Green Energy Ohio Announces Dates for 2010 Solar Tour

October 2-3, 2010 - Annual Ohio Solar Tour.
Green Energy Ohio welcomes the annual 2010 Ohio Solar Tour! Green Energy Ohio is the Ohio Chapter of the American Solar Energy Society (ASES), and GEO's 8th Annual Ohio Solar Tour is part of the National Solar Tour managed by ASES. This FREE statewide event on October 2 & 3 provides the unique opportunity for people to visit hundreds of Open House Sites and talk with owners living and working with clean energy technologies.

For additional information
http://www.greenenergyohio.org/page.cfm?pageID=3

Shearer's Celebrates Its New "Green" Plant

By Matthew Rink, CantonRep.com
IndeOnline.com staff report
Aug 13, 2010

MASSILLON - Gov. Ted Strickland and U.S. Rep. John Boccieri marched into Shearer's Foods' bright-white and brand-new Millennium Manufacturing Facility. They joined state representatives, Stark County commissioners, the mayor and all the in-the-know and in-the-mix people around.

The guy at the podium was the mover and shaker. But the guy sitting off to the side and in the front was the mastermind of it all.

Jack Shearer celebrated his 83rd birthday Friday, not with birthday candles, but with a ribbon cutting. The tiny snack-food distribution business he started 36 years ago with his wife, Rosemary, has grown into a worldwide leader in the snack-food manufacturing business, with six plants across the country.

But the 47,000-square-foot facility Jack Shearer sat in Friday is the crown jewel of them all, a state-of-the art building recognized as the first platinum-certified Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design manufacturing facility in the world.

To continue reading
http://www.cantonrep.com/news/x1422843664/Shearers-celebrates-its-new-gr...

WKYC Cleveland Series
Lake Erie Beyond the Surface

WKYC Cleveland recently aired an on-going series on Lake Erie. The following link focuses on storm water run-off and its effects on the Lake. Featured in the video is Cawrse & Associates facilities in Chagrin Falls. This development includes numerous applications of on-site storm water management.

To view the segment
http://www.wkyc.com/video/default.aspx?aid=105505#/Lake+Erie%3A+Beyond+t...

The Five Most Important Green Buildings
The Lewis Center at Oberlin College tops the list.

Melissa Hincha-Ownby, 08.13.10, 06:00 AM
Forbes.com

Behind every green building is an architect. A recent survey conducted by Lance Hosey for Architect magazine asked 150 green building experts, including architects, what they thought were the five most important green buildings constructed since 1980. The top vote-getter, with 13 votes, was the Adam Joseph Lewis Center for Environmental Studies in Oberlin, Ohio.

The Lewis Center, which was completed in 2001, is on the campus of Oberlin College & Conservatory. The zero-energy building has classroom and office space, an auditorium, an environmental studies library and a Living Machine wastewater purification system. The building is equipped with solar panels, energy-efficient lighting, a geothermal heating and cooling system, furniture with biodegradable upholstery and more. As Oberlin College prepares to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Lewis Center, the college can add this honor to a long list of awards the building has received.

To continue reading
http://www.forbes.com/2010/08/12/lewis-center-oberlin-technology-green-b...

ZeroLandfill™ Cleveland launches fifth year of upcycling program

ZeroLandfill™, a project of BeeDance, LLC, is launching its fifth year of upcycling programming. Launched in Cleveland in 2006, ZeroLandfill™ fulfills supply needs of the arts and arts educator community while assisting the construction industry in diverting materials from the waste stream. Through industry trade partners, such as the International Interior Design Association and
the American Society of Interior Designers, BeeDance, LLC is rolling out ZeroLandfill™ program sites throughout the country.

Projects scheduled for the fall include Columbus and Cincinnati, Ohio; Detroit and
Grand Rapids, Michigan and Minneapolis, Minnesota, with interest from Atlanta, Georgia to Portland, Oregon. Chattanooga, Tennessee completed their ZeroLandfill™ program in April, 2010 diverting 12,000 pounds in two days.

For more information on ZeroLandfill™
http://zerolandfill.net/

For more information on BeeDance
http://www.beedance.com/

COSE Small Business Energy Efficiency Challenge

From COSE

COSE is launching its first Energy Efficiency Challenge specifically for small businesses. Based on the belief that as the market begins to reward companies, large and small, for energy efficient practices, pressure for energy efficiency in B-to-B and B-to-C transactions will begin to increase.

One grand prize winner will be awarded $10,000. Cash prizes will also be awarded for the following sectors: goods and services, office/retail and home-business. The grand prize winner may not also be a sector winner. In addition, winners will receive a free one year COSE membership and a free one year registration to Green Plus
The cash prizes are as follows:

$10,000 - overall prize winner
$2,500 - goods and services sector
$2,500 - office/retail sector
$1,500 - home business sector

For more information
http://my.cose.org/energy/?axAuth=00000004

I'd love to see more on modern prefab homes as well: http://www.thedailygreen.com/green-homes/latest/modular-homes-green-building-gorgeous

 A real analysis of the true footprints used by eco prefabs would be valuable to consumers and city planners alike.

This is quite a compilation, homes based on shipping containers: http://www.thedailygreen.com/green-homes/latest/shipping-container-homes-460309

James

Another way to continue the green movement is to have an energy audit by a consultant who has attained their BPI Certification. This essentially will demonstrate how efficient your energy use is and determine your carbon footprint. Many are able to save a load of money and help the environment.

www.clevelandhabitat.org

recently, i found that contractors in portland, oregon are responsible for separating recycleables (plastics, cardboard, lumber and gypsum board) on jobs within a specific price range- i believe it is 50,000 and over. i'm curious as to what it would take to get a program like that running in ohio.for the last 10 years, i have worked on the restoration of homes and buildings and have pulled a fair share of recycleables out of trash piles and have separated and taken said items to recycling. it is extremely sad to see the waste that comes from construction projects knowing that probably 75% of that waste could have been recycled and saved from a landfill. now multiply the project i'm invlved in times the number of consruction projects going on daily- that's ALOT of unnecesary waste.  it wasn't until recently that i found out gypsum board (drywall) is recycleable. there is machinery specifically made to reclaim not only the gypsum powder, but the paper backer, too. drywall scraps account for a large portion of overall waste, especially in new construction. just google gypsum board recycling and learn all the facts. if an incentave coulod be made for contractors to recycle, i wonder if any would climb aboard the green wagon? someone would also have to assume responsibility of buying nthe machinery to recycle the product...... any takers?

7 World Trade Center and Hearst Building: New York's test cases for environmentally aware office towers.

With all the new development around University Circle, which new developments will be green buildings? Hmm… Maybe the West Quad, MOCA, CIA’s new ARTY APTS? With health the focus of the massive building projects being undertaken by Cleveland Clinic Foundation, which of them are green buildings?

Jeff Buster poses questions about Gehry/Lewis collaboration at Case here.
It is an interesting discussion about concern for aesthetics vs. concern for the environment as they relate to architecture. Can it be green and beautiful and affordable simultaneously? And, a pressing question -- when will Cleveland get its big, newsworthy, new and fancy green building that will attract the public? Offices are one thing, but a museum, a theater; a gathering place is entirely different from a media standpoint.

With all that glass, will the CMA be able to afford to heat and cool the lobby of their new building re-design? Maybe they have a green plan for said challenge. If so, they might do well to suggest it to the media. It could reassure the art-loving public that museum goers will not be footing that gas bill with admission fees in the future.