Archives – May, 2010
Van Jones did not disappoint as the keynote at the Climate Solutions 2nd Annual Fundraiser breakfast in Seattle this morning. He evoked the oil spill disaster in the Gulf as a learning opportunity and catalyst for moving us away from fossil fuels and towards a national climate policy. Jones stated that we are now paying the price on the back-end for fuels that are cheap at the front end. The fact is that we pay artificially low prices for our energy, as industry has been “allowed” to pollute our environment without a penalty, thereby subsidizing the real cost of fossil energy production. With a cap-and-trade or a carbon tax policy, he argues, we would begin to pay the “real” price for these resources and presumably change our behaviors as a result.
In addition to climate benefits, Jones is focused on economic development. As a co-founder of Green Jobs For All, he reminded us that we could build wind turbines in Detroit utilizing the smart talent already available with great skills developed in the automotive industry. He sees green jobs not only in economic terms but also in social dividends paid to undirected youth. He states, “Let’s have kids put down handguns and pick up caulking guns, instead.”
Jones sang the praises of our Seattle green culture, leadership, and applauded our use of governmental financial resources as part of the Recovery Act to help fund a better tomorrow. Paying for residential energy efficiency can lower energy demand and waste, create (green) jobs and enhance the health of our communities, as less pollution means improved health, as in lower asthma rates.
Van also sees how the Northwest is deploying new charging station infrastructure to support a move toward electric cars. The Honorable Dow Constantine, King County Executive, provided the opening remarks, including a reference to his own anticipation over the pending delivery of his all-electric Nissan “Leaf.”
While Jones sees the Northwest as committed to greener culture and driving eco-innovation, he views our leadership role as one where we cannot get complacent but must push through any cynicism if the planet as a whole has a fighting chance.
While most people would find it incredibly hard to follow in the footsteps of a Van Jones speech, Martha Kongsgaard of Puget Sound Partnership was an outstanding “closer.” She literally sang a call-to-action tune encouraging us to get out our checkbooks to help Climate Solutions on their mission.
Checks are necessary in supporting the great works of Climate Solutions but additionally please share with our readers how the disaster in the Gulf has informed or altered your views or driven you to make a positive change.
Van Jones, you are inspiring as one of North America’s Green Heroes!
–alex
May 27, 2010
I am on the Steering Committee for the Eastside LEED Users Group (ELUG), the outreach arm of Cascadia Green Building Council. We meet monthly to share topics on sustainability that impact the built arena. Our hosts are GLY in Bellevue, on the eastside of Lake Washington. Our audience consists of architects, contractors, engineers, municipals as well as various other consultants. This week’s program included a panel of local green design leaders showcasing 5 projects at various scales.
Puget Sound Energy (PSE), Factoria Service Center / Factoria WA
This is new small office building and existing warehouse that is typically occupied by field crews early- and late- in the day, it was important to the client, a local utility to green up their building portfolio as new projects are designed and developed. This previously developed site included an adaptation plan to expand the warehouse space with new offices for the utility and service crews. Originally slated for LEED-Silver the design team was able to advocate for additional green features and now are looking to achieve LEED-GOLD certification. Some of the strategies employed were: high performance glazing, shading techniques, highly recycled content steel siding, under floor air distribution, day lighting, skylights, zone controls, high efficiency HVAC, green roof and bio-swales for storm water management. Representing this project were a trifecta of sustainability talent, Brianne Culley and Glenn Steiner of Magellan Architects along with, their LEED consultant, Elizabeth Powers of O’Brien and Company.
zHome, Multifamily Project / Issaquah WA
Brad Liljequist, zHome Project Manager, City of Issaquah presented his “labor of love” as he has been working on this special project almost half a decade but it has finally broken ground. This unique carbon neutral project is not a one-off residence but a 10-unit town home property on a ½ acre site. Each unit will be from 900 – 1600 SF and though the sales price is not yet officially determined (the proposed range is $400 – 600K). This Built Green community will include many green features and strategies: sustainable materials and non-toxic finishes, diversion of almost all construction waste, low-impact-development for storm water management, monthly site tours to inform the greater community, on-site generation including underground heat pump, super insulated wells, PVs, high efficiency lighting, in-home dashboards to monitor energy use, education for occupants on how their behavior impacts energy and water use. Brad’s goal is to use this boutique product to inform and transform mass production builders and challenge them to build healthy, high quality, efficient, beautifully designed homes for our new energy future.
Miller-Parker Straw Bale Home / Pendleton OR
Not only is this urban infill project unique because of the construction methods and materials using straw bale but the homeowners acted as their own general contractors. With a two-year timeline this is another example of a long-term investment in building with heart, soul and perseverance. Terry Phelan, of Living Shelter Design Architects is a pioneer of the green building movement and was the home’s designer. She is an advocate for healthy buildings and educator in the use of straw bale for construction as well as passive home design. By siting the home to take advantage of passive solar heating and through the super insulation walls provided by the bales and stucco system this home requires little supplemental heating. Though summers are hot in OR, this home has no air conditioning but instead relies on an attic fan and open windows to cool the space during the hottest months of the year. This home’s finishes are elegant, earthy and very personal – with gorgeous wood detailing that reflects the personality and spirit of its owners.
Rainier North Building / Issaquah WA
Jim Merrill of Merrill Design developed a small office 13,654sf building with green standards including a green roof and 100% porous paving. He has a designed and developed a master plan to evolve this project and include mixed-use office, residential and retail but prudently he is waiting for the market demand to turnaround. Issaquah’s downtown offers a wonderful place to live, work and play in the evergreen foothills of the Cascades. Located within a town with a salmon safe initiative the residents reflect a culture and history of environmental stewardship.
Valley View Middle School / Snohomish WA
Tim Jewett of Dykeman is working on the first Living Building Challenge Middle School project. Fortunate to have a progressive client, leading the local school district, Jim along with his large multi-disciplinary design team is developing some innovative strategies. The almost 40 acre site includes a 1980s vintage school building that was not designed with a vision towards the long-term. One goal of Living Building is to design structures and places that will stand the test of time and contribute positively to their environments and communities. Not only are the teachers responsible for meeting the thirst for knowledge that children have but this project itself will become a teaching tool and model for many generations to come. Some unique features: restoring wetlands, PVs partial offset of energy demand, day lighting for all classrooms, geothermal loops, on-site septic, use of gray water. With a $60million budget and 18 months to complete this will certainly become a green jewel in the district’s crown.
With some back of the envelope math – five projects that may have touched five people, each of whom then shared the news with five of their peers thereby exponentially inspiring a wave of 3,125 (= 5^5) green building eco-evangelists who may consider new approaches in their personal or professional lives – pretty good stats for a breakfast program. Imagine what YOU can do, too and please share it with our audience.
Our June 15th, ELUG is focused on Urban, Local and Sustainable Agriculture and its relationship to the built environment of the future. Hope to see you there!
–alex
May 20, 2010
Along with almost 1,000 other people, from many parts of the country, I attended the 2010 Living Future Conference in Seattle last week. The majority of the audience represented the Cascadia Regions’ design build commercial community. Also in attendance were corporate leaders, foundations, municipal representatives, community organizers, sustainability consultants, and marketing, and media folks to name a few. Keynotes spanned a range of perspectives from dark possible outcomes to enlightened focus on humanity’s ability to reinvent itself.
James Howard Kunstler, urban planning expert, social critic, and author, gave a controversial talk warning our audience not to try and hold onto the status quo. Kunstler considers most of our “green” efforts window dressing and not the fundamental shifts we need to make and also model for the rest of the developing world. He sees us embracing technology such as electric cars to maintain our lifestyles and culture but not changing ourselves in preparation for a post- (cheap) fossil-fuel based economy.
Jason McLennan, CEO, of Cascadia Green Building Council, was the engaging master of ceremonies. He is an incredible visionary and asset to the green building and environmental communities. McLennan offered us a message of hope while not ignoring the challenges in our society. He took the green building conversation beyond the rectangle of the structure to include entire systems, communities and districts. While the built arena is not completely responsible for our climate crisis, given its huge impact on GHG and GDP, he stated that it should be accountable and reverse our negative impact on our resources going forward. McLennan challenged us to go back to our professional and personal lives and deliver change beyond the conversation and drive action in our sphere of influence. One project along those lines is a new initiative, the Living City Design Competition which provides the winner with a $125,000 prize.
Pliny Fisk III, co-director, Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems presented the evening keynote on day two of the conference. You know you are in the company of brilliance when you hear someone present ideas in concept but you feel that you need a translator to really bring it home for you. Pliny uses data and analysis to identify trends before they occur. He is a true futurist and “grandfather” of the sustainability movement. Also, he lives in a totally rockin’ city, Austin (yes, that is in Texas)!
Dr. John Francis, founder and director, Planetwalk, gave the most inspirational talk of the conference. It was good to hear from a speaker who was not directly involved in the building arena. This fascinating man literally walks the environmental talk. After witnessing the San Francisco Bay oil tanker disaster in 1971, he decided to boycott oil dependant transportation modes and walked and cycled his way across America for the next 17 years. In addition, tired of arguing with people about the environment he decided to stop talking and learned to really listen. His environmental commitment came full circle when he was called in to assist with the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Dr. Francis is living proof of one man making a difference in our world. At the heart center of his philosophy is that humanity is really at the core of the environmental movement.
The Conference also delivered dozens of content rich education sessions. One of my personal favorites was entitled Food for Thought: Vertical Farming and Urban Agriculture. With a reputation for killing plastic flowers, I, for one, wanted to learn how we are going to teach city dwellers to reduce their carbon footprints, to provide healthy food options and to increase their food security by growing, distributing, shopping and eating locally. It seems these days that everything old is new again as we embrace our historical agrarian roots. Demographic forecasts indicate that 75% of people will be living in dense metropolitan areas. The number of people in the world will go from 6 billion to 9 billion. We will need to feed these populations however we are challenged in the rapidly developing world by those that emulate a more American lifestyle: more meat, more convenience and more choices. The urban agricultural movement is one strategy for feeding the populations of tomorrow in a healthy, low-carbon and cost-effective way.
Think about the choices that you make daily in your business and in your personal life. If you chose to be more responsible and sustainable what radical choices might you need to make? Would you walk across the country in protest or stop talking for 17 years? Discuss your ideas with friends, family, neighbors and local leaders and inspire those around you by example. Remember to share your ideas with us, too!
Remember to save the date for Living Future 2011, April 27 – 29, in Vancouver, BC. Consider early registration for a deep discount to the conference. I am inspired by next year’s theme, Our Children’s Cities: Visualizing a Restorative Civilization. See you there!
–alex
May 13, 2010
It seems that April was my Clean Tech learning month. Last week I rounded out the trend by attending an area breakfast and program on the subject hosted by The Economic Development Council of Snohomish County.
The program included several keynotes, with three panelists who focused on clean tech in the state, in Tri-Cities and in Snohomish County. Mark Cummings, Director of Public Affairs for Battelle, the local arm of the US Dept of Energy’s Pacific Northwest Laboratory, informed us of a Governor-appointed public / private taskforce, Clean Energy Leadership Council (CELC). Its mission is “to create a clean energy leadership initiative that will set the path to leverage Washington’s energy infrastructure and make Washington a hub for clean energy technology and a leader in the creation of green jobs and the development, deployment, and export of clean energy technologies and services.” One of the many interesting perspectives that he offered was our state’s potential role as the best second- or third-tier supplier of components such as PV inverter manufacturing, versus trying to chase after, in this case, China’s lead on panel production.
Diahann Howard, Director of Economic Development and Government Affairs for the Port of Benton, provided her insights on the Tri-Cities Research District. As part of a rebranding effort, they have a great tagline: “what’s next starts here.” The region is evolving from its nuclear power-based history (as site of the Hanford Nuclear Plant) into a world-class center for research and development around key sectors: clean energy, biosciences, environmental technology, computation and software. They are channeling their efforts to grow tomorrow’s workforce in both blue- and white-collar jobs, from field technicians to scientists.
Steve Klein, GM, Snohomish County Public Utility District, offered the local perspective. This utility is working on some innovative approaches in greening up their portfolios and those of their customers. He stated that they have had a long history and strong emphasis on conservation within their traditional customer base. The PUD is making investments in advancing a broad range of smart grid technologies. They are also developing a tidal energy demonstration project off the coast of Whidbey Island in partnership with tidal energy systems company, OpenHydro.
A half dozen key green leaders were identified in his talk and I’ll focus on one that intrigued me, Micro Green Polymers. This company was highlighted as one of the start-ups to watch in a recent Bloomberg Business Week article. According to their website, Ad-air™ clean technology creates lightweight, cost-efficient plastics through solid-state microcellular expansion in other words, by blowing air into plastic they can expand its size but not the proportional density or weight. Benefits include: lower material costs, more sustainable plastics, reduction in source materials use, up to 100% recycled material and with a process that can utilize much of your existing production line. Their markets include: consumer packaged goods, appliance manufacturers, transportation, packaging, and building materials.
Other local clean tech companies mentioned were Silicon Energy, Applied Filter Technology, Qualco Energy, and Cathcart Biodiesel. These Snohomish County companies are only a handful in our state that are innovating solutions to provide cost-effective, smarter and more sustainable options for business.
My takeaway from the content as well as the number and breadth of attendees at this event was that clean tech is an economic development play that benefits people through new jobs or retooling of existing jobs. These greener jobs directly bring value to our economy and create ripples through the multiplier effect. The stronger economy provides an opportunity to continue investment in products, processes, and education that propels our country while keeping a vested eye on our natural resources, environment and planet.
A special note of thanks to Ryan Crowther, Communications Manager, EDC Snohomish, who invited me to experience this valuable conference.
Now, go learn about those local green players that are right in your own backyard and consider alliances to grow our region’s cleaner economy.
–alex
May 3, 2010
