Is Sustinable Green Energy the key to our nation's defense?

“The next time we want to go to war, maybe we wouldn’t even need to bomb a country.  We could just, you know, turn off its power.’  Liam O’Murchu, Symantec Security Response

War, civil disobedience, and politics have all been significantly affected by technology.  It seems that the more dependent we are on technology, and/or our grid of energy, the more vulnerable we are.  It also follows that as we get ‘more efficient’ we tend to centralize the power source, build large power plants, etc.  If ‘one’ could stop all communications by taking out cell towers, if ‘one’ could starve a country by stopping transportation, if one could win a war by cutting off all energy….

Our latest snow/ice storm reminded us how dependent we are on electricity for light, heating, and cooking.  Electricity is a big part of our daily existence.  When the grid goes down, we all go down.  (Gas stations closed due to the power outage)

‘Alternative’ energy sources in individual homes or buildings such as solar, rain water harvesting , geo thermal, etc are one way to de-centralize our energy use.  When the grid goes down, we are still functioning, we still have water, electricity, heat and cooling.  After reading the quotation by O’Murchu, I began to wonder if our government had thought about our centralized energy vulnerability.  Probably.  Then I wondered if that vulnerability had been behind our country’s recent Green Energy push.  Probably.   And here I thought that program was to help ‘save the world.’  Oh well!

Keeping Green!

Christine

Economic downturn & Sustainable products

In this very tough business climate there are still innovations being made, produced and marketed for ‘green’/’sustainable’ products.  Remember, just because a product is healthy does not mean that it is made of sustainable materials, and conversely, some products made of sustainable materials still off gas toxic voc’s. 

GLASS 2, is making a VERY COOL glass product made of 99% recycled glass.  What makes it different from other glass products is that the ‘layering’ of the glass is visible from the edge, creating a wonderful natural pattern.  Overall the product looks like pieces of glass floating in water with the layers visible from the side.  It is stunning when back lit, leading to natural applications of floating counters, front desk materials, etc.  It comes in slabs of 2cm and 3cm in 11 colors and is fabricated by the same fabricators that you use for stone counters.  Glass2 is currently available through Pental

 

Bio Green Clean was introduced to me by my husband and I have to say that this is the ultimate in a cleaning product.  It works on everything from counters, floors, stone, leather, metal, teeth, blood, automobiles, mirrors, appliances, coffee machines, etc.  AND it really works!.  AND, by the way, it is 100% plant derived and is so healthy you can eat it.  (It is not really recommended that you eat it, but the MSDS sheet states that you may experience some diarrhea due to the ‘emulsification of grease and oil in the digestive tract’) You can obtain the product directly through www.biogreenclean.com

It is truly inspiring to see people establishing new businesses and producing products in a poor economic market that are both sustainable and safe! A colleague recently said to me, ‘some people are still wringing their hands and crying about this economy, and others are out there making lemonade from the lemons they have been given.’  What kind of person are you?  I challenge you and myself to rise to the occasion and make 2012 the best come back year ever!

Keeping Green and Positive,

Christine

Upcycling - Design Trends Follow U.S. Psyche

UpCycling is a new trend that appeals to 'optimists' who reject waste, value craftsmanship and items with history.  There are actually four 'lifestyle' trends according to Fawn Chang of PPG Pittsburgh Paints.  Based on the compilation of extensive research, PPG analyzed the current U.S. psyche.  According to Chang, we are cautiously stepping out of the recession/depression that we have been experiencing and adding color back into our lives.  We are coming  from a 'recession prison grey' palette so we are retaining a lot of neutrals but with a pleasant addition of color.  

As a 'sustainable' designer I am familiar with the term UpCycling, but this is the first time I am aware of it coming into mainstream lifestyle images, colors and designs. I am intrigued that our acceptance and dedication to recycling (sending materials away to be recycled) is pushing the new trend of UpCycling.  UpCycling as a design concept is basically taking existing items and creating something new from them.  A stereotype of UpCycling that we may be familiar with is art that is made from bottle caps or plastic bags.  UpCycling is more than art, however, these are functional items  that are created from your existing collection of 'stuff.'  UpCycling as a lifestyle trend is all about living simply and wasting nothing. 'It embodies simple living, keeping only what is functional and personal.'

My friend and colleague Vidal Bitton created this wonderful outdoor seating for his new juice bar at Lakeview Yoga and Wellness Center.  Located on the Burke Gilman Trail in Kenmore, this juice bar and seating area is the perfect refuge on a hot sunny day.  

Bitton salvaged old plastic laminate tables, painted the plastic laminate (believe it or not, it looks great) and built wood benches that are permanently attached to the table.  Between the heavy table metal table base and the stained benches, these units are stable, weather resistant and UPCYCLED!   

As far as our renewed desire to include color in our surroundings, I defer to PPG's statement..."Our color choices are more and more about what makes us feel happy." 

And right now, I am very happy! Ciao!

Green Talk - Grid or No Grid

No matter what we say (in the US), we really appreciate our GRID.  GRID provides us with instant electricity, clean water for our homes and natural gas for heating.  It also provides us with telephone lines and cable tv.  GRID is like a parent that we have a love/hate relationship with.  When we dream about going 'off the grid' we are usually just wanting to conserve our use of energy and reduce our dependency on GRID.    GRID understands our desire for privacy from the 'invasive' reaches into our homes.  GRID likes to live in the big cities.  You don't have to go too far away to experience homes with wells, septic tanks, and generators and no GRID. Actually, if governments make no change to existing policies, 1.3 billion people, or 16% of the world's population, will still lack access to electricity in 2030.  (Did you ever experience Ray Anderson's Global Village presentation? If so, you remember the shock of how few people have clean drinking water in the world.)

GRID understands our struggle for independence.  GRID helps us break away by providing energy to factories that make solar panels, hydro pumps and cell phones.  Ironically, it is the power of new technology (powered by GRID) that allows developing nations leapfrog GRID.  In countries like Niger, where expensive infrastructures like telephone lines are lacking, cell phones are changing and improving lives.  In the past, farmers would travel from market to market to learn prices, wasting time.  Now, they call around on cell phones and obtain prevailing prices for their harvest.  In the case of emergencies, people can call for help from neighboring villages.  There is even a new form of commerce, called mobile money that allows rural people without access to banks to transfer money across long distances by phone.  The local cell phone provider began allowing people to transfer phone time that they had purchased to other customers.  This has become a de facto form of currency; people transfer phone time to pay their debts. 

So, GRID, I thank you for making our lives easier and safer, but I've been thinking that I would try to break a couple ties and try promoting housing with net zero energy use.  It's been nice, and believe me, it is me, not you.

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Sustainability & Interior Design Articles

I've been writing a monthly column about sustainable interior design called "Green Talk"  for around two years.  The main audience has been interior designers, but I now realize that the content may be of interest to any and all of my clients and customers.  From now on I will post the article on this blog for your reading pleasure.  For past articles I have posted links to http://www.christinesuzuki.com/publications-press/  The following is the February issue of

GREEN TALK

Take care of Nature or Nature will take care of you.

Alicia Silva, Allied ASID, LEED AP, used to say that polluting our environment is like "peeing in the swimming pool." Even if you were not the person who peed in the swimming pool, you are part of humanity that has to swim in it. As our world gets smaller, we are increasingly aware that we are all connected. When one person pees in the pool, we all have to swim in it. From the scarcity of certain shellfish to controversies on oil drilling and our dependency on oil, to social conflict half way around the world, we share our joys and pains with the rest of the world, and they with us. Our "green" movement has to encompass more than just us, be bigger than the Northwest, and cover more territory than the United States. It really HAS to be a global movement.

"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece
of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by
the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's
death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and
therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for
thee." 

– John Donne