The City of Houston and Reliant Energy are launching a program to bring plug-in hybrid electric vehicles to the streets of Houston, to demonstrate the important role that electric cars can play in the city’s clean energy future.

Under the program, called the “Power of the Plug-In,” 10 city-owned Toyota Prius cars will be converted to plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and 10 vehicle-charging stations will be installed to power them. The Power of the Plug-In is designed to raise consumer awareness and education about plug-in electric cars and to promote Houston and Texas as an electric vehicle center. Seven of the 10 stations will be available to the public, representing the largest public charging infrastructure in Texas, the city said.

“We’re committed to making Houston the nation’s green energy capital,” Houston Mayor Bill White said in a statement. “That commitment begins at City Hall and these clean-running electric cars and the charging stations that will be available to all Houstonians will get us farther down that road.”

The 10 Reliant-provided charging stations will be located around Houston, with public stations at City Hall, the Health Department office at 8000 Stadium Drive and at the Mayor’s Citizens Assistance Office at 9615 Rustic Wood in Kingwood. Reliant chose Campbell, Calif.-based Coulomb Technologies, Inc. to provide its ChargePoint Networked Charging Stations. Coulomb is a leader in networked electric vehicle charging infrastructure and its network will enable the city to administer consumer access to the public stations.

The 2009 Toyota Prius hybrids that will be converted are already used extensively by the city. The plug-in conversion module is the Hymotion L5 provided by A123 Systems, a leader in development of lithium-ion batteries for use in electric cars.

The converted plug-in hybrid electric vehicles can deliver up to 100 miles per gallon, helping to improve air quality and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Studies show plug-in hybrid electric vehicles with a 20-mile electric driving range can reduce vehicle carbon dioxide emissions by up to two thirds depending on the generation source for the vehicle’s electricity when compared with traditional gasoline-powered vehicles.

“We envision thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of electric cars on our roads in the coming years, making Houston’s air cleaner and the city greener,” Reliant Energy President Jason Few said in a statement. “Our pilot project gives both Reliant and the City of Houston the opportunity to learn more about the performance of electric vehicles and the needs of drivers while promoting consumer awareness and education about plug-in electric cars. Reliant is committed to making Houston and Texas the electric vehicle capital of the United States. We think big in Texas and we have big plans.”

Electric vehicles also provide long-term affordability, city officials said. While electric cars generally cost more to purchase, largely due to the high cost of lithium-ion batteries, the vehicles do not require typical engine maintenance, such as oil changes. Electric vehicles are also less expensive to operate because electricity costs less on a per-mile basis than gasoline.

Last week, Reliant and Nissan announced they have reached an agreement to work together to make Houston a launch city for the broader use of electric vehicles by the American public, businesses and public organizations.

The companies said they will advocate for policies that make it easy for consumers to make the switch from gasoline to electric-powered vehicles and will work together to establish the infrastructure of charging stations needed to support a critical mass of electric vehicles.

Hollywood’s feature films are greening up their productions thanks to the Producers Guild of America (PGA) Green Committee. Founded in 2008, the committee is reaching out to productions worldwide, reducing their carbon footprint and leading the industry in the fight against climate change. They are replanting trees, keeping Styrofoam out of their catering services, and recycling costumes, paints, props and fabrics.

“The Producers Guild of America (PGA) is a national non-profit trade group committed to protecting the rights and credits of producers in film, television and new media. Given the current climate crisis and the significance of the environmental impacts of film production, a movement is growing to support sustainable production practices,” said Amanda Scarano Carter, Co-Chair of PGA Green Committee West.

While it is the producers who have joined forces to encourage people to limit their environmental impact, they are getting some celebrity help. On the set of “Knight & Day”, Cameron Diaz has been proactive. She made sure there were no plastic bottles on the set, and that recycle bins were placed all around. “It makes it a lot easier when you have someone as influential as Cameron Diaz setting the tone,” said Fred Baron, Chair of the PGA Green Committee.

The committee’s website provides tools for industry professionals to exchange ideas and make suggestions about greening the filmmaking process. In the near future the committee’s website will become an environmental portal for the six major studios and film industry as a whole. It will feature a carbon calculator and a green marketplace where sets, costumes, and movie accessories can be exchanged. “I am very excited about the direction we are going,”  Baron said.

The PGA Green Committee also is taking their sustainable efforts off the set. This past Saturday, they joined with the Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles to green up a Lynwood, California community. The project will put up LEED-certified houses.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

This Sunday, Nov. 15, is America Recycles Day, a nationwide initiative by Keep America Beautiful and the National Recycling Coalition. In its 12^th year, America Recycles Day is the only nationally recognized day dedicated to encouraging Americans to not only recycle, but buy recyclable products. There is more garbage going into landfills now than ever before. Recycling can not only slow climate change, but preserve and protect the environment around us. Everyone has the ability to do their part.

“The purpose of America Recycles Day is to continue to promote the social, environmental and economic benefits of recycling and encourage more people to join the movement toward creating a better natural environment,” states their website.

Last year the amount of energy saved from recycling aluminum and steel cans, plastic PET and glass containers, newsprint and corrugated packaging was equal to:

• The amount of electricity consumed by 17.8 million Americans in one year.
• 29 percent of nuclear electricity generation in the US in one year.
• 7.9 percent of electricity generation from fossil fuels in the US in one year.
• 11 percent of the energy produced by coal-fired power plants in the US.
• The energy supplied from 2.7 percent of imported barrels of crude oil into the US.
• The amount of gasoline used in almost 11 million passenger automobiles in one year.

It is easy to get confused on what can and cannot be recycled. There are quite a lot of items that are acceptable such as: steel cans, aluminum cans, newspapers, magazines, catalogs, junk mail, plastic beverage bottles, milk jugs, glass bottles and jars, cereal boxes, other clean and dry cardboard boxes. Do not forget that your old electronics are also accepted at many retail stores including Best Buy. Stay away from items such as plastic grocery bags, Styrofoam, light bulbs, food-soiled paper, wax paper and ceramics because they cannot be recycled.

Take the pledge to not only recycle, but to tell others about the benefits.

There will be events held all over the country Sunday, find one near you.

If you already recycle at home, transfer that same philosophy at work or school. It is nice to have a day to remind us to recycle, but do not stop at one day, make it an everyday practice.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

California American Water has designated the week of Nov. 9 as “No Drugs Down the Drain” Week in its Los Angeles service area as part of a national campaign to reduce pharmaceutical pollution in water supplies. Items such as aspirin, prescription drugs and other medications should never be thrown down the drain or toilet, where they can seep into the ground and find their way back into the public water supply.

Los Angeles County residents will be encouraged to contact the County of Los Angeles’ Department of Public Works at 888-253-2652 or visit www.888cleanla.com to find out where they can drop off expired or unwanted pharmaceuticals and other household items free of charge.

California American Water also will sponsor the “No Drugs Down the Drain” outreach campaign in San Diego and Ventura.

“Ensuring that our water sources are protected and maintained is as important as ensuring we have enough water to meet our demands,” California American Water’s Los Angeles district manager Garry Hofer said in a statement. “Water utilities like California American Water treat drinking water to ensure that it meets or exceeds USEPA standards, but the best water treatment is to prevent water pollution at the source. Environmental stewardship can begin right at home through how we use and dispose of old medicines as well as other hazardous items such as used motor oil and paint.”

California American Water, a wholly owned subsidiary of American Water, provides water and/or wastewater services to more than 600,000 people. California American Water’s Los Angeles service district includes approximately 28,000 households and businesses, or a population of about 100,000 people, in the cities of Bradbury, Duarte, El Monte, Irwindale, Monrovia, Rosemead, San Gabriel, San Marino and Temple City, as well as unincorporated portions of Los Angeles County and the Baldwin Hills area.

Today, environmentalists, climate change activists and Americans who want legislation to control carbon pollution were cheered to see climate action take another step forward.

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee passed the Clean Energy Jobs for American Power Act, meaning the full Senate will now get to debate the bill which aims to put America on a clean energy path. (Other Senate committees will add components before a complete bill is assembled.)

This isn’t quite like being a gladiator pushed into the Coliseum to meet the lions. But the hotly fought bill is expected to get full scrutiny, and climate change deniers were gathering stones within minutes of the bill’s committee unusual passage.

Typically bills in committee are voted upon by all members. In this case, though, Republicans had boycotted the hearings this week, saying they wanted another analysis of the bill’s effects by the Environmental Protection Agency. Democrats felt the bill had been vetted enough, and one EPA official testified that the requested additional analysis would have delayed the process by another five weeks, effectively killing action on the bill for 2009.

Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) appealed to Republicans to participate in the process, reaching out to ranking minority member Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.). Inhofe, who has famously denied that globally warming exists, rebuffed the invites, saying that the bill is too costly.

Other Democrats also called on Republicans to get involved and debate the merits of  the legislation in committee.

“The party of no has now devolved into the party of no show and I hope they will reconsider their strategy,” noted Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island) on Wednesday.

Finally, Boxer broke the boycott, calling for a vote on Thursday, and passing what’s known as the Kerry-Boxer climate action bill on a vote of 10-1 with all those in favor being Democrats. The seven Republican committee members declined to register a yea or a nay.

Afterward, Inhofe accused Boxer of violating rules that require two minority party members to be part of the vote; but Boxer told Politico that the rules also allow for passage with a simple majority. (See Inhofe’s complaints on this YouTube video of an interview with Fox News.)

The bill calls for a reduction in greenhouse gases of 83 percent by 2050, a level that scientists around the world agree should help steer the planet clear of disaster.

Now if the climate bill can just steer its way through the U.S. Senate.

• (While environmentalists are happy with this progress, some experts consider it faint effort in the face of a large foe, with the bills in both the US House and Senate containing far too many concessions to entrenched industries and polluters. For this  analysis from the peanut gallery see the Institute for Policy Studies.)

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Dr. James Hansen, the NASA scientist known for sounding an early alarm about climate change, will join student protesters at a “sleep out” in Boston this weekend.

The students, from Boston-area and other Massachusetts colleges, have been sleeping out on Boston Common and at various campuses to push the state to pass a law committing to clean energy. Their target goal: Have Massachusetts pledge to be using 100 percent clean energy by 2020.

They’ve asked Gov. Deval Patrick, already known for signing the Global Warming Solutions Act, to again put the state at the forefront of combatting climate change by introducing clean energy  legislation before the legislature adjourns later this month. The students have won a meeting with the governor on Nov. 17.

The sleep outs began two weeks ago, with the overnight campouts followed by lobbying with legislators on Monday mornings. Four Last week, police ticketed the campers for trespassing, student leaders said.

This weekend the group expects at least 100 student activists to meet with Dr. Hansen (whose Phd is in Physics from the University of Iowa) at a 4 p.m. Sunday rally, followed by the camp out. Dr. Hansen is scheduled to hold a press conference at 9:30 a.m. Monday morning (Nov. 9).

In June, Dr. Hansen, along with actress and environmental activists Daryl Hannah, was arrested for civil disobedience for blocking a road at a coal plant protest in West Virginia. The pair, along with several local residents, were protesting mountaintop removal.

Known for his testimony to Congress in 1988, alerting leaders to the dangers of greenhouse gases, Hansen has said that the world needs to move away from burning coal to create electricity.

The student sleep out was inspired by the idea that protesters would not rely on the “dirty energy” heating their homes and dorms until lawmakers pledged to move in a new direction.

Fact: America has an abundance of food.
Question: So why does anyone go hungry in this country?

A potato gleaning in Virginia (Photo: Society of St. Andrew)

Armed with this simple thought, the Society of St. Andrew (SOSA) took up the cause of feeding the hungry in 1979 with the idea of gleaning fields for salvageable produce.

“We do this in two says,” says Carol Breitinger, communications director. “We use volunteers in the field for hands-on gleaning, or we send out trucks to pick up surplus crops that farmers can’t use and would just end up in the landfill.”

Once SOSA obtains the produce, they distribute to food pantries around the country. Breitinger says they salvage 20 to 25 million pounds of food a year with the help of 30,000 to 35,000 volunteers. The volunteers come from church groups, schools, scout troops, and even from the people who need the food.

Becky and Dave Aduddell of Wake Forest, N.C., are two of SOSA’s veteran volunteers. “We’ve been doing this for five or six years now,” says Dave, who is a web programmer for a local community college by day and a bass player by night. The couple was hooked after a friend who was gleaning introduced them to the concept. “It sounded like such an eminently logical idea that we joined him very shortly after he started.”

Gleaning a field in North Carolina (Photo: Society of St. Andrew)

“Our interest in gleaning stems from that great desire within each of us to ‘do some good.’ We like it because it is very concrete and tangible. Writing a check to a charity gives one a good feeling and a sense of satisfaction, but going out and working to glean, then delivering the produce directly to the recipients is a very concrete act.”

The Aduddells bring their gleaned crops to a public housing complex in the small town where they live.

The couple acknowledges that the gleaning process wasn’t a big stretch – both of them come from farming families. “While we didn’t grow up on a farm, we spent time doing farm work as kids, so this is a nice déjà vu for us,” says Dave.

In mid-October the Aduddells joined several hundred volunteers for the 19th annual Yam-Jam, sponsored by SOSA. The group salvaged unharvested sweet potatoes from a 50-acre field in rural Johnston County, North Carolina. The area had already been harvested by professionals. In addition to sweet potatoes, Becky says the group has collected corn, green beans, collards, tomatoes, watermelon, squash and blueberries.

“A good 20 percent of produce is lost in the fields,” says SOSA’s Breitinger. She says the USDA calculates that 96 billion pounds of food is wasted in this country before it gets to market.

Why do farmers leave good food behind? “Sometimes commercial growers must leave one field to move on to the next crop,” says Breitinger. Other times, the produce isn’t “perfect” enough for market – not quite the right size or color, but perfectly edible. Also, sometimes the farmer can’t afford to pay another crew to come through his fields again.

Gleaning a perfect cabbage in Virginia (Photo: Society of St. Andrew)

Farmer Leo Stallings says he has leftovers because there isn’t a big market for produce in Franklin County, the area of North Carolina where his farm is located. Stallings, who has been in the farm business for 40 years, grows a number of crops including sweet corn, beans, cantaloupe, collards, peas, squash and string beans. “This area is not very commercial. There are few markets. Growing is not a problem, but selling is. We don’t have a co-op to handle acres of crops.

“I try to plant about as much as I think will sell. But because the market varies, I often have leftovers.”

Stallings says SOSA volunteers come out in the summer and late fall to salvage his fields. He says he doesn’t mind giving it away. “I don’t want it to go to waste and they give us a tax credit for it.”

When large growers donate a tractor trailer load of food, SOSA might contact a group of volunteers, often a church group, to sponsor a “potato drop.”

“Imagine 45,000 pounds of loose potatoes dumped into a church parking lot,” says Breitinger. “Volunteers then put 10 to 15 pounds of potatoes into mesh bags. We contact the local food pantries to come to pick it up.”

Second Nature, a nonprofit organization promoting sustainability in higher education, launched the Advancing Green Building in Higher Education initiative earlier this year to help under-resourced higher education institutions with a $1.2 million grant from the Kresge Foundation.

Today, Second Nature launched the Campus Green Builder, a part of the initiative, to help all schools further their sustainability plans. The program recognizes that colleges and universities are in a unique position to influence the future, as they shape the minds of tomorrow, and also that they are large consumers of resources.  While many institutions have already formed sustainable committees, there are still many more in the initial stages.

The website, which bills itself as the first of its kind in higher education, aims to build sustainability by giving all schools equal access to funding and resources for green building.

“Whether someone wants to learn about green building grants, financing renewable energy on campus, workshops on building renovations, hiring the right green contractor, or anything else pertaining to green building in higher education, this site is the go-to place,” said Ashka Naik, Program Manager at Second Nature, in a statement.

The Campus Green Builder offers information and opportunities such as:

• Links to green building resource websites and green building experts’ directories.
• Case Studies to serve as models and learning resources.
• Announcements of green building and campus sustainability events, conferences, workshops and webinars.
• Campus Green Builder Blog for peer-to-peer networking.

The Campus Green Builder is partnering with the United Negro College Fund, the US Green Building Council, the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment and Building Green LLC.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Kimberly-Clark Corp. and upcycling firm TerraCycle today announced they will partner on a program  to enhance the sustainability performance of some of K-C’s product packaging. The new program also will create fundraising programs that benefit schools and communities nationwide.

The new program allows participants to earn funds for their selected charity of choice for every used piece of plastic packaging associated with Scott or Huggies brands that they collect. The collected plastic packaging will be upcycled into affordable, high-quality products available next year at major retailers nationwide, the companies said.

“Kimberly-Clark is already making significant strides in reducing packaging waste from its products, but this program with TerraCycle will help us do even more,” Matt Kolton, brand manager of Scott Naturals, said in a statement. “No longer will all the plastic packaging from both our Scott brand bath tissue, towels, napkins and moist wipes, and Huggies brand diapers be considered waste. Rather, it can be used as a resource in a new generation of products.

Schools, business, houses of worship and even individuals can set up a “Brigade” to collect packaging.  For each piece of packaging a Brigade participant collects, two cents is paid to a school or non-profit group of their choice.

Each of these Brigade programs is diverting product packaging waste from landfills, giving much needed funding to local communities and helping to raise consumer awareness about reusing and reducing.

In an effort to protect public health, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District will open the Winter Spare the Air season on Sunday, Nov. 1, and begin enforcing a regulation that restricts wood burning in the Bay Area through Feb. 28, 2010.

A pellet stove

Wood smoke is the largest source of wintertime air pollution in the Bay Area. Certain weather conditions in the wintertime cause the air to remain still. When these conditions occur, the Bay Area Air District calls a Winter Spare the Air Alert.

“This winter, Bay Area residents must check before they burn,” Jack Broadbent, executive officer of the Bay Area Air District, said in a statement. “It is illegal to burn wood or firelogs when a Winter Spare the Air Alert is in effect. Wood smoke pollution is associated with a number of serious health risks and is particularly harmful to children, the elderly and those with respiratory problems.”

This winter is the second winter season the wood burning rule has been in effect. The rule was passed in July 2008.

Between Nov. 1, 2009, and Feb. 28, 2010, the Air District will declare a Winter Spare the Air Alert when air pollution is forecast to reach unhealthy levels. During a Winter Spare the Air Alert, the use of wood-burning devices, including fireplaces, pellet stoves, wood stoves and outdoor fire pits, is forbidden. There are expected to be, on average, approximately 15-20 Winter Spare the Air Alerts during the season.

This season, Winter Spare the Air Alerts will be declared the day prior to the alert going into effect. Each day by 2 p.m., the Air District will issue an air quality forecast. If air quality is forecast to be unhealthy, a Winter Spare the Air Alert will be called for the next day. The Alert will be in place for 24 hours – one calendar day – active from midnight-to-midnight.

Those who burn during a Winter Spare the Air Alert will receive a warning for the first violation and a second violation is subject to a $400 ticket. The ticket amount will increase with any subsequent violations, depending on the severity of the infraction. Residents and businesses that burn wood as their only source of heat are exempt from the regulation.

Bay Area residents can check before they burn by:

• Visiting www.baaqmd.gov or www.sparetheair.org
• Calling 1-877-4-NO-BURN
• Signing up for e-mail Air Alerts at www.sparetheair.org or phone alerts by calling 800-430-1515.

Under the new rule, only EPA-certified wood stoves or fireplace inserts, pellet stoves, or natural gas devices can be sold or installed in new construction or remodels. The new rule also places year-round prohibitions on excessive smoke, and on the burning of garbage and other harmful materials in fireplaces and woodstoves.

Wood smoke is a major source of wintertime air pollution in the Bay Area and contains harmful pollutants such as particulate matter and carbon monoxide, as well as toxins such as dioxin, which is linked to increased cancer rates in adults. In the winter, wood smoke from the 1.4 million fireplaces and wood stoves in the Bay Area contributes about one-third of the harmful particulate pollution in the air.

For centuries, different religions have argued about many issues and even gone to war over some of them. Next week however, they will put it all aside and come together for a common cause — sustainability.

On Monday, Nov. 2, a group of 200 religious leaders from all around the world will meet for three days at Windsor Castle for an interfaith climate celebration. “Many Heavens, One Earth: Faith Commitments for a Living Planet” will be hosted by Prince Philip and is co-sponsored by the United Nations Development Program and the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC), a faith-based environmental organization co-founded by Prince Philip in 1995 to link conservation and ecology with faith. Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations will also be in attendance.

Event organizers hope are gathering the religious leaders in order to present and discuss 30 long-term climate plans for their communities. The group believes that climate change is not only a pressing environmental problem, but also a moral one.

The religions represented at the celebration include Baha’ism, Buddhism, Christianity, Daoism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Shintoism and Sikhism.

“It’s being called a celebration because despite the gloom surrounding so much environmental talk, there is in fact a lot to be hopeful for, and positive about. These initiatives, with their emphasis on long-term practical action, offer a great deal of hope for the future. Also, it can be too easy for individuals to feel crushed by the scale of the environmental challenge ahead - yet without a sense of hope, we cannot motivate people – or ourselves – to make the lifestyle changes needed,” said Susie Weldon, spokesperson for the ARC.

Having to be not only environmentally conscious about the food prepared, caterers also must be ethical and faith-consistent. Throughout all three days of the celebration, all the food will be vegetarian and free-range. Castle caterers are aiming for most of the food to be local, organic, and fair-trade. Also, there will be no bottled water provided to attendants.

The Mercure Castle Hotel, Windsor, will host the welcome dinner on Monday — its first-ever vegetarian banquet. Likewise, Tuesday the group will attend a banquet at Windsor Castle prepared by Edible Food Design, one of the castle’s catering companies, which will be the first vegan meal prepared for a Royal banquet. The vegan meal includes roasted pear salad with cobnuts and chicory, Portobello mushrooms stuffed with artichoke and herbs, pearl barley risotto and organic wine.

The event is “the first major, internationally coordinated commitment by the religions to the environment and aims to shape the behavior and attitudes of the faithful for generations to come,” according to ARC’s website.

Some of the unique environmental initiatives that will be announced include:

• new faith-based eco-labeling systems for Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism and Judaism
• 8.5 million trees to be planted in Tanzania
• all Daoist temples in China to be solar powered
• 10 Muslim cities to be chosen to lead implementation of the Muslim Seven Year Action Plan
• moves to source ecologically sustainable fuel sources for Sikh gurdwaras in India, which feed 30 million poor people every day

With more than  6.5 billion people worldwide, the majority of them belong to one faith or another. There are 2.1 billion Christians, 1.34 billion Muslims, more than 950 million Hindus, 50-70 million Daoists, 24 million Sikhs and 13 million Jews, according to the Atlas of Religion.

“Many of the faiths with which ARC works are part of communities at the forefront of climate change or at the very least, environmental degradation due to deforestation, flooding, crop failures, drought. They know firsthand what kind of impact this has on people in vulnerable countries. The Windsor Celebration will bring together people who have a real insight into the effects of climate change from very diverse parts of the world,” said Weldon.

“The world’s faiths joined together in this cause – if viewed in terms of sheer numbers of people – could become the planet’s largest civil society movement for change. With their unparalleled presence throughout the world, the world’s religions could be the decisive force that helps top the scales in favor of a world of climate safety and justice for future generations… this event will be one for the history books,” said UNDP Assistant Secretary-General Olav Kjorven in a press release.

The celebration precedes the climate-change discussions that will take place in Copenhagen in December. Like many other climate events prior to December, the celebration hopes to make an impact on key leaders who will be attending Copenhagen.

“…the faiths aren’t waiting for governments to finish arguing about what’s needed or who should pay for it. They’re getting on with doing what they can to help the environment, without asking other people to commit to action first but saying ‘this is what we can do and we will do it’,” said Weldon.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

The town of Greensburg, Kansas was destroyed after a tornado ripped through their community in May of 2007, but it is not only coming back stronger than before, but much greener.

One project currently taking place in Greensburg is the Chain of Eco-Homes. When completed, 12 homes will serve as a “living laboratory” for unique environmental building. Two Eco-Homes already exist, Silo Eco-Home, equipped with a vegetable garden green roof, and Solar Eco-Home, the winner of the 2005 Solar Decathlon Competition and donation from the University of Colorado.

Greensburg GreenTown and FreeGreen.com invited designers and architects from all over to submit sustainable designs for the next three homes in the Chain of Eco-Homes Design Competition. There were more than 230 entries submitted.

“This Chain of Eco-Homes contest is a great way to show how the concept of crowd sourcing can help advance green residential design.  With over 439 participants in this contest, Greensburg, Kansas was able to gain access to the world’s best green designers,” said David Wax in a statement, FreeGreen’s CEO and founder.

Steven Learner, Mike Stevens, and their team at New York-based Steven Learner Studio submitted the winning design, Meadowlark House. Their modern style home is 1450 square feet with three bedrooms and two baths. While their design will be featured as one of the houses in the Chain of Eco-Homes, the first place winners also receive the grand prize of $10,000.

There are many environmental components to the Meadowlark House. Perhaps the most unique aspect of the design is the use of an HIB modular wall system. HIB consists of recyclable wood blocks made from sustainable resources that stack together like LEGOs. They provide a high level of insulation, reducing energy costs, and are designed to resist the forces of strong winds, and all without the use of any chemicals.

“The home is planned to be 50% more energy efficient than a typical code built home.  We would like it to be net-zero energy, but are waiting to hear back from a number of renewable energy companies which we have solicited for donations on that,” said David Andrew Goldman, Global Communications Director for Expansion Media.

Other sustainable elements include:

• Building is oriented along an east – west axis, maximizing southern exposure
• Evergreen landscaping along the north side of the site deflects cold winter winds
• Roof drainage ties into an underground cistern for reuse in site irrigation
• Deep roof overhangs to the south and west reduce summertime solar glare, while allowing winter sun to provide light and warmth
• A whole house ducted energy recovery ventilator (ERV) provides fresh air while recycling the home’s temperature
• High thermal mass floor receives and absorbs solar radiation during the day and re-radiates it at night
• Low-E triple glazed, operable windows allow ventilation while minimizing heat loss in winter and heat gain in summer

“Our goal was to design a house to meet the needs of the people of Greensburg.  We wanted to provide a sustainable, comfortable home that can be built quickly and affordably, with flexibility to accommodate many families’ different needs,” said first place winner, Steven Learner.

The winning design is estimated to cost “$154,000 to $200,000 without Renewable Energy Systems (i.e. with the home saving 50% vs. a typical code built home),” said Goldman.

Stuttio Workshop’s Root/Breathe/Endure Design came in second place winning the Enviro-Ment Masonry Unit (EMU) category. Their EMU wall system is a lime-based masonry block that naturally absorbs carbon dioxide from the air.

Daniel Day, an architechture and design studio in Dallas, placed third overall with its design Linear Villa, which won the Insulating Concrete Form (ICF) category. Second and third place winners each receive $1,000.

Construction for all three houses is planned to begin early next month.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media