Bresslergreen

Lower Your Refrigeration Costs by Recycling the Cold!

Lifehacker explained how to use cold air from the environment to chill items in your refrigerator, effectively reducing power consumption. Very cool! (no pun intended).

It would seem obvious that you can pump ambient in to cool your refrigerator but difficulties arise in piping air and modifying the refrigerator body, among other issues. This article makes a simple suggestion. Take buckets and pails full of ice from outside and pack it inside an unplugged refrigerator. The refrigerator is already insulated enough to largely prevent melting. I mean a refrigerator and a cooler are pretty much the same thing, just a different scale.

So, save yourself some money and help clear the streets of slippery ice. Double commendation for being a good samaritan.

 

Our CO2 Emissions in Perspective, A Copenhagen Art Installation

 

United Nations Climate Change Conference which took place in Copenhagen December 7th through 18th of 2009. Most design and sustainability blogs have already covered this and you can find the most useful information directly on the Conference's website. For this post, I wanted to draw attention to the art installation featured during the conference called "CO2 CUBES: Visualize a Tonne of Change." It has great impact for visualizing the average annual carbon dioxide emissions per person (in the US) which was rated at 20 metric tons in April 2008. This compares to a world average of 4 tons. The emissions calculated for a homeless person who ate in soup kitchens and slept in homeless shelters, or the lowest possible carbon emissions in the US was 8.5 tons.*

The C02 Cube is a digital media art installation designed by a collaboration of artists, architects and technologists. It represents the actual scale of 1 metric ton of carbon dioxide. Picture 20 of these cubes to visualize the average US citizen’s CO2 emissions every year. The cube is intended to foster a more profound understanding of how we contribute to climate change. This understanding will hopefully trigger more immediate action, possibly from people who previously doubted the level of our impact on the environment.

*MIT (2008, April 29). Carbon Footprint Of Best Conserving Americans Is Still Double Global Average.

Cooper Union Green Design Building

Well, I have to give a shout out to my Alma mater and their implementation of the first green academic building in Manhattan, NY, located at 41 Cooper Square. I've toured the building and it is gorgeous. Too bad I graduated just before it went up :(

But let's look at what makes it green, and not just at how eye catching it may be. For a peak at the floor plans and interiors: CUBuilds. For an architectural review: NYTimes.

Architect Thom Mayne hoped to achieve at least a silver LEED rating, but was awarded a platinum level rating. The new building holds the distinction of being the first academic and lab structure in New York to hold such a ranking. Some green features include: servo-controlled external wall panels which can be controlled to regulate light and temperature, and motorized curtains.

As lovely as the building is, how functional is it? And by that I mean does it facilitate the schedule of the student? While a student at Cooper Union, the pace was rigorous and resources were always in demand. I just hope that the new building is capable of meeting or exceeding the demands of the Cooper education standard.

Something that is always important to keep in mind is intent of design. Did they design this building to be green? To facilitate the lifestyle of the Cooper student? Well, hopefully both.

Top 10 green living myths

Top 10 green living myths from LivingGreen about: Turning off the lights to save CO2, Buy a greener car, Don't overfill the kettle, Use more efficient appliances and more.

I appreciated the myth busters, but they may add to the complexity of figuring out the best solutions to live greener. Using a little common sense and creativity make the most impact in reducing the carbon footprint. 

If you toss your current working vehicle to buy a Prius, as the article says, will of course be wasteful. There are a lot of products that fall into this category beside cars, such as tearing up your roof to add a new solar roof, and potentially upgrading computers for new efficient laptops. There is probably a lifespan calculator that will figure out the impact costs (dollar & environmental) of purchasing new vs maintaining your used item. Hopefully it's online somewhere and not an actual product...

Different Worlds, Common Issues - Sustainability & Design Panel Discussion

In the beginning of this month Bresslergroup's Peter Bressler, Peter Byar, and Elysa Soffer teamed up with Gary Sorin of NRG Energy for a panel discussion called "Different Worlds Common Issues - Companies Find Common Grounds on Sustainability," at the Innovation Philadelphia Global Creative Economy Convergence Summit. 

Mike Flanagan, the moderator started the group off pointing out how times have changed and "back then" sustainability was endorsed by hippies, but now it's accepted as a major business topic in a Levi's vs Brooks Brothers mentality. 

Gary spoke about his experience with sustainability in the corporate world. He covered observations, the Walmart Sustainability Index effects, barriers to true sustainability, a what's next for business and sustainability as well as suggestions for getting started.

Peter Byar discussed how we as design consultants have the unique ability to guide and cajole clients regarding new product sustainability.

Next up, Peter Bressler spoke about innovation opportunities in Sustainability and founding his latest venture, SRS Energy and their integrated Solar Roofing Systems technology.

Lastly, Elysa Soffer spoke about how companies can calculate their carbon footprint and devise strategies for reduction, using Bresslergroup's internal efforts as a case study. 

You can download the Different Worlds Common Issues presentation here.

Recycling Comes to Formula 1

In a very small way. According to OneStopStrategy.com, the Brazilian chemical company Braskem will produce the trophies for this weekend's Formula 1 race at the Interlagos cicuit in São Paolo. Over the course of the event, blue plastic bottle tops will be recycled into a resin used for the trophies. Quite the token gesture, you may say, but I think it's indicative of the fact that Brazil currently leads the U.S. in both sustainability consciousness and practice.

No Impact Man, NYC

"80% of what's produced is intended to be used once and then will go straight to the landfill" says Colin Beavan, PhD, AKA No Impact Man, author, writer, engaged citizen, during a BusinessWeek interview.

Beavan decided in 2006 to attempt to live for one year in the middle of New York City without making any negative environmental impact. He was joined by his wife, 2 year old daughter and dog. They sacraficed electricity, cell phones, only ate local food and even stopped making garbage.

The goal of this project was to call attention to the high maintenance costs of the contemporary affluent American lifestyle. They experimented with ways of living that might both improve quality of life and be less harmful to the planet.

Among the notible accomplishments, the No Impact Family cut their spending by 50%. Here is the full impressive list of what the family kept out of the landfill.

Colin Beavan's sustainably produced book (made from postconsumer recycled paper and chlorine-free cardboard, with energy supplied by biogas) is titled No Impact Man and it's available now. The documentary film No Impact Man begins opening nationwide 9/11.

8/4/09 Webinar - How to Design Truly Sustainable, Truly Beautiful Packaging

When: Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Starting time: 4:00 pm, EST

Duration: 1 hour

Session fee (USD$): 69.00

Presentation: Webinars Live Online

Presenters: Joshua Onysko and Josh Ivy of Pangea Organics

Joshua Onysko, Pangea’s owner, and Josh Ivy, the company’s lead designer, take sustainable packaging to a whole new level. Not only are the boxes for their soaps and gift sets completely biodegradable—you can actually plant one, and grow a tree! Colorado Blue Spruce Seeds are embedded in each box. 

How did they come up with this fantastic idea, and how do they manage to make green packaging that’s still gorgeous to look at? You now have the chance to ask them in this live webcast.

Learn:
• How to find the most sustainable materials for your project.

• How to talk to manufacturers and printers about issues of sustainability.

• The best ways to include green practices in your everyday design work.

“Pangea does its best to source sustainable materials in everything we create,” say Onysko and Ivy. “We want to reduce waste whenever possible, reuse materials whenever possible, and if we have to produce something new, make sure it's recyclable in the end.” Come and learn from Pangea’s experience, and find out what you can do to make your own design truly green.

Register Here.

Philly gets a BigBelly, actually alot of them

Philadelphia quickly jumped to the top of the list for the nations Big Bellies.  The Big Belly trash compactor that is.  The city recently rolled out 500 of the solar powered trash compactors along several major trash collection routes. 

I am excited by this story for a few reasons.  First as an engineer I think these compactors are great.  We have seen a few of these pop up on the streets recently and people seem to get excited to use the trash can.  I think they are curious to know exactly what is going on inside the beast when they hear it start up and perform its compacting cycle.  Second the compactors can hold alot more garbage than a standard can, the 32 gallon compactors are capable of holding 150 to 200 gallons of trash, and that means cities save money and keep the streets a little cleaner.  The resources saved on the new compactor routes are being deployed to other parts of the city where more cleanup is required.  The city is also pairing the Big Belly compactors with a recycling container to encourage people to separate their waste and keep the streets clean.

Check out the article on USA Today for more details and if you see one of the solar compactors on the street in Philly, or in any other city, check them out.

Samsung's Blue Earth Solar Phone

Samsung is about to unveil a new phone with a series of solar cells on the back.  This phone is green (recycled plastic and solar cells) but also very useful for the outdoor enthusiast.  Check out the press release for more details.  Samsung is set to announce more details on the 16

CFL's fail to deliver

The New York Times Green Inc blog has an interesting post on compact fluorescents.  Readers have commented on their disappointment with the technology so they interviewed professor Michael Siminovitch of the California Lighting Technology Institute to get his opinion on the state of the CFL.  He explains that people are disappointed by the light quality, dimming performance, and lifespan of the bulbs.  The pressure to lower the cost for consumers has led many manufacturers to produce subpar products that do not deliver the same performance as high end CFL's.

This interview is worth checking out and is easily applied to broader product development practices.  The consumer tries to make the right decisions and purchase the energy efficient option but is let down by the product.  With so many inferior CFL's on the market many are now turned off by the technology.  Even if the overall quality improves, a large market has been turned off to the product and will likely not try again.

Consumers are ready and willing to make a shift to green, but remember green is not enough - you still need to make a quality product.

AIGA Philadelphia Hosts Green Tea Hours

Countless drinks. Six bars. Three big problems. And the next day, you air it all online for everyone to talk about.

This Spring, join AIGA Philadelphia for drinks and to debate some timely sustainability issues facing our design community. Each night’s topic will be discussed at two different bars by two different groups concurrently, and afterwards, you’ll be given a chance to compare notes and continue the dialog online.  

Hopes for Sustainable Design From the Obama Presidency

WHEN: Thursday, February 26, 2009 6:30pm
WHERE 1: Standard Tap | Northern Liberties
moderated by Alex Peltz
WHERE 2: White Dog Café | West Philly 
moderated by Cara Cox

Green Fatigue

WHEN: Thursday, April 2, 2009 6:30pm
WHERE 1: The Belgian Café | Fairmount
moderated by Andrew Dahlgren
WHERE 2:Ten Stone | Rittenhouse
moderated by Craig Schlanser

Sustainable Design in a New Economy

WHEN: Thursday, May 7, 2009 6:30pm
WHERE 1: the Artful Dodger | Society Hill
moderated by Cynthia Gale
WHERE 2: Dahlek | West Philly
moderated by Aaris Sherin

Attendence is limited so REGISTER HERE TODAY.

CompostModern - Feb 21st 2009

An interdisciplinary conference that explores the range of design thinking necessary to create a socially and ecologically responsible society. Designers, manufacturers and business leaders come together to find inspiration, share knowledge and explore real world opportunities for transforming products, industries and lives. The event is presented by the San Francisco chapter of AIGA and the AIGA Center for Sustainable Design (CFSD). http://compostmodern.org/

Although this event takes place in San Francisco, CA, at the Herbst Theater, there is a webcast available for attending virtually. Several AIGA chapters will be hosting webcasting events or you can subscribe to a webcast of your own for $40.00 here: http://www.cm09webcast.eventbrite.com/ 

WORKSHOPS:

#1 - "Teaching scale" w/ Eames Demetrios

# 2 - "The world's fastest crash course in product design" w/Allan Chochinov

# 3 - "Center for Sustainable Design" w/Phil Hamlett, Marc Alt

 

SPEAKERS:

JOEL MAKOWER - GreenBiz.com

ALLAN CHOCHINOV - Core77

EAMES DEMETRIOS - Kymaerica

MICHEL GELOBTER - Cooler

JOHN BIELENBERG - Project M

EMILY PILLOTON - Project H Design 

SAUL GRIFFITH - Makani Power

DAWN DANBY - Autodesk

PAM DORR - Hale Empowerment & Revitalization Organization (HERO)

NATHAN SHEDROFF - California College of the Arts

New greenblog from Backpacker.com

For all you outdoor enthusiasts Backpacker.com just announced a new blog called The Green Scene. They plan to cover everything from gear to low impact travel and climate issues. I look forward to checking out the backpacking specific green content from Backpacker.

Brighter Planet will donate 136 pounds of offsets in your name!

The average American emits 136 pounds of carbon dioxide each day. Be one of the first 25 people to add your name to Brighter Planet's "One Day Campaign" and they will donate 136 pounds - one day's worth of offsets in your name.

Claim your One Day Offset gift and in return conserve during the holidays.