Making Cement The Way Coral Does It: Out Of Thin Air

From Fast Company
Biomineralization expert Brent Constantz of Stanford University got inspiration from the way corals build reefs to make a new type of cement for buildings. The process of making this cement actually removes carbon dioxide--a greenhouse gas, thought to cause global warming--from the air. The company Constantz founded, called Calera, has a demonstration plant on California's Monterrey Bay that takes waste CO2 gas from a local power plant and dissolves it into seawater to form carbonate, which mixes with calcium in the seawater and creates a solid. It's how corals form their skeletons, and how Constantz creates cement.

16 year old builds tiny home to guarantee mortgage-free future

Recycled Aggregate for Carbon Neutral Concrete

From Sustainable Construction Blog
With the development of environmentally conscious construction projects across the world, there are still many demands of building materials that today’s technologies have not yet satisfied.  Looking at the two main structural building materials, steel and concrete, one in particular lacks characteristics of carbon neutrality.  While steel is nearing full recycled production, concrete remains a very carbon intensive process.  The main contributor to this trait is portland cement.  Portland cement exhausts sulfates, soot and nitrogen oxides when it is created (Chandra 518).  In addition, natural aggregate from raw mined material contributes to concrete’s carbon consumption.  These two aspects of concrete are in need of sustainable remediation in order for carbon neutral projects to allow its use in generous quantities. 

    

Using Returned Concrete to Make Blocks

Sustainable energy possibilities rarely find their way to consumers

From bits of science:

Test projects in which governments and companies demonstrate sustainable energy and material inventions are not adopted by the market and other companies. Research by the VU University of Amsterdam shows many such inventions are done, but the amount that ends up being used is practically negligible.

The research mainly focuses on the construction industry, where a large scale introduction of energy saving measures has been held off. Techniques like solar heating, solar boilers and sun directed allotment have proven highly effective in test cases but have only been sparsely applied in regular construction.

THE POWER OF WORD OF MOUTH MARKETING: INFOGRAPHIC EDITION

From Pr2 Squared

Humanities Gateway earns top ranking for sustainable construction

From myUCIrvine.com

Sustainable construction features and green amenities included in UC Irvine’s Humanities Gateway building earned a LEED Platinum rating this month from the U.S. Green Building Council. A platinum designation is the council’s highest honor, and it is UCI’s first. The campus has received eight LEED Gold designations.
“This designation demonstrates UCI’s commitment not only to mitigating the campus’s impact on the environment, but to holding down costs as well,” said Wendell Brase, vice chancellor for administrative and business services.  “At UCI, we are proud of our leadership role in building energy-efficient facilities that save both natural resources and money.”

Is Canada Ripe for a Housing Correction?

An interesting article today from the Economist - entitled House of horrors, part 2 - claims that the bursting of the global housing bubble is only halfway through.

MANY of the world’s financial and economic woes since 2008 began with the bursting of the biggest bubble in history. Never before had house prices risen so fast, for so long, in so many countries. Yet the bust has been much less widespread than the boom. Home prices tumbled by 34% in America from 2006 to their low point earlier this year; in Ireland they plunged by an even more painful 45% from their peak in 2007; and prices have fallen by around 15% in Spain and Denmark.

7 Reasons To Use Twitter To Help Your Business

Love it or don’t see the point of it, Twitter is here to stay. If you’re already tapping into the vast opportunities social media presents your online store ecommerce venture, then chances are you’ll know a good chunk of your customer base are already tweeting and re-tweeting on a regular basis. But how your customers use it and how you as a business use it are different sides of the same coin – so take note of our top tips for using Twitter for business:

Sustainability Article in Aggregates Manager Magazine

I was interviewed for this article in Aggregates Manager Magazine, check it out!

Sustainable operating practices — which have roots in the business strategies of many European construction materials companies — are making their way into the ideology and operations of their North American counterparts.
For example, Lafarge North America Inc.’s various business units have taken a cue from their global parent company, with each business unit forming a sustainable construction committee. Each committee represents all its product lines, including aggregates, ready-mix, asphalt, cement, pre-cast concrete, and gypsum within that business unit, says Ted Matson, Lafarge North America Inc.’s director of marketing for aggregates in western Canada.
“During the last two years, we came up with a marketing plan that primarily identifies risks and opportunities that are related to sustainability,” he explains. “Here in western Canada, almost all of the newly designed buildings have some sustainable construction dimension to them. There’s an increased awareness of it internally within our own organization and, at the same time, externally within the construction industry.”

When Making Decisions, First Know the Opinions and Seek Dissent

I came across this interesting post on the Harvard Business Review Blog Network. Stephen Wunker discusses why Peter Drucker distrusted facts.  He pulls in this interesting quote from Drucker's book Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices

"Most books on decision-making tell the reader: First find the facts. But executives who make effective decisions know that one does not start with facts. One starts with opinions...The understanding that underlies the right decision grows out of the clash and conflict of divergent opinions and out of serious consideration of competing alternatives. To get the facts first is impossible. There are no facts unless one has a criterion of relevance."

 Wunker goes on to highlight five theses that support this claim:

1. If we do not make opinions clear, we will simply find confirmatory facts. "No one has ever failed to find the facts they are looking for."
2. An opinion provides an untested hypothesis. Once we have clarified the hypothesis, we can test it rather than argue it. "The effective person...insists that people who voice an opinion also take responsibility for defining what factual findings can be expected and should be looked for."


3. Decisions are judgments, not a choice between right and wrong. Oftentimes they are "a choice between two courses of action neither of which is probably more right than the other." So we must understand the alternatives fully.


4. Big decisions may require new criteria. "Whenever one analyzes the way a truly great, a truly right, decision has been reached, one finds that a great deal of work and thought went into finding the appropriate measurement. The effective decision-maker assumes that the traditional measurement is not the right measurement...The traditional measurement reflects yesterday's decision. That there is a need for a new one normally indicates that the measure is no longer relevant."


5. Ironically, opinions break executives free of pre-conceptions and poor imagination. Disagreement is a safeguard against being a prisoner of the organization and seeing an issue just as underlings want. Drucker quotes the famed General Motors boss Alfred P. Sloan, who after hearing executives unanimously support a decision reportedly said, "I propose we postpone further discussion of this matter until our next meeting to give us time to develop disagreement and perhaps gain some understanding of what the decision is all about."

I find the Sloan quote very interesting; where he implies that a decision is not considered effective unless dissent is present, and if there is no dissent then go out and find some!

Do you seek dissenting opinions when you make a decision?

Social Media Revolution 2011

The latest video with all of the updated mind-blowing facts!

7 Surprising Facts About Energy Efficiency (Infographic)

From WellHome:

There’s no doubt that energy efficiency and conservation is becoming increasingly popular and more of a priority both for individuals, corporations, and nations. Over the past few years, some surprising strides have been made in how we utilize energy efficiently – including how our homes can be improved upon through energy audits and with insulation, energy-efficient windows, and a properly sized HVAC system. The following graphic shows 7 facts about how energy efficiency is changing and moving forward.

The New Workplace Currency

Source: Cisco Connected World Technology Report

Lafarge wins Network Rail ballast contract

From Railco.com:

Granite from Lafarge will be keeping the country’s railways on the right track for the next five years, after the company secured a prestigious multi-million pound contract.

Network Rail, which owns and operates most of Britain’s rail infrastructure, has awarded a framework contract to Lafarge Aggregates & Concrete UK to provide ballast and other crushed rock material from Mountsorrel Quarry, near Loughborough.

The contract is worth, potentially, £35 million over the next five years with Lafarge hoping to supply more than a million tonnes of product a year, a fifth of Mountsorrel’s annual output.

Amazing Time-lapse Video of a Dam Removal in Washington State

Rammed Earth House Ready to be Enjoyed

This beautiful home in Whistler, BC is made of Rammed Earth.  The results are simply amazing!

History of Magnesium Cements

The history of magnesium cements goes back millenia, magnesium phosphate cements made from animal faeces or fermented plant material and magnesia were used in the great wall and in many early buildings around the world. It is also likely that magnesium sulfate or chloride type cements were used before their western invention by Stanislaus Sorel [1].
The oldest cement are probably magnesium phosphate type wherein insoluble magnesium phosphates are formed from a mixture of a soluble phosphate and magnesium oxide. The early magnesium cements were made with soluble phosphate from animal faeces or fermented plants and magnesia and optionally clays. “These natural cements bind naturally and exceptionally well to all things cellulose (i.e. plant fibers, wood chip, etc.) and are often referred to as “living cements.”

Quantum Levitation

Expert advises builders to mix magnesium sulphate with concrete

Lagos – An environmentalist,  Mr Taiwo Adewole,  has advised operators in the construction industry to always add magnesium sulphate when moulding concrete.
Adewole on Wednesday in Lagos said that concrete mixed with magnesium sulphate was capable absorbing carbon dioxide from the air.
According to him, the conventional concrete mix is no longer desirable because it emits carbon dioxide into the atmosphere rather than absorb it.
Adewole, who is a member of the U.S.Green Building Council, said that the conventional concrete mix was not environmentally friendly.
“Conventional concrete, in its traditional form, is made from cement and some aggregates such as gravel, limestone or granite and some finer particles such as sand or fly ash.
“The new version of concrete uses different raw materials and magnesium sulphate, which requires less heating, which in turns help to absorb carbon dioxide,” he said.
Adewole said that the conventional concrete mix was “huge source of carbon emissions into the atmosphere”.
“It is said that concrete is responsible for up to five per cent of the world’s total amount of carbon emissions.
“Carbon emission is created when moulding a concrete because cement is burnt at high temperature.
“This high level of carbon emission from concrete is a contributor to the greenhouse gases which is the major agent of climate change and ozone layer depletion,” he said.
The environmentalist said that the latest technology in the construction sector had just been developed by a British scientist and advised Nigerians to be ready to adopt the new technology.
He said that the new technology was good, particularly in the construction of green buildings.
“This is a real positive development for an industry which has been guilty of carbon emissions through building operations,” he said. (NAN)

Source: vanguardngr.com

$1.4B Evergreen Line Rapid Transit Line in Metro Vancouver

This P3 funded rapid transit line will extend from the existing Millennium SkyTrain Line in Burnaby, through the community of Port Moody and all the way to the Coquitlam Town Shopping Centre in Coquitlam.

In July 2010, the B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure issued a RFQ to identify private partners to design, build, and finance the project, and will now choose up to three teams to submit RFPs. Construction is set to begin in summer 2011, once the EA certificate has been issued, with completion expected in 2014. ReNew Canada 

Amazing Brick Machine Rolls Out Roads Like A Carpet

From inhabit.com, a Dutch paving machine called the Tiger Stone lays a paving stone roadway automatically.

Brick roads have been around for centuries and they have been revisited lately by the green building community for a number of reasons. Bricks are easy to procure and reuse, cement pavers last a very long time, and they are easy to repair and replace. They tolerate water and freezing without forming cracks, and some newer systems actually absorb rainwater between the pavers and infuse it back into the ground again, reducing storm water runoff and helping improve the effectiveness of aquifers. Not to mention, the roads look pretty great too.

Read more: Amazing Brick Machine Rolls Out Roads Like Carpet | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World 

How Ford Got Social Marketing Right

It's a year old but this is a really great article from Harvard Business Review on how Ford really "gets" Social Marketing.

"There is an awful lot of aimless experiment in the digital space these days. A lot of people who appear not to have a clue are selling digital marketing advice. I think the Fiesta Movement gives us new clarity. It's a three-step process.

1. Engage culturally creative consumers to create content.
2. Encourage them to distribute this content on social networks and digital markets in the form of a digital currency.
3. Craft this is a way that it rebounds to the credit of the brand, turning digital currency (and narrative meaning) into a value for the brand."

Link to HBR Article here.

Edmonton neighbourhoods set for a facelift

A sidewalk in the Meadowlark neighborhood of west Edmonton is scheduled for reconstruction.

Photograph by: Larry Wong, edmontonjournal.com

EDMONTON — The City of Edmonton is readying its plan to fix heaving sidewalks, crumbling roads and rusty lamp posts in communities that weren't properly maintained for decades.

The 2011 neighbourhood renewal program is scheduled to begin or finish the two-year process of reconstructing six areas — Rio Terrace, Parkallen, Sherbrooke, Fulton Place, Capilano and West Jasper Place.

The work includes repaved roads, replacing sidewalks, curbs, gutters and street lights.

Relatively new roads in another three neighbourhoods will be resealed to keep them in good condition, while a dozen other places will have roads paved and sidewalk hazards eliminated.

This $104-million plan, including $11 million in work that couldn't get done in 2010, is another step in a strategy to ensure roughly 300 neighbourhoods are in fair to good condition within about 20 years.

It has been a long time coming. A report last month indicated the city didn't do any significant neighbourhood renewal work before 1987. In roughly the past two decades, only 70 were spruced up to some degree.

The heart of the program is an annual two-per-cent tax hike until 2018 dedicated to a fund that will eventually pay for the work without relying on provincial grants or other money.

The 2011 increase was cut to 1.5 per cent during December's budget debate.

Politicians generally accepted that lower prices and bottlenecks, such as a lack of designers, that prevented the city from spending the entire construction budget mean there will be enough cash to cover next year's work.

Coun. Don Iveson, who foresees the dedicated tax increase remaining at 1.5 per cent a year until 2018, feels this shouldn't affect the pace of work, but adds a caution on his blog.

"If inflation hits this program at more than five per cent a year between now (and) 2018, we will have to either slow the work or raise that rate again."

Some of his colleagues worry continued cuts will put the repair timetable in jeopardy.

"I want us to be able to guarantee to citizens that we're going to be able to fix all these neighbourhoods and do it in as timely a fashion as we can," Coun. Kim Krushell says.

"My concern is if you get councillors in a habit of reducing neighbourhood renewal, then we will be back where we were in the '90s (when) they took all the money from maintenance."

However, for now the numbers are still being studied.

"The lower inflation numbers would mean that we could accomplish the planned reconstruction program while requiring a lower tax levy," transportation operations manager Brice Stephenson says in an e-mail.

"We are doing a review of the program as part of developing next year's budget to ensure the funds requested in the budget continue to match program targets."

Community infrastructure renewal is co-ordinated where necessary with a related program, Great Neighbourhoods.

This plan is slated to spend about $45 million in 2009-11 in 14 areas on priorities such as streetscape improvements, making commercial districts more attractive and better lighting and pathways.

One unintended consequence of neighbourhood renewal is that the old cliche of the city paving roads only to dig them up again is coming true.

Although staff try to ensure Epcor finishes sewer work before rebuilding streets and sidewalks, "there have been situations in which newly constructed roads were excavated in order to repair underground infrastructure," a city report says.

To reduce this problem, drainage is seeking more money for sewer improvements so its schedule better matches the neighbourhood renewal program.

As well, planners are attempting to co-ordinate above-ground work with Epcor and Atco's cast-iron water-main and gas-line replacement.

The city spent just $282 million on neighbourhood renewal from 1992 to 2008, meaning only one or two neighbourhoods a year were rebuilt for most of the past decade.

Officials now plan to spend more than $100 million annually on a program that will reconstruct at least a half-dozen areas each year, in addition to paving and other improvements.

The hope is to clear the backlog and provide three cycles of maintenance or paving before infrastructure reaches the end of its useful life in about 60 years and needs to be replaced.

Check the city's 2010-2014 Neighbourhood Reconstruction Map

gkent@edmontonjournal.com

© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal

Getting the stone out. How a travertine quarry operates.

A great blow by blow explanation from BuildDirect.com explaining how travertine is quarried.

Buy-In: Saving Your Good Ideas From Getting Shot Down

An interesting video webinar from Harvard Business Review 

"You have a great idea, you put together a great plan, you make a terrific presentation. And then someone says, it probably won't work here. Another person says it's risky and suggests you do more research. The result: A good idea goes nowhere. And it's not just an idea that gets shot down, but your confidence in offering up a good idea the next time."

Change expert John Kotter talks about strategies and tactics to make sure that your good idea survives to make positive change happen.

Harvard Business Review Mediasite5