I have an arsenal of canvas tote bags that have graduated from grocery store bags to lunch bags, gym bags, beach bags, and even the occasional "god I can't wear these heels all night so I'll bring flip flops" bag.
Nice find, mightylittle. It is hard to keep one's head clear from all of the conflicting information out there.
So.. what's it mean? ...that people absorbed with saving the world seem to walk around in a cloud of methphores and don't look at how the niche resources that green offers for powering a growing world are kind'a small?
Phenshaw - What I took the picture to mean is that those of us that are trying to be as environmentally conscious being bombarded by so much information that it get jumbled and overwhelmed.
TK - My friends got it online for a b-day present, as I had been telling them for a while I needed/wanted one. They had to get it specifically made, b/c they couldn't find one in any store. It's my favorite.
Based on current trends, by 2011 data center energy consumption will nearly double again, requiring the equivalent of 25 power plants. The world’s data centers, according to recent study from McKinsey & Company, could well surpass the airline industry as a greenhouse gas polluter by 2020. -nyt
interesting article TK. I wonder if the percentage of power needed to run these large data centers in 2011 is based off of technologies most of these places are using today (which from the article sounds outdated) or future(current?) technology.
Tuna,
I would imagine current.
There are some new technologies beginning to be developed that could change this.
More efficient less hot chips, virtualization etc....
But still, as IT becomes more a part of every industry energy uses will grow.
Hopefully, these new needs can be met with either low/no carbon energy or by future tech. Also, hopefully the rise of IT and other 21st century industries (like biotech, green energy etc) will see the concurrent decrease in high-carbon 19th-20th century industries....
sometimes it seems the best thing for the environment is just to do a little less. I fair with Wonder K and Tuna...sometimes the journey seems in surmountable.
amen techno...less. which is why it's irritating to see sustainability become mainstreamed into consumerism: "buy your way to responsible living!" LESS doesn't enter the equation. you have to introduce the prospect of consumption to whet people's appetites...it's a lot sexier than the notion of social responsibility. ugh.
here's a few options for LESS (we could make a cool acronym - Less Emission Sustainable Shelters?)
less...water to bath
less...driving
less...hardware
less...consumption
less...eating
less...flying
less...drinking
less...waste
less... time to add your own
and yes we also know we need to do more
more...recycling
more...cycling
more...reusing
more...saving
more...uses
more...trees
more...time to add your own again.
Yea,.. great idea, but after you cut 50%, and just when you're done with that someone taps you on the sholder and says it's time to cut 50% again, would you have the wisdom to ask "Just how many times do you want me to cut 50%?" It's endless they'd say, well as long as money multiplies anyway. :-(
Has anyone here ever speced recycled solid plastic toilet paritions? I'm just curious as to how well they hold up. I would imagine much better than the typical metal ones. Thanks.
I am happy to report that my family is now hanging our laundry outside, in the sun, to dry. Though it was really about keeping the house cool, and saving money, its still better for the environment, and still counts to 'greening' myself - right?
Added bonus? Since I hang many of the clothes on hanger when I put them on the line - saves room and clothes pins - they are easier to put away, and dont lay in a basket all week.
Two years ago, President Bush declared that America was “addicted to oil,” and, by gosh, he was going to do something about it. Well, now he has. Now we have the new Bush energy plan: “Get more addicted to oil.”
Actually, it’s more sophisticated than that: Get Saudi Arabia, our chief oil pusher, to up our dosage for a little while and bring down the oil price just enough so the renewable energy alternatives can’t totally take off. Then try to strong arm Congress into lifting the ban on drilling offshore and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
It’s as if our addict-in-chief is saying to us: “C’mon guys, you know you want a little more of the good stuff. One more hit, baby. Just one more toke on the ole oil pipe. I promise, next year, we’ll all go straight. I’ll even put a wind turbine on my presidential library. But for now, give me one more pop from that drill, please, baby. Just one more transfusion of that sweet offshore crude.”
that the polar ice will melt away by the end of the summer? Bet is $5 plus a canvas grocery bag. Place your bet in the comments. (The climatologists shouldn't have all the fun...)
ROFL - a project I worked on at my last office got some press as a green casino. Everything that was truly green got value engineered out long before construction started, except for a fragment of the green roof.
being home with my folks has made me realise how much waste is generated with conventional living. Particularly referring to food and impulse "its new" purchases. Sigh...and no matter how I speak they just don't get it. I guess that's why they've started to dubb those beyond gen X has the Green Generations and the babies will be generation E (since they will inherit the mistakes of the 20th Century and GWB)
Very interesting video by Jonathan Glancey on London inspired by the London Festival of Architecture and dicussing Londons, past and future watery condition...
Fav quote,
Re: the Thames Gateway plans which will build over most of southern London's Thames Estuary,
What if instead of building these massive new shiny, energy gobbling buildings,
"we built, well, beautiful and springly" only when needed.......
I didn't turn the lights on in the bathroom this morning, I let my hair dry naturally this morning, and I drove the sccoter into work today, instead of my car.
Anywho my initial thoughts after reading his proposal(s) were;
Where is the architect?, huge undertaking, social-ecological-economic re-direction, carbon metrics, and pretty much Wow....
A very interesting couple of quotes from Kengo Kuma from
Delivered at the Annual Architecture Lecture on Nature and Architecture at the RA.
'The system of the economy has been using architecture as a kind of money-making machine, and has created a strangeness in architecture.'
and
'Sushi is a good metaphor for my architecture. The importance in sushi is to choose the best material from the place, in season. If the journey of the ingredients is too long, the taste of the sushi is compromised. That is a problem that can't be solved by modern technology, and that programme of using local material in season is the secret of good taste, and the secret of my style.'
ViaArchitects Journal
Al Gore is speaking on Meet the Press this morning on climate change and the things the US and others need to do in order to combat the changes occuring. Interesting stuff.
Tuna... my experience with LEED-Online/USGBC.org errors is that they almost always are the fault of the USGBC... Generally waiting a few hours clears any problems I've had right up.
here's a question...does anyone here have experience with the greengrid or other modular green roof systems? any first or second--hand performance/cost issues or anything on how they stack up to other systems in your experiences?
i have an unprecendented-in-our-office chance to get a green roof in a condo project i'm working on, and i thought i'd defer to the wisdom of archinect for some firepower to bring to my reluctant PM and client. any thoughts would be great!
we got a new project that I'm heading up the sustainable stuff for - the challenge is the client is an oil/gas company. So how do we 'sell' energy efficiency and non-carbon based energy to a company making billions from natural gas wells?
the site has high wind energy potential (average over 6 m/s), decent solar insolation (2600-2800 hours/year), some geothermal heat.
my first reaction is to focus on using less energy, so they can sell more. But i'd need to have an mba or phd in economics to prove that.
my next approach is to focus on the ownership costs - since much of the project will be condos/sold to others who WILL care about utility costs.
It may just be that we just do teh best we can with the siting/building orientation an sneak every high performance/energy efficiency detail into the document set that we can - then call it a day.
any thoughts?
JUST IN FROM THE USGBC:
[url=http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=1714]Become a Course Reviewer [url] and shape the content of the green education world.. [wk & Q, this is for you...]
honestly, my thought is to convince them that a) energy is trending towards diversification, so by embracing nonstandard technologies they are setting themselves up to be one step ahead of the curve, and b) embracing sustainable technology makes them look like the "good" oil guys to clients- look at BP, etc.
Green Thread Central
Wow I have missed this place. It's so....green.
I have an arsenal of canvas tote bags that have graduated from grocery store bags to lunch bags, gym bags, beach bags, and even the occasional "god I can't wear these heels all night so I'll bring flip flops" bag.
Nice find, mightylittle. It is hard to keep one's head clear from all of the conflicting information out there.
I've been feeling like that a lot of late. But at least I try, where many people around me just don't care.
....and that's why we're all gonna die, tuna. ;o)
tuna and Wonderk.
My, depressing!
DubK - funny I ahd this same conversation today with a co-worker. I really could have used my JADED shirt. It would have come in handy. ;o)
Nam - if only you knew.
So.. what's it mean? ...that people absorbed with saving the world seem to walk around in a cloud of methphores and don't look at how the niche resources that green offers for powering a growing world are kind'a small?
changing the status quo is never easy. we got into the mess we're in because it was easier/cheaper then prior modes of energy/transportation.
I want a JADED shirt. where can I get one?
Phenshaw - What I took the picture to mean is that those of us that are trying to be as environmentally conscious being bombarded by so much information that it get jumbled and overwhelmed.
TK - My friends got it online for a b-day present, as I had been telling them for a while I needed/wanted one. They had to get it specifically made, b/c they couldn't find one in any store. It's my favorite.
-nyt
interesting article TK. I wonder if the percentage of power needed to run these large data centers in 2011 is based off of technologies most of these places are using today (which from the article sounds outdated) or future(current?) technology.
Tuna,
I would imagine current.
There are some new technologies beginning to be developed that could change this.
More efficient less hot chips, virtualization etc....
But still, as IT becomes more a part of every industry energy uses will grow.
Hopefully, these new needs can be met with either low/no carbon energy or by future tech. Also, hopefully the rise of IT and other 21st century industries (like biotech, green energy etc) will see the concurrent decrease in high-carbon 19th-20th century industries....
sometimes it seems the best thing for the environment is just to do a little less. I fair with Wonder K and Tuna...sometimes the journey seems in surmountable.
amen techno...less. which is why it's irritating to see sustainability become mainstreamed into consumerism: "buy your way to responsible living!" LESS doesn't enter the equation. you have to introduce the prospect of consumption to whet people's appetites...it's a lot sexier than the notion of social responsibility. ugh.
is having cars that run on water the solution? It just seems to be opening another can of worms.
in other news. I've decided to post this the thread's creator and her efforts with LILAWAC
here's a few options for LESS (we could make a cool acronym - Less Emission Sustainable Shelters?)
less...water to bath
less...driving
less...hardware
less...consumption
less...eating
less...flying
less...drinking
less...waste
less... time to add your own
and yes we also know we need to do more
more...recycling
more...cycling
more...reusing
more...saving
more...uses
more...trees
more...time to add your own again.
Yea,.. great idea, but after you cut 50%, and just when you're done with that someone taps you on the sholder and says it's time to cut 50% again, would you have the wisdom to ask "Just how many times do you want me to cut 50%?" It's endless they'd say, well as long as money multiplies anyway. :-(
Archi.....
Amen!
Has anyone here ever speced recycled solid plastic toilet paritions? I'm just curious as to how well they hold up. I would imagine much better than the typical metal ones. Thanks.
I am happy to report that my family is now hanging our laundry outside, in the sun, to dry. Though it was really about keeping the house cool, and saving money, its still better for the environment, and still counts to 'greening' myself - right?
Added bonus? Since I hang many of the clothes on hanger when I put them on the line - saves room and clothes pins - they are easier to put away, and dont lay in a basket all week.
gtc, i thought you would enjoy this...
mr bush, lead or leave by thomas friedman
Two years ago, President Bush declared that America was “addicted to oil,” and, by gosh, he was going to do something about it. Well, now he has. Now we have the new Bush energy plan: “Get more addicted to oil.”
Actually, it’s more sophisticated than that: Get Saudi Arabia, our chief oil pusher, to up our dosage for a little while and bring down the oil price just enough so the renewable energy alternatives can’t totally take off. Then try to strong arm Congress into lifting the ban on drilling offshore and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
It’s as if our addict-in-chief is saying to us: “C’mon guys, you know you want a little more of the good stuff. One more hit, baby. Just one more toke on the ole oil pipe. I promise, next year, we’ll all go straight. I’ll even put a wind turbine on my presidential library. But for now, give me one more pop from that drill, please, baby. Just one more transfusion of that sweet offshore crude.”
bump* it was sliding off the page. Green issues need to always be centre and forefront in our minds
- Brazil likely to instil tree planting to offset civic costs on most things like weddings and divorces.
that the polar ice will melt away by the end of the summer? Bet is $5 plus a canvas grocery bag. Place your bet in the comments. (The climatologists shouldn't have all the fun...)
ROFL - a project I worked on at my last office got some press as a green casino. Everything that was truly green got value engineered out long before construction started, except for a fragment of the green roof.
being home with my folks has made me realise how much waste is generated with conventional living. Particularly referring to food and impulse "its new" purchases. Sigh...and no matter how I speak they just don't get it. I guess that's why they've started to dubb those beyond gen X has the Green Generations and the babies will be generation E (since they will inherit the mistakes of the 20th Century and GWB)
Very interesting video by Jonathan Glancey on London inspired by the London Festival of Architecture and dicussing Londons, past and future watery condition...
Fav quote,
Re: the Thames Gateway plans which will build over most of southern London's Thames Estuary,
What if instead of building these massive new shiny, energy gobbling buildings,
"we built, well, beautiful and springly" only when needed.......
Guardian
Woops.. I meant,
"sparingly"
bump...
what have you done today to help the environment?
I composted my office's coffee grounds to start.
I didn't turn the lights on in the bathroom this morning, I let my hair dry naturally this morning, and I drove the sccoter into work today, instead of my car.
I must say composting coffee grounds makes it smell really nice - though grows fungus really quickly.
I air dried my laundry, drank my coffee out of a mug, drank water...
Anybody see this...
Sounds awesome.
Dude wants to rebuild entire Appalachia region on a the basis of an eco-industrial, remediation and carbon positive energy redevelopment plan..
Creating a new post-coal, post-industrial Appalachia
From Metropolis
His name is Dr. John Todd
The Visionary Thinking of John Todd: The winner of the Buckminster Fuller Challenge has a plan for Appalachia and it could be the design model of the future.
Anywho my initial thoughts after reading his proposal(s) were;
Where is the architect?, huge undertaking, social-ecological-economic re-direction, carbon metrics, and pretty much Wow....
His official website
Detailed Proposal
A very interesting couple of quotes from Kengo Kuma from
Delivered at the Annual Architecture Lecture on Nature and Architecture at the RA.
'The system of the economy has been using architecture as a kind of money-making machine, and has created a strangeness in architecture.'
and
'Sushi is a good metaphor for my architecture. The importance in sushi is to choose the best material from the place, in season. If the journey of the ingredients is too long, the taste of the sushi is compromised. That is a problem that can't be solved by modern technology, and that programme of using local material in season is the secret of good taste, and the secret of my style.'
ViaArchitects Journal
From a recent article on LA's lack of public parks...
An image of their park system.
oh well.
What about this image of the original 1930s Olmsted plan for public park system
Al Gore is speaking on Meet the Press this morning on climate change and the things the US and others need to do in order to combat the changes occuring. Interesting stuff.
Is anyone else having issues with the USGBC website of late? I keep getting application errors when linking/viewing anything off the main pages.
tuna- have you tried a different browser?
Figured it out. Had something to do with the surf control here at work. It's fixed now. THanks though.
a new report evaluating business sustainability consultants
seen on greenbiz
Tuna... my experience with LEED-Online/USGBC.org errors is that they almost always are the fault of the USGBC... Generally waiting a few hours clears any problems I've had right up.
here's a question...does anyone here have experience with the greengrid or other modular green roof systems? any first or second--hand performance/cost issues or anything on how they stack up to other systems in your experiences?
i have an unprecendented-in-our-office chance to get a green roof in a condo project i'm working on, and i thought i'd defer to the wisdom of archinect for some firepower to bring to my reluctant PM and client. any thoughts would be great!
seen on inhabitat
if every cow had a methane collector like this, I'd start eating hamburgers again.
of course we're supposed to stop buying stuff to save the planet.
but I want to get this for my kid when he is old enough
Tree.
That is awesome..
are blimps the answer to fuel efficient long distance travel?
NYT
the certainly are becoming sexy!
we got a new project that I'm heading up the sustainable stuff for - the challenge is the client is an oil/gas company. So how do we 'sell' energy efficiency and non-carbon based energy to a company making billions from natural gas wells?
the site has high wind energy potential (average over 6 m/s), decent solar insolation (2600-2800 hours/year), some geothermal heat.
my first reaction is to focus on using less energy, so they can sell more. But i'd need to have an mba or phd in economics to prove that.
my next approach is to focus on the ownership costs - since much of the project will be condos/sold to others who WILL care about utility costs.
It may just be that we just do teh best we can with the siting/building orientation an sneak every high performance/energy efficiency detail into the document set that we can - then call it a day.
any thoughts?
JUST IN FROM THE USGBC:
[url=http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=1714]Become a Course Reviewer [url] and shape the content of the green education world.. [wk & Q, this is for you...]
honestly, my thought is to convince them that a) energy is trending towards diversification, so by embracing nonstandard technologies they are setting themselves up to be one step ahead of the curve, and b) embracing sustainable technology makes them look like the "good" oil guys to clients- look at BP, etc.
opps:
Become a Course Reviewer
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