksgiving
GBA Detail Library
A collection of one thousand construction details organized by climate and house part
Replies
Bill R,
I'm not sure what you mean when you say, "The Web site should be updated and regularly." If you mean that we should regularly post new material -- we do. If you mean it should be monitored, with timely responses to questions -- we do that too.
If you mean that the software architecture of the Web site should be fundamentally overhauled more frequently, I would perhaps agree with you, but that is a tall order with our current resources.
Anyone who reads the NY Times or the Wall Street Journal knows that two industries are in crisis right now -- residential construction and journalism. We are at the intersection of those two industries. We're trying to be part of the solution, but industries in crisis do not generate revenue.
No one knows who, if anyone, will be paying the salaries of journalists in the future. Right now, there is no good economic model to support journalism.
If you want GBA to thrive, please subscribe! Without income, it's hard to invest in a better future.
In the meantime, we welcome suggestions for improvement, and I'm always trying to respond to reader requests.
While I agree that there are a few upgrades that would be nice, i think this site does a remarkable job of generating and posting new content. Of the construction forums I visit, this is just about the only one that has any staff writers at all--the others simply rely on users to post, and for the most part aren't moderated, with a few notable exceptions. I need to get off my butt and subscribe to GBA.
Thanks, David! We appreciate the feedback -- and the support.
For better or worse, the web-based businesses that thrive are the ones that are the most accessible, user-friendly and interactive.
GBA has more of a local family-owned store feeling than a Big Box style, which is refreshing but also limiting and sometimes frustrating.
Robert,
I agree. And I can also assure you that we all looking forward to the day when we can fix the issues with our Web site that are most frustrating. In the meantime, thanks for your patience.
I offered an answer on another topic and wanted to include a graph to illustrate a point. I was not able to paste a graph into my answer. I think this capability would be a helpful improvement.
I'm inclined to suspect the non-stop supply of free advice from industry experts.
Martin... of course you do a great job here.
An idea possibly, get Taunton to affiliate with universities and take advantage of the student population of programmers as interns etc. Put forward the idea that it is important for site's software, look etc. to be forever evolving. This green building movement started out years ago and now has a second chance to really catch on. And in todays world things update fast, i.e. like Apple once a year and like Android more like once a season (4 times a year).
We used to think burning fossil fuel was good. Not now. We used to live in caves. Just Bin Laden now. Times change. Lately very quickly. To think this site would not update small aspects a few times a year which is the way things are done today; that is decades old thinking.
For this site to prosper, improve it's function.
The GBA Advisors are tops.
Get the site to match the staff advisors.
Also... get Taunton Inc. going to net zero.
Keep us posted on the progress.
Post your corporate GREEN SCORE like a HERS score if there is such a thing. Make one if there isn't.
What is it today? 80-90? Mine... probably similar. Time to set goals each of us and track our progress.
Ernest,
We're working right now on adding the capability of posting images. In the meantime, if you have an image you want to post, e-mail it to me:
martin [at] greenbuildingadvisor [dot] com , and tell me which Q&A thread you want it posted to, and I'll post if for you.
No Big Boxes for me thanks. If GBA is like a family-owned business I'm all for it. A comprehensive and professional site update would be nice but in the meantime, until the resources are there to do it properly (interns: you pay peanuts, you get monkeys), if you need to post a graphic you can just email it to Martin.
Please keep on doing what you're doing Martin. I love my iPhone but I don't need a GBA app.
Martin,
Overlapping posts. Great minds, etc.
OK in spite of what I just said here's what may be the most important website upgrade: how about a more aggressive approach to getting long-term freeloaders like me to subscribe. The most important part of this site and where I for one certainly learn the most is the discussion forum and it's FREE. Like David Meiland I just got off my butt and put my Pro subscription where it can do some good. Let's put this in perspective people. If like me you're dealing with many hundreds of thousands of construction value $$$ every year or if you're just working on the one big project, $150 for a year's subscription is great value. Martin & his crew are doing great work. Let's show our appreciation.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
James,
I plan to remain a paying member
I will upgrade my annual subsription EARLY if
"Advisors" were REQUIRED to participate or else lose the title
most of the names I see LISTED as advisors
Are NEVER heard from
Here is the link to Advisors
https://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/advisors
When is the last time anyone has seen comments from these folks?
Michael Chandler ......Kudos to you
You are one of the very few who contributes
WARNING: off-topic
Sorry to inform you, Bill, but bin Laden died of kidney failure in December 2001, and the FBI has never found evidence linking him to 9/11.
Quoting an unnamed Taliban official, the Pakistan Observer reported that Bin Laden died of untreated lung complications and was buried in an unmarked grave in Tora Bora on December 15, 2001. This report was picked up by Fox News in the United States on December 26. Also on December 26, the Egyptian newspaper AlWafd - Daily carried a short obituary by a prominent official of the Afghan Taliban, who was allegedly present at the funeral, stating Bin Laden had been buried on or about December 13:
"(Osama bin Laden) suffered serious complications and died a natural, quiet death. He was buried in Tora Bora, a funeral attended by 30 Al Qaeda fighters, close members of his family and friends from the Taliban. By the Wahhabi tradition, no mark was left on the grave"
In April 2002, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld stated, "We have heard neither hide nor hair of him since, oh, about December in terms of anything hard." FBI Counterterrorism chief Dale Watson and President Karzai of Afghanistan also expressed the opinion that Bin Laden probably died at this time.
“The reason why 9/11 is not mentioned on Usama Bin Laden’s Most Wanted page is because the FBI has no hard evidence connecting Bin Laden to 9/11.” - Rex Tomb, Chief of Investigative Publicity for the FBI, June 5, 2006.