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Green Guides For The Rest Of Us
2007-07-28 14:58:00
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 f...
More About: Guides , Rest

Green Guides For The Rest Of Us
2007-07-28 14:58:00
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 Guid e 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 f...
More About: Guides , Rest

Cleantech and the Deep Green
2007-07-23 23:51:00
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 production of all the materials and such are also green. The hidden energy costs of, for example, photovoltaic solar cells is one of the things that have slowed their adoption until recent years, and its one of the things that opponents of recycling claim is the biggest problem with that practice. The energy saved, so goes the claim, will never amount to the energy put into making the product, or the difference between it and its non-clean counterpart. As an answer to that, Don Fitz on the Shels Is For Peace Blog (warning: a sidebar picture may be NSFW) suggests a comprehensive redesign of not only the modern metropolitan region, but American and Canadian culture in the bargain. Speaking against the gadget obsessed culture of the modern cleantech movement, he sug...
More About: Green , Deep , Cleantech , The D

Cleantech and the Deep Green
2007-07-23 23:51:00
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 production of all the materials and such are also green. The hidden energy costs of, for example, photovoltaic solar cells is one of the things that have slowed their adoption until recent years, and its one of the things that opponents of recycling claim is the biggest problem with that practice. The energy saved, so goes the claim, will never amount to the energy put into making the product, or the difference between it and its non-clean counterpart. As an answer to that, Don Fitz on the Shels Is For Peace Blog (warning: a sidebar picture may be NSFW) suggests a comprehensive redesign of not only the modern metropolitan region, but American and Canadian culture in the bargain. Speaking against the gadget obsessed culture of the modern cleantech movement, he sug...
More About: Green , Deep , Cleantech

The Greenest of Building
2007-07-18 03:34:00
Okay, so last time I figured that there was no more greener building than the vertical gardens an MIT professor proposed to solve a number of environmental concerns in one fell swoop. And that is a pretty darn green design. Nothing like acres of crops under one roof to dramatically decrease the carbon footprint of a structure, after all. But now, entering in the residential category for greenest ever is this home reminiscent of the hobbit-holes seen in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movies. (In fact, the front door even appears to be round, just like ol' Bilbo's.) Of course, this seems to be a little more sophisticated of an endeavor than building your house under a hill, and updated for the 21st century. What's fascinating, of course, is that it appears much of the house will be grown, rather than built, dramatically reducing the construction-phase carbon footprint. The great news is that this won't be a living by candlelight and such model--the grown home w...
More About: Building , Greene , The G

The Greenest of Building
2007-07-18 03:34:00
Okay, so last time I figured that there was no more greener building than the vertical gardens an MIT professor proposed to solve a number of environmental concerns in one fell swoop. And that is a pretty darn green design. Nothing like acres of crops under one roof to dramatically decrease the carbon footprint of a structure, after all. But now, entering in the residential category for greenest ever is this home reminiscent of the hobbit-holes seen in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movies. (In fact, the front door even appears to be round, just like ol' Bilbo's.) Of course, this seems to be a little more sophisticated of an endeavor than building your house under a hill, and updated for the 21st century. What's fascinating, of course, is that it appears much of the house will be grown, rather than built, dramatically reducing the construction-phase carbon footprint. The great news is that this won't be a living by candlelight and such model--the grown home w...
More About: Building

Anything Else Is Green Building Amateur Hour
2007-06-29 22:36:00
I'd seen this before, but being a loyal Boing Boing reader, I just had to bring it here after Mark Frauenfelder pointed it out over at BB. What is it? Well, it's vertical farming! All the rage! The next big thing! Seriously, though, if this gets enough money to get off the ground, we're looking at a serious agricultural revolution, one that could effectively negate the food-cost inflationary effects of ethanol. The space-age concept, which could come right from a 1970s glorious future article on how space stations will thrive with farms onboard to generate oxygen and produce year-round fresh produce, offers the opportunity to unshackle agricultural production from a host of expensive and limiting factors. The potential upsides are almost too great to go into, but hey let's give it a shot. Mark at BB suggests reducing pollution, and I figure that can also be a plus in reducing ethanol-induced price hikes, but what else is there? Less climate sensitivity, for one, ...
More About: Building , Green Building , Green , Amateur , Hour

Anything Else Is Green Building Amateur Hour
2007-06-29 22:36:00
I'd seen this before, but being a loyal Boing Boing reader, I just had to bring it here after Mark Frauenfelder pointed it out over at BB. What is it? Well, it's vertical farming! All the rage! The next big thing! Seriously, though, if this gets enough money to get off the ground, we're looking at a serious agricultural revolution, one that could effectively negate the food-cost inflationary effects of ethanol. The space-age concept, which could come right from a 1970s glorious future article on how space stations will thrive with farms onboard to generate oxygen and produce year-round fresh produce, offers the opportunity to unshackle agricultural production from a host of expensive and limiting factors. The potential upsides are almost too great to go into, but hey let's give it a shot. Mark at BB suggests reducing pollution, and I figure that can also be a plus in reducing ethanol-induced price hikes, but what else is there? Less climate sensitivity, for one, ...
More About: Building , Green Building , Green , Amateur , Else

Recycled Housing, Redux
2007-06-23 02:09:00
You can still find them out there, on occasion. You remember, from back in the 80s, the people who would collect beer bottles or soda cans or something and build geodesic dome houses out of them out away from the sorts of neighborhoods that frowned on that sort of thing. The builder/owners swore that the dome provided better natural heating and cooling, reducing energy costs. They're still out there, here and there, doggedly following in the footsteps of their conceptual forebears, trying to save materials, if not effort, and playing the energy efficiency game besides. Well, Todd Carpenter guestblogging on InmanBlog has the 21st version of that concept: welcome to the strange world of shipping container housing. The concepts are little different from those other recycled homes, and could be applied just as well. With possible exception that the bottle- or can-based homes only really form ultra-modern dome homes, the profiles of these different types of materials are pretty clo...
More About: Housing

Recycled Housing, Redux
2007-06-23 02:09:00
You can still find them out there, on occasion. You remember, from back in the 80s, the people who would collect beer bottles or soda cans or something and build geodesic dome houses out of them out away from the sorts of neighborhoods that frowned on that sort of thing. The builder/owners swore that the dome provided better natural heating and cooling, reducing energy costs. They're still out there, here and there, doggedly following in the footsteps of their conceptual forebears, trying to save materials, if not effort, and playing the energy efficiency game besides. Well, Todd Carpenter guestblogging on InmanBlog has the 21st version of that concept: welcome to the strange world of shipping container housing. The concepts are little different from those other recycled homes, and could be applied just as well. With possible exception that the bottle- or can-based homes only really form ultra-modern dome homes, the profiles of these different types of materials are pretty clo...
More About: Housing , Redu

U.S. REITs Expected to Continue Investing Green
2007-06-22 05:49:00
A recent issue of the Progressive Investor offered some insightful statistics about the state of the American green real estate industry. The newsletter reports that forty-one percent of the country's real estate investment trusts (REIT s) are actively pursuing energy efficiency and green building upgrades, with another twenty-seven percent planning on doing so. However, the analysis found that most socially responsible property investors are unable to identify an investment option for the specific type of asset that they're looking for. According to Rona Fried, Progressive Investor CEO, [t]hat will change over the next few years. . . . Industry leaders are forming a responsible property trade association, creating criteria for certification, integrating green building into the appraisal process and into broker databases. The factors that the report pointed to for the increased REIT attention to green buildings include high energy and water costs (twenty-eight percent a...
More About: Green , Investing , Conti

U.S. REITs Expected to Continue Investing Green
2007-06-22 05:49:00
A recent issue of the Progressive Investor offered some insightful statistics about the state of the American green real estate industry. The newsletter reports that forty-one percent of the country's real estate investment trusts (REITs) are actively pursuing energy efficiency and green building upgrades, with another twenty-seven percent planning on doing so. However, the analysis found that most socially responsible property investors are unable to identify an investment option for the specific type of asset that they're looking for. According to Rona Fried, Progressive Investor CEO, [t]hat will change over the next few years. . . . Industry leaders are forming a responsible property trade association, creating criteria for certification, integrating green building into the appraisal process and into broker databases. The factors that the report pointed to for the increased REIT attention to green buildings include high energy and water costs (twenty-eight percent a...
More About: Green , Investing

Green Building Collateral
2007-06-19 23:12:00
Green building is taking off. And some times it is as simple as that. A recent conference of business leaders in suburban Detroit recently came to the startling conclusion that an upfront investment in energy efficiency and green building can reap real dollar benefits over the life of a structure. Businesses that adopt green strategies, especially back in the design and construction phases, though they may pay a little more on the front end, will quickly see the benefits of reduced operating costs. And now that the cost/benefit analyses are coming down on the side of greater energy efficiency, the destiny of green building seems forgone. This really isn't a huge surprise to anyone who has followed green building news, but there are plenty of folks, especially in business, for whom it is news. What's probably not news to anyone is that a much larger concern than a building's inherent efficiency is the green quality of what goes into the building. From recycled toilet paper t...
More About: Building , Green Building , Green

Green Building Collateral
2007-06-19 23:12:00
Green building is taking off. And some times it is as simple as that. A recent conference of business leaders in suburban Detroit recently came to the startling conclusion that an upfront investment in energy efficiency and green building can reap real dollar benefits over the life of a structure. Businesses that adopt green strategies, especially back in the design and construction phases, though they may pay a little more on the front end, will quickly see the benefits of reduced operating costs. And now that the cost/benefit analyses are coming down on the side of greater energy efficiency, the destiny of green building seems forgone. This really isn't a huge surprise to anyone who has followed green building news, but there are plenty of folks, especially in business, for whom it is news. What's probably not news to anyone is that a much larger concern than a building's inherent efficiency is the green quality of what goes into the building. From recycled toilet paper t...
More About: Building , Green Building , Green , Tera , Coll

Sustainability and Microgeneration
2007-06-14 19:12:00
One of the keys to green building is executing a balance between carbon released and carbon consumed or sequestered in construction. There's other issues that I'm sure will get revisited later, with regards to rainwater collection, site selection, and sustainable construction materials, but carbon neutrality is one of the most attractive avenues of attack for green building advocates. And the brass ring in carbon neutrality is the zero emission building, an example of which has been unveiled in the UK and is featured in one of our premiere posts. Without microgeneration, however, the zero emission building will have a hard time coming to fruition. The Lighthouse as described below takes significant advantage of a broad roof to collect solar for both electrical production and water heating, and other zero emission projects are going to have to take similar paths. A vision where power generation stations shrink and spread out is attractive, but ultimately the distributed and de...
More About: Sustainability

Sustainability and Microgeneration
2007-06-14 19:12:00
One of the keys to green building is executing a balance between carbon released and carbon consumed or sequestered in construction. There's other issues that I'm sure will get revisited later, with regards to rainwater collection, site selection, and sustainable construction materials, but carbon neutrality is one of the most attractive avenues of attack for green building advocates. And the brass ring in carbon neutrality is the zero emission building, an example of which has been unveiled in the UK and is featured in one of our premiere posts. Without microgeneration, however, the zero emission building will have a hard time coming to fruition. The Lighthouse as described below takes significant advantage of a broad roof to collect solar for both electrical production and water heating, and other zero emission projects are going to have to take similar paths. A vision where power generation stations shrink and spread out is attractive, but ultimately the distributed and de...
More About: Sustainability , Generation

Exploring US Oil
2007-06-12 12:19:00
I think people who find the middle ground make the practical sense but lacks one clear thing; an understanding of urgency. Here is one middle-ground type of opinion on oil from Examiner.com. I think the position being explained is practical. The use of oil and exploration for new resources of oil in the US, as pushed by US President George W. Bush is valid. Afterall the economy is oil-dependent. Read more at IfEnergy.Com.
More About: Exploring

Exploring US Oil
2007-06-12 12:19:00
I think people who find the middle ground make the practical sense but lacks one clear thing; an understanding of urgency. Here is one middle-ground type of opinion on oil from Examiner.com. I think the position being explained is practical. The use of oil and exploration for new resources of oil in the US, as pushed by US President George W. Bush is valid. Afterall the economy is oil-dependent. Read more at IfEnergy .Com.
More About: George Bush , Oil , Exploring , Renewable

Bank of America Tower: Durst Implements Ice Farm in Pursuit of LEED Platinu
2007-06-12 05:40:00
Last week, the Durst Organization offered a sneak preview of the Times Square office building that it hopes will achieve New York City's first commercial LEED Platinum rating. Eighty feet below grade, Helena Durst took reporters on a tour of the Bank of America Tower 's ice farm, which the developer anticipates will reduce energy costs by approximately fifty percent. The system captures rainwater- across forty tanks- which it freezes overnight (during off-peak hours) and then melts during the day in order to cool the building. A typical ice storage air conditioning system will pump refrigerant into an evaporator coil, transforming it from liquid to vapor. Traditional air conditioning units will eject the heat in the vapor through an electrical condenser. However, an ice storage system will return the refrigerant through ice, recondensing the vapor into liquid, and bypassing the necessity for excessive consumption of electricity. As One Bryant Park continues to attract press as New ...
More About: Energy Efficiency , Bank of America

Bank of America Tower: Durst Implements Ice Farm in Pursuit of LEED Platinu
2007-06-12 05:40:00
Last week, the Durst Organization offered a sneak preview of the Times Square office building that it hopes will achieve New York City's first commercial LEED Platinum rating. Eighty feet below grade, Helena Durst took reporters on a tour of the Bank of America Tower 's ice farm, which the developer anticipates will reduce energy costs by approximately fifty percent. The system captures rainwater- across forty tanks- which it freezes overnight (during off-peak hours) and then melts during the day in order to cool the building. A typical ice storage air conditioning system will pump refrigerant into an evaporator coil, transforming it from liquid to vapor. Traditional air conditioning units will eject the heat in the vapor through an electrical condenser. However, an ice storage system will return the refrigerant through ice, recondensing the vapor into liquid, and bypassing the necessity for excessive consumption of electricity. As One Bryant Park continues to attract press as New ...
More About: Bank of America , Farm

The Lighthouse: A Net Zero Carbon House
2007-06-12 04:45:00
In the UK, various companies are building cutting-edge green homes as part of the Offsite 2007 Exhibition. Yesterday saw the official launch of a zero emissions house called the Lighthouse built by the Kingspan company. It will be the first home to meet the UK government environmental standard, level six of the Code of Sustainable Homes, which all new houses must meet by 2016. The home has a simple, barn-like form with a 40 degree pitched roof that includes solar panels and rainwater harvesting. The home also boasts high levels of thermal insulation, passive cooling and ventilation, biomass boilers and downstairs bedrooms. Biomass boilers run on organic fuels such as wood pellets and count as zero-emission because the amount of carbon dioxide they give off when they are burned is offset by the amount that was absorbed when the crop was grown. The house also has a waste separation system that allows combustible waste to be burned to help provide power. See a short vide...
More About: House , Carbon , Ouse , Carb

The Lighthouse: A Net Zero Carbon House
2007-06-12 04:45:00
In the UK, various companies are building cutting-edge green homes as part of the Offsite 2007 Exhibition. Yesterday saw the official launch of a zero emissions house called the Lighthouse built by the Kingspan company. It will be the first home to meet the UK government environmental standard, level six of the Code of Sustainable Homes, which all new houses must meet by 2016. The home has a simple, barn-like form with a 40 degree pitched roof that includes solar panels and rainwater harvesting. The home also boasts high levels of thermal insulation, passive cooling and ventilation, biomass boilers and downstairs bedrooms. Biomass boilers run on organic fuels such as wood pellets and count as zero-emission because the amount of carbon dioxide they give off when they are burned is offset by the amount that was absorbed when the crop was grown. The house also has a waste separation system that allows combustible waste to be burned to help provide power. See a short vide...
More About: House , Carbon

Green Building Awareness
2007-06-06 01:59:00
The toughest task faced by any company in a new market is building both awareness of their brand and hunger for their product, which is why a lot of companies look to enter into existing markets and try to shove aside the incumbents.? Even mighty Google, which often looks like a raucous and reckless trailblazer in the IT game entered what was a very crowded search market when it was first introduced.? And since then, they haven't created too many new niches for on-line life, despite their many services.? So it makes sense to come into a market where demand is established and known--the dotcom bust showed off the folly of offering products with unproven demand to an unreceptive public. Green building is a slightly different kettle of fish.? Of course, there's existing demand for building--it's one of those basic human needs, after all--but the advantages of green versus more traditional methods has yet to be a sold notion.? One of the reasons, as the San Francisco Chronicle poin...
More About: Building , Green Building , Awareness , Waren

Green Building Awareness
2007-06-06 01:59:00
The toughest task faced by any company in a new market is building both awareness of their brand and hunger for their product, which is why a lot of companies look to enter into existing markets and try to shove aside the incumbents.? Even mighty Google, which often looks like a raucous and reckless trailblazer in the IT game entered what was a very crowded search market when it was first introduced.? And since then, they haven't created too many new niches for on-line life, despite their many services.? So it makes sense to come into a market where demand is established and known--the dotcom bust showed off the folly of offering products with unproven demand to an unreceptive public. Green building is a slightly different kettle of fish.? Of course, there's existing demand for building--it's one of those basic human needs, after all--but the advantages of green versus more traditional methods has yet to be a sold notion.? One of the reasons, as the San Francisco Chronicle poin...
More About: Building , Green Building , Awareness