R3project round-up 1: General Installations Around the House.

The R3project is almost complete; the renovation of the apartment is finished and we are living in it with our worms on the balcony, recycling and saving on energy and water wherever we can, without loosing comfort or style. In the following months we will finish this blog with a few round-up posts to give a better overview of the sustainable design solutions we applied to our apartment. This article is about the general installations around the house. The next ones will include the kitchen, living room, bedroom, bathroom, office and balcony. We hope you enjoy it.

MOVING HOUSE
The general stuff around the house are mostly things you cannot see any more, but that play an important role when it comes to sustainable living. We started the R3project off with an eco-move, where we brought our stuff into the new apartment without emitting CO2. How? With a bicycle and a little help from our friends, watch the video here.

GETTING AN ETHICAL MORTGAGE
The month before the move, we were shopping for mortgages, and managed to get a loan with the ethical banc Triodos Bank. They guarantee that they only give money to ecological, social or ethical projects. We like that!

RECYCLING DEBRIS
Next we had to get rid of a few sacks of debris, and found out that Sacos Marones recycle the debris. It’s a great service widely available in Spain.

WATER INSTALLATION
In order to avoid PVC in our home, we had to look harder to find recyclable plastic pipes for the grey water installation. In the end we used the tubing system by AquaTherm, which is easy to install with ordinary tools, and, copper pipes for the fresh water and heating installation. The Jaga radiators we chose are ‘low H2O’, which means they also need less energy to run (because there is less water to heat). To heat our water we use a condensation gas boiler. What we really recommend, even without undergoing a full renovation, are low-flow faucet aerator. They cost around 3€ and save you up to 50% water. Depending on what flushing system your toilet has, you can also save a lot of water. We opted for a ‘Stop Flush system’.

ELECTRIC INSTALLATION
Just like for the water pipes, we managed to find PVC-free plastic tubes for the electricity. We used recyclable corrugated polypropylene tubes that are also organochloride and halogen free. Connected to the end of those are of course CLF lightbulbs and A-efficient electric appliances. We even managed to find eco-friendly plugs made form recyclable plastic, and light switches, made in Spain from certified wood.

PAINTS AND WOOD FINISHES
Our walls are painted with zero-VOC paint, and the wooden beams and balcony doors are treated with ecological and natural oils.

INSULATION
In order to keep heating costs down and keep the apartment cool without installing air conditioning, we made sure the place is completely insulated. Double-glazing was a must, and the cork floor an extra bonus to both thermally and acoustically insulate the apartment.

More:
R3project round-up 1: General Installations at Home
R3project round-up 2: the Kitchen

The Eco-Move

Yesterday we moved our boxes to the new flat and managed it without any CO2 but had a lot of fun instead.
For an eco-move you need: reused cardboard boxes, a pulley, a rope, gloves, drinking water, a super-bike, friends & beers.

Check out the video of the Eco-Move here!

Special thanks to:
EspaiBici for lending us their fantastic transporter-bike and to Manolo and Jordi from the Terra Foundation for driving it across old Barcelona; to Sergio for helping with the organising and getting the pulley system working and squeaking, to Leonora for taking the pictures, to Anna, Pierre-Jacques, Ben, Luis and Richard for their hard work and to Albert and Abel from TV3 for their interest… we’ll be on TV! Their series A Ritme de Pedal (to the rhythm of the pedal) the bike as way of transport) starts June 10th every Saturday 8.30pm on TV3.
EspaiBici's Super-Bike





from the old flat to the new flat with TV3

Moving House without CO2

A new home always means packing up your things and moving them into your new space. Here a few tips on how to make the whole job more pleasant and eco (2 things that normally go together).

• reuse cardboard boxes instead of buying new ones.
Find out when the paper gets collected in your neighbourhood and you’ll have plenty of boxes to choose from if you live near shops. Or ask your local corner store or supermarket for boxes.
• Try to avoid bubble wrap
You can wrap fragile objects in your bed sheets, clothes or towels that need to be moved anyway to the new place. For an alternative to bubble wrap check out Geämi. Make sure not to use very large boxes and to mix heavy and light objects in each box to avoid super heavy boxes as lifting those can seriously damage your back.
• Try to avoid CO2 emission
Now, if you move countries or larger distances, are the proud owner of a nice piano or just own a lot of furniture already I don’t suggest you move by bike. Your options in this case would be finding a transport company that rent out energy efficient transport modes (hydro, electric, solar, …) or if that’s not on offer yet, compensate your CO2 emission by becoming a member of for example CeroC02 (Spain) or the CarbonNeutral Company(UK). The mission of these companies is to reduce CO2 by for example investing into anti climate changing technologies or forestry projects.
If you mainly move boxes rather than furniture I suggest using muscle power as your main energy source and no oil. Get all your friends together, put the beers in the fridge for later and action! Bikes with carriages are for rent or what about the always good humoured rickshaw drivers that might not mind touring your pots and pans instead of tourists for a day. We’ll see … any other idea for a contribution against climate change? Be creative!