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But It's Delicious!
Remember when you were a kid and your Mom told you to do something "just because I said so." Didn't that make you not want to do it? But when she said "if you do it, I'll get you some ice cream!" you were much more motivated, weren't you?
Don't tell me what to do; instead, make it worth my while to do the right thing - and then I'll probably do it.
There was an interesting post a few days ago on the Consilience blog about around the country:
Smokestacks (image by shoothead, CC 2.0 licensed)
Some good news from China this week, and a blueprint for addressing the huge amount of energy used, and GHG's generated, by the built environment:
2009 AIA Convention Registration, Moscone Center, SF (image by F.J., CC 2.0 licensed)
I got my first issue of a few days ago (a gift subscription from my daughter - well done Julia!) and it's filled with good stuff.
One of the many fun features is a page on "GreenSource Top AIA Convention Picks" - referring to the convention which was held last week in San Francisco. They list twelve sessions, from the dozens on the program, that they think would be of the most interest to their readers. Well, even though I live in the Bay Area, I missed the convention, but on the AIA convention site I found they have handouts from many of the sessions, including a number that GreenSource recommended.
Links
I surf across hundreds of articles a week as I learn more and more about green building, energy efficiency, and climate change. Most are interesting, but a few become touchstones that I end up talking about with others, and returning to again and again. Some candidates for that status that I found in the last week are below:
The "Hammer Man" kinetic sculpture at the Frankfurt Conference Center
On Thursday 23 April (tomorrow as I write this) I will be giving a brief talk about passive houses and my recent visit to the 13th International Passive House Conference in Frankfurt last week. The talk will be in San Francisco at the Prana Restaurant on Howard St., starting at 7pm.
[I] will provide a report on the 13th International Passive House Conference... This is the premier conference on passive homes, homes so energy-efficient that they don't require a furnace or air conditioner to keep their occupants comfortable.
Menlo Park City Council Chambers Sign
I went to the Menlo Park City Council meeting last night to provide an in-person comment on their draft. The draft has been circulating for comments for a few months and last night was the presentation of the comments from council staff to the council. As you may recall, my friend architect Matt Harris and I provided a comment on the CAP.
A school in Reidberg, Germany, built using the passive house approach
I got back yesterday from the in Frankfurt, Germany. My biggest takeaways from the conference are:
I'm writing this here at San Francisco International while I wait for my flight to Frankfurt. I'll be attending the this weekend. I'm expecting to meet lots of interesting people, see all kinds of energy efficiency components like windows, doors, and heat recovery ventilators, and learn a lot more about how building to the Passive House standard is going to help California and U.S. achieve energy independence.
Some of my goals include:
A mythical character (image by Eddi 07, CC 2.0 licensed)
A handful of good articles from the past few weeks, on climate change and sustainable building.
Commercial Buildings Need To Be Green, Too
The National Real Estate Investor recently that local governments are starting to mandate. Of course, LEED led the list, along with the new ANSI National Green Building Standard, GBI 01-200XP from the , expected this summer, and "" a commercial building green standard under development by a consortium including ASHRAE and the (creator of the LEED standards).
