Japan's Zero Emission House

Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has unveiled its “Zero-Emission House” in parallel with the Hokkaido Toyako G8 Summit that is currently taking place.

This prefabricated house exhibits robots that serve tea to guests, a washer that requires no water, an air conditioner that sends cool air towards people in a room rather than general empty space, and a wind-turbine generator and a photovoltaic system which produces about 15 kilowatts of energy a day.

The structure has great insulation, natural aeration to maintain dry conditions and is designed with the seismic technology, SHEQAS, to mitigate damage due to earthquakes.

The waterless washer is a three-in-one machine that uses high-powered air to wash clothes without water. The process known as "ozonation" uses about twice as much electricity as a regular wash, but only one-fifth the total energy of a comparable full wash and dry because it operates without a drying system.

Additionally, there is a solar-powered TV, a roof-top vegetation system comprised of a thin film of moss grown on tile plates attached to the roof of the house which can also be fitted and grown alongside solar panels.

Very cool.

Pay as you Drive Insurance

Progressive Insurance is now offering "pay as you drive" or PAYD insurance. Progressive will put a little tag on your car and it knows how often you drive - which, in combination with your safe driving record - determines your premium. Here are some potential benefits from our friends at Wikipedia:

• Commercial benefits to the insurance company from better alignment of insurance with actual risk. Improved customer segmentation.


• Potential cost-savings for responsible customers.


• Social and environmental benefits from more responsible and less unnecessary driving.


• Due to the 24/7 aspects of vehicle location, it enhances security - both personal security and vehicle security. The GPS technology could be used to trace the vehicle whereabouts following an accident, breakdown or theft. [1]


• More choice for consumers on the type of car insurance available to buy.


• The same GPS technology can often be used to provide other (non insurance) benefits to consumers,e.g. satellite navigation [1]


• Social benefits from accessibility to affordable insurance for young drivers - rather than paying for irresponsible peers, with this type of insurance young drivers pay for how they drive.

What interests me about this is the potential companies have to encourage green behavior. Think about it. If you drive less, you not only save gas, but also your premium. For some, this may be enough incentive to get them to bike or walk to work one day a week. It may also encourage parents (paying those big premiums) to encourage their children to drive less. If this product is successful, Progressive will win kudos for setting a new standard for risk mitigation in their industry and for changing their customer's behavior. Wow, that's pretty powerful.

So what other behavior changing ideas are out there?

Image from BBC News

State of Utah Moving to 4-Day Work Week

I had the great pleasure of meeting Governor Jon Hunstman (R) from Utah today. An inspiring man on many fronts (he speaks fluent Mandarin and adopted two abandoned babies from China and India for a start), but I was particulaly inspired by his credible commitment to the environment. One of his most recent initiatives is to transition all state employees to a 4-day work week (4 ten-hour days with Fridays off). This will start full time in July and his team will be measuring the economic and environmental results at the 1-year mark. There are many logistics to work out (daycare for employees, etc.), but the benefits he sees are numerous:

1. With this one chnage, state government buildings in Utah will reduce energy consumption by 20%.
2. The state will be more likely to recruit smart, young people looking for work-life balance jobs.
3. They are more likely to retain staff - it's a perceived "bonus" by most to have three day weekends all year.
4. They will be able to provide better service to their constituants (they are open earlier and later Mon-Thurs, so better able to support working moms and dads).

If roughly 17,000 employees across an entire state can take on alternative work hours, how hard can it really be?

For more info: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25518225/

The future for coal power stations: renewable energy production?

Battersea Power Station in London was decommissioned a quarter of a century ago. It was the first in a series of large coal-fired electrical generating facilities set up in England. For those of you who are not familiar with London, Battersea is very centrally located, just across the River Thames from Kensington & Chelsea. The first part of the structure was built in 1939, but since the early 1980s the site has remained largely unused, with numerous failed redevelopment plans from successive site owners.

The building is the largest brick building in Europe and is notable for its original and lavish Sir Giles Gilbert Scott Art Deco fittings and decor. In fact, the building is Grade II* listed but the condition has been described as "very bad" by English Heritage. The site has been owned by Real Estate Opportunities (REO) since November 2006, after they purchased it for £400 million.

REO have made waves in the UK press this week by announcing their plans for the future of the Power Station as... a Power Station! But the difference is, this it will generate electricity from renewable sources rather than coal. It will once again be used to produce power with a new combined cooling, heat and power plant, but this time using biofuels, waste and other renewable energy sources. Two of the existing Power Station’s chimneys will be reused as flues for this new Energy Centre.

The site will also be developed to incorporate 8 million square feet of hotel, office, residential and retail accommodation. REO propose that alongside the existing Power Station there will be a new building, designed by Rafael Viñoly, which will be the cleanest and greenest building in London. A 300 metre high Chimney and Eco-Dome will dramatically reduce carbon emissions of the 38 acre £4 billion development. Additionally, the largest solar driven natural ventilation system ever conceived will eliminate the need for air conditioning for the commercial and ground floor retail accommodation.

The Chimney will also house apartments with panoramic views over London. The Battersea Power Station development will be home to around 7,000 people and up to 20,000 new jobs will be created. More than 3,200 homes will be built on the site and 2,500 jobs will be created during the construction phase.

The Chimney will draw air up through a campus of individual office buildings which will be covered by a transparent Eco-Dome, made of material similar to that used at the Eden Project in Cornwall. Up to 3,000 cubic metres per second of air will be drawn through the system on a sunny day, reducing energy demand in the buildings by 67%.

REO is planning to spend £150 million on saving and repairing Sir Giles Gilbert Scott’s Power Station, with the key historic spaces retained and open to the public. It will be the single largest development site in central London. It is planned that construction work will start in 2012 and the development will be completed by 2020 – depending on the speed of the planning process.

Green Cleaning Products (from BGTV)

The Air Car

That's right, a car that runs on compressed air!

The Air Car is the brainchild of Guy Negre, a French inventor and former Formula One engineer. In February, Negre’s company, Motor Development International (MDI), announced a deal to manufacture the technology with Tata Motors, India’s largest commercial automaker and a major player worldwide. Plenty

Finally... all that technology R&D used to create those ridiculously fast cars is put to good use! The Air Car will cost around $10K and have zero emmissions. The car provides a range of around 60 miles per tank at highway speeds. Anticipated to be released in India at the end of 2008, the car may also be available in twelve other countries soon, including South Africa, Israel, and Germany.

New Year's Resolution: Car-Free Diet

As a metropolitan Washington, DC resident, I'm aware of lots of cool transit initiatives ranging from public transit to car share services to slugging . . . but I just heard of a super-cool inititative in Arlington (one of the close-in counties). It's called the car-free diet.

The car-free diet teaches people the advantages of going car-free, and gives advice on how to do it. The website includes a calculator, that with a few quick inputs, shows you much money you'll save, how many calories you'll burn and the amount of CO2 emissions you'll reduce with your choices. It also links to information on transit options (both man-powered and machine), suggestions of places within the county where it's easy to go car-free, and tons of links to other resources.

The car-free diet even has its own blog: http://commuter.typepad.com/the_carfree_diet/ - full of great advice for those looking to go car-free and personal experiences of those who are trying it. This is a great initiative for a county where there are lots of people, lots of transit, and lots of interest in environmental friendliness.

As my daily commute takes me through parts of Arlington, I'm definitely going to take advantage of the information about this diet.

The Story of Stuff

I just chanced upon a fantastic short movie called The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard. You need about 20 minutes to view it, but it is really, really well done. Put on your earplugs and watch. It's one of the best explanations I've seen about the cycle of production and our role in it.

Produced by Free Range Studios.

Hosted by The Ethical Brand.

Carbon offsetting through your paypacket

It was reported today that the UK Royal Mail (our postal service) is leading the way over here in enabling its staff to offset their carbon emissions.

Royal Mail employees can now offset their emissions by donating money (tax-free) directly from their pay packet to a charity called The Woodland Trust. This money enables the Trust to plant trees in their 1,000 UK woods.

Royal Mail have set up new carbon calculator called 'Ollie' for employees who contribute to the scheme, using the calculation they find out how many trees they would have to plant to offset their annual carbon footprint and to get tips about how to reduce their emissions.

This calculator asks employees about their home energy usage, as well as car and air travel before calculating how many trees will need to be planted to help offset their carbon footprints.

Only 12% of the UK wooded, compared to 46% on average in Europe. Planting trees more trees will create vital habitats for more species, it also traps pollution, generates oxygen, stabilises soil and forms a stunning part of the landscape.

The disappointing element of this story is however that the Royal Mail employ some 185,000 staff and only 130 of them are currently taking part in the scheme. However, about 50,000 of their staff are currently signed up to payroll giving schemes connected to other charities. There is therefore much scope for giving within the company once the awareness of carbon offsetting is raised.

The principle behind such schemes strikes me as a fantastic opportunity to raise awareness of carbon emissions through the workplace, which should then filter down to the home and the wider community. Carbon offsetting through payroll has the potential to be viewed as an incentive for recruitment and an endorsement of a company's environmental ethics.

The challenge is now for other businesses to offer this carbon offsetting opportunity to their staff.

Any thoughts on this posting? Are you seeing similar initiatives in the US?

Keep That Resolution, the Five Keys to Commute By Bike

There are so many reasons riding your bike to work will help your resolutions, from exercising more, to losing weight, increasing energy, decreasing your carbon footprint, setting a good example for your kids…I could go on. The fact is, commuting by bike saves me a lot of time. I don’t sit in the car doing nothing. Rather I am getting my workout in as I am commuting. I even pick my daughter up from school on the bike. Granted she is three, but she loves it and her friends think it is the coolest thing.

I have commuted in Boston, New York, and Washington DC, year round, anywhere from four to twenty four miles a day. It is feasible, and this is a great time of year to start thinking about it. Why? Because it will get easier as the weather gets better, if you can do it now it will stick.

OK – Here are the five keys to succeed.

1. The Bike –
a. Go to a good bike shop in your neighborhood to buy your bike. It is worth the extra money for a few reasons. First they will find a bike that fits you and your needs. You do not need a Trek Madone unless you are Lance Armstrong and plan on crushing Le Alps this summer. A good bike shop will listen to what your needs are and give you a few bikes to try out. If this is your first bike in a few years do not spend more than $800.
b. The most important thing about a bike and the reason you go to the shop is fit. I good shop will fit you to a bike. I met my wife on a cross country bike ride. She complained constantly about her lower back pain. I adjusted her seat and handlebars about a quarter inch each and her pain was gone. Fit makes all of the difference.
c. Last year’s bikes are on sale now. Just like car dealers, bike shops need to get rid of old inventory. Now is a great time to head to a shop and see what they have. Just like cars, bikes change very little from year to year and to the newbie last year’s bike is still new.

2. The Helmet –
a. Don’t buy a bike if you are not going to wear a helmet every time, I mean every time, really every time, you get on the bike. I would not be writing this right now if I did not practice this advice. Smacking your melon on the ground after you hit a good pot hole will end a lot of your life dreams. I have done this and walked away, thanks to my helmet.
b. Besides set a good example for kids. Nothing frustrates me more than parents riding without helmets while forcing their kids to wear one. It’s a bit to hypocritical for me.
c. Yes my daughter has a helmet too. It is light blue with monkeys on it and she loves it. She puts it on as she rides her bike around our apartment, but that is another story.

3. Bike Clothes –
a. This is the toughest thing to write about. Personally, I follow my own advice from #1 above. I buy last year’s clothes on-line. I know my size and I know what I want. For the newbie, get a few things at the shop before doing this.
b. Get shorts that are comfortable for you. You do not need to get spandex shorts if it is not your gig. There are a number of shorts out there that have spandex liners that look just like typical cargo shorts.
c. In cold weather layer your clothes. This sounds familiar for a reason. If you are too hot just take something off. Do not wear anything that is cotton, wool and synthetics are your friend. They wick moisture away from your skin and do not become saturated.
d. Get a water resistant shell to make the rain bearable. Stuff it in your bag or in a water bottle. Always keep it with you, keeping the wind and water directly off you can make a miserable day pretty fun.

4. Work Clothes –
a. In terms of bags there are two options here, backpacks or panniers. For the beginner go with the pack, you can always change. Most of us have a reasonable pack in our closets that should be dusted off.Packs can get heavy, especially if you are carrying your food for the day as well. They can also throw off your center of gravity a bit. I have a pack that has a rain cover. It works well.The big reason to choose the pack of the panniers is distribution of weight. Some believe it is easier to ride without the extra weight on your body. Others believe the more weight that is on your body the more efficiently you ride. Unfortunately you need to decide for yourself.
b. I get my shirts folded from the cleaners. I fold my pants and a tie up on top of the shirt. Then I throw my underwear, t-shirt, socks in the bag as well. I keep a brown and a black pair of shoes at work, along with a couple sweaters and a jacket. The less you try to carry every day the more enjoyable the ride will be. Alternatively, bring clothes in with you on Monday and ride in on Tuesday. Even if you ride in two days a week, you are decreasing your commuting footprint by 40%.
c. Whether or not you need to shower at work or prior is up to you. I keep a shaving kit at work as well, that way I always have the option. My gym is close by so I can stretch and shower there most of the time. If I am really presses, I shower before I leave for work and take it easy on the way in.

5. Miscellaneous Bike Stuff –
If you have gotten this far and are still into it, there are a few more things to know:
a. Know how to change a flat tire. You will get one at some point, be prepared. I can change a flat and be back on the road in less than ten minutes, but I have a lot of experience. Plan a little extra time so you don’t miss a meeting or anything.
b. If you are riding in the dark, which you will, get a few lights. There are two reasons for this:
i. First you need to be seen, have a couple red flashers on the back and one white flasher on the front. Mix this in with a reflector here and there and you will be set. Yes this is goofy, but it is about being seen not looking cool. It is hard to look cool as you are flying across the hood of a car that cut you off because they didn’t see you.
ii. Second you need to see. If you are on city streets with good lights this is not that big of a problem. If you have some stretches of road with little or no light, consider investing in a rechargeable 9 to 15 watt light that is either bar or helmet mounted. They are pretty inexpensive now and add a lot of convenience and safety.
c. The best way to avoid a flat is to properly inflate your tires frequently. On my commuter bike I check the pressure twice a week. Get a good floor pump with a gauge on it to make this easy.
d. Lube the chain and moving parts once a month. This is not to hard either, you will figure it out quickly.
e. When in doubt just bring it to the shop. This is the another reason you buy from a local shop. In general they will help you out for free if you got the bike from them. Typically they will offer a tune up after a few months or 500 miles.

This might appear to be a lot, but think about how complicated it is to get a second car to commute. We all know how to get insurance, and oil changes, and sit in traffic … there are a number of examples out there. To change that paradigm might start off as a challenge, but I will guarantee you that you will never look back.

Think of me the first time you forget your socks. If it is the worst thing that happens to you that day you are pretty lucky. I don’t remember where I heard it, but a good piece of advice I got once is to act your shoe size every day for at least thirty minutes. Commuting on my bike is how I do it.

Integrated Design Hits Home

I thought this was very cool. Honda has developed a hydrogen fuel cell automobile. Traditionally the complaint about this technology is how does one safely, effectively, and economically distribute hydrogen? Well, why not make it at home and help it enhance your homes carbon footprint as well?

The car is a Honda, BMW has a prototype as well, you will either like or leave the aesthetics but I like it. There are American car makers that have been investing heavily in this technology, but to the best of my knowledge do not currently have a prototype for sale. These same manufacturers were given hundreds of millions of dollars from the US government to develop this technology. They did it, but decided it would be easier to fight the push to low emitting vehicles in court rather than work towards producing them. Let’s just say it, we have all heard about the EV1, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_EV1.

So why is this so special? Honda has developed a Home Energy Station that converts natural gas to hydrogen for fueling the car, brilliant. It can also create electricity for the house, so there is a minimal need for electrical infrastructure. Imagine a hose that can fuel your car, heat and cool your house, and all from a natural gas line. It’s a start.

To learn more about the Honda go here, http://automobiles.honda.com/fcx-clarity/.

A Paperless Office is a Healthy Office

Much has been written about the benefits of reducing paper in the office. It saves trees as well as the resources required to create it (paper mill energy use, transportation, etc.) Less paper in the office also reduces the amount of real estate required to store it. For those of you with offices in New York, London or Singapore, dedicating space for large file rooms is not a practical business choice - the rent is just too expensive for storage.

The other major benefit to reducing paper? Less dust! Paper lying around the office is a perfect home for dust and dust mites. Those little crevacies can collect many years-worth of particulates. This problem is exacerbated with recycled (versus fresh) air in the office. Dust, and dust created by paper, is a major source of respiratory issues and sickness in the white collar workplace.

So how do you remove dust from your office environment (or your home for that matter)?

• Lose the paper. Immediately recyle when you can and archive what you need access to occassionally. Be heavy handed - the clean desk policy is a win for everyone! Most IT departments are rigorous about backing up files today. Learn to save files better electronically and loose the paper baggage.
• Filter the air. Mechanical filters that use standard disposal fiberglass filters should be changed monthly. Permanent filters with baffles should be cleaned periodically. The most effective mechanical filter is a high-efficiency particulate (HEPA) filter.
• Minimize carpet use. When possible, remove carpeting where dust mites, mold spores, animal dander and other particulates accumulate. Carpeting laid over concrete floors tends to have more dust mites because of increased humidity. Replace carpeted floors with hardwood or linoleum. Wash scatter rugs and furniture covers regularly.
• Clean regularly and well. Vacuuming can stir dust into the air. Use high-quality vacuum bags and change them frequently. Wet mop or wet-wipe hard surfaces such as floors, walls and ceilings.

Growth without Growth

Companies everywhere are asking how they can grow their organization (add people) without increasing their space. Sometimes the reason is minimizing carbon footprint. More often, it's about saving money and mitigating risk. But what does this entail exactly?

1. Doing more with less. That means less space per person. It means making sacrifies and prioritizing what's really important. First to go are things like file or conference rooms, then comes the common strategy of packing people in like sardines aka "dense pack." Finally, the alternative work options are investigated. Can we get away with accommodating only 60% of our staff at any one time? What about telework or work at home policies?
2. Looking at how we really work. In all of the workplace surveys I've done, 100% of the time, people assume they are in the office significantly more than they acutally are. Where are they? They're working alright, but on the move! They're checking email at home, blackberrying while walking the dog, making calls on the road, you name it. Our offices have lovely pictures of our children, but they are vacant a good portion of the time, which is why companies are frustrated with building and managing empty buildings.
3. Trying new things. So you're trying to save space, but this means giving up your office and a permanent address!! Not an easy change - after all, we're creatures of habit and work is our home away from home. But perhaps it's time to think about "the office" as just another place to work. Some companies are designing their offices as large scale living rooms - you plop at a desk or comfy chair - whatever makes you and your team more productive.
4. Managing to different goals. One of my first bosses out of graduate school had a mantra he still professes today... "must be present to win." He believes very strongly that he must see all of his employees to know they are working, and showing up everyday ensures advancement in his organization. But companies that think differently about what they are managing (not bodies, but products or projects) are able to make the leap to alternative work, and to better utilized workplaces that focus on what is needed to get the job done. Of course training and mentorship comes in to play, but is it needed in the same place and every day?
5. Embracing green thinking. What's great about all of this recent investment in alternative work is that it goes hand in hand with green thinking. Often companies that build space for less people (adopting alternative work) are also considering the green benefits of less travel to the office (reduced carbon emissions) and the need to have productive space while you're there (natural light access, good air quality).

CO2 and the lawn ornament, or Santa Sequestration

‘Tis the season – the time of year when suburban lawns start sprouting inflatable lawn decorations, Santas, Snow Globes, Snowpeople, Grinches, and other jolly seasonal symbols. Being a person who spends his life quantifying things, I found myself wondering how many of these ornaments it would take to hold my annual CO2 emissions. I always find I do better when I can actually visualize my sins – after all, how many of us can visualize a ton of a colorless, odorless gas.

First of all, a ton of CO2. The actual volume of a ton varies depending on temperature and pressure, but using a balmy California winter day of around 65 degrees (sorry to all of you who live in chillier climes), and an atmospheric pressure around sea level, a ton of CO2 occupies roughly 540 cubic meters. http://www.icbe.com/carbondatabase/CO2volumecalculation.asp. (adjusted for temperature). At freezing it drops to about 500 cubic meters, but at an altitude of Denver, at 32 degrees, it grows to some 570 cubic meters. So far so good, but 500 cubic meters is still hard to visualize, so to put that in context it roughly equal to the volume of a 2,000 SF home (including attic), or three 1,000 SF apartments. Now lawn ornaments come in a variety of shapes and sizes, but using a 7’ Santa as a model, I would estimate that each one holds somewhere in the range of one third to one half of a cubic meter, which puts each ton at around 1,000 to 1,500 Santas.

According the carbon calculator at climatecrisis.net, http://www.climatecrisis.net/takeaction/carboncalculator/, the average is 7.5 tons per person per year, or 7,000 to 10,000 Santas, roughly 140 per week, or 20 per day. Now even if you happen to be someone who loves lawn ornaments, I suspect that inflating 20 per day would get a bit wearing after a while, and pretty soon most of us would run out of lawn space.

Burning one gallon of gasoline generates enough CO2 to fill ten to fifteen such ornaments, a cross country flight would fill about a thousand (per passenger, each way). The total US production of CO2 would be enough to cover about third of the total land area of the United States, with Santas, shoulder to shoulder.

Simple tons of CO2 are not visible enough for me to change my ways, but perhaps the thought of filling the nation coast to coast with Santas in three years will help me. Perhaps visualizing my morning commute dropping half a dozen ornaments on the freeway, will inspire me to cut my gasoline consumption. Twelve Boeing 737 full of inflatable Santas for each of my cross country trips might make me think twice about hopping a plane to the east coast. Perhaps Santa can help change the world.

Clean Your Work Air!

Plants clean the air! That is why sometimes when we buy carbon credits to offset our traveling, the credits are actual tree plantings. But in an indoor environment we are often beset with unhealthy airborn chemicals such as Benzyne, Carbon Monoxide and Formldehyde!

Nasa has published a study that quantifies how plants clean the air and which plants are most effective at doing this and concluded that the placement of plants may prevent "sick building syndrome". The recommendation is one 6 inch plant for every 100 sq feet of space.

Here is a link to the study http://www.zone10.com/tech/NASA/Fyh.htm

2007: A Green Space Odyssey... Hal at the Desktop

I interviewed Frank Bick with Bick Group a few months ago for about his office in St. Louis. It's LEED Gold Certified and a wonderful example of how users can be engaged in the process of making their space green. The building has sensors that measure temperature, humidity, air quality and light levels at the work surface. Lights are automatically dimmed when the light outside increases. But that's not the cool part! What's really unique here is they created software with "pop ups" that appear on every employee's desktop that say when you might want to close the windows because it's too humid outside or the air quality is too low (they have operable windows). Also, the HVAC system automatically shuts down at 6pm. The software allows users to click on a floor plan (in their section of the building) using the same software and the HVAC automatically stays on for another 2 hours. I think they now sell this software to other companies, leveraging what they learned.