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I live in one of the many cities in America where growth takes precedence over everything else. Phoenix has worked very hard to grow in both population and industry for the last 30 years. This city is a giant convection oven because of all the growth, covering natural soils with asphalt and concrete has trapped heat, and on summer evenings the city air will only cool down to 100 degrees. The funniest thing about this city is the mantra that they hold on to “but it’s a dry heat” to try to explain that it’s not really as hot here as people think it is. I grew up in the desert city of Albuquerque, NM and I will attest that Phoenix also has a terrible problem with humidity. Two very large industries here have contributed to the ever increasing humidity, golf courses and farming. This city canals water into it from all across the state and irrigates massive parcels of citrus, cotton, corn, and golf courses. Urban sprawl can’t even begin to explain Phoenix and its many suburbs. The suburb I live in Mesa is 110 sq miles and has industries and housing from end to end but is less than half developed. Private property rights has meant that long time owners of land have held onto them undeveloped for decades while growth goes on around them. The problem is only getting worse, since the big housing boom of 2004 middle income people who didn’t already own homes can no longer afford to buy within the cities and are moving farther and father away for affordable housing, new towns that were not even on the map 10 years ago are now housing boom towns. People moving 30 to 40 miles outside of town have to get into town every day and there is no mass transit so cars are being used by every one of them.

Smart growth encompasses many things including planning, zoning, taxes, protection and revitalization. The most important thing to me is planning; my city is planned around the use of the automobile, with almost no thought to any form of mass transit system until about 5 years ago when the cities decided to build a light rail system from east to west. The big problem with the light rail is that it will bring people into downtown Phoenix where there is a mass concentration of jobs, but that downtown concentration runs 10 miles or more north to south, so once people get into downtown no thought has been put into how they then get north and south economically. I think that while the cities may have had good intentions with this light rail it will never get used and the 300 million dollars could have been put to much better use. One of our fastest growing suburbs the Town of Gilbert recently used one of these tools to slow growth because the town could not keep up with the number of people moving in and schools were becoming overcrowded and law enforcement was way below par. The Town of Gilbert placed a heavy tax burden on every new home built. This was a very effective way to reduce growth and solve the need for tax dollars for infrastructure. The cities of this megalopolis do a good job of conserving some land in its natural state but that is the only area in which we do a good job. These cities all need to put more effort into promoting recycling, the use of solar energy of which we have an abundance with over 320 sunny days per year, and the promotion of green building designs.

Growing up in the Southwest United States you get to learn a little bit about salinization of soil through the use of evaporative coolers to cool your house.  When the water in your evaporative cooler evaporates it leaves behind calcium and salt buildups which corrode the metal of the cooler.  You can fight this very effectively by using an additional pump to drain all of the water from the cooler every 12 hours, but that leads to salt buildup in the soil if you pump it onto the ground which most people do including me.  The area that you pump the water onto eventually dies and nothing grows back until you either stop draining water there or use oodles of water to wash the salts further down. 

Salinization for the purposes of this assignment is caused by farmers irrigating land for many years and the water evaporating and leaching down leaves salt behind to build up.  Salinization leads to soil erosion because of the lack of ground cover because most crops won’t grow in soil that is too high in salt content.  According to Miller Jr. Salinization is a major problem because it (Miller, Jr., 2005, 283) “It stunts crop growth, lowers crop yields, and eventually kills plants and ruins the land.”  The good news is that simply by growing more salt tolerant crops the land already affected can still be useful, or by frequent crop rotation and less irrigation you can prevent land from becoming barren unfertile and eroded. 

Author: Anne-Marie Fleming

Article:
Green Building Goes Mainstream as Energy Costs and Environmental Concerns Spark Greater Adoption

EnvironmentStocks.com Reviews Green Building Technology and Industry Participation from Alcoa, XsunX, Centex Corp and International Barrier

Green building has moved mainstream as the demand for the utilization of construction products, materials, and techniques that minimize waste, improve air and water quality, increase energy efficiency and protect the environment grows. Over the years as the nation has faced and continues to deal with, rising energy costs and the environmental consequences that comes from traditional energy sources, many are ‘Going Green’ and the companies involved in this industry are benefiting from this growth. Working to meet the growing need for environmentally friendly construction and energy production are companies such as XsunX, Inc (OTCBB: XSNX), and Aloca Inc. (NYSE: AA) with their focus on integrated solar technologies, in addition to efforts by home builder Centex Corporation (NYSE: CTX) and International Barrier, (OTCBB: IBTGF; TSXV: IBH), a developer of environmental friendly fire resistant building materials.

According to a recent survey conducted by McGraw-Hill Construction / National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) the residential green building market is anticipated to grow from $19 billion from 2005 to $38 billion by 2010. This is due in large part to the rising cost of energy. Taryn Holowka, Communications Manager, for the U.S. Green Building Council explains, “People are seeing gas, energy, electricity prices rising, and one way to combat that is through green building practices. When LEED certified projects are saving 20-50% on their utility bills and using thousands of gallons less water (saving on water bills) it is something that speaks to the bottom line.”

Ms. Holowka also attributes the surge in sustainable building in part to the increased level of education that is now available.
“We have 60 local USGBC chapters out there educating and doing outreach at the local level - grassroots - and I think that the more education we get out there and the more people who know the benefits of green building, the more green buildings we will see. As of now there are over 500 LEED certified green buildings in the US and these buildings are serving as showcases, people are working in them and living in them and realizing that green is feasible, it is something that they can do,” states Holowka.

Contributing to growing level of education and overall demand for green products and techniques within the building process continues to be the vast media coverage of the key issues at hand. While it is true that one result is that consumers are becoming more aware of the risks to the environment, but they also understand the direct impact this may have on their own personal health.

According to Michael Huddy, President & CEO of International Barrier, Technology, Inc. (OTCBB: IBTGF; TSX.V: IBH), “A big part of the green movement stems from the media which is much more attuned to issues as they interface environmental issues with health. In the past there has been a variety of movements to protect the environment for future generations. Recently what is creating a greater sense of urgency in doing things organically, in a non-hazardous way using ‘green’ products is the connection between health problems in people and hazardous, non-green products and materials.”

“Our customers are coming to us as they not only seek environmentally friendly building materials, but also as they are steering away from products that may prove to be hazardous down the road. It is both sides of it, there is passive a movement towards green products, but there is also an aggressive movement away from hazardous materials,” adds Huddy.

Building a Greener Future

Employing the use of old building technologies in roofing, glazing, and exteriors or facades to create structures to service and house the tens of millions of people moving from rural to urban environments presents a static solution to a dynamic problem facing developing and developed countries alike.

As Tom Djokovich, CEO of XsunX, Inc. (OTCBB: XSNX) explains, “The energy problems facing governments and the societies they service presents an evolving sea of problems and limitations associated with access to fuels to power generations plants, the costs of generation facility construction and the deceasing lifespan of these facilities, costs and inefficiencies of power distribution, and the wasteful use of power at the point of delivery. The evolving nature of these problems requires dynamic solutions to first mitigate and eventually solve the future energy demands of society. We believe that this need for dynamic solutions is what is driving the growth in Green Building.
Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) presents a process of innovation that provides dynamic solutions allowing buildings to increase efficiencies and reduce energy dependence on fossil fuels.”

Building Integrated Photovoltaic

A key element of raising the adoption level of BIPV technology is the ability to integrate with little if any compromise to the overall look and feel of the structures while enabling the building to serve multiple purposes.

“What architects, builders, and building material manufacturers need are technologies and products that allow them to integrate solar power production capabilities into materials as seamlessly as possible,” describes Tom Djokovich. “In the majority of instances these new materials should provide dualistic uses such as a glass facade producing electricity from the sun for the building’s use while allowing the windows to continue to function as a light source and provide views. At XsunX our product design elements focus on diversity of use opportunities, cost reductions, and efficiency improvements. In this way we are working to provide the necessary solutions to the building industry,” adds Djokovich.

Kawneer North America, a leading manufacturer of architectural aluminum products and systems for the commercial construction industry and part of Alcoa Inc.’s (NYSE:AA) global Building and Construction Systems business unit, has developed an integrated BIPV sunshade product called 1600 PowerShade®. Understanding the importance of enhancing building performance without compromising aesthetics, this patented sunshade technology generates solar power while also providing an optimal level of shad, according to the Company. Additionally BIPV can be incorporated into vertical and sloped glazing applications such as Kawneer’s 1600 PowerWall® and 1600PowerSlope® products. These products lead to energy conservation and an overall reduction of building costs.

For XsunX, the BIPV arena offers considerable opportunity as they work to provide solar cell designs that can easily be integrated into the exterior facade or skin of the building. “We are working on semi-transparent and opaque designs that could be integrated into the transparent glass facades and opaque surfaces of buildings to produce electricity, increasing building efficiencies, and decrease dependence of grid supplied power, describes Tom Djokovich.

He adds, “We are focused on the development of thin film photovoltaic “TFPV” designs that provide light weight, flexible structures that can be integrated into building products and become part of the surface of the building. We believe that our cell designs and manufacturing processes for theses cell provide a superior manufacturing technique that reduces cell manufacturing costs which in turn provide building material manufacturers with lower material costs and a greater opportunity for market acceptance.”

The Cost of Green Building

Historically a key challenge for the adoption of green building techniques, material and technology has been the upfront costs.
The McGraw-Hill Construction/NAHB survey showed that costs in the form of start up expenses and an overall lack o consumer interest to pay additional costs for a green home, are perceived by 82% and 79% respectively as a barrier. While the issue of higher costs still remain a factor improved processes, government subsidies and an overall increased commitment to making these products commercially viable has led to significant reduction in cost and payback periods that are much more favorable than in the past.

As the U.S. Green Building Council’s Taryn Holowka explains, “These costs have absolutely come down. New technologies and products are always costlier, but as new science, research and technologies come out, it becomes cost effective. Cost varies on the size of the building and the level of LEED certification that the building would be going for, but you can build a LEED project for 0-5% increased up front costs. And, these upfront costs (if you have them) can be recouped in the first 1-2 years of the life of the building through energy savings, utility bill saving, increased employee productivity, and decreased employee absenteeism and turnover.”

Centex Corporation, (NYSE: CTX) one of the nation’s leading home building companies has been exploring the green building arena through various developments across the country. The Company’s Southwest Florida Division, a member of the Florida Green Building Coalition, Division became involved in “Green Building” through the purchase of land in a “Green Certified Development” - The Verandah.

According to a division representative, “The requirement to be a preferred builder in that community was that all models had to be certified “Green” by the Florida Green Building Coalition’s certification standards. In addition, there were certain minimum energy certifications that needed to be met on all homes constructed. In addition to this, we are building all single family homes in The Quarry, a Centex Master planned community, in compliance with the EPA Energy Star Program requirements.”

Green Building Options

Being ‘green’ is fast becoming the preferred choice amongst consumers and businesses sparking an escalation in the availability and supply of products from a variety of segments in the building sector.

“There are a lot of new technologies and products out there that are being used. Paint and carpet adhesive manufacturers have really made it easier for everyone in that they have complete lines of products available now with no or low VOC content. In addition there are some fantastic recycled materials out there such as countertops made from glass, insulation made from recycled denim. Flooring materials like bamboo and cork are also very popular. In addition, under floor air systems have really taken off and they make so much sense form a business perspective and we are seeing them utilized in many different LEED projects,” describes Holowka.

As a major player in the homebuilder space Centex implements a variety of measures, many things as a matter of standard that brings a home close to certification. According to the Company some of these advancements include standard programmable thermostats, upgraded insulation R-values, roofing techniques, pest control systems, etc. “For the most part, we are 75% in line with the green certification standards on most of our homes. In addition, we continue to look into costs associated with green products such as Low Voc and No Voc finishes, alternate attic insulation techniques, use of recycled materials, and other green products.”

International Barrier’s Blazeguard fire rate wood panels, which are coated with the Company’s patented Pyrotite fire resistant formulation, offers builders and developers a high quality, environmentally friendly, non-toxic product that delivers fire, mold, mildew and impact resistance, in addition to structural strength. Dr. Huddy explains, “Blazeguard has absolutely no emissions. It is a physically inorganic, inert material that doesn’t change over time. It doesn’t have any interaction with the atmosphere, or any reaction with the physical environment around it. It is an inert material that does not emit anything of hazardous nature, a benefit customers will have for the life of the product.”

Another Alcoa business, Presto Products, has found a niche for stabilizing soil in green roof applications taking advantage of the growing green roof market with garden roof specialist, American Hydrotech. “The Presto-Alcoa GardNet is mainly used to confine and stabilize the infill material on slopped roofs and offers environmental benefits such as conserving energy, reducing storm water runoff, and provides aesthetic value to urban spaces,” according to the Company.

As we move forward it is becoming clear that not only are green building products healthy fro the environment and for people but they have evolved to the point where they provide high quality, high efficiency solutions for consumers and businesses. As this market matures and providers innovate and expand their presence in this space, being environmentally conscious has become a path for growth and a means for improving the bottom line.

Ann-Marie Fleming Ann-Marie Fleming completed her MBA in the United States, where she attended Webster University. She also holds an Honors B.A from the University of Toronto. She has over sixteen years of experience within the financial industry to include retail banking and brokerage, investment banking, and mortgage brokerage within the United States and Canada, with a firm background in corporate research. Disclaimer:
www.InvestorIdeas.com/About/Disclaimer.asp,

©Copyright InvestorIdeas 2006

About the author:
Ann-Marie Fleming completed her MBA in the United States, where she attended Webster University. She also holds an Honors B.A from the University of Toronto. She has over sixteen years of experience within the financial industry to include retail banking and brokerage, investment banking, and mortgage brokerage within the United States and Canada, with a firm background in corporate research.

Carbon credits are just another way for irresponsible people to continue to be irresponsible.  There are some good organizations using the sale of carbon credits or offsets to fund very worthwhile projects, but why give people an excuse to continue to waste energy by buying credits.  If you truly want to offset your lifestyle then make changes in the way you do things every day.  It is much more satisfying to replace the incandescent light bulbs in your home than it is to write a check to a carbon credit company. 

Dirthome.com is here as a voice of moderation.  Moderation of people’s wasteful lifestyles and moderation between eco-fascists and people who seem not to care at all about how their lifestyle may or may not impact the world we live in.  While we wholeheartedly believe that everyone should choose to make a difference by curbing their appetites for energy, we also realize that this country and world needs a viable economic growth solution.  Balancing economic growth and conservation is the goal here, not shutting down every source of pollution in the world. 

If you feel compelled to purchase carbon credits, please look for a company that is using the money for real world projects.  We have found one such company that we believe could make a real difference for a lot of people if you are so inclined please check out http://www.nativeenergy.com.

I am not a scientist, engineer, or even a meteorologist, and I do mean EVEN a meteorologist because even though I don’t know for sure they have to be the laughing stock of the entire scientific community.  I do however believe in global warming, what I don’t believe is that humans are causing it.  I also believe that Al Gore is one of the smartest people on earth.  He has learned that if you say it enough times pretty soon it becomes a fact.  I don’t believe that Al Gore believes any of the things that he says, but I know that he is getting rich by saying them, and so does he.  More on Al Gore in a later post, my stomach is a little queasy right now.  This post is about a real environmental issue that something should be done about.

While not everyone should believe in global warming, I think that everyone can look at the brown cloud that hangs over their city and see that something needs to be done about the pollution.  The pollution of our air and our water should be of major concern to every human.  I do find it a little sad that the eco-community as grabbed onto the global warming idea and believes that people are going to be linked together to fight global warming for the good of mankind.  Global warming is propaganda thrown around by a group that is interested is making money on the backs of common men and women by making them feel guilty.  Pollution is a real issue that can and should be addressed by both sides together.  We all know that pollution is real because we can see it and unfortunately touch and sometimes taste it. 

With this site I hope to bring people together to fight real issues facing people and the environment everyday.  Together we can make a difference not only in our own lives but in the lives of many generations to come.

After reviewing the air and water pollution problems of Portland Oregon from another student’s paper I have come up with some feasible solutions to the problems facing the area.  According to the students paper the most serious problem with water pollution in Portland is contamination along the Willamette River from industrial manufacturing, and was listed as a national super fund site in December 2000.  The student’s major concern with air pollution was about exposure to benzene from the burning of wood, coal, and oil.  The thing that surprised me the most was the concern that 50% of their exposure to benzene came from cigarette smoke, their must not be any laws in Oregon that deal with smoking in public places like there are here in Arizona.  I also must wonder why Oregon would still have a concern about exposures from painting, because we have had zero emission paint booths for quite a number of years.

The Willamette River runs within 20 mile of 70% of the homes in Oregon, a very astounding figure and it’s no wonder it is polluted.  It seems that Oregonians have been neglecting this river and its pollution problems for a great many years.  The Willamette is so polluted that according to (The Coast Range Association, 2000) “You can’t eat certain Willamette fish because they’re contaminated with mercury. On many days, you can’t swim or boat in the river because it is full of sewage overflows. The Portland Harbor qualifies as a Superfund site. And far too frequently, the river and many of its tributaries reach temperatures that are too high to provide suitable habitat for fish and other river life. It’s small wonder that 99% of the river’s historical spring Chinook salmon runs are gone, and (along with steelhead runs) are now listed under the federal Endangered Species Act.”  Now is the time to act or this river may be lost to pollution for many generations.  The first thing that needs to happen along the Willamette is toxic discharges into the river need to be cut to zero, right now, sign a law into effect that gives polluters 2 years to reduce their output to zero or be shut down.  The second thing that needs to happen is every polluter needs to be held financially responsible for new water treatment plants that will be built along the river.  And municipalities along the river should be held responsible for any sewage discharge into the river and should be made to also fund water treatment plants along the river.  Lastly the state should set new standards for the amount of drainage that that has kept river flows down.  Careful monitoring of water usage should be enacted and wetlands should be restored with water that was once diverted and wasted.

Benzene in the air in Oregon is an obvious factor since they currently do very little to control it.  The EPA seems little concerned with Oregon since according to (Knight, 2006) “In March 2006, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed the Mobile Source Air Toxics rule that will initiate nation-wide reductions of benzene levels in gasoline.  Unfortunately, the EPA’s proposed rule leaves Oregon and the Pacific NW with the highest benzene levels in gasoline in the country. Under EPA’s rule, our benzene levels will be twice east coast levels.”  I guess that the EPA doesn’t feel like the people of Oregon have the clout or enough political power to care about them at all.  Oregon needs to bite the bullet on this one and do everything necessary to control their air quality issues.  If there are paint and body businesses that don’t have zero emission paint booths shut them down until they figure out how to pay for them or the can always rent them after hours from companies who do have them.  Oregon doesn’t currently have vapor recovery system in place on gasoline pumps or transfer vehicles.  Also in the Oregon DEQ website is a list of ways to limit your personal exposure to benzene including “Keep vehicles properly maintained, Drive less, Use alternative transportation (taking the bus or MAX, carpooling, riding a bike, walking, etc.), use certified woodstoves or fireplaces and burn only clean, dry wood or compressed logs, quit smoking, and avoid exposure to second hand smoke”  While those are all good tips they come from the people who are entrusted with the public health, people who should have solid concrete answers to deal with the problems other than telling people how to limit their exposure.  I guess the driving less advice is telling people that if you can afford it you should pay someone else to pump your gas for you, limiting your exposure but they are just a common worker and who cares about their health. I had never considered before this research that Oregon was still stuck in the dark ages or were a bunch of turtles with their heads pulled into their shells when it came to environmental issues by this was a real eye opener.

In summation Oregon from the outside seems like a nice place to live but from the inside must be very frustrating for people who have to deal with inadequate and antiquated laws and politicians.  People of Oregon wake up and throw the bums out before it is too late.