As stated on their site, “Sustainability is central to everything we do at MUSE. From our mission statement to our campus design to our daily way of life – we focus on inspiring our students, teachers, staff and community to live sustainably in the classroom, at work and at home, and to become future leaders in preserving and caring for the planet.” Los Angeles based design and consulting firm EcoVations, assisted with the campus renovation. While most schools aim for LEED certification, MUSE School decided to take part in the Living Building Challenge, a stringent set of guidelines for green building that aims for no additional resource consumption beyond what is already in use. Among the school’s goals in the renovations were:

• Diverting 100% of construction waste from landfills.
• Operating with the highest possible energy efficiency
• Constructing zero-net energy buildings that generate as much energy as they consume.
• Constructing zero-emissions buildings that have no carbon footprint.

Numerous campus structures were reclaimed during the construction process, such as cabins from the old camp site. The school maintains a shed with materials from decommissioned buildings and assorted objects from the former site to use in future projects. One such example is the an LED light installation made from old bed frames (circa WWII) that students from MUSE helped to design. In addition, enormous water slide tubes from an Old Navy commercial were diverted from the landfill and repurposed for their playground.

Food also plays an integral role. The school anticipates growing roughly one-third of the food it consumes on site in its organic garden. Furthermore, the school’s kitchen staff, headed by chef Leslie Joy, work with students to prepare meals. Students rotate through the kitchen and learn about the foods grown on site in conjunction with the garden. Second and third graders were involved in raising chickens, which they watched hatch in the classroom. In addition, goats will be introduced into the curriculum for all grades in the coming months.

MUSE School is planning on producing as much energy as it consumes and being water neutral. The first goal will be aided by the installation of solar panels that will also be used to teach students about math and science. Their water reclamation project looks to replenish the water table and irrigate the gardens with water that falls naturally on the campus.

One of the more unique steps the school took was in its rodent control. When they first came to the campus, it had a rodent problem. Not wanting to use pesticides or poisons, the school’s ground keeper brought in three hawks he had trained to work with owls that lived in the canyon, and cats rescued from a shelter to reduce the rodent population by approximately 95%.

For a more complete list of practices the school engages in, click here.

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The following post is the first by our new contributor, John Basalla, a CPA currently working in Tokyo who is interested in the business side of green technology. All his “Green Tech Company Spotlight” articles can be found at the following tag or on John’s page.  

What does KiOR do?

KiOR is an alternative fuels company that has developed proprietary technology to convert biomass into crude oil. Their process speeds up fossil fuel formation that takes a million years in nature and compresses it to mere minutes. These hydrocarbons can in turn be refined using standard equipment into gasoline, diesel and other fuel blend stocks, thus requiring no additional refining equipment. KiOR has already developed partnerships with Chevron Corporation as well as major companies such as FedEx.

What makes KiOR unique?

The major difference between KiOR and many other alternative fuel companies is that KiOR uses biomass that does not compete with human food needs directly or indirectly the way that some fuels do, such as corn-based ethanol. Instead, KiOR uses biomass such as logging residue, wood chips, and switch grass that does not compete with human food consumption. This innovation is a key to KiOR’s success. In addition, the ability to use the resulting hydrocarbons in existing refinery infrastructure is a critical advantage as well. Although KiOR faces many challenges to commercialize its product and scale production successfully, it projects that it can achieve an unsubsidized production cost of under $1.80 per gallon given current market conditions.

Future plans

KiOR is building a demonstration plant in Columbus, Mississippi, which should be operating by the second half of 2012. The first full-scale plant is planned for Natchez, Mississippi, with a target completion date of 2014 and is projected to produce 33 million barrels per year of crude oil.

If you would like more information about this company please see the Investors section of KiOR’s website at www.kior.com

Disclaimer:  This article is intended to be informative and should not be construed as personalized investment personalized advice. You are responsible for your own investment decisions.  

Disclosure:  The author has no position in KioR and no plans to initiate a position in the next 72 hours.

To accomplish these goals, the SunShot Initiative announced last month it would focus on making solar installation “as easy as plugging in an appliance.” The program says it hopes that plug-and-play technology—similar to that used in many printers, webcams, and smart phones—will be applied to PV systems. The idea is that these systems can be plugged into a “PV-ready circuit to initiate an automatic detection system that would connect your system with your local utility.” Ultimately, the goal is that plug-and-play technology will allow PV systems to be purchased, installed and begin to generate electricity all in one day, rather than today’s ideal time frame of two to four days. This streamlined process will effectively simplify and reduce the cost of installing a PV system, which currently represents more than half the price of a residential solar unit.

Through the SunShot Initiative, the DOE will fund up to $25 million over five years to aid the development of PV plug-and-play technology. An initial $5 million will be invested this year for up to two projects that will develop plug-and-play prototypes through partnerships with universities, utilities, and other entities. The DOE will request an additional $20 from congress to spend over the remaining four years. If you are interested, application instructions and deadlines can be found here.

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“Fresh” opens with Joel Salatin walking the grounds of Polyface Farms in Virginia. One of the most intriguing quotes was early on, when an interviewee said something to the effect of “American’s fear inconvenience.” This single sentence summarizes the industrial food system, one in which food is engineered and packaged for easy and mass consumption. Pollan points out the current system is unsustainable because it cannot continue indefinitely. He goes on to explain that the industrial food system has created two problems out of one solution. By separating animals from plants and creating two monocultures (large fields of a single crop and enormous concentrated animal feeding operations), there is no longer a symbiotic relationship between the two. Animals now generate vasts amounts of waste that had been used to fertilize plants. Instead, this waste sits in lagoons and threatens fresh water supplies. Conversely, the plants are now fertilized by inorganic (chemical) sources instead of animal waste. This last point was also Satatin’s main argument. Continually throughout the film, Salatin talks about learning from nature and mimicking it to “design” a sustainable, healthy agricultural ecosystem.

Many of the farms highlighted have sustainable missions, but not all of them started that way. Russ Kremer, a farmer who raises hogs in Missouri, tells a poignant story of his conversion from traditional techniques of production to more natural methods of raising animals. Fifteen years earlier Kremer had been injured by a hog and became infected by an anti-bacterial resistant strain that convinced him to forgo medicating his livestock. As a result of the change, he saved more than $14,000 in medication and veterinarian bills the first year.

Salatin is shown again toward the end of the film ticking off the names of grass species on his land. This connection to the land and his knowledge of his surroundings, comes through in his vision of merging appropriate technology with indigenous knowledge about the relationship between the soil, plants, and animals. He closes by saying that he had not purchased seeds or fertilizer in more than 50 years.

While Pollan acknowledges that organic foods cost more, he states that cheap food at the register results from externalities like exploited workforces (lack of full-time options, no benefits), degraded environments, and diminished public health. For those interested in food systems, check it out. If you’re on the fence, take a look at the trailer:

From Chipotle:

Chipotle is dedicated to changing the way people think about and eat fast food, and has a decade-long track record of helping change the food system by simply sourcing more sustainable ingredients. As part of its ongoing community efforts, Chipotle partners and supports like-minded local organizations in the neighborhoods where its restaurants are located, including organizing screenings of food-focused films like “Fresh.”

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The home’s lot is heavily wooded, with a small footprint, which allows for minimal disturbance of the surrounding habitat. Click here for a time lapse series of photos showing the construction of the home. A virtual tour of the home is available. This marks the 5th HGTV Green Home give away. All previous homes can be seen on HGTV’s website.

At 2,300 square feet, the home combines indoor and outdoor spaces to feel larger. There was no dirt removed from the site, instead, the yard was made central to the home, instead of excavating a large swath of land at the rear. In addition, flexible spaces allow for a range of occupants to inhabit the space, a key component of green building. By enabling easy reconfiguration, the house will not require massive updates. Eight solar panels mounted on the roof make up a 1.35 kilowatt solar array, capable of producing 1710 kilowatt hours annually. (As a point of reference, this equals about 2 months of my personal energy bill). Additionally, the landscaping plays a key role in making the house eco-friendly.

French drains guide water to a bioswale located along the right side of the home. This rock-lined drainage course, which captures water from the subsurface system as well as the roof and downspouts, slows the course of water and directs it to a rain garden, located in the front yard. This boulder-lined depression, filled with a mix of sand, compost and top soil and surrounded by water-loving Japanese anise and acorus, serves as a retention pond, allowing water to slowly seep back into the earth.

Bushes and trees were also included to shade the property, as taller trees were removed during construction.

According to HGTV, the town’s “master plan is inspired by English hamlets and villages, with an emphasis on balanced growth, a mix of architectural styles, sustainability and land preservation.” The home is in the Grange neighborhood, which is centered on organic farming and crafts. In order to encourage interaction amongst the residents, a “pedestrian grid makes walking far easier than driving; front porches on every home and mailboxes located at busy community centers further foster socialization.”

While many of the features are “green” some move beyond the label and toward the notion of self-reliance. A 25-acre organic farm supplies produce to the town’s restaurants and there is a “natural” wastewater treatment facility. Furthermore, “smaller homes, smaller properties, [and] the elimination of lawns and energy conservation are among the community’s key principles.”

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