Posts Tagged ‘Sustainability’

When you first think of “eco-friendly building,” you think of recycled / recyclable building materials: recycled plastic pallets; recycled stageboard; recycled skate ramp materials etc. etc. etc. — everything you’d want to build a sustainable city infrastructure with, right?

But, beyond the eco-friendly building methodologies and sustainable design blueprints are the companies who pay to use these “Green buildings.”

Most likely, these eco-friendly buildings turn into offices; housing computers; thus, foreshadowing the rise of a future tech junk problem.

Tech junk. Where does it go? How much energy does it waste? How much energy could we save if we all shut down our computers rather than conveniently choosing, “sleep mode”?

According to iamgreen, today 1-billion computers are active. The accumulative energy wasted by these computers, which on average are left on between 9:00am – 5pm is equivalent to the amount of power it takes to light the entire New York Yankee stadium for every home game from today to the 2596-2597 season.

But, don’t get too excited. There’s more info below!

Scroll down, dive into the rest of the amazing Computing Vs. Environment infographic head first, and let us know what you think in the comments box or on our Facebook fan page.

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Source: iamgreen

Tags: 1 billion, Technology, IAMGREEN, sustainable design, Electronics, new york yankee, design blueprints <BR/>

Green Marketing Should Focus on The People

The latest report from ecoAmerica is titled “up start with people.” The report states that the environmental community has not been successful at wining the hearts and minds because they have focused mostly on government regulation and intervention. The non-profit sees more success being had by those in the movement who are focused on social solutions that are built around people.

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Originally posted on Green Economy Post

Crowdfunded windmill will generate energy for members’ own use

We’ve seen numerous creative approaches to supplying sustainable energy for home users, but recently one caught our eye that seemed a little different. Targeting consumers unwilling or unable to outfit their own homes with wind or solar energy collectors, Dutch Windcentrale offers a chance to own a portion of a local windmill and enjoy a proportionate amount of the green energy it produces.

A brainchild of the Dutch Energy Cooperative with support from the Doen Foundation, Windcentrale gives Dutch households a way to secure their own energy supply for years to come. Toward that end, it has divided up a single windmill’s output into units with an expected wind output of 500 kilowatt hours (kWh) each per year. Interested parties can purchase one or more of those units so as to supply their own household consumption, which averages about 3500 kWh. Power is delivered through the local utility, and during wind-free days it’s supplemented with the utility’s own, traditional supply. When members move, meanwhile, they can simply take their shares with them.

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Originally posted on Springwise

5 Green Products Designed for Greener Highways

Sustainable technology development is the need of the hour. With fast depleting natural resources, threat to survival has become evident. The scientists and designers are on a constant look out for designs that solve survival needs of tomorrow. It is true that highways, with its ever growing vehicular traffic, has to be blamed for creating environmental pollution. But many modern industrial designers vouch to transform this traffic lifeline into green power generation hub for future. Highways extended on vast stretch of land, have potential for developing many sustainable means of generating power. Electric cars, e turbine, solar and wind energy lighting and solar powered air purifiers are few of the futuristic designs to curb the pollution levels and build self- reliant system through highways.

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Originally posted on Ecofriend

Vertical Farms For London Are Lovely Green Eye Candy

Vertical farms may be pie in the sky, but they are a lot of fun for architects with time on their hands. AWR recently organized a competition to design a vertical farm with a residential use called LOFT 2011.

I am particularly fond of the Second Honorable Mention, the Breathing Vertical Farm. There isn’t a lot of growing area, but it would make a beautiful place to live.

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Originally posted on Treehugger

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Tags: dutch households, environmental community, green building, report states, energy supply <BR/>

Eco-friendly Stageboard…Coming to a theatre Near You!

Mainstream pop music, movies, television, theatre; all of it can easily be judged from an armchair.

The entertainment industry — in the eyes of the environmentalist — exists for two reasons: 1) to entertain us while wasting materials 2) to try to “entertain” us even more by wasting even more materials. But, that’s just an opinion from an armchair.

Nonetheless, recent innovations in eco-friendly building have helped ease this age-old problem. More engineeers, tradesmen, artchitects and hobbyists are choosing to use “recycled materials” over natural wood.

Renew Resources has listed the top three reasons why businesses — including the entertainment industry — are investing in eco-friendly stageboard.

GOVERNMENT CERTIFIED

Eco-friendly stageboard is certified by the Canadian Government and U.S. Pentagon. Stageboard has also received the most-coveted “Eco-Mark” in the world by the Japanese Government EPA.

When businesses use government certified eco-friendly stageboard, businesses benefit from a new unique sales point (USP); carrying more market water and marketing themselves as an organization who uses the highest grade of eco-friendly material in the market today.

MAXIMIZED INCOME

Unlike real wood, eco-friendly stageboard doesn’t crack, splinter or break. It doesn’t require high-maintenance chemicals that damage the environment; renowned for lasting longer than regular wood. Ultimately, the more durable your building materials are the less materials you use.

BETTER THAN WOOD

Unlike real wood, stageboard is immune to weather damage. It doesn’t decay or warp or splinter. Stageboard is built from recycled materials as well; preventing abrasion while also serving you excellent acoustics and sound deadening. Builders have also found stageboard takes nails or screws equivalent to or better than real wood with zero pre-drilling required.

SUMMARY

With the green movement seeping more and more into the mainstream year after year, businesses are becoming more inclined to use eco-friendly building materials for its market appeal, sustainability and eco-mark.

In stageboard, users receive a government certified eco-mark and offer a unique sales point; staying above the competition while maximizing material minimization.

Companies like Renew Resources offer eco-friendly building materials all year around to help you save as many trees and money as possible.

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Tags: mainstream pop music, maintenance chemicals, sound deadening, Building material, environment, canadian government, unique sales point <BR/>

Eco-Friendly Floating Villages

Called The Pearl of West Indies, Haiti was during a long time the most visited country of the Greater Antilles representing the occidental third of Hispaniola Island. Devastated in 2010 by an earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale, the country has now to be rebuilt from new innovative architectural and town-planning concepts.

The Coral Reef project plans a matrix to build a three dimensional and energy self-sufficient village from one and only standardised and prefabricated module in order to rehouse the refugees from such humanitarian catastrophes. This basic module is simply made of two passive houses (with metallic structure and tropical wood facades) interlocked in duplex around a transversal horizontal circulation linking every unit.

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Originally posted on Vincent Callebaut

Sustainable ‘Farm Tower’ in London Offers a Solution to Food Crisis

The “London Farm Tower” is an amazing concept by Brandon Martella and is situated on the southern bank of the river Thames, facing Potter’s Field. This sustainable building is a solution to the present day crisis where population is growing by millions, urbanization is eating up all the agricultural land and therefore the increasing demand for food cannot be met.

The Farm Tower is a compact skyscraper that contains all the main ingredients for a self-sufficient city, including agricultural space, albeit in a vertical format. This sustainable building is actually developed much like a tree that depends upon the sun and water for growth and survival.

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Originally posted on Design Buzz

Canadian Government Fires Environment Ministry Scientists and Meteorologists, Hires Oil Lobbyists

I just love the juxtaposition of these two stories in today’s newspapers; in The Star, we learn that the Environment Ministry is cutting 700 Meteorologists, scientists, chemists and engineers, or about 11% of the workforce. “I think it speaks volumes about this government’s priority as it relates to the environment,” says Bill Pynn of the Union of Environment Workers. According to the Star:

The job losses will badly hurt the ability of the science-based department to do its job on issues such as climate change, monitoring water and air quality and wildlife species. “. [says another union leader:] I just don’t think the department can continue to do its science with that magnitude of cuts.”

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Originally posted on Treehugger

Solar Powered Tour Buses With Bikes

This should be a green solution for promoting places and guiding people towards a more eco-friendly way of appreciating places they may end up visiting. Buses are the best way to aid tourists and travellers and since we are all lined up for a greener tomorrow, this Solar Powered Bus concept should be interesting.

That is not all. The bus also comes with bikes inside so that in case it makes a stop, tourists can use them to get go around the tour spot rather than walk. And after the bike ride is over, the bikes are simply returned and hooked up until a next stop (if any) for tours is reached.

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Originally posted on Keetsa

Global Warming Or Global Population Control

While its commendable and, I believe, the job of every person living on planet earth to take care of the common ground we all share; sadly, it appears that environmental conservation has become more of a radical religion than anything else. In reading posts on blogs and news organization sites, its obvious that folks are worried about literally every last ounce of carbon emissions that enter into the atmosphere.

But here is something most of you probably didn’t know: GASP! CO2 is actually GOOD for our environment. According to the online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, “carbon dioxide is essential to photosynthesis in plants and other photoautotrophs, and is also a prominent greenhouse gas.

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Originally posted on Renewable-Energy News

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Tags: tower in london, renewable resources, vertical format, hispaniola island, Sustainability <BR/>

Making Green Homes Affordable

When it comes to construction projects, “green” often translates to “more expensive.” As a result, many working families, seniors and people with disabilities don’t have a chance to enjoy the multiple benefits of eco-friendly living: lower utility costs, healthier living spaces and the feeling that you’re doing the right thing for the planet.

That bothered Enterprise Community Partners, a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating opportunities for low- and moderate-income people through affordable housing and thriving communities.

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Originally posted by Sophia Bennet

Self-Watering Plant Containers for Your Garden

Most plants don’t need much to survive: Just dirt, sunlight, and water — although that last one can really trip you up if you’re a novice gardener, out of town, or just plain forgetful.

That’s where self-watering container gardens come in: You place your plants in an insert, place the insert in a reservoir of water, and let the plant soak up water as required.

Self-watering gardens are a cinch to DIY with almost any kind of container, from an empty soda bottle to an 18-gallon storage bin, but there are plenty of pre-made versions, too.

These nine options — from the basic insert to the DIY IKEA to the chic, cubist alternative — will help that basil, marigold, tomato plant and more flourish, despite your watering flaws.

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Originally Posted on Treehugger

World Changing:  Top Sustainability Trends of the Next Decade

World Changing created a list of the top sustainability trends they see occurring over the next decade:

Bike usage will continue to rise across cities worldwide: “Copenhagen residents use bikes for 37 percent of all their transit. But bikes in Europe represent more than utility; riding a bicycle with the Velib’s bikeshare program in Paris now easily competes (42 million registered users) with taking a spring walk along the Seine. Bike-sharing abounds in dozens of European cities as well as in Rio de Janeiro and Santiago, Chile. Look for North American burgs to continue their proliferation of bicycles-as-transit use and bike lane expansion (NYC bicycle use is up 61% in two years).”

Copenhagen UNFCCC meeting will eventually result in a set of targets for cutting GHG emissions: “The UN COP15 Copenhagen conference resulted in no binding treaty status among any of the attending 128 nations that attended for them to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. This year’s late fall gathering in Mexico City is likely to set national binding targets for greenhouse gas emissions.

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Originally posted by The Dirt

TAU’s Eco-Architecture Could Produce “Grow Your Own” Homes

Stable building structures are being built from living trees.

A bus stop that grows its own foliage as shade? A children’s playground, made entirely from trees? A shelter made from living tree roots that could provide natural protection against earthquakes in California?

“Eco-architecture” may sound like a Buck Rogers vision of an ecologically-sustainable future, but that future is now thanks to the guidance of Tel Aviv University Professors Yoav Waisel and Amram Eshel. The concept of shaping living trees into useful objects ­­­­ known as tree shaping, arborsculpture, living art or pooktre isn’t new. But scientists are now ready to use this concept as the foundation of a new company that will roll out these structures worldwide.

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Originally posted by Aftau

Infographic: Map of Pollution Levels in China’s Major River Basins

The seven major river basins, as a whole, have had steady improvements in water quality over the past decade.

The water quality of the Pearl River and the Yangtze River are the best among the seven major river basins. There have been few changes to the Hai River over the last decade, while there was a big increase in water classified as drinkable (Grades I-III) in the Yellow River. The Huai River has had a relatively stable improvement, but the Songhua River has experienced slow improvement from 2004 to 2007 (perhaps due to two catastrophic pollution accidents that occurred there in 2005 and 2006).

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Originally posted by Circle of Blue

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Tags: novice gardener, empty soda bottle, storage bin, container gardens, enterprise community, green building, Environtment <BR/>

Uninhabited Island Bought on Craigslist to Become a Haven for Artists

One of the greatest places to be inspired for art is smack in the middle of nature, with no other evidence of human habitation. Rob Gorski found a listing for the 91-acre island on Craigslist last year and bought the untamed island (not something you get to do every day!).

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Originally posted on Treehugger

Self-Sufficient Underwater Sky Scraper Havests Renewable Energy

With rising sea levels due to changes in climate threatening the coastal cities worldwide, the need for floating or underwater cities and architectures has been felt more than ever before. Conceived by Malaysian designer Sarly Adre Bin Sarkum, the “Water-Scraper” is a self-sufficient underwater architecture that employs a variety of sustainable technologies to produce renewable energy and grow its own food.

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Originally posted on Design Buzz

Energy Generating Portable Green Classrooms

A California-based company, Green Apple Classrooms, has come up with an innovative model of classrooms which are energy neutral and portable. These classrooms are able to generate electricity for themselves and hence are self sufficient. In fact, on an average, the classroom will be able to produce more electricity than required for self consumption. The classrooms are relocatable hence the same classroom can be used for various purposes at different points of time. This will also bring down infrastructure related costs of school.

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Originally posted on Eco Friend

UN  Is Aiding a Corporate Takeover of Drinking Water

Early last month, pharmaceutical titan Merck became the latest multinational to pledge allegiance to the CEO Water Mandate, the United Nations’ public-private initiative “designed to assist companies in the development, implementation and disclosure of water sustainability policies and practices.”

But there’s darker data beneath that sunny marketing: The CEO Water Mandate has been heavily hammered by the Sierra Club, the Polaris Institute and more for exerting undemocratic corporate control over water resources under the banner of the United Nations.

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Originally posted on Alternet

Michigan Woman Faces 93 Days In Jail For Planting A Garden

It just doesn’t get more ridiculous than this.

Julie Bass of Oak Park, Michigan — a mother of 6, law-abiding citizen, and gardener — is facing 93 days in jail after being charged with a misdemeanor.

Her crime? Planting a vegetable garden in the front yard.

Bass says that she planted the garden after her front yard was torn up for some sewer repairs.

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Originally posted on Treehugger

 

 

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Tags: green, Rabbit Island, acre island, eco friendly, sky scraper, pledge allegiance, green apple <BR/>