Recomendados
Recomendados
Más contenido relacionado
Similar a Easy Being Green
Similar a Easy Being Green (15)
Easy Being Green
- 1. Eco-Innovation “ There once was a town in the heart of America where all life seemed to live in harmony……...” Rachel Carson from Silent Spring A Fable for Tomorrow:
- 4. Herman Miller Mirra Chair: Design Within Reach
- 7. Design Environment Protocol DFE
- 8. Interview with Brian Walker CEO Herman Miller “Ultimately businesses will be judged by their contribution to humanity…….”
- 9. Powers of 10 Analysis
- 10. Manufacturer of Specialty Chemicals for Transportation & Industry $ 1.7 Billion Annual Sales Environmentally Sound Fuel Additive
- 14. RedZone Robotics: Powers of 10 Approach
- 15. RedZone Robotics: Case Study: City of Palo Alto, California
- 16. New Balance: Team Approach to Problem Solving
- 19. Intelligent Product Systems Film: Waste = Food
- 20. Cradle to Cradle: Rohner Textile- Switzerland
- 22. 10 Acres of Roof Top
- 23. 10 Acres of Roof Top Cont.
- 25. SMaRT Sustainable Gold Rating of Chadwick Chair
- 28. Ben & Jerry´s
- 29. Ben & Jerry´s Ben & Jerry's Thoughts on.....Federal Spending and Priority Pie America stands first in nuclear defense capabilities and first in nuclear defense expenditures among industrialized countries. And it's not even close! But America ranks only... 14th in efforts to lift children out of poverty; 18th in the percentage of children in poverty; And last (yes, last!) in providing health insurance for all children. It might make you wonder if something is out-of-whack with the U.S. federal discretionary spending pie. Perhaps some slices are too big, while others are too small? Consider these facts: The United States spends nearly $30 billion annually on nuclear deterrence, including strategic and tactical nuclear weapons and missile defense systems. That's about the same amount we spent, on average, during the Cold War that ended sixteen years ago. Our nuclear stockpile today includes nearly 10,000 warheads. Their destructive force would stack up against 150,000 Hiroshima- sized bombs. Meanwhile, according to the experts, as much as $13 billion could be cut from U.S. nuclear spending each year without compromising our national security or our standing as the world's strongest nuclear power. We think those funds would be better invested in programs that benefit America's children. Just $1 billion a year would be enough to fully immunize every two-year old who has not already been vaccinated against preventable childhood disease. $2 billion annually could provide health insurance for 1 million of America's 9 million uninsured children. $5 billion a year would allow us to cover Head Start for every eligible child not currently enrolled in the program. It's as easy as pie to visualize the possibilities... We believe there's ample opportunity in the Federal budget to do what's right for America's kids. Don't you? Tell Congress to... Step up and deliver a budget that supports our children as well as our national defense. Re-order Federal spending priorities to ensure that America's children get a bigger slice of the pie. Speak your piece. Take action at the Children's Defense Fund Thanks to our friends at the Children's Defense Fund, the Center for Defense Information, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the National Priorities Project for helping us gather the information used in this position paper.
- 30. NIKE Considered
- 32. Al Gore The Earth in Balance: A Global Marshall Plan
Notas del editor
- Rachel Carson, marine biologist and writer, started serializing Silent Spring in June 1962, and it was published in book form later that year. When the book Silent Spring was published, Rachel Carson was already a well-known writer on natural history, but had not previously been a social critic. The book was widely read (especially after its selection by the Book-of-the-Month Club and the New York Times best-seller list), and inspired widespread public concerns with pesticides and pollution of the environment. Silent Spring facilitated the ban of the pesticide DDT[2] in 1972 in the United States. The book documented detrimental effects of pesticides on the environment, particularly on birds. Carson said that DDT had been found to cause thinner egg shells and result in reproductive problems and death. She also accused the chemical industry of spreading disinformation, and public officials of accepting industry claims uncritically. Eco-innovation is a term used to describe products and processes that contribute to sustainable development. Eco-innovation is the commercial application of knowledge to elicit direct or indirect ecological improvements. It is often used to describe a range of related ideas, from environmentally friendly technological advances to socially-acceptable innovative paths towards sustainability. Sustainable design (also referred to as "green design", "eco-design", or "design for environment") is the art of designing physical objects, the built environment and services to comply with the principles of economic, social, and ecological sustainability. It ranges from the microcosm of designing small objects for everyday use, through to the macrocosm of designing buildings, cities, and the earth's physical surface. It is a growing trend within the fields of architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, urban planning, engineering, graphic design, industrial design, interior design and fashion design. The needed aim of sustainable design is to produce places, products and services in a way that reduces use of non-renewable resources, minimizes environmental impact, and relates people with the natural environment. Sustainable design is often viewed as a necessary tool for achieving sustainability. It is related to the more heavy-industry-focused fields of industrial ecology and green chemistry, sharing tools such as life cycle assessment to judge the environmental impact or "greenness" of various design choices. In 2003, Kristine Hill published an article that defines "good" "better" and "best" ecological or green design. She argues that "good green design" enables biological functions that are important to the ecological health of its setting, is more cost-effective than existing methods, and fulfills ecological, social and cultural functions. "Better green design" addresses functions that are strategically critical to the health of a given environment. Finally, "best green design" demonstrates its benefits in measurable ways, and is up to date with current scientific and engineering innovation, as well as with social and ethical issues. Each form attempts to improve current environmental conditions, and the methods become more strategic and specific. [1] Sustainable design is general reaction to the global "environmental crisis", i.e., rapid growth of economic activity and human population, depletion of natural resources, damage to ecosystems and loss of biodiversity.[2] The appearance is that our growing use of the earth has exceeded the sustainable limits of the earth importantly because of continually increasing investment in diminishing resources. associated with goods and services. Green design is considered a means of doing that while maintaining quality of life by using clever design to substitute less harmful products and processes for conventional ones. The limits of green design in reducing whole earth impacts are beginning to be considered because growth in goods and services is consistently outpacing gains in efficiency. As a result the net effect of sustainable design to date has been to simply improve the efficiency of rapidly increasing impacts. The present approach, which focuses on the efficiency of delivering individual goods and services does not solve this problem. The basic dilemmas not yet well addressed include: the increasing complexity of efficiency improvements, the difficulty of implementing new technologies in societies built around old ones, that physical impacts of delivering goods and services are not localized but distributed throughout the economies, and that the scale of resource uses is growing and not stabilizing. 'Transformative' technologies are hoped for, but workable options are not yet evident. Only if the scale of resource uses stabilizes will the efficiency of how they are each delivered result in reducing total impacts.
- 20 minutes to play www.storyofstuff.com What is the Story of Stuff? From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.
- Theory The phrase refers to the idea that a butterfly's wings might create tiny changes in the atmosphere that may ultimately alter the path of a tornado or delay, accelerate or even prevent the occurrence of a tornado in a certain location. The flapping wing represents a small change in the initial condition of the system, which causes a chain of events leading to large-scale alterations of events. Had the butterfly not flapped its wings, the trajectory of the system might have been vastly different. While the butterfly does not cause the tornado, the flap of its wings is an essential part of the initial conditions resulting in a tornado. Recurrence, the approximate return of a system towards its initial conditions, together with sensitive dependence on initial conditions are the two main ingredients for chaotic motion. They have the practical consequence of making complex systems, such as the weather, difficult to predict past a certain time range (approximately a week in the case of weather). [edit] Origin of the concept and the term The term "butterfly effect" itself is related to the work of Edward Lorenz,and is based in Chaos Theory and sensitive dependence on initial conditions, first described in the literature by Jacques Hadamard in 1890[1] and popularized by Pierre Duhem's 1906 book. The idea that one butterfly could have a far-reaching ripple effect on subsequent events seems first to have appeared in a 1952 short story by Ray Bradbury about time travel ( see Literature and print here) although Lorenz made the term popular. In 1961, Lorenz was using a numerical computer model to rerun a weather prediction, when, as a shortcut on a number in the sequence, he entered the decimal .506 instead of entering the full .506127 the computer would hold. The result was a completely different weather scenario.[2] Lorenz published his findings in a 1963 paper for the New York Academy of Sciences noting that "One meteorologist remarked that if the theory were correct, one flap of a seagull's wings could change the course of weather forever." Later speeches and papers by Lorenz used the more poetic butterfly. According to Lorenz, upon failing to provide a title for a talk he was to present at the 139th meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1972, Philip Merilees concocted Does the flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas as a title. Although a butterfly flapping its wings has remained constant in the expression of this concept, the location of the butterfly, the consequences, and the location of the consequences have varied widely.[3] These figures show two segments of the three-dimensional evolution of two trajectories (one in blue, the other in yellow) for the same period of time in the Lorenz attractor starting at two initial points that differ only by 10-5 in the x-coordinate. Initially, the two trajectories seem coincident, as indicated by the small difference between the z coordinate of the blue and yellow trajectories, but for t > 23 the difference is as large as the value of the trajectory. The final position of the cones indicates that the two trajectories are no longer coincident at t=30.
- Herman Miller´s Mirra chair is an example of how trends can be identified and translated into PRODUCT:The INNOVATION team designed a chair to identify the needs of the AGING BABY BOOMERS with BACK problems. Award winning chair at NeoCon. PROCESS: HM hired Studio 7.5 to create a chair that would be as comfortable as an athletic shoe. HM had in place an environmentally friendly approach to help designers ensure that material and manufacturing decisions would be the best from an environment perspective. Products would be designed for disassemble, reuse, and recycling. Studio 7.5 designers teamed with Scott Charon in marketing and material purchasing and Chemical Engineer, Gabe Wong to make sure that the design would include the best possible solution environmentally.
- No adjustment needed. The pliable, elastic TriFlex back supports the entire spine and conforms to size, posture, and movements.Passive PostureFit performance. A camber shape at the base of the back gives healthful, comfortable support to the lower back below the beltline. Economic Ergonomic Ecological Rather than relying on any individual in the firm, Studio 7.5 works as a team, without titles or hierarchy. The Mirra chair is a product of their collective imagination, talent, and persistence--along with a willingness to break the mold in order to create a chair that sets a new standard for comfort, fit, balanced ride, and visual refinement in its price range. Studio 7.5 envisioned a chair that reacts to what people do. Part of the concept was to make the chair like a second skin, like a shadow of the sitter.
- Studio 7.5 wanted to make one back and seat to fit the whole spectrum of people. By achieving this goal, it allowed HM to have to manufacture only a one size chair, which cuts costs on tooling, manufacturing and inventory. This was done using a plastic material for the back membrane that enhanced by a series of organic shaped holes, has the right flex to conform to different size backs. The support of the membrane is done via a Y bar that went through several redesigns because it originally did not meet the design team´s environmental standard. The end result is a chair that is 96 per cent recyclable.
- Design for the Environment As Herman Miller continues its "Journey toward Sustainability," designing our products with consideration for their environmental impact remains a central corporate strategy. Our long-term emphasis on product durability, innovation, and quality demonstrates that our company has effectively designed for the environment for decades. (As proof, one need only consider the many classic Herman Miller products manufactured in the 1950s and still in use today.) Our focus now is on maintaining our high standards while incorporating increasingly more environmentally sustainable materials, features, and manufacturing processes into new product designs. Our Design for the Environment (DfE) team, which is responsible for developing environmentally sensitive design standards for new and existing Herman Miller products, has initiated a protocol to guide this effort. McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBDC), a product and industrial process design firm led by leading-edge environmental designers and thinkers Bill McDonough and Michael Braungart, supports the DfE team in its mission. Not coincidentally, McDonough's architectural firm, William McDonough + Partners, designed the Herman Miller Greenhouse in Holland, Michigan.The MBDC Cradle to Cradle Design Protocol adopted by Herman Miller goes beyond regulatory compliance to thoroughly evaluate new product designs in three key areas: Material Chemistry and Safety of Inputs--What chemicals are in the materials we specify, and are they the safest available? Disassembly--Can we take products apart at the end of their useful life to recycle their materials? Recyclability--Do the materials contain recycled content, and more importantly, can the materials be recycled at the end of the product's useful life? Our commitment to designing for the environment extends beyond a single token product to incorporate a comprehensive, holistic approach. All future Herman Miller products will be evaluated within the rigors of the MBDC Cradle to Cradle Design Protocol. During the new product design process, the DfE team meets with the designers and engineers to review material chemistry, disassembly and recyclability as well as incoming packaging, and potential waste generation. By looking closely at these and related issues, as well as conducting rigorous durability testing, our goal is to ensure that all new Herman Miller products will help create great working environments, while also respecting and protecting our natural environment.
- The genius of Herman Miller's R&D folks is in knowing how to put the right constraints in place so that we end up not only with a great statement of design, a great innovation, but something that solves real problems for customers and has commercial value. It's easy in some ways to come up with great designs that don't have commercial value, but to have great design that solves real problems and creates commercial value, that's where the genius comes in. That's where our R&D people make their real contribution; it's their ability to know how to put the right constraints in place to push the creative network to a different place. Herman Miller still abides 'Ultimately businesses will be judged by their contribution to humanity by the environmental values of your founder D.J. DePree. What formed his beliefs? To paraphrase DePree: 'Ultimately businesses will be judged by their contribution to humanity and we have a duty to be good stewards of the environment.' D.J. had a deep sense that we don't really own these resources in the long run, we simply are borrowing them, and we need to pass them on to future generations in good order. That's the underpinning of Herman Miller's environmental values. Aside from the moral obligation, there's an economic return, if we're good at it. We have 10 target goals set for 2010 that we call "The Power of Ten." They are part of our ultimate "2020 Vision" of leaving no operational footprint on the environment by the year 2020. A second commitment is that 50% of our sales must come from products that meet the Design for the Environment protocol (DFE) established with the help of Bill McDonough, Michael Braungart and their Cradle-to-Cradle principles. Our Mirra chair was the first non-textile product to meet DFE in our industry. Now we require all of our new products to go through DFE analysis before they're launched.
- Summary The film begins with an aerial image of a man reclining on a blanket; the view is that of one meter across. The viewpoint, accompanied by expository voiceover by Philip Morrison, then slowly zooms out to a view ten meters across (or 101 m in standard form), revealing that the man is picnicking in a park with a female companion. The zoom-out continues (at a rate of one power of ten per 10 seconds), to a view of 100 meters (10² m), then 1 kilometre (10³ m), and so on, increasing the perspective—the picnic is revealed to be taking place near Soldier Field on Chicago's lakefront—and continuing to zoom out to a field of view of 1024 meters, or the size of the observable universe. The camera then zooms back in at a rate of a power of ten per 2 seconds to the picnic, and then slows back down to its original rate to views of negative powers of ten—10-1 m (10 centimeters), and so forth, until carbon nucleus is visible inside the man's hand at a range of 10-16 meter. Powers of Ten is a 1977 short documentary film written and directed by Ray Eames and her husband, Charles Eames. The film depicts the relative scale of the Universe in factors of ten (see also logarithmic scale and order of magnitude). The film is a modern adaptation of the 1957 book Cosmic View by Kees Boeke---and more recently is the basis of a new book version. Both adaptations, film and book, follow the form of the Boeke original, adding color and photography to the black and white drawings employed by Boeke in his seminal work. (Boeke's original concept and visual treatment is all too often uncredited or insufficiently credited in contemporary accounts.) In 1998, Powers of Ten was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
- The Lubrizol Corporation is an innovative specialty chemical company that produces and supplies technologies that improve the quality and performance of our customers' products in the global transportation, industrial and consumer markets. These technologies include lubricant additives for engine oils, other transportation-related fluids and industrial lubricants, as well as fuel additives for gasoline and diesel fuel. In addition, Lubrizol makes ingredients and additives for personal care products and pharmaceuticals; specialty materials, including plastics technology; and performance coatings in the form of specialty resins and additives. Lubrizol's industry-leading technologies in additives, ingredients and compounds enhance the quality, performance and value of customers' products, while reducing their environmental impact. Originally L. provided solutions for the oil and transportation industry, in a seamless manner by providing DIRECTLY their transportation customer. In the 1990´s their profits began to dry up and they had to look for other sources of revenues. They decided to move to a more CUSTOMER DRIVEN company looking into the needs of the customers and used INNOVATION as a means for growth! They knew that they had technological expertise and decided to focus on that the bring environmental solutions to their customer NEED s and discovered an unmet NEED in the auto industry.
- The Lubrizol research team developed PuriNOx a diesel fuel for buses and on highway diesel fleets that blended together oil and water. It was known to remove particulates and NOx nitrous oxide from the combustion process. However, here is what is looked like:
- A milky white liquid that NO truck driver would dare put into his engine ! Additionally it was more expensive than diesel fuel. So, although they had developed a product that would meet their customer´s needs, the challenge for the innovation team was to find a new way to market PuriNOx. Early within the product launch L. began a campaign to EDUCATE the stakeholders on it´s use and turned a potentially flat product launch into a successful one.
- Last, but not least. The higher prices were mitigated by also educating their customers in LA, Houston and Sacramento about the tax incentives for using PuriNOx.
- Multi-Sensor Inspection RedZone provides leading edge inspection services for large diameter pipes and other demanding wastewater infrastructures. We provide customized reports that enable you to determine where to clean, dig, and re-line. Our powerful robotic platforms reach inaccessible pipe locations and are often used to generate as-built drawings for new construction or validate rehabilitation. RedZone’s multi-sensor inspection service delivers a 3D digital representation of wastewater pipes right to your desktop. We have made breakthroughs in multi-frequency sonar, 3D spinning laser and gyroscopic technologies that produce highly accurate pipe graphs and images, greatly increasing your ability to assess your pipe infrastructure. Founded in 1987 by Carnegie Mellon University Fredkin Research Professor and robotics veteran Willliam "Red" Whittaker and former CEO Todd Simonds, RedZone operated as a research and development-driven organization that designed and manufactured robots to perform tasks in environments that were prohibitive to human intervention. These projects included the Chernobyl and Three Mile Island nuclear plant disasters. In 2003, RedZone repositioned itself under new management as an industry-leading robotics company focused on developing automated trenchless technology solutions for several industry sectors. RedZone has generated significant interest from the marketplace, including major metropolitan municipalities across the U.S. RedZone’s current management team is comprised of start-up experts and veterans in the fields of robotics, environmental engineering, pipe rehabilitation and water/wastewater who have a keen understanding of the challenges the industry is facing. The company’s close ties and access to researchers at Carnegie Mellon University give RedZone a distinct competitive advantage and make it the leader in trenchless technology. Here's what the EPA has to say about sewer rehabilitation: "Sanitary sewer collection systems are designed to remove wastewater from homes and other buildings and convey it to a wastewater treatment plant. The collection system is a critical element in the successful performance of the wastewater treatment process. EPA estimates that collection systems in the U.S. have a total replacement value between $1 and $2 trillion. Under certain conditions, poorly designed, built, managed, operated, and/or maintained systems can pose risks to public health, the environment, or both. These risks arise from sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs) from the collection system or by compromised performance of the wastewater treatment plant. Effective and continuous management, operation, and maintenance, as well as ensuring adequate capacity and rehabilitation when necessary, are critical to maintaining collection system capacity and performance while extending the life of the system." (EPA's : Guide For Evaluating Capacity, Management, Operation, And Maintenance Programs At Sanitary Sewer Collection Systems)
- Save money by inspecting before sewer cleaning Spring weather is here and that usually means spring cleaning on all fronts, including the sewer system after a long winter. It's the time that formal bids and RFP's are prepared in anticipation for the upcoming work to inspect and clean the sewer system. The key slogan should be "inspect before you clean" and not "clean before you inspect". Would you budget and pay a carpet cleaning company to vacuum your entire house if you only had one room of carpet to clean and the rest was tile? Certainly not. Even more certainly, you wouldn't want to pay for cleaning a pipe that may not need to be cleaned. You can get better bids and tremendous savings with new technology - technology that allows you to inspect your sewers without the expense of bypass pumping. Here's a recent inspect-before-you-clean project with a triple digit return on investment: The City of Palo Alto knew that they needed to clean their sewer pipes - but first, they retained RedZone to inspect them. The result was a total savings of $330K and a ROI of 182% on just the RedZone investment. Typical with most municipalities, Palo Alto visually inspected manholes for debris depths and specified a sewer cleaning project based on those estimates. Using this method, the City felt they needed to clean 9,875 lf of 48" - 72" large diameter sewer pipe. Proposals were received by a number of contractors, in August 2006. The lowest bid at this point was $955K. Before proceeding, Palo Alto retained RedZone to verify sediment location and quantification in the sewer using its Responder system and SONAR sensor. Since Responder is digitally controlled and hydraulically driven, RedZone was able to navigate and inspect while the large diameter sewer pipes remained in service, eliminating the need for costly bypass pumping. The results of the precleaning sediment sewer inspection were remarkable. As suspected by the city's engineers, a contiguous part of the original scope of work was virtually free of debris. Further investigation also showed that this part of the sewer cleaning project was located in a marsh and had severe access and potential environmental issues. Of the original 9,875 lf of original scope, only 5,573 lf needed to be cleaned. The scope of work was reduced 43% (4,032 lf) and the project was put back out to bid. The City has received the bids, which are within budget, and recently awarded the contract. Return on Investment (ROI) Lowest initial sewer cleaning bid was $955,064. Palo Alto engaged RedZone to inspect sewer pipe and provide data to publish an improved and more detailed specification. Palo Alto received new bids that included sewer cleaning only the sections that were needed based on the in-service inspection and eliminated those that did not. Net Savings: Palo Alto's return on the sewer inspection investment was almost $330,000 or 182%, after including the cost of RedZone's work. Many thanks to Jame of the City of Palo Alto for his help with this case study -- from the whole team at RedZone Use SONAR to meet your EPA requirements In May 1995 the EPA published nine minimum sewage requirements. One of them, Control #2 (Maximum Use of the Collection System for Storage) requires relatively simple modifications to the combined sewer to enable the system to store wet weather flows until downstream sewers and treatment facilities can handle them. Another one, Control #3 (Maximization of Flow to the Plant for Treatment) requires municipalities to determine the capacity of the major interceptors that deliver flows to the plant. Knowing the location and quantity of sediment are a big part of these two controls. While the municipality of Palo Alto used SONAR to figure out what needed to be cleaned (and thereby reduced their costs), other municipalities use the same technique to figure out what needs to be cleaned (and then they can meet these two EPA requirements. Not to mention the money they save by cleaning only linear feet that require sewer cleaning.)
- New Balance is a midsized company in Boston, privately held in the athletic shoe business. It´s niche is the running shoe for the serious athlete. Their shoes are known for quality. They have positioned themselves as being on the cutting edge of technology in material use, ergonomics of fit, and aesthetic trends. They are not your trendy Chucks !!! Under the direction of Edith Harmon, a mechanical engineer and artist lover, this department is known for their integrated team work for developing, testing, manufacturing and launching new products. Her focus in on process and not the end result. Each team has no duplication of talent and each person's perspective is respected. She approached Carnegie Mellon University because she wanted the university to use it´s course Integrated Product Development to explore new opportunities for NB. She wanted to see what integrated teams of students could achieve with direction from faculty and her NB group, because their performance would illustrate what could be achieved with similar teams in-house. The course integrated teams of students in industrial design, engineering, marketing, supported by 4 faculty staff. The course yielded 6 successful product concepts for NB through 6 student teams in 16 weeks. Demonstrating the payoff success of the innovation process.
- This is one of NB´s shoes, as an example of product. One of the teams chose to develop a shoe for people who are overweigh, focusing on the trend of obesity in America. Here they saw a gap between product and one of the SET factors. Which? 1. Identifying Product Opportunities; A more sedentary populace expands the market for equipment used in LOW EXERTION EXERCIE like walking. However, heavier people put more stress on the shoes, and increases the need for high performance materials that can handle more weight. Customer based interviews and current literature and research gave insight to the product opportunity Through this research it was decided to target the middle aged American male. 2. KEY PHASE; Understanding the Product Opportunities; This is where customer VALUE for buying the new product is researched. The team identifies a scenario rather than statistics from interviewing potential buyers. They found 7 areas of Value Add for the buyer; emotion, ergonomics, aesthetics, identity, impact, core technology, and quality. The team found that exercise does not have to be relegated to a reserved part of the day, and small bouts of exercise scattered through out the day like walking to the car, metro, office etc., would be beneficial to the walker. Lack of time was the number one reason for inactivity. Overweight men were too busy for an aerobic workout and didn´t want to consider large lifestyle changes. However, they were amenable to small exercise bouts.
- 3. Conceptualizing the Product Opportunity, In this phase, feedback generates actual concepts. Innovation comes from being true to the VALUE PROPOSITIONS and ALL aspects of the product through many iterations are VISUALIZED: The team sketched and mapped out 50 different concepts, deciding on the concept of the SMART INOLE: which would track and record exercise throughout the day. A key fob would record the transmitted information. 4. Realizing the PRODUCT OPPORTUNITY, the product is then priced, hard designed, prototyped, packaged, store designs realized, roll out strategy developed, and forecasts of sales and profit are made. The insole design was prototyped to prove that it worked, and anlyzed to prove that it would work as promised, anmd visualized to show what a production version would look like. It is now ready for patenting. RUNNINGFor Fall 2005, the M/W970 will be introduced in the Cushioning segment of the running category. New Abzorb® EX premier cushioning technology in the heel and forefoot provides exceptional shock absorption and combines with a C-Cap® midsole and a Stability Web® for lightweight flexibility and cushioning. The all-new N-Vent™ midsole ventilation system provides for optimal airflow, the N-Lock™ system offers midfoot support, and a gusseted tongue works to keep debris out of the shoe, making the 970 a perfect choice for unsurpassed performance, fit and feel. The 970 will be available in two colors for men and one color for women in July. MSRP = $85.00
- Go to YouTube.com
- McDONOUGH & BraungartDarden Business School USA» University of Virginia, School of Engineering and Applied Science» Designtex A + B» Rohner Textil AG A + B + C + D + E» IMD Lausanne Switzerland Surviving the impossible Leaveraging Sustainability Cradle to Cradle Design (sometimes abbreviated to C2C or in some circles referred to as regenerative) is a biomimetic approach to the design of systems. It models human industry on nature's processes in which materials are viewed as nutrients circulating in healthy, safe metabolisms. It suggests that industry must protect and enrich ecosystems and nature's biological metabolism while also maintaining safe, productive technical metabolism for the high-quality use and circulation of organic and synthetic materials. Put simply, it is a holistic economic, industrial and social framework that seeks to create systems that are not just efficient but essentially waste free.[1] The model in its broadest sense is not limited to industrial design and manufacturing; it can be applied to many different aspects of human civilisation such as urban environments, buildings, economics and social systems. The phrase "Cradle to Cradle" itself was coined by Walter R. Stahel in the 1970's, and the current model is based on a system of "lifecycle development" initiated by Michael Braungart and colleagues at the Environmental Protection Encouragement Agency (EPEA) in the 1990s and explored through the publication A Technical Framework for Life-Cycle Assessment. In partnership with Braungart, William McDonough released the publication Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things in 2002, which is an effective manifesto for Cradle to Cradle Design that gives specific details of how to achieve the model. The model has been implemented by several companies, organisations and governments around the world, particularly in China and the US. Cradle to Cradle has also been the subject matter of many documentary films, including the critically acclaimed Waste=Food.
- The Ford River Rouge Complex (commonly known as the Rouge Complex or just The Rouge) is a Ford Motor Company automobile factory complex located in Dearborn, Michigan, along the Rouge River, upstream from its confluence with the Detroit River at Zug Island. Construction began in 1917, and when it was completed in 1928 it had become the largest integrated factory in the world.
- Ford Rouge Dearborn Truck Plant Dearborn, Michigan Lying at the center of the Ford Rouge revitalization project, this new assembly plant represents the client's bold efforts to rethink the ecological footprint of a large manufacturing facility. The design synthesizes an emphasis on a safe and healthy workplace with an approach that optimizes the impact of industrial activity on the external environment. The keystone of the site stormwater management system is the plant's 10-acre (454,000 sf) "living" roof --- the largest in the world. This green roof is expected to retain half the annual rainfall that falls on its surface. The roof will also provide habitat, decrease the building's energy costs, and protect the roof membrane from thermal shock and UV degradation, thereby extending its life. An innovative and inexpensive hanging trellis with deciduous climbing vines envelops many areas of the plant's exterior, creating both shade and additional habitat. Worker amenities inside the plant include light monitors and skylights that ensure abundant daylight on the factory floor. Above the activity of the main work areas, mezzanine-level walkways house team rooms and a cafeteria. An innovative air delivery system, in which the building serves as a giant pressurized duct, produces breakthroughs in energy use, operational flexibility, and worker comfort. With the sound of nesting songbirds chirping over factory workers’ heads, the new Dearborn Truck Plant offers a glimpse of the transformative possibilities suggested by this new model for sustaining industry. Client: Ford Motor CompanyProgram: Automotive manufacturing, administration, & employee amenitiesArea: 1,159,000 sfStatus: Opening mid-2004WM+P Role: Sustainable Design ConsultantArchitect: Arcadis GiffelsGeneral Contractor: Walbridge Aldinger
- Architecture In 1999 Architect William McDonough entered into an agreement with Ford Motor Company to redesign its 85-year-old, 1,212-acre (4.90 km2) Rouge River facility.[6] The roof of the 1.1 million square foot (100,000 m²) Dearborn truck assembly plant was covered with more than 10 acres (40,000 m²) of sedum, a low-growing ground cover. The sedum retains and cleanses rain water, as well as moderating the internal temperature of the building, to save energy. The roof is part of an $18 million rainwater treatment system designed to clean 20 billion gallons (76,000,000 m³) of rainwater annually, and sparing Ford from a $50 million mechanical treatment facility.[7] Of all the innovations coming out of the revitalization of the Ford Rouge Center, nothing has attracted more interest than the living roof now growing on top of the new Dearborn Truck Plant final assembly building. At 454,000 square feet, it is the largest living roof in the world, effectively turning the roof into a 10.4-acre garden. Cleaner storm waterThe living roof’s primary function is to collect and filter rainfall as part of a natural storm water management system. Working together, the living roof, porous pavement, underground storage basins, natural treatment wetlands and vegetated swales significantly reduce the amount of storm water flowing into the Rouge River, while also improving water quality. Cooler surroundingsPlanted with sedum—a drought-resistant perennial groundcover also known as stonecrop—the living roof helps reduce the urban “heat effect” created by acres of tarred and paved surfaces. It also insulates the building, reducing heating and cooling costs by up to 5 percent. The sedum traps air-borne dust and dirt, absorbs carbon dioxide, and creates oxygen, all of which help improve air quality. The living roof also creates habitat for birds, butterflies and insects. Longer roof lifeBy protecting the under-lying roof structure from ultraviolet radiation and the thermal shock (expansion and contraction) caused by warm days and cool nights, the living roof is expected to last at least twice as long as a conventional roof. This could save millions of dollars in roof replacement costs. Lightweight designSedum on the living roof is planted in a thin, four-layer, mat-like system instead of loose soil. Even when soaked with water, this innovative vegetation blanket weighs less than 15 pounds per square foot. Where to view itDuring the Ford Rouge Factory Tour, visitors will have the opportunity to see the living roof from an 80-foot observation deck atop the Visitor Center. Planted with a drought-resistant groundcover called sedum, the living roof offers many advantages over conventional tar and metal roofs. Courtesy Ford Motor Company. On Ford’s living roof, sedum plants grow in a four-layer, vegetated mat, rather than in loose soil. The plants collect and filter storm water runoff. Courtesy Ford Motor Company.
- The short answer is SMaRT (Sustainable Materials Rating Technology) is transparent, has legitimate and verified chain of custody, requires third party audits, will de-certify for non-compliance, meets FTC requirements, has social equity criteria, quantifies Climate Change Impact, and is an approved standard. Cradle to Cradle, from what we can see that is made public, doesn't do this.
- Its Active Suspension™ technology couples a unique synchronized recline with a proprietary elastomeric fabric that together anticipate and respond to your body’s movements throughout the day with energizing comfort and a supportive ride. Chadwick strikes the perfect balance of simplicity and innovation that is just right. Control Mechanism Active Suspension™; including:Synchronized recline with tilt tensionResilient suspension seat and back fabric Standard Features • Active Suspension™ withsynchronized recline and tilt tension• Elastomeric suspension fabric in nine colors• Built-in variable seat depth and forward tilt• Three arm options or armless Sustainable Design • Rated Sustainable Gold under the SMART© Consensus Sustainable Product Standard • GREENGUARD Indoor Air Quality Certified® • GREENGUARD Children & Schools Certified • Recycled content of 35% • 42% of component parts are readily recyclable • Constructed using minimal materials • Manufactured using clean technologies in the Knoll LEED® Gold and ISO 14001 Certified Lubin Building, where energey use is offset with electricty generated by wind power • Chadwick can contribute to achieving LEED® credits • Chadwick chairs comply with ANSI/BIFMA guidelines for durability. The dimensional guidelines comply with the BIFMA G1 guidelines.
- Milliken's Modular Carpeting: Healthy Fabric Underfoot THE BEST OF GREEN DESIGN: Today’s tightly sealed homes are good for energy bills, but bad for indoor air quality. Chemicals seeping from paints, furniture, flooring and cabinetry reach levels five times those found outdoors. Look to these safer alternatives. Milliken's modular carpeting (above) contains no PVCs and is backed with a bio-based friction coating that doesn’t require adhesives, which vent volatile organic compounds. The company takes back all its used carpeting, reconditioning modules for resale in the Earth Square line.
- Once again, Ben & Jerry’s is out to start a revolution! This time, it’s a technological revolution — by introducing a new kind of clean, green freezer to the United States. What’s the big deal? These new freezers use alternative refrigerants that, unlike current freezer gases, do not contribute to global warming nor the deterioration of the earth’s ozone layer if released to the atmosphere. That’s two big leaps forward on the path to more environmentally friendly refrigeration! Starting in the fall of 2008, we’ll be running trials of these hydrocarbon (HC) freezers in the Boston and DC areas while we seek approval for widespread commercial use from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). If — and when — we gain EPA approval, we’ll share the technology far and wide, with the long-term goal to make HC freezers the standard in the United States. So what’s the need for new freezing technology? Most small freezers in the United States today use hydrofluorocarbon gases (HFCs) to generate cooling. HFCs work well in freezers, but they have a significant downside. With help from our friends at Greenpeace, we have learned that HFCs are among a group of refrigerants, known as “F-gases”, that are highly potent greenhouse gases. The most commonly used HFC (HFC134a) has a global warming potential (GWP) of 3,200. This means that a ton of this gas in the atmosphere has the same global warming effect as 3,200 tons of carbon dioxide. The problem is that, under normal use, freezers leak a small amount of these F-gases each year. Over time, all those leaking freezers as well as disposal at end of useful life can make a significant contribution to the problems of global warming. We believe HC freezers can be a big part of the solution. The HC gases we’re using in our Cleaner, Greener Freezers — purified propane — are just as effective at cooling a freezer as HFCs and are 10% more energy efficient. But HC’s contribute almost nothing to global warming, and have zero impact on ozone depletion. Now, that’s progress! Hydrocarbon (HC) refrigerants are already in use around the globe. Household freezers and small commercial freezers outside the US have successfully used these hydrocarbon-based refrigerants for the last few years. So why has the US not adopted this technology? First, the three butane-lighters-worth of gas that is contained in the freezers is flammable. So, before we place any HC cabinets for commercial use, first we made sure the cabinets were tested and approved by Underwriters Laboratories to ensure they could be operated safely. Second, the EPA requires that any new alternative gases go through a rigorous evaluation process known as SNAP (Significant New Alternatives Policy). This program is designed to evaluate and regulate substances for ozone-depleting chemicals being phased out under the Clean Air Act. Where does this leave Ben & Jerry’s? Fortunately we are able to conduct a trial of HC freezers in the US while we go through the lengthy SNAP process. In August 2008 the cabinets to be used in our trial received the first ever UL safety approval of an HC cabinet design. And in September of 2008, we submitted our formal SNAP petition to the EPA for consideration. We are excited to be the first company to test this environmentally friendly refrigerant in the United States — and to start the freezer revolution! ShareThis
- Ben & Jerry's Thoughts on... ...Federal Spending and Priority Pie America stands first in nuclear defense capabilities and first in nuclear defense expenditures among industrialized countries. And it's not even close! But America ranks only...14th in efforts to lift children out of poverty;18th in the percentage of children in poverty; And last (yes, last!) in providing health insurance for all children. It might make you wonder if something is out-of-whack with the U.S. federal discretionary spending pie. Perhaps some slices are too big, while others are too small? Consider these facts: The United States spends nearly $30 billion annually on nuclear deterrence, including strategic and tactical nuclear weapons and missile defense systems. That's about the same amount we spent, on average, during the Cold War that ended sixteen years ago. Our nuclear stockpile today includes nearly 10,000 warheads. Their destructive force would stack up against 150,000 Hiroshima-sized bombs. Meanwhile, according to the experts, as much as $13 billion could be cut from U.S. nuclear spending each year without compromising our national security or our standing as the world's strongest nuclear power. We think those funds would be better invested in programs that benefit America's children. Just $1 billion a year would be enough to fully immunize every two-year old who has not already been vaccinated against preventable childhood disease.$2 billion annually could provide health insurance for 1 million of America's 9 million uninsured children.$5 billion a year would allow us to cover Head Start for every eligible child not currently enrolled in the program. It's as easy as pie to visualize the possibilities... We believe there's ample opportunity in the Federal budget to do what's right for America's kids. Don't you? Tell Congress to... Step up and deliver a budget that supports our children as well as our national defense. Re-order Federal spending priorities to ensure that America's children get a bigger slice of the pie. Speak your piece. Take action at the Children's Defense Fund Thanks to our friends at the Children's Defense Fund, the Center for Defense Information, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the National Priorities Project for helping us gather the information used in this position paper.
- Beaverton, Oregon John Hoke at Nike in charge of new product to help eliminate toxins in our environment. By 2020 vow to have no more waste. Now, recycle of shoes. Rubber being used for Running tracks and tennis courts. New Product; Nike Considered, an Eco Shoe. They looked at a shoe life cycle and worked with natural products. The main focus was to reduce the use of adhesives in the shoe, as they contribute to the greatest amount of pollutants in our environment. They studied Powerful Geometry not Powerful Chemistry and developed this shoe which SNAPS together and is designed for DIS Assembly also! The folks at Nike remember the collaboration a little differently. "It was devastating that we couldn't go forward with it," says someone who worked closely on the project and requested anonymity. When McDonough's team finished building a list of approved materials for manufacturing, after two years and a hefty consulting fee, Nike told McDonough the time had come to share the details with its thousands of vendors. To the company's shock, McDonough responded that he owned the list -- it was proprietary. "He wanted to charge us for every supplier we rolled it out to. We didn't own it after we paid all this money, which made no sense," says the person from the Nike team. "You can develop lists until you're blue in the face, but if you don't have effective ways to roll that out to the supply chain, it's not going to change it." Nike, which went on to improve its supply chain independently, confirmed this account to Fast Company and said that, given the huge amount McDonough was demanding, it decided to terminate the relationship. The company adds that "neither Bill nor MBDC designed materials for Nike." McDonough says he doesn't recall this episode, either.
- Cohousing community illustrating greenspace preservation, tightly clustered housing, and parking on periphery, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 2003. Sustainable planning Cohousing community illustrating greenspace preservation, tightly clustered housing, and parking on periphery, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 2003. Urban planners that are interested in achieving sustainable development or sustainable cities use various design principles and techniques when designing cities and their infrastructure. These include Smart Growth theory, Transit-oriented development, sustainable urban infrastructure and New Urbanism. Smart Growth is an urban planning and transportation theory that concentrates growth in the center of a city to avoid urban sprawl; and advocates compact, transit-oriented development, walkable, bicycle-friendly land use, including mixed-use development with a range of housing choices. Transit-oriented development attempts to maximise access to public transport and thereby reduce the need for private vehicles. Public transport is considered a form of Sustainable urban infrastructure, which is a design approach which promotes protected areas, energy-efficient buildings, wildlife corridors and distributed, rather than centralised, power generation and wastewater treatment. New urbanism is more of a social and aesthetic urban design movement than a green one, but it does emphasize diversity of land use and population, as well as walkable communities which inherently reduce the need for automotive travel. Both urban and rural planning can benefit from including sustainability as a central criterion when laying out roads, streets, buildings and other components of the built environment. Conventional planning practice often ignores or discounts the natural configuration of the land during the planning stages, potentially causing ecological damage such as the stagnation of streams, mudslides, soil erosion, flooding and pollution. Applying methods such as scientific modelling to planned building projects can draw attention to problems before construction begins, helping to minimise damage to the natural environment. Cohousing is an approach to planning based on the idea of intentional communities. Such projects often prioritize common space over private space resulting in grouped structures that preserve more of the surrounding environment.
- Global Marshall Plan: Five strategic goals "In my view, five strategic goals must direct and inform our efforts to save the global environment": 1. stabilizing of world population 2. the rapid development of environmentally appropriate technologies 3. a comprehensive change in the economic "rules of the road" by which we measure the impact of our decisions on the environment 4. negotiation & approval of a new generation of international agreements 5. a cooperative plan for educating the world's citizens about our global environment. The idea is based on the post-WWII Marshall Plan that saw the United States send billions of dollars to Europe to rebuild their war shattered economies.