People want high indoor air quality and lower energy bills. (No-brainer?)
"The share of green homes in the total construction market was 17% in 2011, representing $17 billion in investment, and is expected to rise to 29%-38% by 2016, potentially a $87-114 billion opportunity. The figures are based on the five-year forecast for overall residential construction." Sustainable Business
Architects and other visionaries are responding to the growing need for food, by proposing vertical farms in urban settings. Why vertical farms?
Because "An estimated 109 hectares of new land (about 20% more land than is represented by the country of Brazil) will be needed to grow enough food to feed them, if traditional farming practices continue as they are practiced today. At present, throughout the world, over 80% of the land that is suitable for raising crops is in use." (sources: FAO and NASA)
From The Vertical Farm, by Dickson Despommier Watch an interview with the author.
We say: Go Hugh!
See the Visions Salon Case Study. Visions Salon is saving over $3,000 after switching to LED lighting. That's a lot of money for a small business to save in one year.
This building in the sweltering town of Jaipur, India remains 20 degrees cooler than the outside through the use of evaporative cooling. A pool of water at the base of the building serves as its 'air conditioner.' And that's cool. Read the whole story and view the gallery at CNN.
Passive, or zero-energy, houses are making their way to the United States from Europe and several are being built in New York.
Now one of the most exacting standards, called “passive house,” is making its way to the United States from Europe. Passive, or “zero energy,” houses maintain a comfortable interior climate without active heating and cooling systems, according to the Passivhaus Institut, which administers the standard. That is achieved through a system of interior and exterior air exchange, an airtight building envelope and energy-saving appliances, among other things.
Any additional energy needs can be generated by renewable sources. The institute says a passive house uses less than a quarter of the energy of a traditionally powered home.
via www.nytimes.com
Our windows look like this. I have also heard our type of house called a 'furnace free' house.
The military likes the security and savings that solar energy provides. The installer likes the efficiencies provided from having all its customers clustered together in one place.
From Reuters: "The project, named 'SolarStrong,' aims to put about 300 megawatts of solar generation on 120,000 military housing units over five years.
"That figure was scaled back from the 160,000 installations originally targeted under the project that had received initial approvals for a $275 million loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy."
(Reuters) - Solar power developer SolarCity and Bank of America Merrill Lynch will go ahead with a plan to build more than $1 billion in new solar projects on military housing, despite their failure to win a U.S. loan guarantee.
via www.reuters.com
This 1600-sq. ft. house, priced at $220,000, has been built by the Builders Association of Eastern Connecticut, to showcase both ultimate greenness and affordability.
Builders are finding that they need to do a lot of ecucation regarding the benefits of green features. (New York Times.)
Val d'Orcia, in the heart of Tuscany, is attracting new interest from businesses that honor its past.
It went into decline with the coming of the Industrial Revolution, but now it is being brought back to life, its ancient houses converted into environmentally conscious villas for vacation rentals by Michael L. Cioffi, a business lawyer from Ohio who is of Italian descent.
More than a catchy tourist trap, Mr. Cioffi said in an interview, the project, The Villas at Monteverdi, is a fully sustainable development bringing customers to local businesses and a renewed social life to the region.
via www.nytimes.com
Ray Anderson was a pioneer in the business sustainability movement. His company, Interface, Inc., made carpeting and upholstery without harmful formaldehyde and developed innovative ways to recycle old carpet. These methods have inspired other businesses.
"They also helped his company’s bottom line. 'What started out as the right thing to do quickly became the smart thing,' he told a business group in Toronto in 2005. 'Cost savings from eliminating waste alone have been $262 million.'
In his speeches, Mr. Anderson credited that book, 'The Ecology of Commerce” by Paul Hawken, with changing his perspective. He described reading it as a “spear in the chest experience.' " The New York Times
Thanks for your contributions, Ray.
"California's Butte College has a 928-acre wildlife refuge. It promotes ride shares. It uses goats for landscaping, and worms for composting. It has LEED-certifiable buildings. And now it's going off the grid -- the first college in the country, the school claims, to be energy independent. The school added 15,000 panels to its existing 10,000 for a total of 25,000 panels on the ground, on rooftops, and in covered parking areas. Together, they generate 4.55 MW of energy -- more than the school needs for its own energy uses. That’s despite the fact that the school operates its own water system and sewage treatment facility, not to mention looking after 21,000 wired-in students."
via www.grist.org
