The Georgia Museum of Art is the newest building on campus to become LEED certified.

The museum, which opened its expanded and remodeled building on Jan. 29, 2011, received LEED Gold certification last week — the second highest rating a building can receive.

LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a green certification process that rates buildings based on their energy and water saving efforts, building material selection, sustainable site development and indoor air quality. The museum is the third building on campus to receive LEED certification, joining Tate II and Building 1516, both of which are certified Gold.

 

Hillary Brown, director of communications at the Georgia Museum of Art, said the museum staff was excited to hear the new building got the rating it did.

“We’re all environmentally minded people and we wanted to disrupt the environment as little as possible,” she said. “This was a goal for our project from the very beginning.”

Museum staff worked with the Office of University Architects to incorporate sustainability into several aspects of the museum. The expansion was built on an existing parking lot, with 91 percent of the construction waste being salvaged or recycled for use on site or in campus projects. Two 25,000-gallon cisterns were buried near the building to provide water for the museum’s fountain and irrigation for the sculpture garden and lawns, and rain gardens were created to clean runoff from the roof and parking lot. Low flow plumbing fixtures, which will reduce water consumption by 44 percent, were also installed in the building.

Brown said one of the most exciting additions to the museum is the use of natural light in addition to regular lighting in the exhibition halls and corridors. Using natural light in art museums can be difficult because sunlight can damage the artwork, but Brown said the OUA was able to successfully incorporate it into the building’s design.

“It manages to illuminate the galleries; keep the art safe; it’s beautiful and it uses a lot less energy. So it works on every aspect that it possibly could have,” she said.

Brown said the environmentally-friendly additions to the building will help save money on water and energy costs, though she isn’t sure yet how much.

Kevin Kirsche, direct of sustainability at the University, said LEED certification is growing on campus — the Pharmacy South building, Special Collections Library and Visual Arts building are all in the process of becoming LEED certified.

“I think the Georgia Museum of Art is showing their tremendous leadership in valuing sustainable design,” he said.“It’s a growing trend among museums to construct a LEED certified facility that in and of itself is a work of art; that houses art in an inspiring and environmentally responsible manner.”

Original article posted at The Red and Black, Author KATIE VALENTINE

Retrofitting your house could mean cutting down household costs while helping to preserve the environment.

If you want to reduce your household costs and greenhouse gas emissions, the key is retrofitting.

But what does this mean and how does it help?

Derek Wrigley, the author of Making Your Home Sustainable, explains:

What is retrofitting?

It is a way of modifying an existing house to take advantage of the abundant natural energy which is all around us but insufficiently recognised by homeowners and, unfortunately, most builders.

A retrofitted house can produce very significant and worthwhile savings in annual running costs.

Why should people retrofit their homes?

1. To reduce electricity usage as much as possible unless it comes from a green renewable source. The installation of Photovoltaics (which converts light into electricity) is the best way – I pay no electricity bills.

3. Install a vertical buoyancy air-flow system to eliminate the need for airconditioning – it’s much cheaper, more effective and less polluting.

4. Install southern reflectors to southern windows to heat cold, southern rooms in winter. Up to 7kWh of heat and glorious sunlight can be acquired every sunny day in a well-designed house.

What are your tips to retrofitting a bathroom to reduce water consumption?

Train your fingertips to reduce flow, (you can clean your teeth in an eggcup-full of water). Install low-flow shower heads, dual-flush toilet cisterns or modify the cistern mechanism to supply only what is necessary – easy.

What household items can we source greywater from?

You can source it from wash basins, showers and washing machines. Avoid dishwashing machines unless outflow is captured safely – care is needed.

How can we identify which solar hot-water system is best for our style of home and our needs?

The usual black plate absorbers (of solar energy) required optimal placing in regards to the sun’s path during the day, but the evacuated tube absorbers allow a little more flexibility and can be more effective.

The latter is more frost-resistant but is more expensive. The heat-pump systems are much more flexible as they absorb their heat from the surrounding air and can be placed indoors, so do not affect roof designs. They are, however, not quite as efficient in their use of electricity, but nevertheless are effective converters of ambient heat into useful domestic heat.

What is solar access, what are the benefits and how can homeowners increase it?

It is the ease of access of solar radiation to a house or building so that the energy impinging on it can be used in an effective way.

Trees and other buildings can block solar access and most buildings up to recent times have not been designed efficiently so that radiation can be effectively used in the house.

This includes daylight, sunlight (psychological value), sunlight in the form of infra-red heat energy and ultra-violet radiation, which can be used to purify polluted water.

What are the options for shading our homes and keeping them cool in summer and warm in winter?

Good orientation of the main rooms is an essential start. External shading of sunlit windows is much more effective than internal shading measures such as curtains and blinds.

External shades should prevent infra-red heat radiation from reaching windows but should permit daylight to penetrate the window so that electric lighting is not required in the daytime. Such shading should be adjustable to shade in summer and permit the winter heat radiation to pass through.

Fixed eaves that are good in summer are often ineffective in letting the heat through in winter, so northern eaves must be adjustable.

East and west windows require more careful design as the sun is lower in the sky.

What are “silent consumers” around the home?

Unnecessary lighting which is not being utilised, stand-by lights on appliances, clocks on ovens and microwave ovens; opaque external blinds shading the windows in winter causing the electric lights to be on inside.

How important is insulation in reducing energy usage and how can we determine which type of insulation is best for our home?

Insulation is essential in winter to prevent expensive heat loss from inside to outside and vice versa in summer.

Bulk insulation (soft and fluffy) is best to resist heat flow (by conduction) through walls, floors and ceilings and reflective insulation is better where radiant heat is flowing (up or down).

Reflective foil, however, needs an air space on the shiny side if it is to work effectively and horizontal foil (shiny side up) over the ceiling can be ineffective because dust settles on top.

* Making Your Home Sustainable: A Guide to Retrofitting by Derek Wrigley is published by Scribe, available online.

Original article posted at The New Zealand Herald

A leading council on environmental design recognized the first green county fire rescue station in Florida.

Alachua County Fire Rescue Station No. 10 was honored at Tuesday’s Alachua County Commission meeting for being a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-certified building. It was certified in September by the United States Green Building Council.

The county facility department presented the commission with the station’s certification plaque Tuesday.

The plaque, which will hang on the front of the building, names the station as the first LEED-certified fire rescue station in Florida.

After the original building design was drafted in 2008, the Alachua County Commission had the station redesigned to meet national green and sustainable standards.

It was completed in 2009.

In order to become certified, buildings must meet certain guidelines.

Guidelines include reducing water use, using technology in bathrooms that cuts down on waste water and using energy-efficient heating, cooling and lighting systems inside the building, according to the U.S. Green Building Council website.

The fire rescue station features a solar heating system that will save 70 percent in hot water costs, said Charlie Jackson, Alachua County facilities manager. Waterless urinals will save 7,500 gallons of water annually. The site also features a rainwater harvesting system that will provide more efficient irrigation.

The fire rescue station is the only county building that is LEED-certified, Jackson said. Three other county buildings are registered and waiting for certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Original article posted at The Independent Florida Alligator, by Author Adrianna Paidas, Alligator Write

Jhundpur is not fuel for the media’s breathless portrayals of India’s growth.

The village lies about an hour north of Delhi, past power plants and construction sites, on some days covered by a layer of thick, gray smog.

On approaching highways, shops hawk baskets of vegetables that join local women’s garb in offering a colorful contrast to the bleak landscape.

Closer to the village, dusty roads are lined with neatly stacked dung patties, a gift of fuel from the cows roaming the area. Homes made of stone and grass hearken back to an earlier era.

More than half of India’s 1.1 billion people are villagers. They belong to a class that has in some ways been left behind by the growth taking place in the bustling cities. This is evident at rural schools, where books, computers and even proper toilets are hard to come by.

Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Co. is leading an effort to show how big changes can come from small donations.

With a team of partners including news network NDTV, Coke is driving a campaign called Support My School in eight clusters of schools in 10 Indian states. NDTV publicizes the needs, and Coke drives the fundraising, both directly and through telethons and other activities. The message? Keep kids in school.

A year into the three-year plan to reach 1,000 schools, the response has been overwhelming, said Atul Rajbhushan, a Coke manager of public affairs for India. If the success proves sustainable, the India model could be adapted and exported to other countries with similar needs.

A team from the Coke headquarters in Atlanta and a representative from the Coca-Cola Africa Foundation on Feb. 4 visited GMS Jhundpur, a pilot school where the program began in earnest a year ago.GlobalAtlanta joined them while in Delhi on an India reporting trip.

The team saw simple improvements that had made a profound impact. For an average cost of about $10,000, the partnership plants trees, installs rainwater harvesting systems and water filters, sets up playground equipment and educates kids on healthy living.

Rainwater is conveyed from a rooftop pipe system into the ground, expanding and improving the groundwater supply, which is tapped through a well and filtered for drinking.

The success of the initiative is easy to read in the school’s enrollment numbers, Mr. Rajbhushan said. GMS Jhundpur has 560 students this year, 130 more than last year. They are taught by just six teachers, up from two the previous year.

“That’s the picture of success for us,” said Mr. Rajbhushan. “I’ve seen the children from the private schools, they’re joining here.”

The key to bringing them back? Bathrooms.

Throughout rural India, girls are leaving schools because of sanitation problems. In schools lucky enough to have one toilet, girls have to take turns with boys. In less fortunate areas, students are forced to use the nearby fields, a process that can be difficult and embarrassing for girls.

For Yagdutt Arya, the principal of GMS Jhundpur, the new bathrooms are revolutionary. Having basic needs met allows the school to focus on education, which wouldn’t have happened without private intervention, Mr. Arya said.

Government funding is limited because it has to be thinly spread among so many needy schools, he said.

“It’s not enough, but we manage somehow,” Mr. Arya said of the funding he receives from the state.

To fill in the gaps, Indian schools will have to work creatively with private companies like Coke or individuals like the local farmer who donated about $1,000 to fix the school’s crumbling front gate, he said.

There’s only one problem: As more kids come back to school, the needs multiply, Mr. Arya said. Just a year after getting its first suitable facilities, the school will soon need a second set of toilets.

Coke can’t tackle every problem but hopes to call attention to the needs so that the government and other donors will take the baton, Mr. Rajbhushan said.

In the future, Coke plans to drive the initiative and attract more funding from local companies and international non-governmental organizations, he said.

Some big names have already begun to help. TATA Teleservices has provided used computers to teach students basic Internet skills. Britisheducational outfit Pearson Group has given new books to form a small library.

Some would call Coke’s effort a classic case of corporate social responsibility. Neville Isdell, the former chairman and CEO of the company, might say it’s a manifestation of “connected capitalism,” a term he coined to describe actions that are core to a company’s business interests but also benefit local communities.

Mr. Arya, the principal, believes that companies will eventually reap the benefits from their investment in India. But regardless of whether they get tax breaks or future customers, the help is necessary now.

“It’s very good for us that companies are coming and helping (schools),” he said. “They’re not taking anything from them. They’re just helping, and the government has no problem with it.”

Original article posted at by Global Atlanta, Author Trevor Williams

A series of environmental best practices adopted by Sula Vineyards, one of India’s largest wine producers, has enabled it do away with diesel gensets for generating power, meet 60-70 percent of its water requirement from water harvesting and 40 percent of its fertiliser needs through vermiculture.

“At Sula, we’re not just focused on making great wine, we’re focused on making great wine well. And since great wine starts with the environment, it’s in our best interests to take good care of it in the long run,” Sula Vineyards CEO Rajeev Samant told IANS.

“Our sustainable agricultural practices and efficient winery operations are environmentally friendly, economically sound, socially responsible, and mindful of the earth’s limited resources. We are continuously working to improve our own sustainability and that of our growers, through experimentation and experience sharing,” he added.

To move away from coal- and diesel-based power, the winery has installed enough solar water heaters to heat 5,000 litres of water a day to 70°C.

“This is enough for almost all of our hot water requirements. For a few requirements, such as bottle cleaning, where we need water at a higher temperature, we will soon be installing a wood-fired boiler, fuelled entirely by woody vine clippings from the vineyard,” Samant said.

Speaking about the winery’s three-phase watershed management project that aims to harvest rainwater and excess irrigation runoff, Samant said the storage capacity of its two reservoirs is now at over 30 million litres — 14 million litres collected annually from rainwater and 19 million liters via check dams.

“We are now meeting 60-70 percent of the winery’s annual water needs through water harvesting,” he added.

Noting that pomace — grape skins, seeds, and stems that remain after the crush — can constitute up to 30-40 percent of the original harvest yield Samant said instead of being thrown away, it is used for vermiculture.

“These workaholic wrigglers are an environmentally conscious farmer’s best friends. They chew their way through the mix to produce a crumbly black compost that is odourless and rich in organic matter, which we then use back on the vines as fertilizer.

At present, our homemade organic compost meets 40% of our fertilization needs. Over time, our aim is to replace all chemical fertilizers,” Samant said.

This apart, the winery has a bottle collection programme that sees 800,000 bottles reused each year.

“This not only meets 25 percent of our bottling requirements, but it has also created jobs for 30 local women as bottle washers, who clean 3,000 bottles per day between them,” Samant said.

Samant established Sula Vineyards in 1999. Today, it is spread over 1,700 acres — 300 acres owned by his and his friends and the balance by some 250 small farmers.

The company sold five million bottles last year and hopes to cross the six-and-a-half-million mark this year.

“We are benefiting from a demographic dividend,” Samant explained of the growing sales.

“Not only are more and more people per se moving away from hard liquor to wine, but increasing numbers of women, particularly in the metros are quite comfortable with a glass of wine,” he added.

Over the years Sula has pioneered many classic grape varietals in India like Sauvignon and Chenin Blanc in 2000, Zinfandel in 2001 and Riesling in 2008. In 2005, Sula launched its first reserve wine, the Dindori Reserve Shiraz, as well as India’s first dessert wine, the Late Harvest Chenin Blanc.

The company is also a leading wine importer under the umbrella of Sula Selections, with a portfolio of prestigious brands from leading producers like Remy Cointreau, Constellation Wines and Chianti Ruffino.

Originally posted at Hindustan Times

JWT, a top marketing agency developing award winning branded content for brands such as Freixenet, Ford and HSBC, has included rainwater harvesting as one of the “100 Things to Watch in 2012″.  Check out the rest of the list on their website.

Its refreshing to see rainwater harvesting is gaining traction and getting noticed. Just imagine the impact, if we all had a rainwater harvesting system.

Residents of Taupo NZ are hoping to “lure Americans” to settle there by building an off grid community.

The government has already earmarked the spot for a “Biosphere of the 21st century” and it is home to the New Zealand Clean Energy Centre. The proposed family-style homes would be heated via geothermal or biomass sources, and electricity supplied via solar or wind energy. Wastewater would be drip irrigated to energy crops that would provide future fuel for the community. Water would be supplied via rainwater collection. There will be wi-fi internet along with communal vegetable gardens and septic tanks.

“This is about attracting people who have disconnected from the world, so to speak, who need only their laptop and smartphone and can travel anywhere and still work,” said the centre’s CEO, Rob McEwan. “Young, affluent Silicon Valley entrepreneurs are scouting around New Zealand at present looking for land,” Mr McEwan said.“They are looking to get out of the US, live in a community with good water resources and establish a sustainable and ‘local’ lifestyle.” New Zealand could “easily” rise to be the No 1 choice for them, he said. “We are politically neutral, almost 80 per cent of our electricity is generated from renewables, we have ample water and we are friendly to Americans.

“So then the question for Taupo becomes how can we lure them to our community?”. The development would comprise half- acre sections and the actual houses would be simple designs that resemble any ordinary Waikato development. “The large section would allow for things like large garden spaces, which could be private or shared, and septic tanks,” he said. And how much would a slice of green living go for? “It is an unknown cost at this stage, but part of the vision is providing affordable housing. “We would be looking at a range of homes, all under $500,000.” Owners would also have to pay about $60,000 for renewable energy technology add-on costs, he said.

Taupo mayor Rick Cooper was wary of the “grandiose plan”. “But the council does like to support drive and enthusiasm and dreams.”

Originally posted at Off Grid 101

With the UA Community Garden, Students for Sustainability and ASUA are working to close the gap between the university and surrounding communities.

The UA Community Garden, an effort that has been in development throughout the course of the last year, is in its final planning stages. Open to anyone, the garden provides a place for a person or group of people to rent out a plot and grow a number of plants, primarily for food.

The garden is located at the corner of East Mabel Street and North Highland Avenue, adjacent to the northeast corner of the Highland Avenue Parking Garage. The area contains 42 sunken beds, some measuring 18 by 3 feet, others 20 by 3 feet.

While other entities, such as the UA Office of Sustainability, the Associated Students of the University of Arizona and the UA Department of Soil, Water and Environmental Science are involved, Students for Sustainability headed the project.

“As far as the management aspect of it, we want this to be very student-run, very student oriented,” said Sofia Montes, a fall 2011 graduate in crop production and former co-project manager of the Garden in the Desert project. “So it’s been mostly just a lot of student volunteer work.”

But despite the project’s independence, collaborations with colleges and other departments are a possibility.

“We haven’t really established a solid partnership with very many people besides ASUA and Students for Sustainability,” Montes added. “But that’s definitely a future goal. We want to have classes taught here as well.”

Given the department in charge of the project, it’s no surprise that sustainability is a primary consideration. The garden’s irrigation system runs on a solar-powered timer, and will run at night to minimize water evaporation. Additionally, the garden will use compost from the Student Union Memorial Center, a resource that would otherwise be food waste.

“We built it with the idea in mind that it’s going to be as sustainable as it can be and we’re going to do everything to mitigate the amount of resources that we’re using for it,” said Natalie Lucas, executive program director of Students for Sustainability.

According to Lucas, the project is already sustainable by nature. Keeping food local reduces the carbon emissions it takes to transport food from other locations. But the sustainability efforts are never-ending, and there are still more plans to make the project even greener.

The installation of a rainwater-harvesting cistern on the Highland Avenue Parking Garage to make water usage more efficient is also a potential addition, as well as using 100 percent recycled materials to market the project.

According to Chet Phillips, a graduate assistant for sustainability and one of the Garden in the Desert’s project coordinators, funding for the project came from various sources, primarily from the UA Green Fund. The fund, initially approved in March of 2010, accumulates about $400,000 each year from tuition and fees, which it then uses to fund projects that enhance the UA’s sustainability efforts, like the UA Community Garden.

Phillips said that members of the project don’t intend to remain dependent on the Green Fund forever, and will also apply for other local and community grants in the future.

Phillips also said that the garden complements the UA’s reputation as a research institution, and student research involvement is a definite possibility. The potential future installation of the rainwater-harvesting cistern has already caught the attention of researchers in the soil, water and environmental science department, where researchers are interested in studying how crop production may differ with the use of rainwater versus irrigated water.

“That’s the kind of baseline research that we need to know — whether harvested rainwater could be a source food production into the future,” Phillips said. “That’s an actual research grant that we’re working on right now. That would be research that would involve faculty in the soil, water and environmental science department and students involved in the garden.”

While there are many perks to having a garden on campus that anyone can use, many have agreed that the UA Community Garden’s main goal is to bring the university and the surrounding community together.

“That’s really the biggest point of this garden,” Lucas added. “It makes people think a little bit more about where their food is coming from and how it can impact them. This is a way to connect people in the city to something that is very simple and of essence.”

Originally posted at The Daily Wildcat

It was all about a lot of discoveries and revelations for some of the budding scientists of the city. Veteran scientists told these youngsters to take science as part of their lives rather than something they need to rote.

From anthropology to the various earth sciences, from the realms of space to the depths beneath the surface of the earth, the research work undertaken by these institutes was placed before visitors on the first day of the three-day science expo organized at Raman Science Centre (RSC). SR Wate, director of National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), asked the children to not only learn something but also assess the work being done by the scientific community of the city.

The students also did not miss any opportunity to quench their thirst for knowledge and information, bogging down the researchers by various questions. The scientists patiently answered the queries to the best of their ability. “Curiosity is what goes into the making of a scientist. So it feels especially good to be asked all sorts of questions by these children,” said Shampa Gangopadhyay, a research associate at the Anthropological Survey of India.

The students heeded the message of the scientists and also had a firsthand experience of how science can be interesting. While many of them flocked to the stall of Regional Remote Sensing Centre to see the exhibits of the space paraphernalia on display, some schoolboys got the water in their bottles tested to assess its quality. “I have learnt today that science is nothing to be scared of. It is not a difficult subject once one understands the basics,” said Shilpa Gadhwe of standard IX after learning about the concepts explained by scientists at the various booths.

Renowned scientists spoke to students about the pressing issues in their areas of expertise. PS Parihar, director of Atomic Mineral Directorate for Exploration and Research, Hyderabad told children about the concept of energy security and the need to harness greener technologies like nuclear energy for sustained development. Unnikrishnan Nair S from Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre outlined the five decades of man’s space explorations and also gave a peep into the exciting future of the discipline. PK Jain of Central Ground Water Board got the students acquainted with the concept, need and techniques of rainwater harvesting.

Sonal Ochani of class XI said it was a revelation for her that so many organizations of such diverse natures worked in Nagpur. “I see a lot more scope than what I thought the field of science could offer in terms of a career,” she added.

It was not just the students but also the teachers who learnt a few new things about science at the do. While English teacher Jessy Joseph was seen shuttling at various booths seeking information, Shilpa Anerao believed that the experience will help her change the way she teaches science in school.

Originally posted at The Times of India