Green Empire's continous rise to power

I may not be posting as frequently as I have, but will continue to maintain the blog to give insight on the continuous rise of the Green Empire. Continue to follow as I will continue to follow new green innovations that come to pass.




Vertical farms are one of our favorite future-forward concepts for creating sustainable cities. Providing locally-grown produce and food will not only help us reduce our carbon emissions significantly, but also help us become healthier. Romses Architects recently came up with an amazing concept for a vertical farm in Vancouver as part of the City’s 2030 Challenge. Complete with a tower for growing fruits and vegetables, a livestock grazing plane, a boutique dairy farm, commercial space, transit lines, renewable energy and more, the Harvest Green Tower has the potential to be a food growing, energy producing, living, breathing sustainable transit hub.

Skyscraper Farm for Vancouver

Top Five Most Sustainable Cities in the World

Top Five:
1. Vancouver, Canada
2. San Francisco, U.S.
3. Oslo, Norway
4. Curitiba, Brazil
5. Copenhagen, Denmark

Follow this link to learn more Sustainable innovations made by the top 5 cities...
Ecomagination.com

Vancouver, Canada

• Vancouver has an ambitious goal of becoming the “the greenest city in the world” by 2020
• Mass transit, bike lanes (248 miles worth), ride sharing programs, and green ways, Vancouver has the lowest per capita carbon emissions of any major city on the continent. 

San Francisco, U.S.

• San Francisco is considered the electric vehicle capital of the U.S., with over 160 public charging stations and plans to install an additional 2,750. An innovative “battery-swapping” station is also planned for mid-2012 to service a 60-car EV taxi fleet. It’s estimated that the city will have over 1,000 EVs and 5,000 plug-in hybrid vehicles by the end of 2012.

Oslo, Norway

• Oslo's heating system is currently powered by 80 percent renewable energy, mainly from biomass from residual waste. This relationship annually saves the carbon emissions equivalent to 60,000 vehicles. Within the next decade, Oslo plans on expanding the system to reach 100 percent renewable sources for heating.

Curitiba, Brazil

• Where there was once only one square meter of green space per person, now there is more than 52. Over 1.5 million trees have been planted along city streets and a network of 28 parks and forests developed.

Copenhagen, Denmark

• Besides having the largest wind turbine industry in the world, Denmark also leads in wind production—supplying roughly 19 percent of the country’s power needs. A new offshore wind farm planned for 2013 (featuring 111 turbines) will supply an additional four percent.

Leading the World Towards a 100% Sustainable Energy Society

Iceland is the world's leading nation in utilizing renewable energy. Iceland is a global leader in renewable energy with 72% of its total energy consumption from hydro- and geothermal sources.


Facts regarding renewable energy:


- 72% of Iceland's total energy consumption is from hydro- and geothermal sources

- Iceland has no fossil fuels as a natural resource

- Reykjavik was the site for the world's first commercial hydrogen refueling station, opened in 2003

- There is a growing fleet of hydrogen passenger cars as well as buses and cars running on locally produced bio gas

- The import of ethanol cars and E85 fuel has begun and a Toyota Prius hybrid is being converted to a plug-in hybrid in September by the National Energy Authority

- This first plug-in hybrid in the country will be able to run over 100 kilometers on electricity alone

- All properties and industry in Iceland are run on renewable energy resources

- Three Icelandic cabinet ministers drive hybrid cars

- His Excellency, Olafur Ragnar Grimsson President of Iceland uses a hybrid Lexus L600

- Iceland air is currently introducing the option of carbon offsetting for all its passengers

- The city of Reykjavik recently introduced free parking for Eco-friendly vehicles

- Barbara Boxer, US Senator & Chairperson of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee recently visited Iceland to learn more about renewable energy

- Icelanders are acknowledged as the world's leading authorities on renewable energy and their know-how in geothermal energy is being exported throughout the world.

Visit Iceland News

Carbon Footprint

Carbon footprint is the amount of carbon dioxide emitted due to the the consumption of fossil fuels by a particular person or a group of people. The EPA defines it as  “The total amount of greenhouse gases that are emitted into the atmosphere each year by a person, family, building, organization, or company.” Driving a car is an obvious tool of emitting carbon dioxide, but the not so obvious one is the daily devices we use in our household. 

The EPA has a calculator  that makes it simple to see what your estimated carbon footprint currently is a year.  The end figures are in pounds of CO2 per year.  I have a condo and currently resides 3 people, we have an estimated carbon footprint of 40,052 LB of CO2 per year.  On the website it gives you many simple steps to take to reduce CO2 emissions from your household.When comparing to my friends apartment, which is a 2 person household.  His current estimated emissions are at 25,550 LB of CO2 per year..

Danish Island Is Energy Self-Sufficient

In this video clip CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips reports on how the island of Samso is completely self-sufficient.












It's a two-hour ferry ride to the Danish island of Samso. The island of Samso is an area about 40 square miles long with a permanent population of about 4,000, all of them living a green dream.

Whats even more surprising and awesome is that its Carbon neutral, the net greenhouse gas emissions equals zero.

Website can be found at
CBS NEWS - Danish Island

Eaarth: Making Life on a Tough New Planet by Bill McKibben

Bill McKibben's Eaarth: Making Life on a Tough New Planet. The point of the book is very clear in that global warming is not something that is going to happen in the future but what is here now.  We better start figuring out right now how we are going to respond to it.  Going with the paradigm is only going to result in wars over the last drops of fossil fuels, and after they are gone, we will lose massive amounts of our population. This is very similar to my project of the "Green" Empire, in that the need for green cities and green innovations is of high importance, as our planet's life is dependent on us.

Eaarth

The book is laid out toward the importance to understanding global warming.  The author provides some factual information in that the six of the 12 largest corporations in the world are fossil-fuel providers, and four others are involved in the automotive industry (which depend on fossil-fuels).  An emphasis on why fresh water resources are being depleting.  This chapter explains all the reasons why we need to change are ways immediately, and not be reactive but PROACTIVE.

Global Warming

“High Tide” is the chapter that focuses on growth and progress. This brings together environmental concerns along with political regulations. We see that wars are being fought over environmental conditions brought on or exacerbated by climate change.  U.S. has always been perceived as a unstoppable force of growth, with unimaginable amount of innovations. We have relied on information of the past to assume our future, which will bring our demise. The next step is to accept our foolishness and welcome solutions to our never ending judgment day that is upon us.


Check out this YouTube clip (only about 3min long)

This book is a powerful message and a glimpse into the future “Eaarth represents the deepest of human failures.” To overcome such tremendous hurdles we must start now and start strong. To think against the paradigm and create new creative, innovative idea to insuring that our planet will surivive, which in turn will allow us to survive. 

Bill McKibben

Hope, Human, and Wild by Bill McKibben

Bill McKibben

In the book Hope, Human and Wild Bill McKibben states that "Curitiba is the classic example of decent lives helping produce a decent environment." This is why its so important for everyone in a city to be involved in the process of becoming a sustainable city, without the belief and purpose there is no solution. Curitiba is a city in southern Brazil, and not just a small town, it is the eighth most populous city in the country. The man behind the belief and purpose is the former mayor Jamie Lerner. He was appointed in the 1970's and revolutionized the entire city.

Curitiba

The bus system in Curitiba is one of the best in the world. Bill McKibben provides some insight in his book by stating "Because of its fine transit system, and because its inhabitants are attracted toward the city center instead of repelled out to a sprawl of suburbs, Curitibans use 25 percents less fuel per capita than other Brazilians, even though they are actually more likely to own cars." This is a great example of the cost efficiency of a sustainable program within a growing metropolis.

Another example of Curitiba going against the paradigm was when the city was granted federal money to install concrete viaducts so that they wouldnt flood the city with the heavy summer rain. Instead "At a number of sites throughout the city, engineers built small dams and back up the rivers into lakes. Each of these became the center of a park; and if the rains were heavy, the lake might rise a foot or two..." and Park Chief Nicolau Klupel stated "Every river has a right to overflow".

When reading about Curitiba brings me and hopefully other readers hope in building sustainable cities. It all starts with a purpose and belief behind change against the paradigm. Everyone within a community must help with the change and believe in it to make it work.