s this the most sustainable office in the world?

Even if not, still a great model for us to follow:

The new head office of dryer and cooler manufacturer Geelen Counterflow in Haelen, The Netherlands, is the most sustainable office in the world, receiving a 99,94% score in the BREEAM certification system.

The building for 50 office employees generates 50% more solar energy than it needs for heating, air conditioning, lighting and computers. The extra energy is used in the factory for laser cutting of stainless steel and recharging of electric forklift trucks.

Where possible, the building materials are "Cradle to Cradle" certified, which means that they do no harm to the environment and that they can be re-used at the end of their lifetime. The building is constructed out of wood which is considered to have the lowest CO2 footprint of any construction material.

The design is optimized for employee health and productivity through control of daylight infiltration, air quality and indoor lighting, and by using healthy materials.

Around the office a natural garden has been created using a variety of native plants and flowers. The landscaping also includes nesting sites for birds, bugs, bats and amphibians.

Sander Geelen is Managing Director of Geelen Counterflow: "In our never ending quest to build the best dryers and coolers for food and feed we apply the laws of nature around gravity, aerodynamics and thermodynamics. So when we build a new office it only makes sense to respect these laws and the limits of nature too. This office is another step on our journey to phase out fossil fuels. The next step is to develop a new generation of dryers that will use renewable energy only."

The office was designed by Architecten en Bouwmeesters. Construction management was by Wagemans Bouwadvies. The technical installations were designed by Dubourgraaf and Ad van de Ven was BREEAM-NL expert.

BREEAM is the world's leading sustainability assessment method for buildings and projects. Globally there are more than 540,700 BREEAM certified developments. In the Netherlands, the system is managed by the Dutch Green Building Council.

Geelen Counterflow develops and manufactures counterflow dryers and coolers for the food and feed industry. With 100 associates the company delivers equipment used to manufacture food (like coffee, cornflakes and croutons), animal feed, aquafeed and petfood. It has sales and service offices in the Netherlands, USA, Argentina and China.

- See more at: http://renewablenow.biz/designing-for-green.html#sthash.9RWxsKUH.dpuf

Ford Reveals New EcoBlue

More good news on the automotive side.

Ford Reveals New EcoBlue Diesel Engine, Touts it as Game-Changing

 © Provided by MotorTrend Ford EcoBlue engine

Ford has unveiled a new 2.0-liter four-cylinder diesel called the EcoBlue, which will be the first of a new range of clean-sheet oil-burners. The EcoBlue 2.0-liter will be the first Ford engine to use modular camshafts, which increase fuel economy by 13 percent. Expect the EcoBlue diesel to power future Ford passenger and commercial vehicles with an output ranging from 98 to 237 hp. The Transit and Transit Custom are slated to be the first models to use the new engine.

Improvements include 20 percent more torque at 1,250 rpm compared to the 2.2-liter design it will replace. The engine will be less noisy thanks to a reduction of 4 decibels in radiated noise at idle. In addition, the new engine architecture in the EcoBlue also has reduced friction and has a clean-burning combustion system. A new after-treatment for exhaust gasses allows the EcoBlue engine to comply with Euro Stage VI standards that will be introduced in September 2016. That standard requires a 55-percent reduction in NOx emissions versus Stage V standards.

"Ford's EcoBoost created a new standard for petrol engines smaller, more efficient with surprising performance. That same obsession to innovate for the customer is behind our new Ford EcoBlue diesel engine range," said Jim Farley, chairman and CEO of Ford of Europe. "This new engine lifts fuel efficiency and reduces CO2 by over 10 per cent in Transit, part of Europe's best-selling commercial vehicle line-up, lowering costs for our customers."

Key design changes in the EcoBlue engine include a 10-mm offset crank design to minimize piston load and reduce rubbing against the cylinder walls of the engine block. Ford is also using a mirror-image porting design for the integrated inlet manifold for the first time to precisely control air flow into the cylinders — clockwise for cylinders one and two, counter-clockwise for three and four — to ensure uniform fuel and air mixing in the combustion chamber. A new compact turbocharger has also been designed to deliver more air at lower rpms compared to the 2.2-liter unit it replaces, and can produce up to 250 lb-ft of torque at 1,250 rpm.

Ford touts that its new EcoBlue 2.0-liter will be the first diesel commercial vehicle engine from its lineup to achieve passenger car levels of NVH. "The basic structure of an engine can act as a soundboard for the movements happening inside it, just like a bell. So we try to develop a bell that does not ring very well," said Dominic Evans, NVH specialist at Ford Europe, in a release. "We've engineered every significant noise-influencing component of this engine to be quieter and smoother operating resulting in the most refined diesel commercial vehicles Ford has ever built." Additionally, a molded acoustic cover and sound-deadened steel keep engine noise from being transmitted into the cabin.

The automaker says the new 2.0-liter EcoBlue diesel engine will meet global durability standards for all markets including Europe, China, and the U.S., and has put the engine through the equivalent of 3.4 million miles of durability testing.

Brownfield to Green Field: Button Hole, A Story of Positive Change

This will be the hone of our sports and sustainability broadcast next week.  See more at our main site:  Renewable Now.biz

As we continue to celebrate June as Sports and Sustainability month here at RNN, we would be remiss not to spend a bit of time focusing on our host venue, Button Hole Golf Course, and how they were a result of one man’s vision and a very successful Rhode Island DEM program. But before we look at how the course came to be, let's go back in history and get a sense of how it all began.

From its earliest days as the site of the Industrial Revolution, Rhode Island has a long and storied history of the growth of many manufacturing industries that developed in populated areas around the many sources of water in the state.  One of those sources was the Woonasquatucket River that flows through Providence and Johnston.  Among the factories that thrived along this urban corridor was a shoe factory where buttons were used as shoe fasteners. In the days before strict environmental controls, refuse was often discharged into the river.  The Woonasquatucket was no exception.

Caught by the current, the buttons were swept down the river until they were caught along the bank in a natural swimming hole.  Local children, who often swam in the river, dubbed this special place Button Hole.  Through over 100 years of history, the name has stuck.  Those who grew up in the city remember swimming and playing ball at Button Hole, long before it became the blighted area that was rescued by a small group of visionaries and turned into the urban green space, home to Button Hole today.

Before and After

That small group of visionaries was lead by Edmund Mauro.  In 1997, when he began the task of creating Button Hole, Ed already had an impressive list of accomplishments - a successful entrepreneur and business man; he had also made his mark as an outstanding golfer. In 1965 he won the State Amateur and was among top contenders in that event and others for many years. Mauro began giving back to the game even as he played, serving the Rhode Island Golf Association in many ways, including as president. As an avid golfer, Mauro believed in the power of the game and its life lessons to help guide young people as they grow into adults and he recognized the particular benefit for inner city youth.

More than 25,000 disadvantaged children live within three miles of the gravel pit that Mauro, together with a board of committed supporters, worked tirelessly to turn into the Button Hole Short course and teaching center. When it opened in 2000, Button Hole's mission was simple- enrich the lives of young people by providing facilities and programs that develop strong character, teach life values and champion success through the game of golf. Youngsters who become "Button Hole Kids" use the facility for $1. PGA Tour stars Brad Faxon and Billy Andrade became active supporters. RIGA moved its office to the site.

From Ed's vision and drive, Button Hole has become one of the region's most successful community resources, nationally recognized for its programs and facility exposing over a thousand kids each year to the game of golf and its values.

This project couldn’t have happened without private citizens coming together with Rhode Island’s Department of Environmental Management (DEM) who’s Brownfield incentive program helped to make this community resource a reality. As this article is being written the EPA is awarding a total of $1,220,000 in Brownfield Grant funding to Rhode Island DEM and the new RI Infrastructure Bank to hopefully continue to convert unused land into thriving resources similar to Button Hole.

- See more at: http://renewablenow.biz/designing-for-green.html#sthash.C9sAcTDl.dpuf

Daniel Kahneman’s Strategy for How Your Firm Can Think Smarter

Good article that does not directly link firms getting smarter with sustainability, but many of the principals apply to transformation and change as well.  It is a long article so we've reproduced some and given a link to Wharton at the end.  

Bottom line--let's change preconceptions and bring new insights into managing our lives, companies and ecosystem.  



Nobel economics laureate and psychologist Daniel Kahneman — considered the father of behavioral economics – retired from his teaching position at Princeton a few years ago to co-found a consulting firm in New York. In a talk at the recent Wharton People Analytics Conference, he said of his consulting experience that he had “expected to be awed” by the quality of the decision-making in organizations “that need to make profits to survive in a competitive world.”

I have not been awed,” he stated.

“You look at large organizations that are supposed to be optimal, rational. And the amount of folly in the way these places are run, the stupid procedures that they have, the really, really poor thinking you see all around you, is actually fairly troubling,” he said, noting that there is much that could be improved.

Figuring out how to make the act of decision-making “commensurate with the complexity and importance of the stakes” is a huge problem, in Kahneman’s view, to which the business world does not devote much thought. At the conference he described how significant progress can be made in making organizations “more intelligent.”

The Problem with People

If individuals routinely make poor decisions as Kahneman says, why is that the case? The answer lies in behavioral economics, a field which explains why people often make irrational financial choices and don’t always behave the way standard economic models predict. (Kahneman explained much of his work in his much-lauded 2011 international bestseller Thinking, Fast and Slow.)

Behavioral economists believe that human beings are unknowingly hamstrung by overconfidence, limited attention, cognitive biases and other psychological factors which inevitably cause errors in judgment. These factors affect everything from how we invest in stocks, to how we respond to marketing offers, to how we choose which sandwich to buy for lunch.

“We’re fundamentally over-confident in the sense that we jump to conclusions — and to complete, coherent stories — to create interpretations,” said Kahneman. “So we misunderstand situations, spontaneously and automatically. And that’s very difficult to control.” Furthermore, he said, much of human error is not even attributable to a systematic cause, but to “noise.” “When people think about error, we tend to think about biases…. But in fact, a lot of the errors that people make is simply noise, in the sense that it’s random, unpredictable, it cannot be explained.”

“You look at large organizations that are supposed to be optimal, rational. And the amount of folly in the way these places are run… is actually fairly troubling.”

Soil Management

This should come as no surprise to our listeners.  We've done many radio shows on this fix.  It is an amazingly simple solution.  Certainly, at least in the US, we've made great progress on soil restoration and remediation, which improves its role as a carbon storage asset.  

The changes in how we manage soil brings many other environmental and economic benefits, much of which revolves around reduced operating costs.  Our potential, future improvements are vast.  Ironic that agriculture lead the way in releasing carbon, in large quanities, into our atmosphere, and we will help lead us to cutting back to safe levels.

Soil Management Can Save Earth From the Dangers of Climate Change

by Sam D

A change in agricultural practices can bring about effective soil management that can save the earth from the dangerous effects of climate change like overheating. 

An alteration in the way humans farm and manage soils can save the earth from overheating, according to a new report. As per researchers, soil plays an important role in storing carbon, and improving the management of soil can make it play a bigger role in avoiding drastic climate change.

According to a report in Nature journal, scientists from the U.S. and Scotland have calculated that by making a few changes in the current agricultural practices, there would be extra room for 8 billion tons of gas on our planet's soil. Currently, the soil on earth already holds 2.4 trillion tons of gases in the form of organic carbon.

"In our fight to avoid dangerous climate change in the 21st century, we need heavyweight allies," says Dave Reay, geoscientist at Edinburgh University. "One of the most powerful is right beneath our feet.

Soils are already huge stores of carbon, and improved management can make them even bigger.

Scientists have observed that the release of manmade greenhouse gas coincides with the development of global agriculture thousands of years ago. According to the report, the researchers had calculated that land use accounted for approximately a quarter of all manmade greenhouse gas emissions, and around 10 to 14 percent could be attributed to agriculture. Based on their research, the experts said that since soil can hold thrice as much organic carbon as exists in carbon dioxide form in the earth's atmosphere, better management of our planet could help in the reduction of emissions.

The scientists further revealed that the trick lies in not degrading healthy ecosystems because grasslands and unmanaged forests store carbon in a very efficient manner. Furthermore, wetlands that are drained for agriculture yield their soil carbon whereas restored wetlands soak it up. The report also said that sustainable agricultural methods that help in conserving carbon could be practiced, apart from many other viable practices that could improve soil management in the future.  According to the report, in the long run, the soils can retain a number close to four-fifths of the emissions released each year by the combustion of fossil fuels, with good management practices as well as help from government policymakers, science and new models.

My parish school went solar today

We covered this event and you will see a report soon.  Transformation of a society comes in tiny improvements.  Each one of us takes a single step forward and the world improves.  From this single parish conversion of their school to solar, we know others will follow and families in that parish will invest in sustainable changes as well.

Our thanks to Bill Patenaude for his great reporting and support of faith as a bastion of inspiration towards building a cleaner, brighter future:

We are losing our attitude of wonder, of contemplation, of listening to creation and thus we no longer manage to interpret within it what Benedict XVI calls 'the rhythm of the love-story between God and man.'"Pope Francis

What better way to celebrate the one-year anniversary of Laudato Si’ then to bless and turn on a 50kW solar array at your parish school?

As the Catholic eco-world entered a week of celebration, reflection, and study in recognition of the one-year anniversary of Laudato Si’, my pastor and two students at our parish school flipped the switch to its newly installed 50-kilowatt solar energy system.

Helping us were many of the school’s students, parents, faculty, local officials, and the press. (Stay tuned for those stories to be posted soon.)

Father Matthew Glover, the pastor of Saints Rose and Clement (pictured above blessing the solar panels) hit just the right balance in his remarks of solar cheerleading and rooting our thanks in Jesus Christ. Father Matt also gave thanks to his predecessor, Father Edward Wilson, who began the project.

I was especially appreciative of a quote Father Matt used by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin,S.J. It's one of my favorites. “Some day, after we have mastered the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love. Then for the second time in the history of the world, we will have discovered fire.”

After raising our minds and hearts with his words, Father Matt climbed a ladder to access the roof. There he blessed the solar panels, and then the onlookers. This was all accompanied by the beautiful song of students—first singing All Creatures of Our God and King and then Holy God, We Praise Thy Name.

Saint Rose of Lima School students singing
during the solar blessings

Now really, can you get much better than that?

Well, yes you can.

As always, this was a moment for faith and reason to come together, as well as Church and State.

Carol Grant, the commissioner ofRhode Island’s Office of Energy Resources came to cheer on the school and speak about the state’s commitment to clean energy. The school's new net-metered solar facility was funded in part with $146,568 from Carol’s office (through the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative “Solar on Schools” program), and another $57,500 from the Commerce RI Renewable Energy Fund. (Thank you, OER!)

Scott Avedisian, the Mayor of the City of Warwick, also came to congratulate the school, as this project was the first time a faith community in Warwick has taken advantage of renewables. Scott, who is a friend of mine, has been a champion of sustainability and renewable energy throughout his sixteen-years as mayor.

Lastly we heard from Julian Dash—the brains behind the project. Julian’s firm Clean Economy Development oversaw the project from start to finish.

Dash explained that the system, which was interconnected on May 16th, will produce approximately 65,000 kWh of electricity annually, covering approximately 30% of the schools electricity needs, and saving the school over $11,000 annually in electricity costs.

Rhode Island's Office of Energy Resources
commissioner Carol Grant is interviewed
by Peter Arpin of RenewableNow.biz (and
a fellow parishioner at SS Rose and Clement)

As part of the grant, the school had an educator attend valuable training on both in-class education supplements that can be added to the curriculum, as well as instruction on how to identify and pursue additional building energy efficient measures.

This will certainly be put to good use. School principal Kim Izzi explained today that she has big plans to incorporate sustainability and renewable energy into the schools curriculum. Stay tuned for more on that!

For now, the project and the day's blessings caught the attention of national and international Catholic eco-leaders.

"With the commissioning of this solar system at St. Rose School, the faculty, staff and students are living up to the challenges from Pope Francis in Laudato Si'," said Dan Misleh of the Catholic Climate Covenant in a message to the school for this event. "As Pope Francis said, we have to begin to transition to cleaner forms of energy if we are going to provide a safe future for our children. This program is also a witness to the wider community: the families of the students, the neighbors, and all of Warwick. Congratulations to St. Rose School and to the parishioners of Saints Rose and Clement Parish!"

Tomás Inusa of the Global Catholic Climate Movement also sent words of congratulations.

OER's Carol Grant, myself, Mayor Scott Avedisian,
and Julian Dash listening to the students practice their singing.

“St. Rose of Lima School is Warwick will be joining Catholics from across the world who are taking concrete steps to live out Laudato Si’,” said Insua. “From Rome to Manilla, from Ireland to Argentina, and From Kenya to Sydney, ordinary Catholics and Church officials will be acknowledging the need to put Pope Francis’s words into action. I’m delighted that the Diocese of Providence will be represented in this week-long global celebration through the efforts of Saints Rose and Clement Parish."

In all, the day and the project brought Laudato Si’ to life not simply by installing solar energy, but also in how this was achieved.

The project required the cooperation of priests, private energy companies, state officials, school staff and faculty, the city and its officials, and many others. This sort of dialogue and cooperation is exactly what Pope Francis is calling us to in Laudato Si’. And so it was an blessing today to celebrate the one-year anniversary of that encyclical by seeing it action and hearing the song of students who will benefit from it for many, many years to come.

Father Matthew Glover and two students celebrate after flipping the solar switch on at today's blessing and ceremonial activation of the Saint Rose of Lima School 50 kW solar energy system.

Doctors Issue Call

Perhaps sobering moments as we see health experts call for immediate action to combat climate change.  Our failure to protect the environment while building a global economy is a dismal, dangerous failure for mankind.

We can do better. We can retool smart, clean cities, improve food supplies, power our lives with clean energy and significantly reduce our own carbon footprints while preserving a great quality of life.  An unhealthy eco-system will, as seen here, degrade our physical and mental conditions.  And spoil the future for new generations.  We can do better. 

Doctors Issue Call to Combat Climate Change

By Dennis Thompson

MONDAY, April 18, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Climate change is already harming people's health by promoting illnesses linked to warmer temperatures and changing weather patterns, a leading group of U.S. doctors says in a new position paper.

As a result, the American College of Physicians (ACP) is calling for "aggressive, concerted" action to fight climate change by curbing man-made greenhouse gas emissions.

Respiratory illnesses, heat stroke and infectious diseases like Zika virus, dengue fever and cholera are flourishing as global temperatures rise, said Dr. Wayne Riley, president of the college.

"Our climate is already changing and people are already being harmed. If we don't begin to address climate change, we're going to see more and more manifestations of these health problems," Riley said.

"There is clear, compelling scientific consensus that climate change is real," he added. "There is no dispute."

In the paper, published online April 18 in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, the ACP outlines the health problems that it says climate change is already creating:
"Think about what happens during a heat wave," Riley said. "People's irritability and anxiety increases, starting a chain of events that can lead to behavioral health problems."

The ACP is urging its physician members to both speak out for climate change policies in their communities, and to lead the way by promoting energy efficiency in their own practices, said Bob Doherty, the ACP's senior vice president of governmental affairs and public policy.

The health care sector is ranked second-highest in energy use, after the food industry, spending about $9 billion annually on energy costs, the position paper stated. Health care systems can reduce their carbon footprint through energy conservation and efficiency, alternative energy generation, green building design, improved waste disposal and management, and water conservation, according to the paper.

"Our paper really talks about physicians being advocates in their own health systems, communities and practices to reduce carbon emissions," Doherty said. "We highlight case studies where this is already being done."

Doherty said the ACP took this stand, in part, because its members will be the ones on the front lines treating many of these climate-related illnesses. The ACP represents internists, or general practitioners who specialize in the treatment of adults.

"Many of the conditions that are likely to be worsened or caused by a warming planet are conditions that are typically seen by internists," he said.

Riley and Doherty also hope that a science-based association of physicians taking this stance will persuade those who remain skeptical of climate change.

"We're hoping the credibility of doctors speaking out will help persuade some of the doubters that this is real, and that we need to act on it," Doherty said. "Most of the public understands that when physicians speak out, they are doing it because of their moral and professional obligation to care for their patients."

Lyndsay Moseley Alexander, director of the American Lung Association's Healthy Air Campaign, said the new position paper is a "great" contribution to addressing climate change.

"I applaud the leadership of ACP," Alexander said. "Their statement underscores the urgency of the science and the importance of the medical community's role."

Climate change is actually undoing some of the progress that the United States has made reducing smog pollution in the skies over major cities, she said.

"Some communities are seeing a little bit of an uptick in ozone," Alexander said. "As climate change continues, it's going to be harder to maintain the progress we have made."