]> http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog Expert group blog hosted by green aggregator Greenedia.com and focused on Green Building, Energy Efficiency, Sustainable Design and more. The most well-respected bloggers sharing views and commentary about living green and the quest for a sustainable eco-system. en http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2008/03/Universities-Drive-Green-Building?rsstype=group&gid=2 As the green building revolution gains traction on the local level, moving well ahead of any effort on the federal level save what departments and agencies can undertake on their own, one of the unsurprising leaders in the movement are America's colleges and universities. Even community and technical colleges appear to be getting into the act at a much higher rate than other portions of the public sphere. A photoblog by Guy Kawasaki at How To Change The World showcases some of the green building features of a new structure on Stanford's campus which he boasts to be just as smart as the people who it houses. Features include south-facing windows with light shelves that push natural light deeper into the building, wide open atriums, rooftop photovoltaic solar panels, and a rather novel flushing routine that helps to conserve water. Stanford is one among many universities building green, not as demonstrators for cleaner techniques and technologies, but as a sincere effort to reduce emissions and provide a more sustainable environment. On the other side of the country, the New England Institute of Technology unveiled plans to create an entire green campus in East Greenwich, Rhode Island. Combining existing, vacant building and new construction on a 200 acre campus, the college hopes to provide a campus where the structure mesh with expanding instruction and certification in cleantech and green building processes. The dovetailing of the physical plant and the curriculum gives NEIT a unique opportunity to provide a more robust educational experience, while also reaching for sustainability goals. Doug Moss over at emagizine.com, online home of E/The Environmental Magazine, seems to think the university atmosphere is turning into a hothouse for environmental action and activism, prompting significant student involvement in the questions of the day. The upside is significant, of course, but one of the immediate benefits to such enthusiasm is continued support for initiatives such as Stanford's and NEIT's to bring green building and general sustainability to campus. http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2008/03/Universities-Drive-Green-Building?rsstype=group&gid=2 Thu, 06 Mar 2008 20:46:22 -0500 green building public policy environmentalism activism universities leadership http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2008/03/Greenedia-Weekly-Blog-Report-EU-Reports-Kyoto-Progress-Oil-by-the-Barrel-Hits-Record-Ultracpacitors-on-the-Way--Daylight-Savings-Doesnt-Save?rsstype=group&gid=2 This is a selection of recent popular blog articles aggregated on Greenedia.com, where you will find the best blogs from the world of green media, as well as video uploads, podcasts, and blog authoring. EU Releases Environment Scorecard Treehugger blogged this week on the self-scoring the EU released on their progress toward Kyoto emissions and energy goals. The outlook was not that great, altogether, though progress has been made in the appropriate direction, unlike the US and Japan, which also received scores, and seem to be heading in the wrong direction. Unfortunately, according to the scorecard, the EU is still not on track to meet those goals. They reproduced a chart from the report in the post, giving a clear indication of how the various initiatives are doing, as percentage changes from a baseline calculation. In fact, the chart shows the only current hope for success in the EU of meeting their goals, in greenhouse gas emission reduction. Other areas, such as electricity from renewables and biodiversity, do not appear to be on track and are a significant concern for the EU. Record Oil Prices and President Bush's Uninformed State Over at Clean Energy, Jesse Jenkins points out that oil has recently set a record, beating the inflation-adjusted previous high of 1980. At $103.05 last week, oil beat the previous record by about fifty cents, and ushered in a new wave of speculation that gas at the pump could top $4 per gallon this spring when reformulated gasoline starts flowing from the refineries. Of more concern to Jenkins in the post itself, is that US President Bush seems to be unaware that such a dramatic spike in gas prices could be coming so soon, according to industry analysts. Jenkins advocates, among other things, a re-investment of the subsidies currently going to oil companies in solutions for the growing fossil fuel crisis. Ultracapacitors Could Spell The End of Batteries With everyone looking for better ways to store electricity, EcoGeek points out news that ultracapacitors (or ultracaps ) may have been the subject of a breakthrough that would move them past batteries in preference. The auto industry has long considered them unsuitable for electric vehicle implementations on account of their relatively low energy density when compared to batteries--just able to store 5% of what a same-sized Lithium-Ion battery could store. The breakthrough, as EcoGeek goes on to say, comes from an MIT research project into nanoscale ultracapacitors which could store up to half of what a Lithium-Ion battery does. While the technology is not ready to fly out of the lab into a car just yet, the promise of continued research indicates that just such a development may be just around the corner. No Savings in Falling Back and Springing Forward With the spring forward of daylight savings time just around the corner, GristMill unearths a report that suggests that the supposed energy savings ofthe annual springing forward and falling back don't actually amount to much. The theory goes that with an extra hour of daylight in the evenings, we'll use less electricity in lighting our homes, and thus save some energy. But recently, with the state of Indiana electing to adopt Daylight Savings statewide, where only a few counties had been on-board with it before, an opportunity was realized to study the theory in the real world. Delving deeper, GristMill discovers that not only aren't there any savings in the process, but it's actually a waste of money and energy over maintaining standard time year round. Researchers at University of California-Santa Barbara discovered that spending on energy increased by $8.6 million for the state of Indiana alone while on Daylight Savings--not a savings at all but, as GristMill says, a wastings. About Greenedia Greenedia is your guide to the best Green social media available on the Internet. SoMedia Networks Inc, which also operates Inveslogic.com, Healthedia.com and Blabaloo.com, is building the first network of social media websites dedicated to finding, organizing and presenting content based on expertise and authority. For more information or to register an account, visit Greenedia.com. http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2008/03/Greenedia-Weekly-Blog-Report-EU-Reports-Kyoto-Progress-Oil-by-the-Barrel-Hits-Record-Ultracpacitors-on-the-Way--Daylight-Savings-Doesnt-Save?rsstype=group&gid=2 Sun, 02 Mar 2008 22:18:38 -0500 http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2008/02/Foreign-Green-Outpaces-Domestic?rsstype=group&gid=2 North America, and the United States and Mexico particularly, have long been seen as laggards in the renewables game; Canada has done much better, though with a strong domestic oil industry and a small internal population, they have not felt quite the same pressures as other nations to switch off of a fossil fuel-based economy. Still, Europe and Japan have long been well ahead of the US in terms of policy and technology adoption, and the US has often resisted being brought along until countries like China and India are held to the same standard. The irony could well be that China and India are helping drive their growing economies with cleantech and a focus on energy efficient procedures. For example, officials in China recognize that accelerating growth in urbanization--millions moving from rural areas to already packed cities--will require dramatic sustainability efforts to provide for the population. A driver for Chinese efforts seem to be the upcoming Beijing Olympics this summer, with dramatic changes underway to clear up the smog in Beijing and the environs and pose a green face to the international community when it comes visiting in force. But beyond that is economic necessity; the growth of the Chinese economy could drive dramatically higher prices in coal and oil, which could conceivably cripple economic growth. The Chinese auto industry, then, has also become a target for change, and everyone from Toyota to GM to the native industry has been rushing to bring alternative fuels vehicles to the Chinese market. In both respects, building and cars, the Chinese could easily drive up their competitiveness with the West by minimizing their reliance on foreign and unstable fuel sources. In many ways, the Chinese seem to be shooting toward a leapfrogging effect, bypassing the messy, dirty, and expensive phases the Western economy has gone through and skipping straight to clean and cheap. Which is not to say that the US and Western countries are not making efforts. Green building is certainly gaining traction in the US, and it's likely that with a new President sworn in next January, national policy may face a dramatic shift toward the clean. But it seems clear that other nations, surprising players, are outpacing the US and significant parts of the West in developing and executing plans to go clean and green. http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2008/02/Foreign-Green-Outpaces-Domestic?rsstype=group&gid=2 Mon, 25 Feb 2008 11:16:21 -0500 green building alternative energy auto industry alternative fuels economic impact clenatech http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2008/02/Greenedia-Weekly-Blog-Report--Germany-and-Renewables-Biggest-Greenwasher-Photovoltaics-Deep-Green-UK-Seeks-Better-Biofuel-Understanding?rsstype=group&gid=2 This is a selection of recent popular blog artciles aggregated on Greenedia.com, where you will find the best blogs from the world of green media, as well as video uploads, podcasts, and blog authoring. Germany Gets Creative With Renewables This past week Treehugger wondered if Germany was on the road to a 100% renewable, sustainable economy. They point to a potentially groundbreaking experiment in weaning an energy grid off of nuclear and fossil fuel energy sources in a short time frame. The University of Kassel cooperated with three German energy companies in the experiment. Treehugger goes into a bit more detail (while also providing an in-line YouTube video), and suggests that the approach used, of building a power plant that combined a number of different sources of energy--from solar, to wind, to biogas--could provide steady and uninterrupted power for the grid around the clock and in any conditions. Such a distributed means of providing power, in the small scale, was able to replicate the always-on nature of a coal or natural gas plant with the sustainability of renewable sources. Greenwasher of the Decade Climate Progress recalls the seedier side of the cleantech movement by highlighting the decade's biggest greenwasher--that is, the company that provided the thinnest veneer of sustainability while continuing in their carbon-emitting, fossil-fuel capitalizing ways. Their winner was British Petroleum, which seems to be satisfied with their renewable efforts as just a veneer following the purchase of tar sands in an effort to prolong the dominance of oil. They quote from a Guardian article and use the information to disparage the new CEO of British Petroleum, Tony Hayward and his efforts to stop the company's once promising forward momentum and return them to reliance on petroleum. Lord John Browne, the former CEO who laid out BP's renewable path, has been quiet since he stepped down and Climate Progress feels that the departure of his vision for the company has been the biggest blow to their green fortunes. Emissions from Photovoltaic Life Cycles Over at Energy Blog, they're looking at a report that delves into the long tail of emissions from the life cycle of photovoltaic solar panels. The report breaks down which of the four major types of photovoltaic solar panels consume the least amount of energy in their manufacturing and life cycle, versus their potential energy output over the life of the panel. In the post, they point to thin-film cadmium-telluride solar cells as the clear winner in terms of minimal energy usage. Energy Blog goes on to point out that all of them have extremely low energy profiles when compared to fossil fuels, despite the intensive nature of their manufacture, probably due to the 20+ year life cycle of a typical photovoltaic solar panel, which has paid for its own energy usage many, many times over by the time it needs to be replaced. UK Goverment Seeks Grasp of Biofuels' Indirect Impacts AutoBlog Green takes notice of the fact that the British government is seeking answers on the deep green and other, non-obvious impacts of the use of biofuels. Some obvious effects have already been noted--such as the increase in food prices in response to the drive for corn-based ethanol as a fuel soltuion--but the government is also trying to look deeper at ethanol and other biofuels before creating the kind of policy that US President George W. Bush has been pushing. The Department for Transport has commissioned a report from the UK's Renewable Fuels Agency for delivery by summer, according to the post. The call comes immediately following reports in Science that biofuels may not be all they're cracked up to be, and with the UK signatory to the Kyoto Protocols, as well as beholden to courses charted by the EU, they are looking for definitive answers to better chart the progress of these policies. About Greenedia Greenedia is your guide to the best Green social media available on the Internet. SoMedia Networks Inc, which also operates Inveslogic.com, Healthedia.com and Blabaloo.com, is building the first network of social media websites dedicated to finding, organizing and presenting content based on expertise and authority. For more information or to register an account, visit Greenedia.com. http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2008/02/Greenedia-Weekly-Blog-Report--Germany-and-Renewables-Biggest-Greenwasher-Photovoltaics-Deep-Green-UK-Seeks-Better-Biofuel-Understanding?rsstype=group&gid=2 Sun, 24 Feb 2008 18:21:00 -0500 http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2008/02/How-Easy-Is-It?rsstype=group&gid=2 For years, decades the common wisdom has been that an environmental lifestyle is difficult, even painful--minimalistic at best and bereft of things we might consider necessities today. Not a very inspiring picture. And yet some people seemed to thrive on the idea, and for them environmentalism was often at a confluence of other interests--anti-corporatism, for instance, or socialism, or a Malthusian belief that the Earth cannot handle the population it has, much less continued growth. They have created a sort of unattractive sheen to the notion of being environmentally responsible, where it can be equated to living a subsistence lifestyle in primitive conditions. Bruce Sullivan of non-profit Earth Advantage challenges that notion in an interview with David Fisher of The Bulletin this week. ' You don't have to live in a yurt or a tepee, ' Fisher quotes Sullivan as saying. The article and interview goes on to discuss Sullivan's work with Earth Advantage, advising builders and certifying homes in Oregon. Using a homegrown system of certification, rather than the currently available US Green Building Council LEED ratings or the new National Association of Home Builders Green Building Program, Sullivan helps builders pick sustainable materials, more energy efficient systems, and cleaner designs and techniques. They then inspect for use of the different suggestions and offer a rating to the home depending on what is demonstrably used in the construction. And in reality, none of this requires any special technology. While smart homes and smart grids and microgeneration systems can provide many of these advantages as well, right now contractors could be building green just by recognizing what is available out there and adjusting their practices and techniques. The difference possible is that between staring down a crisis and providing significant breathing room for the high-tech end to catch up and provide solid alternative energy solutions. We don't have to live in the woods off what we can forage in order to be sensible and sustainable; the time is well past to get that word out. http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2008/02/How-Easy-Is-It?rsstype=group&gid=2 Fri, 22 Feb 2008 09:33:01 -0500 green building certification energy efficiency LEED rating green building program earth advantage http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2008/02/Not-Just-About-Energy?rsstype=group&gid=2 There's a temptation to see green building as just about conserving energy; it is the big, sexy problem area after all. We use too much of it, and most of that use is optional, and wasteful on top of that. So building infrastructure, where so much of it is wasted, is the likely place to look for savings. And so we get hung up on insulation and lighting and alternative energy sources. Not that all that isn't crucial, of course, but with all the energy going into finding alternatives, it's sometimes easy to forget about the other big part of green building standards: water. Built into the USGBC's LEED standards, for example, are a number of criteria regarding water usage. Typical solutions are low-flow toilets, rainwater/greywater collection for use in irrigation, and so on. And these areas of focus--runoff management, wastewater management, and curbing usage--are not just environmental window dressing, but a major component to any comprehensive green building solution. As much as energy is an issue, water is becoming one as well, as auqefers and reservoirs run low and the potential for drastic climate change threatens many freshwater supplies. Journalist Daniel Simpson goes into greater detail on the question of water and its importance in the ecological agenda on his blog Untitled. One of his core points is that the Earth insures that water is a renewable resource, and it should provide enough for us, so long as we use proper management techniques. And unlike fossil fuel energy and carbon emissions, popular imagination hasn't seized on a big, easy target like motor vehicles to point at and try to improve to curb our usage. In fact, our building infrastructure is that fat target, though so far many efforts to curtail water usage have fallen flat. But LEED standards, and other green building initiatives can certainly change that. http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2008/02/Not-Just-About-Energy?rsstype=group&gid=2 Wed, 20 Feb 2008 20:32:07 -0500 green building climate change water conservation alternative energy water usage low-flow wastewater greywater resource management http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2008/02/Greenedia-Weekly-Blog-Report-Coal-Prices-to-Double-Chrysler-Sets-Broad-Sights-Organic-Hydrogen-Producers-Decoded-Hybrids-Only-A-Stort-Term-Solution?rsstype=group&gid=2 This is a selection of recent popular blog artciles aggregated on Greenedia.com, where you will find the best blogs from the world of green media, as well as video uploads, podcasts, and blog authoring. Coal Prices Open The Door To Biomass Looking toward the possible rise of biomass as an energy source, BioPact Blog points out that coal prices could conceivably double in the next two years. A variety of pressures on the supply of coal, including limits on production in Indonesia and Australia, and spiraling demand in China and India, are consiring to drive prices up, perhaps much more rapidly than the market is ready to absorb. The market already received a shock, in fact, when rumors circulated that an Asian steel company paid well above market value for coal. BioPact goes on to suggest possible high volume alternatives to coal, such as massive brush overgrowth in northern Namibia that could provide up to 500TWh of energy in lieu of coal. This concept, as well as BioPact's outline for medium and long-term implementation of a biomass fuel economy provides a continuum of energy provision should the price of coal continue to expand in such a dramatic fashion. Chrysler Exploring Every Available Green Car Tech Reporting on a video clip of Carlist's Lou Ann Hammon, AutoBlogGreen says that Chrysler seems to be approaching green car technology on every front, looking for the best possible solutions out of what has become a host of alternatives. The video clip features Hammond speaking with Chairman and Vice President of Chrysler Jim Press, who discusses the company's plans down for the future. Focusing on the fate of the dual mode hybrid that had been developed with GM and BMW while Chrysler was actually Daimler-Chrysler, AutoBlogGreen looks at the direction of the Big Three company now that Daimler has departed the partnership again. Daimler seems to have left the dual mode hybrid to Chrysler which they are seeking to develop aggressively, in addition to all the other options. Their philosophy is that it's not wise to focus too narrowly in this time of transition. Genome Sequenced For Hydrogen Producing Anaerobe Green Car Congress points out that a team of German researchers have decoded the genome for a variety of bacteria that produces hydrogen as a waste process. Growing on sole energy sources ethanol and acetate, the well-studied bacterium provides intriguing options for producing hydrogen from complex sources without slow and expensvie electrolysis. The post identifies the Max Planck Institute as the source of the research and provides a link to the official publication of the group's findings. French Insist Hybrids Only For The Short Term Treehugger takes exception to French research that suggests that hybrids are only a short term solution to looming shortages--and price increases--in oil. In fact, Treehugger can't seem to believe that research needs to be done into the question of whether or not hybrids are the final solution, since it almost seems to go without saying that they're not. Hybrids, at best, only extend the mileage of existing internal combustion engines not provide a true alternative. In the post they suggest a number of measures to thumb one's nose at the findings, including driving a hybrid. The vehicles may not be a final solution, but they're a better alternative to the lower mileage non-hybrid vehicles, and help to push off the probem a little to give more time for more permanent solutions to be worked out. They also suggest commenting on the research (and providing appropriate links) and helping support the research into long term solutions. About Greenedia Greenedia is your guide to the best Green social media available on the Internet. SoMedia Networks Inc, which also operates Inveslogic.com, Healthedia.com and Blabaloo.com, is building the first network of social media websites dedicated to finding, organizing and presenting content based on expertise and authority. For more information or to register an account, visit Greenedia.com. http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2008/02/Greenedia-Weekly-Blog-Report-Coal-Prices-to-Double-Chrysler-Sets-Broad-Sights-Organic-Hydrogen-Producers-Decoded-Hybrids-Only-A-Stort-Term-Solution?rsstype=group&gid=2 Sun, 17 Feb 2008 23:34:34 -0500 http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2008/02/Promoting-Green-Building?rsstype=group&gid=2 Green building seems to be getting a lot of attention lately. Maybe not the way alternative fuels and hybrid powertrains are, in front of the general public, but green building seems to be generating all the right interest in all the right venues to make a genuine difference going forward. The latest example comes from the International Builders' Show in Orlando, Florida this weekend. With this past Thursday marked as green day at the expo, organizers hoped to bring dramatic focus to the realities and potential of alternative energy, energy efficiency, and deep green in the construction industry. Florida Today mentions that the National Association of Home Builders took advantage of the occasion to announce the National Green Building Program, which promotes 'green' building techniques and materials. The NAHB has no doubt found, as many of its members have, that promoting the green aspects of their business is a good way to boost sales in these uncertain economic times, especially among those worried about the upward spiral of energy prices. The reality of green building today is that more buyers are going to be interested in terms of what green building can do for them in terms of energy savings and the like, with the ecological soundness of the techniques and materials running second. While there should be some consumer concern over the deep green, for instance, that might be more a question for contractors and builders as growing energy prices and material costs drive them to consider greener alternatives that also happen to be cheaper. The more expensive transportation gets, for instance, the more attractive on-site recycling and local products are going to look. Not a bad thing, certainly, and perhaps a reality that contractors and builders can become attuned to through efforts like these. In a simliar effort, the Florida Solar Energy Center and Washington State University are separately developing their own awareness efforts to promote energy efficiency and beyond code building techniques. Funding for the centers comes from Department of Energy grants, a promotion effort the federal government should surely be doing more to encourage. http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2008/02/Promoting-Green-Building?rsstype=group&gid=2 Sat, 16 Feb 2008 22:36:59 -0500 green building awareness alternative energy national association of home builders energy prices http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2008/02/Green-Building-In-Practice?rsstype=group&gid=2 One of the exciting things about watching the green building revolution is seeing the various ways in which those seeking to save energy and reduce emissions are going about their business. Not every wish list technology is ripe yet--I could take my home off the grid right now if there were such a thing as 50% efficient photovoltaic solar panels. Sadly, those are in the infancy of research, as are other technologies to make less efficient solar solutions work. But still, people are building green and getting their projects LEED-certified. How are they doing it? NW Arkansas News goes into fascinating detail on one such project, a mutli-building office development in Bentonville, the home of Wal-Mart, that will likely serve vendors coming into town to display their wares for the big buyers in the Walton family empire. One of the big focuses of the project was that of materials--bamboo flooring, for instance, using a material that grows dramatically faster than wood and thus is much more easily renewable. Also: The rooms have giant windows, and an alpine-white metal roof reflects 70 percent of the sunlight that hits its surface. Bathrooms have low-flow toilets and other plumbing fixtures that dramatically reduce water consumption. In the courtyard at the center of the four buildings, pervious concrete and green-minded landscaping have been used to limit stormwater runoff. More than 50 percent of the wood used in the construction of the project is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. And unusued materials were carted off for recycling, or reused on site, giving the project the sort of deep green that goes well beyond day-to-day energy efficiency and heads aggressively into the territory of total green building Taking another step in that direction is Genesis Worldwide subsidiary KML Engineered Homes which is working with a turnkey, minimal waste steel framing system. The lightweight steel framing pieces are meant to link together in predetermined, manufactured means, dramatically reducing the waste of a traditional wood-framed building of the same type. Splitting the difference between the completely modular manufactured building and projects assembled on site from undifferentiated bulk loads of materials, KML hopes to offer another option in the green building revolution. As has been pointed out here a number of times, there are innumerable ways in which to promote green building and energy savings, and not all of them require sexy technological solutions. http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2008/02/Green-Building-In-Practice?rsstype=group&gid=2 Wed, 13 Feb 2008 21:48:24 -0500 green building manufactured home bamboo flooring low flow stormwater runoff steel frame turnkey construction http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2008/02/Greenedia-Weekly-Blog-Report-Biofuels-Harm-the-Environment-Bush-Promotes-Inefficiency-Sustainable-Style-Solar-Installer-Readies-IPO?rsstype=group&gid=2 This is a selection of recent popular blog artciles aggregated on Greenedia.com, where you will find the best blogs from the world of green media, as well as video uploads, podcasts, and blog authoring. How Biofuels Increase Carbon Emissions Science Blog offers interesting criticism of the use of biofuels by way of a report from the University of Minnesota and the Nature Conservancy that says use of biofuels can actually speed up global warming where natural ecosystems are converted to biofuel farmland. The existing flora, it turns out, is better at processing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than the stock used for ethanol and biodiesel, worsening the climate change balance. The article cites a classic example in the Amazon rain forest, where farmers are being encouraged to clear cut existing rain forest and plant soybeans, the current system rewarding them for quantity of crop as opposed to carbon balance. Science Blog does go on to say, however, that there are a number of different locales and environments in which biofuel crops are an improvement or a push in terms of carbon emission offset over existing vegetation. President Bush's Energy Budget Doesn't Go Far Enough Joe Romm at Climate Progress takes President Bush to task for offering stirring and positive energy rhetoric while attempting to slash Department of Energy funding for critical projects. Focusing on his recent State of the Union Address statements, Romm suggests that the President's calls for action on energy and climate questions was a rhetorical smokescreen, hiding a broad deemphasizing of the question and the defunding of a number of programs. Providing a breakdown of the budget request in the post, he endeavors to show that Bush is not at all serious about the energy issues facing the United States and is trying to sweep it under the rug in his last year in office. Programs such as water energy research (that is, hydroelectric, wave, and steam power) appear to face significant cuts, along with completely defunding the Renewable Energy Production Incentive. Several programs do get boosts, including more research money for carbon sequestration in coal-fired plants and $7.5 million for the Asia-Pacific Partnership. Paris Looks to Make Sustainability Stylish Last week EcoGeek took a look at Parisian construction project that aims to blend the kind of art and style that the city is known for with a 21st century energy ethic. Brainchild of Vincent Callebaut, noted architect and designer, the building would sit astride a disused canal in the city's 19th district. Actually a pair of buildings, the structures would aim to provide their own energy while simultaneously, actively reducing smog in the city. According to the post, Callebaut hopes to achieve this with an external mix of photovoltaic solar cells and a structure faced with titanium dioxide that reacts with organics and reduces airborne pollutants and contaminants when exposed to the UV radiation present in sunlight. Both structures would also feature copious greenery on their exterior surfaces, and the second of the pair, a helical tower, would have built-in turbines to harness the wind that sweeps down the canal. Real Goods Seeks Wall Street Splash With IPO Treehugger points out that solar installer Real Goods has completed paperwork to make an initial public offering (IPO) on NASDAQ. The company, now oned by Gaiam, recently acquired two other installation companies as part of a move to market consolidation, and now seeks investment funding to expand further. Real Goods' revenues, according to Treehugger, were estimated at $32.7 million for 2007, with profits of nearly half a million, with the acquired companies' revenues and profits taken into account. Going public could vastly improve Real Goods' standing and better position them in what is sure to be a highly competitive solar energy market. About Greenedia Greenedia is your guide to the best Green social media available on the Internet. SoMedia Networks Inc, which also operates Inveslogic.com, Healthedia.com and Blabaloo.com, is building the first network of social media websites dedicated to finding, organizing and presenting content based on expertise and authority. For more information or to register an account, visit Greenedia.com. http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2008/02/Greenedia-Weekly-Blog-Report-Biofuels-Harm-the-Environment-Bush-Promotes-Inefficiency-Sustainable-Style-Solar-Installer-Readies-IPO?rsstype=group&gid=2 Sun, 10 Feb 2008 16:55:18 -0500 http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2008/02/Smart-Grids-and-Smarter-Homes?rsstype=group&gid=2 Energy management is one of the key components to any green building enterprise. Some of that is what might be called passive management: using components, techniques, and processes that consume less or by their natures conserve more energy and thus help manage energy. But on the flip side there is an active management of the energy that is used, minimizing use during peak grid hours and adapting within the building to usage patterns to wipe-out idle energy usage. For the latter, HAI (Home Automation, Inc.) went to this year's Consumer Electronics Show with the Omnistat2, wining an Innovations Award for the device, which represents another step forward in programmable thermostats. In preparation for the smart device's March release, HAI announced their joining of the US Green Building Council, adding another pillar of support to the drive to improve green building standards in commercial and residential spheres. Bringing their Omnistat2--which is programmable to 7 days and can learn the heating and cooling patterns in a house and adjust accordingly--to the table, along with a long commitment to energy efficiency in the home lends still more expertise to the USGBC and makes for a stronger voice in the promotion of green building standards. And home automation seems to be one of those areas, along with smart grids, that needs more exposure. Consumers are not yet entirely aware of what active energy management can do to their energy bills--as well as national energy usage--and its well past time that more people learned. Along the smart grid lines, Honeywell and the city of Tallahassee, Florida have combined to bring the technology to Tallahassee's residents. The $14.9 million contract awarded to Honeywell is projected to save the city $21 million in operating costs over the next 15 years, yet another example of up-front outlay in clean technology paying for itself in a relatively short period of time. The greater transparency in energy usage and cost fluctuation could provide additional benefits in helping the citizens of Tallahassee monitor and adjust their energy usage to promote savings and conservation there, as well. http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2008/02/Smart-Grids-and-Smarter-Homes?rsstype=group&gid=2 Sat, 09 Feb 2008 21:52:58 -0500 smart grid smart home cleantech energy use emissions programmable thermostat USGBC green building http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2008/02/Virtualization?rsstype=group&gid=2 I've mentioned before the concept of virtualization in the IT environment. It's a critical application of technology when it comes to making datacenters more green, working by removing physical servers and replacing them with multiple virtual servers running on a single set of hardware. That hardware works a little harder, but nowhere near as much as several units working in parallel. Jon Brouchoud considers the question of virtualization from a broader, green building aspect, and his vehicle for the discussion is the virtual reality phenomenon Second Life. Second Life, for the unitiated, is a fully realized virtual world, like a massive video game, but essentially purely social. Residents can buy land, build their own residences or places of business, buy and sell creations, and so on. Jon focuses on the social aspect, pointing out the vastly international meetings he had while in a coffee shop in Chicago. The big question that occurred to him there was why so many people occupied so many offices to do little more than sit in front of their computers and have meetings. If he could have meetings with people from Japan, Australia, and California while in a coffee shop in Chicago, why are companies wasting so much space and energy on physical offices? There's certainly more to the workplace equation than Brouchoud suggests, but perhaps not much more; the IPCC recently took a great deal of heat from climate change skeptics and policy opponents by conducting a massive meeting in a rather remote location. With so many jets ferrying them in, and so on, how could they possibly convince the rest of us of the urgency of reducing emissions? Virtualization or even videoconferencing would have dramatically reduced the emissions profile of the meeting. And can it do the same for us, in general? As physical location seems to be less important to Americans, especially, the virtual environment is coming into its own as something on which today's wandering population can depend--the internet, after all, is the same wherever you go. I could choose to live in Grand Rapids, Michigan or New York City, and my on-line experience would remain the same, regardless. The only abiding question, then, is one of emissions and energy usage. Do the computers and servers necessary to connect us cost more in the emissions that would be required in bringing us together physically. At this point, the answer is uncertain, while both industries--information technology and automotive--race to make the most efficient products possible. http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2008/02/Virtualization?rsstype=group&gid=2 Tue, 05 Feb 2008 20:32:44 -0500 http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2008/02/Greenedia-Weekly-Blog-Report--Sky-Trust-Carbon-Trading-Increasing-Solar-Installations-GMC-Denali-XT-Concept-Goes-Super-Green--Lithium-Ion-Battery-Factory-Breaks-Ground?rsstype=group&gid=2 This is a selection of recent popular blog artciles aggregated on Greenedia.com, where you will find the best blogs from the world of green media, as well as video uploads, podcasts, and blog authoring. Carbon Cap-And-Dividend That Pays Citizens In his blog, TriplePundit takes a look at a carbon trading scheme aimed at paying back to citizens and consumers. Wanting a workable, sensible carbon policy for the US, TriplePundit assesses the Citizens Guide to Carbon Capping, a novel approach to the question of carbon trading that attempts to reach citizens directly, rather than being a shell game for corporations. Otherwise it would seem to work on the same concept--individuals and companies would be rewarded for reducing their consumption and emissions, rewards essentially funded by those less eager to change their lifestyle. According to the post, the SkyTrust is an answer of sorts to the short-term failure of the European Trading Scheme (ETS) which has actually resulted in an increase in emissions among participating nations, not the hoped-for reduction. SkyTrust would resolve this in part by presenting a hard cap, rather than just relying on market forces to work, and providing no exemptions or outs. Through such means, the trust would aim to reduce emissions 80% of 1990 levels by 2050. Here Comes The Sun In a guest post at GristMill, Earl Killian shows off some nifty imagery, demonstrating the growth of solar installations across the United States. He links to a site that provides many graphical distributions of the data, including that of annual growth, marking how solar has exploded over the past five years as a viable energy producer. He also asks the question as to why so many solar installations are concentrated in California and New Jersey. Breaking down the numbers, he points that the places that have high concentrations of solar energy installations are those that offer significant economic incentives for installing. Not a great surprise, and a call to action for those states that would see greater use of clean and renewable energy in the US. Hybrid and Flexfuel In One Vehicle Over at AutoBlogGreen, they're profiling a number of new and concept vehicles as the auto show circuit warms up, including the GMC Denali XT, a resurrection of the old El Camino bodystyle. The bodystyle is a bit of a resurrection for GM, coming from that old El Camino, but also fitting with the current automaker passion for convergent vehicles, those that combine utility aspects from less efficient vehicles such as SUVs and pickup trucks, with the lower profile and greater efficiency of sedans and coupes. What gets AutoBlogGreen all excited about it, however, is that the Denali XT combines a two mode hybrid power-train with E85 ethanol flexfuel capability. While E85 tends to reduce overall mileage, GM is betting big on backing cheap ethanol, providing an overall savings to drivers, especially combined with the tank-stretching power of hybrids. Ford had already started testing such a combination in their Ford Escape. Such convergance is likely to be a wave of the future. France to Start Production of Lithium-Ion Car Batteries Treehugger reports that US auto supplier group Johnson Controls and French battery maker Saft are set to break ground on a facility exclusively for the production of advanced lithium-ion batteries for the auto industry. The batteries are commonly found in today's two-mode gas-electric hybrids and could form the basis for all-electric vehicles like Tesla Motors' offerings and GM's Chevy Volt. The post indicates that the facility will at first supply GM, Chrysler and Mercedes-Benz, but could expand to provide critical supply to all automakers internationally. Likewise, a dedicated facility will better be able to respond to advances in Lithium-Ion technology that promises to expand capacity and further reduce weight, critical to providing long distance fleets of electric vehicles. About Greenedia Greenedia is your guide to the best Green social media available on the Internet. SoMedia Networks Inc, which also operates Inveslogic.com, Healthedia.com and Blabaloo.com, is building the first network of social media websites dedicated to finding, organizing and presenting content based on expertise and authority. For more information or to register an account, visit Greenedia.com. http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2008/02/Greenedia-Weekly-Blog-Report--Sky-Trust-Carbon-Trading-Increasing-Solar-Installations-GMC-Denali-XT-Concept-Goes-Super-Green--Lithium-Ion-Battery-Factory-Breaks-Ground?rsstype=group&gid=2 Mon, 04 Feb 2008 14:37:02 -0500 http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2008/02/Green-Automation?rsstype=group&gid=2 What can go into a making a green building green is varied and complex; hence, in fact, the LEED standard, which despite its accolades, some have criticized as slanted and in need of update. Regardless, there are numerous things that can make green green--materials, techniques, energy sources, all of these can work together to reduce the carbon footprint of a home or building and make for a more sustainable structure. One of the overlooked options is that of automation. Or, rather, most folks don't think of automation beyond their programmable thermostat, if they think of it at all. Building automation tends to sound a little too much like something from The Jetsons, and largely out of reach of the average home or business owner--what with pervasive robotic assistants being still beyond the ability of the marketplace to produce and deploy. But it certainly does not have to be quite that sophisiticated to be effective, especially in terms of making the most efficient use of energy. And that opens the door for sophisticated energy management automation solutions. Being able to drive this kind of autmoation opens up options for facilities managers, as well as recognizing the changing nature of business today. For example, a friend runs an IT business out of a large office building in Detroit. The building, to save energy, turns off the heat after 6pm, but my friend keeps a computer programmer's hours, which is to say: extremely unpredictable. But Detroit winters, especially, can defeat him. Zoned, automated operation of the building's heating and lighting would offer much greater flexibility and, likely, much greater savings for building management. That kind of approach could also be applied to the home, both in climate and electricity regulation, for instance. The green building revolution is going to take innovation and advancement in every facet of building function and operation. Automation could drag us much deeper into that revolution. http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2008/02/Green-Automation?rsstype=group&gid=2 Sun, 03 Feb 2008 01:13:36 -0500 green building automation thermostats energy management smart homes carbon footprint energy efficiency http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2008/01/The-Reality-of-Green-Building?rsstype=group&gid=2 Last year, the UK set itself an aggressive standard for the drastic reduction of carbon emissions. Shooting for 60% reduction by 2050--a goal far ahead of most in the Western world--the government set as one of the cornerstones of this policy an equally aggressive stance on the question of green building. Recognizing that much of its residential infrastructure was very old and thus more challenging to upgrade to sustainability, they set out to regulate that every new home would be carbon neutral starting in 2016. Jo Williams at Guardian Unlimited suggests that the government is missing a plum chance to blaze the green trail in the interim. Without strong requirements now, the necessary drive for innovation will be stalled and zero carbon will be more difficult to reach as a result, a conclusion she cites from a study in the Journal of Environmental Planning and Management. Instead, the government has required certain sustainable improvements, but only from homes that are funded or subsidized by the government itself, a small minority of those being built in Britain today. Part of the concern stated, of course, is expense, a chorus that tends to be sung all around the calls for tighter regulation. Unfortunately, what's not being shouted loud or hard enough is that a more efficient home is going to pay for whatever small premium there is on the front side with energy and water savings down the road. Otherwise, innovative projects such as the installation of solar power facilities at schools in San Diego would not be feasible for companies such as Honeywell fronting the money and materials. Honeywell is in on it because they know that even in charging the school district less than the going rate on electricity, they can make a profit over the lifetime of the solar panels. They're certainly not in it for charity. And that kind of model is starting to spring up all over, providing an innovative method for delivering results on emissions and cost reductions. The reality is that the green building movement has inspired all kinds of innovation in terms of how to bring the concepts to market affordably--be they nontraditional means of building homes or creative methods of financing large-scale projects. http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2008/01/The-Reality-of-Green-Building?rsstype=group&gid=2 Thu, 31 Jan 2008 21:15:01 -0500 http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2008/01/Remodeling-Green-Redux?rsstype=group&gid=2 After everyone else has already been talking about it, New York Times belatedly enters the fray with a story about building green without new construction. As when I covered the question before, the reality of needing to cut emissions and energy usage is going to require a larger effort than simply going forward with green building standards on all new construction, even if that were the current reality, which it's not. Amusingly, the Times even suggests that green design is de rigeur, which it is not, and efforts to mandate are being fiercely resisted as we saw so recently in California with Schwarzenegger's veto of a measure that would upgrade building codes across the board in his state. The reality is that we're not going far enough currently, and all there is even for new construction are a series of voluntary guidelines--EnergyStar from the government side and LEED from the private US Green Building Council. Nothing mandatory, nothing standard, and nothing yet widely accepted as de rigeur. Anyway, the critical need is not just to address new construction, but to look into remodeling, because the vast bulk of our infrastructure was not meant to be replaced in the next ten years, and to do so would be a ridiculous expense. Remodeling with an eye to the green is the way to go. To that end, there are a number of products coming out that will vastly improve the ability of businesses and homeowners alike to upgrade the efficiency of their structures without rebuilding from scratch. As a lot of what makes a building green these days is its functional design, simple replacement of some material elements could be a huge boon to the green remodeling business. Critical for heating and air conditioning, which mechanically have grown much more efficient over the last ten years (and eco-friendly with the outphasing of freon), are the walls and windows of a building. To that end there have been three developments coming to market that dramatically modernize wallboard, windows, and insulation. In windows and wallboard for instance, Serious Materials is making dramatic inroads, including the imminent offering of a window that provides five times the insulating power of high efficiency e-glass windows. While not a small undertaking, new windows are an option well within the means of many homeowners. A bigger project would be replacing wall and attic insulation, but in less than two years, Greensulate grown insulation could be the answer. Best of all, these innovations are replacing products and processes that are many decades old, a timespan that represents a multi-generational leap in many technologies, materials and processes and are long overdue for an upgrade. http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2008/01/Remodeling-Green-Redux?rsstype=group&gid=2 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 23:17:35 -0500 http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2008/02/Greenedia-Weekly-Blog-Report--Hybrid-Buses-Are-Go-Oregon-Proposes-Cap-and-Trade-Ann-Arbor-Goes-All-LED-and-Abu-Dhabi-Aims-For-Alt-Energy-Leadership5486?rsstype=group&gid=2 This is a selection of recent popular blog artciles aggregated on Greenedia.com, where you will find the best blogs from the world of green media, as well as video uploads, podcasts, and blog authoring. 1700 Hybrid Buses Ordered Allison Transmission, according to the Green Car Congress, has received orders totalling 1700 new hybrid bus transmissions for municipal fleets in Washington D.C., Philadelphia, and Minneapolis/St. Paul. The order would double the number of GM-Allison powered buses on the roads, and may create the largest fleet of hybrids in the US via Washington's order for nearly 1000. There are currently about 1000 of the hybrid buses on the roads right now, helping to make an efficient form of urban travel even cleaner. According to GCC, Allison builds the hybrid transmissions under license with General Motors, and that GM intends to release a number of new hybrid models in the near future. GM has attempted to position itself as a very green automaker at the recent Detroit auto shows, so it is no surprise that they're aggressively pursuing this line of business. And the current crop of buses display impressive numbers when it comes to reducing pollution, providing the golden green ideal of reducing energy consumption and emissions simultaneously. Oregon Heads for Cap-and-Trade One of the big ideas being chucked around the clean energy discussion these days is that of cap-and-trade, as mentioned by Maria Energia. Oregon's contemplation of such a move would make it one of the first localities in the United States to even suggest such a system for resident companies, much less approve and implement one. According to the post, both the governor and a prominent state legislator are making similar proposals to help cap Oregon's carbon emissions and provide income to clean energy projects in the meantime. Many other states--and the federal government itself--will certainly be watching to see if and how Oregon's plan succeeds. Ann Arbor's Low-Energy Lights Ann Arbor, Michigan--home to the University of Michigan and a very progressive population--has started on its way to 100% LED street lighting according to MetaEfficient. The lighting provides very bright illumination and lower energy consumption than traditional incandescent or even fluorescent lighting. Already quite popular in flashlights and other small-scale devices, the technology is quickly being ramped up to use in larger applications such as building lighting and, as in Ann Arbor, public outdoor lighting. In the post, MetaEfficient points out that full adoption of LED public lighting in Ann Arbor could halve the city's energy bill and dramatically reduce the annual emissions output. The city says it expects the LED installation to go about 4 years for return on investment, but with reduced energy use in a time when energy prices may rise dramatically, the return could come even sooner than that. Abu Dhabi and Cleantech VC Circle suggests that when you think of the Persian Gulf region, you do not think of green, in any shape or form. Between the arid climate, the oil-based economy, and the often dramatic excesses displayed by many of the regions' elite, there is not much that is either green or efficient about the Persian Gulf region, other than the ability to pump oil out of the ground and into the international market. But Abu Dhabi wants to change that perception. Proposing a $15 billion dollar green program, as the article states, Abu Dhabi (one of the seven states of the United Arab Emirates) hopes to become a hub for all things cleantech-related, from the manufacture of solar panels on down. What's most likely is that nations such as Abu Dhabi can read the writing on the wall and realize that the oil-based economy is not likely to sustain them in twenty years the way it has for the last fifty, and they are positioning themselves to lead in the new energy economy. About Greenedia Greenedia is your guide to the best Green social media available on the Internet. SoMedia Networks Inc, which also operates Inveslogic.com, Healthedia.com and Blabaloo.com, is building the first network of social media websites dedicated to finding, organizing and presenting content based on expertise and authority. For more information or to register an account, visit Greenedia.com. http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2008/02/Greenedia-Weekly-Blog-Report--Hybrid-Buses-Are-Go-Oregon-Proposes-Cap-and-Trade-Ann-Arbor-Goes-All-LED-and-Abu-Dhabi-Aims-For-Alt-Energy-Leadership5486?rsstype=group&gid=2 Sun, 27 Jan 2008 14:47:29 -0500 http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2008/01/Arcologies-For-The-Future?rsstype=group&gid=2 There may be nothing that stimulates my imagination more than truly enormous structures--the very idea of so many people living and working in close proximity seems romantic and interesting to me, which is why I'm fascinated by the concept of these massive arcologies. The engineering would be... incredible is the only word that really works. Every other single human construction project would be absolutely dwarfed by some of these concepts--the pyramidal structure in Japan, for instance, would be easily visible from space, covering a greater area than most small towns, and able to fit a city's worth of population inside in comfort. And, really, maybe they're a pipe dream, but in concept they are the ultimate green building solution. One of the beautiful things about the arcologies is how completely they integrate green space--these aren't super-tenements, with block after block of apartments stacked upon each other. They're intended to bring much of what people need into a single, relatively compact package. As population grows and cities continue to absorb the bulk of that growth, these kinds of things are going to be more necessary. And as green as the suburban experience is, in reality urban tenement living tends to be much more efficient, and less reliant on wasteful individual automotive travel. The Tokyo Pyramid design, in fact, incorporates mass transit into the very structure of the pyramid, turning each supporting strut into a hollow tube for high-speed walkways, escalators, elevators and the like. Such a living environment could dramatically reduce carbon emissions--assuming, of course, that it was not offset by the Herculean effort required to raise the arcology in the first place. Whether or not any of these efforts see the light of day, the thinking and engineering already going into them could make a dramatic impact on our lives and our construction practices going forward, especially in terms of supplying so many people in such a small space with their energy and water needs--cheaply and sustainably. http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2008/01/Arcologies-For-The-Future?rsstype=group&gid=2 Thu, 24 Jan 2008 16:22:43 -0500 http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2008/01/Low-Tech-Green?rsstype=group&gid=2 One of the really exciting aspects of the green building revolution has been the way low tech solutions have literally sprouted out of the earth, coming back from ages of disdain and rejection to provide cheap and elegant solutions to energy and emissions questions. One of the most popular now is the green roof, which is being resurrected from its humble origins on the American Prairie (and elsewhere) to help cool modern high-rises and better manage rainwater collection. And previously, in talking about Steve Wozniak, I mentioned his effort to bring rammed-earth construction methods to the market. The rammed earth would not only provide energy savings and insulation improvements over other materials, it could be manufactured on site from excavated fill and thus save much of the so-called embedded energy which represents what it takes to manufacture and transport building materials. While Woz still seems to be working to get his concept off the ground, the reality of earthern flooring is already here. Durable, attractive, and dead simple to install, earthern flooring provides a solution that is both emissions friendly as a building material, and low-waste as a finished product. Often suggested to have a similar texture to leather, packed earthern floors can be maintained as easily as traditional flooring and cause no dust when properly sealed. The brilliance in simple materials and techniques like this is the very fact of their simplicity. While much of the world seeks technological answers to our emissions and energy problems, there are plenty of simple ideas ready at hand. Some are less than ideal, but many, such as the packed earth flooring or presenting blank walls to the sun in warmer climates, detract little from a house or other building's appearance and function. As I've said before, it's almost certainly going to take a combination of high- and low-tech to make the green building revolution real, and it's good to see the low-tech solutions getting the attention that's going maximize their impact. http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2008/01/Low-Tech-Green?rsstype=group&gid=2 Wed, 16 Jan 2008 22:03:05 -0500 http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2008/01/Remodeling-Green?rsstype=group&gid=2 Something set off a spate of remodeling themed articles today, a trend that should begin to grow this year and may be one of the big stories of green building for 2008. Remodeling is another critical component of the growing green building revolution, of course, and one of the most important; it would take many decades, perhaps centuries, of building green only in new structures to replace our non-green homes and commercial buildings as they naturally age and are replaced. First of all the talk is word that the National Trust for Historic Preservation has begun to outline processes for the green upgrading and remodeling of historic buildings [via GreenTech Pastures], while keeping their historic character. And this is probably one of those areas where solar panels, say, or wind turbine fixtures are not going to fly, if only because of the desire to preserve history. As a student of history, I wholeheartedly agree, but also know something needs to be done comprehensively in order to push back on the question of emissions and energy usage. Interestingly, this will be one special interest group that will not, as a result, be able to push back on legislation that may eventually come down mandating green remodeling. Meanwhile, the first LEED Platinum remodeled home has been certified in Minnesota, stepping off down a trail that could lead to massive energy and emissions savings for the United States. The reality for the rest of us, that don't live in historic homes, is that there are many options out there for green remodeling. Key is knowing that it can be done, and done affordably. Building green affordably seems to be on the rise, as demonstrated by such disparate entities as Habitat for Humanity and Lockheed Martin. So it should only be a matter of time before that kind of savings starts to trickle into the remodeling world, making it possible to move that much faster on upgrading North America's wasteful structures and making them efficient and, perhaps, even self-sufficient. http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2008/01/Remodeling-Green?rsstype=group&gid=2 Tue, 15 Jan 2008 09:30:36 -0500 http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2008/01/State-of-the-World?rsstype=group&gid=2 Earlier this week, The Worldwatch Institute--a sustainability thinktank--released its annual State of the World report, a 270 page description of how the world is faring in terms of environment and sustainability, and where it can expect to be headed. The report, available from their site, goes in depth on the question of the world's approach to sustainability, with special focus on economic impact. The question of impact is, of course, crucial. One of the biggest concerns about global climate change is how it will affect not only animal and plant life around the world as habitats change and species fail to adapt, but also the impact on human societies and lifestyles that depend upon that animal and plant life. Likewise, the rising of oceans could make unlivable some cities, and more than just pushing people from their homes it could also crimp economic production as traditional centers of such could be displaced or destroyed. That's the bad news; climate scientists witnessed many worrying trends and developments in 2007 and have reason to worry. The good news, of course, is that the drive to do something about it seems to be as strong as ever. Dan Kulpinski of EarthSky Blogs describes the press conference at which the Worldwatch report was released as mostly upbeat, with a nod toward this year's explosion in cleantech development and investment. The better news, of course, is that much of the critical innovation, especially in green building, are already working, breathing improvements to existing structures. For much of the potential savings that the world needs to realize in energy and emissions, so many tools are already at our disposal and that side of innovation, the one that applies old or existing concepts to a new purpose, seems even stronger than the developmental, technological variety. It's good to see Worldwatch upbeat on this score, and to see them championing economic development; the reality on the ground is that the one thing most likely to make a difference, to make that impact is an aggressive program of development for a clean energy economy, which means massive government and private investment, driving and being driven by the broad consumer base. Certainly the changes needed are possible without that kind of large-scale engagement, but it's the only thing that's likely to provide the critical acceleration at this point. http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2008/01/State-of-the-World?rsstype=group&gid=2 Sat, 12 Jan 2008 23:56:23 -0500 http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2008/01/Green-Buildings-Bright-Future?rsstype=group&gid=2 As green building garners more recognition, especially is its role as a major factor to be considered in reducing the impact of global climate change, it seems more and more progress gets made on bringing the West into the 21st century. For example, more and more communities and localities are coming on-line with green building standards in order to minimize environmental impact as well as energy usage and utility costs. As the US Federal Government contineus to drag its heels on necessary reform in the construction industry--and building codes to be precise--states and local communities continue to be the standard-bearers for this revolution in how the very structures we live, work, and play in impact energy usage and the environment. The biggest question is whether the state and local movements will achieve some kind of critical mass and force the federal government to bring the rest along, or whether the benefits of green building will become too great to ignore and the laggards will come along of their own accord. In all likelihood, 2008 is going to see a number of states start to follow along with the widespread pioneers, and a number of corporations will either come with them or attempt to preempt legislation by making moves on their own. While green building itself won't be a hot campaign issue, expect energy itself to be at the top of most candidates' platforms and headlining many ballot initiatives in November. 2008 is likely to bring more breakthroughs in innovation, alongside the discovery of more simple techniques or processes to take the place of wasteful, complicated modern counterparts. New technology, like a clear-coat sealant that helps keep heat in, will continue to make strides and look for a couple new products to make big debuts on or around Earth Day in April. LIkewise, novel and simple applications of existing technology, such as a method for using waste-heat from gathered crowds to heat nearby buildings, will make less of a splash but, just the same, help keep forward momentum in the move to make our buildings as efficient and sustainable as possible. While it's never smart to make technological development a crutch on which to rest our unsustainable infrastructure, the continued presence of an energy/emissions problem is certain to continue to spur the well-meaning and profit-seeking into pushing research and development for new solutions. Unless researchers start to hit hard physical limits to what can be done, incremental improvements are almost certain to continue flowing, with a large leap forward sprinkled into the mix. http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2008/01/Green-Buildings-Bright-Future?rsstype=group&gid=2 Thu, 10 Jan 2008 19:39:48 -0500 http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2008/01/Hot-Ideas?rsstype=group&gid=2 I remember one time I decided to walk home from a friend's house, rather than accept a ride and make him go out again so late. Not a big deal for me, as I used to walk a lot, but it was a late night and I worried about it getting cold. Well, on the big, six-lane avenue that his apartment was just off of, I needn't have worried. But once I turned off that onto the rural lane that led to my apartment, it felt like the temperature dropped five or ten degrees. And in the last year or two, I've been thinking there should be a way to harness that. Sounds like the Dutch have figured out how. As The Economists' article says, sometimes the simplest ideas are the best. And the reality is, as of right now, there are a ton of simple ideas just laying around waiting to be picked up, just like this one. Green roofs was one such idea, and harnessing the motion of dancers in a dance club another. The reality is there's a lot of energy out there that's otherwise wasted or, in the case of asphalt, actively contributing to the problem of global warming through waste heat. And while there is certainly a point where the law of diminishing returns takes effect, it seems that there are many places where this kind of energy can be harvested. The crucial component here, as with all of the cleanntech movement is to think creatively as well as critically. It's foolish to rely on miraculous technological developments to haul us out of the mess we're in. While technological advance is also critical to the effort, it's unlikely that there's going to be a single--or even cluster--of world-changing advances that will solve energy and emissions problems. Rather they should be treated as part of a whole, along with novel concepts like the use of waste heat from asphalt to heat buildings. http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2008/01/Hot-Ideas?rsstype=group&gid=2 Wed, 02 Jan 2008 20:44:18 -0500 http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2007/12/Green-Building-Innovation?rsstype=group&gid=2 One of the most exciting parts of the green building revolution is the variety of ways in which the aims of green building are being achieved. I've been pretty confident from the start that the only way to make green building as widespread as it needs to be was to approach the question from every possible direction, not just reflexively looking to our past to see what we could conceivably do without; it's a fine way to go for the enthusiast, or someone looking to dramatically simplify their lives, but hard to convince most of the rest to follow along. In that way, though, we have seen some pretty exciting developments. Improvement in solar cell technology, for instance, advancements in smart grid technology, and natural building materials that maintain a building's internal temperature within a few degrees of 70F. Or the recent embrace of green roofing, harkening back to pioneer days on the prairie. But cool technology is one of the things that grabs headlines and gets geeks like me excited. The first I'd like to mention is the rise of smart windows. I've been pretty excited about these since I started paying attention to green building, all those years ago, in no small part because it seemed like a science fiction wonder come true. Back in reality, they're kind of a ho-hum development, and yet polychromatic smart windows could help transform green building and vastly improve building envelope efficiency. Yet another brilliant idea being made viable by the growing interest in green building and the investment potential there. Another hot development is that of Light-Emitting Capacitors (LECs), which may well require a dramatic rethinking of light fixtures and how homes and businesses are lit. The flexible light panel technology had originally been envisioned as a hot new marketing tool for novel advertising applications, but as bright and low energy as it is, standard illumination applications opened themselves up immediately. The question is how to make the best use of them. Unlike compact fluorescents, for instance, they're not inherently suitable to standard fixtures, and their flexibility and scalability offer far more options that are not even really on the table for standard lighting. Green building is thus shaping up to be very exciting going forward, especially as many of these innovations of this year and recent years begin to reach the market an gain widespread acceptance. So far, the movement has only scratched the surface and not yet fully tapped into the potential of the market. http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2007/12/Green-Building-Innovation?rsstype=group&gid=2 Sat, 22 Dec 2007 20:01:52 -0500 http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2007/12/The-Reach-of-Cleantech-and-Clean-Energy?rsstype=group&gid=2 To me one of the remarkable things about the very recent and very rapid developments in the adoption of clean energy and cleantech is how widespread it has become. And not only widespread, but cutting across what one might call traditional political and ideological lines. Inherently, cleantech has a sort of appeal that the alternative does not--no one is really that in favor of pouring toxic smoke into the atmosphere for everyone to breather, for instance. No one is in favor of smog, or a return to the bad old days of Pittsburgh's unreformed steel mills when the city hung under a cloud of smoke and nastiness. No one wants miners to die in more coal mine cave-ins, or get blacklung, or what-have-you. So it's not surprising, and yet it is, in that the environmental debate has long been framed in polarized political terms--liberals in favor of increased restrictions and regulations, conservatives against. But that's the critical thing, on a social level, of the pending cleantech revolution. The benefits are no longer explained in terms of increasing restrictions, increasing privation--instead, cleantech promises continuing prosperity, a high standard of living maintained, and just about everyone can get on board with that. For evidence, I don't have to look much further than just outside my front door. I live in Grand Rapids, Michigan, which is the conservative heart of the state. The county I live in has gone for George Bush in the last two elections and generally votes Republican across the board. So it's a little surprising, in the light of the right's usual opposition to environmentalism, that the city would have voted to get 20% of its energy from clean sources starting in 2008. Or that I would see custom home builders offering green building know-how. Or that Grand Rapids would be standing alongside traditionally liberal Ann Arbor, Michigan (home of the University of Michigan) in promoting Renewable Portfolio Standards. But it is all happening, and not just in Michigan that way. States that aren't California or New York, and communities that are not San Francisco or Seattle, are stepping up to the plate to take on the challenge of clean energy. Part of the quiet social upheaval has come from energy prices, but it seems more that the realization is sinking in: in order to progress in the new millennium, new ways of procuring energy and better ways of using it are going to have to be found. Whatever the stock market and investment trends say, this is probably the biggest predictor of how the cleantech revolution will turn out. And the outlook seems quite good. http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2007/12/The-Reach-of-Cleantech-and-Clean-Energy?rsstype=group&gid=2 Sat, 01 Dec 2007 17:20:58 -0500 http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2007/11/Greening-Datacenters?rsstype=group&gid=2 The datacenter has become as much a necessity to modern corporate life as plumbing, electricity, and HVAC. Both the on-site sort that runs local and distributed networks and the colocated variety that support hundreds or even thousands of businesses, datacenters tend to be massive carbon emitters and a serious thorn in the side of any carbon neutrality effort. Yet, for the 21st century, they're absolutely crucial to business. Back in June, I mentioned the Google/Intel effort to dramatically reduce power consumption in information technology devices, but that's only the tip of the iceberg, and in many ways reliant entirely on manufacturers to produce greener hardware. That's going to be critical, no mistake, and the swell of interest in cleantech is going to make it a no-brainer for these companies. But first they have to overcome significant engineeering challenges, and it's incumbent on datacenter operators to begin reducing impact and energy costs. Jeremy Faludi covers a lot of the same ground, but also provides a number of new insights and plenty of helpful links over at WorldChanging blog. Two exciting technologies that he focuses on are virtualization and blade servers. Virtualization provides datacenter operators the ability to run multiple software systems on a single piece of hardware, providing more flexibility within a smaller footprint. Blade servers, meanwhile, are modular server solutions that breakout a lot of the components of traditional, standalone servers. That allows the servers to share a number of components, such as DC converters, making them much more efficient and easier to manage. Blade servers also allow for the ancient (yet novel) approach of water-cooling, wich is much more efficient than traditional HVAC cooling systems for datacenters. And while the Google Grid continues to work on the question from an engineering and manufacturing standpoint, there are critical steps that datacenter operators can, and should take today to increase efficiency and reduce their energy footprint. http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2007/11/Greening-Datacenters?rsstype=group&gid=2 Sun, 11 Nov 2007 17:47:19 -0500 http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2008/02/Sustainable-and-Affordable?rsstype=group&gid=2 The biggest force opposing green building is not government intransigence or corporate apathy, but the very simple matter of up-front cost. The traditional equation in green building has always been simple, if a bit prohibitive: construction costs may be higher, in some cases much higher, but they'll be paid for over the life of the structure in energy savings. Sometimes recouped in a relatively short period of time, sometimes very long-term. Other savings are simply seen in greater durability, meaning product such as light bulbs or windows will not have to be replaced in a term similar with their less-efficient counterparts. But the upfront costs can still be quite considerable, and beyond the reach of many, even when amoritized over thirty years. So the key is going to be reducing the up-front costs without sacrificing the energy savings and general sustainability of the structure. Back in August, CNet News did a photo tour of a pre-fab green-built house under construction at the time in Cambridge, Mass. They followed up today with a look at the finished product, and the revelation that the asking price for the home does not appear to be out of line with the rest of the neighborhood. This bodes well both for green building and green prefab construction specifically; there's a lot of potential savings in prefab, and it appears to be ideal for projects where a single building is coming in, rather than an entire neighborhood where the scale of a project can facilitate on-site recycling and other green building initiatives. Either way, it appears that building costs were kept down, and that's a major bonus to builders and homeowners. Meanwhile, Wal-Mart and the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) are aiming to bring down the cost of green building materials across the board, pushing such projects even deeper into the zone of affordability for the average home buyer. Wal-Mart has already been a bit of a corporate leader in incorporating green building and alt energy solutions into their stores and corporate headquarters, and it's good to see them bringing that commitment to the consumer. http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2008/02/Sustainable-and-Affordable?rsstype=group&gid=2 Sat, 03 Nov 2007 00:59:10 -0400 http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2007/10/Retro-Building?rsstype=group&gid=2 One of the keys to green building is seeking out alternative construction materials in order to overcome the shortcomings of existing insulation and building practices. The trend, of course, is to look for the latest technological advance, to come up with the replacement for fiberglass that will revolutionize home construction. Going backward would of course seem counterintuitive, but there are plenty of rather retro materials and techniques that could provide a lot of the savings and low carbon impact that those who care about green building are looking for today. One of the prominent examples I've seen has been the green roof, which is a brilliant throw back to the days of sod houses on the American prairie, but look to be significant energy savers, especially for ubran, flat-roof structures. Requiring much less maintenance than traditional tar roofing, and providing massive benefits in terms of reduced cooling costs and improved drainage, urban cityscapes could soon become rather green if the practice is adopted more often. Likewise, an article from Great Britain's Times Online highlights the use of straw in residential building, accompanied by a couple of photographs of the construction in process. Of course, a higher volume of straw is required over fiberglass for the construction (the walls wind up much thicker than the 2 x4 framing components), but the material is much cheaper, carbon-negative, and infinitely renewable. These kinds of throwbacks are going to be essential in terms of bridging the gap between how far technology can take us and total carbon neutrality, because it seems unlikely that any industrial process is ever going to be carbon neutral on its own. Blending the old and the new, however, could very well make that a reality. http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2007/10/Retro-Building?rsstype=group&gid=2 Fri, 26 Oct 2007 11:09:10 -0400 http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2007/10/Schwarzenegger-Drops-The-Ball--Sort-Of?rsstype=group&gid=2 A couple weeks ago, I mentioned that the Governator had a unique opportunity to push California even further into the forefront on green building and cleantech. The bills up for consideration would have made the USGBC's LEED-Gold standard a requirement for all new government buildings and boosted the minimum energy efficiency for residential construction. Unfortunately, he elected not to sign those bills. He did sign a number of green bills, including a couple that take half-steps toward the goal of pervasive green building in California. Most of the rest of his green legislation slate, however, dealt with other important topics, like water conservation and monitoring of toxic chemicals. So it was far from a defeat for those who want to see California continue to advance in green-ness. Some of the green building-related bills, now law: AB 1109 will boost energy efficiency in indoor lighting; a more sane proposal than outright banning of incandescents, it provides a more open competitive framework for making the changes happen. AB 1470 incentivizes solar water heating system installation to the tune of 200,000 such installations by 2017. A few recycled water-related bills, one that will establish a permit process for those seeking to use recycled water in landscape irrigation, and another that sets out requirements for use of recycled water in toilet flushing in condominiums. Not quite the comprehensive strike many had hoped for, but certainly much better than nothing. Playing the Devil's Advocate, there is some sense in a piecemeal approach in that it doesn't force builders to adopt a dozen new ways of doing things all at once, slapping on a huge jump in builder's cost. Going one piece at a time may give builders and building owners time to adjust to each new change. So the effect of adopting LEED-Gold could be achieved over the next five years of incremental changes. That approach is far from optimal in terms of planting a flag and setting the standard, but it may well get the job done, anyway. http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2007/10/Schwarzenegger-Drops-The-Ball--Sort-Of?rsstype=group&gid=2 Thu, 18 Oct 2007 11:11:05 -0400 http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2007/10/Recycled-Housing-Gets-Noticed?rsstype=group&gid=2 Back in June, I talked briefly about the use of disused shipping containers as green housing solutions, comparing it to the use of aluminum cans and glass bottles to build geodesic dome houses. Looks like some others have caught wind of the idea. According to the links in the Making Light blog post, there's actually a number of ongoing projects that are turning our excess into a viable housing alternative. As mentioned before, one of the phenomenal upsides to the whole thing is that this is recycling at its very best. For now, the US seems to be a net importer of these things as part of the trade imbalance with China--since not as many goods go out as come in, there isn't as much demand for empty containers once they've reached their initial destination. Firsthand, I experienced recycling of these guys while deployed to Iraq in 2004 with the US Marines. Our facility had a number of these left lying around, and it was relatively simple to fit them with air conditioners and pack sandbags around for insulation and defense. We already had living facilities better than tents, but these served us pretty well in a number of other capacities, and had it come to a question between tents and shipping containers, the shipping containers won hands down. And the resilience that makes them such good proto-bunkers also works for their use as emergency shelter. Their sturdiness--built in to protect fragile goods when they sit exposed on the deck of a seafaring vessel--works in their favor both as temporary storm shelters and more permanent housing. Steel construction makes them much hardier (and heavier, thus less likely to blow away) than the typical aluminum-sided mobile home found in trailer parks and FEMA resettlement parks. In terms of proof of concept, there's Container City, which features a list of completed projects and pictures of them. One even includes a green building-favorite grass roof! http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2007/10/Recycled-Housing-Gets-Noticed?rsstype=group&gid=2 Sun, 14 Oct 2007 17:15:13 -0400 http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2007/10/Small-Building-Big-Impact?rsstype=group&gid=2 Pop quiz: What is Atlanta's most efficient entry among US Green Building Council LEED-certified buildings? Did you guess a 2800 square foot pair of storefronts built in 1946? I don't think that would have been my thousandth guess, but turns out it's the answer. The unassuming building sits on Edgewood Avenue, near Martin Luther King Jr. Center, half of it home to a small vegitarian restaurant, the other half the future home of an environmentally-oriented architecture and design firm--the same firm that oversaw rennovation of the sixty year old building. The structure, once rennovated, qualified for the USGBC's LEED Platinum rating, the first in Atlanta and only fourth in the US Southeast to garner that level of efficiency. Aside from being Atlanta's first (hopefully of many) such structures, what's so important about it? Two big things stand out: It's a relatively small structure. No giant walls of indoor green, no massive solar arrays, no wind-catching turbines on its sky-scraping roof. This works for it, in the same way that those 80 square foot homes that some folks are opting for out on the West Coast, but also against it in that there's not much room for extensive technological or architectural systems to aid energy collection and saving. It's an existing structure, which means it was not desgined with green building in mind. Architects and designers of bygone eras may have looked for some of the same things that green building designers today do, such as south-facing walls or windows, but especially in urban zones like Atlanta, most of that is not in play. It's an older structure. It will be decades before the number of structures built after this year outnumber those that exist today, and decades more before the number of green structures outnumber those that exist today. Something will have to be done about existing residential, commercial and industrial buildings, lest they drag down the efforts being made today to green up our buildings. If it can be done here, it makes it easier to be done other places. A modest triumph, to be sure, but one that ought to herald more. (Photo courtesy the Atlanta Journal-Constitution) http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2007/10/Small-Building-Big-Impact?rsstype=group&gid=2 Mon, 08 Oct 2007 15:42:10 -0400 http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2007/10/Governments-Responsibility-To-Cleantech?rsstype=group&gid=2 Here's an intriguing idea: rather than letting market forces work on the question of cleantech and alternative energy, the US federal government should throw its considerable weight behind a massive cleantech and alteng effort--to the tune of $300 billion. Aimed at bringing about rapid and sweeping change to the energy economy--as well as the building, automotive, and electronics industries--such an effort could produce dramatic changes in how we live within a decade or two and perhaps both radically reduce emissions and fossil fuel reliance. Such is the dream of maverick environmentalists Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger. Wired's article in the link above does an excellent job of deconstructing the personalities of Nordhaus and Shellneberger, the perceived reaction to their dream, and the book which is based on it, Break Through. They occupy an intriguing middle ground--on the one hand, far to the left of those who suggest that any such changes can happen purely on the basis of market forces. While it's apparent that the market is shifting dramatically--more TV ads pimping comapnies' green profile, easier access to energy efficiency and alternative energy products, and an auto industry at least half serious about providing gasoline alternatives--they have a point in that it may not shift far enough, fast enough. What the changes in the market are hinting at, however, is that the public may be more receptive to a giant effort such as this--especially when placed in the context of other spending, such as the war, which gets funded periodically to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars at a time. On the flip side, they seem intent on alienating other environmentalists, by suggesting that the way forward is through advanced technological development. And it is true that a strong section of the environmental movement is made by those who would rather see less technology in play; a simpler life for all, as it were, and a more natural interdependence with the environment as a whole. But often, these elements have secondary agendas that are a lot less pragmatic--or popular--than the greening effort itself. At this point, the environmental movement has to be decoupled from some of these other agendas because they are not going to sell well in middle America--or even in the developing nations in the East. And on the surface, it's a compelling argument. I'll be evaluating the book itself, and posting reports here, to see if it does hold up, or if they're doing nothing more than trying to anger everyone to no gain. http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2007/10/Governments-Responsibility-To-Cleantech?rsstype=group&gid=2 Thu, 04 Oct 2007 17:43:38 -0400 http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2007/09/Schwarzeneggers-Opportunity?rsstype=group&gid=2 Will he or won't he? Governor Schwarzenegger of California has a unique opportunity coming up. Right now, three bills sit on his desk that could blaze a brand new trail for green building standards in the United States and help cement California's place in the lead on environmental issues. Not that they haven't been there for years and years, but green building is one of those areas that not enough people are paying attention to in terms of potential climate change impact. For example, though some have mocked the banning of incandescent lightbulbs in Australia as too draconian, a less visible regulation such as one requiring builders only install CFL lighting in new homes would itself have a tremendous impact on energy use and emissions. I count almost 40 internal light fixtures in my (rather modest) home, about half of which I've changed to CFL at this point. Starting out with CFL, which would add maybe $80 to builders' costs could save the homebuyer money and significantly reduce emissions. Other measures are just as easy and just as affordable. David Walls of the Building Standards Commission in California has opposed the bills, and claims that they wouldn't change much of what the BSC is already doing. First of all, I find that a little hard to believe, even with California's green provenance. No state has adopted even EnergyStar standards as code for new buildings, much less USGBC LEED standards, and so it seems unlikely that California codes already require compliance that is competitive. Otherwise it would not be a big deal when a new building qualified. The idea, of course, is to make it not newsworthy at all when a new building or development complies with these standards, but the opposite: to make it newsworthy when one fails. At this point, there's little reason why buildings should not be built to a higher degree of efficiency, even if it's not the maximum possible (such as those cute 80 square foot homes). Building codes are seriously underperforming in terms of minimum required efficiency, and it looks like government regulation is the only way that's going to change. As usual, the rest of the US has to look to California for leadership, but hopefully Schwarzenegger continues to provide that kind of leadership where so many other politicians have failed. http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2007/09/Schwarzeneggers-Opportunity?rsstype=group&gid=2 Tue, 25 Sep 2007 17:59:42 -0400 http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2007/09/How-To-Grow-Green-Building-Interest?rsstype=group&gid=2 Until such time as state and local authorities really get a grip on the question of green building and start mandating EnergyStar or US Green Building Council standards in building codes, it's critical for those interested in it to grow local awareness and interest so as to increase demand. Right now, as much as it might pain some in the environmental movement, green building and emission reductions are in the hands of the open market. With the lack of stricter regulation, greener alternatives have to compete with their less-efficient counterparts for the attention--and dollars--of concerned consumers. Without ratcheting down the cries for stricter regulations and tax breaks for the green conscious, it may be worthwhile to start investing time and energy into promoting awareness. In green building, one of the easier ways to do that is to organize green building home tours. This requires, of course, that there be enough homes (and willing homeowners) in a given area, but with awareness as high as it has been since the 1970s--and investment much higher--that's getting to be easier. In Charlotte, North Carolina, the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association has arranged just such a tour next month of homes and commercial buildings in a five county region around Charlotte. Home tours, especially, tend to be popular attractions and a themed tour that highlights sustainable construction--as well as energy savings--should go a long way to bringing awareness to a community. The communities of Braintree and South Shore, Massachusetts, will be the site of a similar tour, showing off sustainable homes of the area. Another effective method is editorializing, as this New Jersey architect does. The key, of course, to this kind of editorializing is to reach out and explain how easy and effective efficiency steps tend to be; the potential savings of a compact fluorescent lightbulb campaign, for instance, are dramatic and capture the attention. Explaining it sensibly without straying off course into how bad things could get if we don't act, for instance, will generally be more persuasive than a more aggressive approach. http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2007/09/How-To-Grow-Green-Building-Interest?rsstype=group&gid=2 Tue, 25 Sep 2007 17:35:41 -0400 http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2007/09/Getting-Off-The-Grid?rsstype=group&gid=2 Last time, I talked about an exciting development in wind power, one that could eliminate a lot of the variability from wind power itself. The theory is, as you climb up above sea level, winds are more constant--presumably since there are fewer and fewer windbreaks to disrupt and diver the wind, one fo the reasons that traditional wind turbines are placed on shorelines and windward mountain slopes. Tethered lighter-than-air turbines reduce the geographic limitations, which could be a boon to neighborhood and co-op power generation, while also providing a more steady source of energy. But the predictability of the power is the key. While the more extreme activists might be fine with rolling blackouts or nearly-zero power consumption at all, it's not realistic as a sell to the average American. Likewise, many of the services that folks have come to depend on are not going to deal well with those kinds of extremes. But providing power to them, clean power that doesn't come from polluting coal or controversial nuclear needs something more steady than variable wind and solar. One idea that's been kicked about quite a bit is saving surplus peak energy from these sources to use during low-output hours. Hydrogen fuel cells have been discussed, and are in limited use in Japan right now, but batteries are also an option, especially if their capacity can be increased while reducing weight and expense. Weight, especially, is an obstacle to serious electric vehicles, but lighter, cheaper, and more efficient batteries can also mean the difference for green building and microgeneration applications. One company appears to be moving forward with batteries, using proven Lead-Acid technology, but also trying to dramatically reduce the amount of Lead used, also making the batteries safer. Lead-Acid batteries are the battery of choice in the auto industry for standard vehicles and are prized for their durability and long life; bringing greater efficiency to that industry--and also providing a home energy storage solution in the meantime--could provide a massive boon to alternative energy and green building. Right now, the best way to ensure that Americans are living within their carbon footpprint, of course, is to take them off the grid completely. That will be (pardon the pun) the acid test for energy efficiency and alternative energy programs. Only when they start to move in that direction can we start to seriously assess the viability of significant energy use reduction. http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2007/09/Getting-Off-The-Grid?rsstype=group&gid=2 Mon, 17 Sep 2007 22:51:12 -0400 http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2007/09/Niftiest-Clean-Energy-Proposal-Today?rsstype=group&gid=2 You want cool clean energy? You want something that's sexier or more exciting than slabs of silicon on your roof? How about your very own wind-turbine blimp? Magenn is a start-up founded by an airship pioneer who developed the first Magnus effect lighter-than-air vehicles. To put it simply, the Magnus effect allows for high levels of stability in spherical airships while aloft. Recently, innovator Fred Ferguson applied his rotating airship concept to the idea of electricity generation, since it made an ideal bed for turbine generators. Tethered to the ground and floated to heights of 1000 feet, MARS, Magenn's flagship product, would sit in near-constant atmospheric winds, defeating the variability of ground-level winds that plague the wind turbine industry. By providing a more constant source of electricity, MARS-type turbines might be able to take some of the load from the coal-fired workhorses of the current electrical grid. However, like many other clean energy solutions, MARS is also almost infinitely flexible, allowing placement of tethered wind turbines almost anywhere there is a constant, low-level jet stream. I've argued for this kind of distributed power generation in the past, and I think this only helps the cause. Especially since a couple of these are likely much cheaper to deploy and get regulatory approval for, than, say, a nuclear reactor or a new coal-fired plant. That, in turn, could make it easier for power co-ops and big grid alternatives to begin generating their own power and making smart grid alternatives even smarter. Another concern that MARS might address is material costs. As with ethanol and the price of corn, wind turbines seem to be driving up steel prices, causing concern as to how fast these critical technologies can be adopted, especially if there winds up being a crash program to bring alternatives to the market. But if MARS turbines can be constructed largely from synthetics, especially the tether, that takes much of metal costs out of the equation, hopefully pointing toward cheaper (and speedier) construction and deployment. Lighter-than-air turbines seem to be an exciting solution, and I hope to see them dotting the skies soon. http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2007/09/Niftiest-Clean-Energy-Proposal-Today?rsstype=group&gid=2 Tue, 11 Sep 2007 17:39:05 -0400 http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2007/09/Greening-Our-Heritage?rsstype=group&gid=2 One of the crisis questions that may soon begin to crop up more and more often is what to do about a nation full of aging, historical structures that are about as energy efficient as, well, as really old and drafty buildings. Especially over the last couple centuries or so, the nation's buildings have not aged well in this respect; significant upgrades would be required to many cities' historical districts just to replace single-pane glass windows with something more efficient and modern, for instance. And there's the real chance that such upgrades would wreck many of the features that make them such attractive historical landmarks. Chuck Weikel of Annapolis, Maryland is in that sort of position, according to this article from the Baltimore Sun. His plan is to grow drought-resistant grass on the roof of his home as a way of saving energy, but living in one of the city's historic districts, his plans have to be approved by Annapolis's Historic Preservation Commission. The grass roof could be an obvious and glaring change to the older, colonial style of Annapolis, and while that might have been a no-brainer even five years ago, today's more environmentally sensitive environment makes it trickier. And this sort of thing is likely to crop up more, especially with the really large expensive buildings that are not exactly, shall we say, carbon neutral. It might be possible to refit a Sears Tower or Empire State Building to meet LEED standards, and it's possible also that the owners of said buildings have the wherewithal to undertake the process--something similar is happening right now with the UN Building in New York City. But other buildings and other owners might not have that option. In those cases, and in thousands of other cases across the country, attempting to demolish and replace the buildings would raise a hue and cry, but leaving them as energy-bleeding monuments of a less environmentally sensitive time might not exactly sit well with the general public either. Which is why bodies such as Annapolis's Historic Preservation Commission are only likely to face this question more as time goes on, and the answers might not get any easier. One possible solution is innovation--developing the sorts of technologies or techniques that, say, can take a single pane, leaded-glass window and make it more efficient at retaining heat. That's not exactly something that can be relied upon, which may force many into tough choices. Going green, or preserving our heritage? http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2007/09/Greening-Our-Heritage?rsstype=group&gid=2 Thu, 06 Sep 2007 18:35:50 -0400 http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2007/08/Steve-Wozniak--Green-Giant?rsstype=group&gid=2 Woz: legendary co-founder of Apple Computers, now Apple, Inc. Woz: hacker, author, and charitable giver. Woz: herald of the green building movement? Recently, Steve Wozniak served as a judge for the History Channel Modern Marvels Invent Now competition, highlighting exciting new developments in technology and technique. The 2007 winner was Mike Sykes, a builder from North Carolina and founder of Enertia, a company specializing in the materials and techniques that won Sykes the competition. The basic crux of the gist is the use of Southern Yellow Pine, which can maintain internal temperatures within five degrees of 71F by the freezing and melting of the wood's resin over time. In an interview with ECNMag.com, the Information Center for Design Engineers, Wozniak touts this building approach as well as another, called ram earth construction. Ram earth construction involves extruding building material from the earth excavated at the building site in order to provide a better insulating material that also has a deep efficiency--that is, reduces the overall cost of producing and transporting the material by reducing almost all of the emissions involved in that process. Wozniak indicates that he not only likes the process, but he's backing a start-up focused on it. And the critical thing for Wozniak about these two methods is simplicity. Apple products are known for the simple and direct approach to computing and entertainment, and Wozniak brings that ethos to cleantech and green building. And really, that kind of thing is going to be critical moving forward. Right now, Western culture is clogged with technologies and processes that are highly inefficient--far too complicated and wasteful in their execution, resulting in the environment we find ourselves in today. This turn to simplicity can help protect the high standard of living many expect today while drastically reducing that standard's impact on the environment. http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2007/08/Steve-Wozniak--Green-Giant?rsstype=group&gid=2 Mon, 27 Aug 2007 10:50:20 -0400 http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2007/08/How-Efficient-IS-Your-House?rsstype=group&gid=2 That's a question that's been posed often, recently, as many concerned with home heating and energy efficiency have begun raising the flag for increased efficiency and the problems with current standards. That current homebuilding standards lag seriously behind what is needed in the home-building market is beyond question. Right now, builders are advertising Energy Star homes as some kind of novelty, or luxury when that kind of thing ought to be a minimum standard. Steve Maxwell, writing for the Toronto Star raises the flag on home insulation, indicating that in cold Canada, the basic standard for insulation is woefully inadequate, and many Canadians are pouring heat out of their homes. In a damning bit of observation, Maxwell cites two studies, one that indicates fiberglass itself is too blame and not the insulator of the future by any stretch, stating that the colder the air gets, the worse fiberglass performs. In the other study, he points out that direct observation indicated that R20 fiberglass insulation performed at a level near R4, well below code even in warmer US states. Part of the problem seems to be the evaluation systems, but part is also just that fiberglass is just not a good insulator--in the latter study, R17 foam insulation was used and performed precisely to spec. On the flip side, especially for those living in warmer states, Green Energy News wants you to look toward your attic for a surplus of energy. Between rising heat from within and solar energy from without, attics tend to get quite warm, and yet that warmth is almost never properly tapped--usually it is just leached out through eaves vents. One possible use, according to the article, is a heat exchanger installation that can warm swimming pools. They also profile the Sunwarm system which uses attic and waste heat from the house for a variety of energy-saving purposes. What's critical in these examples, though, is not just that green building is something that can be done on every level of construction, or that it's something that can be done better now with existing technology and techniques, but that it's achievable without a drastic change in lifestyle; no one needs to live in a 90 square foot home to realize benefits from a change in thinking. It's available now. http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2007/08/How-Efficient-IS-Your-House?rsstype=group&gid=2 Tue, 21 Aug 2007 13:47:04 -0400 http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2007/08/Nega-Watts-amp-Embodied-Energy?rsstype=group&gid=2 Getting energy from the energy we don't use is cheaper than looking for new forms of energy or building new plants. Wha? It's simple. Energy efficiency measures, according to California legislators, will save them enough energy to avoid building three huge new plants. Which will essentially mean that California's capacity for energy production will go up, allowing economic expansion, without a corresponding increase in emissions, high-impact production plants, or fossil fuel consumption. Of course, the idea really isn't new to advocates of green building, but what is new is aggressive programs like this, rewarding power companies for meeting certain benchmarks in reducing consumption. That kind of emphasis is also going to help with aggressive, future replacement efforts that seek to supplant fossil fuel power production with renewable energy will have an easier time of meeting a mark that is relatively stationary, rather than always growing. In New Zealand, meanwhile, the government is increasing focus on what is called embedded energy, otherwise known as the energy that goes into producing, in this case, building materials. Embedded energy can be a killer when it comes to green building, made most noticeable when the energy used to make an alternative or energy saving material is more than what is saved in its use. On the shadier side of the cleantech/green building industry, this is where snake-oil type products might come in, promising savings where none might be available. And that's where the value of the internet and blog communities such as these will come in handy. As green building becomes more popular, and the advantages of advertising new efficiency products mature, a linked community of those interested in green building and cleantech, the combined acumen of the community could help protect against the kind of fraud and bad science that will likely swirl around this industry for some time to come. At any rate, these are critical steps by California and New Zealand, and should be duplicated in government policy everywhere. http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2007/08/Nega-Watts-amp-Embodied-Energy?rsstype=group&gid=2 Tue, 14 Aug 2007 20:12:25 -0400 http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2007/08/Green-Building-Education?rsstype=group&gid=2 One of the biggest roadblocks in the way of green building initiatives is lack of education--ignorance, to put it more bluntly. This past weekend, I started work on finishing a bedroom and an office in the lower level of my house, and frankly, I couldn't tell you the first thing about what I need to do to make my work more green. I know generic tips, like using better insulation, and more efficient lighting, but beyond that? Clueless. Not because I want to be, but just for a lack of information and education. That's why the International SEMATECH Manufacturing Initiative's (ISMI) recent offering of a course with the US Green Building Council is such an important step forward. Granted, the course is limited in scope, but it's also critical based on who ISMI's component members are: IBM, Intel, AMD, Hewlett-Packard, and so on. Motivating these folks to tune their buildings and facilities into the green-and-clean way of doing things is critical for sustainable information technology down the road. I mentioned this before, of course, with regards to Intel and Google's landmark partnership to reduce the energy footprint of the IT industry in general and their end products specifically. But, as any observant student of cleantech knows, it's not just how efficient or sustainable something is while in operation, sustainability also depends on how it was built, including all the extraneous bits of wasteful processes and practices along the way. It's an extreme example, but the power-hog nature of an executive's chair massager affects, however minutely, the sustainability of the PC on your desk. Bringing more education into the industry itself, and not just their flashy end products, will be a clean boon to the wider sustainability efforts. And since any blog post about sustainability and education could not be complete without a nod to the efforts in academic circles, here's a nice bit about a LEED-certified library in Homer, Alaska. Incidentally, it is always rewarding to see this kind of penetration for sustainability into places that aren't New England or California. Quite the indication that the rest of America really is getting it. http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2007/08/Green-Building-Education?rsstype=group&gid=2 Tue, 07 Aug 2007 17:06:03 -0400 http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2007/07/Government-As-Cleantech-Customer?rsstype=group&gid=2 There are a number of ways government can get involved in green building and cleantech. One is to tax the hell out of the wasteful, unsustainable, and redundant, and thus incentivize going in the other direction. Another is offering all kinds of rebates, deductions, and grant programs to create positive incentives for using these kinds of materials, techniques, and technology--above and beyond their inherent savings. These two practices used together might be called a carrot and stick approach. Or vinegar and honey. A third way is for the government to become a leading user of cleantech itself. The city of Cambridge, Ontario, Canada has chosen this third way, building the new municipal offices with a host of clean and green innovations. In consideration for LEED accreditation, the new building makes extensive use of live vegetation to insulate the roof and, internally, filter and treat the air. Also in place is a grey water recycling system, extensive natural lighting, and other, more high-tech innovations. These kinds of projects have manifold benefits. For starters, especially when it comes to the high technology crucial to some aspects of green building, the government acts as a customer, broadening the market for the tech and expanding the manufacturers' ability to produce. On a related angle, public buildings act both as advertisements for these kinds of technology and techniques, as well as living, breathing test beds. Literally, in the case of the rooftop greenspaces already sprouting on the Cambridge municipal building's roof. City officials plan to study the effects of the rooftop greenspace and potentially retrofit such gardens to existing city structures. The potential for such projects at every level of government, from municipal to state/provincial, to federal offers a means for dramatic forward progress in green building and cleantech. All it takes is for some more folks to think globally and act locally. (Photo courtesy of the Cambridge Times) http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2007/07/Government-As-Cleantech-Customer?rsstype=group&gid=2 Mon, 30 Jul 2007 22:09:01 -0400 http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2007/07/Green-Guides-For-The-Rest--Of-Us?rsstype=group&gid=2 Think globally, act locally. Sound familiar? Of course, it's one of the mantras of the green movement, and has been for quite some time. The premise, being that everyone can make a difference, if they police up their own lives, has been active for quite some time, often has a hedge against the sort of futile wails of but the problem is too big! that find their way into almost any conversation of global climate change, emission reduction, or the like. The Citizens' Environmental Coalition is looking to help you and me and whomever else wants to download their guide do more in terms of acting locally. Called The World at Home: A Household Guide to Building Green, their pdf guide offers a number of concrete tips on how to do better for your home, in ways large and small. For example? Try to eschew concrete as a building material. It takes a lot of energy produce and transport, and local substitutes, such as cob, can provide all the strength and durability without the fossil-fuel energy investment. Hopefully we'll see more of these kinds of guides start to crop up, with in-depth, relevant pointers and advice for the rest of us. The next step should be further mainstreaming this kind of advice into places like the big box home improvement stores' book sections. Giving information like this a relevant place in the home improvement industry is going to be another serious step forward, toward everyone building and living greener. http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2007/07/Green-Guides-For-The-Rest--Of-Us?rsstype=group&gid=2 Sat, 28 Jul 2007 08:58:37 -0400 http://www.greenedia.com/groups/greenedia-green-building/blog/2007/07/Cleantech-and-the-Deep-Green?rsstype=group&gid=2 There's an acillary to green building--and most of the cleantech industry--called deep green. It's the notion that not only is the product or technique itself designed to save energy, and so on, but that the produc