Greenr – Accelerate the Change!

On October 20th, The Biomimicry Institute in conjunction with the annual Bioneers conference will be holding a one-day conference “Biomimicry’s Climate-Change Solutions: How Would Nature Do It?”

This landmark one-day intensive reveals the leading edge of biomimetic solutions to climate change, modeled on nature’s operating instructions. It’s designed for action-oriented professionals from the fields of business, finance and investment, science, technology, public policy, education, media and civil society.

Find out more and sign up now!

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A few weeks ago I wrote about Agilewaves, and today CNet has a great overview of more than a dozen ‘dashboard’ technologies ranging from simple wall plug adapters that offer a kw reading for individual devices, to a half dozen startups competing in the whole-house market – including Greenbox which was founded by the co-creators of Flash. (My background is in software distribution and Internet publishing, so its great to see former compatriots leveraging their tech skills into sustainability. Some others switchers are noted in this listing of 25 who “ditched infotech for cleantech.”)

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Cleve Reeves from Home Comfort Zones called by the new house today to demonstrate their solution indoor climate control.

Nothing impacts your comfort at home more than maintaining the proper temperature. Unfortunately most homes don’t have the control to ensure every room is the temperature you want it to be. Home Comfort Zones provides a room-by-room temperature control and energy management system that guarantees you’ll always be comfortable in every room of your home….

…No more cold or hot spots and uneven temperatures upstairs or downstairs; just perfect temperature control … and that’s just the beginning. The MyTemp™ temperature control system is “zoning” taken to the next level. Simple to use yet powerful and flexible, it can provide energy savings of up to 40%.

Builders are a fairly skeptical bunch when it comes to new fangled devices, but my (green) builder was nodding in agreement as Cleeve presented his solution. Its not inexpensive, but when you add up the energy savings plus the increased comfort…seems like a smart choice. Check it out at Home Comfort Zones.

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Energy and water monitoring systems were once the exclusive purview of facilities managers responsible for industrial buildings and large office blocks. More recently some high-end green buildings have adopted the technology to showcase the impact of efficiency and alternative energy sources. Earlier today I talked with the founder/CEO of Agilewaves about a new system that is scaling down to the residential home level and I think they have a winning product.

Agilewaves’ flagship product, the Resource Monitor, constantly monitors electric, gas, and water consumption of a home or office and reports consumption and carbon footprint through a built-in touchscreen interface or a password protected web page.

The system measures the ecological footprint of a property in real time. It monitors each electrical circuit, water line, and the main gas line, as well as temperature in key locations throughout the building. In addition to the overall footprint, it tracks the performance of major appliances and calculates the resource consumption by room or floor. Current and time-series information is displayed and stored for future reference, allowing the user to compare data with any past period. More at http://www.agilewaves.com/.

You’ll find a good picture of the dashboard over at CNet. This looks like a comprehensive solution that will be ideal for my new home. More as I dig deeper…

Picture Credit: Agilewaves

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This weekend I’m attending the 2008 Kitchen/Bath Industry Show and Conference (K/BIS). I was booked on American Airlines and my flight was cancelled so I missed the Friday morning opening keynote, but here’s what I’ve gleaned from other reports:

Christine Todd Whitman, former administrator of the EPA delivered the keynote address focused on sustainability. She said that kitchen and bath professionals can play a key role in educating the public about lessening environmental impact. “…selling green kitchen/bath design and products is very similar to selling eco-sensitive public policy: it’s about getting people to do something for the common good.”

By explaining the long-term benefits derived from an upfront financial investment, architects and designers can help open their clients’ eyes to green design “…they aren’t sacrificing anything by going green.”

A green theme is said to be present around the vast show floor and I’ll be checking out the “Implementing Sustainability” seminar Saturday to see just how quickly this old, old industry is taking the message to heart.

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When marketing and branding sites like Springwise write about “visualizing energy use”, I feel like we’re making progress:

Though by no means ubiquitous, household energy monitors have been around for some time. A few new entries into the space, however, add a splash of colour and style to make understanding energy consumption more intuitive.

Wattson, first of all, is a sleek, aesthetically pleasing device that shows homeowners through both numbers and colours how much energy they are using in their home…

The Home Joule, meanwhile, resembles a nightlight and plugs into any outlet in a home. The device displays not just energy usage, broadcast wirelessly by the consumer’s energy meter, but also the real-time cost of energy, which comes wirelessly from the energy company…

At a time when nukes are back on the table its critical that we look beyond more energy to simply using the infrastructure we have more efficiently. (See Nega Watt Power and the Apollo Alliance). A ridiculous amount of energy is wasted in so many ways every day. Letsfix the problem before creating new ‘solutions’. Share your solutions…

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Ever wondered where your search requests goes when you hit the enter key? Read on…

INDIAN WELLS, Calif., Feb 6 (Reuters) – Google Inc (GOOG.O: Quote, Profile , Research) is prepared to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in big commercial alternative-energy projects that traditionally have had trouble getting financing, the executive in charge of its green-energy push said on Wednesday.

The Internet search giant, which has said it will invest in researching green technologies and renewable-energy companies, is eager to help promising technologies amass scale to help drive the cost of alternative energy below the cost of coal. More via Reuters…

Why would google care so much? Power searching requires lots of power…

Beginning 5 years ago, Google took the lead in making a power consumption an issue for IT vendors. No one cared that much before that because no one else was building 100,000+ server data centers using free software and cheap PC hardware. Google wasn’t the only factor, but their use of free software, cheap hardware and massive scale meant that energy consumption became one of the few places they could cut costs. Continued at ZDNet with additional coverage at NYT.

Smart folks over at Google. Here’s hoping their lead is followed.

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While solar, wind and biofuels have had plenty of attention, the unsung superhero of clean energy is Negawatts – a term coined by Amory Lovins in a 1989 Green Energy Conference. Two decades later, with a growing corporate interest in efficiency programs, energy efficiency may be this year’s hot trend in cleantech M&A & IPOs.

“Wall Street has piled billions into solar panels, wind farms, and other alternatives to oil and gas, but many investors also see big opportunities in making better use of older, dirtier energy sources…

…Boosting efficiency could be the easiest, quickest way to reduce emissions of harmful greenhouse gasses, starting with the task of installing new metering hardware and usage control systems in every home and building, proponents say. Continued over at PlanetArk via Reuters…

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