2nd Green Revolution

On or around the first of every month, 2nd Green Revolution updates the upcoming green events calendar for the coming month. Last month we began including a post highlighting some of the intriguing events for that month.

This month there are several international conferences posted on Conference Alerts. Here are a few domestic and a couple of international conferences of interest, including the United Nations’ long anticipated meeting in Copenhagen. Read the rest of this entry »

Team Germany's Winning Solar House

I am remiss to post this so late but still wanted to wish a quick and belated congratulations to Team Germany for winning the 2009 Solar Decathlon that was held last month on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The annual contest challenged 20 student teams to design, build, and operate the most attractive and energy-efficient solar-powered house. Full results and details are here, or click on the image below. The following synopses of the three top houses are from the Solar Decathlon website.

Overall Winners

First Place: Team Germany (Technische Universität Darmstadt)

The 2007 champions did it again! Team Germany focused on producing surplus energy by using the maximum overall building dimensions allowed, applying photovoltaics to every available surface, and pushing the envelope with new technologies. The team walked away with the Net Metering contest and performed well in several others, including Architecture, Lighting Design, Comfort Zone, and Hot Water. Demonstrating that they are true champions, members of Team Germany were extremely gracious in their victory and recognized the work of their peers.

Read the rest of this entry »

A few days ago, one of our posts discussed the steps that Interface Inc. – a carpet company from LaGrange, GA – had taken to achieve a level of sustainable business practices that places the company as an industry leader. After nearly a decade and a half of developing a sustainable business, Interface has begun to leverage their knowledge and experience in the field. Their program, InterfaceRAISE, “is a peer-to-peer advisory service for businesses that offers guidance and knowledge on how to drive business value through sustainability.” Through this program, the company teaches its clients how they have “applied sustainability as a growth platform in the best and worst of times. Much like Peter Senge’s message in The Necessary Revolution, Interface has set itself apart as a leader in the field by pursuing sustainability measures. Read the rest of this entry »

Green Myths Exposed (from Kiplinger’s):

1) Never leave the lights on when you leave a room.

In the U.S., it saves money to leave compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) on if you will return to the room within 15 minutes, according to the Department of Energy. www.energysavers.gov

2) You can trust products that say “green,” “eco-friendly” etc.

Green-washing (false claims that a product is green) is a problem. Visit www.ftc.gov and search “sorting our green advertising claims” for information. Also, look for the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Design for the Environment label (www.eap.gov/dfe).

3) Switching to solar is the best way to save money.

Go for the low hanging fruit first by tightening up the home.

4) Energy savings and tax credits will eventually pay for replacement windows.

You could easily spend $5,000 to replace five or six windows, of which $3,500 would not be reimbursed. Prevent energy loss for less money through insulating and tightening up the  home as in the previous point.

5) You can neutralize your share of greenhouse-gas emissions with carbon offsets.

Clean Air-Cool Planet, a nonprofit devoted to climate-science education, says that it’s impossible to prove that purchasing offsets will render purchasers carbon-neutral. Anyway, measuring your personal carbon emissions “is a squishy science, and measuring the offsets is even squishier.”

Source: Kiplinger’s

Yesterday I had the opportunity to tour New Belgium Brewery for the second time in the last 14 months. Earliest this month, 2nd Green Revolution carried a write up of the first visit. Subsequently, we have written several other stories about (or mentioning) the brewery. In yesterday’s visit there were several new features that were mentioned on the tour, and a few that I had not known of previously. Read the rest of this entry »

The White House announced today that President Obama will swing by the much hyped COP 15 climate change meeting taking place in Copenhagen, Denmark (the COP in COP 15 is an acronym for “Conference of Parties”, the highest body of the United Nations Climate Change Convention which meets on an annual basis). On the way to picking up his Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo on December 10th, the President will stop by the international climate summit on the 9th, near the beginning of the 12 day meeting. He will tell the delegates that “the United States intends to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions ‘in the range of’ 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050,” according to the New York Times. Read the rest of this entry »

While many companies are just now bringing “green” and sustainable products to market (as discussed in an earlier post), Interface Carpet based out of LaGrange, Georgia has been a leader in the field, producing carpet in a sustainable fashion since 1994.

Ray Anderson, founder and chairman of Interface Inc., recalls the days when he and his company did not know what sustainability was or how it could impact his company. In the documentary The Corporation, Anderson stands out as a visionary in sustainability among CEOs. His goal is to eliminate all environmental damage from his company by 2020. Read the rest of this entry »

As the first decade of the new millennium comes to a close, the rush to name the current decade has begun (as mentioned in a New York Times editorial). While looking back proves informative, we at 2nd Green Revolution prefer to look to the future. What will the next decade be known as? We would like to propose that the coming decade be know as “The Decade of Sustainability”. Several reasons come to mind.

1. UNESCO – Decade of Educating for Sustainable Development (from 2005 to 2014)
2. State, national, and international governments targeting a goal of 20% renewable energy by 2020
3. The upcoming Copenhagen meeting and potential agreement
4. A burgeoning electric car market

Post a comment with your ideas.

- 2nd Green Revolution

Today’s post is about an off-the-wall and perhaps silly or gross but also clever way to use elephant dung. Yep, I’m not joking. Those straw-laden masses of excrement may wind up being processed into actual products thanks to the Great Elephant Poo Poo Paper Company. Anyway, squeamishness aside, the company’s unusual but creative way to turn a literal waste product into photo albums, paper, and the other stationary items found in their “Poo-tique” store has merits aside from the novelty of presenting your friends or family with a wacky present. On their website, the company states, “Our purpose is to successfully sell our goods in order to complete a truly creative sustainable cycle: where raw materials with little other use are utilized to make a useful and functional product all the while providing jobs and opportunity along the way and ultimately selling our goods at a profit from which a portion is directed to a worthwhile cause: elephant welfare and conservation.” Read the rest of this entry »