Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
Earth Hour
Earth Hour is this Saturday, March 27th. Join millions of people around the world in turning off your lights for just one hour in a call to action against global warming!
Watch this year's Earth Hour video here.
Read more at the official USA website www.earthhour.org
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Alex Wilson at NESEA on green building
Here's an interview transcript from the recent Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) convention in Boston. Alex Wilson wrote Your Green Home: A Guide to Planning a Healthy, Environmentally Friendly New Home, a reference book I like, in addition to his other accomplishments listed below...
Interview with Alex Wilson, NESEA Thought Leader and Lifetime Member
Today we’re talking to Alex Wilson, a lifetime NESEA member and Executive Editor of Environmental Building News (the nation’s first newsletter dedicated to environmentally responsible design and construction). The company he founded in 1985, BuildingGreen, is based in Brattleboro, Vermont.
Q: How did you come up with the idea of creating the BuildingGreen Top Ten Products? Has your list made an impact on the companies/products selected?
A: This is America – the land of “Top 10 lists.” That's not something we should be proud of, but it's a reality. We realized nine years ago at BuildingGreen that naming the "Top 10" products would be a way to get exposure for some of the many very exciting products that are being introduced each year. Along with calling attention to cool products, the most exciting thing about this list has been how much it's helped those companies. In some cases, this recognition has put fledgling companies on the map – really jump-started their futures.
Q: Do you have a favorite green product? What is it, and why do you like it?
A: That's a tough question. I guess it has to be TimberSil, a treated-wood product produced by infusing sodium silicate into wood then heating the wood to create an amorphous glass that surrounds wood cells, rendering it unrecognizable as a food source for decay organisms. The stuff is non-corrosive, imparts fire resistance, and contains no VOCs. As an added bonus, I recently learned that the sodium silicate TimberSil Products’ use is derived from rice hulls, a waste agricultural product.
Q: How long have you been affiliated with NESEA and the BuildingEnergy conference and trade show? What do you get out of the relationship?
A: A long time. I was hired by NESEA as executive director in 1980, and in 1983 I organized a conference at Mount Snow in Vermont that became the first of the BuildingEnergy conferences. Not long after starting at NESEA, Ronald Reagan was elected and promptly eliminated the DOE program that had been providing about half of NESEA's funding. That turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as it forced us to expand our focus away from just solar energy (we were at the time the New England Solar Energy Association) to cover energy-efficient construction, quality construction, and broader issues of sustainability. The BuildingEnergy conferences emerged through those efforts. As a result, NESEA became a stronger organization.
My connection with NESEA also helped to launch my next career – as a publisher. When Nadav Malin and I came up with the idea of Environmental Building News in early 1992, we tested the idea on the NESEA membership, and a remarkable 14% of them signed up as paying subscribers. We were off and running. I've maintained a strong connection with NESEA throughout these last three decades, serving two terms on the board and attending dozens of conferences.
Q: As a member of the media, you are a gatekeeper when it comes to publicizing sustainable products and projects. Is the competition for coverage intensifying in the green category?
A: Oh, sure. When we started EBN in 1992, we were the only publication focusing on green building. It's now a fairly crowded field – though we continue to be the only publication in the field that does not carry advertising. This policy allows us to be totally objective in writing about products and technologies.
Q: How would you like to see NESEA evolve over the coming years?
A: A lot of people say they like NESEA just the way it is, and they don't want it to change. But the strength of NESEA has been its ability to evolve to meet new needs. NESEA started out as a solar energy organization 35 years ago, and it has broadened and shifted its focus time and again over its history. To succeed, I think NESEA needs to continue being an organization that evolves – a "learning organization," if you will.
Q: How would you like BuildingEnergy to evolve?
A: By reporting on the cutting edge in energy design and construction, BuildingEnergy will by its very nature evolve. It is often the first place I learn about new ideas and new technologies. With the slow-down in new construction, I expect that BuildingEnergy will be focusing more on renovation than new construction over the next couple years.
Q: Who should come to BuildingEnergy, and why?
A: People who need to know where building practices are heading, people who want to be ahead of the curve, people who want to be leaders rather than followers. For me, BuildingEnergy is also the place where I reconnect with friends and associates – the networking opportunities are invaluable.
For more information, visit http://www.nesea.org/buildingenergy/
Monday, March 1, 2010
Green jobs and networking resources
Green Career Central
Green Careers for Dummies (Wiley, $19.99)
"State of Green Business 2010," a free, downloadable report from GreenBiz.com
GreenBiz also runs four industry-specific sites job hunters might find helpful: ClimateBiz, GreenerBuildings, GreenerComputing, and GreenerDesign.
Federal government agencies worth checking for information on green jobs and internships:
Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency.
There are now more than 80 green job boards online -- among them SustainableBusiness.com, EnvironmentalCareer.com, and TreeHugger
Green Drinks International, an informal network of green-minded businesspeople, academics, and others who meet in bars to socialize and share ideas. Green Drinks has chapters in 598 cities worldwide.
ALM note: You may also want to check out www.chloregy.com and the green/sustainability groups on LinkedIn.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Beware snowy roof collapse!
There's over three feet of snow on the ground here in Baltimore, and at least that much on any flat-roof structures in the area. Remember that the B+O Railroad museum roof collapsed several years ago under even less snow. Check the guidelines below for advice about avoiding roof collapse from snow and ice loads.
Snow loading roof collapse
Snow ice accumulation on roofs
Disclaimer: this post should not be used as a substitute for professional engineering advice. This blogger assumes no liability for any damages or loss of any kind that might arise from the use of, misuse of, or the inability to use this information.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Smart Grid and energy news
Recently I watched a webinar sponsored by SmartGridNews.com (view slides/video here): this group provides webinars, events calendar, and an e-newsletter at their website. Whitepapers like this one co-produced by Accenture and the World Economic Forum discuss how smart grids can be the backbone infrastructure for future energy solutions and green economy.
The US Department of Energy also has a website devoted to smart grid developments: read news, research, and articles, including a paper titled "Smart Grid: an introduction," here.
Read even more about the smart grid from a facility management standpoint here: pricing, demand response concerns, energy efficiency & management.
image credit: http://www.oe.energy.gov/smartgrid.htm
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
EPA's mandatory reporting rule for GHGs
If you run a facility that's required to report its GHG emissions this year under the new EPA mandatory reporting rule (MRR), you probably already know it. But in case you missed it, here's the skinny:
The reporting threshold is 25,000 metric tons CO2 e per year for most sources.
MRR overview:
General info and links to webinars (ending in late February):
Applicability tool (check if your facility is required to report GHGs):
Saturday, January 30, 2010
good, green, outside the box
Here's a neat new idea I just read about in an Urbanite Baltimore article about outside-the-box ideas taking root here in Baltimore. They've coined the term "crowdsourcing" for citizens at large committing random feelgood acts via iPhone. Yep, there's an app for that now too.
Using the system at www.citysourced.com you can report a sewage leak or pile of illegally dumped garbage by sending a photo that will be automatically geotagged by the system. You can record audio clips of feedback for government officials, add to local maps, etc etc, all in the interest of fighting blight and making your city a better place to live.
Check out screenshots here.
Also in this Urbanite article they reference the Passive House movement of super-insulated, energy-efficient houses like the one designed by the University of Illinois team in the most recent Solar Decathlon. I blogged about this event back in October 2009.
More good green ideas:
Produce for the People: a group of artist/activists called Fallen Fruit mapped out public fruit tree locations for the picking in Los Angeles. http://www.journalofaestheticsandprotest.org/3/viegeneretal.htm
City composting may be coming, thanks to organizations like Keith Losoya's Waste Neutral Group. The company already hauls food scraps from institutions and businesses, composts them in nearby Carroll County, and returns them to the city as compost. Next stop: curbside composting?
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Baltimore's first green hotel
The Fairfield Inn at President & Lombard Streets is within walking distance of Little Italy and the Inner Harbor (but don't trust the 101 President Street address: Google Maps directed me to a different location across the street). This LEED-certified Silver structure is built on the site of the former Baltimore Brewing Company and retains some of the old factory feel, at least in the exposed brick of the lobby and first floor Tavern 101. You'll see another nod to the brewery in the central courtyard, where the original grain storage silo has been appropriated as a giant rain barrel. Other green features of the building include vegetated and white roofs, pervious pavement, and wind power supplied by BGE.
Aside from the green features of this hotel, the wall murals and art by local artists, courtyard firepit, and peaceful room decor create a cozy atmosphere that I, for one, would be happy to call my home away from home. This hotel is definitely on my list of recommendations for out-of-town visitors.
For more details and photos, check out the Fairfield/Marriott website:
www.greenfairfieldinn.com/
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Building green at Miller's Court
Tonight I toured a fine example of historic preservation and green building at Miller's Court: this former tin box factory run by the American Can Company in south Charles Village has been reborn as a hybrid office/apartment building that houses non-profit organizations and young teachers enrolled in the Teach for America program. Marks Thomas Architects collaborated with local developer Manekin on this socially conscious real estate project. The LEED gold-certified building houses 40 apartments and 30,000 square feet of office space, arranged in a U-shape around a grassy courtyard within walking distance of Johns Hopkins University.
One aspect of the building I particularly like is that the design was intended to encourage social interaction between residents: historically there is a high dropout rate from the Teach for America program (I've heard teaching in Baltimore City schools compared to trench warfare), but the community spirit fostered in this building gives the residents a sort of support network that has improved program retention. The easy camaraderie between them makes the place feel a bit like a college dorm, if you overlook the trendy exposed-brick walls and bamboo flooring. The courtyard, fitness room, and open lounges facilitate gatherings, as well as the copy room that the architects designed in lieu of the laundry room idea rejected by potential residents.
The engineer in me likes that the mixed-use building program is mutually beneficial to office and residential occupants: this combination optimizes the limited city parking by allowing daytime office users to share parking spots with the apartment dwellers who only park there on evenings and weekends. Another plus is that the air conditioned by the building's commercial-grade high-efficiency mechanical equipment often spills over into the apartments, thus reducing their heating and cooling bills.
Speaking of savings, the apartment webpage mentions $300-600 discounts for Baltimore area teachers.
This tour was sponsored by the USGBC Maryland chapter's Young Members group. Ask me about joining their email list.
Image credit: http://www.marks-thomas.com/portfolio.cfm?catid=6
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