21 things you didn't know you could recycle.

It's no secret that Americans are filling landfills at a staggering pace. Despite efforts to recycle, reduce, and reuse, we're still not there yet. Very often, the problem is not that we don't WANT to recycle, it's that we don't know that we CAN recycle.

Co-Op America Quarterly's Fall magazine focuses on getting to Zero Waste and offers these suggestions:

• Appliances: Goodwill accepts working appliances: http://www.goodwill.org/ Or, contact Steel Recycling Institute: http://www.recycle-steel.org/


• Batteries: Rechargable and single-use: Battery Solutions http://www.batteryrecycling.com/


• Cardboard Boxes: Local non-profits and women's shelters often accept. If you collect 100 boxes or more each month: http://www.usedcardboardboxes.com/


• CDs/DVDs/Game Disks: AuralTech will refinish them and they'll work like new: http://www.auraltech.com/


• Clothes: Wearable clothes can go to Goodwill or local women's shelters. Women's business clothing can be donated to Dress for Success, which offers them to low-income women looking for employment: http://www.dressforsuccess.org/. Unwearable clothes may be donated to pet shelters for bedding.


• Compact Fluorescent Bulbs: IKEA stores will recycling: http://www.ikea.com/. Or, you can order a RecyclePak from Sylvania for $15. The cost covers shipping and recycling at Veolia Environmental Systems: www.sylvania.com/Recycle/RecyclePak


• Compostable bio-plastics: Find a municipal composters: http://www.findacomposter.com/


• Computers and Electronics: Find a RESPONSIBLE recycler (one that ensures the e-trash is not shipped overseas, dismantled under unsafe conditions, and the remainder burned in landfills, exposing people to toxic chemicals): www.ban.org/pledge/Locations.html


• Exercise videos: Swap them at http://www.videofitness.com/


• Eyeglasses: Local Lion's Club or eye care chains may collect. The lenses are reground and given to those in need.


• Foam package peanuts: Local pack-and-ship stores often taken them for reuse. Plastic Loose Fill Producers Council can direct you to drop-off sites: 800-828-2214. For foam blocks: Alliance of Foam Packaging Recyclers www.epspackaging.org/info.html.


• Ink/toner cartridges: http://www.recycleplace.com/ pays $1 each.


• Miscellaneous: When you have unwanted items, find a local Freecycle. Or list on http://www.craigslist.org/. Or give them away at http://www.throwplace.com/ or sell them at http://www.ireuse.com/


• Oil: Used motor oil hotlines: http://www.recycleoil.org/


• Phones: Donate cell phones at Collective Good and they will be refurbished and sold to people in developing countries. http://www.collectivegood.com/. Call To Protect will reprogram cell phones to dial 911 and gives them to domestic violence victims: http://www.donateaphone.com/. To recycle single-line phones: Reclamere http://www.reclamere.com/.


• Sports equipment: Resell or trade at Play It Again Sports: http://www.playitagainsports.com/


• "Technotrash": Recycle CD's, jewel cases, DVD's, audio, video tapes, cell phones, pagers, rechargable and single use batteries, PDAs, ink and toner cartridges in one easy box. For a small fee, GreenDisk will send you the box, in which you can ship 70lbs. of the above "technotrash". The fee covers the box, shipping, and recycling. http://www.greendisk.com/


• Tennis Shoes: Nike's Reuse-a-Shoe program turns old shoes into playground and athletic flooring. http://www.nikereuseashoe.com/. One World Running will send still-wearable shoes to athletes in need in Africa, Latin America, and Haiti: http://www.oneworldrunning.com/.


• Toothbrushes and Razors: Buy a recycled plastic toothbrush or razor from Recycline and the company will take it back to be recycled again into plastic lumber. Recycline toothbrushes and razors are made from used Stonyfield Farms Yogurt Cups: http://www.recycline.com/.


• Tyvek Envelopes: Call 866-33-TYVEK. Depending on quantity (over 25 or under 25), you can ship them directly to Tyvek.


• Stuff you can't recycle: "When practical, send it back to the manufacturer with a copy of William McDonough's book _Cradle to Cradle_, and tell them they need to close the waste loop."

Ok, the last suggestion may be a little over the top, but the intent remains the same. We really need to close the waste loop. According to award-winning architect and designer, William McDonough, 80% of what we purchase is designed to be thrown away after a single use, and that final products contain on average only 5% of the materials and energy that went into creating it. That means 95% of what went into making it is wasted.

McDonough's definition of sustainable design really sums up what we're trying to do:

"What we're looking for is a kind of fecundity, a celebration of abundance
rather than a simple bemoaning of our limits. We're not looking at being
just efficient with limited resources, we're talking about being effective with
abundant resources."

Look around yourself and marvel at our abundance. It's our responsibility as stewards of that abundance to effectively manage it and celebrate it.

Recycle something today.

Tallahassee, we have a problem...

We have a water problem. No, it's not just Atlanta. No, it's not just South Florida. Jacksonville have a water problem, too. St. Johns Riverkeeper says it so much better than I do, so I'll use their words. Here's the overview:

• According to the St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD), Central Florida has out-stripped the Floridan Aquifer's ability to provide a sustainable drinking water source beyond 2013. The District has told communities they will have to seek alternative water supply (AWS) sources, such as surface water and desalinization.
• The SJRWMD has stated that 155 million gallons of water per day (MGD) can be removed from the St. Johns River between the headwaters and Deland to provide water for Orlando and Central Florida without harming the health of the river.
• Because river water has a high salt or mineral content, most withdrawls will require treatment by reverse osmosis, or RO. A by-product of RO is high mineral content and/or very salty water. RO water is also high in nutrients. The by-products, or pollutants, are called "concentrate". The SJRWMD recently began a study to determine the impacts of the concentrate on the river environment. The study will end in a year.
• The SJRWMD is also focusing its attention on the lower Ocklawaha River. Although District staff has not set a minimum flow level, of MFL, for the Ocklawaha River, the agency is telling counties to expect to be able to withdraw 90-108 MGD from the Ocklawaha.
• The withdrawls from the St. Johns and Ocklawaha could total 263 million gallons per day.
• Withdrawls from the St. Johns will impact the river's salinity line.
• One of the largest proposed water withdrawls, Yankee Lake, is planned in an area just south of the Wekiva Aquatic Preserve. Also, this plant could eventually discharge RO concentrate into the river.
• The only county proposing to withdraw water from the River that has a mandatory water conservation plan is Volusia County. None of the other counties or municipalities that are planning water withdrawls has mandatory water conservation programs.
• The proposed withdrawls will cost of $1 Billion. These plans will only provide drinking water needs until around 2030, less than 25 years into the future.

St. Johns Riverkeeper Concerns:

• Riverkeeper is concerned that the withdrawls from the St. Johns and Ocklawaha could potentially cause significant harm to the health of both rivers.
• The withdrawls will cause the St. Johns River's salinity line to shift upstream, especially during drought and low flow conditions. No one, including the SJRWMD, fully understands all of the potential impacts of the river's health and fisheries from the proposed withdrawls.
• In addition to withdrawing water from the St. Johns and Ocklawaha, the SJRWMD is also proposing to utilize Aquifer Storage Recovery, or ASR. ASR is a process that injects minimally treated water back into ground water aquifers for storage until it is needed at a later date. There are significant risks associated with this procedure.
• "Concentrate" from RO processes could hard the St. Johns River's health by adding additional pollutants to an already stressed system. Riverkeeper is concerned the SJRWMD could issue numerous withdrawl permits before the RO concentrate study is completed.
• The SJRWMD has not required mandatory conservation programs in an attempt to reduce the need to withdraw river water, despite the fact that residents within the watershed of the St. Johns use approximately 150 gallons of water per person each and every day.
• All of the District's studies rationalizing and/or minimizing the environmental impacts of water withdrawls have been done 'in house', i.e. written by staff or consultants paid for by the District. There has been no independent review of any of these reports.
• Once the river water withdrawl process begins, it will be extremely difficult to reverse course, even if the act results in harm to the river's ecological health.
• Riverkeeper is concerned that this may only be the beginning of water withdrawls from the St. Johns and its tributaries. As groundwater supplies continue to be depleted, there will be more pressure to continue this process and allow additional withdrawls in the future.
• The SJRWMD has poorly managed our groundwater supplies and how wants to manage the withdrawl of water from our rivers. The District should turn its attention to water conservation, desalinization, and more sustainable planning practices before ever considering the St. Johns and Ocklawaha as an alternative supply sources.
• The St. Johns River is one of the "laziest" rivers in the world, dropping less than 30 feet from its source at its mouth. This fact combined with tidal influences makes it difficult for our river to efficiently flush pollutants and sediments. Removing the amount of water that is being proposed will potentially worsen pollution problems.
  

What can you do:

Let Governor Crist, the SJRWMD Governing Board, and your local elected officials know that you oppose the proposal to withdraw water from the St. Johns River and Ocklawaha River. Tell them to require and support water conservation and desalinization efforts first.

Visit St. Johns Riverkeeper's webpage to find email addresses and form letter to send to your elected officials.

Take a moment this weekend to visit YOUR river. Go to the Landing... go to Cummer... Go to the Riverwalk... Take a Water Taxi ride. Experience the River and you will want to protect it.

Solar Decathalon

The future's so bright, we'll all have to wear shades.

The 2007 Solar Decathalon was held in Washington DC this month and the results were amazing. What is the Solar Decathalon, you say?

From the Solar Decathalon website:

The 2007 Solar Decathlon challenges 20 college teams from around the globe in 10 contests to design, build, and operate the most livable, energy-efficient completely solar-powered house. (Did you hear that? COMPLETELY Solar). Solar Decathlon houses must power all the home energy needs of a typical family using only the power of the sun. The winner of the competition is the team that best blends aesthetics and modern conveniences with maximum energy production and optimal efficiency. The first Solar Decathlon was held in 2002, and again in 2005, and the most recently in 2007.

The student teams spend almost two years designing and building their approximately 800-square-foot homes and preparing for the competition. During the 10-day competition in 2007, students test their homes in contests encompassing all the ways we use energy in our daily lives. Contests range from architecture, livability, and comfort to how well the homes perform tasks such as heating water and powering appliances. Each team must also provide enough solar electricity to power an electric car.

The competition places demands on their buildings' energy systems to maintain the house within a certain temperature range, to provide lighting and run appliances, to charge an electric car, and much more. The teams will generate that energy with photovoltaic (also called solar electric) systems to directly produce electricity and with solar thermal systems for space heating and cooling and water heating.

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy is the primary sponsor of the Solar Decathlon. DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) sponsors and manages the event. The American Institute of Architects (AIA), the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), BP, and Sprint are title sponsors.

Here are a few examples:

The german team, which designed the house above right, won the competition this year. That may have to do with the fact that Germany is far more advanced in the world of solar energy. Here's a bit of information on the their project:

"Made in Germany" is a phrase that applies well to the Solar Decathlon entry from the Technische Universitat Darmstadt, because the team wants to present the German way of building, showcasing German technologies and materials in their solar house, including German oak.

The emphasis on "Made in Germany" products and technologies is apparent in the team's collaboration with German companies and manufacturers, such as Bosch, which provided three-month internships for two Darmstadt students. That arrangement provided a test bed for the students to study the performance of the systems that will provide hot water and climate control for the house.

"It was very interesting because we had all those experts right next to us, and when we had specific questions, we always got very good answers very quickly," says Toby Kern, an architecture student who was one of the interns.

After the Solar Decathlon, the house will return to Germany to be used as a solar power plant, as part of the university's project of a Solar Campus ("Solare Lichtwiese"), through which all buildings on campus will be equipped with building-integrated photovoltaics, feeding electricity into the German power grid.

Germany has a "solar feed-in tariff" that provides a guaranteed price for any solar power that is fed into the German power grid. Because the feed-in tariff is high enough to more than cover the cost of the installation over the long term, the university is selling shares to the public to finance these photovoltaic systems. This yields a return for the investors as the revenue from selling the power is split among them. The Solar Decathlon house will be the first piece in this ambitious project—continuing to showcase the potential of building-integrated solar power generation.

So, solar can be the answer? Maybe....

Dr. Alan Heeger, Nobel laureate and professor at the University of Santa Barbara, is developing a solar ink. Or, something like that. It's so astronomically above my head, I would not do justice to the description. But generally speaking - its a brilliant innovation. Completely different than the rigid, expensive, silicon panels we know today. His invention is malleable, mass-produceable, and potentially cost-effective.

He discovered a plastic. A plastic solar cell. He mixed a plastic with a carbon molecule and make a solar plastic.

The plastic can be printed, sprayed, and layered to respond to different types of light. Solar cells can be printed and rolled out on something like a printing press. He discovered solar power in an affordable plastic that can pick up very small amounts of light, even on rainy days. They don't have to be pointed directly at the sun. Small devices can be coated in this substance and will recharge themselves. He co-founded Konarka to put it into mass production.

Imagine leaving your cell phone on a sunlit table as it recharges itself.

Imagine painting your house in 'solar ink' which absorbs the sun and then selling the energy back to the grid.

Imaging roofing your building with a solar absorptive paint.

Dr. Heeger imagines they can get the price down to 10 cents per watt once it enters mass-production.

I imagine Dr. Heeger will be bathing in hundred dollar bills before long.

More power to him... if he can give more power to us.

Point Chasing

In recent conversations, I've heard talk about imbalance between various LEED points. How can someone think that changing rooms are as important as an enhanced commissioning? How is a walk to a restaurant or a bus stop as important as decreasing overall energy use? What's up with this crazy system if construction and design teams end up "point chasing" it to death?

What if design teams have a philosophical sustainable commitment in place that uses LEED as the system instead of the goal?

Let's look at Penn State.

In Environmental Design + Construction magazine's September issue, Leidy Klotz, LEED AP, writes about Penn State's commitment to sustainability and how it uses LEED to achieve their goals.

On some LEED projects, the design and construction team get caught up in a futile exercise of which points are "easy" or "cheap" instead of which points contribute to strategic goals. We may, in a breezy approach to the system, say "that's a freebie point, let's go after it". The team them chases these points instead of concentrating on what's important to the project.

The team at Penn State has managed to avoid this practice by prioritizing the points based on their goals. For example, the school has listed the following as their priorities:

• Energy conservation with a minimum 30% improvement over ASHRAE


• Natural resource conservation


• Prevention of environmental degradation


• People's health, well being, and comfort


• Financial payback

With these goals in mind, they weigh each credit using the following:

• Mandatory: Compliance is required.



• Significant effort: Must show clear evidence that an attempt has been made and if compliance is not achieved, reason for the failure must be shown and accepted by the university.



• Minimal effort: The team will investigate the possibility of credit achievement but no additional resources will be made available to achieve it.

As we all gain experience working on LEED projects, an important item to remember is that LEED should be the process... the benchmark... the system we use to achieve sustainability. But is it the goal? I would argue that it is not.

Sustainability is the goal. Use LEED to bring those goals to life, and always keep your eye on that triple bottom line prize.

Start at Home

Today we are kicking off a guest columnist series where we will highlight the expertise, experience, and knowledge of some of our fellow green champions.

Marie Hurst, Principal with Studio Interiors, has written a piece on how to promote sustainable practices at home. She will revisit the topic in future blog entries which detail how we can be greener at home and in our business practices. Her ideas are straightforward actions we can take immediately to make a difference.

Her experience in commercial interior design and space planning spans the country and her commitment to sustainability, smart design concepts, and high-performance building is evident in her portfolio and in her passion.

And, here's Marie...

Start at Home

So what does it mean to go green? It means living in a way that reduces the burden we place on our environment. Going green does not have to break the bank…….here are some simple ways and easy fixes to incorporate green living into your life.


1. Move into the light! Switch out incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent lights (CFL). Replacing one incandescent bulb with a compact fluorescent light would reduce carbon emissions by half a ton. If every American home replaced their five most frequently used light bulbs with CFLs, it would save almost $8 billion in energy every year.
• Bulb life: Incandescent: 1500 hours ~ CFL: 10,000 hours
• Number of bulbs needed to produce 60,000 hours: Incandescent: 40 ~ CFL: 6
• Cost of bulbs for 60,000 hours: Incandescent: $53.80 ~ CFL: $17.88
• Kilowatts used for 60,000 hours: Incandescent: 3,600 ~ CFL: 840
• Electricity cost for 60,000 hours at $.23 an hour: Incandescent: $821.72 ~ CFL: $191.73
• Total cost for 60,000 hours: Incandescent: $875.52 ~ CFL: $209.61


2. Batteries not included! Use rechargeable batteries. It takes 1,000 regular batteries to equal the life span of one rechargeable battery.

3. Take time to unplug! Few appliances and electronics devices actually turn off anymore. Instead they go to standby. Unplug cell phone chargers, iPod chargers, energy bricks for your computer, stereo equipment, televisions, kitchen equipment, electric razors, and toothbrushes. They are sucking the energy from your home. The U.S. Department of Energy says that as much as 20 percent of a typical American homeowner’s electric bill comes from these energy drainers. If 10 percent of all cell phone users unplugged their chargers after charging their phones, we would save enough energy to power 60,000 homes a year.

4. Leave a message! If you still have an answering machine in your home…ditch it. Switch over to voice mail with your phone service provider. Because answering machines are on 24/7, they use more power in a year than laptops do.

5. Be cool and stay warm! Set your thermostat at 78 in the summer and 68 in the winter. Or even better install a programmable thermostat in your home. You can set the temperature to one setting when you are home, one setting while you are asleep, and another setting when no one is home.
• Change your air filters once a month, get annual maintenance on the system and make sure your air ducts are sealed.
• Close the damper in the fireplace when not in use. Open dampers let heat and A/C escape and can add up to $100 a year to your utility bill.
• Close air vents in rooms you rarely use. It redirects the heat or A/C to the rooms that really need it.

6. You can be a star! Upgrade your appliances to Energy Star appliances. You will use, on average, 30 to 40 percent less energy with one of these products than you would with the standard kind. Front loading washing machines use up to 60 percent less water than regular washing machines.
• Not ready to replace your appliances? Switch to washing clothes in cold water and only wash full loads. Air dry clothes whenever possible.
• Only run dishwasher when full and allow dishes to air dry.
• Unplug small appliances, secondary refrigerators and freezers when not in use.
• Insulate water heater and set temperature at 120.

7. Don’t be a drip! On average, Americans use 100 gallons of water a day. That is 400 gallons for a family of four. Almost a third of that is wasted by letting the faucet run while washing dishes or brushing teeth. Letting the faucet run for one minute uses two gallons of water. Only one percent of this planet’s water is available for human use, according to the EPA, so it is important we pay attention to how we use it.
• Install low flow devices on faucets and shower heads.
• Get a low flush or dual flush toilet. If you don’t have a low flush toilet, keeping a filled plastic container in the tank can cut the amount of water you use by 40 percent.
• Don’t let the water run while brushing teeth or shaving.
• Put food coloring in the toilet tank. If it shows up in the bowl, you have a leaky toilet to fix.
• Replace bottled water with purified water from your tap.
• Fix leaky faucets inside and out.
• Water your lawn only twice a week and install a rain sensor if you have a sprinkler system.

Blog Action Day

From Blogger.com:

October 15, a week from today, is Blog Action Day, and the theme this year is the environment. If you have a blog and want to join in, all you have to do is use that day to post something related to the environment, in whatever way, shape, or form you prefer.

You can pick an environmental issue that has meaning for you and let us know why it's important. Organize a beach or neighborhood cleanup and tell us about it. If you're into fiction writing, give us a story with an environmental theme. Have a podcast, videoblog, or photoblog? Join the fun! The idea here is to have a mass effect on public awareness by sharing as many ideas in as many ways as possible.

If you're game for participating, go register your blog with the 7,000+ other blogs (with 5 million readers!) that are already signed up. Also, see the Blog Action Day blog for more on how bloggers can change the world.

— Graham [10/8/07 11:36 AM]

Green on Green

I'm delighted to learn that RADO has jumped into the world of blogging:

Green on Green


If you're not familiar, RADO is the Riverside Avondale Development Organization and they are ensuring affordable housing still exists in the beautiful neighborhood of Riverside/Avondale in Jacksonville.


Jennifer McCharen, also of Jacksonville Carbon Neutral Initiative, sent me the heads-up today and we are excited to see their blog take off.


Good causes deserve good press. Be sure to visit.

Walkability Factors

Find out your neighborhood's Walk Score.

Real estate agents are using this as a tool to purchase homes in "great neighborhoods", meaning those that are walkable. These are areas in which you can stroll down the street to a grocer or a coffee shop instead of jumping in your car. The benefits? Lower fuel costs. Decreased carbon footprint. And, quite probably, smaller dress size.

And, let me remind you again of the difference between urban neighborhoods and suburban neighborhoods:

Here's a suburban neighborhood in Washington:

You can see that the blue lines indicate areas within a one-mile walk. The purple fields are commercial destinations and the green fields are parks. To give you a local benchmark, this looks very similar to the subdivisions of Mandarin.

Here is a walkability index for an urban neighborhood in Seattle:

From the Sightline webpage:

"A one-mile walk in this urban neighborhood, Seattle's Phinney Ridge, takes you
through a gridlike street network with a mix of residences and businesses. This
walkable design puts stores and services within a short walk of many homes. (The
walkability maps and information presented in Cascadia Scorecard 2006 were
developed by Dr. Lawrence Frank, Bombardier Chair in Sustainable Transportation
at the University of British Columbia, and colleagues Dr. James Sallis of San
Diego State University and Dr. Brian Saelens of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital,
and were funded by King County, Washington, and the National Institutes for
Health.)"

Here are some random (or mostly random) Jacksonville addresses paired with their walkability index:

• 11 East Forsyth Street (Downtown Jacksonville): 97%
• 100 Post Street (Riverside/Avondale): 72%
• 12 East 3rd Street (Jacksonville Beach): 71%
• 3500 Kernan Blvd (Glen Kernan Country Club area): 46%
• 12000 Biscayne Blvd (Northside Jacksonvile): 6%
• 5398 Chestnut Lake Drive (Mandarin Subdivision): 3%

Be sure to leave a comment and tell us your walkability score. Make some of us that live in Mandarin subdivisions very jealous.

Breaking Ground's Green Roof Update

Hot off the desk of Kevin "The Green Man" Songer at Avid Group, we have photos and a journal entry on our green roof progress:

"Attached is a pic of a couple of the green roof panels I am working on as part of the BGCC project – they are a work in progress. The plants will grow much bigger – I am using an Allium that flowers white, a Lippa with smaller white flowers and several red/yellow flowering sedum on these panels…..

These are extremely light weight-drought/cold/heat resilient with a low profile – extensive horizontal root system, evergreen and can be cut to fit design. The ground granite/coconut fiber base system with tackifier and water absorbation/slow release fertilizer imbedded in the ENKAMAT is really cool – you can stand the sheets up vertically in a downpour and there is little, if any erosion."

We are, of course, incredibly excited!

Also from Kevin, an update on his living walls profiled here two months ago:

According to him, they are still green, growing, and beautiful after two months without irrigation.

We are also working with the Mark Clark, Assistant Professor at the University of Florida's Department of Soil and Water Science, to study the roof and its properties. They monitor a number of green roof projects throughout Florida to determine stormwater runoff, fertilizer issues, growth, and roof quality. We also hope to learn from their experiences to make our roof truly sustainable. For example, what can we plant to ensure that the water runoff isn't filled with fertilizers? What good are we doing if the excess water runoff is contaminating the river? It's all about the synergy.

Thanks again, Kevin, for your commitment to this project. We're glad to have the Renaissance "Green" Man working with us to make this happen.