Duh! This news releaselooks like an afterthought by the organizers of recent USGBC Greenbuild International Conference and Expo held in Boston November 19 – 21. The release, dated November 24, 2008, looks forward to the Conference which ended three days earlier. Too bad, because the news content is interesting. Attendees at this year’s Greenbuild can assuage their guilt over carbon emissions from their travel and energy used at the conference. Enterprise Green Communities, which sponsors … [Read more...]
Green Building Programs In USA
November 14, 2008 By Leave a Comment
Did you know that there are over 90 green building programs in the USA? Or that the residential buildings use more energy than the automotive sector? Here’s a video that talks briefly about these issues and makes the point that green building, particularly in the residential sector, can make a huge difference to America’s energy consumption. I’ve talked about LEED and the NAHB programs in previous postings, and I’ll get into some others that are now emerging in the … [Read more...]
Green Remodelling: Key To Economic Recovery?
November 10, 2008 By Leave a Comment
Here’s a link to a video on Green Remodelling. It has several good ideas in it for the Do-It-Yourselfer or building contractor who wants to “go green” in a home renovation project. There are two approaches mentioned in the video. One is energy efficiency which focuses on things like good insulation and windows that fit tightly. The other approach is to use materials that are reclaimed or have recycled content or come from rapidly renewable resources like bamboo flooring. These … [Read more...]
President Obama and a Global Green New Deal
November 5, 2008 By Leave a Comment
Congratulations Mr. Obama! You’ve been elected on the promise to change … uh … something about the way the United States is governed. Pardon me. I must have missed exactly what that change is going to be. I guess it got downed out in the all the cheering every time you mentioned it. Whatever… Here’s something for you to consider if you’re planning to change environmental policies and practices. I think you may find it of interest since you’ll no doubt have to change some things … [Read more...]
Green Building Councils Overreach Mandate
October 30, 2008 By Leave a Comment
As a vendor of a building material certified by the FSC. BuildDirect qualifies according toFSC rules to advertise the product (Kontiki Vifah Eucalyptus Deck Tile) with the FSC logo and name. BuildDirect satisfies all the requirements for FSC chain of custody regulations for using the FSC logo in its advertising, and the folks at FSC have given the green light to BuildDirect to promote its product. The rub comes from the CaGBC who says that a purchaser of the product from BuildDirect can’t … [Read more...]
Life Cycle Calculators: A Good Green “Idea”
September 4, 2008 By Leave a Comment
The sudden greening of many industries – whether optics or reality – is creating an urgent demand for quick fixes to complex problems. One such need is for life cycle assessment tools, some of which have sprung into existence almost overnight. Others have been under development since the pre-commercial stage of today’s mushrooming environmentalism. This is especially true in the building materials industry where product life cycle calculators look like they might soon challenge the materials … [Read more...]
Life Cycle Analysis: The Case to Exclude Shipping
September 3, 2008 By Leave a Comment
Try typing “Non-tariff Trade Barriers” into Google and you don’t find CAN/CSA-ISO 14021. How odd! Well, give it a year or so and see what happens. My guess is that Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade will have more than a few issues to deal with. The foregoing alphabet soup is ID for Canada’s new international standard for environmental marketing. The standard is the foundation of Plus 14021 – Environmental Claims: A guide for industry and advertisers, a new … [Read more...]
Walrus Thesis: Climate Change Science
August 18, 2008 By Leave a Comment
“That’s all very interesting,” said the Carpenter scratching his head. “But can you tell me exactly what it has to do with green building?” Walrus breathed a great sigh. “What exactly don’t you understand, Carp?” He looked at his old friend as if he were a block of wood. Walrus wasn’t sure Carp wasn’t testing him. “Perhaps you could go back to the first space satellite launched fifty years ago,” said the Carpenter. “I’m not sure I get the connection.” “Very … [Read more...]
When it Comes to “Green” – Small is Beautiful
August 11, 2008 By Leave a Comment
And furthermore… “Ever bigger machines, entailing ever bigger concentrations of economic power and exerting ever greater violence against the environment, do not represent progress: they are a denial of wisdom. Wisdom demands a new orientation of science and technology towards the organic, the gentle, the non-violent, the elegant and beautiful." The quotation above is from E.F. Schumacher’s Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered, first published in 1973, about a decade … [Read more...]
Green Technology Solutions
August 7, 2008 By Leave a Comment
So where were we? Oh yes, in the past, in Ancient Mesopotamia, cradle of civilization (a curious conceit), building with recycled bricks made of regional mud. There also, they invented the parabolic solar reflector, a polished bronze serving bowl turned sideways likely, possibly to light their lamps, or heat some bath water, or both. The point is their technology is of a scale that is “balanced” with their community life. It stands in such sharp contrast to the mentality of our modern age – … [Read more...]
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