Fab Tree Hab

Dubai 1st Green City in the World

The instruction issued by His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, that all buildings in Dubai would have to be constructed as per environment-friendly "green building standards" from January next year (2008). come as a major boost to the international climate initiative.

The latest decision makes Dubai one of the first in the world, and the only city in the Middle East region, to go for the "green building standards".

This system also has a plethora of benefits to derive from. For example, a green building, according to the US Green Buildings Council, can save, on an average, 70 per cent of electricity, between 50 and 60 per cent of water, and 36 per cent of energy more when compared to the standard buildings.

(WBCSD) report - "Green" Construction Costs Lower Than Believed

World Business Council for Sustainable Development
Respondents to a 1400 person global survey estimated the additional cost of building green at 17 percent above conventional construction, more than triple the true cost difference of about 5 percent. At the same time, survey respondents put greenhouse gas emissions by buildings at 19 percent of world total, while the actual number of 40 percent is double this.

“Life cycle analysis shows that 80% to 85% of the total energy consumption and CO 2 emissions of a building comes from occupancy through heating, cooling, ventilation, and hot water use. If we want to make an impact on climate change, we therefore need to tackle this challenge. Combining the right materials when designing a building envelope can greatly reduce a building's energy requirements, increase its life span and ensure consistent performance over time,” he said.

The Report - Energy Efficiencies in Buildings: Business realities and opportunities (pdf doc)

India Tower (South Mumbai, India)

- LEED Gold-rated project
- expected to be completed in 2010
- mixed-use program that changes with each rotation
- least possible impact on the environment
- integrate current innovative sustainable systems and technologies – solar shading, natural ventilation, daylighting, rainwater harvesting, and green interior finishes and materials
– one of the greenest skyscrapers in India

Source:
http://www.inhabitat.com/2007/08/23/
india-tower-indias-greenest-skyscraper/

Live Earth Concert 07/07/07

"Live Earth is a 24-hour, 7-continent concert series taking place on 7/7/07 that will bring together more than 100 music artists and 2 billion people to trigger a global movement to solve the climate crisis.
Live Earth concerts will be broadcast to a live worldwide audience by MSN at www.LiveEarth.MSN.com."
Showing on Bravo starting at 9am

Google Campus - Solar panels

"It’s a good time to be green, and Google is leading the way. Last year, the search giant Google announced that their installation of the solar panels on their campus, which are expected to provide around 1,600 kw/h. And keeping with their green commitment, they recently launched the Google solar panel project webpage which will help anyone track how much power their solar panels are generating. And now, their newest green initiatives include everything from plug-in hybrids and car-powered homes to carbon neutrality. And to top it off, Google has just announced that it expects to become carbon neutral by 2007. They will do this via a mixture of energy consumption reduction, carbon offsets, and use of renewable resources. They will also be submitting themselves to an independent audit to make sure that they meet this goal every year."

Proposed Standard 189P (USA)

"Being developed by a partnership between the USGBC, ASHRAE, and IESNA ... say the baseline standard, which will apply to new commercial construction and major renovations, will be fleshed out by 2007.

The new standard will be largely based on LEED, with prescriptive measures for environmental performance drawn from its five categories.

code agencies could adopt Standard 189P as a baseline, while mandating additional sustainability measures as they see fit. This would relieve states and municipalities from needing to draft special legislation to mandate green buildings by, for instance, referencing LEED or other voluntary rating systems."

Also see: http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=1647

"Currently the standard is open for public comment and comments will be accepted through July 9, 2007 at www.ashrae.org/publicreviews. The committee plans to release the standard by late 2007. Upon completion, Standard 189 will be an ANSI-accredited standard that can be incorporated into building codes...(just as Standard 90.1... has been almost universally adopted as a baseline standard for energy efficiency)"

Talloires Declaration

"Composed in 1990 at an international conference in Talloires, France, this is the first official statement made by university administrators of a commitment to environmental sustainability in higher education. The Talloires Declaration (TD) is a ten-point action plan for incorporating sustainability and environmental literacy in teaching, research, operations and outreach at colleges and universities. It has been signed by over 300 university presidents and chancellors in over 40 countries."

Canadian Universities and Colleges include:
Carleton University, Concordia University, Dalhousie University, McGill University, Ryerson Polytechnical Institute, Simon Fraser University, UBC, University of Guelph, University of Ottawa, University of Saskatchewan, University of Victoria, University of Western Ontario, and York University
See full list here: http://www.ulsf.org/pdf/TD_resourcekit.pdf