energy

Republican Debate and Obama’s Job Speech

September 9, 2011

A friend of mine recently challenged me via Facebook to watch the Republican debate. I responded that I would if he would, in turn, watch President Obama’s jobs speech to Congress. My friend and I generally have opposite political views, so we took each other up on the challenge. The rules were that we had [...]

Read More →

Energy Subsidies and the “Free Market”

June 5, 2011

Time and time again, I hear people say that renewables should be subject to the “free market” and should not receive government subsidies. After all, if renewables such as solar, wind and geothermal are viable, the consumer should decide, not the government. And while I understand (and even to a point agree) with those comments, [...]

Read More →

Roland S. Martin – CNN Guest Blog

March 12, 2011

I have never posted verbatim another blog post until today. With the recent events in Libya, gas prices soaring (again) and the nuclear meltdown in Japan, I was going to write something, because I just couldn’t keep quiet. Then, I came across Roland Martin’s post on CNN today (March 12, 2011) and decided he said [...]

Read More →

Deep Green – Movie Review

February 24, 2011

“All I know is, I’m alive now and I can do something today, and I can’t in good conscience wait for somebody else to do it. I think the time is now; for me the time is absolutely now. It’s the only time anybody has”. Kathy Bash, Architect with DMS Architects in Portland, Oregon. Of [...]

Read More →

Global Warming and Snow in Oklahoma

February 10, 2011

You know, I’ve never really liked the snow. I’m sorry, but I get tired of the snow. And it really gets down to whenever it snows somewhere unexpectedly or unseasonably, I invariably hear comments and remarks like “so much for global warming” or “how about that Al Gore” or some similar misinformed comment. It recently [...]

Read More →

The Lawrence Street House – Bidding and LEED

January 30, 2011

I know it’s been a little while since I gave you all an update on the Lawrence House. With the holidays, I took a bit longer finishing the drawings and we really didn’t want to have to be doing open houses during the Thanksgiving and Christmas season. Open Houses are actually kind of a pain. [...]

Read More →

Van Jones and Green Jobs

January 25, 2011

Van Jones was appointed by President Obama early in his presidency. After a short six months as Special Advisor for Green Jobs in the Obama Administration, amid controversy over several issues, Jones resigned. My wife and I had the privilege of hearing Jones speak Monday night at the University of Oregon in the EMU Ballroom. [...]

Read More →

Good Earth Home Show 2011

January 23, 2011

This was the second year, we were at the Good Earth Home Garden and Living Show. My architectural firm, Arbor South Architecture had a booth last year and we did it again this year. This was also the second year we did a seminar. In 2010, we talked about our award-winning LEED Platinum home, theSAGE. [...]

Read More →

Will We Ever REALLY get an EV?

January 12, 2011

Well, the Detroit Auto Show started Sunday. The Chevrolet Volt was just named Motor Trend’s Car of the Year for 2011. And I’m getting really really cynical. I know the picture for this post isn’t a Chevy Volt. But more on that a little later. When I was a teenager, I subscribed to Motor Trend. [...]

Read More →

The Seven Sins of Greenwashing – Sin #7

December 19, 2010

GREENWASH Greenwashing is “the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service.” SIN #7 – THE SIN OF WORSHIPPING FALSE LABELS This sin is a relatively new one to the report. According to terrachoice, this sin “is committed by a product that, through [...]

Read More →