The City of Vancouver is actively working to create a green sustainable future.  As a way to communicate some of these green achievements to the public for education, the City has created Green Building Audio Tours. The Vancouver Green Building Audio Tours were created through a partnership between City of Vancouver Sustainability Office and the Open Green Building Society.

 The audio tours are brief 3-minute tours of sites around town that have implemented good green design.  The tours are narrated by the designers of the sites to provide an overview of the building and insight to the techniques and approaches on site.  It’s like having a personal tour guide to green buildings in Vancouver!

 The way to join the tours can be done in two ways:

• Keep your eyes peeled for signage at sites around town and dial into the phone numbers for the guided tour

OR

• Go to the City’s website to see all of the green building sites and go to the sites and call at each site or listen to them all on the web.

http://vancouver.ca/sustainability/GreenBuildingAudioTours.htm

 The City also launched a public art audio tour phone in feature during the Olympics which they plan to continue into the future for public art installations.

 Try them next time you are walking around town, they are fun! 

Provide any comments to tours you go on for everyone to enjoy…

• Southeast False Creek - Net Zero Energy Building
• The Challenge Series- Lessons to Learn from Millennium Water
• e² Design Series
• Green Resolution: Shop Locally
• Garbage Warrior

• Deep Green Thought: July 28, 2010
• Deep Green Thought: June 16, 2010

Granville Online, the interactive web companion to Granville magazine, is the place to learn about and discuss the sustainable movement in Vancouver.

Granville Online features the best of Granville Magazine plus exclusive stories, podcasts, videos and commentary inspired by top articles in Granville Magazine.

Granville Magazine explores sustainable urban living in Vancouver, allowing visitors to make educated earth-friendly decisions about green living choices in BC. At Granville Online one can learn to balance city living with a sustainable urban lifestyle. Granville Magazine is a comprehensive resource for insights and ideas about sustainable living on the West Coast and BC.

o-vert recently hosted an open house in our Vancouver office to reintroduce the taskforce and its committee members to existing and new staff members alike.

It was a fun lunch-time event with an introduction by Omicron’s Director of Sustainability, Kevin Hanvey, and presentations by each of the sub-committees to summarize o-vert’s history, how the taskforce operates and the areas that we cover (internal operations, construction operations and outreach).

A spot quiz was also included with trivia questions focused on the o-vert blog.

The event presentation can be viewed here: o-vert open house slide deck

Stay tuned for more exciting o-vert events coming in the fall, including a full introduction to o-vert in our Calgary office.

• Omicron Welcomes o-vert!

• Deep Green Thought: February 13, 2009
• Deep Green Thought: June 16, 2010
• Deep Green Thought: August 20, 2010

The air is cold and dry, the lights flicker uncomfortably.  Your metal cart skids along the slippery floor, it’s back wheel get stuck as you try to push it.  You reach for a package and find you can’t decipher any of the ingredients except for the fine print which says ’may contain traces of nuts’. 
 
Yup, you’re in a supermarket. 
 
Wouldn’t it be better to stroll along a tree-lined street, your dog wagging his tail at his new found friends, a basket in your arm made by a local artisan filled with fresh vegetables, hand made soaps and locally collected honey?
 
Creating an experience with food by shopping at a local farmer’s market can make shopping for food less of a chore and more of an event.  We know shopping local is the most sustainable option and good for the local economy but there’s more to it then that.
 
A Family affair.  Taking your children to a market is a great way to spend time with them outdoors and have them interacting with the local community.  There are many children growing up in urban areas that don’t know a french fry comes from a potato or that a potato comes from the ground.  Embracing food culture might even help them eat their vegetables!  Many markets also have children’s activities like face painting (or oven fresh cookie sampling).
 
Fresh is an understatement.  Vegetables in your supermarket have often been sitting on a truck for weeks before they reach the store shelves.  They were picked before they were ripe resulting an less flavour, less nutrients and more chemicals (so they don’t rot in the back of that truck). Buying from a local farmer means they picked that basket of strawberries yesterday or baked that apple pie earlier that morning (farmer’s get up early).  How do you know if it’s fresh? Try smelling a tomato from your supermarket and then smell one from your farmer’s market.  Fruits and vegetables smell the best when they are ready to eat and you’ll even notice farm fresh produce is more colourful (more nutrients!)
 
Friends with Farmers.  Getting to know your local farmers helps you get to know what you’re eating, how it’s grown and where it’s coming from.  A farmer’s farm is their heart and soul so you will be sure to have an eager farmer answer any questions you might have.  Are they happy chickens? Organic apples?  or, What’s swiss-chard and what do I do with it?

Like France Local.  Once you’ve become addicted to your own communites fresh produce, why not explore those of other cultures.  A great way to aborb yourself in another country is to shop their local markets while you’re there.  You’ll know for sure you’re getting the ultimate cultural experience if you’re eating fresh fish straight off the boat then whatever is put on your plate at that overpriced restaurant.
 
Follow your Seasons.  Eating locally means you’re eating what’s in season.  The produce is fresher and tastier and you’re less likely to get bored of your dinner menu.  Just like you crave pumpkin pie at thanksgiving in the fall, you’ll crave blueberry in the spring and strawberry in the summer.  Your menu will constantly be changing and you’re sure to discover new favourites as you go. For BC’s seasonal produce, click here.

Shopping local and at farmer’s markets creates a strong network in communities so that all can prosper and in the long run prevent our planet from deteriorating by creating a holistic approach to grocery shopping. Let’s make processed foods, frozen dinners and pesticide coated food a thing of the past!

Photo: Sechelt Farmer’s Market

• Greener Groceries
• Green Resolution: Shop Locally
• The Fabric of Our Lives
• Light House Sustainable Building Centre
• So Fresh and So Clean

In an effort to be more sustainable Omicron recently began to use Hemlock Printers for a variety of our custom print jobs. I had the opportunity to tour the 79,000 sq.ft. printing facility, located in Burnaby, BC. There I learned firsthand about their wide variety of FSC certified papers, the low VOC vegetable based inks they exclusively use and saw their extensive on-site recycling system.

Hemlock Printers also recently launched “Zero”, it is an innovative carbon neutral printing program; the first of its kind in Canada. “Zero” is an easy three‐step carbon neutral printing program that enables Hemlock’s print customers to make sound, environmentally friendly choices and demonstrate the positive steps they are taking toward climate change mitigation. The program was jointly created with Offsetters, Canada’s leading carbon management company.

I encourage you to go to http://www.hemlock.com/ and learn more about this local, sustainable company.

• Double-sided Printing
• Garbage Warrior
• Deep Green Thought: November 21, 2008

Ever wondered why the Olympic Village at Southeast False Creek has been so highly touted as a sustainable development?  Now you can get insight into the process of the development, design, and construction process to understand the lessons learned from the process.

In a truly unique retrospective, the sustainability consultants have put together a book and online narrative of the process of the development.  The Challenge Series is a resource to educate and inspire communities, professionals, owners and builders seeking to create meaningful opportunities out of the challenges of climate change.  The chapters set up the history, planning, public space, building, energy, and water approaches that provide the wealth of knowledge from the process. 

The final chapter sets out the challenge to bring these lessons to other projects as well as go further to create a more sustainable future. 

Go to http://www.thechallengeseries.ca/ to learn more.

What did you find interesting in the challenge series?

What do you think they could have done to go further?

How can we challenge ourselves in Omicron projects?

• e² Design Series
• City of Vancouver Green Building Audio Tours
• Southeast False Creek - Net Zero Energy Building
• Our Favourite Green Building Centres
• The Fabric of Our Lives

The development on Southeast False Creek lands, the Olympic Village temporarily housed the world’s athletes and has permanently created the most sustainable development in Vancouver.  How did they do it?  As part of the LEED platinum community, the development boasts two truly unique features commissioned by the City of Vancouver.

The first is the Net Zero Energy parcel (directly east of the Salt Building) of mixed-use retail and residential (both social and market housing).  Net Zero Energy means a building’s use with zero net energy consumption and zero carbon emissions annually.  The design enabled the following aspects to passively reduce demand as well as generate solar thermal energy:

• Two large evacuated tube solar thermal arrays approximately 3,000sf each roof
• 14-17” thick walls with R30 solid walls
• Triple glazed windows (R3) with balanced use of glass
• Passive cross ventilation across single loaded corridors
• Light ‘scoops’ on southern exposures that carry natural light deeper into the interior
• LED lights on light sensors in public corridors
• Stairs open or glazed to encourage use for mid-rise buildings to conserve energy

This is a delicate balance of inputs and outputs that does not mean the development is ‘free of the grid’ as the building does not generate electricity to balance the energy use, but rather the solar array’s thermal energy output has been off set by sharing thermal energy with the neighborhood that has been equated to the offset of electrical energy use.

The second is the neighborhood energy utility created to serve the entire neighborhood.  The utility recovers heat from a sewage collection header and shares the recovered heat through the medium of water.  The thermal energy extracted is then carried around the False Creek development to provide low grade heat sources to each of the buildings.  The buildings then use heat pumps to upgrade the energy to use for heating and cooling.  The buildings are tied into the network to supply additional thermal energy through the solar array and waste heat to feed other buildings on site that need more to ‘balance’ the development.  The result is a low-carbon energy network to lead to a more sustainable approach to neighborhood development where all buildings have a better opportunity to be Net Zero Energy.

The major approach to achieve Net Zero Energy is passive design- the cheapest energy you can make is one you don’t use.  Net Zero is not free to implement, as the additional cost to get to Net Zero energy is approximately $40,000 per unit. 

Question- would you pay an additional $40,000 for a condo knowing that you would never have to pay an energy bill??? 

Speak out to developers through your actions- buy sustainable!

• The Challenge Series- Lessons to Learn from Millennium Water
• City of Vancouver Green Building Audio Tours

• Deep Green Thought: July 28, 2010
• Deep Green Thought: October 10, 2008
• Deep Green Thought: December 5, 2008
• Deep Green Thought: February 13, 2009
• Deep Green Thought: August 20, 2010

In North America we definitely have perfected the ‘Active House’ principle and it has nothing to do with families with kids!  So what is Passivhaus or Passive House?  Passive House is a sustainability initiative focused solely on energy efficiency and occupant comfort through smart passive design.  Created in 1991 in Germany, the movement has grown to Austria, all over Europe, and now all over the world.  Most importantly, it is not just focused on homes- the house just comes from the literal translation from German- it spans all building types. Passive House is a set of guidelines, not a rating system like LEED.  The guidelines are broken down into a couple of foci:

1. Smart Planning- smart planning is vital to good passive design including compact architecture to save as much energy as possible, solar orientation to harvest as much solar energy as possible, integrated planning for envelope, heating, and ventilation, and more.

2. Energy Density- energy is based on use per area per year (kwh/sqm/year) instead of a percentage reduction off of a fictional baseline like ASHRAE and MNECB.  This provides a true energy use number.  The allowances are strict-

• 15 kwh/sqm/year for heating (50-75% less than current Canadian standard)
• 18 kwh/sqm/year for electricity (50-75% less than current Canadian standard)
• 120 kwh/sqm/year as a factor for primary energy which takes into account ‘embedded energy’ of energy loss from efficiency of production and electrical grid loss

3. Insulation Values- high effective insulation values are vital to passive design.

• Wall and Roof required minimum R-38 (2x current Canadian standard) which equates to approximately a 14” wide wall!
• Window required minimum R-7.1 (currently none available in Canada) which is an effective value which includes the frame and triple glazing minimum.

4. Air Tightness- air leakage is a huge source of waste in heating and cooling.  All buildings must pass a pressurization test to ensure the envelope is sealed correctly.

What does a Passive House look like?  We have a registered Passive House right around the corner in Whistler!  Unlike the sad effort at the Canadian Pavilion, the Austrians built the Austria House for the 2010 Olympics and it was done with quality and actually exceeds base Passive House criteria.  Whether you like the architecture or not, it’s an impressive feat- check it out! Austria Passive House 2010 Whistler- http://austria-passive-house-whistler-2010.blogspot.com/
 
Want to take on the challenge?  It is aggressive and it is just that- challenging.  The Passive House Institute Canada is a great source for education, outreach, and the Passive House Planning Package (must read).  Members of the institute have worked with the City of Vancouver to craft the Passive Design Toolkit which is another must read. Passive House Canada- http://www.passivehouse.ca/frontpage.  To find more about the foundation movement checkout the Passive House Institute Europe- http://www.passiv.de/English/PassiveH.HTM.
Even if we can’t meet the aggressive targets on our projects, we should take the fundamentals of the approach to heart as part of our design process at Omicron. 

What could we do in our projects? 
Is it a good idea?
Are there bad ideas about the guidelines?
Other thoughts?

Please comment!!!

• Omicron’s LEED Gold Office
• Light House Sustainable Building Centre
• Omicron’s Green Practice Goals for 2009
• Do you bamboo? Get your LEED on

In keeping with Omicron’s commitment to sustainable operations, we are pleased to announce a new initiative at our Burrard Office: an in-office composting program!

Beginning today, we will be using a service called Growing City to help us compost in our kitchen areas on both floors. We believe that the Growing City service is perfect for us – designed to keep our kitchens sanitary, odour free, and requiring minimal effort from staff to participate. Take a look at Growing City’s compost-friendly list and join in the fun:

Did you know that organic waste makes up 45% of the solid waste entering Vancouver’s landfills? Together we can help reduce this burden on the land, and generate healthy compost in the process.  We are excited to bring this activity that many of you have embraced at home, into our office in Vancouver. We will be exploring a similar program for the Calgary office once we have assessed the success of the Vancouver initiative.

• Apartment Friendly Worm Composting
• Adventures In Apartment Composting
• Dishwashing vs. Hand-Washing

Tasked with finding a locally made, environmentally friendly, unique and budget friendly client holiday gift, I had a minor meltdown. I was sure such a thing did not exist; I was just as likely to find Big Foot or the Easter Bunny as I was to find a gift that met this criteria. Then my search led me to Saul Good Gift Co. (imagine angels singing)…

Saul Good Gift Co. is a corporate gift and promotional products business in Vancouver, BC that specializes in customizing meaningful gifts that share values for community, health and the environment. By sourcing local products, over 90% of which come from BC and working with artisans and social enterprises, Saul Good Gift Co.’s minimize impact on the environment while supporting the local economy.

The company is owned by Saul Brown. Saul is a graduate from the Bainbridge Graduate Institute (BGI) where he earned an MBA in Sustainable Business. Saul sees business as an opportunity to improve the world, to use business as a tool to address social and environmental issues.

In 2008, Saul provided Omicron with 50 custom-made mountain pine beetle boxes made by women learning carpentry skills in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. The boxes were filled with organic, handmade truffles made on Bowen Island…mmmmm!

Last year, we ordered over 200 re-useable glass jars filled with locally made cookies. The only thing better than Saul’s great products is his superior customer service. He goes above and beyond to source and deliver a product that always exceeds expectations! Remember Saul Good Gift Co. when you are on the look-out for a unique, environmentally friendly gift.

You know it’s that time of year again when the air smells crisper, the flowers are blooming and the days are brighter, longer.  The urge to get outside and enjoy the fresh air increases, and so does the itch to clean out and re-organize the cave you’ve been hibernating in all winter.

Keep it green while spring cleaning this year, and everything will be a whole lot fresher!

Eaze up on the Febreze.  Open your windows!   It may not be known to be harmful but air fresheners like febreze are mainly made up of water and come in large plastic spray bottles or aerosol cans.  It also creates build-up on anything you spray it on and although it may smell fresh, it’s not making the air in your home clean.  Use water from your tap mixed with a little essential oil (like lavender) as a room spray.  With your window’s open and some lavender mist in the air, what could be better?

Keep the dirt out.  Invest in a good door mat.  It’s surprising how much dirt can get tracked into the house on a daily basis.  Keeping a door mat at all the entrances to your home will keep dirt from travelling through, providing a cleaner, healthier space for you and your family. Yes, it’s that simple.

Two Ingredients.  You’ve heard this before: You can use baking soda and vinegar for almost everything.  Stay away from those toxic chemicals and stick with the good ‘ol B&V.  Baking soda deodorizes and can scrub away build-up while vinegar kills bacteria and mold.

Sort out your stuff.  Although it may all feel like garbage to you, when you’re purging your closets, cupboards and storage rooms keep in mind the saying that someone’s else’s garbage is another man’s treasure.  Donate, recycle or sell the stuff you don’t want before you throw anything away.

Try holding your own swap party.  Pick a theme like books, clothing or tools and have your friends and family bring over items they don’t want.  You can trade or sell to each other and make a celebration of it!  The free store is also becoming a new trend where you can drop off items you don’t want and take something home with you for free.  Yup, shoplifting is encouraged!  In Vancouver, Rhizome Cafe (organic!) holds monthly free stores just like a swap party with a different theme each month.  Check it out!

Be creative.  Although it’s tempting to go out and buy plastic containers to solve your organizing dilemma’s it’s not always the best answer. Some of the simplest ideas are also the most economical and environmental.  Such as storing your sheets inside their pillowcases rather than those plastic linen bags.  You can also check out your local liquor store for wine crates.  If you make a donation to charity, you can take those funky wooden crates home with you for storage! 

Brighten up.  We all love are whites to be whiter but who wants to pour chlorine bleach all over our bamboo sheets and organic cotton towels?  Try throwing in a cup of 3% hydrogen peroxide (the same kind used for cuts and scrapes) into your load of whites and you’ll see a difference without the toxins.  Hang those lovey’s up to dry outside or in front of a window and they will scream clean!

Sources:  Granville Magazine, Treehugger.

• Welcome to Garbage Month at Omicron!
• Save the Stuff Drive: A Great Success!
• The Story of Stuff
• Let’s Talk Trash
• Save the Stuff Drive

When working on a design project that requires resilient flooring, what product would you choose? Of course things like application, location and maintenance requirements will play a role in your decision, but nearly a decade ago the obvious answer would have been vinyl flooring. In fact, it was the accepted flooring of choice.

In recent years however, with increasing awareness of sustainability and environmental responsibility, most designers get a little nervous about choosing vinyl and when possible have turned to alternatives such as rubber and linoleum floors. We wanted to find out why vinyl is considered toxic and bad for the environment.

O-Vert decided to ask the question: VINYL: EVIL OR JUST MISUNDERSTOOD?

WHAT IS VINYL?

Vinyl is a synthetic material first created in the 1920’s. Vinyl is made from ethylene (crude oil) and chlorine (found in salt) which is combined to create polyvinyl chloride resin or PVC for short.

Vinyl is a popular building material due to it’s durability, low cost to manufacture and that it can be made into a large variety of rigid and flexible products. In order to keep from breaking down, PVC requires stabilizers in the form of various chemicals ingredients to remain resistant. More additives called plasticizers are then added to PVC to give it a flexible quality you would see in flooring. In fact, when you search PVC on the internet you will find site after site explaining all of the endless chemical compositions that make up the various types of vinyls. It would take a degree in chemistry to sort through all of this, but we were able to pull out some important points:

1. Vinyl is synthetic, not natural.
2. A common bi-product in the manufacturing process of vinyl is called chlorine dioxin which is a known carcinogen. This dioxin (aka toxic pollution) is also released if PVC is incinerated at the end of it’s life cycle.

HOW UNSAFE IS VINYL?

There are varying reports on how dangerous vinyl is during it’s consumer use. Vinyl is used in many industries including medical (for things like intravenous bags, gloves, valves etc), auto (interior upholstery, floor mats, dashboards etc), and of course the construction industry (siding, window frames, flooring, gutters etc). Although some will claim that vinyl is relatively harmless during it’s intended use, it is also said that some of the additives and plasticizers have been known to leach out of the products over time or through off-gassing after initial installation. We are all familiar with the smell of a new shower curtain or car interior and now know that this is the result of chemicals being released from the products.

CAN VINYL BE RECYCLED?

So far, it’s not looking good for vinyl. When speaking with one of our local vinyl flooring representatives, we were told that their product contained 25% recycled content and was now 100% recyclable. This sounded too good to be true! Most research will tell you that in actuality, vinyl is very difficult to recycle because of it’s high chlorine content. When pressed further, the flooring rep admitted the recycled content was mostly post-industrial, meaning it had never reached the consumer, and that the recycling of the product was only currently happening in Europe and for now was unavailable in North America. He did tell mention that we might be able to find a company who could down-cycle the flooring into safety cones.

If vinyl is difficult to recycle what happens to it? Most often it ends up incinerated or in a land fill. In both scenarios dioxins are either released into the air or eventually leached into the land surrounding a landfill.

VERDICT

With all of this new information, it is much easier to understand why PVC has made so many material red lists and is now being used more cautiously. Regardless, it still remains the most popular type of flooring, in particular in health care applications where it provides an inexpensive, durable, moisture resistant material with minimal seams that can be coved up the wall for better maintenance and overall germ control. It is difficult to find another flooring that can meet the strict requirements of a healthcare application.

However, where a coved base is not required such as in an office or retail application, there are many other options to consider. Two, most commonly used by Omicron are linoleum and rubber flooring.

Linoleum is made from natural materials including linseed oil, limestone and jute for the backing. It is 100% biodegradable and is offered in an endless array of colour and pattern options which is an added bonus.

Rubber flooring is mostly known for it’s high recycled content (some floors can see up to 90% recycled tires as part of it’s composition) and manufacturers within British Columbia can make it a local product. Not to mention it is very comfortable underfoot and reduces the amount of foot traffic noise compared to some harder surfaces.

Although vinyl has not yet been eliminated as a product in our industry, it is definitely worth taking a second look at where and why you might be using it and what possible alternates could be better choices for your project.

• The Green Bathroom (and we’re not talking mould)
• The Frogfile Story

As part of the Construction Committee initiatives of o-vert, we have launched the GREEN APPROVED PRODUCT sticker program for sites that are pursuing LEED certification. This program is the result of commentary from both the design and construction staff to fully ensure approved green products are properly employed on sites. A “Green Approved Product” means that a product meets the sustainability target set forth in LEED rating systems in terms of VOC content and/or the requirements of a specific referenced standard (i.e. GreenSeal, SCAQMD r.1168, etc.).

The focus of the products we wish to control are mainly the VOC contributors to indoor air quality including (but not restrained to) adhesives, sealants, paints and coatings. The stickers are meant to be applied to all approved products so from a distance design and construction members can see the gleaming green stickers that show the approved products are being used and no other ‘un-approved’ products have sneakily made their way onto our LEED construction sites. The Design Team Leader on each specific product will confer with the construction team to ensure each proper material is properly marked.

Once the stickers are applied to approved green products, the design and construction teams will easily be able to see and ask subtrades “where’s your sticker?” for all green approved products. The mandate of o-vert’s Construction Committee is to bring the best sustainable practices forward to all of our construction projects. Along with our construction waste management and air quality management plans, the Construction Committee is working hard to foster initiatives and make sustainable ideas happen.  If there are any other ideas for other sustainable construction initiatives, please feel free to contact Ben Weinstein or Andy Kohler.
If you have any questions, please contact Ben Weinstein (Email or 604 632 1198).

Happy stickering to all!

• Omicron’s Green Practice Goals for 2009
• Do you bamboo? Get your LEED on

Vancouver and the Lower Mainland

http://www.sustainablebuildingcentre.com/

http://cascadiagbc.org/calendar

We hear the words “sustainability”, “green” and “LEED” every day, but have you ever wondered what these words mean to the people who use them? The Great Sustainability Photo Challenge aimed to address what sustainability means to individuals through the use of imagery.

Staff members were encouraged to produce a creative photo montage to describe what sustainability means to them. The judging panel, comprised of members of o-vert’s steering committee, selected the following entries in first, second and third place:

FIRST PLACE: Tiina Vahtola – “Sustainability”

SECOND PLACE: Mike Watts - “Read Between the Lines”

THIRD PLACE: Robin Bailey – “Balance”

A bathroom is intended to be a space for cleansing, and relaxing; a room important to your overall health and well being. Why is it then that we use this room as a place to douse ourselves daily with over ten different chemical filled products (on average) and then proceed to swathe the rest of the space with other chemical-filled cleaning products? Beats us.

Take the rituals of the bathroom back to the basics. With a few changes, you can create a room that really is good for your health and in turn, kind to the environment.

Water go down the hole.  Most household water consumption comes from the bathroom; whether you’re showering, taking a bath, flushing the toilet or brushing your teeth. Install a low-flow shower head, a low-flow faucet aerator and a dual flush toilet (or dual flush retrofit on your existing toilet) to cut down on your water consumption. Turn off the tap when brushing your teeth or shaving and watch for a dripping tap when you leave the room.

The Lucky Loo.  Toilet paper is the only disposable item that should be found in your bathroom!  Remember to recycle the rolls when they’re used up and buy toilet paper that is made from post-consumer recycled product. And no, we don’t believe in disposable, one time use, flushable toilet brushes.

Sparkling Surfaces.  Vinegar and baking soda are truly the best cleaners you could use. Not only are they non-toxic, they are cheap! Vinegar doesn’t leave streaks on your mirrors and baking soda will remove scum found on the sides of your tub. Don’t snub it, until you rub it! There are also a myriad of green cleaners out there today but be careful of green washing. Read the fine print and if it’s the scent you’re looking for, find something that uses essential oils instead of perfumes. 

Towels and Linens.  For cleaning, use re-usable rags, brushes and microfiber cloths for glass. Microfiber is also great for removing eye make-up, just dab some water on a cloth and wipe, no product necessary, we swear! There are ‘biodegradable’ wipes out there, but avoid them if possible (they’re costly, packaged and still a waste). For drying off, look for towels made from organic cotton or bamboo. Bamboo is naturally anti-microbial so it’s great for a humid environment. Lastly, skip the cotton balls and makeup remover pads for a face cloth. It’s great for removing make-up and also naturally and gently exfoliates. Who would have thought?

Volatile Vinyl.  If you need a new shower curtain steer clear of the PVC plastic. That new shower curtain smell is filled with chemicals that you breathe in every time you step into the room and even more when you’re in your steamy shower. Canada’s environmental defence hopes to ban PVC from all shower curtains for its health dangers including respiratory problems, kidney and liver damage and headaches. If you already have an old vinyl curtain, don’t worry, it has probably lost most of its toxins over time and isn’t a danger. 

Let your skin glow. While green skincare is a topic in itself, it is a significant part of the bathroom ritual.  Our skin absorbs whatever we put on it, so we are exposing our bodies to chemicals every time we lather up. No one really knows how certain chemicals affect us as time goes by, but if we can refrain from using so many, the safer we’ll be. More than 1,000 ingredients have been banned for use in cosmetics in the EU where only 10 of those are banned in the US. Keep it simple when cleansing and don’t get sucked in by advertising. Many cleansers and moisturizers have ingredients put into them just to make them sound like  the best product out there, when really, the special ingredient either doesn’t do anything or is simply not concentrated enough to give a result. And if you can’t say it, don’t use it!

 Sources:  Planet Green, Don’t go to the Cosmetics Counter without me, Granville Magazine

• Vinyl: Evil or Just Misunderstood?
• Greening your Halloween Tricks
• So Fresh and So Clean
• Low-impact Camping
• Calculate your Water Footprint

Click here

Which lights do you prefer? Vote!

It seems our building landlord, Bentall, has undertaken a pilot program to use 20 times less energy in the elevators. How might you ask? Very simple, by changing elevator #8 (back right-hand elevator) from standard incandescent filament light bulbs (6 bulbs at 60W each) to LED light bulbs (6 bulbs at 3W each). This change has made a huge impact in the building’s energy usage. The added benefit of the change is the LED light bulbs project no heat into the space whereas incandescent bulbs make the small space in the elevator hot especially at 5pm in a full elevator. The other major benefit is a major decrease in hazardous waste as the LED bulbs last close to 15 years until a new bulb is required. The incandescent bulbs are most likely changed monthly by the maintenance crew. The light quality is slightly different as the pictures show; the LED lights give off a slightly cooler light temperature, but have a very crisp quality to it. Look up the next time you are in the elevator!

Let’s let Bentall know we support their initiative. Just imagine if Bentall were to change all the light bulbs in all the elevators and even in all public spaces! What a major impact this would make on the energy footprint of our building!

If you live in an apartment building, bring up LED lighting in your next strata meeting. It will save energy and save money. This minor change will make a huge difference!

Omicron is excited to announce that its sustainability-focused blog, o-vert.com, was recognized at the recent New Media BC PopVox Awards ceremony.

These awards honour the best of BC’s Digital Media Industry. Omicron’s web design firm, Switch Interactive, received an award for the design of the o-vert blog, winning in the “Best Do-Gooder (Social Change Initiative)” category.

For more information about the awards program, please visit http://www.popvoxawards.com

I ran across an interesting City initiative to alleviate the automobile’s stronghold on transportation, reduce traffic and pollution and raise healthiness and happiness! The name comes from the combination of ‘Velo’ which means bike and ‘Libre’ which means freedom - BIKE FREEDOM. The idea behind the program is the City will provide shared bicycles at a low cost to the public. The program costs a small amount to start and trips under 30 minutes are free. The program now includes 20,000 bikes at 1,500 stations which means that you are never more than 300 yards from a Velibe bike station. The cost of the program includes the maintenance on the bikes and the stations. The City progressively approached JC Decaux, which is the largest advertiser in the world, and they agreed to do all the maintenance on the bikes and the stations if they were allowed to advertise at each of the stations. This is worth approximately $60 million to JC Decaux to advertise at these new outposts. As part of their maintenance program, they have used ‘clean fuel’ trucks to move bikes from overpopulated station to bring them to maintenance (they have a computer tracking the usage from each station). The maintenance is actually done on a barge that floats on the Seine River so they are mobile and don’t require rent.

It is a wonderful initiative that is the first program in the world of its kind. The program has doubled bike usage in the City - up to 2% of all commuter trips. It has spurred programs in London, Sao Paolo, Venice and Montreal here in Canada. The only downfalls thus far have been some theft and purposeful hard use and vandalism due to a lack of perceived ownership.

The program has created a new social network in Paris and inevitably in any City in which it is implemented. We should urge the City of Vancouver to become one of these leading progressive Cities that implement a program such as this. Let Gregor Robertson know we want this - it’s a small cost to fundamentally change habits!

Paris is also starting a similar program called Autolibe which will be a car sharing network of a similar nature that will be non-petroleum powered cars for short trip use. I have seen a battery powered fold-up car from MIT that is a prototype - really cool!

The TV program I saw this on was called E2 (squared) - the Economies of being Environmentally Conscious - it’s a weekly PBS program on channel 5 (the Knowledge Network) that is narrated by the hunky Brad Pitt :). Watch it, you will learn something and maybe get motivated!

http://www.pbs.org/e2/teachers/teacher_308.html

How are YOU going to vote in the provincial elections coming up on Tuesday, May 12th? 

The Market Insights Forum series had a pre-election special in which representatives from each of the major parties had an opportunity to speak about GREEN BUILDING!  Not one of those boring debates on issues that don’t always affect our way of life, but one at the center of what we do. 

The session was moderated by the wonderful Helen Goodland (no I’m not kissing up to the boss!) from Lighthouse and background presentations were given by Juvarya Warsi from Lighthouse, Dave Ramslie from the Sustainability Development Program at the City of Vancouver and Keith Sashaw from the VRCA.  The information and metrics they presented were extremely interesting to set the scene, especially the forward role the City of Vancouver is taking in their ‘Getting to Zero’ program by 2030.  The program attacks the issue as they look at first conserve by reducing demand by 50%, secondly increase efficiency via performance codes starting in 2016 and updating every 5 years, and lastly by infusing renewable energy sources through an energy policy plan.  Dave is an enormously entertaining and engaging speaker, if you ever have the chance to see him speak - do it. For a copy of Dave’s presentation, click here: strategic_approach_to_carbon_basic

The politicians then spoke - the NDP, Green Party, and Liberals were there- the Conservatives came down sick (hopefully they don’t forget about the issue!).

The NDP was represented by Shane Simpson and the centerpiece to their platform is the ‘Green Bond’ initiative that will infuse $10 billion (yes, billion with a ‘b’) over the next 10 years to invest in green issues including transit, infrastructure, retrofits, and a ‘green tech fund’. For more go to: http://www.bcndp.ca/

The Green Party was represented by Damian Kettlewell and he mentioned the Green’s commitment to green jobs, clean tech jobs, and energy conservation jobs, but the centerpiece of their platform is the BC-STV (single transferable vote) which would completely change the voting system to reportedly give a more fair representation. For more go to:  http://www.greenparty.bc.ca/

The Liberals were represented by Joan McIntyre and the centerpiece of their platform is the carbon tax including regional cap & trade and continuing the greening measures of the BCBC including extension of the ‘Wood First’ program. For more go to: http://www.bcliberals.com/

The highlight of the morning was when our very own Andy Kohler gave the last question to the politicians demanding more leadership by the government to set into law high standards to our green goals and allow the designers and builders to reach those standards with innovative techniques, otherwise it’s just talk and no action. It got a huge rise out of the crowd and surprised the politicians - GO ANDY!

Please make sure to get out and VOTE on Tuesday and celebrate our democracy!
There will be more Market Insights Forums coming up, check back for details.

It can be daunting as a consumer to go shopping in search of healthy and sustainable clothing when there are so many different options made from so many different materials. Environmental, social and health impacts are all factors in the textile industry and it is important to understand what you are buying.

The first step is to make sure you actually need something. The best practice is to not consume at all if you don’t have to!

If you are on the look out for a new outfit, you want to look for clothing made with textiles that were created from materials that are rapidly renewable, use a minimum amount of resources to grow, have little or no need for chemicals in their manufacturing and take into consideration animal cruelty and fair-trade.

Toxic Textiles. There are many man-made materials out there that should be avoided when looking for sustainable, healthy clothing choices. Some of the common materials are Rayon, Acrylic, Acetate and Nylon. These materials are either made of toxic materials or are manufactured with toxic chemicals in order to achieve the final product. If materials are labelled as “anti-static”, “stain-resistant” or “wrinkle-free” they are most likely treated with chemicals like formaldehyde unless they are naturally occurring (in natural materials!). 

Friendly Fabrics. There are many alternatives to the common artificial fabrics out there today. Although the manufacturing process of some of these materials needs improvement, they are a step in the right direction. Remember to look for organic as often as you can.

Hemp. Grows quickly and densely (keeping away weeds). Doesn’t require irrigation (only natural rainfall!) and is pest resistant (no fertilizers!). It requires minimal processing due to its long fibres, is long lasting and mildew resistant (naturally!). Hemp was originally used for rope on fishing vessels.

Bamboo. Is a highly renewable resource (some species can grow up to one metre a day!). Bamboo fibres are biodegradable, naturally antibacterial and breathable. During farming bamboo eliminates toxins from soil and prevents erosion. However, there are growing concerns regarding the farming practices of bamboo. Over 60% of the bamboo harvested in India comes from ‘protected forests’. It also requires an intensive manufacturing process to extract the plant into fibres.   

Soy Silk. Fibres are extruded from the by-products of tofu production. 

Wool. Is naturally hypoallergenic, moisture absorbent, flame resistant, static resistant and insulating (both to keep heat in and to keep it out!). There is high concern for animal welfare in sheep farming but organic wool is becoming more and more common. 

Organic Cotton. The farming of organic cotton is pesticide free and fair-trade. It can be grown in green or brown naturally (thanks to biologist Sally Fox!) The colour not only won’t fade, it will brighten after washing.  

Linen (Flax). This fibre is stronger than cotton, lint-free, durable and stain resistant. It is highly absorbent and can hold up to 20% moisture without feeling damp. It is cool to the touch and breathable. Some manufacturing methods of linen use extensive amounts of chemicals to loosen the fibres from the stalks.

Leather vs. Pleather. 

Leather is a durable and long lasting material. It can be dyed naturally and treated with natural oils to increase its longevity. Animal cruelty is a high concern when it comes to leather as well as the chemical processes to create some of the final products. 

Pleather is artificial leather usually made of PVC (aka vinyl) which is known to be one of the most hazardous materials known to effect human health. It is a vegan alternative to genuine leather (meaning no animal by-products!). Some alternatives to PVC type “pleather” are cork leather (durable and stain, scratch and water resistant), and ocean leather (made of kelp).

• Let’s Talk Trash
• Light House Sustainable Building Centre
• The Story of Stuff

March is monitors off month in our Vancouver office as Bentall launches the Great Monitor Shutdown Challenge. Through this campaign the Forever Green Tenant Team is encouraging all Bentall tenants to turn off their computer monitors every evening and when leaving the office for periods of time.

The Great Monitor Shutdown Challenge is a simple initiative that can save a great deal of energy. For every LCD monitor that isn’t turned off, approximately 22kWh per month (or $29 per year) is wasted. For every CRT monitor that isn’t turned off, approximately 67kWh per month (or $90 per year) is wasted.

Part of this campaign is a series of head to head challenges between like-sized Bentall tenants. Omicron has boldly stepped up to accept this challenge and has been paired with Cisco Systems. On a random night in the month the Chief Custodian will be counting the number of monitors left on in each tenant space. The tenant with the fewest amount of monitors on will be declared champion!

So, how can you help?

• Turn off your monitor every night before you leave (just the monitor, not the computer!)
• Turn off your monitor if you are stepping into a meeting or leaving the office for a period of time
• If you have a laptop and you leave it in the office at night, please take no action as the screen will automatically switch into off mode after a period of inactivity

While victory will surely be sweet, the real prize is the amount of power that we will be saving if we adopt this practice at all times. In our ongoing efforts to reduce our energy consumption and thereby our footprint, Omicron is excited and ready to take on this challenge for the month of March and beyond!

We hope that you’ll help by doing your small part!

• Turn-It-Off Campaign