Keith's Blog

Virtually Waterless Laundry Washing Machine

2009-07-03T10:54:49Z

At one point, it seems as though virtually everyone has sat in front of washing machine and watched the soaked clothes tumble through the suds. That tradition may be a thing of the past if a new “virtually waterless” laundry machine finds its way to the mainstream.

Although only in prototype stage, this new machine may be able to save up to 90% of water compared to a conventional machine and will also cut carbon emissions. Created by Xeros, this machine replaces the old school idea of cleaning clothes. The technology goes with full on chemistry advances by replacing the majority of the water with reusable nylon polymer beads, the machine can clean clothes in less time than traditional machines, and we see these waterless wonders then you can thank Professor Stephen Burkinshaw, from the University of Leeds who made the discovery that certain types of polymer beads could be used for cleaning.

We’re even more impressed that these machines will use significantly less detergent than normally required, and that the electricity savings can be increased further by reducing the need to tumble dry, assuming that all the happy homemakers out there don’t already hang their clothes on a line and dry them the old fashioned way.

No, we haven’t taken this new “waterless” bad boy for a spin (yet) but we’re impressed that Xeros commissioned an independent Life Cycle Assessment from URS Corporation. The report found that the process has the potential to display a significantly smaller carbon footprint than that of a conventional wash.

Xeros aims to have a commercially viable product in production by the end of 2010. Although we hate to get too lathered up about this “potential” it does seem like a product that we can get fired up about. Hopefully this won't be a full load of greenwashing because we don’t want to be taken for a spin.

Now if only this washer can do something about those missing socks.

Green and Greenwashing at PCBC 2009

2009-06-26T11:31:56Z

It wasn’t exactly a quite hush that settled over the San Francisco’s Moscone Center for the 50th PCBC convention but the crowds and exhibitors for this annual builders convention came in about one-half of last year. Nonetheless, in this era of minimalism and slimming down the show offered an array of notable speakers and some innovative products. Now of course, with the slogan “The New Age of Innovation” we hoped for more progressive Green products and not just in a marketing sense.

On the creatively intriguing side, we walked into the Icynene Inc. display booth only knowing that they create their Icynene LD-R-50 spray foam insulation partially from Castor oil. Honestly, we didn’t exactly know the origin of Castor oil. Castor oil comes from Castor beans (not true beans from Castor plant) and don’t serve a normal food source, so not food for insulation here. Castor crops don’t require pesticides or fungicides or even water to grow and are rapidly renewable. For this insulation, they use 15 percent castor oil (and unfortunately 85 percent polyglycol, which in our eyes is like using B15 biodiesel. Fifteen percent is better than zero percent but still a long way to go. This product helps eliminate dust, pollen and contains no VOCs as it is water blown. Most traditional cellulose insulation comes from 80% newspaper (up to100% post-consumer recycled) and 20% binders and fire-retardants, commonly borax, boric acid, sulfuric acid, ammonium sulfates and/or other chemical compounds. Smell the goodness.

One of the most disappointing aspects of PCBC would be the continual greenwashing that some organizations and companies wish to convey to the public and trade. The SFI (Sustainable Forestry Initiative) had booth and lots of literature about how they which on the surface seems on the track to be doing the right thing with their Green certification but if you check below the tree cover it might not seem so verdant.

Most Green people would be disillusioned with the fact that SFI finds its roots firmly planted with the lumber companies which of course offers no value. Then they somewhat cleaned up their legitimacy a few years ago by creating third party certification, publicly available standards and a more transparent process.

We met the Director of Green Building for SFI at the PCBC booth where he did the hard sell offering such info that they continue to push the USGBC to include SFI certified wood in the LEED standard. To us, it seems like a lot of lobbying and less to do with the legitimacy of the certification.

When it comes down to it, the SFI wants people to think that they reign superior or even equal to FSC certification but take a look at some of the comparisons where SFI allows:

-use of genetically modified trees

-logging close to rivers and streams that harms water supplies

-use of toxic chemicals while FSC does not allow these in the forests

And we can go on and on but as they say a picture is worth a thousand words so check out the SFI versus FSC forest land photo courtesy of heartofgreen.

‘nuff said.

Food, Inc. Documentary Movie Removes Shroud of Secrecy

2009-06-19T09:50:06Z

For those in America who have yet to read The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Fast Food Nation or even The Jungle, the new docu pic Food, Inc. smoothly stirs the boiling pot of food production controversy while allowing those not familiar with the dark secrets of the food production industry to enjoy a film in bite size nuggets.

With Fast Food Nation author Eric Schlosser a co-producers and Omnivore’s Dilemma writer Michael Pollen one of the consultants (in addition to being on-screen participants) the film offers a solid, well presented structure that offers not only scary, gut wrenching even stomach turning scenes in meatpacking plants, chicken coops and but offers a silver lining into the future of food.

Producer/Director Robert Kenner weaves the film through the various food landscapes from the cramped chicken coops of Maryland to the aerial CAFO vistas to the open grasslands of Polyface Farms. Inside one of the chicken coops live chickens that wallow in their own filth and barely have room to move. Factory farm shots show downer cows being uplifted by forklifts to be transported to the slaughterhouse. The film makes a point of showing people how dangerous and unregulated our food system remains.

Besides showing the torturously nauseating animal conditions, the film doesn’t forget the human factor and the social justice issues. Food, Inc. follows undocumented factory farm workers being arrested while making the point that the huge company that they work for should be the ones under the squad car lights. Kenner also captures the human element in the case of one California family that must decide between fast food hamburgers and broccoli as a result of economic hardship. (Guess which they choose?) Food, Inc displays the bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, insecticide-resistant soybean seeds, and even tomatoes that won’t go bad, but also shows the new strains of e coli—and the deadly results.

But the film is not all about “dishonest food” and the “ugly truth” as Kenner captures lively footage of environmentally progressive owners such as Stonyfield Farms’ Gary Hirschberg and Polyface Farms’ Joe Salatin who both proudly declare and demonstrate how food can be produced honestly and without a wall of secrecy. Like The Wizard of Oz, Food, Inc. reveals that cow behind the curtain.

Already this docu pic has several large food conglomerates just a tad worried with companies like Monsanto and the American Meat Institute creating their own websites in response to the film. It’s curious why it took till now to get a response from these food giants because according to the filmmakers representatives from Monsanto, Tyson, Perdue and Smithfield, declined to be interviewed for the movie.

Food, Inc. comes off less like a documentary and more like a food based 1984 where the food conglomerates act like Big Brother. Parts of this film appear to be as scary as any recent horror film. But consider, most horror films are works of fiction while this film deals with stuff that sits on your dinner plate.

David Brower Center - Green to the bones

2009-06-08T11:02:13Z

Even in a Greencentric city like Berkeley, locals and Bay Area visitors would be Green with envy when they see the just opened David Brower Center. It feels healthy just to walk through the Green down-to-the-bones building which combines advanced technology along with simple recycled materials.

When entering for their housewarming party we had a difficult time not noticing the soaring concrete walls which made us think more dot com than gallery. The fact that in creating a building with an oh- so-feathery carbon footprint (when compared to most structures) Principal Architect, Daniel Solomon included up to 70 percent slag in those walls.

Just like people, what Green buildings have on the inside can be the key. Anyone (or any building) can have a great exterior but look at the Brower Center’s guts and soul. We love the radiant heating and cooling that runs through the floors, as well as the water catchment system and giant cistern that significantly reduce the building’s water use. The building even employs small aspects like the zinc siding and photovoltaic panels that double as sun-shades. The zinc siding will last numerous years without being treated.

The designers and builders designed the edifice be 40 percent more energy-efficient than conventional ones, which includes a day lighting program that uses high-efficiency lighting with automatic controls limit use when daylight is adequate. Normally we don’t get to excited heading to the restroom (no jokes please) but we definitely got giddy with the Icestone countertops, waterless urinals and high powered hand dryer. We’re talking ten seconds max to dry hands.

Besides the physical structure the Brower Center works on the social justice level as it houses various NGOs and ecologically minded companies such as: Center for Ecoliteracy, Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF) and the Earth Island Institute. We can’t speak for all the staff and workers but having the Brower Center as your office would actually inspire someone to want to come to work.

San Francisco Debuts First EcoMap

2009-05-22T12:02:10Z

In the continued effort for San Francisco to stay ahead of the green curve as well as the technology curve, the San Francisco EcoMap comes to a computer near you.

The EcoMap gives San Franciscans the ability to see the collective results of their individual footprint but also offers up nifty comparison of other zip codes so we can all spy on how Pac Heights compares to Potrero Hill. How many of the Marina crowd pours CO2 into the air from transportation, energy and waste versus their Russian Hill neighbors? With this map it’s easy to check out the various carbon footprints of the various ‘hoods.

The EcoMap gives people incentives to improve as it displays progress toward meeting greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction goals. It also serves up healthy does of useful, locally available tools and resources for anyone wishing to reduce their carbon footprint.

EcoMap amasses information on a neighborhood level, organized by zip codes through Discover Your City’s Neighborhoods and Take Climate Actions, both of which offer interesting and useful info to educate and motivate (not to mention how to spy on our neighbors’ carbon footprint.

This pilot project brings together the resources and efforts of Cisco and the City and County of San Francisco. And of course SF Mayor Gavin Newsom likes to mention that, “Cities are the world’s major source of greenhouse gas emissions, consuming 75 percent of the world’s energy,” so he’s practically beaming that SF represents the first city in the world to launch an EcoMap that can reverse that trend.

We pretty excited to see full blown release. And we’d like to eventually see more complete data for other cities and zip codes which squarely reside behind the green eight ball. I don’t know how sustainable the 90210 is but here’s hoping that the 94117 rocks the sustainable world.

The Age of Stupid at the 52nd San Francisco International Film Festival

2009-05-18T10:27:20Z

Things must be getting serious. At least for the planet and the environment. What else would explain the plethora of eco documentaries hitting the film festival circuit or that will hit mainstream theaters in the near future? Many of these green docu films cast a waving finger along with charts and graphs about what will happen to the planet in the future if we don’t act now. The Age of Stupid works a bit in reverse.

The Age of Stupid takes place in the year 2055 with a man called the Archivist (Pete Postlethwaite) sitting in a Noah’s Ark type storage tower with a collection of famous art, pairs of animals, and enough computer servers to make Google envious. The tower exists because the world has turned into a fiery, and flood ridden disaster area. The Archivist searches through archived video footage to see where man went wrong after having the opportunity to change things. The film takes futuristic standpoint of looking at the present (like right now).

Instead of following one narrative, director Franny Armstrong takes a Traffic style approach with six different narratives. Instead of the drug trade, this film cleverly looks at the climate change.

Armstrong weaves the film’s central climate change core through various through lines, among others, transportation, war, consumerism, natural disaster, and alt energy and ties them together with intense and striking visuals. One story follows a local New Orleans hero Alvin DuVernay who rescued about 200 people and animals after hurricane Katrina hit but later we find out that he has worked for Shell for 30 years. Another narrative highlights Jeh Wadia who launches a discount Indian airline and honestly believes that he’s aiding the poor masses with cheap fares and thinks that the environmental aspect of flying an airline will just work itself out. The film smoothly displays how each of the characters has their own justification for doing something or their own hypocrisy toward climate change.

Like any multiple story line film, some characters and stories offer more connection, insight, emotion and education than others. On a creative level, for a low budget film, this pop-style documentary offers high production values with its spirited animation sequences and an often high charged music score. It also offers a clever way of telling the cautionary climate change tale that has been seemingly uttered countless times in recent years. Armstrong obviously created this film as a two-minute warning leading up to the Copenhagen treaty in December 2009 and although the film isn’t perfect hopefully she will be able to make a sequel called the Age of Smart.

Anyone know of a green agent in the Pullman, WA area for a possible referral?

2009-05-11T11:33:15Z

Hey Eco All Stars,

Anyone know of a green agent who knows the Pullman, WA area (and thereabouts) for a possible buyer referral?

Please let me know.

Best Regards,

Keith Rockmael

REO Specialist, Business Opportunities, Green Real Estate
Meridian Creek Properties
Office: (800) 694-6922
FAX: (877) 783-8304
Direct: (415) 994-1322
Greenerati.com, GreenOptions.com

Crude Documentary shows at 52nd San Francisco International Film Festival

2009-05-11T11:26:06Z

A documentary or any feature film, like a good dessert, needs good texture. Some docs offer light delicate flavors, while others serve up crisp tawdry offerings but Crude, the latest feature documentary from director Joe Berlinger (Brother’s Keeper, Metallica: Some Kind of Monster) brings a feel so viscous its some wonder that the film and the emotions within it don't just ooze into the theater.

And why wouldn’t the film be viscous with center of the film swirling around a legal case about the black gold being pumped out of the jungles of Ecuador. Some have called the case the “Amazon Chernobyl” but whatever the name, Berlinger delves head first into this the David versus Goliath story that circles around one of the longest and most controversial legal (not to mention environmental and human rights) cases ever.

Crude aptly gives a balanced view of the various sides involved in the case which pits plaintiffs (30,000 indigenous and colonial rainforest dwellers) versus U.S. oil giant Chevron. The plaintiffs claim that Texaco – which later merged with Chevron – systemically contaminated an area the size of Rhode Island over a period of three decades. The plaintiffs allege that the contamination has led to numerous birth defects, increased rates of cancer leukemia, not to mention deaths.

Shot in cinéma vérité style Crude brings together various elements that one might not expect from a single documentary including: high stakes legal motions, backroom legal maneuvering, global politics, environmental causes, social justice, media frenzies, celebrity activism, multinational corporate power, and disappearing culture.

With so many layers, the film could have easily been bogged down (like the over 10 year still on going trial) but Berlinger keeps much of the film out of the courtrooms and in and around the alleged contamination sites where both the judge and attorneys for both sides trudge through the sludge and jungle to the various inspection sites. Crude deftly moves from the jungle to health clinics to the celebrity scene where rainforest advocates Trudie Styler and Sting helped bring attention to the case.

Crude come off like a war documentary shot in the trenches but instead of offering a dry, matter-of-fact 60 Minutes style Berlinger, makes the film personal. Looking at the smaller picture includes heartbreaking scenes with local ingenious people who have suffered through various illnesses, tragedies and deaths. But the doc also captures the lawyers and scientists and their opinions not to mention their polarized philosophies. Berlinger doesn’t set out to take sides but it’s easy to tell from the various on-screen quotes about who offers sincerity versus others who “hang themselves” with their own words.

Although Crude could have delved deeper in the minutiae, the 101 running time severs as a reminder about not only how powerful film making can be but how important and informative the subject can be as well.

Sea Change Screens at 52nd San Francisco International Film Festival

2009-05-01T11:28:30Z

While most people continue to look upward (into the air) as far as CO2 emissions, many people have overlooked looking down (into the oceans) but they won’t make that mistake after seeing the interesting, informative yet personal enviro-doc Sea Change. Unlike so many other “green” films and documentaries that hit people over the head with stats and charts not to mention fire and brimstone, director Barbara Ettinger ("Independent Lens" - Two Square Miles) takes a more personal approach (aided by having her on-screen husband Sven Huseby) to explore the causes behind the rapid rate of ocean acidification. And rapid it is.

As a former college professor and current grandfather, Sven serves as a genteel informant/host/interviewer willing to learn and listen rather than comment and direct. He offers the natural ability to teach and engage in conversation. Even non-greenies can admire his feelings and interest as a grandfather intested in educating himself and others about the dangerous status of the ocean life for the sake of his grandson.

Shot in a soft tone (the filmmakers never used location lights to cut down on their carbon footprint) the Sea Change uses just a sprinkling of numbers and stats to make their points, and instead uses interviews with various scientists, artists and writers to bring home the points. Ettinger makes solid use of comparing the Exxon Valdez footage and spill catastrophe to demonstrate what will happen to communities should ocean acidification continue - devastation.

The film lacks the scolding element so common in other green films. It creates more of subtle quality to emphasize the important aspects of what continues to happen to our oceans. It’s easy to ignore something that you don’t see like garbage going to a dump or meat coming from a factory farm.

Sea Change creates a climate where we can think of the ocean acidy issue now like the threat of nuclear war back in the 50s, it is that serious just less political. If this film doesn’t get your fish sticks shaking then nothing else might.

Screens at 52nd San Francisco International Film Festival April 30

Battle For Terra at 52nd San Francisco International Film Festival

2009-04-24T11:32:11Z

Although the 52nd San Francisco International Film Festival didn’t set out to program Green films, it may be no coincidence that several environment related or themed features and docs snuck their way into the diverse programming.

One of those films, first time director Aristomenis Tsirbas’s lushly animated Battle for Terra spotlights the peaceful planet of Terra where these wide-eyed tadpole looking denizens live. The Terrareans share the landscape (and skyscape) with sucking plants (a la Fantastic Planet) and flying whales in a healthy, peaceful environment - until the aliens attack. Only this time, humans represent the invaders complete with a jingoistic and aggressive mentality. The thing is that the humans used up all their resources back on Earth so then they decided to try their luck next door - Mars and Venus. Soon after colonizing the virgin neighbors, the three planets got into a battle royal and blew each other up so now the humans (in the form of Earth Force) need to take over the unspoiled Terra.

This environmental Star Wars attempts to create ethical and moral dilemmas but really only creates a green-handed (or green heavy handed) story that creates black and white distinctions between the exploitative humans and the passive Terrareans.

Tsirbas must have watched a lot of films before he took to directing because aside from the other films mentioned previously, he borrows heavily from Planet of the Apes, Starship Troopers, 1984 and other dystopian film worlds. Offering a nod or wink to a film can be cool if used subtly but here the homage borders on film plagiarism.

Environmental films will no doubt become more of a focal point in the coming years and hopefully the other Green films in the festival will offer a more intriguing and thought provoking slant.

Battle For Terra screens: April 25, 29

San Fran's Orchard Hotel Nabs LEED-EB Certification

2009-04-20T11:39:39Z

If it works for one San Fran hotel then it must work for another. No, we’re not talking about more upscale mini bar items but Greening a hotel. In this case, the Orchard Garden Hotel’s (which garnered LEED-NC certification) sister property the Orchard Hotel just nabbed LEED-EB certification. The Orchard represents San Francisco’s only hotel to earn this honor, the Orchard Hotel is the second hotel in California and fourth hotel in the world with this certification.

The inspiration from these green hotels comes from its 85-year-old owner, Mrs. S.C. Huang, who has pushed her environmental agenda and created more environmentally safe and sustainable hotels after the untimely cancer-related deaths of three family members.

We know that points don’t represent everything but for those strictly into the numbers the hotel achieved 35 out of a possible 36 points on the LEED-EB scorecard.

Those not familiar with LEED-EB shouldn’t expect alt energy (but it would be nice), large scale green building materials (foundations, roofs, etc) and other large ticket green building attributes. Here the sustainable aspects come more in the form of interior and service. We like the fact that the hotel is Energy Star rated and 90% more energy efficient than comparable hotels. It also contains a plate and frame heat exchanger installed on the rooftop which decreases power needed for climate control and cooling.

At night, guests can sleep (or whatever they else they do in bed) better knowing that the mattress covers are made from organic and naturally anti-microbial fibers, and the wood in guest room bed bases comes from Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified sustainably harvested forests.

The hotel even took over the formerly Vignette restaurant (now christened Daffodil) and changed the menu to consist of mostly local ingredients and organic produce and meats from small California farms however we have yet to dig our forks into the new fare so we’ll have to see about that Green aspect later. After all, fares fair.

Sustainability at Sierra-at-Tahoe Resort

2009-04-14T11:02:47Z

Clint Eastwood's iconic Dirty Harry character uttered “A man's got to know his limitations” but can say the same thing about the Green progress of a company? In the case of the smaller and less capitalized Lake Tahoe ski resort Sierra-at-Tahoe Resort we looked at skied, snowboarded, walked, and peeked around at what Green goings on here at this resort. Like all ski reports they should be concerned about their carbon footprint and global warming because with no snow they have no business.

Sierra, unlike some of the larger resorts like Heavenly, don’t have as much capital to spend on LEED certified buildings, high output photovoltaic systems or biodiesal powered snow-cats but then again they have a smaller footprint in terms of actual buildings (LEED or otherwise) or the amount of high energy snow making machines.

In truthfulness Sierra’s green initiatives don’t have that “wow” factor but that doesn’t mean that they ignore the green philosophy. Under there PROJECT: GREEN SIERRA they have instituted many educational, community and environmental programs. Sierra-at-Tahoe Resort works local school children to collect plastic bottle tops in exchange for a free day of skiing and snowboarding. The collected plastic tops will be recycled into new bottle tops by Aveda™ in their Caps Recycling Program.

In terms of using the green thumb for building, Sierra “saved” their sister ski area Northstar from creating more landfill when they rescued the doors and installed them at the Grandview and Base lodge. They also used recycled material to rebuild the roof-top decks above their main lodge and above Grandview Lodge. On the below side, they replaced carpet in the main lodge with a carpet that is 25% recycled and contains 100% recycled backing. We have to like that carpet has Cradle-to-Cradle certification.

Speaking of recycling, Sierra makes a point to use 100% eco-friendly disposable products for all their restaurants. All plates, bowls, cups and flatware come from renewable sources such as sugar cane, potato starch and corn resin. When trying to be somewhat progressive with their recycling program unexpected things occurred. Next to their blue recycling bins they labeled their garbage bins “landfill” because that’s where it ends up. Skiers and riders, feeling guilty by not wanting to create more landfill, started tossing everything into the recycle bins. We had to laugh too. Unfortunately it doesn’t work that way. People in this region just need to be educated that a half eaten chili burger can’t be recycled. Now, Sierra needs to look at compost bins.

A lot of times it comes down to what you don’t do that can be classified as Green. Sierra only uses four snow guns which use a ton of energy and they have no condos. Their changes might seem small scale to many but at least the changes continue. We hope that soon Sierra will implement some major alt energy source, change their menu to more organic local based cuisine (although they do offer free Wednesday wine tasting from three local winemakers), and work on their water conservation efforts. When they accomplish some of sustainable ideas then it will really “Make my day”.

Girl Scouts cookies - Courage, Confidence, Character & Corn Syrup

2009-04-03T11:28:55Z

The economy may be in the toilet but ones things for sure this time of year the Girl Scouts will be out in whatever city or rural town selling their cookies. Yes, they have expanded their selection from the basic chocolate chip to such flavors as Dulce de Leche but for $4 a box the economy would have to get real bad for people not to support the Girl Scouts and buy a box or two.

Here’s the thing that gets us. What then heck are these baked goods made from? These little morsels hardly come from just flour and sugar like cookies should be. Instead these little baked treats contain ingredients that would make Michael Pollen cringe. When little girls (or boys for that matter) hardly learn to bake they hardly reach for Palm Oil and TBHQ or Anhydrous Dextrose.

If the Girl Scouts are going to promote their cookies to adults and especially other kids wouldn’t it make sense for them to teach kids to eat healthy or at least healthier? It’s not that cookies are the most nutritious things on the planet but at least they could stop peddling Yellow #5 Lake and Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil.

The Girl Scouts promote courage, confidence, character not Corn Syrup and Cottonseed Oil. Maybe the Girl Scouts should consider using their grandmothers’ cookie recipes and what went into them. Perhaps they could use that knowledge to encourage other kids to eat Girl Scout cookies made from better stuff. Future GS cookies don’t have to be made from organic ingredients but kids and others shouldn’t think that the wholesome Girl Scout cookies come from the same ingredients as stale store bought croutons.

Clean Coal Cohen Brothers Classic

2009-03-27T11:49:58Z

When notable oxymorons come to mind the classic ones inevitably rise to the top (military intelligence, jumbo shrimp) but we have a new Green one to toss on the heap – Clean Coal. That term seems to have been bandied about recently but at this point it really can be seen as more than smoke (dirty polluting smoke) and mirrors.

Speaking of smoke and mirrors, the Oscars occurred a few weeks ago and if the Hollywood set gave out a Green award for the best short satire it would be the recently released Clean Coal commercial directed by the Cohen Brothers. In general, we like the dark satirical direction of their films (mostly their early stuff like Fargo, Miller’s Crossing) but not so much with their latest work (Burn After Reading).

Watch the 31 seconds of satirical bliss at ThisIsReality.org Just because something has the work “clean” or “green” or “eco” doesn’t mean it’s true. A lot of products and companies lie (oh wait that’s called greenwashing). Wake up and smell the CO2 people and enjoy the comedy.

For the sequel, maybe “the Dude” can make a pitch for eliminating GMOs in our food chain.

Bellona Launches CCS (CO2 Capture and Storage) Web

2009-03-13T11:40:23Z

Look at all the pretty colors. Maybe we bloggers need to be more visual and less wordy. In other words more pictures and maps and less talk. Those were some of the first thoughts that crept into our collective heads when we got wind of this new CCS (CO2 capture and storage) Web and interactive map from the Bellona Foundation.

Before even going further we had to check out Bellona, which we discovered is an Oslo, Norway based NGO that primarily functions as a nuclear watchdog focusing on developments in Russia. More recently they have moved into other sectors including technology and the environment. That’s where the colorful and helpful new CCS Web comes into play.

Their interactive and colorful map and of worldwide CCS projects along with various CO2 projects with the capacity for applying CCS definitely caught our attention. That big red CO2 splotch in the eastern US as well as the larger CO2 marks in China and India show what we’ve seen before but the somewhat limited blue spots (signifying CCS projects) gave us an idea of who needs to crack the green whip and get with the program. No surprise that Europe, seems to be ahead of the game CCS game while China, India and the US lag behind.

The site claims that until now, only four commercial CO2 capture and storage (CCS) projects are in operation. These all involve capturing CO2 from the natural gas produced at the Sleipner, In Salah, Weyburn and Snøhvit gas fields. For those geographically challenged those areas aren’t located in the US.

The only thing that concerns us about the whole project is who or what funds the Bellona Foundation. We’re good with the project-orientated grants from philanthropic organizations and the Norwegian government. But not so good with the financing by various industry and business (including their Gold sponsors Exxon Mobil and BG group).

Napa's Greenest Winery

2009-03-06T10:41:21Z

Instead of usual colors that we associate with wine such as white or dark red, our color paradigm might shift to say Gold. With the CADE Winery just about to open, this solar powered and organically farmed winery, hopes to garner LEED Gold status and if so, would be the first Estate Gold LEED certified winery in the Napa Valley.

When visiting a winery, people’s olfactory system normally goes into overdrive but instead of inhaling the aromas of vanilla, rosemary, oak and sage here we took deep breaths of the air. As in indoor air quality. No stuffy AC here as the building relies on natural ventilation. While others admire the wines, we admired the other green aspects. CADE will utilize 100% solar power and organic farming methods which both sound tasty to us.

From top to bottom, we got our buzz from the other building features like the concrete composed that contains a generous amount (30 percent) of fly ash, steel made up of 98 percent recycled material, FSC glass and wood, as well as blue jeans for insulation and its own concrete mass for cooling.

The Green aspects just don’t stop at the building. It’s too bad that we didn’t bike or drive our electric car (we did carpool) because the winery offers a plug-in base for hybrid electric cars; and bicycle racks. Even better, they offer a shower (hopefully with low flow showerhead) so cyclists can clean up before tasting or event.

One the eating side, they will have a full-time chef on site who will focus on organic, sustainable cuisine grown on site. We haven’t had the chance to sample some of the sustainable cuisine but we’ll report back when we do.

We, like many people, wondered about the name. The winery name CADE derives from a Shakespearean term used for an oak cask or barrel, -- comprises more than 60 acres, 23 of which were planted as vineyards in 2003. Of the remaining land, 28 acres will be protected in a land trust to ensure that they will always remain open space. Now there should be a big “Cheers” to that fact.

Green Aspects at Heavenly Ski Resort

2009-02-27T11:29:20Z

With the recent “storm watch” as the local news stations like to dramatically call it, an onslaught of much needed snow hit the Lake Tahoe region and the ski resorts. Of course, we had to be on hand to check the falling beauty. So, it appears for now that Mother Nature got a late start in cooperating with the ski resorts. The questions remains, so what are the ski resorts doing on their end? How are they helping green cause and Mother Earth?

One of the most notable resorts of South Lake Tahoe remains Heavenly Lake Tahoe so we checked out their Green progress. One of their strongest aspects can be seen in transportation. The B20 or CNG powered BlueGo buses transport people from the resort and though the South Lake Tahoe region. This bus system (free for Heavenly employees and others) keeps 400,000-500,000 people per year out of their cars, while promoting use of alt fuels. Although the Heavenly snow cats don’t exactly count as transportation the resort started using an experimental B5 fuel snow cat to groom the slopes. Yes, B5 doesn’t exactly knock our mittens off but B5 is better than B0. We can always look for B10 or 20 or better in the near future.

The resort also remains fairly militant when it comes to watershed protection, soil erosion control and water conservation. They should, if they want to “Keep Tahoe Blue.” We saw specific instances where they maintain soil control, replace their poor past practices with best practices, and have instituted remedial programs and water quality protection. In one case, Heavenly completed a comprehensive Stream Environment Zone Restoration project on Edgewood Creek which lead to enhanced sediment retention.

Of course, we couldn’t live on riding and skiing alone, so we stepped onto the Sky Deck for some chow and rays. The resort has made a conscious effort to dump most of their overprocessed, unhealthy junk food. We appreciate that Heavenly started their Appetite for Life menu, where they serve natural, hormone-free meats and poultry and organic dairy products in its seven on-mountain restaurants. We’d like to see them, like everyone, do their due diligence when it comes to food product partnering. They proudly serve Horizon Farms for their milk and cheese products but maybe they should not be so proud as Horizon has come under fire for its “organic” practices and authenticity. Beyond the grub, we like that the Sky Deck, as well as the other mountain eateries, serves up their meals in reusable baskets and use reusable silverware, which helps decrease waste and saves energy and water.

With all of the new condos and commercial structures, we’d like to say that they have LEED buildings or the equivalent already in place but alas nothing yet. The resort does have plans for four new on-mountain lodges and restaurants to be built to LEED standards. It looks like we’ll need to plan another snow day to check out those new green buildings, see if they have made any halftime adjustments to their menu, transportation, alt energy and any other green developments.

Top 10 EcoPrinciples for Communities

2009-02-20T10:50:57Z

With the economy in turmoil, a real estate prices dropping, green communities and green building will become more important. It’s easy to see how broken our current community model in terms of the urban sprawl, buy a too big house out on the burbs and commute to work. The average American commute continues to grow longer. Between 1969 and 2001, the number of vehicle miles traveled for commuting jumped from 4,180 to 5,720. The Sierra Club notes that today’s average American driver spends what amounts to 55 eight hour workdays behind the wheel every year. Gas won’t stay at the current level so we need to look at developing more sustainable communities.

San Francisco area architect Michelle Kaufmann & Kelly Melia-Teevan came up with a top 10 (sorry Letterman) EcoPrinciples for Communities.

1. Smart Design: Some architects play God instead of working with nature they go against it. Orientation of the building remains a big, no cost key, as well as designing to use less, and to collaborate with the landscape.

2. Energy Efficiency: Kind of a no brainer here. Everyone from Obama on down seems to be talking about this aspect. While some aspects remain somewhat pricey such as photovoltaic systems, other energy saving methods such as passive solar layouts, sealing building envelopes with super efficient insulation and glass and harnessing alternative energy sources offer not only a decent ROI but save the Earth’s resources as well.

3. Water Conservation: We're not sure about everywhere else but here in the Bay Area we are headed for a drought. Ideas for water savings include basic ideas such as xeriscaping. Who needs a lawn anyway? Sculpting bioswales into the land, irrigating with rainwater catchment systems and paving with only pervious ground surfaces can conserve gallons without much added cost.

4. Reduce Waste: As one of the Three R’s Kauffman suggests designing easy to access, easy to use recycling centers. How smart can it be to drive with a plastic bag of aluminum cans to the faraway recycling center? Also, she offers ideas such as integrating on-site composting, and facilitating “living machines” (engineered waste treatment system designed to process a building’s sanitary drainage on-site).

5. Healthy Environment: Everyone seems to forget this area in terms of Green Building. It won’t do much good to maintain a clean environment but have sick people living in a sick house. A sustainable neighborhood will offer easy access to exercise, encourage cooking classes and establishing on-site food production instead of driving to some fast food joint for a completely unsustainable meal.

6. Diversity: Cities such as San Francisco thrive because of the richness of diversity. A sustainable community will create an assortment of residents from different backgrounds, ages and cultures. The housing will offer both market rate and affordable rate housing options.

7. Smart Location: The name says it all. Kauffman suggests building and designing for environmental, social, and economic benefits. Might builders think about building near easy access to mass transit and choosing areas near sources of quality food? Is that too progressive?

8. Respect the Land: Something that seems to have disappeared from the vocabulary – r-e-s-p-e-c-t. That’s right just like Aretha. New green communities would protect the existing landscape and ecology by adopting functional, comfortable density, minimizing site disturbance and protecting biodiversity by maintaining native ecosystem.

9. Smart Auto Strategy: As much as we’d like to rid ourselves of cars completely it just isn’t going to happen. However we can lessen the intrusion and impact of automobiles in communities by implementing smart parking requirements, separating parking streets from pedestrian streets and bike lanes. Constructing more narrow streets in an effort to encourage more walking and biking rather than driving isn’t rocket science.

10. Shared Resources: Create more community within the community (see how that works) by introducing resource sharing (bikes, cars, tools, garden equipment, child care), establish community victory gardens, and building playgrounds, parks, athletic fields, picnic areas, etc rather than just concrete jungles.

Let the greening begin.

Energetic Sustainable Symposium in San Francisco

2009-02-13T10:29:25Z

What do get when you mix four of the Bay Area’s top green stars, a LEED certified location, lunch and corporate sponsor wanting to spread its green wings? The spirited Sustainable Symposium sponsored by Ace here in glorious San Francisco. The symposium, in short, brought some energetic and often useful ideas from the knowledgeable and spry panel (not to mention moderator and Chicago Ace Hardware store owner Lou Manfredini) and created solid dialogue in what could have been one of another “How to green this and that discussion.”

Held at the LEED certified Bentley Reserve (always a good start) the panel consisted of organic architect, writer, teacher, and the always amusing Eric Corey Freed, stylishly ecofab Zem Joaquin, the reserved but passionate Matt Golden and writer Sophie Uliano. The symposium focused mostly about green building (we weren’t exactly surprised with Ace as the sponsor) but contained various snippets of other sustainable elements as well.

One of the initial items that caused some debate circulated around water and specifically the tankless hot water heater. We love a good debate – especially about tankless water heaters. It’s not that anyone was so much against them but rather, like photovoltaic panels, there might be alternatives to address first when spending money to build or improve the sustainability of a house. Golden mentioned that people should concentrate on more cost effective, less glamorous problems (zero-VOC caulk anyone?) rather than luxe items such as tankless water heaters.

The talk moved toward the marketing or in some cases greenwashing of not only building materials but products. Manfredini called it a “gray movement” rather than “green” for obvious reasons. With all the confusion or outright greenwashing (or would it be graywashing) Freed thinks that it’s about time that someone create an FDA for products to place “ingredients” on labels. Maybe it’s time for companies to adapt the Pharos Project.

Much of the later part of the discussion circled around Clorox and their new best selling line Green Works and greenwashing. In the case Freed paraphrased the words of T.S. Elliot when referring to Clorox (and other companies) “Doing the right thing for the wrong reason”. We agree with Golden’s philosophy is that it comes down to intent. Is Clorox as a whole really looking to go green or just to make a quick green buck?

Even upon exiting the symposium, attendees received a reusable Ace schwag bag full of Fresh Wave odor spray and crystals, energy smart light bulb, a linen spiral notebook and a clothespin showing how much CO2 could saved if households air dried their clothes (250,000 tons of CO2 could saved if every household air dried one load of laundry). One thing that seemed out of place though – we don’t expect organic meals at every conference but they could at least have offered a veggie plate for the poor starving vegetarian/vegan attendees.

How Green are Firelogs?

2009-02-06T11:07:56Z

Ah, the smell of coffee wafting through the evening air. Except this time that aroma doesn’t come from our French press but rather our fireplace. No, we haven’t thrown can of perfectly unacceptable canned, non-fair trade supermarket java into the fire, but rather a firelog partially made from coffee grounds. Sounds rather sustainable, huh?

Okay, we probably won’t often claim that burning anything is sustainable as the CO2 wafts into the atmosphere. However, some firelogs present a greener way to warm up a room while creating that sexy atmosphere that only fire can offer.

We checked out some firelogs to see what makes up these bad boys.

What’s in a name? The Java-Log contains recycled and spent coffee grounds and all-natural vegetable wax. Historically, fire log makers used wax derived from petroleum - paraffin wax. Many firelog makers have gotten with the program and switched off the petroleum base.

We like the industrious thinking to use coffee grounds for create this log instead of using the grounds for compost (or yikes) the dreaded landfill. Better yet, the coffee Java-Log grounds are post-industrial (not post-consumer: e.g. coffee shops) that come from companies that manufacture coffee flavored beverages, ice creams, syrups, etc.

The Pine Mountain log comes from more traditional recycled sawdust and 100 percent natural vegetable wax which, although isn’t as creative as the Java-Log, still cuts the emissions release by up to 80 percent versus natural wood. About a year-and-a-half ago Duraflame took the smart step to dump their petroleum base wax in favor of a bio-wax. They also use recycled sawdust for their firelogs.

Since we’re not scientists we checked out some of the results by Omni Environmental Services that studied many aspects of the various logs including the fact that dioxin/furan emissions (g/hr) from burning Duraflame firelogs in a fireplace are significantly less than burning Douglas fir cordwood. But what about versus other logs?

Their study of emission rates indicated that the Duraflame Easy Time and Xtra Time products produced about twice as much carbon monoxide as the Conros Northland and Pine Mountain products. They noted that the Conros Northland (which we could not find in our local stores) product is about half the size of the Duraflame Easy Time and Xtra Time (1.4 kg vs. 2.3 kg), however it produced the same level of CO as the other Conros product, while Pine Mountain eqauled the same size as the Duraflame products.

The study noted that Biowax-fiber firelogs reduce Green House Gas emissions by more than 63 % and 82 % as compared to either natural gas or Liquid Propane Gas burned in dedicated vented gas fireplaces or vented gas firelogs installed in open-hearth fireplaces, respectively. Biowax-fiber firelogs also emit 22% fewer green house gases than equivalent cordwood fires.

For esthetics, most people like to warm their tootsies in front of a fire. On the health side, these non-oil based firelogs in general released less emissions than burning pure wood, but the amount of metals such as aluminum, barium and copper varied from log to log which can't be good. There's proabaly no winning to buring anything but if we want to sit with a glass of single malt by a fire, we will proabaly take our chances with one of these non petroleum based bad boys.

SFO Launches the Nation’s First Green Rental Car Program

2009-01-30T11:07:16Z

In another case of put your money where your hybrid is, San Francisco via Mayor Newsom just launched a green hybrid car rental program at San Francisco International Airport. So, after flying in with a heavy carbon footprint, car renters will be able lighten their footprint and fatten their wallet somewhat by taking advantage of this new hybrid program. Customers who rent hybrid cars that get an EPA rating of at least 18 will receive a $15 discount at the counter. Cars in this category include the Honda Civic Hybrid, Nissan Altima Hybrid or Toyota Prius. Fifteen bones won’t go so far in this City but the discount will bring hybrid rental prices down closer to normally fully polluting cars as well as some green awareness.

This program will save those green corporate bean counters money as airport rental car companies will qualify for a 20 percent reduction of their airport rent fees if they achieve a goal of increasing the percentage of their overall transactions to 15 percent for rentals of hybrid cars or high mileage vehicles – those with an EPA rating of 17 or higher. Cars in this category include the Toyota Camry, Honda Accord and Ford Focus, as well as the hybrid cars.

SFO hopes that these incentives will increase the total number of high mileage and hybrid cars in the rental fleet to more than 15 percent.

We’re not going to say that this hybrid discount calls for a rousing ovation. Hybrids might be better than conventional vehicles but the idea is to get people out of their cars (hybrids or not). We’d rather see the airport promote BART to and from the airport. It’s an economical ($5.35), fast and convenient ride to SF proper. Maybe the City can reward travelers with a mass transit discount?

Vegan, FSC, Fair Trade shoes

2009-01-22T10:38:44Z

A couple months ago while strolling or rather avoiding the Bay Bridge rush hour type traffic masses in the Green Festival we spotted a shoe company. No dahhling, we didn’t spy any sustainably made Manolo Blahnik pumps (we wish) but rather some shoes that caused a Chuck Taylor déjà vu. Even more than the shoe, a sign caught our eyes – FSC certified soles. What? How can shoe soles be FSC certified? That’s a wood certification. Then we had one of those “oh yeah” moments. The soles come from rubber trees.

Okay, we’ll admit that the last things you would mistake us for are “fashionistas” but we can spot sustainable shoes when we see them. Don’t get on our case about shoes and sustainability. Okay, going barefoot would be the best way to go but for the rest of us we just wear our duds as green as possible. The still relatively unknown Autonomie Project creates the eco-friendly Ethletic footwear, as well as other clothing and accessories. They offer the classic low-top as well as flip-flops but the Organic Chucky Ts got us.

So what’s in their sustainable shoe? The soles come from FSC certified all natural sustainable latex which means that someone actually tapped a rubber tree in well managed forest rather than creating a shoe bottom made from chemicals like most other shoe makers. The canvas upper comes from 100% certified organic cotton and all dyes used on the canvas lack PCP and AZO. And for those of you considering whether to eat your houses for your feet consider that they are 100% vegan.

We didn’t forget about the social justice angle either. No sweetshop for these shoes. The Autonomie Project uses only Fair Trade labor and they never use animal products and encourage cruelty-free purchases. They assist their workers to development and market their products so that they may live long and prosper in a soon to be reconfigured global marketplace.

We're lacing our vegan babies up and heading out. Imelda Marcos eat your heart out.

Continental Airlines Flight Demo Uses Sustainable Biofuels

2009-01-16T11:15:03Z

Last week we posted about the Emirates Airlines Green flight which offers some degree of green protocol but still the darn plane runs on pure petroleum. It looks like someone in the airline industry woke up because just a couple days ago Continental Airlines made a test run of a plane that runs on sustainable biofuel.

This commercial demo flight represents a first for North America airspace. It also marks the first sustainable biofuel demonstration flight by a commercial carrier using a two-engine aircraft, a Boeing 737-800 equipped with CFM International CFM56-7B engines.

We know your thinking that we’ll have to sacrifice our GMO, herbicide infested corn to create the fuel for us jet setters. These airline peeps got it right by the fact that the biofuel blend includes components derived from algae and jatropha plants, both sustainable, second-generation sources that do not impact food crops or water resources or contribute to deforestation. The algae oil comes via Sapphire Energy, and the jatropha oil by Terasol Energy. This flight signifies the first time a commercial carrier will power a flight using fuel derived in part from algae. This biofuel blend consist of consists of 50 percent biologically-derived fuel and 50 percent traditional jet fuel, in the No. 2 engine. The aircraft's No. 1 engine will operate on 100 percent traditional jet fuel, allowing Continental to compare performance between the biofuel blend and traditional fuel. So, think of it as B50 for planes. We can only hope for B100 for planes in the near future.

Even with a 50-50 blend, this biofuel will result in a significant net decrease in carbon emissions in comparison to traditional jet fuel, as both jatropha and algae consume carbon during their lifecycles.

Don’t be pestering your travel agent to book you on a Green Continental flight just yet. This test flight out of Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport lasted about two hours but carried no passengers. We would even sit in the middle seat in economy class between a soon-to-be-divorced couple for the chance to fly in this puppy. Sure, some airlines talk about selling carbon offsets, recycling on-board and decreasing taxiing time in terms of Green transportation, which we of course support to varying degrees. But here Continental, Boeing, GE Aviation/CFM and UOP have created something tangible with good old American know how (like we used to) with this sustainable biofuel airline flight.

Now if they can only do something about the on-board air quality.

Emirates Airlines Launches San Francisco Green Jet Service

2009-01-09T10:36:32Z

At first we had to laugh when we got wind (a tailwind no doubt) of how Emirates Airlines Launches San Francisco Service With World’s Longest Green Flight Trial. Even in their posh business class that’s a long flight and lot of CO2 going into the air. But what’s with the Green aspect? Are they going to sell us carbon credits during the in-flight service? We’ll have two organic gin martinis and 20,000 carbon credits please.

Before we totally write this off as greenwashing, we took a look at their green flight. Emirates created what they call “the most environmentally-sophisticated route and trip possible to help save an estimated 2,000 gallons of fuel and 30,000 pounds of carbon emissions on the 16-hour non-stop service.” The airlines worked with various countries to create a route that heads over Dubai, Russia, Iceland, Canada and the United States and other countries. Maybe these guys should work for the UN. We’ll buy the distance thing. Shorter distance, less fuel, less CO2.

Besides the flight route, Emirates has created several fuel and emission-saving measures such as the new 777-200LR will be specially washed beforehand to minimize drag.

We’re not aerodynamics experts but does washing a plane make that much of a difference toward fuel economy? Think of the precious water use (unless they use graywater) necessary to clean the jet.

The new 777-200LR operates at a 20% better clip when compared to the Air Bus 340-500, so that represents an immediate and tangible green plus.

Emirates also collects all on-board glass, newspapers, aluminum and paper for recycling. Commendable. It’s what happens after the flight that worries us. We have heard but have not yet confirmed that one US carrier that flies international routes collects recycling while in-flight but then the recyclables get burned because the cans and bottles came via an international flight. We wouldn’t want to recycle those cans from Mexico or Canada would we? Maybe the bottles didn't have there visas?

A lot of the other green factors have to do with routing, wind currents and air traffic management. That all makes sense but don’t all carriers do this? Maybe they don’t. Maybe some airline pilots fly directly into headwinds just for kicks.

Because the flight just kicked off a couple weeks ago, we’ll give it chance to see what the green savings are. It’s going to be difficult to convince us that jumping on a plane and flying half way around the world even remotely resembles anything green but if you gotta go you gotta go.

San Francisco Airport to Offer Green Offsets

2009-01-02T11:38:57Z

The saying “Up, up and away” used to bring excitement for air travelers but certainly not for travelers who wanted to reduce their carbon footprint. We have not noticed any plug in hybrid 747s buzzing through the skies yet, so what can a carbon conscious air traveler do? We know that some airlines now offer carbon offsets but they often offer no verification and it only seems to be a marketing ploy.

All the details have not been hammered out but likely beginning in the spring, travelers flying out of San Francisco International Airport (SFO) will be able to minimize the impact of their air travel (and their guilt) by buying certified carbon offsets at airport kiosks. We know what you’re thinking, those carbon offsets especially here in the U.S. just end up as subsidies to various green entrepreneurs. The difference here would be that San Francisco based 3Degrees will offer more creditability to the program. To us, the difference can be seen as 3Degrees sources VERs (Verified Emission Reductions) that they source from specific projects that result in real, quantifiable, permanent greenhouse gas emission reductions and offer credible and transparent third-party verification standards such as Gold Standard, Green-e Climate and California Climate Action Registry (CCAR)

We understand that these carbon kiosks would resemble the self service airline check-in stations where a traveler would punch in his or her destination. The machine would calculate the carbon footprint and the cost to offset the damage done by the airline flight. With the swipe of a credit card the traveler could help save the planet and receive a printed receipt listing the specific projects that the money benefits.

We don’t enjoy the restrictions, fees and hassles associated with flying but at least if this plan goes though that we can at least not feel too guilty about being jet-setters.