10.6.08 | Grand Rapids, MI, was named “the greenest city in America” by Fast Company Magazine. The city leads the nation in the number of LEED-certified buildings per capita.

10.6.08 | I am devastated; I had hoped to see my first official junkyard dog up close (I wanted to experience for myself how mean they really are) but them there puppies have been thrown out of work; they appear to be victims of the new economy and have been replaced by cheaper-to-operate electronics. Bummer.

9.29.08 | With all the minerals in this state, ya'd think there'd be some kind of decent stone to use for vanity countertops, shower walls and floors. Alas, stone is not one of the Arizona 5 C's (cattle, citrus, climate, copper and cotton). A friend is a project manager for a stone fabricator and she assures me there is stone in Arizona, only it is either completely inappropriate for bathroom use (soft sandstone) or so outrageously beautiful and expensive that the likes of me should never even dream of acquiring it (onyx).

9.22.08 | After packing up its impressive assortment of Angle Walls, modular kitchen/java center components, interactive 3-D software displays, and other product innovations that it will show in Toronto this week at IIDEX/NeoCon Canada, DIRTT Environmental Solutions Ltd.staffers will return home to Calgary with no time to rest. The company is planning a decidedly different event for the following week a major gala fundraiser on Thursday, Oct. 2, for the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS).

9.15.08 | Electricity is our most widely used form of energy. It touches every aspect of our lives. Yet, despite the importance of electricity to us, few people understand the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity.

9.15.08 | So this is where old concrete comes to die. It's just after dawn and I am standing near a gargantuan pile of broken concrete. Jim corrects me: used to come to die; now it comes here to be reincarnated. Wow, Hindu concrete; that's cosmic, Man.

9.8.08 | The setting is a small auditorium space near the center of São Paulo, Brazil. Men and women in suits are chatting as seated participants untangle their language translation headsets. A projection screen glows with the U.S. Green Building Council logo in front of the table arranged for panelists. The flags on formal flagpoles stand at attention in the corner, reminding me of the Brazilian love affair with bureaucratic measures.

9.8.08 | Living on one level has its advantages, certainly for an “aging in place scenario, but not for efficient hot water delivery. Contractors, bless their hearts, have not a lick of sense when it comes to the logistics of daily living. Consequently, our water heater had been installed at the extreme southeast corner of the house and the two frequently used bathrooms were way off in the opposite corners.