Akbari is no architect and his grand plan is no conceptual art project. Based at the prestigious Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, Akbari is a scientist who has come up with a new way to fight global warming. It could be the easiest solution you've never heard of.
His big idea is based on principles as old as the whitewashed villages that scatter the hills of southern Europe and North Africa. Turn enough of the world's black urban landscape white, he says, and it would reflect enough sunlight to delay global warming, and grant us some precious breathing space in the global struggle to control carbon emissions.
Together, roads and roofs are reckoned to cover more than half the available surfaces in urban areas, which have spread over some 2.4% of the Earth's land area. A mass movement to change their colour, Akbari calculates, would increase the amount of sunlight bounced off our planet by 0.03%. And, he says, that would cool the Earth enough to cancel out the warming caused by 44bn tonnes of CO2 pollution. If you think that sounds like a lot, then you're right. It would wipe out the expected rise in global emissions over the next decade. It won't solve the problem of climate change, Akbari says, but could be a simple and effective weapon to delay its impact - just so long as people start doing it in earnest. "Roofs are going to have to be changed one by one and to make that effort at a very local level, we need to have an organisation in place to make it happen," he says. Groups in several US cities, including Houston, Chicago and Salt Lake City, are on board with his plan, and he is talking to others.
full article here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jan/16/white-paint-carbon-emissions-climate
Friday, January 30, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
No Furnaces but Heat Aplenty in ‘Passive Houses’
DARMSTADT, Germany — From the outside, there is nothing unusual about the stylish new gray and orange row houses in the Kranichstein District, with wreaths on the doors and Christmas lights twinkling through a freezing drizzle. But these houses are part of a revolution in building design: There are no drafts, no cold tile floors, no snuggling under blankets until the furnace kicks in. There is, in fact, no furnace.
read full article in the NYT
read full article in the NYT
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Planning Down: Economic Life Within Ecological Limits
Planning Down: Economic Life Within Ecological Limits
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
October 20-22, 2009
Planning Down places a large project of work before its conference community: to study the gaps between our economic and ecological practices and to build a portrait of a rich community and national life for the near-future in which ecology and economy are more successfully aligned.
In current public debates about climate change, energy transitions, sustainable urban development, and the vulnerability of key ecosystems, the economy is conceived as something apart from, and often in conflict with, environment.
Long-developing habits and prevailing economic thinking—essentially, a philosophy of growth—have fostered this view and allowed us to externalize the ecosystem impacts of consumption; and even now, such impacts are considered as a line item in the economic model.
Nature itself, of course, never was an externality and has been conducting full-cost accounting all along. Numerous thoughtful, expert voices are speaking and writing about this and offering a variety of forecasts and responses.
The conference will feature speakers and thought leaders who are some of the most imaginative and compelling voices on the scene who have been encouraging—in their various fields and perspectives—more conscious and more successful alignments between social practice and the systems of nature that support us. It will highlight positive North American and global examples of social arrangements and economic innovation as proof that a high quality of life and can be broadly crafted and sustained here.
FOREVER PLASTIC
Durable, high-tech, sexy and see through...we just can't seem to resist its glossy appeal. It seems so modern, it's hard to believe it's been around for 100 years! The early days of plastics were explosive: the first synthetic billiard balls blew up on impact! Over the years plastics have quietly permeated all parts of our lives. But what do we do with something that doesn't go away when we throw it way? Our oceans and dumps are filling up with the stuff, and yet inventive ideas for single use plastics just keep rolling out
How do we live more responsibly with plastic? Forever Plastic looks at our struggle.
enjoy!
Andrea
Monday, January 19, 2009
Design Compass: Design for Future Climate
Free tool to help you deliver climate-friendly designs!
Designing for optimum energy performance means taking account of current weather and predicted climate data as early as possible in the design process.
Known as the 'Design Compass' this simple-to-use online tool helps building design professionals make sure that they take account of weather and climate-change-related information at the optimum stage in the design process.
The system is based on both the building services design stages and the RIBA Plan of Work.
All the user needs to do is decide where they are in the process, then within a few clicks they have access to a wealth of useful information and guidance.
The really great thing about the system is not just its simplicity, but the fact that this online resource can be easily updated as new data or requirements are introduced. CIBSE is also encouraging user feedback. A really 'intelligent' design tool.
The Design Compass can be accessed through www.cibsedesigncompass.org.uk.
Designing for optimum energy performance means taking account of current weather and predicted climate data as early as possible in the design process.
Known as the 'Design Compass' this simple-to-use online tool helps building design professionals make sure that they take account of weather and climate-change-related information at the optimum stage in the design process.
The system is based on both the building services design stages and the RIBA Plan of Work.
All the user needs to do is decide where they are in the process, then within a few clicks they have access to a wealth of useful information and guidance.
The really great thing about the system is not just its simplicity, but the fact that this online resource can be easily updated as new data or requirements are introduced. CIBSE is also encouraging user feedback. A really 'intelligent' design tool.
The Design Compass can be accessed through www.cibsedesigncompass.org.uk.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Fuel Cost Calculator
There is a fuel cost calculator on Building Green .com. It allows you to compare the cost of heating based on fuel price, and efficiency. It can be found at: http://www.buildinggreen.com/calc/fuel_cost.cfm
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Langara Dialogues - Resolved: Skytrain has run its course; LRT is the way to go.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Event details
7:30 – 9:00pm
(Doors open at 7:15pm, seating for the first 300 only)
The Alice Mackay Room, Lower level
Vancouver Public Library, Downtown, Homer & Robson
Arguing the AFFIRMATIVE:
PATRICK CONDON, Senior Researcher, UBC Design Centre for Sustainability
Arguing the NEGATIVE:
MIKE HARCOURT, Former Premier of British Columbia
(click here for more information)
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Buildex Vancouver Green Seminars
There's quite a few green seminars in this year's Buildex convention, Feb 11-12, including a few by SBA grads, SBA guest lecturers, and Lighthouse Sustainable Building Centre staff. Go to: http://www.buildexvancouver.com/ and look under seminars & professional development.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Sustainable Sites
The Sustainable Sites Initiative is an interdisciplinary effortby the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and the United States Botanic Gardento create voluntary national guidelines and performance benchmarks for sustainable land design, constructionand maintenance practices.
While standards exist for sustainable structures—“green buildings”—there are no comprehensive guidelines and performance benchmarks for those who want to create and measure sustainable landscapes.
Main site: http://www.sustainablesites.org/
Keep posted for their Guidelines and Performance Benchmarks -- public feedback is being sought until January 20, 2009.
They also have a great list of case studies to review.
Plastics By Number
Plastic labeling is given a number with three arrows chasing each other around to create a triangle. Sometimes you will also see letters beside the symbol to identify the type of plastic (e.g., PET, LDPE). Numbers 1-7 are recyclable to various degrees, depending on your town or city’s recycling program. The safest plastics to reuse are #2, #4 and #5 (sing it…
2, 4, 5 keep yourself alive)! That means, #1, #3, #6 and #7 are best purchased in moderation and do recycle after ONE use.
http://www.davidsuzuki.org/files/NC/newsletter/plasticsbynumber.pdf
Print the page on the link above for a quick reference for which plastics are ok to reuse, recycle and avoid.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Form Follows Performance
German architect Stefan Behnisch pushes architectural form into new energy-efficient directions. Green strategies are almost inseparable from his human-centered emphasis on program and function. Functionalist logic and environmental specialization has led him to integrate engineers into the earliest stages of the conceptual process, usually bringing them in to collaborate on designs for architecture competitions. “We try to work with experts on different topics from the beginning,” says Martin Haas, a partner since 2005. “We have energy consultants on the team the whole time, and we sit together and develop the best possible approach in terms of programming, layout, lighting.” …
(read the full article by Stephen Zacks at Metropolis Magazine online)
Urban Ecology presentation
Sustainability Speakers Series
Urban Ecology: Green Roofs and Other Design Strategies
By Bruce Hemstock & Kevin Connery of PWL Partnership
January 27, 2009 at 11:45 am
SFU Harbour Centre
$65 includes lunch and presentation
$35 includes presentation, no lunch
$25 students
For registration contact:Robin Rivers at 604-924-9771 ext 226
www.naturetrust.bc.ca
Urban Ecology: Green Roofs and Other Design Strategies
By Bruce Hemstock & Kevin Connery of PWL Partnership
January 27, 2009 at 11:45 am
SFU Harbour Centre
$65 includes lunch and presentation
$35 includes presentation, no lunch
$25 students
For registration contact:Robin Rivers at 604-924-9771 ext 226
www.naturetrust.bc.ca
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