Green Ump

HOT SPRINGS REJUVENATING & REJUVENATED

The National Park Service has done an enormous service to us all by rejuvenating and preserving the historic hot springs bath houses and downtown of Hot Springs, Arkansas.  Upgrading these health spa's has strengthened the local economy and preserved the health benefits and historical fabric for future generations. 

Particularly charming are the beautiful bath houses, tree-lined grand promenades, small local businesses and pedestrian pocket parks that invite you sit and stay.

Of course, historic preservation and reuse of existing buildings is one of the first and foremost ways to be sustainable primarily because it eliminates the need to produce all those new building materials, each of which comes with an environmental price tag.  But this is probably just the tip of the sustainability iceberg as the Hot Springs Bath House District has demonstrated.  Bath houses continue to attract many visitors providing local economic sustainability while preserving the local history, scale and community fabric.  Both are enormous and continuous benefits to the local community as well as all of us seeking to soak and rejuvenate in the special hot waters that people have come from far and near to experience for more than a hundred years.

As more studies are done by NASA and others, these hot spring waters continue to provide new information on what makes them so special.

Visit the National Park Service Hot Springs, Arkansas website.

 

 

LOCAL FOOD IN ALBUQUERQUE - VERY SUSTAINABLE!

FARM AND TABLE serves up great locally grown and produced foods (some grown right behind the restaurant) in a beautiful indoor/outdoor restaurant hand crafted from local adobe, natural clay paints, and recycled materials.  Located in Albuquerque's North Valley, with over 300 days of sunshine, irrigation from the Rio Grande, and rich soil, farmers and artisans are turning more and more to growing fresh produce, raising happy animals, making delectable cheeses, cultivating pure honey, creating acclaimed wines, brewing great beer, and serving it up in great style. 

I had the pleasure of tasting some of the food harvested that day, cooked to perfection and served in the most beautiful of restaurants.  By chance the owner, Cherie Austin, and her husband Joseph and daughter were there that evening welcoming and chatting with guests so I got the history and grand tour of the restaurant, farm and community.  You could immediately see the importance of community, among the guests, the farm, restaurant staff and especially the owners.  Here is a sampling of the community offerings at the farm celebrating the recent solstice:

7am-8am: Yoga in the Field
Grab your mat and start your day with yoga led by Marisol Brito.

8am -9am: Field Blessing & Community Harvest Aimee of Sol Harvest will lead a field blessing after our yoga class. Then stay to join Farmer Ric for a community vegetable harvest. Take home some of the fruits (or veggies) of your labor.

6/7/8 pm: Field Walks w/ Farmer Ric
Walk the rows with Farmer Ric. Learn more about his passion for growing local and ask questions about growing your own. Expect a lovely sunset to close out the night.

I imagine there are lovely sunsets most evenings here.  This is sustainable and local at its yummy, nourishing and inspirational best - what a treat!

SOLAR SHINES IN NEW WAYS AS INDUSTRY FALTERS

The U.S. Department of Energy has set a goal of reaching less than $1 a watt—not just for the solar panels, but for complete, installed systems—by 2020 (see “Why Solar Installations Cost More in the U.S. than in Germany”). And it is possible the solar industry will hit that target even sooner than that. If so, that would bring the direct cost of solar power to six cents per kilowatt-hour, which is cheaper than the average cost expected for power from new natural gas power plants. (The total cost of solar power, which includes the cost to utilities to compensate for its intermittency, would be higher, though precisely how much higher will depend on how much solar power is on the grid, and other factors.)

Also, researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory have made flexible solar cells on a new type of glass from Corning called Willow Glass, which is thin and can be rolled up. The type of solar cell they made is the only current challenger to silicon in terms of large-scale production—thin-film cadmium telluride. Right now such solar cells are made in batches (as are silicon solar cells), but the ability to make them on a flexible sheet of glass raises the possibility of continuous roll-to-roll manufacturing (like printing newspapers), which can reduce the cost per watt by increasing production.

Print me up a batch!

FAST OR FREE - YOU CAN NOW HAVE BOTH!

Speaking about no compromise design and innovation that will change an industry, Elon Musk has done it again!  TESLA launched its replaceable (in 90 sec.) car battery along with plans to create service corridors for its electric car owners.

TESLA electric car maker’s CEO Elon Musk said the system offers an alternative to charging EVs and should help convince consumers that EVs are “more convenient than a gasoline car.” Musk demonstrated the new technology on stage, swapping out two Model S battery packs in less time than it took for a car on a video screen to fill up with gas, which took about four minutes.

A battery pack swap will cost between $60 and $80--about the same as filling up a 15-gallon gas tank. Reuters says the stations will each cost about a half a million dollars to build.

The battery swap stations will be located alongside Tesla’s fast-charging stations, Musk said on Thursday. The free fast-charge stations take about 30 minutes to charge a battery. “The only decision you need to make when you come to one of our Tesla stations is do you prefer faster or free,” Musk said.

Tesla will roll out the battery swap technology this year, first between Los Angeles and San Francisco and then in the Washington-to-Boston corridor, Reuters reports.

CHECK OUT THE VIDEO OF THE DEBUT OF THE TESLA BATTERY SWAP

A CATALYST FOR GREENER CLEAN

METHOD, a small and rapidly growing company has led the field in producing environmentally friendly cleaning and personal care products since 2012, initiating innovative approaches that the larger corporations have followed.  One of these innovations was reducing the use of plastic and transportation by creating concentrated detergents. 

Adam Lowry, the co-founder of METHOD, began by noticing that consumers were typically asked to sacrifice something by choosing a green product--either added cost, less effective, less aesthetic, and mostly products that were truly just uninspired.  Lowry and his partner, Eric Ryan, had a different approach combining high design and sustainability thus reinventing the product experience.

Why didn't one of the big hitters think of concentrating their detergents first?  Lowry believes that the larger companies who often have the market lead, are focused only on maintaining it and that is often a disincentive to what Lowry calls disruptive innovation, or one that thinks outside the box and involves more risk that leading companies are geared to take.

Just by developing the technology to create detergents that are 8X more concentrated METHOD saves 90% of the plastic packaging, 90% of the carbon footprint in the packaging, you also save more than 40% of total carbon footprint of the liquid, 90% of the water associated with laundry detergent, and considerably less transportation costs and associated carbon footprint.  Using recycled plastic for his containers, trash from the Pacific Ocean, is another METHOD innovation.  But that isn't the whole story.  The most compelling aspect about this innovation is that the bottles are beautiful, inviting reuse, and much more functional -you can hold it in one hand!

The next step for METHOD is to switch from a consumer based product to a service based product.  What might that look like?  Perhaps it would be a system in a washing machine that separates out soap and water from dirt after a wash.  The soap and water go back into the machine for the next load, and the dirt comes out as compost.  Now that is thinking outside the box - and it only takes one small company to create positive change in an entire industry!

Yale Environment 360 Interview

HAIRY SKYSCRAPER HARVESTS WIND ENERGY

Urban wind farming is a challenge; it can often seem impossible to find a location for traditional wind turbines that doesn’t take up too much room or isn’t dangerous in an urban setting. Strawscraper uses hair-like tenacled skin to harness the power of the wind, and without the traditional turbine.  What a novel innovative idea!

Using Piezoelectric technology, movement of the hair tenacles is turned into electricity that can be stored for later use. The hair’s tiny movement is safe for birds and humans and isn’t noisy like traditional turbines can be. But Strawscraper isn’t all about the brains, it also has the beauty. The hair covering the building creates the illusion of movement, giving the normally static city skyline the illusion of motion.

The skyscraper is an extension of an existing tower in Stockholm, Sweden, which was completed in 1997. The original architect stepped off of the project mid-construction, leaving it 14 stories short of its intended height. Belatchew Labs stepped in to give new life to the old project with a new look and new technology that is likely to reframe the way we look at buildings, cities and on-site energy production.

Read more: Swedish Strawscaper Harvests Energy from the Wind With a Kinetic Hair-Covered Shell | Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building

CUTTING CARBON IS A COMPANY'S BEST INVESTMENT

Bloomberg reports that green building advocates' script is no longer "save the world" but is now "save your income statement", based on a newly released report that highlighted the substantial savings to be had from reducing a companies carbon footprint.  Corporate projects to reduce carbon provide a higher return on investment than total capital spending for roughly 80 percent of large U.S. companies, according to World Wildlife Fund and McKinsey, a co-author on the report. The two called out a few companies, in particular, that are doing well by doing good.  Among these heavy hitters are Walmart, Raytheon, Staples, and General Electric.

In all, McKinsey and WWF estimate U.S. businesses—excluding utilities—can save $190 billion a year by 2020, provided they cut carbon emissions by 3 percent a year.  The only catch is that carbon-cutting costs would have to rise to 3.8 percent of capital spending, from about 2.2 percent today.  However, the report noted that companies that turn climate change into a business advantage will not only stand to reap substantial financial benefits through this type of investment, but will likely gain added income from consumers interested in doing business with green businesses.  Most importantly, these businesses will likely avoid potentially crippling climate change business risks looming for those doing business as usual.

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