Asheville offers unique musical heritage

A couple weeks ago I happened across one of Asheville's little treasures. After twenty years this town continues to impress me. I attended a meet and greet hosted at the Biltmore Estates newest attraction called Antler Hill. While roaming around to see the features of the Hill I heard the distinctive ringing of a Blacksmiths Anvil, but there was clearly a musical quality to what I was hearing. the. The Biltmore Estate still maintains an full time Blacksmith by the name of Doc Cudd. Doc is a very personable man who loves to tell the rich history and proud heritage of the Anvil. Much more than just a blacksmiths tool, but also a communication devise used by the tradesmen and is classified as an instrument that has been featured in Symphony, Opera, movie scores and more. Doc, as I discovered is one of only 5 anvil masters in the United States. Below is a video recorded during my visit of Doc explaining a little about the history of the anvil and doing his thing.




Love this town! Don't you?
AH

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AERC of Asheville; Creating Champions of Conservation

There is a new breed of soldier taking the frontlines in the battle to protect our natural resources. These well trained, highly skilled soldiers are armed with the latest technological advancements. They demonstrate an unyielding commitment to their cause and a lifelong dedication to protect the communities they serve. They seek no personal glorification for their actions and take great pride in their place within our society. These foot soldiers are not strangers to hard work. They have chosen a path of little glory and are often under-appreciated until called upon in times of urgent need. They are our neighbors and our friends. They are men and women of all colors, creeds, religions and nationalities; off all ages and from all walks of life. They are here to serve and protect. They are the new frontlines of consumer environmental education. There is a name for these braves Champions of Conservation; they are called "GreenPlumbers".

We are approaching a new horizon for an industry that generally gets little attention and has received little recognition for its contributions to success and advancement of our nation. Indeed a new age is dawning and with it the rise of a new breed of environmental champion, a new hope for the preservation of precious resources;
The GreenPlumber

The AERC of Asheville is a certified regional training facility for GreenPlumbers USA; an internationally recognized accreditation and licensing non-profit organization.
The AERC has partnered with GreenPlumbers USA and will offer core curriculum accreditation courses at their facility in West Asheville beginning in July 2010. The core curriculum training includes advanced technical training in 5 categories of environmental stewardship.

- Caring For Our Water
- Climate Care
- Solar Thermal Technology
- Water Efficient Technology
- Inspection Report Services

The course has been added to the fall AB Tech colander as part of the Community Colleges Technical & Industrial Advancement Curriculum.

For additional information on summer 2010 enrollment opportunities contact:
Aqua Environmental Resource Center

Phone: 828-236-5980
Email: info@aquaenvi.org
Website: www.AquaEnvi.org

AP

www.AskAquaPro.com AquaPro@AskaquaPro.com  www.AquaProSolutions.com,  www.AshevilleGreenPlumbing.com,






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Water: How important is it to you?

For the majority of us in Asheville, water is one of those things we expect to be available when we need it. In Asheville we are truly blessed with some of the best freshwater in the county; at least until it leaves the reservoirs that is. Even after treatment it is still ranked pretty high the water quality index. We don't think much about it until something occurs (water line breaks and such) that temporarily removes the luxury we are accustomed to. I use the word luxury intentionally because it is just that, even though we don't think of it that way. We have become very reliant on quick, easy, consistent access to clean water; so much so that we don't think about how integrated water is in our daily lives. Believe me, everything you do during the course of your day is in someway reliant on this natural resource. I'm not talking about the obvious things like drinking, showering & bathing, personal waste removal, washing clothes dishes, cooking and cleaning. Water is so much more to our lives than we think about; water makes everything we do possible!!!

Here are a few examples

How Many Gallons of Water does it take to make . . .

..A car: It takes an estimated 39,090 gallons of water to make a car. It's unclear if that includes the more 2,000 gallons used to make its tires--each tire takes 518 gallons to make.

One Pair of Jeans: Takes around 1,800 gallons of water to grow enough cotton to produce just one pair of regular ol' blue jeans.

One Barrel of Beer: 32 gallons requires 1,500 gallons of water.

One To-Go Latte: Takes 53 gallons to make every latte.

One Gallon of Paint: Takes 13 gallons of water to make.

One Ton of...                                                               

Steel: 62,000 gallons of                                          

Cement: 1,360 gallons

One Pound of . . .                                                 

Wool: 101 gallons

Cotton: 101 gallons

Plastic: 24 gallons

Synthetic Rubber: 55 gallons

Note: In general these figures have been derived from work done by Waterfootprint.org and represent gallons of water consumed per pound of food (except for beverages, in which case the volumes are listed). They represent global averages, not conditions specific to any one place.

Per pound Fruits, Vegetables & Grains:

Lettuce -- 15 gallons

Tomatoes -- 22 gallons

Cabbage -- 24 gallons

Cucumber -- 28 gallons                        

Potatoes -- 30 gallons

Oranges -- 55 gallons

Apples -- 83 gallons

Bananas -- 102 gallons

Corn -- 107 gallons

Peaches or Nectarines -- 142 gallons

Wheat Bread -- 154 gallons

Mango -- 190 gallons

Avocado -- 220 gallons

Tofu -- 244 gallons                                              

Groundnuts -- 368 gallons

Rice -- 403 gallons

Olives -- 522 gallons

Chocolate -- 2847 gallons

Meat & Dairy

This is where water intensity really starts increasing. If you want to reduce the water footprint of your diet, this is where you want to really cut back:

                                                                       

Eggs -- 573 gallons

Chicken -- 815 gallons

Cheese -- 896 gallons

Pork -- 1630 gallons

Butter -- 2044 gallons

Beef -- 2500-5000 gallons (Global figures for the water intensity of beef vary so significantly that an average isn't particularly informative, so a range of figures is given)

Beverages

Tea (8oz) -- 7 gallons

Beer, barley (8oz) -- 36 gallons

Coffee (8oz) -- 29 gallons

Wine (8oz) -- 58 gallons

Maybe if we pay more attention to how relevant water is in our everyday lives we'll be less wasteful of all the things it provides us, including good health.

AP







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AquaPro@AskaquaPro.com 

www.AquaProSolutions.com 
www.AquaEnvi.org,  
www.AshevilleGreenPlumbing.com,
 

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Consumer skeptisism; The biggest hurdle for new toilet standards.

AQUA ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCE CENTER UNVEILS PORTABLE MaP TEST STATION AT ASHEVILLE FACILITY. 

The AERC of Asheville has begun independent performance evaluations on popular new toilet models. We want to help promote these devices because of the positive impacts they will have on helping to preserve our fresh water resources around the world; but we also want to be certain consumers have a positive experience with the products they buy. The industry has a chance to correct it's mistakes of the past and improve their image in the community; I hope they get it right.
 
HET's or High Efficiency Toilets are becoming the norm in the industry. For a toilet to qualify for the HET labeling it must meet a maximum performance (MaP) test developed by the EPA requiring toilets to use 1.28 gallons of water or less per flush.
 
After implementation of Federal mandates the early 1990's and the introduction of low consumption 1.6gpf toilet's, consumers remain skeptical of these performance standards. As a Plumbing Contractor I remember very well the debacle with the first rounds of low consumption toilets in the 90's and consumers tend to have long memories when it comes to things they don't like. Almost 15 years after I still hear it every time I try to convince a customer that it's time to switch to a more water efficient toilet; "no thanks, I don't want to plunge my toilet every time I take a dump". It is one of the most difficult sells for a plumber to make. Consumer dissatisfaction with the performance of one of the most intimate fixtures in our homes, still plagues the industry.
 
“The AERC is not an official EPA MaP testing facility, we are doing this entirely on behalf of the consumers in our community; with no bias to the outcome of test results except to provide people with honest results they can trust and experience for themselves. We've opened the AERC to help inform and advise our community. There are a lot of good folks out there that want to do everything they can to help protect our environment and preserve the quality of fresh water resources in the region, but they also can't afford to spend money on things that don't function well or won't hold up in under real world everyday use. 

With that in mind we do these tests a little differently at the AERC. The standard MaP test has placed strict standards on the procedure used for evaluation. The test medium is a soy paste enclosed in a latex sleeve. Each piece is required to meet specific length, diameter and weight standards; 4" long, 3/4" diameter, 50 grams. Toilets are evaluated on how many pieces they successfully flush on a consistent basis. This works fine for general evaluation, but in my opinion doesn't really represent how things work behind the closed doors of our real world bathrooms. No two poops are the same; we test toilets with this in mind. See for yourself what I mean in the video below.
 

The AERC of Asheville is located at 46 New Leicester Hwy. The center is open to the public and encourages people to come down a see for themselves how things work and what options they have for improving water efficiency & energy conservation in their homes and places of businesses.
Come on down, lets get our hand wet and have some fun learning about water conservation & water quality. 

Contact the Aqua Environmental Resource Center at (828) 236-5980

AP

AquaPro@AskAquaPro.com  


www.AquaEnvi.org
www.AskAquaPro.com
www.AquaProSolutions.com
www.AshevilleGreenPlumbing.com

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Aqua Environmental Resource Center launches EPA Fix Leak Week event

In case you haven't heard, the AERC of Asheville has begun a scheduled week long community awareness campaign.
Fix a Leak Week is an annual EPA program that focuses on helping homeowners understand the importance of monitoring for & repairing leaks in their home.

The average home in the US wastes more than 10,000 gallons of water a year due to minor leaks. Dripping faucets, leaky garden hoses, water heater relief valves are all commonly overlooked sources of unnecessary water loss. Probably the biggest culprit in any home is the toilet. A toilet can leak as much as
7000 gallons in a month without you even knowing it. These silent leaks go on for months until you receive an unexpected increase in your water bill; and the water department won't help. If the leak is inside the home, where it could have been detected, they won't adjust the bill. If your toilet has an audible leak you could be loosing 25,000 gallons a month or more.

One of these leak sources is occurring, right now in 1 out of every 10 homes in the US.
There are many ways to improve water efficiency in your home. First we need to start with the obvious things, then we can move to more exotic and creative ways of conservation. 

The AERC will offer some simple hands on minor home repair training classes during Fix a Leak Week. Be sure to stop by the center or contact us for details.


There are a lot of fun and exciting things happening at the AERC this week so stayed tuned for more updates.

office 828-236-5980
http://www.AquaEnvi.org
AquaPro@AquaEnvi.org

AP

www.AskAquaPro.com
AquaPro@AskaquaPro.com 

www.AquaProSolutions.com, www.AshevilleGreenPlumbing.com,

Aqua Environmental Resource Center in Asheville NC

Did you know we have a water saving guru in the Asheville area? Chris from Aqua Pro Solutions has just opened up a brand new showroom for the local community. Here is some footage of the grand opening. Food, networking, and education... nice! Asheville can really save some natural resources by working with this great company.