Monday, 28 June 2010 13:50

For all the songs written about the glory of rock n' roll life, the road can be tough.  Yes "tough, tough stuff" in the words of Tenacious D.  But the road can also be wasteful stuff.  

Although you are essentially carpooling when on the road, you are doing a lot of driving which if you are not on biodiesel, can be a good deal of CO2.  Nevermind if you are somebody like Radiohead or U2, which also means a considerable amount of flights around the world. 

Something of a coalition from the company that helps bands green their tours- Reverb-, the Green Music Group is a collection of venues and bands that have joined forces to be a bit more responsible about what comes in and out of a tour bus.  No, I'm not talking groupies, there's of course nothing wrong with sharing, and I'm not talking about drugs and glass bottles of beer and alcohol.  The GMG is watching out for all those plastic bottles of water that get used by musicians while they are working it onstage and backstage.

From the website, http://challenge.greenmusicgroup.org/ Bonnie Rait issues a challenge to step away from the bottle and this time she means the plastic water bottle:

Disposable water bottles create a ton of unnecessary plastic waste in concessions and backstage. We green music types have been working hard to reduce this waste by offering reusable water bottles as merchandise items to fans and using refillable bottles on tour both onstage and behind the scenes.

I's about time that we realize how much waste we've been creating through rock n' roll since the day after Woodstock. 

Also check out CREx (Carbon Reduction and Energy Exchange www.crexonline.org)  a local non-profit initiative that has been working with the FEST for past three years to do the same thing as Reverb that is, to bring to light the amount of CO2 emitted by such great events, and offering education and ways to reduce or offset emissions.  Only we're doing it local...

Thursday, 24 June 2010 01:57

Let's hope both Spain and the United States can both make it far enough in the World Cup to meet each other in the semi final rounds.  But if we can't meet on the pitch for the challenge of the cup, we can at least know that the challenge of a zero-energy home is being met right now by UF students on Spanish soil.

The Solar Decathlon is a competition in which university teams design and build an 800-square-foot house that must only run on solar energy.  Our very own UF team (in which INDIGOGreen's very own Sam Kuhpal paricipated in) is one of only two U.S. groups competing.  The house was constructed using reclaimed heart pine sourced by our local deconstruction artists the Bearded Brothers, as well as Accoya wood and Kohler sinks through INDIGOGreen.  Quite a feat, the house was initially built in Gainesville then disassembled for transportation to Madrid then reassembled in ten days for the competition.

So now, the UF team needs your help.  The University of Florida team can receive the Web Choice Award over 16 other universities from around the world who all think they have designed the best solar-energy home.  Running through June27th, visitors to the Solar Decathlon may vote for their two favorite solar house designs.  The house that gets the most votes will received the less meaningful but nonetheless coveted Web Choice Award.

To vote for your swampland team, go to:

 http://www.sdeurope.org/novedades/votacion_casa.htm

Wednesday, 23 June 2010 02:03

 Howdy to ya.  How did you eat today?  Are you fed?  Are you well fed? 

Some didn't eat today and are not well fed.  Most likely there are some in Gainesville tonight that will not read this blog that will rely on public meal provisions.

Well, next week the city is asking us to do something about future public meal provisions and wants our input.  There will be a workshop to address public meal issues in Gainesville and I am sure with all the local food inertia that we have going in this town we can figure something out that is sustainable and still fits the bill.

I don't think the event is pot luck, but bring a dish....I dare ya.

Here's the skinny (pun intended):

Tuesday, June 29thfrom 7:30AM-12PM (but actually there is a continental breakfast at 7:30 sharp)
Alachua County Helath Department
224 SE 24th St.

Please RSVP by Monday, June 28th to Helen Harris, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it 393.8675 or Rosemary Skell This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it 393.8679

Monday, 21 June 2010 18:09

The ILBI or International Living Building Challenge, challenges us to create buildings with a concience and share information along lines of competion for the greater good of furthering sustainability in buildings.

Truly living buildings are a thing of the future.  Or near future. With recently synthesized bateria that can be "programmed" to respond to stimuli, the question is being asked, "Can we create truly living buildings?"

Read all about ILBI here.

Read an interesting article on sythethized living buildings here.

Thursday, 17 June 2010 00:00

This year's GRU BEST Symposium, come check out a flurry of sustainability that will be happening right here in our community and with the help of our very intersted public-owned utility.  

This year INDIGOGreen will be tabling again throughout the two days during the conference.  However, at the pre-conference, check out training on green-building certification programs and we are pleased to note that $25 of each registration fee will go towards our beloved non-profit project for Haitian relief, Barrels of Hope.

If that wasn't enough, GRU has a full roster of interesting speakers including (humbly) myself among them at the 2nd day mumbling about "Greener Building Materials".  

Now that woudl be enough to pique some folks interest, but GRU has decided to take this whole thing one step further and will be assisted by Earth Givers (the non-profit in town responsible for neutralizing the entire athletic program at UF) and CREx (Carbon Reduction and Energy Exchange) in offsetting the carbon footprint of the 3-day event.

Wow.  So here's the official word from their registration site here:

Interested in learning more about building a green and sustainable community? Get information from leading experts and professionals about how green, sustainable and environmentally responsible methods can be energy efficient and affordable at the second GRU BEST Symposium.

Pre-conference Workshop: July 14, 2010
10:00 AM to 4:00 PM   (Lunch provided)
Kanapaha Botanical Gardens - GRU Conference Room

"Pathways to Certification"  
Training presented by the U.S. Green Building Council, a non-profit organization dedicated to sustainable building design and construction. 

Learn more about various certification programs including cost, payback periods and the social responsibility of each program. 

Training will include information regarding certification for:
    FHBA, LEED, GreenGlobes, FGBC, FSEC and others.

Registration fee: $125

$25 of each registration fee will be donated to USGBC's "Barrels of Hope" project in GRU's name.
  
Day 1: July 15, 2010
7:15 AM to 5:00 PM
Best Western Gateway Grand

Theme: "The Fuss About Solar, Daylighting, Water and Renewables"

7:15 - 8:15 AM Registration and Breakfast    
    12:00 PM: Lunch provided 

Day 1: Detailed Agenda

Day 2: July 16, 2010
7:15 AM to 5:00 PM
Best Western Gateway Grand

Theme: "Is Green Really Green?"
   "Greening a Community/Sustainable Building"

7:15 - 8:15 AM Registration and Breakfast  
    12:00 PM: Lunch provided
 
Day 2: Detailed Agenda

Registration fees:
July 15 or 16: $50
July 15 and 16: $75
Exhibitor: $125
    City of Gainesville and GRU employee: $50
Student: $25

Wednesday, 16 June 2010 12:00

The fact that some paint companies are allowed by current EPA standards to claim that their paints meet "sustainability benchmarks" for indoor air quality has some people really confused. 

But with the EPA's recent toxilogical review on formaldehyde inhalation assessment we have reason to be concerned even from the top- down.  According to a recent report by our friends over at the Pharos project, tints and sheens in paints can be formulated to not only have varying ammounts of VOC's (Volatile Organic Compounds) but they can also have health haszards associated with those varying VOC ammounts. 

Xylene, a recognized neurotoxin, can be found in products as a "thinning agent" and has been found by the Pharos project to be present in Glidden's Lifemaster Oil Int/Ext higher VOC content eggshell and semi-gloss.

The Pharos prjoject which strives for tansparency, asks the question: if a company claims that they have a sustainable product, shouldn't that include the infomatino that is pertinent to human health and hazardous ingredients?

Read the full blog entry at the pharosproject.net right here and let us know what you think.

Wednesday, 16 June 2010 01:19

It shouldn't make you sad or even guilty.  Watching soccer is a pleasure for myself, especially the world cup matches this week.  But knowing that the world cup event itself is responsible for approximately 2,753,251 tons is really a bit astounding. 

Some people on the treehugger blog were really upset by that number.  Not beacause it was a mind-blowing amount of carbon attributable to one event, but because it has since soured their pleasure in watching the matches.

Some things are just good to have perspective on and I believe this is one of them.  Let us cheer and revel in our teams' victories but let us always be aware that we can do better- not that we should all of a sudden ban air travel to South Africa.

The fact that this is equivalent to roughly one million cars on the road for one year and that it is also six times as much as the last world cup (we CAN do better than that), should give us pause and reflect on how to bring the carbon footprint of such awesome events down to a smaller level.  Let's shoot for a yellow card next time.

Check out the report in treehugger here.

Monday, 14 June 2010 16:39

It's not rocket science.  It's not even how-to-build-a-campfire science.  But the application of paint and finishes can sometimes be a science unto itself and little bit tricky.  Especially for sustainable building products, you have to think outside of the box to create such amazing products that often, there is a tweak here and there on the way they perform according to how they are applied.

That's why AFM/Safecoat recently uploaded some helpful hints on application of their products onto YouTube and I think you will find it helpful to refer to them here.

Take some YouTube time and get familiar with these amazing products here.