Green Advances in Commercial Buildings

Hi All!

After this past week's class discussion on the video, Waste=Food, I really got to thinking about how buildings can be the key to environmental sustainability. The video discusses how advanced buildings can be completely self-sustaining and actually omit water that is cleaner than how it came into the building. The architect described the building like a tree, saying that there is not one particle of the plant that does not contribute good things to the environment. In setting out to build a sustainable building, these brains would only settle at fully duplicating this process. Of course, buildings like the Ford plant at Rouge River are not cheap. So, how do we accomplish the great task of actually helping the environment rather than hurting it? I was curious too! After further research I found an interesting article about the top 10 advances in green technology for commercial buildings. Some of the advances listed here were talked about in the movie, and I loved learning even more about how building can now be made sustainable.

My favorite aspect was actually #10, Green Roofs and Living Walls. I had heard of green roofs once prior to watching Waste=Food and reading this article, but I had just assumed the roof was a type of greenhouse. But had no idea that they were working gardens, doing expense tasks such as regulating building temperatures, or improving air quality, for free.

My second favorite was #1 because of how much it reminds me of the Waste=Food concept. For some reason, I really understand the Cradle to Cradle concept that the concept of waste should not really even exist. That waste should really be food for another "organism", and that we as a human race should create things that can be only be up-cycled for another necessary. The article lists it's number 1 advance in commercial buildings to be Mycoform Technology. This technology is a 100% natural, chemical free product that can act as an insulation. The product even biodegrades, a potential structural problem that can be easily alleviated by growing it inside of recycled metals. This product could ultimately replace bricks!!

Another interesting point was #5, Recycled and Sustainable Insulation. One company uses old, recycled blue jeans! My only concern with this product is that the article skims over the fact that they are treated to be fire retardant. To me this raises a flag about the potential harm that fire-proofing chemicals may contains. Would purchasing this product really even make a difference in contributing to the environment?

Take a look, there are some really interesting designs available now a days.