- · A Change at the Bird Feeder
· Alternative Fuels
· Bioretention Basin
· Colleges Working to Reduce Energy Consumption
· Ecological Engineering
· Energy Efficiency Goes Beyond Doors and Windows
· Flexi-Pave
· From Wood Chips to Plastic
· Going Green with Lighting
· Green Roofs
· Heating Our Homes
· Indoor Contaminants
· Invasive Plant Species
· Low Emission Asphalt
· Nanocrystals
· New homes built with concern for water conservation
· Picking the Right Tree
· Plastic Versus Paper Bags
· Revitalizing Ontario, NY
· Sackets Harbor
· Safe Drinking Water
· Saving Heritage Trees
· Seaside Goldenrods Found in CNY
· Shrub Willow
· Solar Panels
· Teachers take part in research opportunities
· Using Wood Chips for Energy
· Wood Burning Technology
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Flexi-Pave
Going Green
Going Green: Flexi-Pave
This walkway is being surfaced with something that's very green. Not green in color, green as in environmentally friendly. It's called Flexi-Pave and it's made from recycled tires and stone.
"It's a 50 percent ratio stone and recycled tires. Then we mix it with a binding agent, a urethane binder. It's installed two inches thick for new construction or one inch thick over an existing surface," said Tony Ross of James Ross and Sons Contractors.
In addition to walkways and sidewalks, Flexi-Pave is also good for parking lots and low speed roadways; less than 35 miles per hour, where it helps reduce stormwater runoff problems.
And here's how. Rainwater runs right through Flexi-Pave going into the ground underneath instead of collecting in stormwater sewers. Tony Ross says Flexi-Pave also cleans itself of debris.
"Because it's porous and it's flexible, when you have a heavy rain the fines actually work their way down through it and also when you walk on it or drive on it, it's like a sponge effect," Ross said.
Now in this application, there will be heating cables placed over the concrete and the Flexi-Pave on top. The heating cables will melt the snow and ice during the winter months, preventing the formation of ice and that means you won't need any salt to remove that layer of snow and ice as well.
"This has a heating system underneath it called Warm Zone and it works on a sensor system,” Ross said. “When the temperature gets below freezing and it senses snow in the air it'll automatically kick on."
So far, close to 7,000 tires have been recycled into Flexi-Pave projects around New York.
Now the great thing about this system is that one day instead of these tires ending up in a landfill, you may be walking on them.
