Cement is a strong and reliable building material, and the demand for it continues to go up. Unfortunately, the process used to manufacture most of the world’s cement creates 5 percent of the man-made carbon dioxide emissions. A new cement company, however, promises a new technique that will transform cement into a greener building material.

Novacem, a British company, has created a new type of cement that absorbs and stores carbon dioxide. The two-year-old company swears that their new type will eat up more CO2 than is released making it.

“Cement is a vital strategic material and the glue that holds the world together,” says Stuart Evans, Novacem’s chief executive officer. “There is a lot more science and technology in cement and concrete than you would imagine.”

In typical buildings, a ton of cement emits about 800kg (1,763 lb.) of CO2 during manufacture. This is mainly due to the limestone used in cement, which releases a large amount of CO2 when it is dug up from the ground. Each year, 3 billion tons of cement are used for concrete building materials. That becomes a lot of CO2 being released.

Novacem, however, uses magnesium silicates as a base for their cement. When removed from the ground, there is virtually no release of carbon into the atmosphere. Even better, during the process of creating cement, carbon is absorbed and fixed into the materials. Creating cement this way removes carbon from the environment. According to Evans, every ton of Novacem cement used could remove up to 850kg (1,873 lb.) of CO2. Homes can be built quickly and safely, without the huge carbon footprint that cement usually creates.

As the building industry continues to look for ways to become greener, companies like Novacem are going to stand out more and more. Two other companies, Calera in Los Angelas, CA, and Sriya Green Materials in Marietta, GA, are also producing types of cement that are more environmentally friendly.

Image credit: anneh632 @Flickr/ CC

CITYDESIGN + CITYBUILD 2010 will be held September 14-16 at the Hyatt Regency Convention Center in Denver.  The conference is titled, “Clean Energy, Technology, and Design for the Networked City.” It will gather leaders from utilities, clean energy, and real estate development industries.

“More  than half of the global population now lives in cities, so it is  critical that our leaders effectively communicate the enormous opportunities and challenges for cities in creating a sustainable future,” said Andrew Bermingham, Montreux Energy’s CEO, in a press release.

Featured conference speakers will include:

• Nancy Pearson, Vice President BPM, SOA, and Websphere Marketing, IBM, Armonk
• Eric Marsh, President, EnCana Natural Gas Inc., Denver
• Carol Battershell, Acting Director, Golden Field Office, U.S. Department of Energy, Golden
• Geoff Zeiss, SmartGrid and Utilities Leader, Autodesk, San Rafael
• Monte Wilson, Director of Planning, HOK Group St. Louis
• Robert Welch, Vice President, Sustainable Generation Solutions, KEMA, Golden
• Bernd Wilke, Vice President, Swiss RE, Zürich
• Jeffrey Fulgham, Chief Marketing Officer, GE Water, Schenectady
• James McMahon, Department Head, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, Berkeley
• Robyn McGuken, Director Resource Efficiency Managment, MWH Global, Broomfield
• David Hill, Vice President, Natural Gas Economy Operations, EnCana
• Mark Kapner, Senior Strategy Engineer, Austin Energy, Austin
• Alexon Khor, General Manager Low CO2 Solutions, Shell International, London
• Bill Mosher, Managing Director, Trammell Crow, Denver
• Mark Gelernter, Dean College of Architecture & Planning University of Colorado Denver
• Avinash Patwardhan, VP, Water & Mgr, Int’l Sustainable Solutions, CH2M HILL, W Palm Beach
• Jennifer Johnson, Studio Leader, Director of Aviation, Gensler, Denver

Ed Tauer, Mayor of Aurora, Colorado, will provide a luncheon speech and John Hickenlooper, Mayor of Denver and Democratic candidate for Governor of Colorado (left photo), will provide the keynote speech.

CITYDESIGN  + CITYBUILD 2010 sessions have been designed to make connections between  such issues as water and energy, smart grids and smart buildings, carbon, optimization and energy efficiency, sustainable transportation systems, and waste and waste-to-energy.

The conference will also showcase some new urban development projects from leading engineering, architecture, real estate development  firms.

Conference sessions include:

• Rethinking Urban Design in the New Sustainability Paradigm
• Transport: Smart Urban Mobility
• Powering our Cities with Clean Energy and the Smart Grid
• Technology and the Networked City

The event formally opens with registration and reception starting at 4pm Tuesday, Sept 14, and an Opening Keynote panel beginning at 5:30pm.  Registration for the entire three-day event is $350. The full CITYDESIGN + CITYBUILD agenda is available online at http://www.citydesign.com.

It has been five years since Hurricane Katrina swept through New Orleans, and many parts of the city are still waiting to be rebuilt. Thanks to the Make It Right Foundation, much of the rebuilding will focus on green and sustainable technologies. Home owners still coming back to the infamous 9th Ward will get to be part of a new sustainable community.

What is the “Make It Right Foundation”?

The brainchild of actor Brad Pitt, the “Make It Right Foundation” is an organization created to help rebuild the devastated 9th Ward in New Orleans. By focusing on green and sustainable building practices, the members hope to create a sustainable community that residents can be proud of.

The foundation began in 2006 as a group of 13 architecture firms hired by Pitt to design affordable, eco-friendly houses for New Orleans residents. So far, Pitt and the “Make It Right Foundation” have begun building homes on the exact spot where the Industrial Canal levee breached on Aug. 29, 2005. The goal is to have 150 homes built by December, 2010. For the residents of New Orleans, the project provides a way to return home.

Many of the homeowners shared their stories about “Make It Right”. One resident, Ann Parfaite said:

“This project affords residents in the Lower 9th Ward the opportunity to return to their neighborhood under better conditions than they were prior to the hurricane. I am very happy to be able to participate in the Make It Right program and to be restored to my home in the Lower 9th Ward,” said Parfaite

All of the homes built so far in the 9th Ward have been certified as LEED platinum for their energy efficiency and sustainability. According to “Make It Right” and the U.S. Green Building Council, the area is now the “largest, greenest neighborhood of single family homes in America.”

As rebuilding continues in New Orleans, other parts of the city are also working to become greener. The The Grand Bay Coastal Resources Center recently became the first Mississippi’s state government-owned building to be LEED certified. Soon, New Orleans could become the most sustainable city in America.

Image credit: eschipul via flickr/CC license

The Web conference is the first in the Biomass Program’s Webinar series, which will cover many of the program’s activities and feature “Hot Topics” discussions relevant to the development of renewable fuels, power, and products from biomass resources. This Webinar will focus on the program’s approach to algal biofuels research and development and will include presentations from four of its recently funded consortia, comprised of more than 65 partners across the United States. This session will also discuss highlights from the National Algal Biofuels Technology Roadmap, which was released by DOE in June 2010.

The number of enthusiasts who see algae as a viable sustainable energy solution is growing. According to Oilgae , an international community for algae backers, Algae can be grown photosynthetically (using sunlight) or heterotrophically (using sugars). “Growing algae in the dark offers better control as the feedstock flexible, and results in higher oil yield. Some companies are pursuing the heterotrophic route that uses fermentation, while the majority still follows the photosynthetic route.”

Presenters include Joanne Morello of DOE’s Biomass Program and representatives from the National Alliance For Advanced Biofuels and Bio-Products (NAABB), the Center for Algae Biotechnology Commercialization (CAB-Comm), the Sustainable Algal Biofuels Consortium (SABC), and Cellana, LLC.

The DOE Biomass Program has announced it is seeking interested stakeholders from industry, academia, research institutions, government, non-profits, other organizations, and the general public.This Webinar is free to all participants, but be sure to register in advance to secure your spot. You will receive the URL, password, and phone number via e-mail prior to the Webinar. Attendees will need this information in order to connect, writes AlgaeIndustryMagazine.com ©2010 .

“Duthie Center for Engineering, the university’s first LEED-certified renovation project, is a wonderful example where education theory becomes a reality for our students,” said Ken Dietz, university architect and director of planning, design and construction. “The project underscores the university’s intention to achieve dynamic growth while demonstrating a commitment to sustainability through reclamation, responsible construction practices, recycling programs, energy and natural resource management.”

The Duthie Center, which recently housed the university’s engineering library, was dedicated in 1947.  The project achieved several points for reuse of the building’s structure, and gained many more through other sustainable design principles.

• 77% of demolition waste that wasn’t reused was recycled.
• 27% of new materials contained recycled content.
• 31% of new materials were produced locally.
• The Center now saves 54% on its water use.

Other features included: a special entrance system that reduces dust and dirt coming into the building, new landscaping and patio areas, dedicated parking for low-emitting and fuel efficient vehicles, secure bike racks, and access to bus lines and a shuttle.

The center houses the Speed School’s career development center, the Hagerty student commons area with food court, freshman engineering teaching laboratories, and classrooms. It also houses offices and laboratories for the computer engineering and computer science department.

“It is extremely rewarding to see how the Duthie Center has evolved over the years,” said Barry Abrams, project manager of the renovation with Lord, Aeck and Sargent Architecture. “It has served many functions and gone through several renovations and additions. It’s exciting to be a part of its new life, once again serving many diverse student, teaching and research functions while being responsive to our sensitive environment.”

Photo (c) 2010 by Thomas Watkins Photography.

Steven Apfelbaum, founder of Applied Ecological Services (AES), has developed land-use solutions to help farmers, companies, landowners, and communities around the world. In a recent article, he called for developing a National Carbon Reserve. AES communications consultant, Maxine Mitchell, writes about balancing ecological issues with cost considerations, “From transforming dismal landfills and dusty iron mines into pristine preserves and prairies, Steve continues to show how ecosystem services result in healthy wild, rural, and urban landscapes while boosting the triple bottom line of people, planet and profit.”
Part of Apfelbaum’s original Huffington Post article follows (emphasis marks provided here):

“The Gulf of Mexico is sick, but, in fact, it’s been ill for a long time, and it needs a bigger fix. Now is the time to look at the broader picture, which includes water, soil, energy and climate—more broadly, the health of our nation’s natural resources.

“Before the spill, there was a dead zone in the Gulf that has reached the size of the state of Massachusetts.

“The problems are well understood: years of poor planning for public and private land use; degraded habitat and agricultural tillage of farm fields that contributes to soil erosion and greenhouse gases; excessive dependence on industrial fertilizers on farmlands; dams clogged with sediment that never reaches the Gulf to sustain its wetlands.

“The solutions are clear as well. We need a healthy land ethic that focuses on regrowing soil and replenishing clean water in ways that are more efficient and less costly.

“Fortunately, farmers can improve their soil and increase its carbon content through such techniques as “no-till” farming, in which farm-seeding equipment inserts seeds into small cuts in the earth. Traditional tillage farming, or plowing, on the other hand, releases carbon into the atmosphere.  No-till agriculture can cut costs in as little as two years and can even increase crop yields by up to 10 percent. It leaves leftover plant matter on the land, building the soil, and that added healthy soil acts as a sponge to lessen water runoff and prevents nutrients from entering rivers and lakes (which is what creates dead zones).

“Responsible ecological conservation and restoration of non-farmland is crucial as well. Replanting native grasslands and restoring drained wetlands, forests, and savannas can also reduce water runoff and erosion of soils, and conserve and store carbon.

“From 2000 to 2005, 53 percent of existing GHG emissions were mitigated and stored in the surface soils and vegetation of our planet at no cost to us. This is one of the wonderful things that the right plants planted in the right location and way do for a living.

“The National Carbon Reserve would combine the best of American ecological and conservation thought and practice with classic public-private market values and incentives, creating a model of carbon management tied to land protection and restoration and more productive agricultural management. “The Reserve’s system of land-use planning to improve soil and water and to manage carbon would start mitigating GHG emissions quickly, while our economic, financial and policy systems move toward more sustainable energy sources. Progress on many of the issues raised here is being made at the local, state and federal levels and should be encouraged, but a national program remains critical.

“This plan would, in the long term, help heal the Gulf, the Mississippi, and our other rivers, lakes, and coastal waters. Ultimately, it could mitigate climate change—healing earth, water and sky.”

<!–aacc96ba15c64d6f844ec2203a1b9075–>

Not only is the building green, but its exhibits are too.  Here are a few highlights:

• The Wildernest, an early learning area built out of materials sourced from within 100 miles of Madison
• An artistically laid gym floor reclaimed from a Milwaukee-area high school
• LED lighting, low- or no-VOC paint, and all-natural, non-toxic and locally harvested flooring and surfaces used throughout the museum
• A four-season rooftop garden, which includes a small stream, a chicken and homing pigeon coop, solar panels, native plants and animals, and exhibits that focus on renewable energy sources 
• Possible-opolis, an exhibit area created with the goal of 100 percent recycled or repurposed materials
• A locally owned café that serves organic, healthy, whimsically presented food for both kids and adults
• An original 1830s log cabin reassembled on the museum’s lot, which will be used as an outdoor classroom

The Museum, which was set to open in mid-August, is designed to support a healthier future for kids and the environment.  It is built in an old Montgomery Ward building, using local designers, contractors, and artisans.  The Children’s Museum provides a great way for kids, and adults, to learn about sustainability with hands-on activities.  Knowing that the building is sustainable too, just makes it that much sweeter.

Photo courtesy of Madison Children’s Museum.

Green Building Elements is excited to host the Green Business Blog Carnival, a traveling weekly series that offers hodge podge of posts from green blogs. Started by sustainablog and TriplePundit (3P); it’s the perfect weekly wrap up to start your weekend off right.

3P asks Do We Need a Green Tea Party? What’s a fiscally conservative greenie to do? Perhaps the tea party has some merit, if only they would grasp ecological principals…

Another possible greenwashing alert on SUNfiltered: O2’s “Eco Ratings” for cell phones: green or greenwash? British cell network O2′s new “Eco Rating” system for phonesprobably isn’t genuinely dishonest… but the lack of information regarding how phones were rated really doesn’t help a consumer make responsible choices.

The Inspired Economist’s take on the biggest green building and design conference of the year. Greenbuild 2010 is coming to Chicago in November. Exciting to see a coverage for this much anticipated event. 2010 Greenbuild: Generation Green is Redefining Our Future

Over at Doc’s Green Blog, A flow chart of how the energy is used in the U.S offers an insight on our energy waste and efficiency. U.S. Energy Flows: the 2009 U.S. Energy Use flow chart is out from Lawrence Livermore National Lab. Coal is down, wind is up, solar is tiny and 75% of the energy used in transportation takes us nowhere. We can learn a lot from this remarkable infographic.

“Green Business” is the new buzzword in today’s corporate world. From cars to energy and living to construction, green products are springing up. What about the outliers? Here are seven green businesses in different industries you’ve never heard of before. 7 Green Businesses You’ve Never Heard Of

The Cleantechies offers the latest possible renewable material that might solve the current energy crisis. Scientists are now looking at Uranium as the answer to this conundrum. Can Uranium 238 Solve the Energy Crisis?

Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) is one of the largest pulp and paper companies in the world. It has also long been a target of green groups for its logging practices. The company claims these are false accusations. So what’s the truth? Eco-Libris blog is interviewing Ian Lifshitz, Sustainability & Public Outreach Manager at APP in an attempt to figure that out.

Green Building Elements finds that Green Marketing Claims Not Always Believed. According to a recent survey of consumers and executives, most people don’t think Corporate America is doing enough to “green up their act.”

And our final post which covers one of my favorite things in the world.. vino. Eat, Drink, Better asks Do Sustainable Practices Make Better Wine? Personally I have tried many certified Organic wines and even wines made from sustainable wineries. Like all wines, some were hits and misses.. but I did find for the most part, the quality of the wine remained just as good or even better than traditionally made wines.

That’s it for Green Business Blog Carnival Series 12. Happy reading everyone.

If you are interested in being featured in the Green Blog Carnival Series, bloggers can submit posts for future carnivals at Triplepundit, and the schedule for hosting is available at sustainablog.

• Only five percent of the water we use runs through hoses, taps, and toilets.  The rest comes from the food we eat, products we buy, and energy and services we depend on.
• On average, 10 gallons of water a day are lost to leaks.
• Flushing the toilet can add up to 20 gallons a day.
• Using a dishwasher is actually more water efficient than hand washing.
• The average pool takes 22,000 gallons to fill.
• A gallon of gasoline takes nearly 13 gallons of water to produce.

So, how can we reduce the amount of water we use on a daily basis?  Start by completing the footprint calculator (it’s actually kind of fun, the duck is cute!), then try some of the following:

• Recycling a pound of paper saves 3.5 gallons of water.
• Cut down on car washing, or go to a commercial car wash where the water is recycled.
• Become a vegan, not eating meat or dairy, and consume 600 gallons less.
• Let your lawn go brown, or plant native/drought resistant species.
• Take a shower instead of a bath.  Use a low-flow showerhead and save 15 gallons during a 10 minute shower.
• Repair leaky faucets and toilets.
• (This one isn’t going to be popular) Don’t flush the toilet every time you go to the bathroom.

I remember clearly a few years ago, during a drought in the Northwest, when the top news story in my area was a brown lawn contest and how we shouldn’t be flushing every time we go.  Implement just a few of these tips, and you can help save one of our most precious resources, plus cut your water and sewer bill.

Photo courtesy of Laszlo Ilyes through a Creative Commons License.

Just a few years ago mention of a composting toilet brought far more in the way of frowns than applause. As Peter Andersson, BioLet USA’s president pointed out in a press release, “People would go, “A what toilet…?!?” You either quickly changed the subject, or went into an ever-lasting explanation about what it is, how it works and especially why on earth anybody would want to have a toilet that doesn’t flush. Things are changing.”

That is certainly true for the number of shopping options that exist today. Try an Internet toilet mall, for instance, called http://www.compostoilet.com/ which offer a variety of composting toilets including Sun-mar and Biolet brands. The green toilets use little water and are designed to help the environment while reducing your water bill.

Another waterless toilet retailer, Letsgogreen.com contends that a composting toilet is the most economical, convenient and environmentally friendly way to process toilet wastes when you can’t connect to a sewer or septic system, or in areas of water shortage.”

As BioLet’s website states, “These days, waterless toilets – and toilets that use less water – have become very common; in some areas they are even considered a necessity. Waterless urinals can be found at many airports or sport arenas, and people are gradually becoming more educated about wise water usage. “

The principle is very simple. Human waste is transformed into a dry, odorless material that can easily be disposed of, or even recycled back to the earth. The toilet consists of various control mechanisms that guarantee an odor free operation and let’s the proud owner of a BioLet appreciate the benefits of having a fully functional toilet while doing his or her part to protect their nation’s precious water resources.

For more information, BioLet’s video archive provides much worth watching.