Alviston.com Next Stop
April 25th, 2009
Meet the Mayor of Alviston and see the marvels of “green” at the Summit!
Water Runs Downhill
April 23rd, 2009
“Everything is connected.” You have heard me say it many times before. Finding examples of this is like when you buy a new type of car. You have never noticed them on the road before but all of a sudden, they are everywhere. It is not that they were not there before; it is that your awareness level has been raised.
Our sensitization to the effect we are having on our planet is increasing. From the stuff we make, to the products we use, to the food we eat. However, sometimes it takes the planet years, even decades, to notice the effect. Easily long enough for us humans to forget, but nature never forgets. We find weird diseases in whales and say, “This is terrible, what could possibly be causing this?”
Fortunately, once we know something is bad for the planet, we usually do something about it: the ban of DDT, PCBs, and CFCs. Unfortunately, once we have banned something, we act as if all is OK, as if saying, “we’re sorry” to nature has an effect. However, nature turns out to be unemotional.
Some of these chemicals do not break down naturally. Chemicals that end up on the ground wash into streams and then into rivers and finally into the ocean. Once in the ocean, small organisms ingest the chemicals at first and then by progressively bigger animals until they eventually end up in large fish such as salmon, which are near the top of the food chain.
Humans, known as fishermen, go out in boats, catch the salmon, and bring them back to the shore to process them at a big plant. Then we take them home and put them on the grill and say “mmmm, good salmon!”
I guess we are a step higher on the food chain than the salmon.
–Mark Alvis
It All Begins With Design
April 5th, 2009For the past few months, I have been meeting with architectural firms and talking to them about various green-building materials. While many of them have heard of insulated concrete forms and structural insulated panels, none of them has ever actually used them in any designs. However, I get the feeling this is about to change.
California likes to think of itself as one of the leaders of the green movement. In many respects they are. However, when it comes to energy-efficient building, there are many other regions and countries whose climates have forced long ago energy-efficient building methods and materials. By learning from them, California can quickly catch up to what the rest of the world is already doing.
The architects and engineers I recently talked to are very interested to hear about these alternative methods, some of which hold the promise of increasing efficiency by 80 to 90% when integrated with other systems. However, the goal needs to be higher, not just a 15 or 20% improvement, but actual net-zero energy buildings, buildings that make as much power as they use and do it in a sustainable, cost-effective way. Some may think this is impossible, but it is actually already happening.
One of the keys to making this possible is to build extremely efficient shells. By using materials that are highly insulating and building “tight” envelopes, it takes way less energy to heat and cool a building. A drastic reduction for electricity needed occurs by using highly efficient HVAC systems, such as geothermal in combination with the super efficient shells. This makes it possible to cost-effectively use renewable power which is often more expensive than power produced by petroleum-based power stations.
One of the good things about the changes that are inevitably coming is that many of these new materials are not new at all; they have been around for a long time, just not here. Yes, there is a learning curve, but it has been my experience that most people love learning how to save money and love even more learning how to save the planet.
–Mark Alvis