In Search of The Sustainability Pill
How do we help people integrate sustainable thinking into their lives without preaching? Joe Mozdzen, our new columnist, gives us his thoughts.
In Search of High Performance Buildings
Do you have a commercial building that might be a good candidate for ‘high performance’? The picture at the right is the Real Goods high performance building in Hopland, CA. The U.S.Department of Energy is looking for commercial developments in the design phase that might qualify as High Performance Buildings demonstration projects. Steven Winter Associates (SWA) is under contract with the DOE to identify and consult to commercial building project teams. Potential clients must be interested in incorporating high-performance practices including energy and water conservation, resource-efficient materials, indoor air quality, recycled waste programs, state-of-the- art HVAC systems, fuel cells, photovoltaics, or low-impact landscaping. SWA is consulting on three projects in different parts of the country: a public library in Chicago that is building a green roof, recycled building materials, and extensive daylighting; a prototype office building for a major developer in Boston that will have reusable/recyclable interior materials and finishes, and advanced mechanical/electrical/plumbing systems with raised floor distribution; and a mixed use commercial/residential building on a site in Arizona that may incorporate PV panels, solar water heating, water harvesting, and a water-source heat pump system. Contact Mike Crosbie, SWA: mcrosbie@swinter.com[sorry this link is no longer available]
Joint EMS and Group CertificationA Cost-Effective Route for SMEs to Achieve ISO 14001
30 small businesses in Sweden created environmental management systems and received ISO 14001 certification by banding together.
Resources For Green Hotels
Fairmont Hotels and Resorts is well known for its efforts to “green” its operations and is now sharing its expertise with the hotel industry. An updated version of its manual, “The Green Partnership Guide: A Practical Guide to Greening Your Hotel,” details how hotels can protect the environment, increase profits and cut costs.The first step to greening a hotel or conference space, the Guide suggests, is to conduct careful audits of all departments – from housekeeping to purchasing to management. After determining current performance from the audit results, attainable environmental goals should be set in four key areas: waste management, water conservation, energy conservation, and purchasing policy. To purchase the guide, contact Fairmont’s Environmental Affairs Department. Hotel professionals can now use an Internet-based benchmarking tool to assess and improve environmental performance. Managers can monitor energy use, fresh water consumption, waste management, waste water quality, purchasing programs, community relations and biodiversity protection. Managers can compare their environmental performance with that of hotels with similar facilities in three major climate zones and design a program to reduce costs and environmental impact. All individual hotel data remains confidential.Reiner Boehme, recently retired VP of Engineering for Inter-Continental Hotels & Resorts says, “The net reductions […]
Making Environmental Management Systems Work
Help for Small & Medium-Sized BusinessesThe “Efficient Entrepreneur Calendar” looks like an ordinary hardcopy calendar with days and weeks and months. But to “smaller” businesses, it is much more. It guides you in implementing an EMS month-by-month, by introducing performance measures that are easy to assess and evaluate. Companies can measure where their inefficiences are (how much energy, water and raw materials they consume; how much pollution they produce), where costs can be reduced and employee and customer satisfaction improved. Companies can learn how to make simple process and product adjustments and how to communicate their achievements to their stakeholders.The calendar is available in English, French and Spanish. It was developed by UNEP’s Division of Technology, Industry and Environment and the Eco-Efficiency and Sustainable Enterprise Group at the Wuppertal Institute in Germany [sorry this link is no longer available][sorry this link is no longer available]In cooperation with the U.S. EPA, NSF-ISR has developed a set of practical EMS implementation guides and case studies. One report, geared toward small and medium-sized organizations, describes the experiences of 18 businesses and government agencies of various sizes and types. (Environmental Management Systems — An Implementation Guide for Small and Medium-Sized Organizations.) On the other […]
Best Practices for Hotels CD-ROMs
Bass Hotels & Resorts has reduced its water and energy consumption and attending costs by as much as 50 percent in their hotels worldwide. How do they do it? They have produced a CD-ROM to share their experience: it covers engineering, laundry, kitchen and garden operations, renovating and building new hotels, energy audits, benchmarking, and case studies. It demonstrates how to make an environmental management program work for owners, operators, employees and the environment.The Hong Kong Hotels Association offers a CD-ROM and environmental training manual for hotels in Hong Kong. The package includes an environmental management manual and good practice guides to energy, water and waste management, indoor air quality and environmental legislation. It has been distributed free of charge to all members. It is endorsed by UNEP and the International Hotel and Restaurant Association as a cost effective way to get ISO 14001 certification. Bass Hotels & Resorts: Reiner Boehme, reiner_boehme@interconti.comHong Kong Hotels Association: James Lu, hkha@att.net.hk
New Fund Finances Latin America Sustainable Energy Projects
The US Department of Energy, in cooperation with the Interamerican Development Bank (IDB), has established the $1.25 million Hemispheric Sustainable Energy Fund (HSEF) to help governments throughout Latin America and the Caribbean meet their energy needs through clean energy projects. The fund enables the creation of a multimillion dollar “family of funds” to help commercialize sustainable energy projects. HSEF will help regional clean energy projects by financing their feasibility studies, market analysis, and project appraisals so clear the way for additional financing from the IDB or other financial institutions. Theresa Fariello, DOE’s deputy assistant secretary for international energy policy, says, HSEF is designed to encourage contributions from other donor countries and private organizations. The private sector stands to benefit greatly from HSEF because the fund will condition the markets for private sector investment and create new project opportunities throughout the region.” Priority will be given to projects that demonstrate the potential to attract future private investment and strengthen a country’s commitment to sustainable energy policies and reform. The IDB will administer the funds for eligible institutions such as national and local governments, non-governmental organizations, and regional organizations. The Energy Department will oversee the process. To be selected, a project must: […]
On-line Courses in Sustainable Development
Now that the business case for sustainability is on firm ground companies need to learn how to integrate the complex issues involved. An effective way to do this is through on-line learning. The Foundation for Business and Sustainable Development, the educational arm of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), is building the Virtual University for Sustainability on the Internet. [sorry this link is no longer available]There are presently three introductory web-based courses. Corporate Social Responsibility is a 5-hour, self-paced course that teaches senior managers how to develop a corporate social responsibility policy and manage ethical issues. It exposes participants to recent concepts, tools, and best practices regarding social responsibility. The Sustainable Business Challenge began as a collaboration between the WBCSD and the international student organization AIESEC to discover what students entering the workforce need to know to become business leaders in sustainable development. 16,000 students and employees worldwide have completed the resulting Sustainable Business Challenge Internet exam. The WBCSD Foundation has updated this on-line learning experience course and developed an accompanying text book that is being used as a standard text by businesses and universities.The issues are presented from the perspective of a fictional corporation as key personnel […]
New Green Building Guides
An on-line guide to designing and constructing green buildings has been produced by the Pacific Northwest Pollution Prevention Resource Center (PPRC). Although it is geared primarily for commercial and institutional buildings, it also includes resources for residential projects. It begins with an introduction to the economic, environmental and social benefits of green buildings, and the holistic approach to designing buildings.Each chapter consists of questions to consider for the particular topic and then a comprehensive set of links related to the topic. It covers all the important substantive areas from transportation to codes, from materials to energy efficiency, from indoor air to demolition. There are links to resources for technical assistance, financial assistance, software, and news about green buildings. It leads you to case studies covering commercial, municipal, residential, brownfields and hospitality applications. Check it out: [sorry this link is no longer available]A new book from the Sustainable Buildings Industry Council, Low-Energy, Sustainable Building Design for Federal Managers, is designed to help government personnel meet the ‘Greening the Government’ executive orders and to make informed decisions on sustainable design strategies, renewable energy options, water conservation, operation and maintenance, and resource-efficient materials. [sorry this link is no longer available]org The group will […]
Sustainable Sweden Tour: A Journey into a Sustainable Future
You can tour “Sustainable Sweden” with a group of 50 colleagues (at most), from August 4-19. Sustainable Sweden hopes to attract people from around the world to share their experiences as they get an inside look at the world’s leader in combining ecology and economy. The themes will be municipality planning, renewable energy, eco-tourism, and ecological business. The tour will be organized around what’s happening with Agenda 21, The Natural Step, and sustainability initiatives in Sweden. You can go for one of the 9 day segments or for the entire 16 day tour. In the first segment, the group will visit southern Sweden, including Stockholm, Gothenburg and smaller communities such as Hallefors. Hallefors is an example of a community which turned itself around using The Natural Step principles. The community also uses the “Factor 10” concept and Max-Neef’s Basic Needs as tools to make their activities more efficient. The second segment focuses on northern Sweden’s small, sustainable villages. In the mountain community, Sorsele, for example, the eco-municipality concept has been used to create hundreds of jobs. The tour group will also visit companies and educational institutes. A registration deposit is needed by June 2001. For more information: Ira Sundberg, ira@esam.seTorbj??Lahti, […]
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