Xerxes Water Tanks

Xerxes manufactures a wide range of fiberglass tanks designed to meet the demands of the growing water and wastewater infrastructure needs throughout North America. Xerxes underground water storage tanks, process vessels and wet wells are ideally suited for a wide range of applications.

Infiltration from a leaking tank can result in an improperly functioning system, while exfiltration causes pollution of water supplies. Xerxes tanks are the perfect alternative to pre-case or pour-in-place concrete tanks.

Xerxes water tanks have become a superior option for underground storage or processing of liquids in a wide range of applications, including green building or water conservation.

Green projects that incorporate Xerxes fiberglass water tanks may qualify for points under the U.S. Green Building Council's Sustainable Sites and Water Efficiency categories of its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system

Potable water, commonly referred to as drinking water, can safely be stored underground utilizing a Xerxes potable water tank. Xerxes potable water tanks are designed and manufactured to NSF Standard 61. They are available as NSF-listed and labeled tanks, unlike many competitive products.

Leed points can be achieved by purchasing the product from near manufacturing locations:

Anaheim, CA
Sequin, TX
Tipton, IA
Hagerstown, MD


Product brochure can be found:

http://www.xerxes.com/assets/documents/library/Onsite-wastewater-brochure.pdf
http://www.xerxes.com/assets/documents/library/Installation-Manual-and-Operating-Guidelines-IMOG-.pdf
http://www.xerxes.com/assets/documents/library/rst-II-guide-specifications.doc

Unicork

Unicork Flooring is a versatile collection of 26 distinctive flooring patterns designed and engineered for commercial spaces utilizing environmentally friendly surfaces coming from the bark of cork trees. It is a renewable resource. Unicork has exceptional physical properties including acoustical and thermal insulation, durability, resistance to mold and mildew, naturally hypo-allergenic, and easy to clean. It is suitable in homes, offices, institutional, healthcare and retail environments.
This product can contribute to attaining a point in the Materials and Resources credit for Rapidly REnewable Resources. This can also contribute to points within the Environmental Quality section of the LEED Rating Systems.
Unicork Benefits:
Exceptional physical properties
Acoustically superior
Easy to clean
Excellent resilience with inherent sound absorbing qualities due to the natural
air filtered structure of the cork core
Cushoned feel under foot

Saftey data sheet is available:

http://www.amaflooring.com/HTML/To_Market/PDF/MSDS%20Unicork%20Lacquer.pdf

More information:

http://tomkt.com/unicork/pdf/Unicork-Basix.pdf
http://tomkt.com/unicork/pdf/Unicork_Warranty.pdf
http://tomkt.com/unicork/pdf/unicork%20install%20&%20maint.pdf

Forbo Marmoleum

Marmoleum is natural linoleum from Forbo. Unlike other vinyl flooring, marmoleum has no foul odors that off-gas into the environment. It is all natural and it comes in all colors. This great floor covering has become the optimal solution for hospitals, schools, offices, government buildings and retail.
Marmoleum is Asthma & Allergy Friendly© and SMART™ certified as a sustainable product. This product being Asthma & Allergy Friendly is great accomplishment. We know that many people today suffer from asthma or some kind of allergy.
Marmoleum is made from natural raw materials including linseed oil (from flax seeds), pine rosins, wood flour (finely ground sawdust), and ecologically-friendly pigments that contain no heavy metals such as lead or cadmium.
Marmoleum is a natural organic product whose performance is enhanced over time as a result of the continued oxidation of linseed oil, a process which makes it naturally durable and anti-microbial. Warm, quiet, and easy on the feet. Easy to clean with a damp mop. Resistant to heavy rolling loads and foot traffic.


More info:

http://www.forboflooringna.com/default.aspx?menuId=27

http://www.greendepot.com/greendepot/product.asp?prod_name=Forbo+Marmoleum+Flooring&pf_id=FORBO&dept_id=5050&s_id=0&

Installation guides:

http://www.greendepot.com/greendepot/assets/images/docs/Marmoleum_Click_InstallationManual.pdf

Thermafleece

We do not know where we will end up working. It is good to have options. If it happens that you are working for a firm in England or you are doing a project in England this product will be great to use.

Thermafleece is used in clothes as well. However it is great product as insulator. Thermafleece is wool insulation. It is made from sheep wool that is mechanically bonded to form insulating batts. Thermafleece is made from low grade wool which had no use at all. Cumbrian farming family came up with this idea of using it as insulator.

The reason I am recommending for people who end up practicing in UK is that this insulator mainly manufactured in UK. Also British sheep wool is mainly used for this. Thermafleece meets the highest performance and quality ratings.It's R-value is 3.5 to 3.8 per inch thickness of material. It is a natural insulator because it has a crimped nature which traps air in millions of tiny pockets.
It is long lasting, BBA (British Board of Agreement) Certified, environmentally excellent and also safe to install product.
Thermafleece is natural fiber from a fully renewable resource. It is manufactured in batts.

Currently it is available for US customers through online distributors. Unfortunate.

I also included an article about the history of Thermafleece.

A Cumbrian farmer is getting a warm reception for a new product using low-grade wool, reports Michael Edwards

THE market for low-grade wool has always been restricted, so much so that some hill farmers recently burned their fleeces. However, there might now be a brighter future for fleece from hill sheep like Herdwick and Swaledale, thanks to a Cumbrian farming family.

Christine Armstrong, with assistance from her partner, David Baldry, of Cote Farm, Dacre, Penrith, has set up her own company, Second Nature UK, to develop Thermafleece, an environmentally friendly building insulation material that has been well-received by the trade. So confident is she that an ambitious £2m annual sales target is predicted by 2005.

"I've been involved in farming all my life," she said. "I fully understand and have personal experience of the despair currently felt throughout the industry. We believe that it is right to send out clear messages throughout Europe that British agriculture is not giving in.

"I liked the idea of doing something with such a natural product. In the 18th century people used sheep's wool for insulation so I began looking into whether it could be used now."

She took her idea to Leeds University and after a couple of years' research managed to get the product to market.

The coarser fleeces that are not in high demand in the international woollen textiles market are used to create a non-woven wool blend with excellent insulating properties, comparing favorably with other fibrous insulation materials. However, because wool is a natural fibre from a fully renewable resource, the product life cycle has an ideal energy balance; the Thermafleece manufacturing process expends only 14% of the embodied energy used to make glass fibre insulation, thereby paying back manufacturing energy costs seven times faster.

The new product requires no protective clothing during installation, does not irritate the skin, eyes or respiratory tract and meets all current building and safety regulations. Thermafleece is also totally recyclable for use in other environmentally friendly ways at the end of its useful life, which is predicted to be in excess of 50 years.
• Thermafleece

Christine explains: "We have not developed Thermafleece to be a cheap alternative to other insulation materials such as glass fibre. In fact it costs significantly more. Specifiers and builders who have shown interest in our product see added value in its ecologically sound nature and in the extra benefits wool brings to a building's environmental performance including summer cooling, winter warming and condensation control."

The fleece, used by the National Trust in Yorks, has also been installed in Newcastle City Council's new energy efficient classroom at Tyne Riverside Country Park, while Court Primary School in Chard, Somerset, has had Therma-fleece fitted as part of a £600,000 make-over. Christine is also fitting out her own farmhouse with the product.

To meet the strict requirements of building regulations and British Standards, Thermafleece had to be capable of resisting insect attack as well as being fire resistant. Most wool insulants use Boron salts to perform this task - a chemical additive which often costs as much to use as the wool itself, because its toxicity creates major waste-treatment problems. It soon became clear that finding a low-cost, effective but environmentally-friendly alternative insecticide was going to be essential to the success of the product.

Approaches to various research bodies finally produced the holy grail -- a dry, environmentally-friendly alternative to insecticide, that is now the company's patented secret "pixie dust".
• Complex structure

The fibres used in the manufacture of Thermafleece naturally form a complex but low-density structure, with microscopic scale-like surfaces, enabling the insulation to trap large volumes of air. These thermal and structural properties are complemented by the product's ability to absorb and release up to a remarkable 40% of its dry weight in water vapour; so, as temperatures fall and the dew point lowers, water vapour is absorbed, generating heat as it does so.

Another interesting fact is that wool has a natural tendency to melt away from flame and self-extinguish, so only a conventional fireproofing agent is added to meet the BS5803-4 Standard for fire resistance.

The scope for Thermafleece seems promising and Christine is already developing further ideas which might benefit from the material.

Inquiries Second Nature: Tel: 01768-486285.

PHOTO (COLOR): Christine and David have found a new market for fleece from their sheep and have set a £2m annual sales target.

~~~~~~~~

By Michael Edwards

Edited by Tessa Gates


These are the websites to go if you need more information:

http://www.alianenergy.co.uk/thermafleece-insulation.html
http://www.secondnatureuk.com/Natural_Insulation_Products/Thermafleece/index.html
http://www.ecohomemagazine.com/green-products/thermafleece-insulation-by-second-nature.aspx