2009 was a notable year – the year that two of the three top U.S. automakers declared bankruptcy. The untold story, however, was how Cap and Trade saved Ford from the fate of General Motors and Chrysler.
By 2009, all of the American auto manufacturers were in trouble. The companies had been posting losses for years. They had been around for almost a century. They made promises to their employees that they were having trouble keeping. And the debt they were taking on to try and meet cash negative operations and their pension, labor and other post employment benefit obligations was drowning the corporations. General Motors had over $100 billion in debt when the company declared bankruptcy.
Ford Motor Company is in the same boat. According to the third quarter earnings report, which was filed with the SEC on November 6, 2009, the company had long-term debt of $25 billion, “other liabilities” of $22 billion and “Financial Services Debt” of $105.8 billion. That’s quite a heft load for a company that lost $4 billion last year to carry.
So, how did Ford keep from going belly up, like Chrysler and General Motors? Largely through vision, which translated into sales and (so far) sustainability.
Ford was the first American auto manufacturer to promote fuel efficiency in a meaningful way, starting in 2002. The company was one of only 13 founding members of the Chicago Climate Exchange, making a commitment to voluntarily reducing green house gas emissions and to undergo third-party verification of GHG emissions data back in 2002. In May of 2008, Ford became the first automaker to join The Climate Registry (TCR), a non-profit organization established to measure and publicly report GHG emissions using a single reporting standard across industry sectors.
How did going green save Ford?
Read more by clicking over to the original article in Vol. 7, iss. 1 of the NataliePace.com ezine.
http://www.nataliepace.com/newsletters/members/news.php?np=yes&issue=701/701&article=01
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Last minute gift buying? Amazon
Last minute gift buying? Amazon will guarantee 12.24.09 delivery if you order within the next 6 hours. Here's an $11 gift that was a top 10 Bestseller on Black Friday. Give the gift of financial wisdom.
Readers call You Vs. Wall Street, "A must read financial Bible." TD AMERITRADE Chairman
Joe Moglia and Nobel Prize winning economist Dr. ...Gary Becker endorse
the book.
Save more, spend less and get the gift to your sacred
friends, beloved and family in time for Christmas!
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1593155514
http://tinyurl.com/y8s9jav
http://www.nataliepace.com/splash/SplashPage2.htm
Monday, June 16, 2008
Green is Hot
QUOTE OF THE MONTH:
“Green is hot. Not only is the private demand rising, but governments are falling over themselves to subsidize these industries.”
Dr. Marc Miles, global strategist and editor,
2006 Index of Economic Freedom
Green Chips: Mega Stable Corporations with a Focus on Green Are Trading for a Song! By Natalie Pace. Includes a Green Chip Stock Report Card™.
According to the Social Investment Forum, $2.3 trillion (out of $24.4 trillion under professional management) were traded with socially conscious screens in the United States in 2005—nearly one out of every ten dollars. Socially conscious companies embody open and transparent business practices, ethical values, respect for employees, communities and the environment, and have a vision of working for the world at large, as well as shareholders. Whew! Quantum physics might be easier than figuring out which companies are socially conscious! Who has the time? Fortunately, there are a lot of watchdog organizations that make the job easier than it sounds. And, thankfully, there are a number of socially conscious mutual funds available, which can exponentially cut down your research time.
In 2007, the best-known socially conscious funds were Domini and Calvert. I’d love to report that being socially conscious was good for your wallet, but over a ten-year period, those funds underperformed. Ouch—not what those socially conscious visionaries of the late 1990s hoped would happen.
But their vision might still come true. The happy news is that the top-performing industry in 2007 was alternative energy, after being virtually non-existent for the prior three decades. Oil hit $100 a barrel, but investors still loved the clean energy stocks more. With the explosion of interest in alternative energy and green investing, a number of additional socially conscious mutual funds and ETFs have begun to sprout and more will likely follow.
Green is Great For Your Wallet
There will be a slew of brokers and friends who are anxious to warn you that this approach was a loser in the past. Remind them that driving while looking in the rearview mirror is a good way to crash. The Internet was a colossal loser for investors from 2000-2002, before Google went on to become the most successful IPO of all time. Apple Computer single-handedly resurrected the music business, at a time when the music companies were trying to sue their customers into paying for downloads and Tower Records had to shut its doors. As Dr. Marc Miles, a global strategist, said in February 2008, “Green is hot. Not only is the private demand rising, but governments are falling over themselves to subsidize these industries.” Don’t be stuck in the past, ever.
Just to illustrate how hot companies are becoming when they take the socially conscious high road, consider one of the top performing stock picks in 2007: World Water & Power. I featured the company in my April 2007 ezine. Just one month later, in late May, the company’s chairman and CEO, Quentin T. Kelly, traveled in Toronto and Vancouver with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on the California Trade Mission to Canada. Mr. Kelley was selected due to World Water & Power’s leading role in building prominent solar energy projects in California, including the Fresno airport solar complex, and an agricultural system that is the largest solar-powered agricultural system in the world, as well as the only self-sustaining water utility. World Water and Solar was also selected to provide ten solar-driven water-purification units for use in Darfur, Sudan, that will each deliver some 30,000 gallons of safe drinking water daily at sites throughout that ravaged desert region. This is the kind of company that thrills the socially conscious investor and the capitalist alike.
I bring up this company as an example in particular because World Water and Solar was trading off the boards during that time period—meaning that, if you had been pouring over technical charts or earnings reports or analyst recommendations about that time, you would almost certainly not come across this one. The company was not a holding in any mutual fund. The only way you could have stumbled on what a player World Water was becoming was by looking at the products, the customers, and the forward-thinking projects that the CEO was engaged in—by investing in the company as an individual stock.
Additionally, as the ultra high-risk investment, World Water would typically be the first stock dumped in a panic if there was any concern in the larger stock markets. So what happened when the subprime mortgage market stumbled so badly in the summer of 2007? Instead of plunging, World Water came through strong, while the blue chip stocks took a beating. The stock markets look like a flat line by comparison to the stellar returns that World Water posted and sustained during the period between April, when my feature article on the company appeared, and September, when Chairman Bernanke and the Federal Open Market Committee cut the Fed Funds rate by 50 basis points in an attempt to restore confidence in the capital and credit markets.
That means that investors who take positions in these green, socially conscious companies are less willing to give them up—even in uncertain times. In that case, new investors are going to have to pay a higher price—something we all love when we’ve bought our positions early.
Exit Oil: Invest in Renewable Energy
Interested in socially conscious investing, but want to try a newer fund? WisdomTree, iShares, PowerShares, and the American Stock Exchange website all list ETFs, grouped by industry, investment style and other factors of ineterest. Doing a search for socially conscious mutual funds or ETFs on your favorite engine should also yield results. Calvert and Domini have websites. Also, it’s your broker’s job to know what funds are out there, so s/he should be helpful in your search as well.
Even if you don’t want to become an activist investor, what you might not realize is that chances are very high that you are already invested in all kinds of corporations that you may not wish to support. If you have a retirement plan at all—whether it’s a 401(k), annuity, IRA or pension plan—you are invested in mutual funds, and each mutual fund invests in hundreds of publicly traded companies.
Every wonder how Philip Morris could make it through those decades of lawsuits by the cancer victims? With your money. Ever wonder how Exxon Mobil remains the largest corporation in the world with a market value of over $500 billion? With your money.
I meet people all the time who hate smoking, but invest in cigarette companies because the dividends are so strong. Others complain about a “war for oil” in Iraq, but drive gas guzzlers and have oil company stock (some without knowing it). In September 2007, Altria (Philip Morris) was one of the top holdings in the four most widely held mutual funds. Exxon Mobil was largest publicly traded company on Wall Street. Translation: If you own a mutual fund, chances are you own Philip Morris tobacco company, Exxon Mobil and all kinds of other companies and activities that you may not want to support—whether you are anti-oil or just sick of watching a tanned Larry Ellison (CEO of Oracle) buy Malibu real estate and race sailboats.
Is there really any reason to invest in clean energy over oil, defense and tobacco companies? Well, yes, even if the sole reason is that you want to participate in the world’s top performing industry (in 2007, and likely going forward as well). Why not invest in the products and services that are cleaning up our world? If Al Gore is right that global warming is a life-or-death concern, investing in clean energy could save our planet. If he’s wrong, we end up with cleaner air, land, water and energy. Sounds like a win-win to me.
There are a lot of naysayers out there, who pshaw the idea that you should engage your desires and emotions at all in investing, to which I reply, “Good luck.” Emotions are the criminals most responsible for stealing your gains. Like it or not, when your stocks go down in value, your blood pressure boils and you want to dump them quickly, and when they rocket up in value, the shock and thrill keep you clinging for dear life, even when it’s a good idea to let go. In other words, your emotions are your own worst enemy when you are invested in things you don’t really like and have no idea how to value. Your emotions can be a great ally when you are invested in things that are enriching the world, and you are confident that those investments will continue increasing in value in the years to come.
Seeing what companies your mutual funds are invested in is as easy as two clicks on your computer. Literally. That easy. On any major financial site, you can simply enter the symbol of the mutual funds you currently own, and then click on “Top 25 Holdings” to see what companies you're supporting.
If you don’t like what you discover, then simply tell your broker that you want to own funds that are more socially conscious. There are index funds, exchange-traded funds, and tons of easy options for you to choose from that target companies more in your sweet spot. Or, you could create your own socially conscious nest egg with a basket of carefully diversified stocks, with the help of a professional. It’s not that hard, and a good broker will be a valuable asset in this. This month, with so many large, green corporations trading for a song, is a great time to set up that new green basket of stocks. go to my original article at the NataliePace.com archived ezines, vol. 5, iss. 3, to access a Green Chip Stock Report Card.
Green Chips
All of the companies listed in the Green Chip Stock Report Card have active investments and policies toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions and creating renewable energy infrastructure world wide. Since 2004, General Electric has achieved a 500 percent increase in wind turbine production, and its wind business revenues exceeded $4.5 billion in 2007. According to the American Wind Energy Association, over the past two years, GE has supplied wind turbines representing nearly half of the new wind capacity across the United States. GE's 1.5-megawatt wind turbine is among the most widely used machines in the global wind industry, with more than 8,000 installed around the world.
Google is conducting Research & Development to build 1 gigawatt of renewable energy power, which would be sufficient to power the city of San Francisco. Johnson and Johnson is listed on the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index and won the coveted Green Partner of the Year Award in 2005. Intel and Google founded the Climate Savers Computing organization, which is commited to a 50% reduction in power consumption by computers by 2010. Microsoft is a partner of Climate Savers Computing.
Remember that the mega stocks are stabilizing forces for your long-term portfolio, not stallions you can win day-trading races with. The dividends of these large cap stocks, and the fact that they trade in a narrower range, means that you should be able to earn reliable, steady gains over time, without losing much sleep. That is no guarantee, however, that the current volatility in the markets will not force the price lower this year. So, adding these companies to your ‘Buy My Own Island’ Fund means taking a long view, with the knowledge that you are buying these companies near their 52-week lows, which will hopefully be a great price now and going forward.
The Bottom Line
I’m really glad that I don’t have to ride my horse to New York City, so I’m grateful for the role that oil and gas played (in the past) in making our lives easier. I’m just confident that if we can walk on the moon, we can invent solar-powered planes. (We already have solar-powered space stations.) If we can end slavery, we can end poverty. If we can eradicate polio, then we can find a cure for cancer that is better than chemotherapy. Collectively, our money promotes and creates the products, goods, and services in our world, so let’s be mindful about how we decorate our home.
“Green is hot. Not only is the private demand rising, but governments are falling over themselves to subsidize these industries.”
Dr. Marc Miles, global strategist and editor,
2006 Index of Economic Freedom
Green Chips: Mega Stable Corporations with a Focus on Green Are Trading for a Song! By Natalie Pace. Includes a Green Chip Stock Report Card™.
According to the Social Investment Forum, $2.3 trillion (out of $24.4 trillion under professional management) were traded with socially conscious screens in the United States in 2005—nearly one out of every ten dollars. Socially conscious companies embody open and transparent business practices, ethical values, respect for employees, communities and the environment, and have a vision of working for the world at large, as well as shareholders. Whew! Quantum physics might be easier than figuring out which companies are socially conscious! Who has the time? Fortunately, there are a lot of watchdog organizations that make the job easier than it sounds. And, thankfully, there are a number of socially conscious mutual funds available, which can exponentially cut down your research time.
In 2007, the best-known socially conscious funds were Domini and Calvert. I’d love to report that being socially conscious was good for your wallet, but over a ten-year period, those funds underperformed. Ouch—not what those socially conscious visionaries of the late 1990s hoped would happen.
But their vision might still come true. The happy news is that the top-performing industry in 2007 was alternative energy, after being virtually non-existent for the prior three decades. Oil hit $100 a barrel, but investors still loved the clean energy stocks more. With the explosion of interest in alternative energy and green investing, a number of additional socially conscious mutual funds and ETFs have begun to sprout and more will likely follow.
Green is Great For Your Wallet
There will be a slew of brokers and friends who are anxious to warn you that this approach was a loser in the past. Remind them that driving while looking in the rearview mirror is a good way to crash. The Internet was a colossal loser for investors from 2000-2002, before Google went on to become the most successful IPO of all time. Apple Computer single-handedly resurrected the music business, at a time when the music companies were trying to sue their customers into paying for downloads and Tower Records had to shut its doors. As Dr. Marc Miles, a global strategist, said in February 2008, “Green is hot. Not only is the private demand rising, but governments are falling over themselves to subsidize these industries.” Don’t be stuck in the past, ever.
Just to illustrate how hot companies are becoming when they take the socially conscious high road, consider one of the top performing stock picks in 2007: World Water & Power. I featured the company in my April 2007 ezine. Just one month later, in late May, the company’s chairman and CEO, Quentin T. Kelly, traveled in Toronto and Vancouver with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on the California Trade Mission to Canada. Mr. Kelley was selected due to World Water & Power’s leading role in building prominent solar energy projects in California, including the Fresno airport solar complex, and an agricultural system that is the largest solar-powered agricultural system in the world, as well as the only self-sustaining water utility. World Water and Solar was also selected to provide ten solar-driven water-purification units for use in Darfur, Sudan, that will each deliver some 30,000 gallons of safe drinking water daily at sites throughout that ravaged desert region. This is the kind of company that thrills the socially conscious investor and the capitalist alike.
I bring up this company as an example in particular because World Water and Solar was trading off the boards during that time period—meaning that, if you had been pouring over technical charts or earnings reports or analyst recommendations about that time, you would almost certainly not come across this one. The company was not a holding in any mutual fund. The only way you could have stumbled on what a player World Water was becoming was by looking at the products, the customers, and the forward-thinking projects that the CEO was engaged in—by investing in the company as an individual stock.
Additionally, as the ultra high-risk investment, World Water would typically be the first stock dumped in a panic if there was any concern in the larger stock markets. So what happened when the subprime mortgage market stumbled so badly in the summer of 2007? Instead of plunging, World Water came through strong, while the blue chip stocks took a beating. The stock markets look like a flat line by comparison to the stellar returns that World Water posted and sustained during the period between April, when my feature article on the company appeared, and September, when Chairman Bernanke and the Federal Open Market Committee cut the Fed Funds rate by 50 basis points in an attempt to restore confidence in the capital and credit markets.
That means that investors who take positions in these green, socially conscious companies are less willing to give them up—even in uncertain times. In that case, new investors are going to have to pay a higher price—something we all love when we’ve bought our positions early.
Exit Oil: Invest in Renewable Energy
Interested in socially conscious investing, but want to try a newer fund? WisdomTree, iShares, PowerShares, and the American Stock Exchange website all list ETFs, grouped by industry, investment style and other factors of ineterest. Doing a search for socially conscious mutual funds or ETFs on your favorite engine should also yield results. Calvert and Domini have websites. Also, it’s your broker’s job to know what funds are out there, so s/he should be helpful in your search as well.
Even if you don’t want to become an activist investor, what you might not realize is that chances are very high that you are already invested in all kinds of corporations that you may not wish to support. If you have a retirement plan at all—whether it’s a 401(k), annuity, IRA or pension plan—you are invested in mutual funds, and each mutual fund invests in hundreds of publicly traded companies.
Every wonder how Philip Morris could make it through those decades of lawsuits by the cancer victims? With your money. Ever wonder how Exxon Mobil remains the largest corporation in the world with a market value of over $500 billion? With your money.
I meet people all the time who hate smoking, but invest in cigarette companies because the dividends are so strong. Others complain about a “war for oil” in Iraq, but drive gas guzzlers and have oil company stock (some without knowing it). In September 2007, Altria (Philip Morris) was one of the top holdings in the four most widely held mutual funds. Exxon Mobil was largest publicly traded company on Wall Street. Translation: If you own a mutual fund, chances are you own Philip Morris tobacco company, Exxon Mobil and all kinds of other companies and activities that you may not want to support—whether you are anti-oil or just sick of watching a tanned Larry Ellison (CEO of Oracle) buy Malibu real estate and race sailboats.
Is there really any reason to invest in clean energy over oil, defense and tobacco companies? Well, yes, even if the sole reason is that you want to participate in the world’s top performing industry (in 2007, and likely going forward as well). Why not invest in the products and services that are cleaning up our world? If Al Gore is right that global warming is a life-or-death concern, investing in clean energy could save our planet. If he’s wrong, we end up with cleaner air, land, water and energy. Sounds like a win-win to me.
There are a lot of naysayers out there, who pshaw the idea that you should engage your desires and emotions at all in investing, to which I reply, “Good luck.” Emotions are the criminals most responsible for stealing your gains. Like it or not, when your stocks go down in value, your blood pressure boils and you want to dump them quickly, and when they rocket up in value, the shock and thrill keep you clinging for dear life, even when it’s a good idea to let go. In other words, your emotions are your own worst enemy when you are invested in things you don’t really like and have no idea how to value. Your emotions can be a great ally when you are invested in things that are enriching the world, and you are confident that those investments will continue increasing in value in the years to come.
Seeing what companies your mutual funds are invested in is as easy as two clicks on your computer. Literally. That easy. On any major financial site, you can simply enter the symbol of the mutual funds you currently own, and then click on “Top 25 Holdings” to see what companies you're supporting.
If you don’t like what you discover, then simply tell your broker that you want to own funds that are more socially conscious. There are index funds, exchange-traded funds, and tons of easy options for you to choose from that target companies more in your sweet spot. Or, you could create your own socially conscious nest egg with a basket of carefully diversified stocks, with the help of a professional. It’s not that hard, and a good broker will be a valuable asset in this. This month, with so many large, green corporations trading for a song, is a great time to set up that new green basket of stocks. go to my original article at the NataliePace.com archived ezines, vol. 5, iss. 3, to access a Green Chip Stock Report Card.
Green Chips
All of the companies listed in the Green Chip Stock Report Card have active investments and policies toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions and creating renewable energy infrastructure world wide. Since 2004, General Electric has achieved a 500 percent increase in wind turbine production, and its wind business revenues exceeded $4.5 billion in 2007. According to the American Wind Energy Association, over the past two years, GE has supplied wind turbines representing nearly half of the new wind capacity across the United States. GE's 1.5-megawatt wind turbine is among the most widely used machines in the global wind industry, with more than 8,000 installed around the world.
Google is conducting Research & Development to build 1 gigawatt of renewable energy power, which would be sufficient to power the city of San Francisco. Johnson and Johnson is listed on the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index and won the coveted Green Partner of the Year Award in 2005. Intel and Google founded the Climate Savers Computing organization, which is commited to a 50% reduction in power consumption by computers by 2010. Microsoft is a partner of Climate Savers Computing.
Remember that the mega stocks are stabilizing forces for your long-term portfolio, not stallions you can win day-trading races with. The dividends of these large cap stocks, and the fact that they trade in a narrower range, means that you should be able to earn reliable, steady gains over time, without losing much sleep. That is no guarantee, however, that the current volatility in the markets will not force the price lower this year. So, adding these companies to your ‘Buy My Own Island’ Fund means taking a long view, with the knowledge that you are buying these companies near their 52-week lows, which will hopefully be a great price now and going forward.
The Bottom Line
I’m really glad that I don’t have to ride my horse to New York City, so I’m grateful for the role that oil and gas played (in the past) in making our lives easier. I’m just confident that if we can walk on the moon, we can invent solar-powered planes. (We already have solar-powered space stations.) If we can end slavery, we can end poverty. If we can eradicate polio, then we can find a cure for cancer that is better than chemotherapy. Collectively, our money promotes and creates the products, goods, and services in our world, so let’s be mindful about how we decorate our home.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
12 Green Tips For Your Home.
12 Green Tips For Your Home.
Easy. Easy. Easy. Beautifies your electric bill (and our world).
1. Remove your cell phone charger from the socket. This alone could save the planet - or at least Delaware (the nation's friendliest state for business). The charger keeps charging and charging -- even while the phone is chasing all over town with you, buzzing away with text messages. If you knew how much of your electricity bill was this one silly waste, you'd unplug immediately - as soon as it was charged!
2. Go Naked! In the winter, turn the thermostat down a few degrees and wear a sweater inside. Throw an extra blanket on the bed. In the summer, go naked (just kidding, wear a bikini at least). Be sensitive that a few extra degrees saved in every household amount to a massive reduction in energy statewide. In fact, according to Cynthia Bryant, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's Deputy Chief of Staff and Director, in 2004 alone, California saved over 1.3 trillion kilowatt hours, for a cost reduction of $98.7 billion, after a statewide campaign to conserve energy.
3. Conserve Water: Turn the faucet off when you brush. Take shorter showers (or partner up). Be conscious that water is a precious resource and piping it in uses up valuable energy. Proactive homeowners could look into brown water systems to reuse their shower and sink water for watering plants.
4. CFLs Compact Fluorescent Lamps: Replace your old light bulb with this energy-efficient, long-lasting bulb. More energy, with less waste and less cost because you replace them once in a blue moon.
5. Electrochromic Windows. Darken and lighten electronically. In summer, darker windows reduce solar heat gain and still allow visible light to pass through. In wintertime, the windows can be left clear to brighten and warm the house.
6. Insulation. Keeping out unwanted heat and cold means that you don't have to be an energy hog to be comfortable. A rudimentary way of doing this is with curtains and shading in the summer and keeping windows and doors closed in the winter.
7. Low-Emissivity Windows. (low-e) coatings are thin, transparent coatings of silver or tin oxide that permit visible light to pass through but also reflect infrared heat radiation back into the room.
8. Passive solar energy and day lighting. Considerable amounts of solar energy can be captured for desired heating (while avoiding unwanted heating) without active mechanical systems, simply by properly designing a home, with respect to the sun. South-facing windows can let in a lot of heat from winter sun, while large overhangs keep out that solar heat in summer.
9. Phase-change materials. If you are remodeling, consider that it takes energy to change a solid to a liquid or a liquid to a gas (for example, melting ice or boiling water), which can be yet another way to heat and cool without juice from the grid. Conversely, there is energy embodied in the liquid or gas that can be released as heat energy when it liquefies or solidifies. Excess hot water or exhaust air is routed through the phase-change material, cooling the water or air and melting the material. When heat is needed, cool water or intake air is run through the phase-change material, absorbing heat from the solidifying material. (This application is being used in One Bryant Park's ice farms as well as the Universitat Darmstadt's 2007 Solar Decathlon winning home, with its microcapsules of paraffin.)
10. PV or solar electricity. Traditional building components can now be replaced with PV materials. BIPV materials are used for vertical facades, roofing systems, and awnings for parking and shading structures. Cost is thereby offset by not having to purchase the overhang materials.
11. Solar thermal collectors. Solar energy is used to heat water. Apricus was the solar water heater of choice at the Solar Decathlon.
12. SIPs Structural Insulated Panels. Pre-fab foam insulated panels make superior insulation easier to install.
For more information and links to green products, be sure to read the article, "Reduce Your Carbon Footprint!" from volume 4, issue 10.
Easy. Easy. Easy. Beautifies your electric bill (and our world).
1. Remove your cell phone charger from the socket. This alone could save the planet - or at least Delaware (the nation's friendliest state for business). The charger keeps charging and charging -- even while the phone is chasing all over town with you, buzzing away with text messages. If you knew how much of your electricity bill was this one silly waste, you'd unplug immediately - as soon as it was charged!
2. Go Naked! In the winter, turn the thermostat down a few degrees and wear a sweater inside. Throw an extra blanket on the bed. In the summer, go naked (just kidding, wear a bikini at least). Be sensitive that a few extra degrees saved in every household amount to a massive reduction in energy statewide. In fact, according to Cynthia Bryant, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's Deputy Chief of Staff and Director, in 2004 alone, California saved over 1.3 trillion kilowatt hours, for a cost reduction of $98.7 billion, after a statewide campaign to conserve energy.
3. Conserve Water: Turn the faucet off when you brush. Take shorter showers (or partner up). Be conscious that water is a precious resource and piping it in uses up valuable energy. Proactive homeowners could look into brown water systems to reuse their shower and sink water for watering plants.
4. CFLs Compact Fluorescent Lamps: Replace your old light bulb with this energy-efficient, long-lasting bulb. More energy, with less waste and less cost because you replace them once in a blue moon.
5. Electrochromic Windows. Darken and lighten electronically. In summer, darker windows reduce solar heat gain and still allow visible light to pass through. In wintertime, the windows can be left clear to brighten and warm the house.
6. Insulation. Keeping out unwanted heat and cold means that you don't have to be an energy hog to be comfortable. A rudimentary way of doing this is with curtains and shading in the summer and keeping windows and doors closed in the winter.
7. Low-Emissivity Windows. (low-e) coatings are thin, transparent coatings of silver or tin oxide that permit visible light to pass through but also reflect infrared heat radiation back into the room.
8. Passive solar energy and day lighting. Considerable amounts of solar energy can be captured for desired heating (while avoiding unwanted heating) without active mechanical systems, simply by properly designing a home, with respect to the sun. South-facing windows can let in a lot of heat from winter sun, while large overhangs keep out that solar heat in summer.
9. Phase-change materials. If you are remodeling, consider that it takes energy to change a solid to a liquid or a liquid to a gas (for example, melting ice or boiling water), which can be yet another way to heat and cool without juice from the grid. Conversely, there is energy embodied in the liquid or gas that can be released as heat energy when it liquefies or solidifies. Excess hot water or exhaust air is routed through the phase-change material, cooling the water or air and melting the material. When heat is needed, cool water or intake air is run through the phase-change material, absorbing heat from the solidifying material. (This application is being used in One Bryant Park's ice farms as well as the Universitat Darmstadt's 2007 Solar Decathlon winning home, with its microcapsules of paraffin.)
10. PV or solar electricity. Traditional building components can now be replaced with PV materials. BIPV materials are used for vertical facades, roofing systems, and awnings for parking and shading structures. Cost is thereby offset by not having to purchase the overhang materials.
11. Solar thermal collectors. Solar energy is used to heat water. Apricus was the solar water heater of choice at the Solar Decathlon.
12. SIPs Structural Insulated Panels. Pre-fab foam insulated panels make superior insulation easier to install.
For more information and links to green products, be sure to read the article, "Reduce Your Carbon Footprint!" from volume 4, issue 10.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Solar Springs Up Again.
by Natalie Pace.
Solar energy stocks went dormant this winter, but are prepared for another scorching hot summer.
What’s doubling at the speed of light? Solar energy sales.
Suntech Power Holdings annual sales in 2007 was $1.35 billion, more than double 2006’s total of $599 million, which in turn was more than double the prior year’s sales of $226 million (in 2005). LDK Solar has already tripled last year’s sales (at $331 million over $106 million), and they have yet to release the 4th quarter results (due in June 2008). Trina Solar’s annual sales jumped to $302 million, from $115 million a year ago.
You’ll notice that I mention all of the Chinese companies, while overlooking First Solar (based out of Phoenix, Arizona) and Sunpower Solar (based out of San Jose, California). Why? Mostly due to the source material, which has killed profit margins in Sunpower and inflated the profit potential of First Solar. Yes, First Solar and Sunpower saw their sales double in 2007. The question is: "What will be the case in 2008 and 2009?"
Sunpower had a big problem with supply in the last quarter of 2007, which is why we chose Suntech Power Holdings for our Company of the Month in October 2006, over Sunpower. Suntech had secured long-term silicon supply at a more reasonable price with MEMC Electronics, whereas Sunpower was experiencing more difficulty obtaining a clear, uninterrupted channel for silicon at a reasonable price, especially during the second half part of 2007. This problem was foreseeable in October 2006, and is largely responsible for the death of Sunpower’s profits in 2007.
That reality was reflected in the profit margin disparity between Suntech Power Holdings and Sunpower last year. Suntech’s net profit margin was at 12.55% compared to just 1.19% for Sunpower. "In the latter part of 2008 and beyond, we expect our industry's silicon feedstock to become more abundant, leading to lower solar panel prices which will redistribute the power and profit pools in the value chain," according to Sunpower CEO Tom Werner, in his annual report. Even though Sunpower’s profitability was just a hair’s breath above the red, Sunpower remained popular with investors, probably because their solar panels are aesthetically appealing and their energy efficiency is at the top of the marketplace. However, in our view, the better bet, at least for 2008, remains Suntech Power Holdings, which has long-term supply contracts with MEMC Electronics and is partially funding a new silicon manufacturing plant for Hoku Scientific.
In 2007 and the beginning of 2008, First Solar was the most popular solar energy company on Wall Street. First Solar is trading at a lofty price to earnings ratio of 91.60, and is one of the few solar companies that is still trading near its 52-week high. Most solar energy companies experienced an extreme pullback earlier this month (which is when we put Suntech Power Holdings and World Water and Solar back on the Hot News list -- at prices not seen for a year!). However, there are a few factors in First Solar’s powerful past dominance that investors should take note of.
Thin film solar versus silicon panels
First Solar uses cadmium telluride instead of silicon to transfer sunlight into useable energy. This was a huge competitive advantage when silicon was hard to get at a reasonable price. Thus First Solar’s operating margins were the highest in the industry – at 31.42%. That is shifting, however.
As Dr. Harry Atwater advised a crowd at the Green Xchange Conference last December 2007, silicon is an abundant source material, whereas cadmium telluride is rather rare. Once silicon manufacturing heats up, which is expected to happen this year, the desirability of cadmium telluride could diminish rapidly, as the advantage right now is cost, rather than efficiency. Once the costs of using silicon as a source material line up with cadmium telluride, silicon has the edge. Silicon based solar panels produce more energy more efficiently, and with the source material of sand, there is no foreseeable end in supply.
Thus as the market forces that supported First Solar’s lofty share prices shift back down to Earth, don’t be caught clinging to a rare trace element, when you could be walking in miles and miles of sand for years to come! This isn’t to say that there won’t be room for First Solar solar products in the years to come, but rather to say that the scientists, like Professor Atwater, believe that silicon is a better bet as the source material to power renewable energy as the fuel of choice, as we attempt to scale back our reliance on coal and fossil fuels.
So, this year, the solar energy companies that top our hot list include Suntech Power Holdings, Trina Solar, LDK Solar and our perennial favorite – World Water and Solar. Trina Solar is a Chinese company, in direct competition with Suntech Power Holdings. Trina has strong management and board, which is necessary in a highly competitive, rapidly growing industry, that is still very reliant on government subsidies and incentives to achieve market dominance. LDK Solar is a silicon wafer manufacturer that supplies wafers to companies, like Suntech and Trina, which has been tripling it’s sales over the last year.
Suntech Power was added to the Hot News list last week, when it was trading at $30/share. World Water was added at $1.01. Both companies have enjoyed a rally since that time, with Suntech trading at $42 and World Water and Solar trading at $1.23, as of March 31, 2008. In today’s market place of share price mood swings, it’s better to be patient for the lower buy-in price.
I added Trina Solar and LDK Solar to the Hot News list on April Fool's Day (and it wasn't a joke!).
Go to the article in the NataliePace.com, vol. 5, iss. 4 ezine to access the Solar Energy Stock Report Card.
Full Disclosure: Natalie Pace owns shares of World Water and Solar.
Please note: NataliePace.com does not act or operate like a broker. We are a new media website. This article is intended to educate and inform individual investors, and, thus, to give investors a competitive edge in their personal decision-making. The publicly traded companies mentioned in this article are not intended to be buy or sell recommendations. ALWAYS do your research and consult an experienced, reputable financial professional before buying or selling any security, and consider your long-term goals and strategies.
Investors should NOT be using the Hot News on Cool Stocks list or the Cooling Off list to trade their nest eggs. Your retirement plan should reflect a long, safe strategy, which has been designed with the assistance of a financial professional who is familiar with your goals, risk tolerance, tax needs and more. The "trading" portion of your portfolio should be a very small part of your investment strategy, and the amount of money you invest into individual companies should never be greater than your experience, wisdom, knowledge and patience.
IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: Information has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable however NataliePace.com does not warrant its completeness or accuracy. Opinions constitute our judgment as of the date of this publication and are subject to change without notice. This material is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any financial instrument. Securities, financial instruments or strategies mentioned herein may not be suitable for all investors.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Green Skyscrapers and Solar Louvers.
by Natalie Pace.
Featuring the winner of the 2007 Solar Decathlon, platinum and gold LEED Manhattan skyscrapers and paraffin microcapsules.
Imagine louvers outfitted with mini-solar cells and micro-capsules of paraffin in the ceiling and walls that help to insulate your beautiful and fully-sustainable home (that even powers your electric car). If Wow comes to mind, you're not alone. On October 19th, 2007, there were twenty teams from universities around the world competing for the best and brightest sustainable home, but one team's innovative designs were jaw-dropping -- in sleek beauty, simplicity of application and energy efficiency.
While 19 other competing universities relied upon more traditional sustainable designs - green roofs and walls, brown-water irrigation systems and discarded shipping containers -- the 1st place Solar Decathlon home that was built by the German team from Technische Universitat Darmstadt was an innovative collaboration of architecture and engineering unlike anything the world has ever seen.
2007 Solar Decathlon Winner: Technische Universitat Darmstadt
Photo Credit: SolarDecathlon.org
Darmstadt won the Architecture, Lighting, and Engineering contests. The Architecture Jury said the house pushed the envelope on all levels and is the type of house they came to the Decathlon hoping to see. The Lighting Jury loved the way this house glows at night. The Engineering Jury gave this team an innovation score that was as high as you could go, and said nobody did the integration of the PhotoVoltaic system any better. Darmstadt was one of seven teams to score a perfect 100 points in the Energy Balance contest (meaning the team created more power than it used).
University of Maryland took 2nd place and top honors in the communications category (website, tours and brochures), while the University of Santa Clara took 3rd place with high marks in all of the comforts of life - including power, appliances and hot water. The team from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign won the contest for Market Viability and will be featured at the 2007 Greenbuild Conference in Chicago from November 7-9, 2007. (Former President Bill Clinton is the keynote speaker at the Greenbuild Conference this year, with General Motors as a platinum corporate sponsor.)
What the Solar Decathlon highlights is that, clearly, sustainable living is a collaborative effort between engineering and architecture. The teams that scored the highest were equally weighted in talent in both arenas, and that is exactly what is happening in green building all over the world - not just at university competitions. Green is no longer just about throwing a half dozen solar panels on the roof. Green means inviting scientists, architects, visionary kooks, engineers and discarded candles into a think tank to watch chaos light up and take on new (and more sustainable) forms.
Anyone who is knee-deep in green is rapidly discovering that sustainability applications are site specific, and, in the words of PG&E SVP Nancy McFadden, conservation is more important and valuable than solar, wind, hydro or geothermal. Solar panels aren't as efficient in Manhattan as they are in Los Angeles. In the Big Apple, PV (photovoltaic) panels take a beating from the elements and the sun's pathway is narrowed by the skyscraper landscape. Thus, "blue roofs," with rain water cisterns, ice farms, and, potentially, water turbines, help to power and conserve energy in mid-town skyscrapers that are located along the wet, Eastern seaboard. The Southern California builders are getting creative with solar as roof tops, awnings, parking structures and now, thanks to Technische Universitat Darmstadt, even louvers, but have little use for collecting rain water in the dry Southern California landscape.
Super Stars of Green Building:
Below are just a few examples (and links) to some of the world's most creative and interesting cutting-edge Green design, architecture and engineering, from all across the nation.
WorldsNest.com, Taos, New Mexico
Photo Credit: © WorldsNest.com
Angel's Nest, a fully sustainable home in Taos, New Mexico, insulates the 2-story structure with a rain forest, which also serves as the black-water filtering system of the estate. Air-to-water machines convert the indoor humidity into drinking water. The institute-like estate runs off the power grid with solar, wind and hydrogen power, recycles water, and houses an eclectic group of scientists, contractors and engineers who claim that they can reduce the cost of photovoltaics by a factor of eight, turn dirt roads into concrete with enzymes that are safe enough to drink and power skyscrapers on water turbines.
None of these prospective products are fully operational yet, but one of the most promising of the WorldsNest innovations currently seems to be the enzyme roads, which do indeed bind soil into a concrete-like hardness, using only soil stabilizing enzymes. The road, which had recently been bladed before my visit in October, was so compact that stones were sheered cleanly, without getting pulled up from the soil. Since most of the cost of roads comes from prepping the soil and rehabilitating warps and sinkholes caused by water damage, having a foundation that gets harder with rain could be an enormously efficient, cost effective, green solution.
A second great achievement at Angel's Nest is the integration of insulation, energy conservation and natural lighting. The front side of the building is floor to ceiling windows, while the backside has no windows and is a shield against the wind and elements, trapping in hot air in winter and circulating air flow in the summer.
While WorldsNest does not yet feature all of the cutting edge green technology applications that their scientists boast of owning the patents on, the founders of Worldsnest.com, Robert Plarr and Victoria Peters, are living examples of green visionaries who are walking the walk. Their home/living institute is a beautiful haven with delightfully bright and warm yoga studios, and even a floating bed, which proves that reducing your carbon footprint doesn't mean you have to give up the designer shoes! Buy Robert and Victoria's book to learn more about their Secret of Sustainability.
2007 Solar Decathlon Winner
Technische Universitat Darmstadt's solar-paneled louvers were an amazing feature of the home, but the team didn't stop there. The louvers were capable of being pulled back, like French doors, or shuttered for privacy and energy conservation. The slats themselves, which were imbedded with sleek, small solar panels, are automated to track the sun for maximum efficiency. Paraffin microcapsules offered an efficient and lightweight means of storing energy within the walls of the home. The innovations of this home could (and should) start turning up in the Home Depots and Lowes of the world soon.
The Bank of America Tower at One Bryant Park: the world's most environmentally responsible high-rise office building.
The Dursts, the skyscraper visionary greenies who are holding the high ground in Manhattan, have almost completed their second monumental achievement in sustainable urban office buildings, after having built the world's first green skyscraper, at 4 Times Square (the Nasdaq building) back in 2002. The Tower at Bryant Park sports all the latest in innovative sustainable design, including the world's first "blue" roof, complete with cisterns that capture rain water for irrigation of the plants and use in the toilets. When the Bank of America team moves into the first 34 floors next May (2008), each person will have personal climate control settings and will breathe filtered indoor air that is cleaner (by far) than the air outside.
The Bank of America Tower at One Bryant Park: the world's most environmentally responsible high-rise office building. (© Durst.org 2006)
Going for Platinum
The Durst Organization and Bank of America are going for a platinum LEED rating on their skyscraper - all without one solar panel.
Editor's Note: LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is the industry standard for green building, and was developed by the U.S. Green Building Council. The top rating is platinum, then gold, silver and bronze.
The sustainable systems incorporated into the design include:
1. Blue Roof - Cisterns collect 33,000,000 gallons of rain water annually, which is treated and then used to irrigate, flush toilets and cool towers. Savings: 10,300,000 gallons saved per year, with a 45% reduction in water costs.
2. Ice Farm (48 tanks): 8.5 megawatt co-generation plant, which allows the tower to stay off grid utilizing compressed natural gas.
3. Waterless urinals
4. Local Building Materials. 40% of the building materials are purchased from within a 500-mile radius. This supports local entrepreneurs and saves on gas and CO2 emissions.
5. Blast furnace slag (a byproduct of steel) is re-used in concrete for cement.
6. Floor to ceiling glass saturates the building with natural sunlight, cutting down on the use of artificial lighting. Natural shading at the top and bottom of the glass panels reduce glare for computer operators.
7. Continuous commissioning: annual maintenance checks ensure that operations are running properly and at optimal performance.
Why doesn't One Bryant Park sport even one solar panel? According to Helena Durst, solar has a 25-year payback in Manhattan, with a 20-year life expectancy. (Perhaps someone should be lobbying the New York governor for stronger solar incentives?)
The Riverhouse at One Rockefeller Park:
This Battery Park City waterfront condominium high-rise received a Gold LEED rating. The urban flats are currently on sale starting at just under a million for a one bedroom, to almost $3 million for a 4-bedroom/3 bath with views of the Hudson River and the Statue of Liberty. Green features of the building include:
1. Rooftop Photovoltaic panels.
2. Wood from forests that are certified renewable or responsibly harvested.
3. Special paints, adhesives and sealants
4. Glass curtain wall: views and daylight without electricity
5. Geothermal wells heat/cool the lobby spaces
6. Water-saving faucets and dual-flush toilets
7. Natural gas for electricity
8. Triple-glazed "blue technology" curtain wall
9. Storm water run-off irrigates green roof - reducing "heat island" affect.
10. Storm water is also used in mechanical system cooling tower
11. Programmable thermostats and carbon monoxide censors in the parking garage
LivingHomes and the first Wired LivingHome
Imagine getting a prefab, architecturally significant, green home that is completely wired and goes up onsite in one day. Hard to believe, but true. The LivingHomes team builds the home in a factory, and then ships it to the site in under a dozen modules.
The living room of the first prefab green LivingHome -- platinum LEEDS home.
The first LivingHome, which is available for tours in Santa Monica, California, was the first platinum LEED rated home ever. Whole Foods junkies, Patagonia-wearing yoga lovers, hybrid owners and Wi-Fi Skypies should be on cloud nine with this beautiful home. First movers pay a premium, but could end up with a home that will be beloved and renowned throughout time, much as the Case Study homes from the 1950s are today. Be the first in your neighborhood to own one, or better yet, contact the team and build your own LivingHomes community.
For more information, read "Green and Fab," from volume 4, issue 10.
BP's Green Gas Station:
Photo Rendering Courtesy: BP.com
Helios House is a "living laboratory" that uses green, eco-friendly innovations to give consumers a little better station experience. Located at the corner of Olympic and Robertson in Los Angeles, this station requires less water, wastes less water and pollutes less than a typical gas station. Other features include:
1. Recycled glass in the glass tiles
2. Solar panels
3. Green roof (living plants insulate and take CO2 out of the air)
4. Alkemi sinks and toilet seats (made with 60% post-industrial aluminum scrap)
5. Cell phone drop off (recycle your old cell phone at the station)
6. Low VOC "volatile organic compounds" paint is better for breathing
Learn more, including how to take your class on a field trip to Helios House, at TheGreenCurve.com.
Solar One, Nevada
The 64-megawatt Nevada Solar One. Photo courtesy of Solargenix Energy.
Solar One, the world's 3rd largest solar power plant, is located in Boulder City, just outside of Las Vegas. Nevada Solar One utilizes concentrated solar collectors - parabolic mirrors - with receivers, heating oil and steam turbines to generate enough power to light up over 15,000 households. Generating 130 MW hours/year, Solar One Nevada is a full-scale power plant. The carbon footprint reduction is, reportedly, equivalent to removing 17,000 cars off the nation's roads.
Featuring the winner of the 2007 Solar Decathlon, platinum and gold LEED Manhattan skyscrapers and paraffin microcapsules.
Imagine louvers outfitted with mini-solar cells and micro-capsules of paraffin in the ceiling and walls that help to insulate your beautiful and fully-sustainable home (that even powers your electric car). If Wow comes to mind, you're not alone. On October 19th, 2007, there were twenty teams from universities around the world competing for the best and brightest sustainable home, but one team's innovative designs were jaw-dropping -- in sleek beauty, simplicity of application and energy efficiency.
While 19 other competing universities relied upon more traditional sustainable designs - green roofs and walls, brown-water irrigation systems and discarded shipping containers -- the 1st place Solar Decathlon home that was built by the German team from Technische Universitat Darmstadt was an innovative collaboration of architecture and engineering unlike anything the world has ever seen.
2007 Solar Decathlon Winner: Technische Universitat Darmstadt
Photo Credit: SolarDecathlon.org
Darmstadt won the Architecture, Lighting, and Engineering contests. The Architecture Jury said the house pushed the envelope on all levels and is the type of house they came to the Decathlon hoping to see. The Lighting Jury loved the way this house glows at night. The Engineering Jury gave this team an innovation score that was as high as you could go, and said nobody did the integration of the PhotoVoltaic system any better. Darmstadt was one of seven teams to score a perfect 100 points in the Energy Balance contest (meaning the team created more power than it used).
University of Maryland took 2nd place and top honors in the communications category (website, tours and brochures), while the University of Santa Clara took 3rd place with high marks in all of the comforts of life - including power, appliances and hot water. The team from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign won the contest for Market Viability and will be featured at the 2007 Greenbuild Conference in Chicago from November 7-9, 2007. (Former President Bill Clinton is the keynote speaker at the Greenbuild Conference this year, with General Motors as a platinum corporate sponsor.)
What the Solar Decathlon highlights is that, clearly, sustainable living is a collaborative effort between engineering and architecture. The teams that scored the highest were equally weighted in talent in both arenas, and that is exactly what is happening in green building all over the world - not just at university competitions. Green is no longer just about throwing a half dozen solar panels on the roof. Green means inviting scientists, architects, visionary kooks, engineers and discarded candles into a think tank to watch chaos light up and take on new (and more sustainable) forms.
Anyone who is knee-deep in green is rapidly discovering that sustainability applications are site specific, and, in the words of PG&E SVP Nancy McFadden, conservation is more important and valuable than solar, wind, hydro or geothermal. Solar panels aren't as efficient in Manhattan as they are in Los Angeles. In the Big Apple, PV (photovoltaic) panels take a beating from the elements and the sun's pathway is narrowed by the skyscraper landscape. Thus, "blue roofs," with rain water cisterns, ice farms, and, potentially, water turbines, help to power and conserve energy in mid-town skyscrapers that are located along the wet, Eastern seaboard. The Southern California builders are getting creative with solar as roof tops, awnings, parking structures and now, thanks to Technische Universitat Darmstadt, even louvers, but have little use for collecting rain water in the dry Southern California landscape.
Super Stars of Green Building:
Below are just a few examples (and links) to some of the world's most creative and interesting cutting-edge Green design, architecture and engineering, from all across the nation.
WorldsNest.com, Taos, New Mexico
Photo Credit: © WorldsNest.com
Angel's Nest, a fully sustainable home in Taos, New Mexico, insulates the 2-story structure with a rain forest, which also serves as the black-water filtering system of the estate. Air-to-water machines convert the indoor humidity into drinking water. The institute-like estate runs off the power grid with solar, wind and hydrogen power, recycles water, and houses an eclectic group of scientists, contractors and engineers who claim that they can reduce the cost of photovoltaics by a factor of eight, turn dirt roads into concrete with enzymes that are safe enough to drink and power skyscrapers on water turbines.
None of these prospective products are fully operational yet, but one of the most promising of the WorldsNest innovations currently seems to be the enzyme roads, which do indeed bind soil into a concrete-like hardness, using only soil stabilizing enzymes. The road, which had recently been bladed before my visit in October, was so compact that stones were sheered cleanly, without getting pulled up from the soil. Since most of the cost of roads comes from prepping the soil and rehabilitating warps and sinkholes caused by water damage, having a foundation that gets harder with rain could be an enormously efficient, cost effective, green solution.
A second great achievement at Angel's Nest is the integration of insulation, energy conservation and natural lighting. The front side of the building is floor to ceiling windows, while the backside has no windows and is a shield against the wind and elements, trapping in hot air in winter and circulating air flow in the summer.
While WorldsNest does not yet feature all of the cutting edge green technology applications that their scientists boast of owning the patents on, the founders of Worldsnest.com, Robert Plarr and Victoria Peters, are living examples of green visionaries who are walking the walk. Their home/living institute is a beautiful haven with delightfully bright and warm yoga studios, and even a floating bed, which proves that reducing your carbon footprint doesn't mean you have to give up the designer shoes! Buy Robert and Victoria's book to learn more about their Secret of Sustainability.
2007 Solar Decathlon Winner
Technische Universitat Darmstadt's solar-paneled louvers were an amazing feature of the home, but the team didn't stop there. The louvers were capable of being pulled back, like French doors, or shuttered for privacy and energy conservation. The slats themselves, which were imbedded with sleek, small solar panels, are automated to track the sun for maximum efficiency. Paraffin microcapsules offered an efficient and lightweight means of storing energy within the walls of the home. The innovations of this home could (and should) start turning up in the Home Depots and Lowes of the world soon.
The Bank of America Tower at One Bryant Park: the world's most environmentally responsible high-rise office building.
The Dursts, the skyscraper visionary greenies who are holding the high ground in Manhattan, have almost completed their second monumental achievement in sustainable urban office buildings, after having built the world's first green skyscraper, at 4 Times Square (the Nasdaq building) back in 2002. The Tower at Bryant Park sports all the latest in innovative sustainable design, including the world's first "blue" roof, complete with cisterns that capture rain water for irrigation of the plants and use in the toilets. When the Bank of America team moves into the first 34 floors next May (2008), each person will have personal climate control settings and will breathe filtered indoor air that is cleaner (by far) than the air outside.
The Bank of America Tower at One Bryant Park: the world's most environmentally responsible high-rise office building. (© Durst.org 2006)
Going for Platinum
The Durst Organization and Bank of America are going for a platinum LEED rating on their skyscraper - all without one solar panel.
Editor's Note: LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is the industry standard for green building, and was developed by the U.S. Green Building Council. The top rating is platinum, then gold, silver and bronze.
The sustainable systems incorporated into the design include:
1. Blue Roof - Cisterns collect 33,000,000 gallons of rain water annually, which is treated and then used to irrigate, flush toilets and cool towers. Savings: 10,300,000 gallons saved per year, with a 45% reduction in water costs.
2. Ice Farm (48 tanks): 8.5 megawatt co-generation plant, which allows the tower to stay off grid utilizing compressed natural gas.
3. Waterless urinals
4. Local Building Materials. 40% of the building materials are purchased from within a 500-mile radius. This supports local entrepreneurs and saves on gas and CO2 emissions.
5. Blast furnace slag (a byproduct of steel) is re-used in concrete for cement.
6. Floor to ceiling glass saturates the building with natural sunlight, cutting down on the use of artificial lighting. Natural shading at the top and bottom of the glass panels reduce glare for computer operators.
7. Continuous commissioning: annual maintenance checks ensure that operations are running properly and at optimal performance.
Why doesn't One Bryant Park sport even one solar panel? According to Helena Durst, solar has a 25-year payback in Manhattan, with a 20-year life expectancy. (Perhaps someone should be lobbying the New York governor for stronger solar incentives?)
The Riverhouse at One Rockefeller Park:
This Battery Park City waterfront condominium high-rise received a Gold LEED rating. The urban flats are currently on sale starting at just under a million for a one bedroom, to almost $3 million for a 4-bedroom/3 bath with views of the Hudson River and the Statue of Liberty. Green features of the building include:
1. Rooftop Photovoltaic panels.
2. Wood from forests that are certified renewable or responsibly harvested.
3. Special paints, adhesives and sealants
4. Glass curtain wall: views and daylight without electricity
5. Geothermal wells heat/cool the lobby spaces
6. Water-saving faucets and dual-flush toilets
7. Natural gas for electricity
8. Triple-glazed "blue technology" curtain wall
9. Storm water run-off irrigates green roof - reducing "heat island" affect.
10. Storm water is also used in mechanical system cooling tower
11. Programmable thermostats and carbon monoxide censors in the parking garage
LivingHomes and the first Wired LivingHome
Imagine getting a prefab, architecturally significant, green home that is completely wired and goes up onsite in one day. Hard to believe, but true. The LivingHomes team builds the home in a factory, and then ships it to the site in under a dozen modules.
The living room of the first prefab green LivingHome -- platinum LEEDS home.
The first LivingHome, which is available for tours in Santa Monica, California, was the first platinum LEED rated home ever. Whole Foods junkies, Patagonia-wearing yoga lovers, hybrid owners and Wi-Fi Skypies should be on cloud nine with this beautiful home. First movers pay a premium, but could end up with a home that will be beloved and renowned throughout time, much as the Case Study homes from the 1950s are today. Be the first in your neighborhood to own one, or better yet, contact the team and build your own LivingHomes community.
For more information, read "Green and Fab," from volume 4, issue 10.
BP's Green Gas Station:
Photo Rendering Courtesy: BP.com
Helios House is a "living laboratory" that uses green, eco-friendly innovations to give consumers a little better station experience. Located at the corner of Olympic and Robertson in Los Angeles, this station requires less water, wastes less water and pollutes less than a typical gas station. Other features include:
1. Recycled glass in the glass tiles
2. Solar panels
3. Green roof (living plants insulate and take CO2 out of the air)
4. Alkemi sinks and toilet seats (made with 60% post-industrial aluminum scrap)
5. Cell phone drop off (recycle your old cell phone at the station)
6. Low VOC "volatile organic compounds" paint is better for breathing
Learn more, including how to take your class on a field trip to Helios House, at TheGreenCurve.com.
Solar One, Nevada
The 64-megawatt Nevada Solar One. Photo courtesy of Solargenix Energy.
Solar One, the world's 3rd largest solar power plant, is located in Boulder City, just outside of Las Vegas. Nevada Solar One utilizes concentrated solar collectors - parabolic mirrors - with receivers, heating oil and steam turbines to generate enough power to light up over 15,000 households. Generating 130 MW hours/year, Solar One Nevada is a full-scale power plant. The carbon footprint reduction is, reportedly, equivalent to removing 17,000 cars off the nation's roads.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
