By Lena Babaeva Coradini

My apologies for not mentioning this beforehand!  I just had a chance to participate in a great workshop hosted by Vanderbilt University’s Construction Management Program on the topic of “Sustainable Buildings:  Progress, Practice and Challenges” for architects, engineers, planners and contractors.  The topics covered can be viewed here. 

The workshop was well organized and well staffed.  It was great to hear the insight of Mayor Karl Dean on the initiatives in Nashville, as well as the lessons from Vanderbilt’s active involvement in making their campus greener.  Overall, a great event.

By Lena Babaeva Coradini

On 500 acres in Florida, the world’s second largest solar plant will be attached to the largest fossil-fuel power plant in the U.S.  This new kind of hybrid is very innovative, especially in Florida, where demand can be managed for the power in the summer (for all those air conditioners blasting at full force) by the power of the sun!

By Lena Babaeva Coradini

What a neat idea: green home exhibits at museums in Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia  are showing different components of green buildings!  What a great way to educate.

By Lena Babaeva Coradini

Marines are utilizing some fantastic technology, that is for sure! As the Navy focuses on renewable energy systems and technology, it is introducing a new system for the Marine Corps to be able to power computers and other communication technology in the field:

The Ground Renewable Expeditionary Energy System (Greens) uses arrays of solar panels and rechargeable batteries to provide an average continuous output of 300 watts, enough to power most of the essential communications and targeting electronics that Marine forces would need in remote locations. It can provide as much as 1,000 watts of power.

The goal is to start procuring these portable systems in the first quarter of this year, Navy officials said. The contract solicitation was still in process at press time. . . . .

Greens also comes with a software-based toolkit that allows Marines to enter their mission profile into a computer, which will then tell them which components, such as turbines, cables and batteries, they will need to take with them to provide the power required.

What I found most interesting about the article is that the reason this technology is so important to the Marines and other armed forces is that it will allow the soldiers to carry less fuel with them and therefore face fewer issues in obtaining the fuel.  That is true innovation!

By Lena Babaeva Coradini

What metal has experienced a surge in popularity recently?  Why its lithium of course!  With the interest and work increasing in electric vehicles, the world focuses on lithium:

Toyota Tsusho, the material supplier for the big Japanese automaker, announced a joint venture in January with the Australian miner Orocobre to develop a $100 million lithium project in Argentina. That deal came only days after Magna International, the Canadian car parts company that is helping develop a battery-powered version of the Ford Focus, announced that it was investing $10 million in a small Canadian lithium firm that also has projects in Argentina.

They were the latest in a series of deals and projects announced over the last year, reflecting a new urgency among companies to assure themselves future supplies of the metal.

The present issue though is that no one will know how big the movement for electric vehicles and other users of the metal will be in the future, but with current introductions of the Leaf by Nissan and other electric vehicles in the U.S., it appears that the demand will certainly rise.

By Lena Babaeva Coradini

The New York Times has an interesting piece on the evolving solar energy industry.  Focusing on Puertollano, Spain, the article describes how the city went from solar boom to bust in a few short years due to inefficient, poorly designed solar plants and unsustainable governmet subsidies:

In September the government abruptly changed course, cutting payments and capping solar construction. Puertollano’s brief boom turned bust. Factories and stores shut, thousands of workers lost jobs, foreign companies and banks abandoned contracts that had already been negotiated.

All is not lost in Puertollano, however:

Even with the reduced incentives and local economic downturn, the solar industry gave Puertollano something of a face-lift and, potentially, a new economic future. Research institutes there are developing cutting-edge technologies. Unemployment, though now up around 10 percent, has not returned to the 20 percent figure. The city is home to a number of solar businesses: a new 50-megawatt thermal-solar plant owned by the Spanish energy giant Iberdrola created hundreds of jobs.

By Lena Babaeva Coradini

Yet another industry is committing to going green:  movie theaters are making the effort by incorporating such changes as building LEED-certified theaters (in Chattanooga, Tennessee, at that!), incorporating renewable energy sources, and by using eco-friendly products.  

Environmentally conscious theater construction and design are growing trends, according to the Washington, D.C.-based National Association of Theatre Owners, which represents more than 29,000 movie screens in the U.S. Some theaters are installing solar panels to save energy--resulting in lower energy bills--and using recycled building materials for new theaters and existing facilities that are under renovation.

. . .

Carmike Cinemas' 12-screen Tennessee theater, called The Majestic, has 2,500 seats, twice the size of the previous theater on the site, according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press. The LEED Silver requirements will be met by using recycled building materials and by a storm-water recycling system.

Dale Hurst, director of marketing for Carmike Cinemas, which has 247 theaters and 2,285 screens in 35 states, says being environmentally conscious is becoming more important to viewers. The company runs theaters in small- to mid-sized communities with fewer than 100,000 people and hopes that its first green theater will be a role model.

Excellent news, especially as Tennessee is featured as one of the few theaters to be LEED-certified.

By Lena Babaeva Coradini

A subsidiary of UK petroleum giant BP will start building three wind farms this year and the next.  BP already has eight U.S. wind farms, and the three new ones will include a 124.5-megawatt facility this year in Idaho, a 200-megawatt facility in Oregon and 250-megawatt project in Colorado.

By Lena Babaeva Coradini

Speaking of Europe: Sweden plans to build 2,000 wind turbines by 2020!  This move will expand Sweden’s total power production by 25 terrawatt hours from renewable sources, equal to half of power generated by the country’s nuclear reactors in 2009. 

By Lena Babaeva Coradini

Wow, impressive! A German commercial real estate investment company, Jamestown Properties, has decided to go "green" in nearly all of its $4 billion portfolio of buildings located across the United States:

The overhaul involves fixes as simple as installing low-flow water fixtures and as complex as revamping heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems. Jamestown expects to recoup costs through energy savings, the ability to charge higher rents and higher resale values.

What I found most encouraging was reading this opinion:

 “We come at things from a bit of a European perspective, and Europe is far ahead of the United States in the environmental movement,” Mr. Bronfman said. Sustainability “will become a key factor to the point where, if you haven’t taken environmental measures, you will have trouble, whether it’s leasing your office building or what have you,” he added. The company said it would spend $3 million to $10 million to retrofit all of its properties.

Lets hope sustainability will become a key factor, indeed.

By Lena Babaeva Coradini

A bit of Tennessee news—a Florida company has bought Excel Waste, a waste service based in White House, Tenn. The key part of that article for sustainability purposes?

"With the acquisition of this C&D recycling facility, we will give our commercial customers the ability to bid on LEED certified projects [emphasis added] because they know that they have a waste and recycling partner in Advanced Disposal helping them reach their goals of waste reduction and sustainability throughout their business," Advanced Disposal's Mid-South Area President Gerald Greene said in a news release.

The company's rationale for the strategic acquisition shows that sustainability is a rising concern, and it's good PR too.

By Lena Babaeva Coradini

I haven’t seen as much coverage on geothermal power as for other renewable sources, so it was good to see this headline: "Kenya’s Biggest Geothermal Project Planned: 280 MW": 

[A] new $1.3 billion, 280 MW, geothermal project could help the country meet more of the growing demand for electricity.

Kenya’s geothermal potential is quite high – 7000 MW according to the government – but the expected increase in energy consumption is also high. The country’s current peak power demand is around 1,070 MW, with a current generation capacity of 1,160 megawatts, and the projections are for a rise in demand of 10 percent each year over the next twenty.

The newest plant will be the biggest geothermal plant in the country, and is a joint venture between Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) and the engineering firm of Sinclair Knight Merz. Planned capacity of 280 MW will come from four geothermal generators, and the plant is expected to be online by 2013.

By Lena Babaeva Coradini

We held our third breakfast in the Sustainability Breakfast Series yesterday! Organized by Brian Phelps (a landscape architect from Hawkins Partners), Erica Garrison (an attorney at Waller Lansden) and yours truly, the series focuses on different aspects of sustainability. 

The March topic was: Striving for energy efficiency and alternative energy: Creating synergy in Tennessee's built environment.   Our speakers were:

Tabitha Crawford
CEM | Division President
Balfour Beatty Energy Solutions LLC

Kirk Whittington
Business Development - Energy Solutions
SIEMENS Industry, Inc.

Erik Daugherty, MSc
Co-Owner
E3 INNOVATE LLC

Ryan Gooch
Director of the Energy Policy Office
State of Tennessee Economic & Community Development

Jim Purcell
Energy Services Manager
Nashville Electric Service

Ronald B. Merville, Jr. PE
President/CEO
Energy Source Partners

The breakfast fostered great discussion and we would like to thank the speakers for sharing their insight.  Many thanks to all who attended and to Waller Lansden for providing the food and the space for the breakfast!  Thank you to Brian Phelps for moderating this installment of the breakfast series.

If you are interested in reading about the first installation of the breakfast, please see this blog entry.  For information on the second breakfast, click here.

Listed below are the next events in the series:

April 8th - Increasing connectivity: What transportation changes should be coming down the pipeline in Nashville and Middle Tennessee

May 6th - Retrofitting yesterday's buildings to meet tomorrow's energy demands: To replace or to retrofit-that is the questions?

June 3rd - Striving to become the greenest city in the Southeast-What we can do to achieve this goal.

If you would like to attend, the program starts at 7:30 a.m. with  continental breakfast and the roundtable discussion runs from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.  To register or for more information, please contact Aja Hendrix at 615-850-8899 or via email at aja.hendrix@wallerlaw.com.  There's no cost to attend, but seating is limited.

If you have any questions, feel free to email Erica, Brian or me for information.

Thank you!

By Lena Babaeva Coradini

Great news headline featuring Tennessee in the discussion:

"Radioactive Waste Cleanup Project Becomes More Efficient, Greener." 

By Lena Babaeva Coradini

Speaking of key legislation that pertains to climate change: climate scientists are defending their work as the debate over climate change continues to heat up in both the media and the political circuit.