Seven Green Trends To Watch In 2009

While many of us may be focusing on the challenges we face in this down economy, namely how it will affect our bottom line, it's encouraging to look ahead at what working through those challenges might result in.

So, here's a sum up of Seven Green Trends To Watch in 2009:

1. Non-Green Will Not Survive
2. Change Leadership Will Thrive
3. Policy Activity Will Accelerate
4. Everything Will Shift
5. Efficiency & Energy Comes Into Focus
6. Legitimate Impact Labels May Develop
7. Beware of Green Fatigue and Words

All of these are explained in more detail and definitely worth reading here.

Number 7: Beware of Green Fatigue and Words reads more like a warning, one we all knew was coming! If terms like eco, green, sustainable and carbon neutral hit the "Eco-Black List", what if anything, will replace them?

Like any misused label, the result is skepticism. It won't draw the attention it did as a novelty item and we'll have to work harder to relay the intended message. Which ironically, is something most deep green builders and professionals have already been doing. So, maybe trend #7 should read - Real McCoys Emerge as Market Leaders! Wouldn't that be nice?

Regional Board Nominees - Calling All Chapters

Current board members:

Fiona Douglas-Hamilton - S.E.E.C.
Acting Regional Co-Chair, Membership Chair, Education Committee, SPS Chapter

Ben Kaufman - GreenWorks Realty
Acting Regional Co-Chair, Treasurer/Interim Secretary, Communications/Marketing Committee, CPS Chapter

Terry Phelan - Living Shelter Design
Acting Regional Co-Chair, Retreat Committee, Communications/Marketing Committee
Central WA Chapter

Danielle Johnson - Infiniti Real Estate & Development
Communications/Marketing Co-Chair, CPS Chapter

Jonathan Campbell - Green Depot
Communications/Marketing Co-Chair, SPS Chapter

Tom Balderston - Conservation Services Group
Education Co-chair, Development/Grants Committee, CPS Chapter

Rachael Jamison - WA State Department of Ecology
Executive Committee, SPS Chapter

Chris van Daalen - Green Depot
Nomination Committee Chair, SPS Chapter President

And, we'd like to welcome our new board members:

Elly Bunzendahl of O'Brien and Company and Aaron Campbell of Campbell Energy, both from the CPS Chapter.

We are still looking to fill a number of board positions and are especially interested in representation from a broader range of chapters. We understand attending board meetings can be challenging from a distance, but if you are interested there may be ways we can help. If you'd like to observe our next board meeting in May, please contact Chris Van Daalan at chris@greendepotnw.com.

National Clean Energy Project Roundtable

At the National Clean Energy Project Roundtable on Monday Feb. 23, leaders in the political, environmental, energy and business world will join together to develop a core set of recommendations for policies and strategies to build a national clean energy smart grid and expand the use of alternative transportation fuels.

You can watch a webcast of the event by clicking here.

This exciting event will begin at 10:15 am sharp EST and bring together leaders such as:

* President Bill Clinton
* Vice President Al Gore
* U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu
* U.S. Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar
* T. Boone Pickens, Chair, BP Capital Management
* John Podesta, President and CEO, Center for American Progress Action Fund
* Denise Bode, CEO, American Wind Energy Association
* Van Jones, Founder and President, Green For All
* Robert Kennedy, Jr., Chairman, Waterkeeper Alliance and Senior Attorney, NRDC
* Carl Pope, CEO, Sierra Club
* Andy Stern, President, Service Employees International Union
* John J. Sweeney, President, AFL-CIO
And many others.

There is a huge opportunity now to advance policies to convert clean energy ideas into reality. The National Clean Energy Project Roundtable will do just that.

Zerofootprint Building Re-Skinning Competition

We know how to build new buildings with a low carbon footprint, but little attention has been paid to the thousands of existing structures worldwide which are extremely inefficient and have a massive carbon impact. In order to address the need to increase worldwide focus on retrofitting built spaces, Zerofootprint has announced the Zerofootprint Building Re-Skinning Competition.

In North America alone, pre-existing structures account for 40% of all greenhouse gas emissions. President Barack Obama has pledged to "rebuild and retrofit America", starting with 75% of federal buildings to save taxpayers more than $2 billion USD a year. Existing building re-skinning capabilities however are not enough to solve this problem.

Zerofootprint aims to focus the world's best architectural and technical minds on the issue, using the province of Ontario as a starting point. Ontario has been chosen as the basis of the competition due to the groundbreaking work already underway - including the City of Toronto Mayor's Tower Renewal Project. In addition, the province of Ontario experiences extreme climate conditions - from tropical weather in the summer months to arctic climates in the winter months. Due to these extreme weather variations, a re-skinning system developed and implemented in Ontario is replicable in any climate region of the world.

If you are interested in learning more about the Zerofootprint Building Re-Skinning Competition, please visit our website and do not hesitate to contact us at skinning@zerofootprint.net.

Best regards,

Deborah Kaplan
Executive Director