Shoe with no Footprint

Hello world,

I for one adore this pair of shoes. Not only is it fashionable, it is also  fairly cheap: $40 and it is a shoe without a foot print. Get the joke. I thought it was clever. I would have never thought I would find so many sustainable products. It is outstanding to me that companies, big or small, are making the attempts to become sustainable and green with their products.

Product like this really speaks out and sends a good message to other companies about their products. With sustainable products come good reputation for the markets that sell them, the companies that produce them, and overall the sustainable statuses.

Eco-Bico

 

LEED and Green Globes System

Hello world,

The Green Globes System and LEED “use interactive process as that include online software tools to simplify and accelerate evaluation” according to http://www.thegbi.org/commercial/?.

According to LEEDs' rating system requires building to apply its project types. LEED has many credit categories that may give buildings harder times to receive their approval certification but these credits encourage building to reach for a sustainable status. LEED is a certification status that is given to buildings to obtain. The process involves five steps making it simple to achieve for certification. LEED helps deliver energy and water efficiently healthy, environmentally friendly cost reducing buildings, homes and communities. LEED certified buildings cost less to operate, reducing energy and water usage by 40%. LEED increases the property values of buildings that received certification. LEED seems to be a good certification for advance higher quality buildings.  

Green Globes System has an assessment and certification for sustainable building. Its objective is to demonstrate excellent guidance that will increase building technology for owners, operators, managers, and designers. One building assessment: Building Intelligence Quotation (BIQ) is affordable and easy to use online for building assessment and ranking.

Overall, I believe that Green Globes System is a better solution for the built environment because it is affordable for buildings and the assessments are not too specific where building will have trouble meeting the standards. However, according to our presentation at Aon Center, it is better to start off with Green Globes and then achieve the LEED certification. LEED is better to have in the end because of its certification, while green global provides a starting point and the basics for green buildings.

Eco-Bico

Happiness and Satisfactions

Hello world,

In my sustainability class, we had a class discussion on how much is enough?  I came across saying that enough is enough based on the needs and wants. I also added another controversy similar to needs and wants and it is happiness and satisfaction. In this part of the discussion there are many ways to views on the limitations of enough.

In terms of needs and wants, needs are things we can’t live or function without. These are the basic requirements that are necessary for life. Everyone needs food, education, clean water and many more.  On the other hand, there are wants that we all desire. As technology advances we as humans react by buying the latest products because of our desire to want things. In some ways I blame technology for the increase of wants. We now hardly ask ourselves if we really need something. It is now, "I want it" rather than, "I need it".

I explained the happiness and satisfactions controversy by elaborating that it is better to satisfied. For example I have phone that was really popular around 2008. I still use that phone to text and call my friends. I am satisfied with a phone but I could be happy with an iPhone 5. The point is, most people strive for happiness and some may not know that the “little things” they have make a big difference. When it comes to happiness there is also the feeling of satisfaction. No one will stop at being satisfied. Happiness will provide both happiness and satisfaction.

Wants and happiness correlate because these are the sections that we, as humans, strive for it because it will make our lives better and more efficient. "It will make our lives better", that's a powerful phrase that we would want to live with. Now, there are the plans of getting the betting things and living up the latest updates on fashion for example. It can refer to anything that can cause our happiness or anything that we want. It is crucial to know that even though it is nice to have things that we want and that can make us happy but we need to consider the more important half.

On the other half, needs and satisfactions are hardly noticed by consumers because our ambitions blind us and causes us to strive for wants and happiness. If we, as humans, can achieve our needs and satisfaction then there seems to be no reason why we should keep the advancement from growing. (According to the equation Impact = Population x Affluence x Technology, these are factors that cause the impact of a society. And according to my last statement, if humans can just reach for satisfactions and needs there will be no need for an increase in technology. Therefore, if technology decreases, then the impact will decrease as well.)These factors should be highly considered and focused on because these things can meet the basic requirements that a human can desire.

After today’s class discussion, I really had the chance to think about what I need and what can be satisfied.

Eco-Bico 

 

Green Advertisement

Hello world

We all see advertisements on television. And most of the time we may or may not accept the advertisement.  iQ is a cleaning product and its advertisement questions the old product's toxicity, non-green products, and throwing out plastic bottles because they are empty. iQ makes the consumers question their own house products and to consider iQ cleaning products. Overall, all advertisement needs to be specific while sending their main message. Green advertising needs to be more open and clear about their products. In conclusion, the iQ advertisement made me question some of my home and kitchen cleaning products  

However, as consumers we have to ask ourselves if the message is lacking transparency and if it is green washing the consumers. In terms of transparency, to consumers need to know the main point and purpose of the product. (This section of my blog is just referring the advertisement). I question the upstream of iQ’s products. Based off this advertisement, it seems to me that there is a lack of transparency. In addition, consumers must know if they are being green washed by the company. The company advertisement questions other cleaning products while giving a guarantee that their products are say “non-toxic.” As consumers we may not know if this is true. This advertisement does not give out the proper information about their own products.

The advertisement questions the use of other products being toxic and claiming theirs are non-toxic. In terms of green washing consumers would like to know the chemicals and substances in their products. And if the advertisement is stating that their is non-toxics then what chemicals are being used that can replace the current household cleaning products. Things to consider are the common chemicals that are used for cleaning that are toxic.

Another issue from the advertisement is that it is questioning other green products that don’t actually work. Don’t actually work as in: not working in general or not keeping its green name? There is a confusion of understanding. This part of the advertisement is stating that their products are not only green but 100% in its performance. Yet again based on this advertisement iQ lacks its product’s efficiency on performance if we do not trust the 100% performance guarantee.  

Another thing iQ questions is that is it necessary to throw away plastic bottles just because they are empty. As simple as it is, just don’t throw them away. Plastic bottles can be reuse, just by refilling it up at a water fountain. But that is just what I do with my family. Also the advertisement states that their reusable bottles have 80% less plastic. Yes this qualifies as sustainable but what is the product replacing it? Also is there 80% of less plastic in iQ’s renewable bottles or for all bottles in general?

Overall, in any advertisement consumers should question the make-up of the product.  

Eco-Bico

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6h_PCgv7So
 

Twitter Feeds

Hello Earth,

I simply decided to follow Interface Flor on Twitter. I had the opportunity to visit Interface Flor for a field trip in my sustainability class. It was by far an extraordinary product because of sustainable status. It was very intriguing to learn about their carpet tiles and how sustainable they are.

As an overview on Ray Anderson, his modification of the impact formula was absolutely mind blowing. He was able to incorporate happiness as a key factor to the equation by dividing population and affluence with technology and happiness. There is one issue with that equation: How is happiness measured? Unfortunately there aren’t any meters that are capable of doing that. But this is also what makes Anderson even better. He was thinking of ways to adjust the impact through its equation.

Through Interface’s twitter page, it seems to me that they are encouraging their followers to check out their triple bottom line. Seeing this tweet surprises me because Interface has the willingness to display their triple bottom line information on a social media site. To find any company's triple bottom line report requires a look up on a search engine or actually looking at their website. However this tweet has provided a link to their triple bottom line making it accessible to their followers. In some way, Interface Flor has excellent accessibility for their information, thanks to GreenBiz.

Interface’s latest tweet explained its new revering “’take, make, waste’ cycle by renting, not selling carpet.” To me, this tweet is explaining that in their take, make and waste cycle Interface is promoting their carpet as a rent rather than an owned product for the consumers. In some ways this is efficient because with the field trip I had at Interface, I was explained how the carpet tiles can be reused over and over again. In addition this will help the price fluctuate between purchasing and renting the carpet tiles. For example you could rent a specific kind of tile (shape, size, and color) and have it installed. The use of renting is to see how the carpet come together to satisfy the costumer. Through this tweet consumers will have the satisfaction of trying the carpet tiles from Interface Flor.

Eco-Bico

 

 

 

Compact Fluorescent Lamp

Hello world,

Thanks to Thomas Edison we wouldn’t have had the gift of turning on a light bulb. And with many innovation, light bulbs come in many different sizes and specialties. One thing to consider in this century is the sustainability of most products. There have been compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) light bulbs that are able to fit in the same spaces as an incandescent lamp; however compact fluorescent light bulbs have many advantages when compared to normal light bulbs. CFL has a longer time span and uses less energy. Each CFL light bulb can eliminate at most 150 pounds of carbon each year. The Mini-twist CFL light bulbs vary from $6.13 to $8.96. The energy varies from 9 watts to 13 watts. In addition, most CFL light bulbs' average life span is up to 8000 hours compared to 2000 hours from an incandescent bulbs.  

These products are labeled with an Energy Star Partner. Energy Star has been promoted by the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). Energy Star qualifies products for energy efficiency due to the market and the technology innovation. As on update to Energy Star Partner, my sustainability class and I went to visit Aon Center and during our visit the Energy Star speaker explained this label with us and how energy based companies need this label. This label is incorporated for energy products only. Labels like Energy Star Partner, endorses the decrease of products that consume too much energy. With CFL light bulbs, the price to watt ratio seems to be average. Also don't forget to consider the sustainable status that CFL holds, unlike the normal light bulbs that may cost 2 dollars and may last slightly the same time, but takes up too much energy and does not qualify for the Energy Star Partner label.

Also in addition to lights the speaker told us about Miami Tower and how they have LED lights to light up the tower. These lights are controlled online and they are able changed. Its colors and designs are changeable. LED technology increases the building’s sustainability, the energy alert, and the lighting presentation for the city and its people.

 As a teenager with a lamp on his night stand, desk, and tri-lamp in his room these products look very useful but their consumption of energy is bad news. This is just my room. There are more inefficient of unsustainable light bulbs in my house, and electricity keep increase due to the bulbs' high energy consumption. Compact fluorescent lamp bulbs may seem expensive but the savings in energy and long life span are worth owning.

 

 

Eco-Bico