Discount For Cleantech Open On Wednesday, November 17!

Tomorrow is the Cleantech Open in San Jose, and for those of you who have made it there in the past, you know it’s an exciting event for anyone interested in the latest in clean technology.  Below is a communication from the organizers with a discount code for registration – check it out!

* Expo from 12pm to 2pm – showcasing technologies from throughout the United States and 16 other countries
* Awards Gala from 2:30pm to 6:30pm – technology demonstrations and some terrific speakers
* Networking Reception from 7pm to 9pm.

There will be networking all day, and speakers including Lori Wigle – head of Eco-Technology at Intel, Neal Dikeman – Jane Capital, Chuck Reed – Mayor of San Jose, Lesa Mitchell – VP of Innovation at Kauffman Foundation, Joel Serface – Managing Partner at Serface Ventures, Trond Unneland – Managing Executive, Chevron Technology Ventures, Chuck Reed – Mayor of San Jose, VIP Dinner speaker Representative Jeremy Kalin – Chair of CLEAN, and others.

The Cleantech Open is a nonprofit and the Awards Gala is a fundraiser. Tickets normally go for $97 and up –but there are some discounted tickets which will give you a 20% reduction – just click this link: www.cleantechopen.com/20_percent

 

Green Conference June 10 For Contractors and Subcontractors

The USGBC-NCC is putting on a really nice conference, GreenerBuilder 2010, for contractors and subcontractors.  The event will have a number of educational sessions, as well as over 500 registered attendees so far.  There should be some good networking, as a number of top producing general contractors have signed on as sponsors.  Also, the breakout sessions look to include beginner and advanced information such as pricing green bids and implementing industry-specific new technologies.

The conference is June 10 from 11 am to 7pm.  Tickets are $125.

For more information, click here

 

Efficiency Efforts Insulate Windows In Empire State Building

Serious Materials, a California-based company, just announced an agreement with Johnson Controls (NYSE: JCI) to “super-insulate” over 6,500 windows as part of a $13.2 million energy efficiency retrofit program for the nearly 80 year-old Empire State Building.

Note, I wrote they will “insulate” the glass, not replace it.  According to Sustainable Materials, here’s how it works:

“The existing glass of the building’s 6,514 double-hung windows will be removed from the window frames, separated, and cleaned in the processing space. New super-insulating IGUs [Insulating Glass Units] will be produced using the old glass panes, new spacers, suspended coated film, and special gas fill [argon-krypton gas mixture]. The IGUs will be re-installed into the existing window frames.”

These efforts alone will directly reduce energy costs by over $400,000 per year, and the remarkable fact is Serious Materials is using the old glass!

The Empire State Building project is a model of what needs to happen across the nation.  Old buildings are highly inefficient, and provide the greatest opportunity to gain real energy savings.  The Empire State Building plan calls for eight separate measures in lighting, insulation, electricity controls, HVAC, and tenant training and incentives.  Once all measures are complete, the Empire State Building retrofit team predicts a 33% reduction in cooling load, and a reduction of peak energy load by 3.5 megawatts (yes that’s just the reduction).  The retrofit team also predicts a 38%reduction in total energy use and an eventual energy cost savings of $4.4 million / year.  How about that for ROI?

Click here to find out more regarding the Empire State Building’s eight measures

Click here for the press release from Serious Materials

Editor’s note: Don’t miss tonight’s Clean Tech Event at McCormick and Kuleto’s. Click here for more information

 

Clean Tech Event – San Francisco March 17

My friends over at the Kellogg Alumni Club are at it again with another great clean tech event. On Wednesday, March 17 the group will host a panel discussion on two emerging clean industries: transportation and energy – including nuclear power. Can that, too, be clean?

The event is open to the public, and it will be a great way to learn and network with leaders. Ideas will definitely be flowing. The top-shelf presenters and panelists include:

Rod Diridon – Clean Tech Rail Pioneer, Executive, Political Leader, and High-Speed Rail Authority Board Member
Bob Garzee – Clean Tech Automotive Transportation Pioneer and Entrepreneur
Jeff Hamel – Energy Researcher and Clean Tech Advocate

Networking, passed hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar start at 6pm, and the presentations and discussion will go from about 7 – 8:30 pm. You couldn’t ask for a better setting: the beautiful McCormick and Kuleto’s – right on the water. See you there!

Click Here For More Information And For Reservations.

Also, remember Kellogg’s San Jose clean tech event with different panelists, Thursday, April 1. Click here for more information on that!

 

Big Box Stores For Green Building Supplies

New Home is a Bay Area-based company opening “Big Box” sized showrooms that will offer green building supplies for consumers and builders.  Rich Rifkin, the founder of New Home, plans to start by opening 10 stores in the Bay Area and Sacramento.  The stores will offer over 200, 000 products as well as educational materials and videos.  The first stores are slated to open in San Rafael and Dublin (two good places to start, IMHO). 

An online presence will be important to the success of the business, and Mr. Rifkin is off to a good start. The website, www.newhomeinc.com is under construction (pun, if there is one, intended), but offers a look at what’s to come.  Essentially, the website will offer a virtual version of the green building mega-stores. 

Everything is in the nascent stages, but Mr. Rifkin’s idea is likely bound for success.  With the overwhelming momentum of greening building codes, large outlets specializing in green products are not only novel, they’re essential.

The Conta Costa Times ran a good article on this: Click Here

Thanks to Jennifer Rankin for tipping me off to this story!

 

Free Webcast: Green Building Summit, April 22

There are a number free webcasts at the online “Green Building Summit.”  The programs look focused, and the speakers are generally very good.  

Topics include: incentives and regulation; building and operations; nanotechnology and other topics focused on green building and technology.

For more information go to: http://www.brighttalk.com/summit/greenbuilding

 

Green California Leadership Awards! Expo Report – Part II

For many, a highlight of the Green California Expo was the announcement of the Green CA leadership awards.   The awards cut through the green rhetoric and showcase what sustainable efforts are actually being implemented throughout the state. One of the educational sessions I attended at the Expo focused on California’s water crisis and the reality of the three year drought we are currently facing. After one speaker presented the potential doomsday scenarios we may encounter, an interesting solution was discussed. A manager from the Orange County Water District described the system they have recently enacted to avert any possible tragedy from water shortages. In partnership with the Orange County Sanitation District, the OC Water District has created a wastewater purification program called the groundwater replenishment system. Check out photos and an article about the system in Time Magazine here.

The system has been up and running for about a year now and allegedly has already exceeded its economic payback projections. There is a lot of promise with this technology, especially in the water-dependent region of Southern California. However, not everyone is convinced, the speaker noted that in other districts, the system has been met with resistance. Maybe the skeptics will feel better if they think of Ghandi as they drink their recycled water – legend has it he drank his own urine because it purified his soul. Whether you support the system or not, the District has certainly gained enough respect to win this award. Be sure to take a look at the full list of winners here as there are many other worthy recipients.

 

2009 Green California Summit and Exposition

The 2009 Green California Summit and Exposition is coming up!  From March 16-18, The Sacramento Convention Center plays host to well over a hundred exhibitors, and dozens of panels and forums.

Visits to the exhibition hall and attendance at keynote addresses are FREE!  If you want to attend the panels and educational forums, the fees are quite modest.   

The Green California Summit and Exposition is put on by Green Technology Magazine, and its marquee sponsors.  The educational forums cover such diverse topics as California’s new building codes, AB32, maintenance and operation of green buildings, finance and purchasing strategies, green leases, recycling and composting, transportation solutions, LEED,  and much more.

Take a look at all of the Summit’s events by clicking here!

 

The Mohawk Group Unveils Its Free LEED PLUS Calculator (powered by ecoScorecard)

The Mohawk Group, a company of four carpet brands, unveiled its LEED PLUS calculator – a free web-based tool that allows users to search building products and calculate LEED points and other industry environmental ratings in minutes – at the 2008 Greenbuild International Conference and Expo.

With the LEED PLUS calculator, customers can log in, choose a product, and then evaluate it against the following rating systems: LEED, CHPS (Collaborative For High Performance Schools), GGHC (Green Guide For Healthcare), LABS21 (Laboratories For The 21st Century), and compliance for all prevalent 3rd party certifications.  Results are delivered as a PDF report, which users can use as supplemental product documentation to be included in LEED certification submissions.  

The LEED PLUS calculator is powered by ecoScorecard, a software program that allows manufacturers to publish their green products with corresponding environmental characteristics on a web-based catalog so clients may quickly search by name, contribution or other attribute.

Companies like ecoScorecard continue to develop innovative software that provide building manufacturers with powerful tools to publish their green products with corresponding environmental characteristics.