Cost of building green is less than you think August 22, 2007

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development recently came out with an interesting report that looks at the cost of building green. The gist of the report is that the cost of building green is not much higher than the cost of building a conventional building — the report estimates the cost differential to be about 5% more versus the perceived 17% in the building industry worldwide.

Since buildings are one of the five main users of energy worldwide, building green will have a huge impact on slowing global warming. The energy savings that result from building sustainably will help offset some of the initial higher costs — energy efficiency can be increased by up to 35% and heating costs reduced by 80% for the average building, thereby decreasing recurring costs and carbon dioxide emissions considerably. So, encourage everyone you know, here and overseas, to build green!

The shrinking game: Target and others reducing product packaging August 15, 2007

Responding to pressure from environmental groups (since last year) and following on the heels of other companies such as Wal-mart, Target has begun asking its vendors to decrease PVC packaging. That’s great news for the landfills, since about a third of waste in landfills comes from packaging. iPod buyers should be forewarned, however, that they will not be finding their toy in the familiar clear (PVC!) clamshell at Target and should look for a cardboard box instead. This just makes the iPod that much cooler (for the Earth, pun intended).

Glad to see that these changes are being made in the US, albeit slower than large stores in Europe. It’s a step in the right direction. I am tempted to be skeptical; however, these are large companies that take time to change, so we might as well encourage them.

Is buying local better for the environment? August 6, 2007

The New York Times this morning had an interesting OpEd piece about buying local. A new study from New Zealand states that, when considering the entire life cycle of a product, and not just the transportation portion, some products that have traveled many miles may produce lesser emissions than products grown locally. The study focuses mainly on dairy products and compares New Zealand to the UK, though it seems to be extrapolated across other food sectors as well.

This continues the on-going discussion about which actions we should take to minimize our impact on the environment. There are many components, other than transportation, that need to be taken into account. However, for the time being, transportation is an easily quantified component that can be compared across products. Until more detailed studies, such as the New Zealand one, come out and clarify the other pieces of the puzzle, it is still a good yardstick by which to measure environmental impact, albeit a temporary one.