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 by Kevin, on May 7th, 2010 
When arriving at the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport, a few miles west of Bentonville, it’s difficult to imagine that a facility with so few gates could ever become a portal to the future of environmentalism. But with Walmart’s recently aggressive sustainability initiatives, that’s precisely what is happening to this small airport. Will we look back ten years from now with disbelief, or should we have anticipated the impact of their action?
I’ll be honest, as a retail designer, I’ve never been a fan of Walmart. Don’t even get me started on issues regarding treatment of employees or potential correlation between poverty rates in counties where Walmart stores are located. There’s a great deal to dislike about the world’s largest retailer and corporation. It has a long list of enemies, detractors, and opponents. But my opinion is beginning to shift.
With little fanfare or self promotion, Walmart is changing not only how they do business, but also how their suppliers operate, persuading them to rethink production processes in an effort to reduce costs and environmental impact. Walmart wields such economic leverage that manufacturers have little choice but to follow their lead. This, of course, will likely create a sizable ripple within the retail industry. Walmart competitors will be pressured to change just to keep pace. No single company on the planet has the same potential for deep and radical change.
In Bentonville, practically everyone I met is currently or was once employed by Walmart – the hotel night manager once worked there, the waiter’s day job is there, the bartender and his brother work there, an acquaintance I meet at dinner used to be a writer there, you get the picture. Some of the biggest buildings and parking lots are related to Walmart – corporate offices, distribution centers, and stores. Streets are named for founder Sam Walton. The original store on the town green is preserved as a museum and visitor center. It’s almost impossible to experience any aspect of the region that isn’t directly or indirectly connected to Walmart. It’s like visiting a military town such as San Diego, CA or Norfolk, VA, where the Navy presence is so dominant that you’re practically guaranteed to see a soldier or a ship.
By the way, none of this should be misunderstood as criticism. I point it out to highlight the incongruity or the irony of the circumstances I witness each time I visit. The dialogue regarding environmental impact and strategies for change are becoming louder and more emphatic. On my last two trips to Bentonville, I was there to discuss sustainable building design and learn best practices from Walmart and supplier initiatives.
These thoughts were on my mind when I landed last week for another green conference and expo. The NWA Green Expo was sponsored by Walmart, Sam’s Club, and Shell Oil, but this fact was completely downplayed and practically hidden. The two-day event was free to the public and offered a half day of speakers and panel sessions, film screenings, presentations, and two days of exhibits.
Read more review: NWA Green Expo overview 
by aleida, on April 28th, 2010 Image courtesy of BrightTALK webinar
BrightTALK’s Green Building Summit continued on April 22, 2010 with What’s Good and What’s Next: The Future of Sustainable Materials, a panel discussion moderated by our very own Kevin O’Donnell. I won’t write more about the session here as Kevin will post on it later this week. Instead, I’ll [...]
by aleida, on April 28th, 2010  Image courtesy of BrightTALK webinar The BrightTALK programming continued with Randy Knox’s presentation titled Adobe – LEED & Beyond. Knox is the Head of Environmental Programs at Adobe, and oversees their global real estate facilities and physical security operations. His was a very short presentation – it lasted only 28 minutes – but it was nevertheless a very informative look at Adobe’s internal sustainability initiatives.
In the United States, Adobe has already earned four LEED-EB Platinum certifications: three for their headquarters in San Jose, CA, and one for their offices in San Francisco, CA, which also happens to be the oldest building in the world with that level of certification. The shift at headquarters began during the energy crisis of 2001 with a concerted effort to reduce their electrical use. With just a few small and simple projects (like turning off lights and de-lamping certain areas of their building), they reduced their use by about 10%. This compelled them to commit to an additional 10% reduction, and installed real-time electrical meters to measure their progress.
Meters in place, they replaced incandescent bulbs with CFLs in some areas, installed watt stopper power strips in all of their 2,500 employee offices (which also allowed them to run other electrical devices via motion sensors), reduced the run time of their garage fans (without endangering human safety), and reduced the length of time that their outside lights were on at night. The projects cost $118,000 to implement. They received $79,000 in rebates from PG&E, their local utility, for a total out-of-pocket expense of $39,000. Knox reports that they are currently saving about $212,000 per year thanks to these changes.
But they didn’t stop there. Continuing with lighting, they replaced all of their garage high-pressure sodium lamps with CFLs. Currently, they are experimenting with LEDs, which are already installed in elevator lobbies and exit signage. They are working on transitioning their garages’ first floor to LEDs. So far, they have spent $400,000 on these lighting efforts, have received $70,000 in rebates from PG&E, and are saving $306,215 per year.
Read more event review: BrightTALK GBS3 session 5
by aleida, on April 27th, 2010  Image courtesy of BrightTALK webinar Right at noon on April 22, 2010, BrightTALK presented the roundtable discussion Ghirardelli Goes Green. Moderated by Deanna Meredith, the Senior Marketing Manager for Willdan Energy Solutions, the panelists were Jane Echlin, the General Manager of Ghirardelli Square and the Developer Representative for Fairmont Heritage Place located in Ghirardelli Square, Darren Nix, the LodgingSavers Program Manager with Ecology Action, and Dr. Densen Cao, CEO of the CAO Group. The discussion was specifically centered on the transition of the historic Ghirardelli sign that sits atop Fairmont Heritage Place to an LED system.
“Ghirardelli Goes Green started last year with a focus on our trash and recycling program, but has morphed into us reviewing other areas here at the property … where we and our tenants can make an impact,” says Echlin. They have tracked gas and electricity use for each tenant through the ENERGY Star website. An assessment of the carbon monoxide emissions in their parking garage concluded they could turn off some fans. And then they organize an actual event – that coincides with Earth Day – attended by various participants who showcase ways that the public can reduce energy use.
Last year, Echlin and her team actively started looking at alternative, lower wattage lighting systems. The property had historically had problems with maintenance with the old type of bulb, which would be affected by the salty air and often go out. But when they started looking at the options “we were confused by the amount of product out on the market and knowing which were reliable products, which were going to last, etc.,” says Echlin. For professional advice, she reached out to Willdan Energy Solutions and PG&E.
Read more event review: BrightTALK GBS3 session 4
by aleida, on April 27th, 2010 Image courtesy of BrightTALK webinar
BrightTALK’s Green Building Summit on April 22, 2010 continued with Bridging Ecological Research and Urban Design: Ecological Design and Planning, presented by Alexander J. Felson from Yale University School of Architecture and Forestry and Environmental Studies.
Felson first did a fast-paced overview of the lack of rigor within [...]
by aleida, on April 26th, 2010  Image courtesy of BrightTALK webinar BrightTALK’s Green Building Summit on Thursday, April 22, 2010 continued with a presentation titled Sustainable Federal Buildings: Mariposa Land Port of Entry, AZ, presented by Melissa Farling, Brian Farling, and Eddie Jones, all three from Jones Studio, an architecture firm based in Phoenix, Arizona. They gave us an overview to some of the considerations that are going into the redesign of one of the largest ports in the United States.
The Mariposa Land Port of Entry is just one of thirty-three ports of entry along the United States – Mexico border. Located in Nogales, Arizona, “Mariposa’s facility annually processes more people than LAX and JFK combined. It inspects $12.85 billion of merchandise, and 45% of the produce consumed in the US crosses Mariposa,” said Jones. Yet the facility struggles to do its job. These numbers are continually increasing, and during harvest season, trucks already have a wait time of up to 10 hours. But at least they have designated paths to follow; pedestrians have to use worn dirt paths to get to and from the port. “The traffic queues, congestion, exhaust fumes, and dessert temperatures combine to create a toxic environment and an unpleasant experience for customs and border patrol agents, [United States citizens], and Mexican citizens.”
Built in 1973, the port is in need of a major redesign. “One of our most daunting challenges was to redesign the port to move traffic more efficiently, while saying architecturally, “Welcome to the U.S.A.” The project is pursuing a “whole system” approach – one that minimizes the use of resources and impact on the environment while providing security and a welcoming environment. Inspired by linear rail yards, the redesign includes a clear area for southbound traffic into Mexico, two designated areas for northbound traffic (one for personal vehicles, and a much larger one for commercial trucks), and two safe and distinct lanes for pedestrians. Lastly, an “oasis” has been carved out for port employees. Designed at the scale of a small downtown main street, it will provide a safe zone where employees can enjoy the outdoors and de-stress.
Read more event review: BrightTALK GBS3 session 2
by aleida, on April 26th, 2010  Image courtesy of BrightTALK webinar To mark the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, BrightTALK, the on-line webinar service, went all out with a week-long schedule packed with a total of 54 sessions. Of the eight presented on April 22, seven focused on green building. Kevin previewed the day’s line-up here. I started the day with The Economics of Green Building, presented by George Elvin, Ph.D., the Director of Green Technology Forum and an Associate Professor of Architecture at Ball State University.
The main theme of the presentation was, as he put it, “saving the planet without breaking the bank.” (Why do people insist on this ridiculous notion of “saving the planet”??) He touched upon these six major topics:
- no- to low-cost LEED credits
- tax incentives
- high ROI investments
- fist cost vs. life cycle cost
- economic benefits
- green project financing
The forty-eight minutes that Elvin had for this session prevented him from doing an in-depth look into any of these topics, yet he managed to pack in a lot of information. I’ll take a cue from him and focus only on what he presented for item number one. For it, Elvin provided some of the results of a survey from earlier this year that asked practitioners to identify what they considered the most low-cost LEED credits that they achieved in a building.
Read more event review: BrightTALK GBS3 session 1
by aleida, on April 11th, 2010  Image by Aaron at Pixel Planet On Friday, April 2, the ZENERGY House prototype opened to the public. It was the culmination of years of work by Tammy and Ron Schwolsky, co-founders of Residential Energy Assessment Services (REAS), an energy auditing and consulting company, and the beginning of a living laboratory where the Schwolskys have put every energy efficiency product and strategy in the house to the test, and use the process as a teaching opportunity for the local community.
Tammy tells us that she and Ron, both energy auditors, bought the house in 2007 with the original intention to do a whole house energy efficiency retrofit and put it back on the market within six months. They hoped to use the project as an example to builders and homeowners that a market demand for high performance homes does exist. Unfortunately, their timing could not have been worse. They realized they wouldn’t be able to sell it, so they modified their strategy. Their work had already shown them that it’s sometimes difficult to get people to change long-lived behavior related to buildings if you can’t show them a better way in practice. So, they began to re-envision the house as a tool for them to teach and for others to learn about how to “green” existing homes, getting it to be as close to net-zero energy as possible.
 Image by Aaron at Pixel Planet The house was specifically chosen for its size. At 2,450 square feet of living space, it represents the average size of a single family home in the United States. It’s a one story structure with a large entry area, a living room, a kitchen with a small eating area, three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a tiny sitting room, a two car attached garage, and an outdoor pool. Built in 1950, it was hardly a model for energy efficiency. An exhaustive energy audit made use of a blower door, duct blaster and infrared camera, combustion analyzer, and only after knowing the state of the house did the improvements begin. Some of the more notable improvements are:
- All windows and most of the fixed glass block installations were replaced with dual-pane low-E windows.
- Lighting needs were reduced by 30% and all incandescent lights were replaced with CFLs and LEDs.
- All three existing toilets were replaced with dual-flush toilets for water savings and consumption was reduced by 70%.
- A new water heater clocking in at 99.1% efficiency replaced an older model.
- The original 2 3-ton A/C unit and 2 furnace HV/AC system was replaced by a single, new 3-ton A/C unit and combined hydronic heating system.
- New, Energy Star qualified appliances were installed.
- Once all other energy efficiency strategies were exhausted, a set of 12 photovoltaic panels was installed on the west-facing roof. The system is visibly tiny; it takes up less than half of the west-facing roof space, and operates at a 17% efficiency level. Yet, despite all that, the energy requirements of the entire house are so small that the system can easily handle the demand.
Read more review: the ZENERGY House opens
by kevin, on March 30th, 2010 
Two of the most populous nations in the world, China and India, are likely to experience the most dramatic water crisis this century. And though it may seem logical to expect that rapidly rising populations would be the principal cause, it will more likely be due to quickly diminishing supply of fresh water sources. Runoff from the Himalayan mountain range feeds seven of the largest river systems in the world and provides water to 40% of the world’s population. Yet everyday, those systems become more polluted and less viable for human use. In China, more than three quarters of all major rivers are so contaminated they can no longer support aquatic life. Seven of the ten most polluted cities are in China. Such pollution is leading to significant immediate water shortage in some of their biggest population centers. In India, more than 700 million people do not have adequate sanitation. Many of their sacred rivers, like the Ganges, are teeming with raw sewage. Degradation is occurring at a pace equal to, or faster than, increases in demand.
Where other natural resources have potential substitutes, water does not. It’s the one resource humans cannot live without. As we’ve mentioned in many earlier posts, although three quarters of the planet is covered with water, the vast majority of it cannot be used without treatment. Less than 1% off all the water on Earth is fresh and accessible. There are several critical factors which further reduce that scarce amount, and the pollution mentioned above is just one covered in considerable detail in Maude Barlow’s latest book Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water.
Barlow is a writer and activist with admirable credentials. She is the founder of the Blue Planet Project and the board chair of Food & Water Watch. She’s received eight honorary doctorates and written, or co-written, 16 books which cover the topics of globalization and the environment. She has become an international figure addressing global water issues.
Read more review: Blue Covenant
by aleida, on March 9th, 2010 Image courtesy of Bentley web site
For the third session of the day, I planned to attend The Recycling Business: Entrepreneurial Inspiring Models, but, sadly, the co-founders of Ecoist, who were slated as two of the three speakers, were not present, nor was anyone taking their place. So, I instead moved over to Truly [...]
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