Sustainable Industries: All Blogs

Inside GreenBuild, Part 2

Eric Corey Freed — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 04:05:23 +0000

(BE SURE to read Part 1)

Despite the milestone, there was almost no mention of this being the tenth anniversary of the GreenBuild Conference & Expo. With the exception of a single display (at the top of the escalators between the halls), there was no other mention of a decade of impact. The focus of the show was clearly on the future, not lingering in the past. Besides, the 23,000 plus attendees had just barely survived the worst recession in eighty years, a recession that continues to pummel the building industry. This tenth anniversary would pass with little fanfare.

The mood in the halls was upbeat, optimistic and generally positive. (You may say that is because we really have no place to go but up.) In talking with hundreds of attendees, the real reason is more exciting. The source of this hope and confidence comes from a simple place: the built environment is a mess and it needs to be redesigned. It needs to be redesigned now. For a convention hall full of designers, this is cause for excitement. It was setting in that the world is going to need their services.

SOURCE: GreenBuild Expo

[pagebreak]And so it was that practically the entire Green Building movement gathered in Toronto in the first week of October to share their knowledge, connect with colleagues and discover the latest innovations. The opening plenary session of the conference was held in the vast Air Canada Centre, home of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Within the stadium crowd you’ll find green building pioneers, such as Lynn Simon, Rob Watson and Alex Wilson.

The plenary began with customary remarks by USGBC CEO and President Rick Fedrizzi in an unsurprising introduction. This was followed by a shameful product plug by the sponsor of the plenary, David Kohler. The audience was patiently waiting for the main event.

As keynote speaker, Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman seemed the perfect fit for the forward looking theme of this years conference. At first his talk started off badly, reading from his new book, That Used to Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back. It was rigid, poorly delivered and incredibly depressing. Everyone in the room knows all too well how screwed up the Earth is, and his reading wasn’t helping. But then, something changed. Friedman stopped reading and came to life.

He morphed into a tent revival preacher, and the result was incredibly effective. The crowd reacted and perked up. “Our future doesn’t have to be used up,” Friedman announced, “provided we fix what needs fixing today.” In a matter of minutes, he connected the 1979 film The China Syndrome and the Three Mile Island nuclear incident (occurring just 12 days after the films release) to thirty years of failed energy policy. “[These events] had a huge effect on America’s energy future,” he said, “and we didn’t compensate with energy efficiency. Instead we furthered our dependence on fossil fuels.”

He continued to connect recent events, such as the failure of the banking industry in 2008, with decisions we made three decades ago. “It’s not an accident that the Bear Stearns and Polar Bears faced extinction at the same time,” he proclaimed. Friedman points to what he calls a “distorted growth loop” in which a faulty accounting in both the markets and in Mother Nature under-priced risk, privatized all of the gains and socialized the losses. Causing, as he says, for “our children to pay for it down the road.”

SOURCE: GreenBuild Expo

[pagebreak]Though there were many gems within the speech, his big call to action came when he asked the audience to take back this Green Revolution. As he pointed out, “Have you ever been to a revolution where no one gets hurt? This isn’t a revolution, it’s a party!” To explain, Friedman noted, “How can it be a revolution where BP causes the worst environmental disaster in US history and gets off without punishment; or Exxon has the highest profits of any corporation? That’s not a revolution, that’s a party!”

Friedman said it will be a true revolution once we can take back the name. For example, instead of “green buildings,” they will simply be called “buildings.” He added, you won’t be able to build a building “unless it meets the highest levels of efficiency.” That is when we know it will be a true revolution.

Friedman explained how oil, coal and gas are fossil fuels, and therefore are vanishing commodities. On the other hand, solar and wind are technologies. Commodities always go up in price with demand. Technologies always go down in price with demand. The first cell phones were expensive, but as they reached ubiquity, they plummeted in price. These “price signals” as Friedman puts it, will be the final sign that our revolution is underway.

He brought the crowd to its’ feet with his closing comment. “You didn’t get the word that everything is hopeless and that our government is paralyzed,” he explained. “You continued and kept going. Be too dumb to quit; don’t get the word!” Friedman ended by saying that our “not getting the word” gives him hope.

As the applause faded, Friedman was joined on stage by Dr. Paul Farmer, Chair of the Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard and Author of Haiti: After the Earthquake and Kim Campbell, who briefly served as Canada’s first female Prime Minister (for 4-1/2 months) for a panel discussion.

Moderated by ABC News commentator and Emmy Award-winner, Cokie Roberts, the panel discussed the USGBC’s Project Haiti, and the role of industry in the rebuilding efforts. But no one was really listening. Energized by Friedman’s talk, the crowd was already getting restless when it was announced that Apple founder Steve Jobs had just passed away.

Now to set the scene for you: picture thousands of conference goers packed into this Canadian hockey rink, their heads swimming with the insightful ramblings of a Pulitzer Prize-winner, and all desperately trying in vain to get their American cell phones to work to confirm the grim news (at international roaming rates).

I’d like to comment on the panel discussion, but it was nearly impossible to hear over the din of the crowd. (Watch the video above.) The sad news left everyone distracted. Instead, I went out into the concourse to toast to the memory of Steve Jobs with everyone else.

[pagebreak]The plenary was coming to a close, but not before Rick Fedrizzi re-took the stage for his final remarks. Rick surprised us all with a moving, heartfelt and passionate presentation of his “news story from the future.” Set as a New York Times article from the year 2036, it imagines a cover story announcing the closure of the US Green Building Council due to the completion of the their mission: where every building was now a green building. The graphics were beautifully produced, perfectly timed to his speech and sent chills through the audience. “The mission of the USGBC has been accomplished,” he proclaimed (but speaking from the future.)

Next up, Grammy award-winners Maroon 5 took to the stage. Oddly enough there are six of them, not five, but it continues the GreenBuild tradition of hiring eco-minded performers (rock goddess Sheryl Crow took to the GreenBuild stage in Phoenix in 2009). The band is supporting the fight against climate change with their bio-diesel buses and support of Environmental Media Association and Global Cool.

In my life, I have climbed pyramids, broken into castles and bribed Egyptian policemen, but I can tell you that you have not known fear until you’ve been smashed against the stage by a horde of screaming, crying women at a Maroon 5 concert. Judging by the crowd reaction, lead singer Adam Levine is very popular among female environmentalists, aged 22-62. His tight pants were the topic of much of the conversation.

[pagebreak]The following day, everyone had a Maroon 5 song stuck their head (it doesn’t matter which, as they kind of all sound the same). Here is one I think you’ll enjoy:

IN PART THREE: I’ll be discussing the show logistics and Closing Plenary session, including a talk from the “John Wayne” of the Green Building movement.

Inside Greenbuild

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 03:28:27 +0000

Celebrating its’ 10th anniversary, the Greenbuild Conference & Expo is the largest gathering of architects, engineers, developers, contractors and builders involved in the greening of the built environment. With a hundred educational sessions and over 1,000 exhibitors, Greenbuild is overwhelming, exhausting and exhilarating. Given the sheer size, it is the Olympics of conferences.

My own preparation starts weeks before by scheduling every minute with meetings, classes, interviews and parties. If done right, the show is a marathon, both physically and intellectually. Cards are exchanged, deals are made and strategic partnerships are formed. Every industry has its’ premier events, and Greenbuild is it for those of us in green building.

Held this year in Toronto, this was the first time the conference was held outside of U.S. borders (last year was hosted in Chicago, the 2012 show is in San Francisco). Judging by the buzz among the many I spoke with, Toronto seemed to charm everyone. Over 23,000 attendees from 108 countries were in attendance (down from 27,000 last year, due more to the foreign venue than the economy, I believe).

This years Conference theme was simply “NEXT.” It seems quite appropriate. The field of green building has reached a certain critical mass over the past decade, prompting many new recruits to ask, “What’s next?” Even the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) own green building rating system, called LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), has itself leveled off a bit.

[pagebreak]As part of this idea of NEXT, several clear memes were present this year throughout the lectures and exhibitors:

Living Buildings: The idea of simply being “less bad” with our buildings is not enough. We need regenerative buildings to restore the environment from the damage we cause. The idea of “living” buildings, and more specifically the Living Building Challenge rating system, was all the rage this year.

Biomimicry: Popularized by the 2002 book by Janine Benyus, "Biomimicry" seeks to study Nature to learn her design secrets. A long-time favorite among design students, Biomimicry is finally being applied to real-world applications in our built environment. Remember, human beings are not the first to build things. Nature has 3.8 billion years of research and development on us and knows how to build sustainably.

Green Schools: With more than one in five people working in a school building every day, the idea of green schools has emerged as one of the best places to start changing how we design our buildings. The USGBC’s 2010 spin off, The Center for Green Schools was represented at the conference, as was the great work of Brian Dunbar from the Institute for the Built Environment, Colorado State University, among others.

EcoDistricts: Appropriately launched in Portland, EcoDistricts are a new strategy to develop livable, walkable, sustainable neighborhoods. As an example, take a look at Pringle Creek, a growing sustainable community in Salem, Ore. The ideas have taken hold and are starting to spread across the country. It’s also no coincidence that the EcoDistricts Summit is being held a couple of weeks after Greenbuild.

Benchmarking and Metrics: With this being the 10th Greenbuild, it is fitting that many are taking a decades’ worth of valuable data and putting it to good use. Many of the talks and exhibitors showed off various forms of benchmarking tools and case studies. Building dashboards were a clear standout at the show, with dozens of different versions. My two favorite systems came from Lucid Design Group and Schneider Electric. Such systems will be standard issue in a few years.

[pagebreak]Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs): Ushering in a new wave of manufacturer transparency, an EPD is a complete lifecycle assessment (LCA) of any material, product or even a system. It goes beyond a mere Material Safety and Data Sheet (MSDS) and provides the full picture of the impacts, risks and environmental responsibility. It is no surprise that carpet maker InterfaceFLOR would be leading the charge on the EPD movement given their long history and commitment to sustainability. Expect most other manufacturers to follow suit, if only out of fear of being left behind. In 2009, UL (the safety company famous for ensuring our electrical devices won’t start a fire) spun off a subsidiary called UL Environment, who is pioneering an EPD program for manufacturers. Much of the buzz on the show floor was about the possibilities of manufacturers embracing these EPDs.

Of course there were dozens of topics outside of these categories, but these six concepts give a glimpse into what really is next for green building.

(I was scheduled to speak on the topic of Innovative Green Residential, but that seemed too dry and I decided instead to present a new talk entitled “Dodo-Sapiens,” my rant on how our way of life is killing us, and the need for living, bio-based buildings. The audience didn’t seem to mind. More on that later.)

The real conference occurs between the sessions in the hallways. Over the past decade, Greenbuild has become the place for networking, to see and been seen by the greatest minds in our sustainability movement. Seen roaming the conference halls are such visionaries as Amory Lovins (Rocky Mountain Institute), Bill Browning (Terrapin Bright Green), Jerry Yudelson (Author & Consultant), and Gail Vittori (Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems. Or as I overheard: “If a bomb dropped [on the Toronto Convention Centre], the green building movement would be set back 30 years.”

IN PART 2: Eric discussed the Opening Plenary sessions, including the fantastic keynote by Thomas Friedman of the New York Times.

Universities as green innovators

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 05:07:47 +0000

Stanford University has long held a tradition of innovation. The legendary tech startups, such as Yahoo and Google, that were founded by Stanford students in its hallowed halls is now the stuff of legend in SIlicon Valley. (In fact, Sun Microsystems got their original name as an acronym for Stanford University Network.) Billions of dollars have literally walked off campus, yet this atmosphere of innovation continues today.

Other universities share in this tradition. At MIT, for example, alumni have founded 25,800 companies which generate revenues of about $1.9 trillion a year.

While you could argue that if Stanford had an agreement that gave them even one-tenth of 1 percent of anything created by their students, they would have an endless endowment worth billions. But perhaps this would scare off the future tech billionaires from ever matriculating in the first place. Instead, what if a university could utilize their students as an in-house R&D (research and development) laboratory? Students would still be free to profit from their inventions, but the institution could benefit from the ideas in some way.

At a symposium for The Earth Institute at Columbia University, I met Sam Harrington, marketing director for Ecovative Design. It turns out that a similar innovation is currently happening at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in upstate New York. Instead of tech companies, they're developing a new wave of innovative materials. Ecovative was started by RPI students who developed an innovative foam material derived from mycelium (a.k.a. mushroom fungi) called EcoCradle. In its' current state, EcoCradle is a surprisingly affordable and effective alternative to oil-based Styrofoam. This "mushroom foam" could have thousands of potential uses.

Sam and I discussed the possibilities of eventually utilizing the foam as a natural, non-toxic and biodegradable alternative for building insulation. It could replace traditional, formaldehyde-based fiberglass. Imagine improving the indoor air and eliminating a known carcinogen from our buildings. Such bio-based materials will (eventually) radically improve the health and impact of our buildings. The challenge for Sam and small companies like his is finding real-world projects in which to test their creations.

[pagebreak]Another type of innovation is happening at the Engineering department of Arizona State University through a program called EPICS (Engineering Projects in Community Service). Begun in 1995, the EPICS program takes engineering students into real communities to design and build solutions.

Led by Richard Filley, EPICS has mentored hundreds of students over the past 16 years to develop sustainable projects in over a dozen countries. EPICS reminds me of a student version of Architecture for Humanity (AFH), one of my favorite nonprofits, that provides design services to people in need around the world. In their 12 year history, AFH has constructed hundreds of projects in 25 countries, from Haiti to New Orleans. Such models of community design are helping to redefine the modern architectural practice.

Now imagine a hybrid of all of these ideas: students applying an innovative approach to developing new materials to tackle our biggest sustainability challenges and applying them to real projects.

Engineering students develop new insulation or finish materials that architecture students design into a real, on-campus project. Business students crunch the pro forma financials to test out new types of financing for sustainable buildings. Policy students could explore new avenues in public/private partnerships for the projects. Construction management students could assist with the construction, after which marketing students could conduct post-occupancy analysis of the finished project. Not only would the students earn a beautiful image for their portfolios and get to work in a truly interdisciplinary environment, but invaluable practical experience as well.

All of this was swimming around my head when I met with Dan Garofolo. Dan is part of the Facilities and Real Estate Services group at the University of Pennsylvania. Penn currently has projects under development, from a new nanotechnology center designed by Weiss/Manfredi Architects to a new law building designed by KVA Architects. At any time, a couple of dozen other, small improvement projects are also underway, many done without the need of a permit. All of these projects could serve as a testing and proving ground for the students. Who else but the university could absorb minor added risk and write it off as college credit? Students could take a class in this type of independent study, helping offset any delays to the project spent on stopping to teach the students.

[pagebreak]Virtually every large university has a department like Dan's at Penn. They act as the liaison between the university and their architect (or as the architect themselves for smaller projects). This idea would be a formalized internship. As it turns out, a university may be the only place left for students to get such experience.

Traditionally, a university is a great neighbor. They create jobs, spur development and attract talent and a young workforce. They are invaluable to a city and should be part of any long-term redevelopment plans a city hopes to achieve. A building developed by (and for) a university is much better than anything even the greenest developer could create. Think about it: Universities are long term tenants, have a great interest in the energy performance of their buildings, understand the value of design to attract students and maintain their facilities to last for generations. In addition, the modern-day university is the last group that is still as concerned with the exterior spaces around their buildings as they are in the buildings themselves.

Universities are the only clients in the development industry that still create anything resembling a "piazza" (public plaza) or address true walkability and livability around their projects. Traditional developers do the bare minimum to meet code and minimize costs. A University understands the long-term benefits of a well designed campus.

So perhaps the university of the 21st Century can continue the tradition of innovation through bold new projects that connect their greatest asset, their students, to the realities they address each day.

Credit: Slide show photo of Stanford University Bell Tower by Keith Cuddeback.

Remote control

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 20:00:00 +0000

Ed Pleet says the cell phone is the center of people’s universe.

Not a total surprise, considering Pleet is a developer for Ford Motor Co.’s (NYSE: F) connectivity group, and one of the people behind a new mobile app designed to keep people in tune with their electric vehicles.

It’s called MyFord Mobile, set to be released later this year when Ford rolls out its first all-electric car, the Focus Electric, in select U.S. markets, including San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles and San Diego.

Sustainable Industries caught up with Pleet recently at GigaOM’s Green:Net conference in San Francisco, where he showed us firsthand how the new app works. Through their phone, a vehicle owner can see how much juice the car has, schedule or initiate charging, locate charging stations and plan multi-stop trips, making sure the car has enough power to get where the driver wants to go.

It also includes a “value charging” feature, developed with Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), that allows vehicle owners to set charging times for when power is cheapest.

What all this represents, according to Pleet, is a new way of thinking necessitated by electric vehicles.

“With EVs there’s a new need to understand what’s going on with the vehicle when it’s not there,” Pleet said.

Ford isn’t alone in banking on drivers’ need to remotely manage their vehicles and their charging needs. A 2010 report from clean tech research firm Pike Research estimated EV IT – including data analytics, smart charging management and customer information management – will spawn more than $5 billion in investments by 2015.

Coulomb and ECOtality, two companies developing charging infrastructure and networks, created mobile apps to find and reserve charging stations.

Meanwhile, PlugShare, an app released in March by Bay Area electric vehicle software startup Xatori, is already claiming to be the country’s largest EV charging network.

PlugShare allows drivers to find places to charge their electric vehicles, both through listings of public charging stations and PlugShare’s network of people willing to share their electrical outlets.

Clean tech, meet the CleanWeb

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 21:50:01 +0000

Get ready for the CleanWeb.

That was the message of veteran clean tech investor Sunil Paul, founder of Spring Ventures, speaking at GigaOM’s Green:Net conference in San Francisco on Thursday.

What is the CleanWeb and why does it matter? As Paul defines it the CleanWeb is “a category of clean technology that leverages the capability of the Internet, social media and mobile technologies to address resource constraints.” Or more simply put, it’s using “the power of Internet applications as clean tech applications.”

Technically, it’s a new name for something that already exists among nascent and established clean tech companies. But according to Paul, it’s where many of the next big jumps in efficiency will come in.

“Information technology is going to be the next big driver of clean tech innovation,” Paul said.

Up until now, much clean tech development and innovation has been in the physical, tangible world – think improvements in materials like increasing the efficiency of solar panels. And that quest to improve the hardware and infrastructure side of cleantech is going pretty well.

“The good news is, we’re winning,” Paul said of bringing down the costs of renewable energy and other technologies and building successful clean tech companies (and the investment of large companies like GE in the space).

But compared to the rocketing growth of companies like Facebook and Zynga, clean tech companies have a lot to learn.

In the renewable energy sector, some costs – materials and labor, for example – are relatively fixed, but there are a host of potential savings and increased efficiencies in other costs.

Spride cited solar installer SolarCity, which has experienced a growth surge in part because it’s able to bundle transaction costs through its SolarLease program. Another is Sungevity, whose imaging software allows customers to shop for solar photovoltaic systems online, dramatically reducing labor costs.

As an example of a company tapping the power of the CleanWeb, Paul also highlighted his own startup, Spride Share, a peer-to-peer car sharing company that launched last year in San Francisco.

Meanwhile, Airbnb, which allows people to rent out their homes to travelers, is using the CleanWeb to reduce the need for resource-intensive hotels. Other fields with CleanWeb potential include finance, recycling, food and shipping.

For investors and entrepreneurs, the CleanWeb offers a host of opportunities to create capital-efficient companies with the potential for fast scale-up times. But it poses challenges, too – it’s a fast-moving space demanding broad thinking and quick adaptation.

Interested in diving into the CleanWeb? Paul and his collaborators are putting together a CleanWeb hackathon in July, a weekend-long collaboration of programmers and entrepreneurs focused on building new CleanWeb ventures.

Check out Paul's talk here:

Watch live streaming video from greennet2011 at livestream.com

Wastewater innovation doesn’t have to be hidden from view

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 14:33:30 +0000

The American Institute of Architects and its Committee on the Environment released its top ten green projects of the last year, praising designers trying out new ideas during a rough economy. Architecture fans might have guessed some of the winners – Vancouver, B.C.’s schmancy convention center with the largest vegetated roof in North America; the K-12 school in Greensburg, Kan.; a lab at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo.

For my money, the most intriguing winner is the Olympia, Wash., service center for the LOTT Clean Water Alliance. The combination office, research lab and waste treatment plant uses methane generated from waste to heat the building directly, avoiding the need for a boiler, and employs solar heat gain and daylighting to reduce the lighting load. There’s also a pond fed by reclaimed water.

Drawing heat from waste treatment isn’t new, although it is a tragically underused energy source. What’s more notable is that the treatment plant isn’t hidden from public view – it’s on full display. The alliance even offers tours to the public.

One of the first steps to ramping up innovative ways to handle wastewater and rainwater is to get people willing to talk about the stuff. The era of modern plumbing (a great advance for humankind, by the way) brings with it a flush-it-away-and-don’t-think-about it mentality. Now that leaders like Cascadia Green Building Council are promoting creative ways to conserve and reuse the, uh, stuff, it’s helpful to have examples like the LOTT facility that are visible to public.

Props to Seattle’s Miller Hull Partnership for leading the project.

Will Zipcar's hot IPO pave the way for car sharing startups?

Fri, 15 Apr 2011 21:30:13 +0000

Zipcar’s better-than-anticipated Nasdaq debut this week may be good news for the country’s biggest name in car sharing. It could also help jumpstart a small crew of startups offering a new twist on the traditional car sharing model.

Zipcar is among the first generation of collaborative consumption companies, which facilitate the lending and sharing, rather than the purchasing, of goods, as Lauren Anderson, innovation strategist and project manager at CC Lab, a consultancy that advises companies on launching and scaling collaborative consumption, told Sustainable Industries recently.

If Zipcar’s IPO represents that first wave of companies coming of age, it’s also paving the way for what Anderson says is the second generation of collaborative consumption ventures – ones that provide the technology to allow people to pool their own resources.

In San Francisco, that includes three young companies – Spride Share, Getaround and RelayRides – that allow car owners to rent their personal vehicles to other members. (Stay tuned for an in-depth look at the San Francisco’ fledgling peer-to-peer car sharing scene in the upcoming print issue of Sustainable Industries.)

These startups aren’t positioning themselves as going head-to-head with Zipcar. Rather, they say they can coexist with and augment Zipcar and other car sharing services.

“Our competitor is not Zipcar,” RelayRides founder Shelby Clark said. “It’s car ownership.”

These second generation car sharing startups say that not owning their own fleets gives them a flexibility that Zipcar lacks. Maintaining its own fleet means high fixed costs for the newly public company. While its model works well in urban cores and near college campuses, it doesn’t export well to less-dense areas.

The peer-to-peer startups, meanwhile, make their money by taking a percentage of each rental transaction and say their business models can work anywhere from downtown to the ‘burbs.

“One of the things that’s most exciting is that we can operate profitably in any area,” Clark said.

Massachusetts-based Zipcar raised $174.3 million in its initial public offering on Thursday. Its stock debuted at $30 per share, a jump of almost 70 percent over its initial offering price.

Not bad for a company that’s still far from profitability. As Zipcar disclosed in its S-1 filing: “We have experienced net losses in each year since our inception ... We do not know if our business operations will become profitable or if we will continue to incur net losses in 2011 and beyond. We expect to incur significant future expenses as we develop and expand our business, which will make it harder for us to achieve and maintain future profitability.”

Building efficiency

Thu, 14 Apr 2011 20:03:01 +0000

If California is going to meet its ambitious energy efficiency goals, it’s going to have to retrofit more than its building stock – the state’s workforce needs an overhaul, too, in the form of training, quality standards and incentives for jobs well done.

That’s according to a report released last month by the University of California, Berkeley and currently under review by state energy regulators.

The report – its mouthful of a title is, “California Workforce Education and Training Needs Assessment for Energy Efficiency, Demand Response and Distributed Generation” – was mandated as part of the state’s long-term energy efficiency plan. Created in 2008, the plan includes ramping up the efficiency of the state’s HVAC industry, making retrofits available to low-income Californians and requiring new residential construction to be net-zero energy by 2020, with commercial construction hitting the same target by 2030.

Besides saving energy, the state’s green ambitions could drive more than $11 billion in public and private energy efficiency investments annually, which could in turn create more than 200,000 jobs, according to the report.

But despite all the hype surrounding specialized green jobs, the positions created will be distributed throughout the economy, focused mainly in the traditional construction trades.

“We’re trying to build clean energy economy on the backs of that workforce,” says Carol Zabin, a UC Berkeley researcher and one of the report’s lead authors.

That’s good news for trades walloped by devastating job losses in the economic downturn – Zabin estimates the state lost 400,000 construction jobs – but that also means it’s crucial to make sure those tradespeople are trained to do quality work, and that building codes and rebate programs enforce high standards, the study found.

The problem of improper installation and little accountability is most pronounced in the residential HVAC sector, an arena with huge energy-saving potential, but in which shoddy installation practices and little accountability squelch potential gains. Earlier studies have found up to 85 percent of replacement HVAC systems are installed incorrectly.

One answer, according to the report, is to tighten up permitting processes and create incentive programs that are focused on performance and worker certification.

“This issue of developing skill standards is a key recommendation,” Zabin says. “It makes training more efficient and rewards those who are concerned about quality.”

The report also suggests encouraging more collaboration among the 1,000-plus training programs already available through the state’s community colleges, community-based organizations and apprenticeship programs.

Of course, the report only covers California, a state that’s ahead of the curve when it comes to energy efficiency and clean energy policy, but is less advanced with its workforce policies, Zabin says.

Meanwhile, other states and cites are developing their own solutions to how drive high-quality energy efficiency retrofits, like Clean Energy Works Oregon, a public-private partnership aiming to retrofit 6,000 homes and 3.5 million square feet of commercial space in three years.

“The cool thing is it’s such a period of experimentation, with different models around the country,” Zabin says. “In a few years we’ll be able to see which ones work better.”

What happened to Modernism?

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 21:38:09 +0000

Modernism week is an annual event held every February in Palm Springs, California. Thousands of people descend on the Coachella Valley to tour some of the incredible examples of Mid-Century Modern buildings that exist here. To call them fans of modernism is an understatement. Most that I met had some deep, near fanatical, obsession with this particular period of Architecture – a period in which the term "modern" meant what it should.

Before it referred to that period of art history from 1920 to 1965, the word "modern" used to refer to a departure from traditionalism using cutting edge technology. It seems we have forgotten the beautiful power of the concept of something being truly modern. Practically all of the events around Modernism Week treated the past as something belonging to a bygone era, and a past that needs to be preserved. The general sentiment seemed to be that the unique conditions that gave rise to the Modernist movement is long gone and never to return.

While I agree the original examples of Mid-Century Modernism (1950's and 60's) that remain should be preserved, I found myself wanting more. One would think that Modernism itself should be so prevalent by now that we all live in our own Modernist house.

The reality, of course, we know to be much different. Truly modern buildings are reserved for special occasions: a new high-rise or maybe a new public library. In the last decade, even public buildings and schools are starting to embrace modem designs. The US General Services Administration (GSA) (http://www.gsa.gov) has committed to truly modern designs in its' new buildings. While this progress is wonderful, the daily buildings we use are being overlooked.

Most of the houses being built today are adamantly NOT modern. Unlike the rare Mid-Century Modern examples here in Palm Springs, most existing homes are shy about doing anything beyond the traditional. In fact most subscribe to a style that could best be called, "Spaniterranean," a hodgepodge of romantic, traditional styles that have little to do with the area in which they are built, and even less to do with the people living in them.

One of the pioneers of this Mid-Century Modernist movement is architect William Krisel. At 86 years of age, he is a wealth of architectural history. In a public conversation lecture held during Modernism Week, Krisel shared some stories of the feeling going on at the time.

"I found a group of likeminded developers and clients who felt the time had come for modern designed tract housing," he explained.

Yes, the time HAD come. But then did it end? Today, the vast majority of tract housing (housing for the masses) is far from modern. The Tuscany-inspired, Mediterranean villas that blight our landscapes are uninspiring, boring and, worst of all, fake.

Krisel was able to convince clients to build a modern building, in part, because there was a movement going on around him helping to encourage others to join in. He told stories about looking for clients open to modern designs. Nearly 60 years later, architects are still having the same conversations.

Did Modernism fail in its' mission? Perhaps we need a second Modernist movement.

A fact demonstrated clearly in Palm Springs. Surrounding most of these historical modern buildings are brand new, suburban sprawl, Spaniterranean buildings. New, modern buildings are still considered rare.

PHOTO CREDIT: Behr Browers Architects

While driving along the 101 Highway in Southern California, I almost got into an accident when I caught a glimpse of the Calabasas Shopping Center. Here was a new, everyday building that was clearly modern. Digging around, I was also pleased to discover it to be the first LEED Certified (http://www.usgbc.org/leed) building in the county and the debut project of the Calabasas County Green Development Standard.

Project manager Jason Oliver, from Behr Browers Architects (http://www.behrbrowers.com) spoke to me about how it came about. With project designer was Francisco Behr, they began by involving the community into the design process. The community's initial reaction was reluctant to embrace something different, and expected a more traditional design.

"Once the community members started getting educated about the goal of increasing daylighting and opening up to view corridors," Oliver continued, "they got excited about a modern aesthetic." By including them in the thinking that goes into the design, the community stopped seeing something modern as being imposed upon them, but rather as a clear design solution.

"Towards the end [of the process]," says Oliver, "the community was almost unanimous in their desire for a modern design."

That this particular modern building is also the greenest in Calabasas County further helped sell the community and officials on the final design.

"Spec[ulative] developments are primed for modern, sustainable design as they are already designed to cut out the fat and superfluous spaces," Oliver explained. Could this model be repeated in other areas?

A few hours from here, the small city of Elk Grove, California is facing their own challenge with a modern design. This Sacramento suburb, which the Census Bureau once proclaimed America’s fastest-growing city, decided to establish itself as a destination spot.

Back in 2006, they set a bold vision for the future (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/01/us/01hadid.html?_r=3&ref=us) of their city by holding an international design competition to create a master plan for a $159 million civic center complex on 78 acres.

As told in the New York Times, this town of only 153,000 people saw a bold, modern building as the solution to their relative anonymity.

The council hoped that an iconic piece of architecture could vault the young city to higher heights, à la Bilbao in Spain and its Guggenheim museum.

PHOTO SOURCE: New York Times

To this end, the City selected the more often visionary than practical architect, Zaha Hadid.

Ms. Hadid's resulting design is a fluid, organic and bold piece of Architecture. She is, after all, the first woman to receive the Pritzker Architecture Prize. Although most of her designs have been on paper and unbuilt, the last decade has put her in high demand.

The mayor was thrilled that they had landed such a big fish. “We hit a home run on this one,” gushed James Cooper, the mayor at the time. “The citizens are so excited. The big thing is to let her be an architect and not stifle the process. We want her to think of something different. This is a new chapter in Elk Grove’s life.”

The community loved it when selected back in 2006, but now in a recession, the usual lack of vision is taking over. A new Mayor and new council members vehemently oppose the design, for no reason other than a fear of the new.

So perhaps it was no surprise that the council members did not attend any of the meetings — some of which included very positive comments from the public — over the nine months of planning until the final presentation of the master plan last week.

So, why this unfounded fear of Modernism?

It would be understandable had modern buildings been shown to destroy communities, bankrupt cities or prove structurally inferior… but cities did that through traditional planning, not through Modernism. Instead, modern buildings have been shown to attract visitors, revitalize cities and push the art of Architecture forward. We can't afford to not build them.

The secret lie in learning from the past without copying it. Most town planners cling to traditional vernacular styles in the hopes of getting the good stuff they like in traditional styles (i.e.: maintain the street frontage, human scale awnings, etc.) in spite of the bad stuff they don't (i.e.: an anachronistic collection of uninspiring repetition.)

Let's study the styles of the past, learn from them and move on. Open our eyes to what worked in those approaches and adapt it to our modern sensibilities. Let's have a new Modernist Movement. And this time, let's make it a green one.

Go fish

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 00:23:04 +0000

When the United States Department of Agriculture earlier this year doubled its recommendations about how much seafood Americans should eat, it may have been doing a favor to the country’s hearts and waistlines. But it also added pressure of increasing demand to the world’s already-taxed seafood supplies.

And that could help spawn a sustainable aquaculture industry that some say is ripe for development in the U.S., especially in places like California and the Pacific Northwest. Figuring out how to drive much-needed investment and innovation to the industry – and how to make money doing it – was the focus of a group of investors, entrepreneurs and scientists gathered this week in San Francisco as part of the Ag 2.0 conference.

About half the world’s seafood comes from aquaculture, making it a $100 billion industry that is expected to swell in the coming decade. In the U.S., which imports about 85 percent of its seafood, only about five percent of seafood comes from domestic aquaculture operations.

“The future of most seafood is probably going to be aquaculture,” said Aaron Enz, a partner with Watershed Capital Group, a venture capital firm with a focus in sustainable aquaculture.

In the U.S., though, the industry faces hurdles including complex regulatory processes, high costs of coastal land and the hefty capital investments needed for new aquaculture ventures.

“We need a federal policy… and to take responsibility for our own consumption decisions,” said Michael Rubino, manager of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s aquaculture program.

The agency, in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Commerce, is in the process of drafting national policies to support sustainable aquaculture. The new guidelines aim to drive research into aquaculture technologies, minimize adverse environmental effects of aquaculture and explore alternative feed stocks for farmed seafood.

The aquaculture industry is also up against concerns about its environmental sustainability, including issues of waste and harmful effects on wild fish populations. While practices in other counties lag behind, Rubino said domestic aquaculture has already made a shift to tighter environmental controls.

“The public perception of aquaculture hasn’t caught up with the reality,” Rubino said. “The government is trying to get word out about better practices that are already in place.”

Meanwhile, investors may be keeping a sharp eye on aquaculture, but they’re not making a lot of investments yet, Enz said, citing technical obstacles, seafood price volatility and a lack of early success stories.

That could shift, though. One venture fund, New York-based Aquacopia, focuses solely on sustainable aquaculture, and counts among its portfolio companies like Oberon, which makes fish meal replacement, and startups building open ocean fish farms.

“Once we have a few success stories I think you’re going to see a lot more investment,” Enz said.