Green Options

Let’s talk climate further. That will provide insight for add-ons necessary to achieve year-round comfort.

Yurts appear logical for my tropical climate where elements of nature aren’t so severe. Well, surprise, but no worry. Just know that maintaining yurt warmth can be an easier task than keeping cool.

This is a yurt living series that was recently launched with a focus on purpose. My topic is climate now, which is not a hindrance for yurt lovers at all. However, consideration of comfort causes a need to review add-ons and upgrades.

By Leslie Berliant
Originally published on June 17, 2009, at SolveClimate

By the middle of next year, the nine campuses that make up the nation’s largest community college system plan to be completely energy self-sufficient.

It’s a huge step, and it will begin saving money immediately.

The Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) started down this path in 2001, the year voters approved the first part of $5.7 billion in bond funding to renovate the campuses.

The LACCD Board of Trustees was thinking about much-needed modernization work and its first new construction in 35 years, but it was also thinking ahead. It passed a sustainable building policy mandating that all new buildings that use 50% or more of bond funding be LEED certified. The board had previously developed a renewable energy plan that aimed for a minimum 10% renewable energy standard.

At the time, the trustees were afraid that anything beyond that would be too costly, says Larry Eisenberg, executive director of Facilities, Planning and Development for the LACCD.

The system’s chancellor and the implementation team saw greater potential, though.

Yurts were created in Mongolia long before our economy crisis. In fact yurts accommodated nomadic people for thousands of years. Especially in the past 25 years, there’s been a resurgence of interest. Then manufacturers began creating their own design modifications for a variety of purposes.

The purpose of constructing a yurt may be for a home, office, store, workshop, rental, or vacation lodge. The yurt design may include a loft, be surrounded by a large deck, or be a two-story structure. It can be permitted to satisfy building codes, temporary, or off the grid. What’s really fascinating is how many climates a yurt is feasible to be comfortable in.

Green building is about healthy settings with visual appeal. The goal is to create rooms for physical, emotional, mental and spiritual benefits. That means avoiding things like airborne allergens, chemicals, and clutter.

Yet the study of indoor air pollution can get complex. Hence, no surprise of this month’s announcement that the LEED accreditation system introduced by the U.S. Green Building Council was revamped.

The Fourth Annual Sustainable Industries Economic Forum will feature ecopreneur Ray Anderson, founder and Chairman of Interface, a company specializing in sustainable carpets and other industrial products.  The event will showcase a panel discussion with rock stars of the green business world, representing a broad swath of green industries.  The timely discussion for this year’s event will focus on the current economic realities of the green business sphere.

Other speakers and panelists including Anup Jacob, founding partner of Virgin Green Fund, a consulting and venture capital firm affiliated with Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, Laura Rodormer, Division Manager of Green Construction for

The natural garden (also called ecological garden) is the result of a particular style of gardening based on the use of native flora, the recovery of natural vegetation, and compliance, where possible, to all components of the ecosystem well done.

The natural garden consists mainly of 3 types of vegetation: the forest, the hedge, the grass and a Solar Fountain

The natural garden is related to the garden low maintenance, which it shares with the [...]

If you could design the green home of your dreams, what would it look like? What would it be made of? How would it produce and consume energy?

North of the border a controversy is starting to gain steam in the nation’s largest city, Toronto. The city has proposed a by-law that would make ‘green roofs’ mandatory in most new condos and office or retail complexes.

A project of SEA (Social Environmental Aesthetics) at Exit Art, “Vertical Gardens is an exhibition of architectural models, renderings, drawings, photographs and ephemera that depict or imagine a vertical farm, urban garden or green roof.” The exhibit features over 20 projects, both imaginary and real, by artists and architects envisioning solutions for building greener urban environments.

Details for the FREE two-day event (featuring eco architects, artists, professors, and poets) at Exit celebrating Earth Day 2009 are as follows:

BrightTALK is sponsoring an Earth Week webcast summit, featuring free presentations on water management, green building, green IT, and green marketing.