Key Associates / about us

KEY ASSOCIATES
COMPANY DESCRIPTION

Key Associates is a design, consulting and engineering firm specializing in building and site design as the focal point for the way people live. Through quality alternative design, Key Associates strives to encourage the materials we use, the processes we employ and the things we do to effectively and enjoyably benefit our surrounding ecologies, our own lives and ultimately the lives of future generations. This lofty goal is actually achievable on a project by project basis. The direct satisfaction received from helping one situation for one person is the fuel that keeps this company moving along with passion and dedication.

Since its inception, Key Associates has been a solo operation, teaming with other professionals on a contract basis. However, the approach is anything but disconnected from working in groups. Rather, the affiliations have remained more flexible, yet just as strong. The name "Key Associates" itself refers to the practice of networking the right people together to best complete the project at hand.

The "key" in Key Associates has additional meanings as well: it is not only that the right people are needed, it is also that only the right projects are to be accepted. The right projects, in our day and age on this earth, must address healing the ecological damage that has been done by humans and forward new models of living which not only maintain but benefit a healthy, total-planet ecology. Hence, Key Associates' mission: to provide top-quality design and consulting that will facilitate worldwide ecological vitality, diversity and sustainability through practical individual projects.

Key Associates is entering a new phase in its evolution. It can no longer optimally persist as a solo venture. Now the Key Associates core team is growing, increasing the company knowledge and experience base, allowing more interested parties to be reached, greater ability to network with other resonant organizations, more work to be taken on and completed, and greater effect in the world at large. It is an exciting time for Key Associates, for the human race and for all the life we touch if we can deftly maneuver through the challenges ahead. Key Associates is commited to welcoming and overcoming these challenges.

COMPANY HISTORY

Key Associates was formally named and started as a sole proprietorship in 1995 by Jordan Valdina, a recent college grad at that time with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. The aim of the company was very simply to bring about ecological sustainability in the human environment through appropriate design. In fact, all four years of college were a means to this end for Jordan, who was convinced by his freshman year adviser, Lenny Solomon, himself a mechanical engineer by degree and profession, to achieve this goal through the study of mechanical engineering. The rationale for this was that to best effect change through design, a grounding in understanding the fundamentals of the physical world was essential. A mechanical engineering program provides just that. In addition, many know what a degree in mechanical engineering is, yet they would likely be a bit confused as to Mr.Valdina's credentials had he taken a self-made major concerning sustainability through design focused on the home as the center for the way people live. However, within the structure of his academic endeavors, Jordan worked a full year of independent study on designing sustainable housing and associated ways of living. The accredited college degree program also afforded Mr.Valdina the possibility of licensure through the state as a Professional Engineer (P.E.), which he received in 2000. Jordan tested and registered as a civil engineer because the work he had been doing in water and wastewater systems design, though alternative and involving other fields of knowledge, such as microbe and plant biology, fell most nearly into the civil branch of engineering, given the limited categories of the conventional engineering disciplines. Having studied mechanical engineering, practicing what is best described as ecological engineering and registering in civil engineering further broadened the scope and perspective of Mr.Valdina's expertise. After licensure, Jordan focused on architectural work, while independently integrating studies of sustainable means and methods into his understanding of ecological approaches to living and building. And, most recently, Jordan has been doing hands-on building work as a key component of the informed designer's knowledge base. This wide-ranging experience reflects a vital foundation for an effective ecological perspective and for true eco-design.

KEY ASSOCIATES

ECO-DESIGN, CONSULTING, AND ENGINEERING
JORDAN VALDINA, P.E.

Effectively pulling all the information and resources together that are available today to best assist interested parties in living in ways that least damage or even that optimally benefit the environment can be a daunting task. Yet, it is vital to the restoration and continued well-being of this earth's ecologies that people do just that.Therefore, Key Associates' highest priority is to offer professional consulting on how to live in a way that protects and upholds the health of our planet, which is to say the health of all life, which is to say the health of all our lives and our children's lives.

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The word "Green" is used here, for both buildings and landscape-sites, not to refer to the color, but to signify an environmentally beneficial or at least minimally harmful approach for things. So, Green buildings are those that minimize negative impact to the ecology while providing a healthful environment for occupants. A Green landscape/site may be defined similarly in that it should not negatively alter the surrounding environment, while neither should it unnecessarily or excessively consume important ecological resources. In this sense, a Green landscape
may often be other colors, such as those of earth, stone and rugged plantings with brilliant flowers. An example of a non-Green landscape is a non-self-sustaining grass lawn requiring extensive outside supplies of fertilizer, water, pesticides, tools and effort simply to maintain.

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Site assessment includes gathering important data, looking over a site, cataloging its various attributes and resources, and coming to a conclusion as to the pros and cons of using that site for certain desired ends, e.g. building a house. Site assessment may include other services, such as groundwater determination, soil evaluation and perc testing. Surveying is also a key element in assessing a site, and it is simply the locating and measurement of relevant features on the site, such as property boundaries, large trees, bedrock outcroppings, existing
structures, bodies of water and topographical elevations where needed. Successful land use planning is based on a complete site assessment and survey of the land in question.

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At times it may not be clear which material or product has less of an overall environmental impact, from its manufacture to its transport, use and finally end-use / "disposal"*. When this is a concern, careful analysis of the options, based on well-founded knowledge and experience can yield crucial information as to which material or product best fits the constraints of the project and the ecology. An informed choice always pays back dividends which are absent from decisions made without thorough understanding of the relevant issues.
* It would be more accurate to refer to "disposal" as long-term storage instead.

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Rainwater may be collected, stored, filtered and used to supplement a well or a municipal supply. The point here is to develop robust, maximally self-sufficient water supply systems that are truly secure, even if one source is unavailable or unacceptable. By fully considering and properly interfacing various possible water supply sources, a truly ecological and steady water supply may be realized that minimizes or even improves environmental impact.

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There are numerous approaches to treat wastewater. However, most ecological systems do away with the notion that disposal is an option or actually possible at all. Instead, the new paradigm favors right transformation of the wastewater into localized, harmless or even beneficial new forms and substances. For example, with a residence, a fitting design may employ complete composting of toilet waste, via a certified compost reactor system, yielding a soil conditioner at the end of the process, and a special graywater system which literally
transforms the pollutants into plant biomass, carbon dioxide, water vapor and heat.

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Knowing the depth below the ground surface of the estimated seasonal high water table (ESHWT) is essential when considering endeavors involving excavating into the earth or using strata below the surface in any way. For example, it is significant to house foundations, septic, system leach fields and underground tanks of any sort (septic, rainwater storage, oil, etc.). This water level is generally determined in the course of doing a soil evaluation by observing tell-tale signs of the presence, current or former, of the high ground water mark. Performing a soil evaluation involves digging a fairly large hole in which the various types of soil may be fully viewed and analyzed. Such an excavation, typically 10' deep if possible, is referred to as a test pit or deep hole. The thicknesses of the layers of soil are measured. The soils are assessed as to their textural classes, such as clay, silt or sand. Other characteristics are determined as well, including color, consistence and structure. From this data, critical attributes of the soil may be ascertained for the purposes of drainage or wastewater
treatment, to name just two common examples. Perc testing is a procedure whereby the rate of a given soil to accept water through it is measured. In general, these results are used to size a conventional or alternative septic system leach field.

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