French Duo Work On The 'Air Car'

At everGREEN landscape architects, we are committed to the environment and alternative, clean sustainable sources of energy.

Currently, we are driving biodeisel powered vehicles. Our next car hopes to be the Air Car - compressed air made possible by solar panels... and zero emissions! Cost? $2 for every 120 miles.

At their factory in Nice, France, father-and-son team Guy and Cyril Negre insist air power is no joke. Their track record? Guy designed a landmark Formula 1 engine, and Cyril has worked for Bugatti.

UCLA is also studying this air technology.

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Auburn University: Green Roof

When Dean Anna Gramberg of the College of Liberal Arts was recently approached with a request to fund a speaker on the environment, she countered with a call for action instead of talk. The result was the student-led Auburn Sustainability Action Project which gave Auburn University’s Haley Center an environmentally-friendly cover of potted plants. The area is now known as the Green Roof.

Gramberg approached Lindy Biggs, AU professor of history and director of the Auburn Sustainability Initiative, with an offer to fund a project that students could get involved in and would improve the environment.
Biggs’s idea was a sustainability class for a small group of students chosen through an application process who would receive internship credit for the class. Gramberg approved the proposal and out of the 40 students who applied, 14 were accepted.

A team of students in the sustainability class designed the Green Roof, which is made up of rows of specially potted native plants that will provide environmental benefits such as reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide and controlling stormwater runoff and sewage.

“The average roof reaches temperatures of more than 120 degrees, while plants never become warmer than 80 degrees. So by insulating the roof with plants, you are effectively cutting down on energy costs,” said Biggs. “The plants will absorb significant amounts of water and prevent polluted runoff from going into the drains and sewage systems,” said Valerie Grupp, a political science major who worked as an intern with the Auburn Sustainability Initiative.

More information on the Auburn Green Roof Project

Salt Lake Goes LEED

Salt Lake City, Utah, may soon be known for its green buildings. Developers funded by city money will be required to erect buildings certified by the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED program, city council members decided unanimously on Nov. 7. The new ordinance is "a tremendous first step toward encouraging in every way possible greater efficiency in design and material used for buildings in our community," said Mayor Rocky Anderson. This summer, Anderson issued an executive order mandating that municipal buildings meet the LEED silver standard; the city hopes to move toward providing incentives to all developers, city-funded or not, to build LEED-certified buildings.

The ordinance doesn't yet affect the city's Redevelopment Agency or library projects. Nor does it apply to single-family homes, though the U.S. Green Building Council is working on residential standards, and the City Council has shown interest in adopting them before the city's undeveloped northwest quadrant starts to grow. The city is in the midst of creating a master plan for the quadrant.

Under the ordinance, developers and the city have to meet the standards if the new or renovated buildings are larger than 10,000 square feet. The city will grant waivers if the buildings are temporary, serve a limited function or when LEED standards prove to be impractical. But if developers agree to meet LEED standards and don't, they will forfeit a $10,000 "good faith" deposit and may have to repay some or all city funds.

We, at NWA, applaude Salt Lake City's progressive new policy to only fund sustainable construction.

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Consumer Role in Sustaining Fish Stocks

A new study by the environmental research organization Worldwatch has found that consumers are playing an increasingly large role in dictating the terms of how fish and other seafood are harvested around the world. Brian Halweil, who wrote “Catch of the Day: Choosing Seafood for Healthier Oceans” for Worldwatch, reports that seafood eaters have become an unlikely ally to the world’s beleaguered fish populations.

“Today, most of the world’s seafood, from tuna to salmon to bay scallops, is threatened with extinction,” says Halweil. With industrial scale fishing having wiped out roughly 90 percent of tuna, marlin, swordfish and other large predatory fish in just the last 50 years, and United Nations surveys indicating that about two-thirds of the world’s major fish stocks are on the verge of collapse, Halweil says the key to staving off the elimination of a seafood industry entirely is in the hands of consumers. “A public that better understands the state of the world’s oceans can be a driving force in helping governments pass legislation to ban destructive fishing, mandate fishing labels that indicate how fish were caught and create marine preserves off-limits to fishing where fish can spawn.”

As Landscape Architects, NWA understands the role that our construction industry has on the world's oceans. For our efforts at sustainability, NWA was awarded the 2006 Santa Barbara County "Green Award". We are making a difference and we urge you to also, for the future.

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U.N. Environmental Programme Launches Ambitious Billion Tree Campaign

Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize winner and founder of Kenya’s acclaimed Greenbelt Movement, last week announced the launch of a new initiative by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) calling on concerned individuals, community groups, schools, businesses and governments around the world to work toward achieving the collective goal of planting one billion trees during 2007 to combat global warming.

"This is something that anybody can do," Maathai told delegates to a United Nations conference on climate change taking place in Kenya. The conference, which has drawn delegates from more than 100 countries, was convened to help come up with new solutions to the onslaught of global warming. Maathai reported that tree planting is much more than a symbolic act, since trees absorb carbon dioxide that could otherwise end up in the atmosphere, where it contributes to global warming. By participating in the campaign, she said, people can be part of the solution.

Individuals and groups can participate in the tree planting campaign by signing up on UNEP’s new Billion Tree Campaign website and registering the trees they plant during the 2007 calendar year. UNEP will provide a running tally of the results online while it coordinates specific tree planting efforts in different countries around the world.

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All Marine Species in Danger of Population Collapse by 2048

If current trends in over-fishing and habitat destruction continue, all marine species, including all of the world's fish and seafood, will collapse by the year 2048, according to research published in the current edition of the Journal of Science. By analyzing scientific data as far back as the 1960's and historical records that go back over a thousand years, researchers found that marine bio diversity -- the variety of ocean fish, shellfish, plants, birds and micro-organisms -- has significantly declined. Over 29% of the world's ocean species are already in collapse -- that is, the species' populations have decreased by 90% or more from normal levels.
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At everGREEN landscape architects, we are always mindful of our impact upon the ocean in every decision we make. Not just architects, we are stewards of the environment and our environmental efforts were recently recognized by being awarded the SB County "Green Award" for our committment to sustainability in our design and our everyday business practices.

New Technology Turns Food Leftovers Into Electricity, Vehicle Fuels

(October 24, 2006)

Starting today, tons of table scraps from the Bay Area's finest restaurants will be turned into clean, renewable energy at a new UC Davis research and technology demonstration facility.

The Biogas Energy Project will process eight tons of leftovers weekly (and later as much as eight tons daily) from premier restaurants such as San Francisco's Slanted Door, Jardiniere, Scoma's, Boulevard and Zuni Café, and Oakland's Oliveto and Scott's Seafood.

If all goes well, each ton of broccoli spears, cantaloupe rinds and fish bones will produce enough energy to provide electricity to power 10 average California homes for one day.

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