GREENFAB WILL BE TAKING A SHORT BREAK as I travel to Iceland for a two week photography trip with my dad.  This trip has been a dream of mine so when I RETURN THE WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 15th I will be anxious to share with you all that I have learned from the land that produces 70% of the nation’s primary energy from renewable sources.

Iceland is an island of thundering waterfalls, barren highlands, smoldering volcanoes, gushing geysers, bubbling mudpots, soothing thermal pools, the largest icecap outside the poles and not to mention the coolest turf houses in the world.

Here are a few articles that help explain the major role Iceland will play in our global future as we try to understand and use energy responsibly and efficiently.

>> MINISTRY OF INDUSTRY ENERGY AND TOURISM SPEECH

>> ICELAND’S ENERGY ANSWER COMES NATURALLY

>> ICELAND’S HYDROGEN SHIP HERALDS FOSSIL-FREE FUTURE

Click here to see BEAUTIFUL IMAGES from all of Icelands landscapes

WE’LL BE BACK IN TWO WEEKS!

The image above is a manipulation of a Daniel Bergmann original photograph

By: Johnny Hartsfield

Although it was completed a year ago, Sean Godsell’s Glenburn House is still worth revisiting.  Nestled within the rolling hillsides approximately 1.5 hours drive north east of Melbourne, Australia, the Glenburn House is a beacon of sustainable design.  The building skin includes solar collectors for generating electricity and hot water.  Other passive features include double glazing, rainwater harvesting and digital power management.

The house is a long, linear gesture carved into an undulating landscape.  This linear plan is enhanced by the architects’ barcode motif.  Within the home, a series of organized spaces results in a coded arrangement that is unique to the client.  Somewhat of a “tectonic thumbprint” for living.  

(more…)

By: Johnny Hartsfield

“Visionary architect Dr. David Fisher is the creator of the revolutionary Dynamic Tower, the world’s first building in motion. The Dynamic Tower heralds a new era of architecture: Buildings in motion will challenge traditional architecture, becoming the symbol of a new philosophy that will change the look of our cities and the concept of living.

The Dynamic Tower offers infinite design possibilities, as each floor rotates independently at different speeds, resulting in a unique and ever evolving shape that introduces a fourth dimension to architecture, Time.

The Dynamic Tower is environmentally friendly, with the ability to generate electricity for itself as well as other buildings nearby making it the first building designed to be self-powered, it achieves this feat with wind turbines fitted between each rotating floor. An 80-story building will have up to 79 wind turbines, making it a true green power plant.

The Dynamic Tower is also the first skyscraper to be built entirely from prefabricated parts that are custom made in a workshop, resulting of fast construction and of substantial cost savings . this approach known as the Fisher Method, also requires far less workers on construction site while each floor of the building can be completed in only seven days, units can also be customized according to the owners needs and styles.”

>> Dynamic Architecture

By: Johnny Hartsfield

Designer Charles Lee from the BIOS Design Collective has recently created a concept that facilitates bio-remediation through public art sculpture.  A series of photobioreactors, consisting of an aluminum carriage with a continuous spiraling tube cascading from the top, absorb light and nutrients to maximize algal biomass.  This semi-closed system uses pollutants and CO2 for nutrients and thus provides a form of bio-remediation and atmospheric greenhouse gas reduction. 

(more…)

By: Johnny Hartsfield

I thought I would just share some inspiring images of Icelandic turf houses.  This type of construction has been done for centuries and I still find it unbelievable how the United States is just now starting to catch on - very slowly. 

“The Icelandic turf house was the product of a difficult climate, offering superior insulation compared to buildings solely made of wood or stone. And the relative difficulty in obtaining other construction materials in sufficient quantities.

Iceland had few forested areas when it was settled, and what forests there were was often largely birch trees. Birch timber is not well suited to large and complex structures, but nonetheless a frame could be made with it. This also meant that it was difficult for ships to be built, this culminated with a lack of vessels that could transport large cargos (Iceland’s harsh winters added to the problem by increasing ship maintenance and occasionally destroying them). Due to the lack of transport and Iceland’s remoteness, importing foreign timber was not very common and was mostly reserved for ship and church building. However, Iceland did have a large amount of turf that was suitable for construction.”

(more…)

By: Johnny Hartsfield

On our Nation’s proudest day, GreenFab will not be sharing with you the top 5 ways to green your 4th of July party or how to have an Eco-friendly Independence Day.   By now we should all be making great strides to live this way everyday.  And frankly, we just hate to point out the obvious.  So, for this year’s 4th of July holiday, GreenFab would simply like to say - BE HAPPY and BE SAFE. 

The best thing we can do for our planet today is to spend time with friends and family sharing the passions and hopes we have for a more sustainable future.  Inspired dialogue leads to great things! 

By: Johnny Hartsfield

Late last week, the Waterloo Regional Operations Centre in Cambridge, Ontario, launched a uniqe new public art sculpture that collects solar energy and promotes human interaction. Solar Collector is a collaboration between the community and the sun.  This unique artwork of 12 shafts “gathers human expression and solar energy during the day, then brings them together each night in a performance of flowing light.”

Each shaft is orientated to reflect the angles of the sun throughout the year.  “The tallest shaft is perpendicular to the sun at winter solstice, when the sun is low in the sky.  The flattest shaft faces the high sun at summer solstice.”  You can even interact with the Solar Collector from your own home via the web.

(more…)

By: Johnny Hartsfield

What is the Green Living movement?  According to Executive Director Greg Searle, “we are the fusion of the green building movement and green lifestyles innovators.  We are Architects + Local food groups + Green transportation entrepreneurs + Engineers + Planners +Landscape architects + Recycling groups + Developers + Smart Growth advocates + Local Chambers of Commerce + many, many more.”  The Green Living Movement has one goal:  truly sustainable living.  Read more and become a signatory.

The time has come to take the conversation about sustainability to the next level. 

Mission of the Green Living Movement:  “We are dreamers, listeners, connectors, doers, use our influence to create better incentives, and we are bold and persuasive.”

Commitment of the Green Living Movement:  “We, the Green Living Movement, pledge to make sustainable lifestyles more convenient and attractive through every aspect of our work.”   

Click here to learn more.

Become a signatory and pass this on if you feel compelled.  It’s a virus worth spreading.

By: Johnny Hartsfield

When we run across an artistic expression that changes the way we look at the world and inspires us to think more poetically, we feel compelled to share it with you.  This video is not about a new sustainable project or material, it is simply about the “Power of Wind”.

EPURON GmbH, a subsidiary of Conergy AG, won the top honor for best film advertising spot at the International Advertising Festival in Cannes in 2007. The company’s “Power of Wind” ad, created by Nordpol+ Hamburg, was recognized at the Festival as the most successful TV ad in Germany.

By: Johnny Hartsfield

The animation below by Leo de Wijs tells the story of a tree outgrown by an evolving city.  It is not only unique but also thought provoking and charming.  Enjoy!

>> From Digital Urban

By: Johnny Hartsfield

A new solar-collection concept has emerged from a partnership between Buro North, an Australian design firm, and  Victorian Eco-Innovation Lab (VEIL), to generate electricity and educate elementary school children.  The “Solar Shades” are designed  to provide a shaded gathering space for primary school yards while generating energy from a uni-directional solar panel surface.

Funded through a government initiative, these evocative cobra-like  interactive shades explore the visual connection between energy and the environment.

(more…)

By: Johnny Hartsfield

Ten years in the making, Blue Water Entertainment and Open Pictures present Fields of Fuel, a Josh Tickell film that is more than just a film, it is a “catalyst in a social movement for clean, sustainable, localized energy production.  This film, an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival 2008, cost less than 1 million to produce and will be on a 50-city nationwide tour to bring green energy to the cities and towns of America. 

Click on the video above to watch the trailor.

>> Fields of Fuel

By: Johnny Hartsfield

You won’t see this Eye Pod in your local Apple store.  Instead, you would have had to visit the University of Minnesota’s Landscape Arboretum’s collection of “Secret Gardens.”  Back in 2006, Chris Wegscheid’s entry did not include a single plant but rather a “body-sized camera obscura that would bring an ever-changing view of the arboretum into a secret indoor space.”

(more…)

By: Johnny Hartsfield

Here is a little background and a bit new foreground about Earthday.

Earthday was officially founded on April 22, 1970 by Senator Gaylord Nelson from Wisconsin with the goal of putting environmental issues into the limelight.  Nelson announced his nationwide grassroots movement in September of 1969 at a conference in Seattle and later said that “it was a gamble, but it worked.”  This tradition has continued annually under the same mission for decades and although our environmental situation today is more desperate than ever, Earthday remains the same grassroots movement it spawned from.  It’s time to evolve our thinking about Earthday and think about getting rid of it all together.

I believe that the concept of Earthday is obsolete.  If the goal was to bring awareness to the demise of our planet we have certainly reached it.  When you turn on the television and see network logos colored in green and big box stores like Wal-Mart announcing their dedication to saving the planet, I would argue that this movement is more than “in the limelight”, it has gone global. 

Although I would like to give all the credit to Earthday, I cannot justifiably do so.  For me, one of the tipping points (the levels at which the momentum for change becomes unstoppable) in this movement was not our beloved Earthday, but rather the box office hit and #1 bestselling book in 2006- An Inconvenient Truth.

Presented by former Vice President Al Gore, this film quickly brought to our attention the true nature of our climate crisis and the realization of what our days on earth might be like in the not so distant future.  Do you not agree that after we all saw this movie or heard others talk about it that our pop culture was instantly flooded with terms like “global warming” and products that were labeled “green”?  An Inconvenient Truth is not the end-all-be-all but it certainly launched a movement.  As we find ourselves at this tipping point we have only one option - to embrace this “momentum for change” with everything we have.      

Earthday has had its place in history and has been successful up to this point.  With our current scientific knowledge and our undeniable freedom of choice, we must no longer stand idle.  This situation demands a life-long daily commitment by each of us if we are to have any hope for our children and grandchildren.  Our actions today will set a powerful example for generations to come - our health, happiness and future depend on it.  This is a fight we can surely win but we must not only do it every April 22, we must do it everyday.

Earthday IS everyday and our actions need to follow.  Let’s save the celebration for when we have begun to see the negative effects of our past actions dissolved by our renewed global vow to live responsibly.  

I would love to hear your thoughts?  Send your comments.

By: Johnny Hartsfield

So, this is my last entry related to this years Living Future conference up here in Vancouver B.C.  It has been a great paper-less “unconference” brilliantly organized to stay intimate, relaxed and organic - very much in contrast to last years Greenbuild Conference in Chicago where more than 20,000 people crowded in chaos to listen to and discuss all things green. 

I still have one more day full of interesting discussion and a closing keynote by Sim Van der Ryn - visionary, author, educator, public leader, and internationally distinguished pioneer in ecological design.  And although Sim is a professional hero of mine, I really wanted to focus on someone else before I wrap up these great few days in Canada

Claudia Davila did not attend this years’ unconference but she played an integral part during yesterdays session called “15 minutes of brilliance”, where a few people shared with the entire crowd unique and inspiring work.  Unlike the other presenters, Claudia’s 15 minutes was taped and broadcast onto large projection screens where she could not be interrupted.

(more…)