Sustainability Series by UL Environment sponsored by Global A+D Portfolio
Paul Bates, MBA, LEED-AP, BD&C, serves as the National Program Manager of Education and Training for UL Environment and is responsible for developing and delivering sustainably oriented education and training programs to a range of audiences including building operations, design professionals and students as well as professional trade organizations and consumers.
What does it take to recycle in Houston? Buildings are responsible for a large component of the waste stream. On September 17, City Council voted to provide curbside recycling to all residential customers with City of Houston collection. Check.
How about your office? Your apartment? What are the obstacles to recycling? What can you recycle? Why isn’t everything recyclable? What are other cities doing to recycle? What about composting? Bring your questions, we’ll see what kind of answers we can provide.
What does it take to collect rainwater in Houston and be able to drink it legally? Mark Illian will lead a presentation on the detail design and construction considerations implemented in the first three residential rainwater to drinking water projects installed here in Houston under the new Appendix R Potable Rainwater Catchment System of the plumbing code. Al McDonald will discuss filtration, Amanda Tullos will discuss applications to the LEED Rating System, and John Jordan will discuss issues from the regulation and permitting side of the ledger.
Picture this: attending a party where you are enjoying a frosty libation served in a Styrofoam cup, knowing you can’t recycle the cup. Now picture recycling the cup at the party. Join us the day after Earth Day here to see a great ReUse in Houston display from the University of Houston, and enjoy some free libations here served in Styrofoam cups that you can leave with us guilt free!
There is irrefutable evidence that the effects of global climate change are upon us. So what is next? Is it within our capacity to change our current course to avoid the more severe impacts, or is it too late? Can we change the hearts and minds of our elected officials, and get them to face reality? How do we cultivate the political will and leadership necessary to guide us through this impending storm? Or is it time to hunker down?
Lots of questions these days about reusing shipping containers in buildings. Shipping containers a cheap and structurally capable.
Why aren’t we seeing more of them here? They are not designed to be buildings, so it takes someone knowledgeable with building science to provide the right materials in the right place with the right equipment to make them comfortable, energy efficient, healthy, and durable. Otherwise, why use them?
What if every single act of design and construction made the world a better place? The purpose of the Living Building Challenge is straightforward – it defines the most advanced measure of sustainability in the built environment possible today and acts to diminish the gap between current limits and ideal solutions.