A while back, I wrote a post titled, “Can Drywall Be Green?” which discussed the aftereffects of the Chinese Drywall crisis that plagued our country earlier this decade. When it comes down to it, drywall is a convenience product. It is efficient, replacing lath and plaster and therefore saving time and money. However the emissions …
Have you heard of “locavores?” These folks are interested in eating food that is produced within a 100-mile radius of their home. The idea is to minimize fossil fuels from shipping and nutrition lost from farm to table. We like to consider ourselves a small part of the locavore movement. We started three years back …
The clickety-clack noise a train makes when traveling down the tracks can be a soothing sound. But hearing that same noise while driving on the interstate is annoying. For me, it’s partly because it gets me to thinking about how the road was paved and how the breaks in the pavement are slowly, but steadily …
Lately it seems like an increasing number of folks have seen the light when it comes to the drawbacks of dark-colored pavement. Black asphalt has traditionally been the surface of choice for our nation’s roadways and parking lots, but asphalt can act as a heat sink that retains the warmth of sunlight. The effect is …
According to the EPA, it is estimated that a staggering 800 million square yards of carpet is sent to U.S. landfills each year. That is enough to cover New York’s Central Park every two days. Fortunately, the carpet industry has begun to realize that there is no need for all this shag and nylon to …
I read recently that nearly 1,200 pounds of trash is produced by the average person per year. We ignore that scrap of paper or old cardboard box but it all adds up. The drip-drip-drip process eventually turns into a river of trash. When we moved into our offices, one of my main objectives was to …
Right-sizing, why did I not have this in my vocabulary before ’07? Makes sense. We are constructors of buildings and handle the civil management of projects, but the bottom line is that we are service providers. Just like architects, engineers, lawyers, bankers or accountants, all service providers of different sorts. We need to be adjusting( …
You can’t take anything for granted; even the ground under your feet. That’s why it is important to have Geotechnical testing done before construction begins on a project. But nothing is perfect, and even the best Geotech firms can’t always determine exactly what it is going on beneath the surface. A Sinking Feeling On one …
Nearly every sizeable city in the United States struggles with clogged arteries. It’s a sea of traffic signals, brake lights and all-around urban sprawl. The roads in and out of town stack up during rush hour with smog-spewing traffic jams. Nobody enjoys sitting in traffic, so there is personal motivation to eliminate tie-ups. It saves …
No matter how hard we work around here, there are always moments at Stewart Perry when we need to stop and look at the flowers. And the trees. And the lake. One of the wonderful things about our building is how easy it is to do just that. Built with sustainability and green initiatives in …
Last week, Chris Brogan and I spent 2 days together here in Birmingham. We were pleased to have him as our guest for the Green Building Focus Conference. For those unaware, Chris is the well-respected co-author of Trust Agents and Social Media 101. He’s carved out a niche for himself in social tools online and …
I’ve heard it a million times: “Actions speak louder than words.” In a country like the U.S., where we vote with our dollars, that becomes even more true. We make a demand and the supplier who meets it wins the sale. Sometimes the government—the officials we elected to regulate policy—can give a push to make …