Green Enterprise Toronto - Business Member Directory

Place for consumers in and around Toronto to find businesses in their area (including architects it seems) that are 'green'. Looks interesting...

CMHC's Design Faculty Summit and CaGBC's Greening the Curricula

May 17 and 18, 2007
University of Manitoba — Fort Garry Campus

The events are free but registration is required. Please note the complementary activities, which also require an indication of your interest in participating.

In addition, there will be a dinner/discussion the evening of May 18 supported by the Canadian Design Research Network (CDRN). The CRDN will sponsor this workshop on the research agenda for sustainable design in architecture, building and other design professions.

This Old House: The Austin House

by Alexandra Bandon

"The architecture may be old at This Old House's new project in Austin, Texas, but the thinking is thoroughly modern. For the first time, the show is going totally "green"—using as many environmentally friendly building products and methods as possible—and creating a functional home for a contemporary blended family.

The Austin Green Building Program, one of the oldest in the country, will rate the project for its use of eco-friendly materials. Photovoltaic cells on the roof, rainwater collection for irrigation, spray-foam insulation, recycled-glass tile and countertops, and formaldehyde-free wood composites are just some of the resource-saving strategies and eco-friendly materials planned for the project."

More information: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16840020/site/newsweek/

"How big are the savings? Richard Morgan of Austin Energy's Green Building Program estimates that an average family of four would generate $1,300 in electricity bills a year in the old house—versus $1,000 in the larger, green one. "Factor in the solar panels they've added," he says, "and the total comes down to $577."

Pope puts focus on climate change, environment

The Age - Australia
John Vidal and Tom Kington, Rome
April 28, 2007

THE Vatican has added its voice to warnings from churches around the world that climate change and abuse of the environment is against God's will.

At a Vatican conference on climate change, Pope Benedict XVI urged bishops, scientists and politicians to "respect Creation" while "focusing on the needs of sustainable development".

Workshop: Straw Bale Construction

This is the same workshop I took back in the summer of 2001 (the pictures on the top of their page are the ones I took and gave them and I'm in the picture on the right sitting on the ground, far left with blue shirt and straw hat). They are a non-profit organisation and were willing to be flexible with their fees when I went as a poor student... don't know if that's still the case:

Everdale Farm
Straw Bale Construction: Hands-On Weekend

Date/Time: July 13-15
With Ben Polley of Harvest Homes

Straw bales can be used to build homes and other types of buildings that are extremely durable, beautiful, energy efficient, low cost and well suited to our four-season climate. Lots of theory and practical experience building a small straw bale cabin. (This will not include cement lime or earthen plastering. We recommend you take the plastering and finishing workshops set in August.)

GreenerChoices.org

Products for a Better Planet

GreenerChoices.org, launched on Earth Day 2005 by Consumers Union, the non-profit publisher of Consumer Reports, is a Web-based initiative to inform, engage, and empower consumers about environmentally-friendly products and practices. GreenerChoices.org offers an accessible, reliable, and practical source of information on buying “greener” products that have minimal environmental impact and meet personal needs.

We created GreenerChoices.org to address the lack of credible, in-depth information on green products, services, and lifestyles, especially on the Web. Environmentally conscious consumers are faced with a huge amount of “green washing” by companies that want to capitalize on and exploit the growing interest in environmentally-friendly products, health, pollution and toxics.

AIA/COTE 2007 Top 10 Green Project Awards

In presenting the Top 10 Green Awards, the American Institute of Architects celebrated the best examples of sustainable architecture and environmental design.

"What few people realize is that buildings have the greatest impact on climate change -- more than transportation and industry -- because they consume so much electricity and natural gas, and they're all powered by power plants that themselves produce carbon emissions," Scott Frank, the group's spokesman

Source: http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=12641

S.F. hopes to set example with new green tower

SF Gate
John King, Chronicle Urban Design Writer
Friday, April 13, 2007

San Francisco's Civic Center is the proposed home of a government tower that city officials say will be more energy-efficient than any large office building in the United States.

Wind turbines stacked behind glass panels would generate energy for the 12-story PUC building.

Read about it at:
http://www.inhabitat.com/2007/04/23/san-franciscos-civic-tower-greenest-of-them-all/

Change in blog use

My girlfriend blogs weekly and I've been reading her blog every time she tells me there's something new of note. So nothing new there but today she emails that she has a new posting AND has a new 'subscription' available that will notify me automatically when she's posted. COOL!
So I went and signed up and now I have a subscription tool too.

I'm doing this for 2 reasons, keeping the e-mail address list up-to-date is work and why not let others sign up if they find this useful? So I hope you subscribe and find it useful.

Because we can do it this way now, I'll be posting what I find here instead of sending those e-mails. I hope it will actually be easier and a way to log what I've found along the way.

Enjoy!