The place for things green in the City Beautiful
Florida Solar Energy Center helps an Orlando home achieve LEED™ (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Certification. An Orlando home rebuilt after it was destroyed in a 2004 hurricane has become the first house in the state to achieve the silver certification.
Two recent bits of news has caught our notice, as it seems hydrogen powered cars might just start to become a reality. The first was Honda’s launch of its H powered, FCX Clarity. Though it’s only offered, as a $600/month lease to folks in Southern California, it still represents a start.
The U.S. Department of Energy recently named the Florida Solar Energy Center at the University of Central Florida as one of only two sites nationwide that will share a multi-million dollar grant to accelerate the adoption of new and developing energy-efficient technologies.
Home builders are starting to see the light. The green light that is. Mercedes Homes revealed their commitment to helping the environment with the unveiling of the company’s second greener home in Brevard County.
Hayden Panettiere, from the NBC series, Heroes, shows us that when a few brave people act, we can change the world.
Connected to both the green building industry and the health & wellness world, Get Green Today Expo helped us see the need to create a place where consumers can find and connect with businesses and people who make a difference.
Florida Solar Energy Center releases EnergyGauge® Summit Premier 3.13, easy-to-use, state-of-the-art software that saves time while completing required energy modeling calculations for LEED® projects.
The City of Orlando recently announced it’s plans to formally get greener. Called Green Works Orlando, Mayor Buddy Dyer heralds some positive steps forward.
Wanted: Celeb who cares about the future of the planet and wants to put his/her name on a good cause. Are you a star in search of meaning? Read on.
As my two boys jumped in excitedly, it dawned on me that this is the stuff of the future. The expo, the Zenn, it’s up to us to care about what we’re leaving for the next generation.
Founded in 1997, igourmet.com is America’s leading online gourmet food and gift retailer. They recently announced their desire to help sustainable development not-for-profit, Community Greenhouse Foundation.
As ONE members, we care. We care about the child orphaned by HIV/AIDS. We care about the village that lacks access to clean water. And we care about the millions of people throughout the developing world who will go to bed hungry tonight. For many of us, that caring is borne of our faith.
The free event includes performance testing, autocross, workshops and a popular road rally. All types of powered vehicles from solar, fuel cell, electric and hybrid will participate.
With more than 5,000 miles of trails and 80,000 acres of greenway, Florida provides residents and visitors of all ages and abilities with year-round access to a wide variety of free health and fitness activities.
Have you ever been to a city that has a great bike trail? Last week we rode some of Orlando’s bike paths, including the West Orange Trail, It took us straight through Winter Garden, FL and what a transformation this town has made to it’s downtown.
Daily, we’re reminded about the violence and chaos that is Iraq. Not so readily available are ways to help. Many people have asked about how to make donations, for deployed troops and how to help the Iraqis. Here are a few things I’ve found.
I stumbled onto a site, looking for the lyrics of a Sixpence None the Richer Song. Whenever it comes up in my iTunes shuffle, I sing along, whether I know the words or not. But since Puedo Escribir is in Espanol, even my abilities to butcher the real lyrics were hard pressed to make sense of it. What is this haunting melody singing about? An epic story of love lost, words of praise or teen age angst amid a storm of grief.
My lawn is a mess. If it’s not the drought–its too much rain. The bugs, the weeds, the bare spots in the grass, living near Florida’s coast just doesn’t seem to make for a nice, livable yard. That is unless, you change the way you think about it.
When we built our home, the builder touted that “everything was included”. The sprinkler system and landscaping all came with the deal. Yet, a few years later, we really have to work at it to keep the those pesky homeowner association letters at bay. A new book by Pineapple Press is finally helping me see why. Natural Florida Landscaping, by Dan Walton and Laurel Schiller, is a great little book that explains the cause of many of my landscaping woes.
Talk radio host Laura Ingraham recently went against political lines as she interviewed author Clint Wilder about his latest book, The Clean Tech revolution. She started her bit, noting that when she picked up the book, she expected to read global warming hype and Al Gore political rhetoric. She was amazed by the basic premise, one that those familiar with the green building world have been trying to get out to the public for the last decade. We can use technology to make our world a better place. And businesses who lead this new tech wave will thrive.
Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services is assisting Florida farmers and ranchers in producing bio-fuel crops to help reduce the nation’s dependency on foreign oil. Commissioner Bronson believes that Florida can be a leader in the effort of producing energy from crops and timber because of the vast amount of farm acreage in the state and its mild climate, which permits crops to be grown virtually year round.
I recently discovered I was an idealist. Well, I’ve always been passionate about many aspects of life. I’ve always volunteered and worked with many non profit groups to make my community a better place. Yet it wasn’t until recently that someone labeled me as an idealist.
Webster says an idealist is “one guided by ideals; especially one that places ideals before practical considerations.” It leads that an idealist is “an adherent of a philosophical theory of idealism; an artist or author who advocates or practices idealism in art or writing.”
Since 1951, The Nature Conservancy has been working in partnership with local communities, government agencies and private businesses to protect the natural landscapes that harbor the diversity of plant and animal life on Earth. Our mission is to preserve the plants, animals and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive. The Nature Conservancy works in all 50 United States and in more than 30 countries around the world.
Three dollar gas is impacting the American psyche, but in ways you’d never have expected. You might think we’d see dramatic changes in the way we live and drive, yet the opposite is true. Instead of market price slowing consumption, the price must still not be high enough the make anyone second guess their driving habits. I’m shocked. Despite almost four thousand dead US servicemen and women, despite rising gas, despite world economic climate, the price of gas does not seem to be openly effecting us. And drivers where I live aren’t slowing down.
The polar ice fields are melting. Blame it on whomever you like; debate the cause; argue about global warming. The reality is we are seeing massive change in our world today. If you look at satellite photos you can easily see the dramatic, speedy retreat of the northern polar ice cap.