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Media & NewsBuilding a High School in Baja with CorazonJanuary 15, 2010 Just added to Photo Gallery: Building in Baja with Corazon. Donated materials were used to build this school - see if you recognize the famous blue roof tiles!
SAN FRANCISCO’S GREEN BUILDING TASK FORCE RELEASES RECOMMENDATIONSDecember 14, 2009 San Francisco, CA—Mayor Gavin Newsom Friday released recommendations for greening the city’s existing building stock.
“Commercial, industrial, and municipal buildings account for 63 percent of building-sector emissions,” said Mayor Newsom. “In order to make a difference in fighting global climate change we must address San Francisco’s existing buildings.” Earlier this year, Mayor Newsom convened a task force to recommend how the city, in partnership with the private sector, can accelerate improvements in energy and resource efficiency of existing commercial buildings in San Francisco. The Task Force was comprised of 19 key stakeholders from San Francisco’s building ownership, developer, financial, architectural, engineering, legal, utility, and construction communities. Recommendations included requiring building owners to conduct an energy audit to identify all cost-effective ways to reduce energy use, and requiring reporting of each nonresidential building’s energy performance annually. The Task Force proposed making energy use data available to the public by requiring disclosure of energy performance and carbon emissions annually. This would incentivize buildings owners to maximize environmental performance, and let potential tenants or buyers understand which buildings are most energy efficient, just like a car buyer would consider miles per gallon. The Task Force set a goal of cutting total energy use in existing commercial buildings 50 percent by 2030, an average of 2.5 percent per year. The Environment Department estimates that this would reduce San Francisco’s annual greenhouse gas emissions by more than 70,000 tons per year, equivalent of a taking 17,500 automobiles off the road permanently each and every year. LaCanada-Flintridge Home Deconstruction & DonationNovember 17, 2009 Tim Smith learned about Deconstruction from his architect and his golfing mate. Tim was initially hesitant about the extra time deconstruction would take but ultimately decided it was silly to spend extra money in the long run to throw materials into the landfill or recycle when reuse and donation clearly made more financial sense for his project. Working with Tim has been great. He’s the nicest guy. All of us at DRN suggest you get your next vehicle at Bob Smith BMW in Calabasas, which Tim Smith just happens to own.
How to Recycle Your HouseDecember 4, 2009 Deconstruction & ReUseNetwork founder, Lorenz Schilling, shows you how to recycle a house in this video from the site of a home under deconstruction in Manhattan Beach, CA.
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Press ReleasesNicole Tai Joins Deconstruction & Reuse Network to Increase Efforts In Northern CaliforniaFebruary 4, 2010 San Francisco, CA -- February 1, 2010: San Francisco resident and sustainability contractor, Nicole Tai, has joined Deconstruction & ReUse Network (DRN) to help advance development efforts for the organization in Northern California. DRN is an environmental and humanitarian non-profit dedicated to educating and empowering Californians about the benefits of reusing building materials. Ms. Tai will be instrumental in broadening DRN’s outreach efforts, donation development focus, deconstruction involvement and deconstruction consultant support.
“Northern California is a crucial area for our organization’s development,” says Lorenz Schilling, president/founder of DRN. “We are very pleased to have someone with Nicole's experience dedicated to this critical endeavor.” Nicole has a BS in Conservation Resource Studies from UC Berkeley and her Masters in [Sustainable] Community Development from UC Davis. She is a co-founder of the non-profit organization Reuse Alliance (Astoria, NY), and was an integral part of start-up and development efforts for the "ARROW Reuse Center for Building Materials" (Astoria, NY) and Build it Green New York City. Amongst her many complimentary talents and experience, she has extensive grant writing experience and is an accomplished public speaker. About Deconstruction & ReUse Network: Deconstruction & ReUse Network is an environmental public benefit corporation 501(c)(3), whose mission is to promote and empower deconstruction practices and to grow a greater reuse network for quality building materials through partnerships with complimentary operations and organizations. Deconstruction & ReUse Network currently serves Northern and Southern California with partnerships that benefit Habitat for Humanity and Corazon. www.Decon-Network.org # # # Deconstruction of Bel Air Home Yields Tons of Valuable Materials That Will Be Donated to Help Build Affordable HousingJanuary 20, 2010 Home’s Building Materials will be Reused by Local Non-Profits
Los Angeles, CA – January 20, 2010: Deconstruction & ReUseNetwork (DRN), an environmental and humanitarian non-profit, is assisting homeowners in Bel Air with the deconstruction of their home for reuse and recycling. Deconstruction is environmentally practical and, in most cases, provides property owners with significant tax deductions. This major remodel project includes carefully dismantling approximately 75% of the 5,500 square-foot home. DRN develops programs for property owners to ensure structures slated for remodel or tear down will be reused and recycled. Most projects are completed in 3 weeks or less. DRN president Lorenz Schilling estimates that most of this structure will be reusable. “A typical home can yield as much as 85% diversion through reuse and recycling,” says Schilling. “With traditional demolition, tons of materials are sent to the local landfill, the majority of which can be reused in their current state in other homes in our region. Deconstruction is a win-win for the environment and Southern California.” DRN began the process by identifying and inventorying all reusable (and donatable) items in the home. Next, MacLoud Demolition, a longtime deconstruction contractor for DRN, carefully dismantled the home and organized all salvageable materials under DRN’s direction. Appliances, French doors, cabinetry, solid interior doors, light fixtures, plumbing fixtures were just some of the great materials that made up the owners’ donation. Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles’ Home Improvement Store (located in Gardena) helps DRN to achieve its mission by using some of the materials in construction or selling reusable materials to the public through their ReStore. Rough lumber will be delivered to Orange County based Corazon, where the lumber will be used to help build more sustainable communities and affordable housing for low-income families in Tecate and Tijuana. target=new1>Click here to view photos. About Deconstruction & ReUse Network: Deconstruction & ReUse Network is an environmental public benefit corporation 501(c)(3), whose mission is to promote and empower deconstruction practices and to grow a greater reuse network for quality building materials through partnerships with complimentary operations and organizations. Deconstruction & ReUse Network currently serves Northern and Southern California with partnerships that benefit Habitat for Humanity and Corazon. www.Decon-Network.org # # # Pasadena Home Gets Deconstructed & Recyled Rather than Demolished - Tons of Building Materials are Donated and Reused to Help Build Affordable HomesDecember 22, 2009 December 22, 2009 -- This week Deconstruction & ReUseNetwork (DRN) began building material salvage efforts on a home in Pasadena with McLoud Demolition. The 2,500 square foot home is filled with beautiful oak hardwood flooring; solid core raised panel doors; French doors; kitchen and bath cabinetry with granite counter tops and premium plumbing and lighting fixtures.
All these items have been carefully removed from the home and will arrive at the Habitat for Humanity Home Improvement Store in Gardena where they will be resold at half of retail, just in time for Christmas. As with all DRN projects, the rough lumber from this home will be delivered to Corazon, a community development and home building organization operating in northern Baja. Property owners that choose a Deconstruction Solution with DRN (rather than traditional demolition) help save environmental resources and support humanitarian non-profits such as Habitat for Humanity and Corazon. Additionally, donors may achieve significant tax savings resulting from their donations. As a qualified non-profit organization, DRN receives and distributes all donated materials and coordinates all project activities, while providing all necessary third-party diversion-documentation for its program participants. DRN strives to educate and empower property owners, industry professionals and civic leaders to make deconstruction and reuse a priority in the building process. DRN continues to develop solutions that are easy to implement and beneficial for all parties involved in the building process. DRN currently serves the state of California, with representatives located in the Bay Area, Santa Barbara and Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego. View photos of this home in our Photo Galleries. About Deconstruction & ReUse Network: Deconstruction & ReUse Network is an environmental public benefit corporation 501(c)(3), whose mission is to promote and empower deconstruction practices and to grow a greater reuse network for quality building materials through partnerships with complementary operations and organizations. Deconstruction & ReUse Network currently serves Northern and Southern California with partnerships that benefit Habitat for Humanity and Corazon. www.Decon-Network.org # # # Recycling Beverly Hills Home Will Help Low-Income Families, Environment & CommunityNovember 10, 2009 Deconstruction & ReUse Network Maximizes Environmental Savings for Homeowner Under City's New Green Building Program
Los Angeles, CA – May 27, 2009: As the first fully compliant single family residential project to meet the standards of Beverly Hills’ new Green Building Program, owners Steve Dubin and Brenda Ellerin have started this project by deconstructing their existing home with the help of the environmental and humanitarian non-profit Deconstruction & ReUseNetwork (DRN). For the next several weeks deconstruction crews will carefully dismantle the home, saving all the reusable building materials. DRN will, in-turn, distribute and donate the materials to other complimentary organizations like Habitat for Humanity’s Home Improvement Store and the housing ministry Corazon, a community development and home building organization operating in northern Baja. DRN estimates close to 200 tons, or as much as 85% of the home will be reused or recycled. This would be the equivalent of approximately 50 roll-off bins. “The first step in building green should be deconstruction,” says Lorenz Schilling, founder of DRN. “In the past, ironically, removing the materials in the existing structure has been the last thing property owners think about, even though it’s the first thing they must do. We’re working hard to educate and empower property owners, industry professionals, and city officials across the state that planning for deconstruction can save valuable physical and financial resources for all involved.” Mr. Dubin and Ms. Ellerin’s home was originally built in 1948 and has many valuable, re-useable materials. DRN first inventories the entire home and identifies the materials to be saved. Next, items such as appliances, windows, doors, cabinetry, flooring, plumbing and lighting fixtures, etc., are removed and taken to a partner Habitat for Humanity affiliate ReStore. The items from this project will be available for purchase at the Gardena Home Improvement Store over the next several weeks. The next phase of the project will be dismantling the home’s roofing components and framing; carefully removing lumber, roof tiles and brick. Once all the lumber has been inventoried for donation and diversion documentation, it will be shipped to Corazon ministries in Tijuana to be re-used in the building of affordable homes, instead of being turned into mulch or burned for fuel. Architect Marc Whipple of Russell Group Architects was a driving force behind the project’s sustainable emphasis, which was fast-tracked by the City of Beverly Hills Building & Safety; an incentive the City offers to encourage more green building within its boundaries. “Sustainable residential design is a new emphasis for our group, as it is for many architects these days. But it’s really been a team effort,” said Whipple. “The folks at the city have really worked with us to make this project happen in a timely manner and encourage this model project.” General contractor Joe Griffith says, "In the past, there was very little thought given to reusing elements from a structure to be demolished other then saving some of the large pieces of framing lumber. The demo process was plainly 'out with the old, in with the new.' We would even have a pre demo day where the owners and their kids could go wild spray painting walls, breaking windows, just tearing the place up before the heavy equipment rolled through. It’s good to see we’re all starting to be more productive with the reusable assets in unwanted buildings. Instead of using a portable bathroom that contains a ton of chemicals, we’re building a small latrine, connecting an existing toilet to the sewer line, all in an effort to be more eco-friendly. I’m very excited to be putting this project together in a sustainable way from start to finish.” Owner Dubin said, “The existing house had a lot of high quality, beautiful features and finishes. While we have a different vision for the property, we wanted to preserve as much of the house as possible. Deconstructing the house and donating the materials, while more expensive and time-consuming, seemed to be the logical move. Our goal is help get the word out that this is an easy process. When I tell people what we’re doing, they all say the same thing: ‘I wish we would have done that when we tore our house down’.” Deconstruction & ReUse Network works with deconstruction contractors, architects and municipalities to develop simple solutions for homeowners to deconstruct as an alternative to traditional demolition. A typical 2,500 square-foot home yields 10 tons of reusable lumber that can be used to build homes for families in need, rather than end up in landfills or as mulch. The organization works with other complimentary non-profits that help complete its circle of reuse, and help families build or improve their homes. It also provides all necessary documentation for property owner tax-deductions stemming from the donation of a building’s reusable parts. For more information about how deconstruction works please visit www.Decon-Network.org About Deconstruction & ReUse Network: Deconstruction & ReUse Network is an environmental public benefit corporation 501(c)(3), whose mission is to promote and empower deconstruction practices and to grow a greater reuse network for quality building materials through partnerships with complimentary operations and organizations. Deconstruction & ReUse Network currently serves Northern and Southern California with partnerships that benefit Habitat for Humanity and Corazon. www.Decon-Network.org Press Room Archive Click Here To View More From The Press Room 
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