Green Project Marketing Blog

Infinity Canopy has expanded its offerings not only with its incredible modular canopy system, but for one client, VF in Costa Mesa, CA, it fulfilled a request for a motorized, retractable canopy.

The patented Infinity Canopy is the most dynamic and versatile retractable canopy in the world! Its modular design allows it to adapt to any space, configured in one or multiple colors and changed within minutes to create new designs andpatterns.

Using readily available parts and shade panels, Infinity Canopy eliminates production time, simplifies installation, and provides a superior product at a fraction of a custom canopy's cost.

Perfect for outdoor dining, living, lounge space, as well as providing canopy covers for pergolas.

Infinite Shade, Infinite Design and Infinite Possibilities.

We take pride in offering a quality product, great service, helping to create your dream space, update your business' curb appeal and more!

AWARDS
* IFF Innovation Award
* Best New Outdoor Product, HPBA EXPO
* Best New Shade Product, IFAI EXPO

9 US PATENTS  
9938723, 9745755, 9470012, 9255441,
D822465, D814274, D792611, D770643, D764262

Contact Michael Stevens to obtain a quote on Infinity Canopy systems at 310-890-9182 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

It is nice to see some major companies stepping up to make a difference with massive challenges in the housing sector in CA. True, Google will use this as an investment by leasing the land, but housing units are sorely needed.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced Tuesday that the tech giant would invest $1 billion over the next several years to help build housing in the Bay Area, amid the region’s ongoing housing crisis.

“Across the region, one issue stands out as particularly urgent and complex: housing. The lack of new supply, combined with the rising cost of living, has resulted in a severe shortage of affordable housing options for long-time middle and low income residents,” Pichai said in a company blog post.

The company said it would re-purpose $750 million of its land holdings currently zoned for commercial space to housing, which it claims would lead to the development of at least 15,000 new homes.

Meanwhile, $250 million would go towards an investment fund for developers to help build 5,000 affordable housing units. Another $50 million would go towards grants for nonprofits focused on homelessness and displacement.

“Our goal is to get housing construction started immediately, and for homes to be available in the next few years,” Pichai said.

Google said it has already worked with the city of Mountain View to change zoning near its headquarters to free up land for housing, and is in “productive conversations” with nearby Sunnyvale and San Jose, where it plans to expand.

This year's dwell on design was filled with creative companies showcasing various products for interior designers, architects, builders and contractors.

One company was Bone Structure.

BONE Structure® is a steel construction system leading the way towards high performance, energy efficient homes, designed and built using an integrated process inspired by the aerospace industry.

For more information, please contact Bone Structure at www.bonestructures.ca/en.

The New York Build show offers the latest in building technology and products to Contractors, Architects, Specifiers, Developers & Brokers and Local Authorities. It's a great show to meet architects and builders for current and upcoming New York and NE U.S. projects.

New York Build 2018 offered the latest construction projects in NYC and NY State. The show remains at the forefront of the industry through showcasing the finest talent in the sector and connecting leading key players with cutting edge solutions.

Great networking ensues at this show each year and allows access to contractors, developers, architects, government and other construction industry professionals.

For more information, please visit New York Build.

Buildings are responsible for an enormous amount of global energy use, resource consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. As the demand for more sustainable building options increases, green construction is becoming increasingly profitable and desirable within the international construction market.

In the United States alone, buildings account for almost 40 percent of national CO2 emissions and out-consume both the industrial and transportation sectors, but LEED-certified buildings have 34 percent lower CO2 emissions, consume 25 percent less energy and 11 percent less water, and have diverted more than 80 million tons of waste from landfills.

The market is responding to these cost savings and environmental benefits at a dramatic rate. According to a Dodge Data & Analytics World Green Building Trends 2016 SmartMarket Report, the global green building sector continues to double every three years, with survey respondents from 70 countries reporting 60 percent of their projects will be green by 2018.

The benefits of green building are expanding the market and breaking records

Upfront investment in green building makes properties more valuable.

With an average expected increase in value of 4 percent. By virtue of lowered maintenance and energy costs the return on investment from green building is rapid: green retrofit projects are generally expected to pay for itself in just seven years.

Green buildings reduce day-to-day costs year-over-year.

LEED buildings report almost 20 percent lower maintenance costs than typical commercial buildings, and green building retrofit projects typically decrease operation costs by almost 10 percent in just one year.

Between 2015 and 2018, LEED-certified buildings in the United States are estimated to have $1.2 billion in energy savings, $149.5 million in water savings, $715.2 million in maintenance savings and $54.2 million in waste savings.

The green building sector is outpacing overall construction growth in the United States and will continue to rise. By 2018, green construction will directly contribute 1.1 million jobs and $75.6 billion in wages by 2018 in the United States. The industry’s direct contribution to U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is also expected to reach $303.5 billion from 2015-2018. LEED building construction projects are estimated contribute 386,000 jobs and $26.2 billion in wages by 2018.

As of October 2017, more than 19.3 billion square feet of building space is LEED-certified worldwide and an approximately 2.2 million square feet achieves LEED certification each day.

Here is a case study with global manufacturer Colgate-Palmolive Company that has decided to embrace green building and pursues LEED-certified structures for all of their new buildings worldwide.

For more information, please visit USGBC.org.

Sources: USGBC, other, October 2017

The Center for Green Schools at USGBC reached a milestone in 2017: 2,000 LEED-certified schools. The accomplishment shows the huge impact that LEED has on both students and the environment. Each school provides healthy learning spaces, reduces the environmental impact made by buildings and inspires real-world lessons on sustainability. Where we learn matters, and these schools are putting the words into practice.

Kudos to the USGBC for reaching this milestone.

Schools are at the center of communities, where children learn lessons vital to success in the world and people gather for events. In many places, schools are at the forefront of change. Improving school infrastructure can bring communities together by creating a source of pride, improving student performance and offering learning opportunities for sustainable practices.

To honor these efforts made by schools, the Center gathered project descriptions and pictures from schools certified in 2017. We received details on more than 35 projects and over 150 pictures of innovative learning spaces. These schools alone have made improvements in environmental health and sustainability literacy for over 10,000 students. They have made inspiring changes for their communities, and we want to share them through our networks.

To learn more about this program, please click HERE.

Developers - City Councils - Freeways

The American developer and the local politicians that agree to support developments, such as those on top of L.A. freeways continue to amaze.

Sure, on one hand, there are cries such as, "there is a huge housing shortage!" On the other hand, there are too many people in the City of Los Angeles and the city is not obligated to allow developers to build on every available lot nor to allow building in areas where even a middle school science student may say, "gee, that does not make sense to build in this area."

Please read the recent Los Angeles Times article on apartments such as Da Vinci on top of 110 freeway in downtown Los Angeles. In the article, it states that part of the requirements for the developer is to install air filters.

Air Pollution for Residents

Does it take a Rhodes Scholar to figure out that the tiny particles generating the carbon monoxide may be partially caught by filters, but these filters do not keep out all of the toxic exhaust gases.

In a way, it is evident that the people of L.A.have to live somewhere and that the city and developers will try to do their part to alleviate the housing shortage. Oh, by the way, it will come at a cost of infecting children and adults alike to future health problems, higher medical bills, and a brief presumption that some of those bills will be covered by all taxpayers.

As with many issues facing society, no easy solution here. However, common sense would dictate that residential dwellings should be a lot farther away than the 500 feet proposed. Let's get our act together, speak up to various city councils and stop abuses by developers in this area.

Energy Secretary has no clue about renewable energy

Energy Secretary Rick Perry sees renewables as a threat to coal and nuclear baseload—could you be more clueless and biased to try to protect these two fields?

It's real simple - Up = good; Down = bad

• Down with Coal.
• Down with Nuclear.
• Up with Wind.
• Up with Solar.
• Up with Waves.
• Up with Geothermal.
• Up with other renewable and alternative energy sources.

The renewable and alternative energy field is creating new, sustainable jobs - good idea? Yes.

Anyone with common sense can only look to the sky for help and say, "how did such an ill-informed, incompetent individual be placed in such an important position?"

Well, for that matter, most of the current U.S. cabinet is filled with people that do not have ample experience in these respective fields.  

Perry (does not deserve the title of Secretary) is just a good ol' boy that has been thrust in a position of power to continue to take care of his boys in the oil and coal industries.

Highlights from Jeff St. John's article on Perry and renewable energy versus coal and oil include:

Real Support for Baseload with Wind and Solar

• Over two months ago, Energy Secretary Rick Perry ordered the DOE to conduct a 60-day study on whether wind and solar are undercutting baseload coal and nuclear power.
• Many renewable energy and environmental groups fear will lead to a foregone conclusion against renewable-friendly state subsidies and policies.
• U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), wrote a letter to Perry that “a hastily developed study, which appears to predetermine that variable, renewable sources such as wind have undermined grid reliability, will not be viewed as credible, relevant or worthy of valuable taxpayer resources.”
• Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), declaring that Perry’s idea of coal and nuclear as essential for a stable grid is an outdated concept.
• Union of Concerned Scientists published its critique of what it called “Rick Perry’s Unnecessary and Biased Grid Study,” noting that the Trump administration has picked anti-renewables lobbyists to lead the process and appears to be ignoring multiple studies that have shown that more flexible grids can handle much larger shares of wind and solar.

Please read the rest of this ARTICLE - I can only stomach so much of this nonsense.

These politicians are living for today - grease pockets now, secure as many favors as possible, take care of friends and family and who gives a darn about 10, 20, 50 or more years from now.

Reinventing Green Building

Reinventing Green Building is an insider’s critique of why certified green buildings are failing to provide large-scale carbon reduction. It is a potent vision for the future that the green building industry needs NOW.

Here is an overview of the book. I have read several of Jerry's books and support his research and experience.

LEEDv4

In its first three years on the market, LEEDv4 registered less than 5% of all new LEED projects, with the balance going to the cheaper and easier-to-understand LEED 2009. This does not bode well for the future of new project registrations, now that LEEDv4 is the only LEED system available for project registrations.

LEED Project Certifications in Commercial Interiors

LEED project certifications in commercial interiors increased in 2016 after falling in 2014 and 2015. Retail project certifications also increased. Still, both totals are very small compared to the huge size of both 86 billion sq.ft. of nonresidential floor space and 1.1 million retail buildings.

2016: LEED in (Reverse) Motion - Part 3

In 2016, nonresidential new construction and core and shell LEED certifications fell 21% below 2015 levels, to only about 1,500 projects, down about one-third from the peak in 2013.

About Jerry Yudelson

Jerry Yudelson is a LEED Fellow, Federal GSA National Peer Professional and the author of 13 books on green buildings, water conservation, green homes, green marketing and sustainable development. He has been involved in the green building movement since 1997 and co-founded the first USGBC chapter, Cascadia, in 1998. Jerry also served for six years as chair of the steering committee for Greenbuild, the largest green building conference and trade show in the US. He was one of the first ten faculty members in the US for the LEED system and has trained nearly 4,000 building industry professionals in the LEED system.

In 2014 and part of 2015, he served as president of the Green Building Initiative (GBI), a national nonprofit and the US provider of the Green Globes green building rating and certification programs.

Jerry is a registered professional engineer with more than 25 years’ experience. He holds engineering degrees from Caltech and Harvard University and an MBA (with highest honors) from the University of Oregon. He was a Rotary Foundation Fellow for graduate work in engineering at the Technische Hochschule in Aachen, Germany.

To encourage owners to invest in energy efficiency as a major goal in their new buildings, financial incentives are available to owners when the efficiency of their new building exceeds the minimum Savings By Design threshold (generally 10% better than Title 24 Energy Efficiency Standards).

There are two approaches to High Performance Buildings: Whole Building Approach & Systems Approach.

Whole Building Approach

Owner Incentives

The Whole Building Approach is the preferred method of achieving energy savings within Savings By Design.   Enabling the design team to consider integrated energy efficiency solutions that balance electric and gas use, may lead to buildings that offer:

•  Greater health, comfort, and productivity for the occupant
•  Reduced building and operating costs for the owner

In the Whole Building Approach, the estimated total annual energy savings for the building is calculated compared to the Title 24 minimum requirements. Using an approved computer tool, this analysis can be prepared by the design team, or by an energy consultant provided by the utility. Owner’s Incentives are available for projects estimated to exceed Title 24 or standard practice baseline by at least 10% on a whole building performance basis. Owner Incentives range from $0.10 - $0.30 per annualized kWh savings, with a step increase to $0.40 per annualized kWh savings for projects that exceed Title 24 by 40%, and $1.00 per annualized therm savings as the design becomes more efficient. Owners may also qualify for demand reduction incentives of $100 per kW.

Owners meeting program requirements may be eligible to receive additional incentives:

 End Use Monitoring Incentive

Each incentive is calculated as 10% or 20% of the Owner’s Incentive respectively.  The maximum incentive per project is $150,000.

Whole Building Incentives

Systems Approach

The Systems Approach is a method of optimizing energy efficiency choices for less complex buildings.  By considering building systems holistically rather than as a collection of components, the Systems Approach encourages greater energy efficiency by designing “whole” building systems, rather than individual equipment or fixtures.  It’s a straightforward approach, and the Design Team may find it more appropriate for their project. 

Your Savings By Design Representative can help by: Using a simplified energy simulation modeling tool to help your team identify system options and quickly estimate the associated potential savings

 Identifying which systems qualify for potential Owner Incentives

Systems Approach Project Incentives are calculated using a flat incentive rate. Your Savings By Design representative can help you identify system options, quickly estimate the associated potential savings, and identify which systems qualify for generous incentives:                                                                                    

• Daylighting
• Interior Lighting
• Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning
• Service Hot Water
• Other Systems and Processes

Daylighting Systems

Daylighting has a major impact on a building’s functionality from many perspectives.  Not only does it decrease energy costs associated with illumination and space conditioning, it also enhances the building’s comfort and ambiance -- resulting in increased productivity of its occupants.   

Interior Lighting Systems

Interior lighting is a major component of any building’s energy use, enhancing the functionality of interior spaces.    Energy usage can be reduced with thoughtful attention to illumination requirements within the building, along with specifications for efficient components and appropriate controls.    

Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning Systems

The design of high-performance HVAC systems includes high-efficiency equipment and controls that regulate the system to allow operation only when it’s needed.  Thoughtful consideration of the interactions of all system elements can substantially increase comfort for building occupants while cutting costs for the building owner.  

Service Hot Water Systems

The use of high-efficiency natural gas hot water heaters can help to round out an overall approach to energy savings in the building design.   Facilities that use large amounts of hot water can see substantial savings when a high-efficiency system is used.  

Other Systems and Processes

A variety of process systems and controls not regulated by Title 24 can be considered for the Savings By Design program.  Current industry standard practice is used to establish a reference point from which estimated energy savings are determined for manufacturing, refrigeration, food processing, mechanical ventilation systems and other systems and processes.

Systems Approach Incentives

For more information on this program, please visit www.SavingsbyDesign.com.