SF IDSA Digging Deeper Conference

Last Tuesday evening nearly 200 designers, consultants, architects, students, and other industry professionals gathered at the San Francisco Temple Club for an evening of presentations, panel discussion, green design dialogue, and eco-material petting. The event was an after-work conference hosted the the San Francisco IDSA chapter. The conference was titled “Digging Deeper: Building Blocks for Sustainable Design”. The mission of the panel discussion was to dig deeper and stir up the questions less comfortable to approach about sustainability and to discuss how to move forward into the next level of sustainability within design influenced professions. The conversation had a heavy focus on our impact as professionals in the field of design and our responsibility to represent educated sustainable design to our clients. The panel, with representatives from the field of design to life cycle analysis to trendspotting, went as far as to mention our responsibility to reject some product requests from clients if they are deemed unnecessary and to react with options for innovation in a more sustainable direction.

The six person panel was comprised of Ted Howes, panel moderator and Director of Sustainability at IDEO, SF; Travis Lee, Sustainable Engineering Lead at Lunar Design; Alexander Rose, Executive Director of the Long Now Foundation, Joep Meijer, founder of The Right Environment; Fransciose Serralta, Strategic Research and Planning Director at Peclars Paris; Nathan Shedroff, chair of the ground-breaking MBA in Design Strategy at California College of the Arts (CCA) in San Francisco; and finally Dawn Danby, Directory of Sustainability at Autodesk;



As Ecolect, we made our presence by hosting an “eco-materials petting zoo”. We featured 20 chosen materials from the Ecolect website that have unique properties with a leading sustainability performance. The zoo was a hit! We observed people petting, reading, inquiring, and even sharing their newly found material inspiration. The “zoo keepers” were Ecolect Co-founder and President, Joe Gebbia, Materials Correspondent, Elizabeth Redmond (myself), and all-the-way-from-Italy Ecolect intern, Alice Bertola.

Also, presenting and speaking on the panel was Ecolect’s LCA collaborator Joep Meijer of The Right Environment. Joep linked up with the Ecolect team nearly four months ago and is now our primary LCA collaborator on all Ecolect Consulting, through which we are actively working with a fortune 500 toy company to green 4 product lines. Joep is also actively helping us define the framework for our soon to be released Ecolect Eco-Materials Nutrition Label which we shared with many of you attendants.

For those of you who attended last Tuesday and have questions for us, want to share something with us, or simply want to reach out…leave us a comment. For those of you who missed the evening’s event, we hope to be in a town near you in the near future with our travelling eco-materials petting zoo.

China Shooting for “The Green Olympics”?

Just in time for the Summer Olympics, China’s capital is moving forward to improve air quality and help preserve the Earth. This year’s Olympics have been branded as the “Green Olympics” and China has been putting forth new systems, regulations, and buildings to better themselves for the future. One new rule made by the government prohibits fried food to be sold in the farmers’ market by vendors. Cooking fried foods requires the use of coal stoves, which contributes to air pollution. Although this is a great start to reduce the use of coal coming from China, vendors are still cooking with their coal stoves and selling the product but doing so before authorities arrive at 8:00 a.m.

The Beijing government has also been promoting public transportation by improving the systems, introducing incentives, and adding regulations on local vehicles. Two subway lines have been added to Beijing’s original two, and seven more are in construction. Some of these seven will be open in time for the Olympics. Tourists will find it convenient to take the metro directly from the airport to downtown. New bus routes have been added to street transportation, with buses running at more times. Fares have also been significantly lowered, and the government hopes that locals will utilize public transportation rather than driving. In fact, depending on the number of their license plate, local vehicles are allowed on the street every other day. This is to reduce both air pollution and traffic in the city. Beijing also went as far as to inspect every car, giving vehicles that don’t pass the smog test a yellow sticker, preventing it from the streets until September 20. Vehicles coming from other cities will be turned away unless they acquire a “Green Olympic Pass.”

China as a whole is following suit. On June 1, the Chinese State Council prohibited all stores and markets from offering plastic bags for free. This regulation has reduced the use of plastic bags by a whopping 80 percent in department stores and supermarkets and 50 percent in farmers’ markets by the end of June. A department store in Beijing supported this change by offering an exchange program in the month of June, giving out reusable totes to customers that brought in 50 plastic bags. New event specific buildings have been built to support the Games, and one in particular, the Water Cube, is made of lightweight plastic on the exterior, which requires less structural support, and is a better insulator than glass. That saves an estimated 30 percent in energy costs. Other buildings use no-flush toilets, rooftop solar panels, and a rainwater collection system.

Closing the Loop on Plastic Bottle Recycling

For those of us frustrated by the lack of effective plastic recycling (and the notion of sending our waste overseas for someone else to worry about), we should turn our attention to a solution emanating from the U.K.  With the opening in June of their new recycling plant in Essex, England, Closed Loop Recycling has developed a method of capturing, processing and reconstituting otherwise landfill-bound plastic (PET and HDPE) bottles into food-grade material (”flake”), to be resold to manufacturers.  This is no small feat, given the lack of infrastructure and capacity many countries have, for capturing a high enough volume of waste before it gets lost to a landfill, not to mention the remaining lack of consciousness of the need for recycling in the first place.  As if this weren’t enough, Closed Loop Recycling also advises companies, organizations and municipalities on how best to utilize recyclable content within packaging products for future ease-of reuse, and offers services by which to educate people on the benefits of applying closed loop methodologies, from proper collection of waste to eventual reconstitution.

(All images courtesy of Closed Loop Recycling)

It seems that Closed Loop Recycling has come up with a viable closed loop system, so hopefully their example will make waves and spread its way around the world, and particularly to the U.S., a major consumer of bottled water.  Already, a number of U.S. cities have taken on the challenge of reducing and eliminating plastic water bottles, and although some consumers may be complaining, they will probably soon come to see that such efforts are only for their benefit.  As success from Closed Loop Recycling’s experiences become known in coming months, more companies will surely follow suit and start their own closed loop plants, including in the U.S.

For more on the topic of plastic bottles and waste, please visit the following links -

Closed Loop Recycling’s site pages on Technology and Case Studies

Bottlemania

The Great Garbage Patch

NRDC’s On Earth article Global plastic pollution: the scale of the problem

NRDC Bottled Water. Pure Drink or Pure Hype?

Richlite, A Great Eco Material From Hemp and Certified Pulp

Richlite Company has allowed itself to become very versatile with the products they offer, and maintain a range of markets, from industrial and culinary, to recreational.  The company was established in 1943 and is based in Tacoma, Washington.  They first produced sustainable composites for aerospace and industrial markets in the 1950s.  The Boeing Company adapted Richlite’s material for tooling purposes, as did the marine industry for boat building materials.  In fact, Boston Whaler uses the same building material for their boats today.  In the 1960s, commercial kitchens began using cutting boards and baking surfaces from Richlite, which offer sanitary and low maintenance qualities that others do not.  Today, Pizza Hut utilizes Richlite’s services for their facilities.

In the 1990s, Richlite ventured out into the skateboarding realm with their product called Skatelite, a ramp surface that uses the same material as the boating and kitchen material - top skate parks and professional BMX riders and skateboarders use it.  The materials used to make Richlite’s products are sustainable., consisting of pulp that comes from certified managed forests in North America.  The company is the first to offer hemp-based countertops.  As well as offering sustainable products, Richlite also donates supplies to Habitat for Humanity, and any paper that is left over from manufacturing is given to school districts in the State of Washington.

Richlite

Superior Dairy Brings Back the Flattop

(Image courtesy of the New York Times)

The common milk jug has been in the marketplace for quite a while, so it’s not surprising that its redesign would cause some reservations among consumers, but Canton, Ohio-based Superior Dairy and its offshoot Design Edge, felt the need to take the task on nonetheless.  Working in the company founded by his ancestors five generations ago, Greg Soehnlen redesigned the jug by extending the flat sides upward, flattening the top, and moving the pour spout to the corner opposite the handle.  These refinements have eliminated the need for plastic crates for storage and transportation, as the new jugs may be stacked on top of one another with shrinkwrapped cardboard bands (all to be recycled afterwards) in between, which has had the added benefits that water is no longer needed for cleaning crates, labor is reduced, and more milk may be delivered by each truck (4.5 gallons/cubic foot instead of 3) in a much shorter time frame.  In fact, Superior claims that they have cut overall water use by up to 70%, and due to the jug’s efficiency, can make less delivery trips to retail locations, and thus reduce fuel consumption.

In spite of some complaints that one has to learn a new way to pour from these jugs due to the different spout, Superior’s jug may be taking hold, having been sold at Sam’s Club in limited quantities for some time already, and poised for wider distribution at Wal-Mart and beyond - who knows, it might even show up at your local supermarket sooner than you think, considering the direct correlation it has with lower fuel consumption.  Examples like this make clear that as resources become more scarce and skyrocket in value, manufacturers and retailers will be forced to develop smarter solutions to packaging, and pass along the sustainable and cost benefits to their well-informed consumers.  As Sustainable Packaging Coalition director, Anne Johnson suggests, “What are the materials we are using? How are we using them? And where do they go ultimately?” will be some common questions that we will get used to asking in the years to come.

Sustainable Packaging Coalition

Give Wood a Second Chance

(All images courtesy of Trestlewood.com)

Using reclaimed wood has its benefits.  For one, it’s a good contribution to green building.  Rather than cutting down trees to get the needed wood, reusing wood is just as good if not better.  Another key benefit is the wood’s history of origin, as knowing the wood came from a source with a history adds depth and value to a project, and often makes it a centerpiece and conversation starter for years to come.  These benefits along with others, are attractive selling points for companies who have invested in reclaiming wood.  Trestlewood, a wood salvaging company based in Utah, gets its wood from a part of U.S. history, and its story is really quite remarkable.  It all started in the early 1900s, with the completion of the country’s first transcontinental railroad.  The Southern Pacific conquered another feat as well, the Great Salt Lake with the Lucin Cutoff.  The construction for the Cutoff took two years, thousands of men, large amounts of equipment, miles of wooden trestles, and millions of board feet of timber.  The Lucin Cutoff was in service until the 1960s, when it was replaced by a causeway, by which time the trestle contained over 38,000 piles.  In 1993, Cannon Structures, Inc. established its Trestlewood Division when they obtained salvage rights to the trestle from the old Lucin Cutoff, and thus, a business was born.

Salvage of the Douglas Fir timbers, Redwood decking, and Douglas Fir piling took more than seven years to bring to shore.  Poles as long as 100 feet were carried over by a barge, some weighing more than 4,000 pounds.  Trestlewood maintained a desire to handle all salvaged wood cautiously, in order to preserve its value. Once on shore, some re-manufacturing was required, for example, any metal that may have still been in the wood was removed.  Most of the wood had been affected greatly by the Great Salt Lake, in that they were soaked to the core with salt water, which gave the final product a unique coloring.  These factors and more, make Trestlewood’s products different from others on the market, and they have been very active in identifying a market to fit the wood from the trestle.  Trestlewood is a small family-owned business based in Utah, and they are conservative with their budget and stand by their products, which have unique characteristics like no other.  The company believes in creating good relationships with their customers, and would rather see a customer happy than make a sale.  Currently, their products are being derived from the Douglas Fir piling, called Trestlewood II, with selections ranging from flooring, building lumber and timbers, to special products like fireplace mantels.

Trestlewood

Stormy Days Ahead for Biofuels?

As if the current challenges related to biofuels (use of food crop, questions about genetic modification, to name a few) weren’t enough, according to many energy industry experts, academics, and climatologists, unpredictable and severe weather trends such as greater incidence of powerful storms, flooding, drought, etc, could restrain the potential growth of the biofuels market - recent storms in the Midwestern U.S. which have damaged a great deal of corn crop are but one prescient example. This threat to today’s biocrops (corn, potatoes, sugarcane, etc) is made plain by the fact that due to scale of production, for the most part the crops must be grown outdoors, and shows how delicate a growing dependence on cropland will be as biofuels gain market share (ethanol is currently at 6%, but expected to rise above 20% in coming years). Put simply, ethanol expert John M. Reilly, senior lecturer at MIT, states that “we are holding ourselves hostage to the weather.”

Although not to be taken lightly, this challenge simply provides further indication of what we already know, that we must develop feasibly sustainable alternatives to weather-dependent (and resource-depleting) sources for our fuel, and do so sooner than later. And aside from the need to develop sources and methods of production which are not dependent on the unpredictable weather that lies ahead, we must rapidly make affordable super-efficient vehicles the market standard. Only then will the world be able to accommodate the increasing demand for more fuel efficient cars and trucks, and more accessible and widespread public transportation.  As oil prices increase, the calls for these alternatives will only become louder, so it’s important to act while we still have time.

Cambridge Energy Associates

USDA

Renewable Fuels Association

DOE’s Energy Information Association

Ford to Generate Electricity…from Paint!

If ever there was a time to stand in awe of the world of science, it is now, in this burgeoning age of clean tech geniuses coming up with fascinating (if not mind-blowing) solutions to the energy and environmental challenges with which we’re faced.  One such remarkable solution is being launched by U.S. automaker Ford, whose own team of such geniuses have come up with a method of harnessing the electricity-generating potential of VOC’s in autobody paint.  To be launched at their Oakville, Ontario plant, the process called Fumes-to-Fuel involves the sequestration of VOC’s in a 2,000 gallon vat of carbon beads, where they are absorbed.  The carbon beads are then processed themselves, to release the VOC’s for conversion into fuel for a 300 KW fuel cell that will power the plant itself.  According to Ford, the electricity generated by the fuel cell is enough to power about 150 homes, and the process will result in an 88% reduction of carbon dioxide and elimination of nitrogen oxide, two negative aspects inherent in autobody painting.

By utilizing VOC’s for good, Ford has set the stage for other automakers to take up a similarly progressive clean tech mantle.  Reducing noxious gases and CO2 within their plants, and converting paint fumes to power their own facilities, are no small feats, however the automaker still must strive to quickly develop super-efficient vehicles in the same progressive vein.  In fact, it must do so to survive, as Japanese and German (VW and BMW) automakers are already making strides in alternative fuels and fuel efficiency.  Nonetheless, Ford’s Fumes-to-Fuel program is surely a sign of things to come, as more and more companies push the envelope, and emerge with the right solutions to our energy dependent world.

Ford

Ford’s media announcement on Fumes-to-Fuel program