September 2008
Monthly Archive
Growing Amount of Green in Green
Posted by davidwfox on 25 Sep 2008 | Tagged as: financial
According to VentureBeat, local San Francisco home energy audit and retrofit company Sustainable Spaces has raised $6m. Congrats to Matt Golden and team.
The Blossoming of Biomimicry
Posted by davidwfox on 24 Sep 2008 | Tagged as: biomimicry, books
A biomimicry update from a fellow Biomimicry Institute board member, and long-time cleantech commentator Joel Makower.
Will biomimicry blossom, joining green chemistry among the burgeoning tools available to build the next generation of cleaner, greener products? It remains to be seen, of course, but biomimicry makes too much common sense to be dismissed as a niche or fringe activity. If we can marry the wisdom of millions of critters with human’s unbounded ingenuity, we’ll stand a chance of effectively addressing climate change, water and energy challenges, and the need to feed and house the global village. Continued…
And be sure to check out Joel’s recently published book: Strategies for the Green Economy:
Picturing Biomimicry
Posted by davidwfox on 20 Sep 2008 | Tagged as: biomimicry
The lastest issue of Fast Company magazine has some terrific biomimicry-related images by Jonathan Kantor. The online version doesn’t quite do justice to the images, but if the printed magazine isn’t handy, you can still check ‘em out at: http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/129/truly-intelligent-design.html
Getting Serious about Solving the Carbon Problem
Posted by davidwfox on 20 Sep 2008 | Tagged as: cleantech, video
Outspoken VC Vinod Khosla speaks at the AlwaysOn GoingGreen conference. Is the “the current green movement as more about style than substance”? I might not agree with all he has to say, but Koshla is one person worth following closely.
Open Sustainability Network Event
Posted by davidwfox on 16 Sep 2008 | Tagged as: events, liveable cities, open source
I posted about Open Source Sustainability a few months ago, so I was pleased to read about an upcoming event:
We are gathering together a large community of like-minded groups and people, called the Open Sustainability Network (OSN), to work on overcoming barriers to openness and collaboration. Our first conference will be at San Francisco State University on October, 18th-19th and admission is free.
To register for OSNCamp 2008 see: http://osncon.eventbrite.com
For more information: http://opensustainabilitynetwork.org
Building the Bio-inspired City
Posted by davidwfox on 15 Sep 2008 | Tagged as: biomimicry, liveable cities
HOK, a global architectural firm, just announced the formation of an alliance with the Biomimicry Guild. Together the companies plan to integrate nature’s innovations in the design of buildings, communities and cities worldwide.
The built environment is the most fertile ground for biomimicry, according to Dayna Baumeister, PhD, co-founder of the Biomimicry Guild. “Buildings account for about 50% of total U.S. energy use, and our greatest collective impact will come from applying biomimicry to the planning and design of buildings, communities and cities — at every scale and in every region” Continued at CBS Marketwatch…
Find Good Stuff
Posted by davidwfox on 11 Sep 2008 | Tagged as: news
Sounds useful:
Increasingly, you want to know about the impacts of the products you buy. On your health. On the environment. On society. But unless you’ve got a Ph.D, it is almost impossible to find out the impacts of the products you buy. Until now…
GoodGuide provides the world’s largest and most reliable source of information on the health, environmental, and social impacts of the products in your home.
Check it out at www.goodguide.com and let me know what you think…
Inspried by Trout
Posted by davidwfox on 11 Sep 2008 | Tagged as: biomimicry, water
What does a water-purification system have to do with a trout? Find out via an interesting post at greentechmedia:
When it comes to water technology, nature appears poised to become a major player. Similar to the Watreco and Parc situation, a group of startups – Novozymes and Aquaporin – are facing off against an industrial giant – Danfoss – in an effort to create a water-purification system based around a synthetic version of a protein called aquaporin. Continued…
Biomimicry in Popular Mechanics
Posted by davidwfox on 11 Sep 2008 | Tagged as: biomimicry
The biomimicry meme continues to spread through mainstream media:
An airplane systems engineer, a shower designer and a biologist walk into a Costa Rican rain forest.
“This is the neatest thing I’ve found this week,” says the airplane engineer, from Boeing, pointing to a cluster of daddy-longleg spiders gently oscillating on the trunk of a banana tree. “There must be some unique muscular elastic element in their legs sensing vibration and amplitude. There could be really important opportunities here for a low-energy sensor or mechanical actuator system.” Continued over at Popular Mechanics…
Biomimicry Seminar – September 24th, 2008
Posted by davidwfox on 09 Sep 2008 | Tagged as: biomimicry, events
The Biomimicry Guild will be leading a pre-conference session at West Coast Green in San Jose September 24, 2008. This special lecture and workshop session will be facilitated by Rose Tocke and Taryn Mead, Biologists at the Design Table. The focus will be an introduction to biomimicry in the built world coupled with hands-on exploration of the principles and practice of biomimicry.
You can read more about, and register for, this session and the West Coast Green event here:
http://www.westcoastgreen.com/program/2008/pre-conference.php#biomimcry
