Great article from the Elmhurst Press about how rain gardens on your lot can help prevent Elmhurst-wide flooding in the future. I couldn’t agree more on the idea! Now, what’s a fair way to implement it?
Interesting calculations on how big a rain garden you need to compensate for your roof side.
Temperatures are heating up for the next week. With warm days and cool nights, the end of summer in Chicago is a unique opportunity to virtually eliminate your need for air conditioning – and it is easier than you may think! I think being green is all about doing the most with the least. “Fan Season” (late spring and late summer) is an ideal time to do more with less!
All you need is a couple of fans and a quick check of the weather. My list below will tell you when to use which fan to slash your AC use.
Fan Options:
Paying a wee bit of attention to your local weather is key to getting the most out of your fans. Your local hourly forecast online, the Weather Channel on cable (“Weather on the 8’s”!) or your local weatherman like my favorite, Tom Skilling will give you all the info you need. Get a general idea of:
Don’t forget to factor in neighborhood considerations. Open windows are not good for allergy sufferers or light sleepers! Be sure to consider allergy levels and sound issues before switching over to fans. Oh yes, and don’t forget to consider local wildlife too. Skunk mating season does not work well for using fans, and you could end up discovering a family of sparrows at 4 am that you didn’t know were your neighbors! If sound is an issue overnight, consider using fans with open windows at dusk and running on high for a few hours to cool the room completely. Then shut the windows before you go to bed.
The following strategies can help you cut or eliminate AC usage, while staying just as comfortable!
Skip the fans and AC altogether! – Just use your double-hung windows
Window fans (or a whole-house fan if you have it)
Ceiling Fans Only, No AC
Ceiling Fans with AC; AC Fan On
My friends at CNT/Energy have partnered with WalkScore to make it easy for home owners, or buyers to get a fuller picture of what it will cost to live at a certain address. Using WalkScore data you can find out how walkable a certain address is.
Now, enter an address and then check the ”Commute” tab. You will see info on options for walking, biking or driving to work (including how many hills!). And you can also find a nifty pie chart based on info from CNT and Zillow that shows how much money you might have to spend once you pay your estimated mortgage and gasoline bills.
Check it out today for a picture of where your money is going, and use it to compare different homes if you are in the market for a new one!
(Always be sure to confirm third-party data, especially when it comes to home values. Ask me! I can help.)
The more walkable your home is…the more valuable it may be. This, according to a study last year by CEO’s for Cities. The study looked at more than 90,000 homes. They found that homes located within walking distance to amenities like shopping, schools, entertainment and other services tend to go up in value from $500-3000.
Another more recent study shows how walkability relates to the widely used Case-Schiller Home Price Index. The summary? Areas with central, accessible downtowns held their value better than those without.
To check the walkability of your home you can use a scoring tool like WalkScore. Keep in mind that the site uses fairly simple “as the crow” flies calculations, and does not factor in access to public transportation. Walkability and public transportation seem to go hand-in-hand in my mind. So some WalkScores may not reflect the total picture of many homes.
Walkability is an important factor to consider when purchasing a home. I encourage my clients to consider the Total Cost of Ownership, or the PITITUM of owning a home. PITI reflects mortgage payments, taxes and insurance. TUM reflects transportation costs, utilities and maintenance. Each can be a huge chunk of a homeowner’s monthly costs. Obviously transportation costs get much lower the more walkable a certain home might be. Visit the PITITUM (pi-TEE-tum) website to check out other tools you can use to assess the Total Cost of Ownership for your new home.
Timing is everything. Last month the Illinois EPA released a study by the University of Illinois at Chicago about using green tools and infrastructure to manage stormwater. I thought it was interesting, but didn’t take note until the storms and flood damage hit Elmhurst last weekend.
Physorg.com covered the report and some of the points are downright eerie now, especially this quote from Martin Jaffe, UIC associate professor of urban planning and policy. (My italics for emphasis.)
“Our conventional stormwater systems — structures such as curbs and gutters, detention ponds and storm sewers — are inadequate to handle the stormwater that will result from future development. In some places, those systems are inadequate for our current needs.”
The UIC study found that current stormwater approaches turn rain water into runoff instead of directing it to recharge groundwater. The study encourages “green infrastructre” instead which leads to better air and water quality, more green spaces, lower energy usage, and can cost 25% less over its lifetime.
The report is in final draft stage before being presented to the Illinios State Assembly. It is surely an important study for the City of Elmhurst Storm Management Task Force to also consider!
On Sunday I posted about the Elmhurst Quarry Flood Control Facility. That one, like the majority of my posts was intended to be informational. This post, Part 2, is very much my personal opinion and a critical piece to understand floodwater management in Elmhurst.
As I mentioned on Sunday, the quarry flood facility is a great asset for Elmhurst. It was designed to prevent flooding like my family personally experienced in 1987. But its most valuable purpose is to protect residents in the immediate vicinity of Salt Creek when it crests. From the quarry photos available at the link above, it does appear that the quarry took water on Friday/Saturday as designed (but I have not confirmed this detail). If it did kick into action it is likely that it protected residents in the vicinity of Salt Creek from also suffering flooding this weekend. Truly the unsung story amid all the damage that did happen.
But what about all the homes not near the creek with piles of water-logged trash this week?
In those cases it is likely a story of supply and demand, and unfortunately, inadequate City policies built up over the years. Demand comes from the fact sewer pipes have a limited size and therefore a limit to how much water they can hold. Supply was the 7″ of rain that fell in 9 hours – an extraordinary rainfall that could max out any municipal sewer system. At some point when there is too much water in the system, the water is going to find another place to go. Add to that years of City water management policies (in my opinion) that have evolved to encourage friendly neighbors during smaller rainstorms, instead of planning for the record-breaking storms.
Examples:
* Connecting downspout systems to the City sewer line means water gets whisked right into the City system. It prevents one neighbor’s discharge from settling on another’s property. But it also means no rainwater off the roof of these homes has a chance to disperse through the lawn before it hits the sewer system.
* The City’s rear-yard drain program offers cost-sharing between the City and interested residents. (This program was available as recently as 2008. I’m not sure of the current availability.) Again, discharge from one home settling into another home’s basement is not a good thing. But backyard puddles for a day or two after a big storm is not the end of the world. Is it worth it to zap that ponding away immediately and right into the City sewers during catastrophic rain events?
The bottom-line? The City sewer system is important. We can’t have flooding on City streets. But if you have a system with only so much capacity for water, have a major rain event AND add additional rain run-off from homes with direct downspout connections and rear-yard drains you are making an impossible situation worse. Some homes and neighborhoods will be tidy and dry. But the water will end up somewhere. And that means other residents will be scratching their heads wondering why so much water ended up in their basement.
The City will need to do a lot of review and analysis to assess this storm and learn from it. New program designs that encourage water management on individual lots AND protect the City in case of major storms will be critical. Sustainable tools like rain barrels and rain gardens can be used to supplement and in some cases replace existing tools without overtaxing the City system that should be limited to keeping streets dry after a storm. Ideas like that are a starting point.
1000 rain barrels and rain gardens wouldn’t have protected every basement in Elmhurst this weekend.
But 1000 direct-tap downspouts and rear-yard drains (however many there are!) certainly didn’t help!
UPDATED – 
Looks like the 7″+ rains from Friday and Saturday triggered the Elmhurst Quarry Flood Control Facility into action. When water levels in Salt Creek reach a certain level, water is automatically diverted from the creek into one or both of the Quarry lobes. Water can also be manually diverted to take in additional storm water. Then water is pumped back into Salt Creek slowly as creek levels can support it. Live images are available on the DuPage County website to view the flood control system in action. Pretty cool!
A recent article in the Elmhurst Doings covers the DuPage County report that flood control measures worked as planned.
This system, built in 1993, is critical for maintaining a good quality of life in Elmhurst. The program was one of the major improvement for water management in Elmhurst after the devastating Salt Creek Flood of 1987. (The home I grew up in on Spring Road was a victim of that flood.) Water Onlinepublished an interesting article about Elmhurst’s flood control system, called “Water in the Hole“.
According to the article, 13″ of rain fell over four days in 1987, pushing Salt Creek past its flood levels and causing over $200 million in personal property damage for nearby residents. The flood control system ”is one of the largest, non-federally funded, off-line reservoirs in the United States.” It was designed to prevent creek flooding from causing such serious damage again.
The Flood Control system was first tested in real-life in September, 2008. Over 7″ of rain fell during that storm. Hard to estimate what the personal property damages could have been if the Quarry had not been able to capture the Salt Creek overflow! But for comparison, neighborhoods in River Forest adjacent to the Des Plaines river suffered from extensive flooding during the same rain event.
The flood control system surely deserves more praise for its success! It’s hard to appreciate you could have been on a path for destruction if your basement stays dry. But Elmhurst residents in the area right around Salt Creek should find comfort that our lovely creek is so easily paired with a quarry that can double as a flood control system when we need it.
That covers us for rain events that overwhelm Salt Creek. See Part 2 for my opinion on how the City manages rain events that overwhelm City sewers. In that case we need much more than a backup plan. For that, a mind shift is needed to get away from zoning ordinances that encourage rear yard drains and downspouts connected to the City sewer system. Putting all our rain run-off into one system is a recipe for disaster during extreme rain events. Instead, we need to be educating residents on all the available tools like rain barrels and rain gardens that manage water more responsibly on each lot and don’t shift sewer-related flooding issues down the neighborhood!
Great article in the Elmhurst Press today about Elmhurst Cool Cities Coalition’s effort to make it easier to make older Elmhurst homes more energy efficient. Whether you live in Elmhurst or not, great background on why it makes sense to pay attention to the comfort and efficiency of your home today.
For a step-by-step overview of Project GREEN, directory of local contractors that perform energy audits and improve home energy efficiency, tax credit links and more please visit www.elmhurstcoolcities.org, ”Project GREEN”.
Thanks to Dave Matthews at the Press for taking the time to understand and report the whole story!
Well, if you live in Elmhurst, no…not right now. The Chicago Tribune is reporting that ComEd mailed letters to potential Smart Meter pilot customers this week. Pilot communities include Bellwood and Hillside and other towns in Cook County. The meters will allow homeowners to assess nearly real-time energy use and even compete against other users for the lowest bills and receive rewards for extra energy savings. No word as far as I can tell on when the meters will be available in Elmhurst!
Last week, the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity selected the Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance to oversee a new incentive program for Illinois homeowners. Illinois Home Performance with ENERGY STAR will package the how-to, the who-can-do-it and consumer rebates and financing to make Illinois homes more efficient! More information will be available as the program ramps up during the rest of 2010. The program webpage will have updates as they are announced: www.illinoishomeperformance.org
If HOME STAR passes in Congress this summer as expected, 2011 could make the coming months the best time ever to make energy efficiency updates to your Illinois home!
In the meantime, I am co-chairing Project GREEN for Elmhurst Cool Cities Coalition. It is a very similar program. (But without the rebates unfortuntely.)