I recently came across an online game called “Design Your Dream Home” on the Green Is Universal website. I was shocked by what I found and how bad the game really was. I prefer to focus on the positive aspects of green building, but this strikes me as so misguided that I could not let it pass unremarked.
Whoever designed this game has no understanding of real green building in any meaningful sense. Instead of providing any insight or education about green building, the game reduces design of a green house to nothing more than a couple of mouse clicks. “Choose the climate construction materials and energy sources and see how green you can be.” The oversimplification this presents is a huge disservice to visitors to the site who play the game.
A community in Canada has an unusual form of solar power that can provide over 90% of the annual heating and hot water needs for the homes, despite being situated in a cold Alberta location where winter temperatures can reach -33 degrees C (-27 F).
The Drake Landing Solar Community collects solar energy in a heat storage fluid through an array of solar panels on the roof of each home and covering all of the garages at the back of each home. The heated fluid is transferred to a neighborhood energy center, and then into the ground beneath an insulated layer, where the heat is stored in the earth.
Combined together, the 52 home community is able to collect and store enough energy from the sun during the summer that the ground storage temperatures reach 80 degrees C (176 F). This heat is sufficiently insulated beneath the ground that it can be drawn from throughout the winter to provide heat and hot water.
Island Press is marking the 20th anniversary of ‘global warming’ as a term entering the public consciousness with a free electronic copy of The Challenge of Global Warming, an early book addressing the issue.
On June 23, 1988, NASA Scientist James E. Hansen testified on Capitol Hill before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Hansen told the Senate committee that global warming was real – and was happening now.
Other news sources also had articles and coverage of the 20th anniversary of ‘global warming.’ Links to some of those stories can also be found on the Island Press site.
Kansas City MO architect Bob Berkebile is one of the key figures in establishing the importance of green building in this country. Berkebile was instrumental in the founding of both the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) as well as the American Institute of Architects’ Committee on the Environment (COTE).
Those once-radical ideas have started to go mainstream. In 1993, Berkebile helped create a new group that wasn’t confined to architects: the U.S. Green
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Smaller homes are more energy efficient generally, and consume fewer resources for their construction. In the United States, the average house size has been skyrocketing in the past few decades from 983 square feet in 1950 to almost 2,350 square feet in 2004.
Smaller buildings are potentially more affordable, are better suited to livable neighborhoods, and serve the needs of smaller families (while our houses have more than doubled in size since 1950, the size of the average family has actually decreased in that same period). There are already developers who understand this, but sometimes, the municipalities make it impossible to build smaller homes.
Marty Pieroni, a developer in Kuna, Idaho was turned down on his request to build some houses smaller than the 1,400 square foot minimum set by the city. With rising energy costs and the current housing credit crunch, there is an increasing demand for smaller, more efficient houses. But the city government (whose tax base is determined by the value of the developed property within its bounds) does not want to allow smaller properties and has turned down the request.
The city council in Minneapolis MN has adopted an ordinance to prohibit automobiles from idling for more than three minutes. The measure is aimed at reducing atmospheric pollution, but should also be welcomed by anyone who wants to save money, given the currently escalating cost of fuel.
How does driving an unsustainable fuel hog around contribute to the adoption of solar power? While some purists might point out that RVs are great fuel hogs and a waste of energy, nevertheless, they do offer an educational opportunity to help spread the acceptance and familiarity with solar power.
Restaurants in seven cities across the US are part of the initial wave of the Food & Water Watch “Take Back the Tap“ Campaign.
“The consumer advocacy group is working with cities across the nation to urge local restaurants and chefs to sign a pledge to switch to serving only tap water, help educate customers about the benefits of tap over bottled water.”
The headquarters of a construction firm in Michigan has the distinction of being the first building to achieve LEED “double platinum” certification. What is more, according to the company, the cost of construction was no greater than conventional building practices.
The Christman Construction offices in Lansing MI occupy roughly half of the 64,000 square foot building which was initially built in 1928. The project cost $12 million, and also benefited from brownfield credits as well as state and federal historic preservation tax credits.
Stormwater management is an urban logistical requirement. Rainwater and the water from melting snow have to be dealt with. When plants and soil, which absorb water from rain and snow are replaced with buildings, roads, and other impervious materials, the water from a storm no longer goes into the ground where it can recharge the water table, but stays on the surface and has to be managed in some fashion to keep the streets and buildings from flooding. Low water tables lead to water shortages and increased costs for water supply. However, much of the stormwater that falls on towns and cities is treated as a waste material to be gotten rid of, rather than as a resource for the community and the region. Water conservation is certainly one part of protecting our water supply. But stormwater is another part of the hydrological cycle , and better management of that water can contribute significantly to improving water quality and decreasing resource consumption.
