I'm was in Jerusalem attending the Israeli Presidential Conference 2009: Facing Tomorrow. It was very exciting to see the path-breaking new technologies coming out here in energy, water and information management.
Abundant in nature's flows of sunlight and poor in nature's stocks of fossil fuels and flow of water, if ever there was a country where green building should be flourishing, it's here.
Yet, Israel is a study in contrasts: On one hand, it has required solar water heating on new buildings for over 25 years -- 90 percent of homes have solar hot water -- and basic water-saving fixtures are commonplace. On the other hand, it wasn't until 2009 that anything resembling a comprehensive approach to codifying the reduction of building energy consumption was finally approved and I've yet to see a waterless urinal in my admittedly limited time here.
So it's got me thinking: What does it take to get people off the stick to implement sustainability in buildings?
Information (including true eco-nomic pricing of finite resources) is clearly one very important element. The good news is that decent information on building performance is becoming more readily available on a timely basis.
Now the challenge is to do something with it.
On the policy front, best practices website put together by Green Cities California (GreenCitiesCalifornia.org) is a great example of this. Although somewhat misleadingly grouped under “Urban Design,” the website features the ordinances, requirements and promotional materials developed to implement several very successful municipal green building programs.
To the bottom 10 states in ACEEE's new state scorecard on energy efficiency policies: Take note.
With nearly $1 trillion of water infrastructure upgrades estimated to be required over the next decade to maintain the safe delivery of drinking water and treatment of sewage, the EPA WaterSense label is quite welcome, though arguably long overdue.
So, what took 'em so long?
Well, water is at best a quasi-market public good, so it will never be priced commensurate with its value. The concept of a “lifeline” tariff for basic, efficient water consumption, followed by steeply inclining rates for higher use, by and large seems to have eluded regulators. So, we will continue to flush our toilets with drinking water in the desert and other fractally-stupid building practices . . . until we can't.
In another what-took-'em-so-long? effort, GreenBiz.com Managing Editor Matthew Wheeland writes about a new University of Manchester European research effort (air travel in the U.S. is all hunky-dory, thank you) to determine whether modern IT methods can help improve the efficiency of airport operations in everything from airplane takeoff schedules to baggage handling. Hmmm . . . ya think?
While they're at it, they ought to check out this really cool hybrid magnetic brake/drive system being developed by Delos Aerospace, which employs the same principles of dynamic braking used by hybrid cars to use the momentum of the plane to generate braking power, as well as allows the plane to drive itself around the airport using on-board electric motors, saving tons of fuel and emissions (literally) and improving gate turnover because the plane's not waiting for those funky lead-filled push-back thingies.
The Look-Grandpa-I-picked-up-the-$20-bill-you-said-was-fake-but-it's-real! award goes to Dell and Chipotle restaurants for their comprehensive sustainability efforts -- including lots of new PV capacity. Dell's sustainability efforts will save them nearly $6 million per year.
Rob Watson is the executive editor of GreenerBuildings.com. You can reach Rob at rob.watson@greenerworldmedia.com or follow him on Twitter @KilrWat
Image above CC licensed by Flickr user Just Being Myself
Vertical image for index CC licensed by Flickr user Urville Djasim