When it comes to the total cost of owning and operating a building, there is one sure fire way to save money (and energy).
Buildings are just one component of creating a sustainable built environment. People are an equally critical component. Not only do people occupy those buildings, they also design and build them. To transform a market, the people behind that market must also evolve - hence the LEED Accredited Professional designation.
You've heard it, it sounds sexy, but what does it really mean? Radical Transparency? You mean transparency is not enough? The book Ecological Intelligence by Daniel Goleman really kickstarted the term as he outlines the potential for "new technologies that reveal with "radical transparency" the eco-impact of products we buy, with the potential to drive consumers to make smarter decisions and companies to reform their business practices."
If the decision making process of corporations was transparent from the very kernel of an idea through its realization, imagine the profound change in our society? Seriously, close your eyes and come up with a few scenarios.
In mine: unnamed corporate giants would reveal their consensus decision to take over the world's food supply; unnamed drug companies would reveal their desire to create massive wealth (for themselves) by exacerbating the problems that their drug was created to fix; the White House would stormed by the misrepresented people.
Does radical transparency exist in your day to day? If so, how?
Okay, okay - I'm geeking out here! As a person who regularly projects data from my laptop (the environmentally friendly MacBook Pro, no less) onto a backdrop of some sort, I must admit, I am very excited about my new 'Green Slim' Projector by Casio. Why so excited?
The Green Slim starts at $800 which is pretty inexpensive when you realize that it doesn't have a $400 lamp replacement part! It's LED technology is bright and powerful and has a major throw (strong enough to fill the wall with an excellent digital quality). Very energy efficient, the Green Slim is the best friend of every presentation I have yet to give. And being only five pounds, it's even more likely we'll become very close.
What projector do you use for all of your green presentation needs?
I always love our friends at Architecture 2030 when they publish wonderful factoids about energy - this weeks topic du jour - that of the nuclear variety. According to their 'Nuclear Fact Check,' US nuclear consumption is projected to decline over the years, with 104 nuclear reactors currently in use.
Nuclear energy provides 17.1% of total U.S. delivered electricity; 20.7% of total U.S. electricity consumption is attributed to nuclear energy and of that, transmission losses account for 6% of that!
And get this - the lifespan of a nuclear reactor is 40 years, and of the 104 nuclear reactors in the U.S., 4.8% are older than 40 years, 38.5% are older than 35 years, and over half are older than 30 years. It costs approximately $300-500 million to decommission a nuclear plant!
Seems to me that nuclear is on its way out in the United States, and good riddance!
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