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..