Viva Sustainable Energy Construction Practices!

Having been in Las Vegas for the better part of last week I have deemed it necessary for my next blog post or four to involve that wonderfully debaucherous city.

If you are out and about in Vegas you cannot help but notice a massive construction project going on involving what seems to be the most glass I have ever seen in my life. This would be the City Center project by MGM.

Check out how CityCenter is incorporating sustainable design and construction here.

It is very impression some of the design aspects that have been included on a project of this size. Can any of you think of such a massive undertaking in your area that included sustainable construction?

On a side note - it might be time to invest in a new condo!!

Lessons of a Clogged Toilet

This week I am diverging from politics to continue with the theme of waste. I could of course come up with many apt toilet metaphors for politics, but I will spare you.

For the holiday break (yes I work at a University and actually got a two week break), I went home to Florida and spent part of the time staying with my folks.  My parents home, built when I was in utero, is as old as I am. About 7 years ago there was a fire which left the structure intact but led to the replacement of everything else. Because of this it has more up to date insulation, wiring, HVAC, etc than most 30 year old homes. The plumbing though is still original.

After the fire, my parents installed new 1.6 gallons per flush toilets, which combined with old and poorly installed plumbing in places, has created a clogging machine in the guest bathroom. This toilet will clog every time if spartan toilet paper management techniques are not employed. It is so bad my wife refuses to use it no matter what.

The upside is and the point to this post (took me a while huh) is that this toilet forces the user to use a lot less paper. This is not scientific and I assure you no actual measurements were taken, but I think I cut my tp use by about 90%.  This dramatic improvement was not at the expense of good hygiene, it just took a little conscious thought.

Of course now that I'm home and using a "properly" working toilet, I am back to my old wasteful ways. Sure I try to remember what my parents clogging toilet taught me, but I often forget. This is where businesses come in. I as a consumer want to use and purchase things that are designed to limit my stupid mindless wastefulness. Let's face it, the world is too complex and we are too busy to ALL do the right thing. I am one of the ones who try and I still am an uber waster. Government needs to regulate wasteful behavior and business needs to provide affordable and effective solutions. This is the answer, expecting people to do it out of the good of their hearts is not.

(On a side note, I stole this picture from the Treehugger blog and read this old but interesting article on how archaic and dangerous water based waste removal systems are. Makes you rethink the worst green product ever as posted by Mike way back.)

Portland, Oregon - Land of amazing microbrews, great music scene, and lots of green!

In my never ending search for "green" investments I began to wonder what type of investments are major cities making in green? I came across this little nugget from the Office of Sustainable Development in Portland, Oregon.

City of Portland and Energy Trust of Oregon offer $425,000
for innovative, high performance green buildings

I am hoping that there are many more programs like this one out there that I just have not come across as of yet. What a tremendous opportunity this program provides to green building innovators in the Portland area.

On this same topic I found a full article from a Portland Architecture blog.

OSD seeks Green Investment Fund applicants and feedback for new High Performance Green Policy

Do any of you know if there are similar programs in the metro areas where you live?

Does $1/Gallon Gas Cost us More?

Lots of people are speculating about the future price of gas, but like the future price of anything, it is not an exact science. In less than five months, gas has fallen from an average of $4.11/gallon to $1.66/gallon. That is great news for most Americans as a $20 bill can almost fill up your tank again, but is it also a sign of a weak economy? Will low gas prices cause people to stop buying fuel efficient cars? Some have suggested a gas floor imposed by taxes. This money could be used to fund investments in alternative energy. I know that I am breathing easier with under $2 gas, but I am also wary of the future. Your thoughts?

Two of The Greeniuses contributors, including myself, "growed up" in Polk City, FL, a town of little more than a thousand people.


View Larger Map

I have never considered the city management to be conservation minded, but I may have to change my opinion after reading this article. In an effort to encourage water conservation, they are setting up a tiered rate system to reward those who use less water. I know I am always saying this, but people respond to conservation efforts that benefit them financially. I currently pay a flat rate for water up to 8,000 gallons/month, which I never go over, but I think it's unfair if I only use 2,000 gallons. Are a lot of municipalities changing to this system? Do you think it will reduce water usage?

I admittedly know nothing about the harvesting of algae for use as a biofuel, but the prospects sound promising. This Wired article outlines a defense department initiative to study the prospect of turning algae into jet fuel. According to the article, it is much more efficient for use as a fuel than corn, and it's use wouldn't increase the price of a food crop as not too many people are eating algae these days. Again, this is the type of research that is necessary now, but with fuel prices dropping, I hope it will continue to be funded and pursued.