The First Facility Management Blog

The second day of Green By Design 2 in Grand Rapids, MI featured another round of interesting and informative sessions. (To read my observations about the first day of the event, see previous posting, “A day of sustainable ideas.”)

Sponsored by the Wege Foundation, Steelcase, and Grand Rapids Community College, Green By Design focused on ways for companies to develop, manufacture, and distribute “eco-effective” products and services. But some of the sessions on this closing day of the event delved a bit deeper into the urgent need to ease the demand on our earth.

I was fortunate to attend a discussion led by William McDonough, the renowned architect who considers in each of his projects the impact on the planet. McDonough spoke eloquently on the concept of Cradle to Cradle design (the use of materials with characteristics that enable them to be perptually circulated in a “closed loop” cycle). Among the highlights of this freeflowing discussion was the assertion that our “solar income” has the potential to provide all the energy we humans require. We just need to harness it. McDonough also discussed toxic materials (such as cadmium) that, depending upon their application and handling/reclaiming, do not necessarily need to pose a deadly threat to our environment. Design and intent are key.

In the latter part of the morning, attendees gathered to hear Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. speak about the state of our environment and what is and is not being done about it. Mr. Kennedy, senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, gave some disturbing examples of the damage already done to our national resources (including the fact that 500 of the 2,800 lakes and pools in the Adirondack Mountains have been rendered sterile by acid rain).

Pollution sources run the gamut from huge fossil fueled power plants to products with material composition that precludes them from being reclaimed for another use at the end of their useful life. It is heartening to know that there are alternatives that exist; to be part of the solution, we need to seek them out and incorporate them into our own strategies.

More than 300 experts recently spent three days in Belfast, Northern Ireland talking about toilets.

According to a Reuters report,

A lot was achieved, including the finalization of a protocol setting out global standards for the provision and hygiene of public toilets, says Raymond Martin, director of the Irish Toilet Association.

Another highlight was…the unveiling of Belfast’s first public UriLift toilet, a stainless steel urinal that rises hydraulically out of the ground at night to facilitate male revelers.

In terms of public toilet excellence, it was generally agreed that Singapore was a model for the rest of the world.

Martin said that with hundreds of toilet experts gathered in one place lavatorial humor was unavoidable.

“But what you actually find is that when the punning and joking is over people actually take toilets very seriously. It’s a subject that’s close to everyone’s heart.”

At last week’s FEBRAVA 2005 Trade Show in San Paolo, Brazil, James Wolf and Jeff Moe, global environmental policy executives for Trane, each delivered a presentation on the topic of “Global Warming and Energy Conservation.” The international show and exhibition receives approximately 24,000 participants annually from the refrigeration, HVAC and air treatment industries.

Wolf, vice president and chairman of Trane’s Environmental Policy Council, and Moe, Trane program director for environmental policy, shared their perspectives on the role that heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) technologies could play in meeting environmental priorities. Specifically, their presentations reviewed the following subjects:
•Global environmental priorities including global warming and ozone depletion, and a thorough overview of the environmental implications of various HVAC technologies.
•Sources of global warming, the greenhouse gases contributing to climate change, and updates on the status of global environmental regulations.
•Kyoto Protocol implementation timetables and greenhouse gas target reductions by various countries.
•Potential global warming and ozone depletion impacts of every major refrigerant used by the HVAC industry. His insight provided attendees with an overview of how refrigerants such as HCFC-123, integrated with state-of-the-art HVAC technology from Trane, enable cooling systems to operate with significantly less energy usage and impact on the ozone layer and global warming.

“The ‘green building’ trend in Brazil and other regions provides great opportunities for environmentally responsible companies, like Trane, to assist customers in lowering emissions, improving energy efficiency and reducing the threat of global warming,” Wolf said.

(This post was revised by HeidiTFM on 9/29/05)