INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
William McDonough + Partners and GXN — an internal division of Danish architectural practice 3XN that works with applied architectural research in green materials and building technologies — have partnered to develop a master plan for the Agro Food Park (AFP) near Aarhus, Denmark. The project aims to create a geographic hub for agricultural innovation; AFP will incorporate the benefits of urban density with the proximity of agricultural test fields in an open campus where academic and commercial businesses can collaborate, grow and prosper.
PRESS RELEASE -
Toyota Donates $1 Million to Help Fund New Yellowstone Youth CampusCampus Will Be First Regenerative Campus of Living Buildings in a National Park
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK (Aug.
PRESS RELEASE -
The famed central strip of Las Vegas has often been called the ‘brightest spot on earth’ because of its powerful neon lights. However, the city has been working to reduce its environmental footprint, with many of the neon lights being replaced by LED screens, and its hotels and casinos increasingly adopting sustainable solutions to improve their energy and water use efficiency.
Caesars Entertainment, one of the city’s largest gaming businesses, has revamped its commitment to sustainability, and aligned its targets to eight of the 17 U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The company has highlighted its “CodeGreen” environmental performance in its latest corporate sustainability report.
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
Two products have earned unprecedented recognition from the Cradle to Cradle Certified™ Products Program, raising the bar for building materials. This week, the program awarded its first-ever Platinum-level certification and named the first homogenous flooring product to earn Gold-level certification.
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
This week, SolarWindow Technologies, Inc. announced an ‘invisible’ system for transporting electricity within the company’s transparent organic coatings, which are applied in thin layers onto glass surfaces. The SolarWindow™ Intra-Connection System moves electricity generated in the coating to ‘invisible wires,’ which in turn transport electricity to the edge of the glass and connect to building electrical systems.
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
In an effort to expand quality solar home system solutions to the 2.3 billion people worldwide without reliable access to power, d.light - a manufacturer and distributor of solar lighting and power products providing access to reliable, affordable, renewable energy for people in the developing world - is licensing its pay-as-you-go financing technology to partners and distributors around the world. d.light is the market leader in solar lighting and home system solutions in the developing world, as well as one of the early pioneers of the PayGo model.
PRESS RELEASE -
Twenty two years ago, Ray Anderson - founder of Interface, one of the world's largest manufacturers of carpet tiles - had something of an epiphany.
A customer had for the first time asked the firm what it was doing for the environment - and he realised he didn't have an answer. "No one had ever asked us that before, and we were not doing anything, in fact we were doing everything the wrong way," Erin Meezan, Interface's global vice-president of sustainability, tells BusinessGreen.
PRESS RELEASE -
Specialty outdoor retailer REI has completed a 2.2 megawatt rooftop solar installation at its new distribution center in Goodyear which is expected to offset 100 percent of the facility’s annual electricity consumption.
The project was completed in conjunction with Blue Oak Energy, which has worked on numerous other solar installations for REI facilities.
“REI’s ambitious net-zero energy distribution center is a landmark project and houses one of the largest rooftop solar arrays in Arizona,” Kirk Meyers, sustainability manager at REI said. “We are thrilled to continue our relationship with the Blue Oak Energy team. Their ongoing partnership is representative of what it takes to complete complex energy projects like this.”
PRESS RELEASE -
POWER PLAY
Toyota’s New Plano Campus Drafts Impressive Energy & Environmental Line Up
ORGANIZATIONAL GOVERNANCE -
In 1997, biologist Janine Benyus popularized the term “biomimicry,” with her groundbreaking book of the same name, and spearheaded the growth of the discipline dedicated to applying Nature’s designs and processes to create a healthier, more sustainable world. I recently spoke with Janine about some of her favorite biomimetic innovations, about asking more from our design interventions, and some of the yet untapped areas in which Nature’s genius could help solve our most intractable problems.
COLLABORATION & CO-CREATION -
Between gridlock on bridges, freeways and surface streets and a frustrating dearth of adequate (or affordable) parketing options, anyone who’s ever lived in or around San Francisco can vouch for the fact that having a car is often more of a pain than a plus.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY -
The construction industry has been slower than most to adopt technological innovations, which has stagnated the sector’s labor productivity in the United States and elsewhere in the last 40 years. At the same time, the construction industry is the world’s largest consumer of raw materials, yet only a fraction of its waste gets recycled. According to a new report from the World Economic Forum (WEF), these factors coupled with the industry’s size and weight make construction ripe for disruptive transformation that could have profound benefits for the world.
COLLABORATION & CO-CREATION -
More than half of the world’s population currently lives in cities and this is expected to reach 66 percent by 2050, according to the United Nations, when 2.5 billion people will be added to urban populations — with close to 90 percent of the increase concentrated in Asia and Africa.
In the fight against climate change, cities represent the greatest challenge and opportunity — while they generate a vast majority (70 percent) of global greenhouse gas emissions, those who live in them actually have smaller carbon footprints than the national averages.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY -
Ethical Markets Media has revealed a stunning new total for its Green Transition Scoreboard® (GTS), a metric that tracks private investments and commitments in creating more sustainable economies globally, showing the weight investors place on clean technologies driving the future of business and finance. The GTS’ goal is to see $10 trillion privately invested in the clean economy by 2020 to effectively scale innovations and reduce costs in sustainable technologies.
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
Telecommunications firm Vodafone and Philips Lighting announced a new partnership earlier this month that will focus on smart street lighting systems.
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
British multinational grocer and retailer Tesco sourced 100 percent of its own brand Easter eggs from programs that promote responsible cocoa, and teamed up with LEGO to offer a special limited edition toy created as a healthy alternative present to chocolate eggs.
PRESS RELEASE -
A successful seven-year collaboration between EarthCheck, the world’s leading scientific benchmarking, certification and advisory group, and properties in the Carlson Rezidor Asia Pacific portfolio has achieved US$6.9 million in savings and an overall environmental footprint reduction of 23 per cent.
Today, eight of the group’s properties including its Singapore-based Asia Pacific headquarters have been awarded EarthCheck Gold Certification, and a further eighteen properties have been awarded Silver Certification.
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
A new collaboration between Cree Inc. and Cisco Technology, Inc. enables light-emitting diode (LED) lighting to be connected through the internet and customized for each building to create more productive spaces while saving energy and
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
This week, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) launched the “Better Buildings Challenge SWAP,” a three-episode web-based reality series in which Hilton Worldwide and Whole Foods Market swap energy-management teams at their facilities in San Francisco.As part of the SWAP, each team identified innovative ways to save energy in Hilton San Francisco Union Square, a 1.8 million sq. foot hotel and Whole Foods Ocean Avenue, a 25,600 sq. foot grocery store. See episode one, below:
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
As sustainable business enters the mainstream, there is a growing need for a skilled labor force that can meet the needs of socially and environmentally focused firms. The rate of growth for jobs with “environmental compliance” as a keyword has increased by 24 percent since 2010, while jobs focusing on “energy efficiency” have grown by 500 percent since 2009, according to data from job search engine SimplyHired.com, compiled by Coyne College.