Green Roof Industry Helps Atlanta Fight Summer Temps
Green roofs are spreading across Atlanta’s urban landscape.
How to Green a Burrito or Fresh-Mex Restaurant: Top 10 Sustainable Strategies
Want to green your Fresh-Mex or burrito place? There are some sustainable strategies unique to both restaurants in general and those which serve cuisine like burritos, tacos, and nachos. Here are the top 10: Organi-fy your staples. Beans and rice are a staple on most Mexican/Fresh-Mex menus, and represent the grand majority of the calories you’ll be delivering. The great news is that this is an easy thing to get organic without breaking the bank. At our local food co-op,…
This Nonprofit Provides Free Energy Audits for Small Businesses
One way for small businesses to green up their operations can be through choosing a renewable energy source, whether it’s a rooftop solar installation or the purchase of clean energy through their local utility. However, a much lower hanging fruit for small business sustainability initiatives, and one that can have a big positive effect on the bottom line as well, is reducing the energy demand of the business. Of course, improved energy efficiency doesn’t sound nearly as exciting as getting…
Top Tips to Increase the Energy Efficiency of Your Office Building
We live in an era where sources of non-renewable energy are fast depleting. However, thanks to the evolving technology, renewable energy sources are being tapped as potent alternatives that will, hopefully, continue to support the demand for energy in the future. Meanwhile, it is up to us to conserve power for our own benefit in the short as well as the long term. Various measures to increase energy efficiency in homes and offices are already being put into place. A…
Green Buildings Help Small Businesses Save Money
Investing a little more money upfront in your buildings and facilities in order to incorporate green building technologies and techniques can end up putting more money back in the small business owner’s pockets. Buildings that are energy and water efficient help to cut down the impacts on resources held in common (our air and water quality, for example) and reduce waste and pollution, both of which may also come with price to business owners, so green buildings can be a…
Green Building Material: High-Tech Fiberboard Made from Waste Fibers
There’s a new green building material on the market that is light, strong, and flexible, and can be made into just about any shape, including complex molded shapes, without the need for any glues, harmful chemicals, or toxic ingredients. This material, ECOR, is made using only water, heat, fiber, and pressure, and takes a low-value product (waste fiber) and turns it into a high-value green building material. At its most basic, ECOR, from Noble Environmental, is a corrugated panel that…
Cradle to Cradle Now Offers Standalone Material Health Certificates
In a move that may enable more manufacturers to begin seeking Cradle to Cradle Certified status for their products, the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute is now offering a standalone Material Health Certificate, which can help companies begin to work toward more transparency in their supply chains. As more and more consumers start to pay closer attention to the materials and processes involved in manufacturing their favorite products, as well as when considering a new product, the more information…
Net-Zero Is the Holy Grail of Commercial Green Buildings
It wasn’t that long ago that the term ‘green building’ was seen as something extra you did or tried to incorporate into construction in order to greenwash it or give it a ‘touchy-feely’ green aspect for marketing purposes. Because the general public doesn’t have a good grasp on what a green building truly is, I think that has made the issue a bit of a hard-sell for some people, until they “do the math” and find out that green buildings…
Independence LED Lighting Launches $10 Million “Energy Independence Day” Program
Instead of buying fireworks and red, white, and blue party favors, one American LED lighting company is honoring the 4th of July by celebrating a different kind of independence. The Energy Independence Day program, from Independence LED Lighting, could be worth up to $10,000 in savings for each business that participates. The energy and cost savings that businesses can achieve by switching over to LED lighting can be quite significant (over 50% in many cases), but because LED lighting technology…