By Paula Minahan
The idea of living in a truly sustainable green environment is a homeowner’s dream: Lower energy bills, healthier materials,
Photo: Barley & Pfeiffer Architects
Overhangs provide protection from the sun.
the satisfaction of “doing the right thing.” But with our slumping U.S. economy, many worry about holding onto their home — let alone building a [...]
Tags: Cut Consumption · Energy & Water · Home Building · Home Improvements
By Paula Minahan
Swimming pools are a big draw in summer, but when it comes to energy consumption, they can be a big drain. Award-winning green architect Peter Pfeiffer shared his own experience on how to reduce “pain at the pump”:
Here’s a great story about building my own home. We installed solar panels on the [...]
Tags: Cut Consumption · Energy & Water · Home Improvements · Uncategorized
By Paula Minahan
Peter Pfeiffer doesn’t mince words. His passion for green building takes an almost proselytizing tone at times. And it’s no wonder. The straight-shooting architect has spent the past 30 years at the forefront of the
Photo: Barley & Pfeiffer Architects
Peter Pfeiffer’s green house in Austin
green building movement. The award-winning work of his Austin-based firm, [...]
Tags: Cut Consumption · Green Enthusiasts & Researchers · Home Building · Home Improvements · Model People
By John DeFore
As counterintuitive as it sounds for those raised to think of all trees as environmentally precious, there are some varieties that prove a nuisance, possibly even a hazard, in certain areas.
Western juniper, for instance. While natural wildfire/regrowth cycles once kept juniper under control, modern firefighting efforts have sometimes allowed the trees [...]
Tags: Briefs · Greener Businesses · Home Building · Home Improvements
By John DeFore
This week’s consumer electronics event RetailVision saw the latest salvo in a war that should have been fought long ago but probably won’t end soon: The event’s “FRESH” exhibit, showcasing ten hot product innovations, included a display by a company founded on the idea that one plug is plenty for practically all [...]
Tags: Briefs · Cut Consumption · Energy & Water · Greener Businesses · Home Improvements
By Emily Speir
Photo: Phoenix Composting Toilet Systems
Outdoor venues such as Quail Ridge County Park in Missouri use composting toilets.
As a kid watching the remains of my latest goldfish swirling into oblivion, my thoughts were a mix of horror and curiosity. Where was my dear fish going? Where did anything go that got the flush? The [...]
Tags: Green Enthusiasts & Researchers · Home Improvements · Model Projects · Recycle & Reuse · Schools, Universities & Churches
By John DeFore
At last week’s International Builders’ Show in Orlando, a company called Hydromatic Technologies introduced what it described as “the world’s first green clothes dryer” — which isn’t a standalone dryer at all but may well represent a leap forward in efficiency.
The Dryer Miser is a conversion kit that can be fitted onto [...]
Tags: Briefs · Energy & Water · Greener Businesses · Home Improvements
By Bill Marvel
“The heavens show forth the glory of God,” the Psalmist declared, “and the firmament proclaims His handiwork.”
Ah, no longer. Unless you live in a remote desert or on a mountaintop, these days the heavens mostly show forth the operations of the local electric utility. And the firmament — when you can see [...]
Tags: Activists & Authors · Energy & Water · Home Improvements · Model Projects
By John DeFore
Of all the logos and labels that identify products as environmentally responsible, few approach the iconic status of the recycling logo, in which three turning arrows form a triangle. Now a new smartly designed logo hopes to join the triangle as a quick reference point for Green shoppers, at least when it [...]
Tags: Briefs · Home Improvements · SHOP GREEN
By John DeFore
Of all the products that made BuildingGreen’s new Top 10 list, the one most likely to be of use to those of us who aren’t building homes (or remodeling kitchens) any time soon is the LR6 LED Downlight from LLF. Designed for use in recessed lighting fixtures, the downlight offers predictable benefits over [...]
Tags: Briefs · Home Building · Home Improvements
That hissing sound you hear may be your toilet leaking — literally flushing away your money and a whole lot of clean water. As much as 80,000 gallons of water can be wasted each year by an undetected toilet tank leak, according to Ace Hardware. Leaking toilets cause more water waste than any other fixture [...]
Tags: Home Improvements · SHOP GREEN · YOUR HOME
By Melissa Segrest
Winter’s icy blast is on its way, and now is the time for folks in cold climates to consider conserving energy when firing up the furnace. Replacing an old, cranky furnace may be your best option, but if that’s impractical, you can retrofit your current furnace to make it more energy-efficient. Most furnaces [...]
Tags: Cut Consumption · Energy & Water · Home Improvements
By John DeFore
Over the last few years, moviegoers may have come to expect that any documentary pairing scientists and ice caps will be a scare-fest or a sermon — a big-screen effort to hammer home the urgent need to take action countering climate change.
Not so with Encounters at the End of the World, a film that’s drawing glowing reviews as it expands into theaters across the country. Yes, the movie has things to say about the environment — in at least one instance, it even suggests that humankind’s days here are numbered — but it is far from strident, superficially issue-driven, or even political. [Read more →]
By Nima Kapadia
Jobs in renewable energy are increasing worldwide and causing the coal industry to distribute pink slips, according to a Worldwatch Institute study.
The report, written by Worldwatch senior researcher Michael Renner, estimates that 2.3 million people are working in renewable energy jobs - either directly or indirectly. From that number:
By John DeFore
Proposals to solve the planet’s CO2 woes through sequestering the problematic emissions — pumping them into some hole in the ground where they can’t affect the atmosphere — raise numerous concerns for skeptics. Won’t the stuff leak out, wasting the fortune we spent on sequestering, and leaving us worse off than we would have been by cutting CO2 production in the first place?
Researchers led by Columbia University geophysicist David Goldberg think they’re closer to resolving some of those concerns, with a proposal that would address the possibility of leakage on two fronts. [Read more →]
San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral will install a state-of-the-art solar photovoltaic power system 
with the help of $65,000 from Pacific Gas and Electric Company, city and church officials have announced. PG&E said its donation to Grace Cathedral is part of the company’s $7.5 million commitment to increase solar power in San Francisco.
“We’re working to make San Francisco the greenest city in the country, and this kind of partnership is exactly what’s needed to help us reach that goal,” said Gavin Newsom, Mayor of San Francisco. [Read more →]
First branch banking, then online banking, now for act three: Keeping your green in a vault known for its green.
Two Philadelphia bankers with notable environmental experience have announced the formation of e3bank, believed to be the first green “triple bottom line” bank on the East Coast. Everything from the organization’s infrastructure to its product and service offerings will be built upon “the values of people, planet and prosperity,” say Chairman Sandy Wiggins and President/CEO Frank Baldassarre. [Read more →]
By Tom Kessler
Colorado developers have announced what they say is the country’s largest net-zero energy, master-planned community in Arvada, Colo., a suburb of Denver. Geos Neighborhood, which will begin infrastructure construction this fall, will feature 250 residences and can generate enough renewable energy to supply 100 percent of the annual energy needs of the entire community, the developers say. [Read more →]
By John DeFore
Conservation minded farmers might naturally assume it’s wise to get the most out of what’s available; if post-harvest waste material can be used in biofuel production, it seems to make financial and ecological use to sell it.
Not necessarily, according to a scientist at Washington State University who is urging farmers in her region to leave the waste where it falls.
By John DeFore
The collection of world leaders known as G8 may be taking baby steps on cutting greenhouse emissions (the Union of Concerned Scientists called their recent meeting a “sideshow”) with its goal of a 50 percent reduction by 2050 instead of the 80 percent most scientists agreed is needed.
This week Exelon, an electric-energy giant located in Chicago, made that benchmark look even less ambitious with its own boast: By 2020, the company says, it will have cut its emissions not by half of 1990’s level or even by half of today’s, but by an amount exceeding 100% of this year’s output. [Read more →]
Wal-Mart Stores is joining the Global Forest & Trade Network (GFTN), 
World Wildlife Fund’s initiative to save the world’s most valuable and threatened forests. The giant retailer also announced this week that it is moving toward making some of the jewelry it sells meet standards for sustainability and social responsibility. [Read more →]
ROSEMEAD, Calif. — Southern California Edison (SCE) has begun installing solar panels at the first of approximately 150 Southern California commercial rooftops that eventually will make up SCE’s two-square-mile solar generation project — the largest solar panel installation in the world, according to the energy company.
