Big Box DIY Solar Panels

Lowe's is about to start selling DIY Solar Panels. Remember: your house has to use the least amount of electricity or energy created by the sun will go out the door, literally.

Cash for Caulkers

Waiting for this program to come down the pipeline!

"My Father, the Genius"

Getting an All Electric Vehicle is Getting Closer

If only Tucson was New Orleans! Check out a plan for Nissan's new all electric vehicle.

Invent! Eureka!!

"Green" technology patents are speeding up!

The Ocean as an Air Conditioner?

The only thought I have is that disturbing the temperature of the ocean's water could be detrimental? But is it any better than what normal coal-powered air-cons do?

Check out this interesting article about Hawaii and using the ocean as an air-conditioner.

Need for Accurate Speed

Better Building Energy Codes: It's Not Rocket Science

"While it's true that some building owners and developers are pursuing a business model with benefits including lower energy bills, better leasing rates, higher values and increased productivity of occupants, they are still less than 10% of the market."

The Ambiguity of Green Building Costs

Here is an overview of "Sifting through the Ambiguity of Green Building Costs"

"The first step in this process is to determine which project features were likely to have been “green” even if the building was not built in accordance with the provisions of a green rating system. For example, many low-rise buildings use a wood structural system. Since wood is a renewable resource, it is often awarded points in green rating systems. So wood construction in many cases is not an added cost and, correspondingly, you should not consider it an added green cost."

"Estimators who are unfamiliar with green building tend to pad numbers in an effort to address uncertainty, prevent losses and cover the cost of their learning curve."

Up the Incentives!

Love hearing about pending legislation that will give energy efficiency higher incentives!

PPAs

Will I have to wait 15 to 20 years for my energy producing home?

Green Depot

I want a GREEN DEPOT in New Orleans!!

Going Green: The Louisiana Green Corps @ The Alliance for Affordable Energy

The Ocean is No Longer a Carbon Sink

This is a must read.

US + China Initiatives

The largest polluters are getting together and accelerating the change to a renewable energy economy. Here's the DOE Press Release.

Pervasive Plastics

Plastics are everywhere!!!

"The true costs of plastics — including the energy required to manufacture them, the environmental contamination caused by their disposal, their health impacts, and the recycling and eventual disposal costs — are not reflected in product prices. The American Plastics Council now estimates that only about 5 percent of all plastics manufactured are recycled; 95 billion pounds are discarded on average yearly. Adding to the environmental toll, most plastic is produced from natural gas and petroleum products, exacerbating global warming."

"In the case of plastics, Congress instead has been content with limited federal regulatory responsibility, now fractured among at least four agencies: the EPA, the Food and Drug Administration, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. None of these agencies has demanded pre-market testing of plastic ingredients, none has required ingredient labeling or warnings on plastic products, and none has limited production, environmental release, or human exposure. As a result, the entire U.S. population continues to be exposed to hormonally active chemicals from plastics without their knowledge or consent."

"In order to make responsible choices in the marketplace, consumers also need to be educated about the content and effects of the resins, so we need mandatory labeling of plastic ingredients. The chemical industry itself needs to replace persistent and hazardous chemicals with those that are proven to be safe. Finally, manufacturers should take responsibility for cleaning up environmental contamination from the more than one trillion pounds of plastic wastes they have produced over the past 50 years."

DIY Solar Panels

Make one your own!

Charge a 12-volt battery. Very cool. Electricity generated from the sun should be in the hands of people.

Efficient Windows Collaborative

This is a great place to learn about windows.

2030 Challenge

Green Footstep is a tool created by the Rocky Mountain Institute to "address multiple building emissions over the building lifetime."

This will help get buildings closer to the 2030 Challenge, which I'm a very, very strong supporter.

Obama Spurs Smart Electric Grids

Let's get on the "clean energy superhighway!"

Wheego Electric Cars by Next Year

This is super cool - electric cars out of Atlanta by next year.

I want one SOOOO bad!!! What I really want is an all electric car powered by solar, which is the future and I want it as soon as possible!

Fun to think about - the Future of Driving - driver-less cars yayayayaya
"Humans aren't fit to drive" = couldn't agree any more.

US Weatherization Stimulus is Working!

Read all about it here from Energy Secretary Steven Chu.

"In September, we estimate we weatherized 15,000 – 20,000 homes – the fastest pace in the 30 year history of the Weatherization Assistance Program. We expect to be weatherizing 20,000 to 30,000 homes per month soon."

Exciting times we're living folks.

Make Biofuel Out of Trash Please

Airplanes will now have an alternative energy source. The only real problem is that biofuel comes from crops, instead of something we have too much of on our land, trash.

Amazing

President Obama orders the Federal Goverment agencies to:

• "reduce gasoline use in automobile fleets by 30% by 2020;
• improve water efficiency by 26% by 2020;
• achieve a 50% recycling and waste diversion rate by 2015; and
• achieve net-zero-energy buildings by 2030."

I'm a big fan of the last item because this should be implemented across the entire country!!

Case for 350

This article is a must read. It's the case for reducing carbon emissions. If it takes 2.5% of GDP (or more is likely), let's do it asap!!

Vampires

Market Viability

The Univ of Louisiana at Lafayette won Market Viability at the Solar Decathlon. Check it out!

Leasing

I know this one is ripe with fraud, but probably not right now. I'd lease 'em!

But please, please always, and I mean always, remember that ENERGY Efficiency comes first, renewable energy second. You won't get the same savings if you don't plug the holes, plug loss of heat or cooling and plug anything that stands in your way from energy independence. Trust me, it's absolutely fabulous.

Renewable Portfolio Standard

TX and CA are on it. Guess the rest of the States need to start now. This article says the House passed a 20% mandate for 2020. Hope the Senate passes it. That would be excellent. We need to go much, much higher than that. How about complete independence asap? It is possible, just work hard, dream and innovate.

Who gives a crap about going to the moon when we can push the entire world envelope to American technology and declare energy independence?

Gov't Recs

I absolutely love the USA government's recs for energy efficiency. Please, please make this happen!!

Especially:

[*Creating an “energy performance label” for existing homes. New homes, the report notes, can get an “Energy Star” label reflecting relatively low energy usage, but existing ones cannot. The government proposes to fix that, and also develop a “national home energy performance measure.”]

Make every single home have a HERS rating or existing home equivalent. There isn't an existing home performance label yet. I can't wait for this! My body is aching for it. I'd so run that program for my work!! Love renovation work.

Also:

[*Establish uniform national standards for training and certifying workers in the energy-efficiency business.]

I need this now! Please!!! Read the other recs in the report link above. They are very good.

What's Going On

If you haven't picked up, yet I'm obsessed with EE financing. Well, here are some links to what's happening in the country.

This is coming from my new favorite blog, the NY Times Green Inc Blog.

The Boom

State Funding for EE is set to boom over the coming years. Yes, it's exciting, but one of my biggest and main goals is to help it actually benefit and not just be money thrown out through non-code-enforcement renovations!!! Let's foster an environment of cooperation for something much larger than ourselves and get construction back where it should be = in the hands of masters.

Check this guy out! This is the job I'm creating here in New Orleans. Energy auditing.



Can't wait for Building Science to be mainstream. Absolutely love it. I want to be a home doctor, but it takes awhile.

One Peace at a Time

"They have a saying in Africa, how do you eat an elephant?

One piece at a time."

The Bridge Hut

What I find interesting about this "Bridge Hut" is the way it is designed. I do agree that innovation is the only answer for homelessness.

Chinese Drywall

Just another reason why we need high quality inspection standards (random sampling) for every single product that comes across our borders to prevent this kind of calamity.

Thirst for Coal

The thirst for coal is blowing up the mountains of Appalachia. Cheap coal is what makes the Southeast part of America so horribly detrimental to the environment. I wish every person in America knew about this destructive behavior every time we flip a switch.

Who Will Be Carbon Nuetral First?

Ambitious Norway is leading the pack.

Rooftop Wind Turbines

Now this is super cool!! I sooo hope they win.

Education Overload!

Here are some tips on staying educated in this rapidly changing energy efficiency industry.

India On Board

India is getting ready for the leap.

"Michael Spence, a Stanford professor and chairman of the World Bank-backed Commission on Growth and Development, has warned India and others that “go-it-alone” strategies are not enough. He is an advocate of a cross-border trading mechanism that encourages technology transfer and provides greater incentives to reduce carbon emissions over time for developing countries."

"Some local economists say India’s vulnerability to climate change with a population highly dependent on the agrarian economy and water systems fed by Himalayan glaciers and monsoon rains means it has to take the lead in the global debate."

The Boy Who Harnassed the Wind

Very inspiring!!!

Limits to Growth

Article concerning the book, Limits to Growth, published in 1972.

"The authors estimate that we currently allow 9.5 million tons of phosphorus to flow annually into our oceans, mostly because of fertilizer use, and that past 11 million tons we may well trigger “large-scale ocean anoxic events.” Ozone concentrations in the atmosphere — 290 Dobson units before the Industrial Revolution and 283 at present — can’t dip below 276 without catastrophe, the authors note."

"We’re removing almost four times as much nitrogen from the atmosphere for human use as is safe, and the result are things like wide-scale water pollution and the addition of heat-trapping gases like nitrous oxide into the atmosphere. The species extinction rate, the authors argue, is probably 10 times the tolerable level of 10 species per million species per year, though they add that they’re less certain of this than other numbers. “However, we can say with some confidence that Earth cannot sustain the current rate of loss without significant erosion of ecosystem resilience.”

French Eco-Loans

France is really becoming an EU market for energy efficiency.

"To encourage homeowners to make energy efficiency improvements on their homes, France introduced a 10-year, zero-rate eco-loan in 2009, making it possible to finance up to €30,000 of energy renovation work for private housing. In addition, a sustainable development tax credit allows people to deduct from their tax bill between 15% and 50% of their spending on equipment and materials to improve energy efficiency in their main home."

Innovative Financing Mechanisms

Check out Kansas and their Energy Efficiency Model.

Albany is getting it together as well. "Innovative financing mechanisms" can make these models happen all over the country.

Silicon Valley + Patience + Policy

"In the old days you could start an Internet company and go public 15 months later. With a clean-tech company, 15 months later you're still working on a prototype."

The quote is from an article about what's happening in Silicon Valley these days.

Two Hands for One Building at a Time

Exactly what I'm talking about when I say, "natural building" (what I'd like to study for my thesis in grad school some day soon). "Handmade Building" is another name.

Enjoy the prize winner's quote: "For me, sustainability is a synonym for beauty." Anna Heringer

Read about what she's doing in Bangladesh.

Gadgets Going Green

Can't wait until upcycling, cradle-to-cradle design, and beyond "green" are completely vogue with all manufacturing processes and consumer goods. Here's an article about what's happening now.

Smart Trash

This is a very cool approach to trash that could be a tremendous help to our landfills.

"‘Smart Trash’ functions using two key elements: a Universal Product Code (UPC) or radio frequency identification (RFID) tag to identify specific merchandise and a retrofitted recycling center where valuable items can be processed and proceeds sent directly back to consumers. A Wi-Fi connection provides the bridge between the trashcan and the recycling service."

New Home Green Building Product Superstore

This is SO cool! New Home is a green building product superstore. The article linked talks about them moving headquarters, but we need some of those stores in the South, especially New Orleans. I wanna go! This is coming from a man who can't leave Home Depot and can't even imagine a green version.

White House Wants to be LEED

Pretty cool I have to say. Not sure what LEED rating system they are using, but it's a developing story. Can't wait until it's certified.

Whoa! Smart Grids!

Fascinating article full of jargon, but very much worth reading:

"The term 'perfect storm' has been used many times recently in the Smart Grid and Building Automation communities. Utilities know their businesses will change significantly, creating risks but giving them a chance to recreate themselves. And many in Silicon Valley liken today to 1992, a couple of years before the Internet went mainstream, when all of the technologies and drivers were in place for what was then to follow."

Retro-fit-it NYC

This wonderful article about inefficient New York buildings just goes to show the largest part of the big answer to fixing suck low-hanging fruit, policy concerning energy efficiency:

"the bill would enable state energy regulators to loan out funds to cover the upfront costs of improving the energy efficiency of a home or business — as much as $13,000 for residential customers and as much as $26,000 for qualifying businesses. The loan would then be paid back through monthly deductions culled from the energy savings arising from the retrofit."

Win-win situation. Go NYC!!

Update on 9/23:
All NYC gov't buildings must be LEED cert by August 2010.

Jevons Paradox

I think about this a lot and finally come across an article that talks about it.

"The Jevons Paradox takes many forms:

• Because of improvements in refrigerator efficiency, consumers can afford more and larger refrigerators.
• Because of improvements in vehicle efficiency, car owners can afford to drive more miles per year.
• Because of improvements in airtightness, window performance, and insulation techniques, homeowners can afford to build larger houses.
• Savings resulting from energy-efficiency improvements — or even savings resulting from giving up meat in one’s diet — allow consumers to take more vacations, resulting in greater energy use."

Interesting huh? Higher energy taxes (and/or properly valuing environmental damage as a consequence of a product) and "the voluntary adoption of a simpler lifestyle: one with less work, fewer possessions, and more leisure time." America needs this!!! I need this.

Teens Build LEEDH Platinum House

Now this is cool, teens build a LEEDH Platinum home with the help of their teacher/contractor. House is $150 per sq ft. Stands at 1495 sq ft. Will be an education center for two years. Read the statistics to the right of the article. Seriously cool, no wonder the kids worked weekends and vacations. Inspiring!

How Not to Greenwash

As you are probably aware, it's important to research a "green" building product to see how actually "green" it really is. Here are some tips coming from the production side to think about:

All of these come from, "How Not to Greenwash Your Building Product" by Joel Bittle, from 2008, but still relevant.

"1. Make sure your product satisfies at least one green building requirement.

2. Do not claim credits that do not apply to your product or to the current building project.

3. If you are not unique, don’t try to sell yourself as unique.

4. Don’t claim that yours is a local product if it’s not harvested/extracted or processed locally.

5. No product is a LEED certified product.

6. Your manufacturing practices do not affect LEED credits.

7. Don’t sell yourself short."

There is much more to this story, but this is a start.

Earth911

Earth911.com is the place for finding recycling centers in your area.

TVA is Testing Homes!

Very cool of TVA to start this project!

Remember that the Southeast has lower energy costs than the rest of the country because of TVA and the abundance of coal blown off Appalachian mountain tops.

Alternative Loans to Energize

Interesting article about California:

"Through AB 811, a government entity or jurisdiction — such as the county — can voluntarily develop a program that essentially loans money to property owners to make energy efficiency improvements and/or add a solar system to their home.

The loans can come from various sources, and are one way to funnel federal stimulus dollars into the pockets of local residents."

We need alternatives! Upgrading is expensive for many, many people. Incentives are huge.

Garbage Warrior

The man portrayed in this doc is my new hero. He went up against New Mexico to experiment with sustainable building. It's an amazing doc and worth owning!!



He created Earthships. Amazing! I want to build one so bad.

Real Dirt on Farmer John

Recently I watched an amazing doc about an unusual farmer. If you get a chance, rent it from your public library. Here's a preview:



Learn more about Community Supported Agriculture.

Fellowship

This upcoming Sunday, I'll be moving to New Orleans for a spectacular new job! One that will definitely keep this blog flowing. I'm going to the be the Energy Efficiency Fellow for a big non-profit helping Katrina survivors and low-income families. From giving twice monthly workshops to consultations, I'll be doing a little bit of everything. I'm super excited! So excited that can't even research because I won't stop.

Speaking of workshops, tomorrow morning I've been asked to come speak to a Agriculture class on Renewable Energy and give an over-view of energy auditing. Met a professor today who asked and I said yes! It's going to be very cool no doubt. It'll be good to practice. Of course, I need to get better updating this blog because before long, it'll be on business cards.

Bicycle Mass Transit

This is sooo super cool. I'd love to get around like this because it would help me get in shape as well. I really want to bike around and can't wait. I think I want to experience a workshop and build my own.

Energy Star 2011

I personally can't wait until building codes across this country are forced into efficiency, but these new proposed guidelines seem like a step, hopefully for the better.

This summer has been travel and more travels, so I'll try to be better at posting, especially since recently I came to this blog for info... important resource for me at least.

Natural Entrepreneur

The 6 Steps - just plain good advice.

It Starts at Home

This is awesome, first-person account of a family's carbon diet - a continual energy efficiency work-out... from National Geographic no less. I can't wait to learn how to use the infrared camera!

Personal note: it is hard to do the right thing, but as we become more aware, design plays a major part in not just reducing "vampire" loads, but reducing any excess usage of electricity.

The Suburbs Are a 'Changin'

Ever since I heard Ellen Dunham-Jones, GA Tech Architecture Professor, speak at Greenprints (Southface's big Green Building conference that I worked registration), a topic that I find fascinating has re-surfaced - here she is, along with her co-author of Retrofitting Suburbia (a book I want to read soon) in an article along with some other folks, "101 Uses for a Deserted Mall."

After she finished speaking, I went up and asked her where is the best place to move since her book and talk were about spots in America where the suburbs are being over-hauled and she replied, "Denver" (because they are attracting 20 somethings like me). At this point I'm planning a trip to Denver and then Portland to figure out where I should live. I'm looking into energy auditing work with a Low-Income Weatherization Program. All this goes down early May (my birthday is May 3!). Southface has asked me to stay for a month (three weeks left) and continue LEED for Homes and HERS work.

P.S. I take my LEED AP exam on April 13th.

Double Panes

As a blower door-ing energy auditing M.I.A. geek, I now introduce "Double Panes" for your geeky pleasure:


Dontchaloveit?

From a Soon-to-Be Energy Auditor

The Stimulus Package is finally opening the can of worms that I'm adding to my compost bin (this article is about job prospects and what companies are doing by the way).

I'm looking for a job and I have to be thoughtful and well-researched, so expect more blogs.

Maldives Goes Carbon Neutral

The Maldives is making a big splash with limited space. Let's replicate their success and not just buy our way out, but make all buildings super energy efficient and producers of energy (instead of wasters like the large majority are), it is the future.

This Tiny House

Tumbleweed Tiny House Company is SUPER COOL!!! I want to build one!

Now, if only I could make one of these tiny houses use zero energy and very, very little water (harder to do than energy), that would be absolute fabulous!!! Then I could just hook up and go when I want. Perfectly fits a gypsy life of leisure, especially once I'm self-employed. Thinking about this future home has kept me daydreaming for days now. Hope you enjoy.

By the way, I'm happy that "small" is finally becoming chic.

Looking Good and Good for the Environment = Oxymoron?

I like these thoughts on current architecture. We're at the beginning of an ecological built environment renaissance, how does it feel?

The following is pretty good and good for thought:

["When sustainable architecture coalesces into something more like art, it will likely be more in keeping with a world teetering on the brink of economic and environmental collapse than with the architectural modes that preceded it. Further, the sustainable school may well dial back the lessons of globalization, preferring instead to adopt a new regionalism and to find virtue in the frugal rather than in the profligate, expressing these preferences through design. Wines sees the very real potential for a fundamental re-imagining of what architecture means, the sort of revolutionary revision that took place when Le Corbusier introduced the International Style. "The idea of a building as a piece of sculpture is 100 years old now," Wines says. "It's been done over and over and over. It's not very progressive as a premise."]

Trying to Understand...

The Stimulus Package and Recovery stuff... and how it impacts energy efficiency. Here's a good place to start.

Why Oregon Is Looking Even Better

A proposal for Energy Audits going to be mandatory starting 2011 for residential and 2012 for commercial? Yeah!

Hawaii Mandates Solar Water Heaters

I like what's happening in Hawaii and new construction of homes starting in 2010. Let's do this all over the country.

Mexico has a Green Building Org!

Check it out, here!

U.S. Passive House

Here's an example of a cool Passive House in Urbana, IL, at $94 per sqf.

Number 9

Atlanta made the 9 spot in energy efficiency among U.S. cities, even better than Portland (which I've been contemplating moving, hmmm).

The Mortgage Industry is changing quick! Fascinating times for those watching and experiencing as capitalism morphs.

Green Building Washing Tons

Always ask "Why are we (and/or they) building this?" Is it really a green building?

Recycled TP Is Just As Good

February is closing and I haven't blogged here yet!!! Crazy. Life has slowed down some finally and I end up keeping articles for this blog, so I'll have to pull them together very soon.

This is the second day in a row that the NY Times have had interesting articles.

I enjoy this one about recycled toilet paper.
"Cottonelle and Scott, has gotten as much as 22 percent of its pulp from producers who cut trees in Canadian boreal forests where some trees are 200 years old." [Ouch!]

Seventh Generation anyone?


In other up dates, the Stimulus Bill passed and now energy efficiency is getting federal money. Yeah! I'm really interested in the part about "weatherization of low income homes." I'm way past interested, there's a month left in my internship, I'm a HERS rater and a Building Analyst with BPI and I may even decide to become a LEED AP here next month, we'll see. Things are good and I'm still very happy that slowly things really are changing for the better.

Carbon Offsets

This is a story of a part of Atlanta that's trying to buy their way into "green," by using carbon offsets. Check out the Chicago Climate Exchange mentioned in the article. Oh capitalism and the environment, it is a start though. At least the first article mentions where the money is going.

I read a similar article to this one awhile back that is skeptical of carbon offsets since they are not regulated properly yet. The Chicago Climate Exchange was mentioned again as well. Is this another paper chasing capitalist substance-less "product" that got us into this financial crisis we're in now?

Carbonfund.org seems like a good place to start learning more. We'll see.

Time Banks

This is a seriously cool idea I first heard from a program about globalization. Makes me want to start my own.

Time banks are all about reciprocity, changing the paradigm of "money" as the only incentive for exchange instead of one's time, labor, skills, etc.

Recycling Myths

Read 'em and think about recycling and what's happening with our waste.

"A study by Morris found that it takes 10.4 million Btu to manufacture products from a ton of recyclables, compared to 23.3 million Btu for virgin materials. In contrast, the total energy for collecting, hauling and processing a ton of recyclables adds up to just 0.9 million Btu. The bottom line: We don't need to worry that recycling trucks are doing more harm than good."

Also:

"These days, processors are beginning to move toward "single-stream" material recovery facilities, which allow homeowners to dump all their recycling in one bin and rely on machines to do the dirty work. According to Eileen Berenyi, a consultant who studies solid waste management, the number of single-stream facilities in the U.S. jumped from 70 in 2001 to 160 in 2007." (this is what we do at work... read the link above for more!)

Something else VERY cool about recycling is the recyclebank where you can get points for recording your recycling behavior.

Oh Prefab!

I have a slight love affair with pre-fab buildings and anything designed ecologically for mass consumption and this is one area that quality control can bring energy efficiency to the masses. Here are some photos.

Most Popular Blogs

While the first blog of 2009 might not be about sustainability, it is about information.

Top 100 Blogs

Hours of fun just waiting for your click.