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 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 kevin, on April 25th, 2010 
Last week I posted a blog where I pondered whether virtual conferences would ever replace live face-to-face ones. It was my way of introducing a preview for the BrightTALK Green Building Summit held on Earth Day. We’ll be posting reviews of individual educational sessions over the next three days. This week, I’ll be flying to Bentonville, AR to attend the second annual NWA Green Expo. I’ve been invited to attend, review, and write about the event. Where last week seemed to be about virtual participation, this week I’ll be engaged physically.
One thing that sets this trip apart from others I’ve taken is the fact that I will not be traveling with a laptop. Instead, the only devices I’ll have with me are an iPhone, a new iPad, and a camera. It will be the lightest business trip I’ve ever taken. I will readily admit that I’m a gadget hound. On April 3rd, the first day the iPad went on sale, friends called and emailed, anxious to hear my first impressions. They were assuming, of course, that I would be an early adopter. Although I was far from being the first person in line, they were, as it turns out, quite correct. I did have an iPad by the end of the first day.
The majority of my work is somewhere else, so I accumulate frequent flyer miles quickly. I deliver thirty presentations throughout the country in a busy year, and ten in a slow year. I haven’t had a slow year in a long time. Even though a laptop is technically portable, lugging it through airports, dealing with it during security scanning, and carting it around with other luggage gets old fast when you’re doing it every other week. The potential to travel with a devise significantly lighter, even if slightly less capable, is worth trying. So my event reporting will be an experiment to see if it’s even possible to conduct business without a laptop.
I’ll be arriving in Bentonville, home of Walmart – one of three primary event sponsors, Thursday afternoon. Conference and expo start early the next morning. Part of my coverage includes limited access to the featured speakers. I’m hoping to conduct short interviews with each of them over the two and one half days I’ll be in town. Since my time will be short, I have to make certain I maximize my time with each. I’ll be preparing over the next three days so that I don’t ask dumb questions or ones that don’t lead to useful insights. I’m envious of people who make interviewing look easy, because I know it is not. When the interviewer is uncomfortable, nervous, or self conscious the interviewee can easily tell, and it totally changes the conversation energy.
Read more event preview: NWA Green Expo
by aleida, on April 19th, 2010  Image courtesy of Interstyle web site “This movement is all about collaboration.” So said Tammy Schwolsky, CEO of Residential Energy Assessment Services, Inc. (REAS), while giving us a sneak peek at her ZENERGY House the day before its grand opening (we covered that event here). Kevin had asked her what single aspect had surprised her the most during the two-year house renovation project, and without hesitation she said that it was how everyone really needed to work together to accomplish truly sustainable results. We encounter that sentiment quite often in our conversations with artists, designers, fabricators, and all the other professions whose practitioners are actively working in the sustainability movement. Yet of everyone we’ve talked to and worked with, few individuals embody that sentiment better than Robyn Palmen, Architectural Sales Manager at Interstyle Ceramic & Glass.
Several years ago, when we started looking for recycled glass tiles, our knowledge of that entire category was rather limited. We were very much still learning what questions to ask manufacturers about their products to determine whether or not they would support our pursuit of sustainable strategies. We found Interstyle right at that time, and from the onset Robyn was welcoming of our inquiries, enthusiastic about keeping us informed about new developments, and mindful to check in with us often to make sure we were well stocked with samples and product details.
I realize that you may be reading this and thinking, “What’s the big deal? That’s her job.” And all that may be trivial, but I often found that, in reaching out to other companies, I usually hit a brick wall: messages were never returned and e-mails went unanswered; or if I did manage to speak with someone, I would either get vague answers or be promised information that later would not be delivered. A few months ago I wrote a little about an experiment that Interstyle did for us (read that post here). It was Robyn who took our design specs and got that sample through their shop, all before we ever specified any of their tiles. Now, this post is not about Robyn specifically, but I find it difficult to speak of Interstyle without mentioning her because, to us, her approachability is a reflection of the company, their values, and their integrity in the sustainability movement. And when we combine that with the incredibly beautiful products that they design and manufacture, we must admit that we are huge fans – we just love what we see.
Insterstyle Ceramic & Glass is a family-owned company based in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. It was founded in 1977 by Ernesto and Georgia Hauner. The Brazilian husband and wife team had once ran Mobilinea, a modern furniture company. Their emigration to Canada had forced them to leave that company behind. Once in British Columbia, they decided to delve into the world of ceramic tile and, thus, continue their entrepreneurial proclivity in their new home.
Read more stories of sustainability: Interstyle Ceramic & Glass
by kevin, on April 18th, 2010 
While others debate whether we’re living through the final days of print media, I wonder if some day virtual conferences will replace physical ones. Are the webinars of today comparable? Do they offer an equally compelling exposition or learning experience? Actually I’m not entirely certain that’s a fair question. Although similar, the two venue types are so utterly different it’s difficult to make comparisons.
A year ago I might have thought it unlikely that a webinar could equal a face-to-face conference. But two things have changed my opinion. First, over the past twelve months I’ve endured terribly disappointing lectures at some of the biggest events. There are few things more frustrating than traveling long distances and paying good money for event registration, flight, rental car, hotel, and meals only to be tortured by painful presentation skills and horrendous graphics. It’s even worse when delivered by someone you respect and were looking forward to. Second, I’ve attended several well produced and informative on-line sessions. There’s still some disparity between virtual and face-to-face events, but technology and web speed are helping to narrow the gap. I can say with absolute certainty that my office chair is far more comfortable than any stackable convention chair. My couch is even better.
Even though a traditional conference is experienced live, I usually feel a strange detachment from the speakers. If the event is large enough, I might be seated several hundred feet from the podium. If the speaker is sufficiently interesting, attendees will swarm the stage, making it impossible to actually meet the person. Even with a computer between speaker and attendee webinars can be more intimate with a conversational tone.
A good example is the webinar hosting service BrightTALK. To celebrate Earth Day last year they organized their own virtual educational program called the Green Building Summit. I was invited to present a session about the environmental impact of buildings. It seems odd to use these words, but I actually met a number of interesting people. BrightTALK held a mini summit focused on sustainable building design earlier this year, where I also presented. It too was a well attended and an informative day of educational sessions (we posted about it here, here, and here).
Read more BrightTALK Green Building Summit 3
by kevin, on April 12th, 2010  Image courtesy of Ecor web site Some of the most interesting developments today in sustainable building materials might be occurring at offices and laboratories within federal agencies. One example is the Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) in Madison, WI. This century old government lab, operated by the U.S. Forest Service through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, has conducted remarkable scientific research on wood products and their potential commercial application. During the late 1980s a research general engineer named John Hunt began experimenting with dimensional fiber products. His primary focus was wet formed molded hardboard panels made from bio-based low yield wood, recycled paper, and agro fibers. His ground-breaking work led to a number of commercial products with names like Spaceboard and Gridcore.
In 1992, Robert Noble created Gridcore Systems International (GSI), licensed the patented Gridcore technology from the FPL, and developed a business plan to commercialize the proprietary process of molding cellulose fibers into three dimensional structures to create high performance panels from recycled resources. Although an interesting and unusual material, Gridcore was not the first, or only, product of its kind. It’s lineage can conceptually be tied to similar products made from pressed straw, wheat, paper, and byproducts of agriculture.
Seven years after its founding the company shuttered their Long Beach, CA manufacturing facility and halted production. “We made a strategic mistake in trying to position the product as a commodity product to compete with others such as plywood and MDF,” says founder Robert Noble during a recent interview, “and attempted to compete with those on price.” Engineered wood panels live in a category where price alone typically drives purchasing decisions. GSI found it difficult to communicate the environmentally favorable attributes of their product in such a selling climate.
Read more product preview: Ecor®
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 April 8th, 2010 
In 2004, on a busy corner in Venice, CA, an old Hudson auto repair garage built in 1923 was converted to an art gallery. Abbot Kinney Boulevard, between Venice and Pacific, is a ten block long collection of trendy restaurants, custom jewelry shops, book stores, clothing stores, and consignment shops. Every medium-size U.S. city has a similarly gentrified stretch. The garage was located at the southeastern end of that stretch at the corner of Venice and Abbot Kinney. Others in the community may not have given much notice to yet another gallery opening in an already artsy neighborhood. However, it was the first time the garage had been used for anything other than auto repair since it had been built. The new tenant and planned space were different, yet not in a way immediately obvious, especially to that tenant. epOxybOx (intentional spelling) was an art gallery dedicated to presenting green art and the work of fine artists using green materials or media. That idea may have been several years ahead of the curve, but that’s not what set it apart. At the time, no one could have predicted what it would become and how it would evolve.
When Deborah Guyer Greene started epOxybOx, she wasn’t fully aware of the path it would take. In fact, her new venture began on a bit of a lark. She was art director for the Foliage Theater Project and ran the Shakespeare Probation Program where she taught theater to violent offenders between 14 and 19 years old. One day, while searching for a large wall surface for a mural painting, she stumbled on the shuttered garage. She knew as soon as she saw the place she had to do something with it. During a recent interview, she referred to it as divine intervention. “It’s a terrible way to make business decisions,” she warns. Without a written business plan and before securing investment capital, Deborah signed a lease and formed epOxybOx. It quickly became a social hub, a community gathering place, an event center, and a place to party. Event and opening audiences went from small crowds to large throngs.
While converting garage to gallery, Deborah knew she wanted to use environmentally favorable building materials, but finding them was far more difficult than she expected. That struggle planted a seed in her mind. Two years later she joined forces with Sasha King to form epOxyGreen. Their idea was that green materials should be easier to find and affordable to purchase. At first they carved out 500 square feet in the garage lube room, but the new business was an instant hit and required additional space. As the showroom grew, the gallery shrank. It eventually took over all 1,500 square feet.
Read more stories of sustainability: Deborah Guyer Greene
by kevin, on April 5th, 2010
On July 27, 1976 members of the American Legion gathered at the Bellevue Strattford Hotel in Philadelphia, PA to celebrate the American Bicentennial. Within two days, veterans were falling ill with an unidentified ailment with symptoms similar to pneumonia. By the end of the event, more than 220 attendees had been treated and 34 eventually died. A six month investigation by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finally uncovered the culprit – a bacteria breeding in a hotel cooling tower.
I grew up in New Jersey less than 60 miles from Philadelphia. I vividly recall my excitement for the 1976 American Freedom Train and the Bicentennial summer, along with my fear over what would later be named Legionnaires Disease. There was great debate at my school about whether a scheduled field trip to a Philadelphia museum would be canceled. My mother tried to reassure me that it wasn’t as bad as it seemed, but I knew something was wrong. This incident also had a profound effect on Carol Baumgartel, founder of American Clay. During a recent interview conducted in the LEED Platinum certified home of a good friend she told me how it forever altered her thinking and initiated a heightened sensitivity to the presence of toxic substances commonly found in the average indoor environment.
In 1999, Carol’s oldest son Croft developed skin reactions, headaches, and respiratory conditions from prolonged exposure to caustic chemicals he used with his fine interior finishing business. Around the same time, a colleague introduced him to a European clay plaster product that was free of the potential toxins affecting his health. Although it was an improvement, he thought he could make it better. He enlisted Carol, an interior designer with a fine arts degree in ceramics, to research the product and determine its composition. With her understanding of clays and aggregates and his engineering background they were able to reverse engineer a comparable product.
We should not underestimate the potency of mixing maternal instinct and entrepreneurial spirit. In my interviews with product manufacturers, I’m often told how underlying considerations for future generations influence business decisions. When I raise this issue with Carol it brings her to tears. It’s easy to see how deep her passion runs for merging her business strengths with efforts that contribute positively. Regard for others, even people you don’t know or will never meet, is an essential ingredient of sustainability.
Read more stories of sustainability: Carol Baumgartel
by Kevin, on April 4th, 2010 
What’s that totally overused expression – hindsight is 20/20? I guess it’s used so often because there’s a certain amount of truth in it. And in looking back over the past three months that have been the UCLA Extension program winter quarter, I may have learned far more than my students did. I have to admit that I began the course following a pattern that’s become my routine. I will often get a commitment for something new, like a lecture, or in this case a teaching gig, and only partially pre-prepare. I intentionally try not to figure it all out. I like generating opportunities for serendipity. When it works well, I’m able to create an atmosphere of compression that forces things to happen. With just enough planning, it forces a higher level of performance.
For those who work with me there are moments of stress. And with this course, I’m certain my students experienced many moments of anxiety. To further complicate matters, this was the first time the course had been offered, so I was testing much of the content on these students. So what worked and what didn’t?
Let me start with what went well. I believe the students were beginning to comprehend the complexity of closed loop systems by the end. I know that half way through, many were scratching their heads wondering where we were headed. After six classes we hadn’t covered enough material to start connecting meaningful dots and linking concepts. Cradle to cradle, or closed loop systems thinking is more than just a matter of rethinking waste. Transitioning from the linear path of current industrial systems to cyclical ones requires a broader understanding of contributing factors. Elsewhere on this site you can read about our own transition template where we’re attempting to establish a framework of strategies and decision making. In it we identify twelve issues to consider – resource preservation, waste reduction, closed loop, energy conservation, embodied energy, alternative supply, toxin elimination, community engagement, nurturing environments, net zero cost, life cycle cost, and ecosystem cost. The course was too short to cover all twelve, but we did cover eight in varying depth.
Read more UCLAx – wrap up
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