The Genzyme Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts is in rare company.
Green Building Tour: Genzyme Center
March 28, 2007 By 14 Comments
Zero Waste
March 26, 2007 By Leave a Comment
In nature, there is no waste. Or, perhaps a bit more accurately, "waste" from any source becomes the feed for another. Everything is a raw material for some other process or system. Sometimes the changes are minor, as with the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide in respiration, while at other times they are hugely transformative, such as the use of soil to grow into a structure like a tree.
We're glad to find opportunities to increase efficiency in systems, as a method of waste reduction. Capturing energy is an easy way of improving efficiency and reducing waste. Co-generation systems get double use by generating both electricity and heat, the heat being a waste product of the electrical generation system.
A wide range of companies are pushing to reduce their waste, and "zero waste" is a concept that is being discussed in more and more boardrooms. A recent article in the Boston Globe discusses how this idea is spreading.
Green Drinks: SE Michigan
March 22, 2007 By Leave a Comment
The third Wednesday of the month is the regular meeting time for Green Drinks in southeast Michigan at Leopold Bros. in Ann Arbor. This was actually the second Green Drinks of the month, because a special Green Drinks Pub Crawl was organized in conjunction with the Remodel Green Conference last Friday.
The Michigan Green Drinks combines with the o2 Network because the membership of the two groups has so much overlap. This month's Green Drinks had about 15 people atttending over the course of the evening. There is not a set program for the evening. Rather, it is just an opportunity to meet like-minded people.
Discussions (that I was part of or was able to overhear) included industrial ergonomics, supply chains and materials for the auto industry (there have been a number of current and former designers from the auto industry who have attended these events), and a like-minded local group called Junto that is modeled on an intellectual discussion group founded by Benjamin Franklin.
Green Building Tour: CH2 Melbourne
March 21, 2007 By 6 Comments
Image credit: City of MelbourneThe 10 story Council House 2 (CH2) building in Melbourne is very likely Australia's Greenest Building. It is the first building in the country to receive six stars in the Green Building Council of Australia rating system.
The building is wrapped with photocell-controlled louvers made of recycled wood which help to temper the interior environment by controlling solar gain. Prominent shower towers are used as part of the cooling system for the building, and a set of large wind turbines on top of the building help to exhaust stale air out of the building. In addition to the visually striking aspects of the building, it also contains a host of features inside that contribute to the building serving as an exemplar of sustainable design.
The building is 12,500 square meters (134,500 square feet) and serves as an office building for 540 City of Melbourne staff, plus ground floor retail space. However, the underground parking includes only 20 parking spaces, but 80 bike spaces are provided (and 9 showers for cyclists are also part of the building's amenitites).
Remodel Green Midwest
March 19, 2007 By 1 Comment
This past Friday, I attended the Remodel Green Expo and Conference in Plymouth, Michigan. This was a one-day conference largely coordinated through the local chapter of the National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI). There were two rooms of exhibits by manufacturers and suppliers for products ranging from architectural salvage and materials, to home power generation systems, to lighting and plumbing manufacturers, all emphasizing green solutions for building and remodeling.
The keynote address was by David Johnston, a former remodeling contractor, who is now a consultant and author (Green Remodeling : Changing the World One Room at a Time
