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Based in Portland, Oregon, Stardust Glass is offering recycled glass tiles with a hip style. The company is owned and run by artists Megan and Jason Coleman. Their mission is to protect the earth's resources by creating tiles from 87%-100% recycled glass while producing completely hand-made, boutique-style pieces.
So here's the deal. The Harbinger SG Blocks Showhouse was bad out. Everyone I talked to loved it. You might think that a shipping container home would feel closed-in and constrictive, but this home certainly wasn't. At 1700 sf, everything felt just right to me. I was able to sneak into the Exhibit Hall early enough to get some killer images (in case you couldn't be there), so let's talk a walk through the Harbinger House below.
I really enjoyed West Coast Green. After spending several hours helping with the Innovation Pipeline, promoting the conference through our website, and flying down to participate as a second-year media sponsor, I'm certainly happy I was able to hang out on the exhibit floor and view the Harbinger house. I met some very nice people and left with the feeling that the best and brightest are hard at work trying to market products that can help everyone live healthy, sustainable, and comfortable lives. Although you may have seen a few of these companies previously, they all caught my eye. They're all very cool.
Mounting on the green building success of their previous stores, including the green Boulder REI we wrote about previously, REI today opens the doors to its second generation of green prototype store in Round Rock, Texas. The Texas store is projected to consume 48% less energy than a typical store and generate a portion of its power from a solar panel installation, building integrated photovoltaics, and a solar hot water system. After that, Round Rock will rely on Solatubes to displace a portion of articifial lighting and the purchase of green power generated from biomass digesters.
Okay, I'll admit it, I have a slight interest in container housing and am intrigued by the possibility of reusing containers for, among other things, affordable housing. This weekend, I'll be bringing you news of a pretty high-end container home, but these homes are equally important at the opposite end of the economic spectrum. Here's the story: A handful of entrepreneurs nurtured a graduate school business plan into an actual company called PFNC Global Communities. The acronym stands for "por fin, nuestra casa," which is translated as "finally, a home of our own." PFNC's purpose is to convert shipping containers into affordable housing for those who most desperately need it around the globe.
Google has just announced a new project: Project 10^100 (pronounced "Project 10 to the 100th"), which is a global call for ideas to change the world by helping as many people as possible. Here's how it works. You submit your idea by October 20th. Google will cull through everything and post 100 ideas. Starting on January 27, 2009, the world starts voting on those to choose 20 semi-finalists. From there, an advisory board will choose 5 finalists. Then, Google will spend at least $10 M implementing those final 5 ideas.
A few months ago, I became interested in Samsø after reading Elizabeth Kolbert's column in The New Yorker entitled The Island in the Wind. With news of this Danish Paradise chilling out in the recesses of my mind, just this week, I noticed a photo essay of Samsø in The Guardian with pictures from Nicky Bonne. What's interesting about Samsø is that it's a producer of energy -- the entire island produces more energy from renewables than it uses. They sell the rest and have been doing so since 2003. Which makes me wonder, how did they get to this point?
Weatherford Place is a small community of eight town and country homes in Roswell, Georgia. It's seeking LEED for Homes Platinum certification on all homes, as well as Platinum certification for the community under the LEED for Neighborhood Development Pilot Program -- a goal that could make it one of the first all Platinum communities in the county. But beyond certification, Weatherford Place homes will be 100% more energy efficient than typical houses and 50% more energy efficient than houses built to the 2006 Energy Code.
We're very much intrigued by the white paper released yesterday by Michelle Kaufmann Companies. Officially entitled "Nutrition Labels for Homes: A Way for Homebuyers to Make More Ecological, Economical Decisions," the white paper presents the case for a universal label for homes. Note that last sentence, though. This isn't a label for just green homes, it's a label for all homes. It's a universal label to educate people on a home's sustainability (or unsustainability) profile. Every home gets a label -- you can imagine the power this gives buyers and green home sellers.
