Solar powered coffee van coming to a town near you?

I recently stumbled upon a mobile coffee company this week, near where my wife works.

Besspresso is a solar and biofuel (soy-based) powered green van that serves a blend of organic, fair trade, and sustainable wood roasted coffee and various espresso drinks. They serve their coffee in 100% biodegradable corn and plant based cups.

They originated near Portland, Oregon a few years ago, but the new owners are taking it all over the United States. They will be here in Iowa City for a few more weeks, then off to Tempe, Arizona for the remainder of the year. They will also be making stops at various music and environmental festivals this summer.

They offer a relaxing atmosphere to enjoy coffee outdoors, and listen to music through their high quality loudspeaker system.

To learn more about their service, and where they are located now, visit their website at: http://www.solarespresso.com/

Rapanui Clothing is putting the "cool" in Ethi-cool

An ethical fashion brand has unveiled a new range of clothing. The small Isle of Wight (island off England's southern coast where I visited recently) brand have been trading officially for two years, concentrating on sustainable textiles and buying.

Rapanui was set up by brothers Rob and Mart Drake-Knight in early 2008. It has quickly grown into an award-winning brand, earning recognition at the Sustainable Business Awards for their commitment to using organic, natural fabrics, wind-powered factories, and Fairwear Foundation audited supply chains.

Their cool new designs are geared to captivate the younger generations, who are perhaps less aware than others of where their clothes come from.
They are completely open an honest about the entire process of their clothes, how they are made and what impact each piece has on the environment, yet at the same time, they provide garments that perhaps you wouldn’t expect from a company whose main concern is about reducing the environmental impact of the fashion industry.

Check them out at Rapanui Clothing

Use post-it notes to change other people's wasteful behavior!

Where I work, I see a lot of people leaving their computers on, leaving lights on in their office. Those that work in the factory leave the test equipment and other electronic devices on as well.

Instead of complaining, I decided to make up some bright green post-it notes, and place them on the device, so the person sees the "reminder" when they come back. This way, you don't need to confront the "accuser" and make them feel bad. Often times, people just forget, or don't realize that it should be turned off.



Each pad comes with 50 notes, and they can be re-used (like a normal post-it note). Simply scan your work area, or your house, and place the note on anything that should be turned off. Certain items (like refrigerators) need to stay on all the time. Focus on the items that definitely need to be shut off. If you can follow up with this approach and feedback for one month (20-30 days), that should be enough time that behavior starts to change, and people will become more cognizant of what they're leaving on.

To order some of these post-its:

Green "Turn Off When Done" Post-It Note Reminders

Current Energy Store in Dallas

For the past year or so, I have wanted to create a store that only sold eco-friendly items, like solar powered items, low flow toilets, automatic composters, energy monitors and organic cotton tees. Turns out Current Energy in Dallas had the idea a couple years earlier. I was able to visit it recently (there's only one right now).



All the products you can imagine. The one store you don't have to worry about what you're buying, because it is all good for the environment.

Visit their website, where you can order these products online

Current Energy Dallas

Kill-a-Watt Electricity Usage Monitor

We bought the Kill-a-Watt, in order to help us figure out where we were spending most of our money in electricity. We were hoping it would also help us figure out whether we had phantom power on some of our devices (using power when not in use).



The device works by simply unplugging the 110-volt device from the wall, plugging in the Kill-a-Watt into the outlet, then plugging the device into the Kill-a-Watt, and pressing the on button. That simple! It starts to measure the amount of kilowatt hours (KwH) of electricity used, and retains the amount of minutes and hours that it has been plugged in, so you can determine how much is used per hour, per day, etc.



We determined that many of our devices did not have phantom power (good!), and that certain devices are very energy intensive, such as ovens and refrigerators. We turned down the temperature slightly on the fridge, and started using our toaster oven more often, instead of heating the entire oven for items that could fit in the toaster oven.

We would highly recommend this device to anyone looking to reduce their energy usage and electrical bills (which should be everybody!). It is affordable, easy to use, and will pay for itself in no time!

EcoCentre "Living Building" opens in South Florida

The Romano Law Group recently opened "EcoCentre: The Living Building", their new 33,000-square-foot office building, located in downtown Lake Worth, Fla. (near West Palm Beach). It is not just a "green” building. It is actually a "living” building designed with integrated systems that work in harmony with nature and with each other.



For instance, integrated rooftop gardens and other green roof elements collect rainwater, minimize runoff, mitigate internal microclimate changes and treat grey-water while providing a valuable site amenity. Treated grey-water and rainwater are reused in the living building to create an appealing green Biolarium® space that is accessible to all.




The project is registered with the Green Building Council and seeking Gold LEED certification, a procedure demonstrating that the project has been planned, designed, and completed with a primary goal of environmental enhancement. The building will contain, among other things, “a Living Machine®,” a technological innovation which allows for the on-site purification and recycling of water. The building will be topped by a “Living Roof,” or “roof park,” which will mimic a miniature “wetland project” and which will not only provide for greenery, plants, trees, and a lawn on the rooftop, but will be integrated into the building’s water system and environmental life cycle.



EcoCentre, the Living Building, will save approximately 200,000 gallons of water a year, reducing its impact on the city's water infrastructure by recycling water from lavatories and showers, capturing and storing rainwater, using water-efficient plumbing fixtures and condensate capture from the air conditioning system.

We were fortunate to get a personal tour of the facility from Todd Romano, one of the lawyers with the Romano Law Group. He said that the cost of building "green" was less than 10% above a similar building, but the reduction in energy and water will be around 30%, which will result in a payback of 3 years. That is amazing investment considering the impact of having such an intricate and complicated system installed.



When you first walk in, you are greeted with a beautiful tropical oasis and a pond that was created from air conditioner condensation. Though the building needs standard fossil-fuel electricity, Romano says there are plans for a second office building next door that will include rooftop solar panels and wind turbines.



Personally speaking, this building is amazing to be inside. You have the feeling that the you are in the middle of a museum or rainforest, and there just happens to be some offices nearby. The air is clean and the general atmosphere makes it a great place to work.

The EcoCentre officially opened on June 20th, 2008, and an open house to the public was held in late November.

Hurricane Wings and Grill - Eco-friendly Surprise

We weren't planning to find a very environmentally-friendly restaurant when we went to Hurricane Wings and Grill in Indian Harbour Beach, FL, but were plesantly surprised when we read the menu.

"We use all natural chicken, premium fresh beef that is certified Angus and our produce is sourced directly from premium growers. We are also very proud of the fact that our beverage cups are made from 100% corn, environmentally sustainable and 100% compostable. In addition, we continue to strive to use packaging supplies and paper products that are made from renewable resources and are recyclable. Our cooking oils contain no trans fats and a percentage of the oil is recycled into the making of bio-diesel fuel."

Now I realize that doesn't make it the best "green" restaurant out there, but at least they're making a serious effort, and that's all I ask, especially from a major Florida restaurant chain.

We ordered the wing sampler, which is 20 wings with your choice of 4 different sauces. Since they have 36 sauces to choose from, ranging from "Mild & Sweet" to "Seek Shelter". View all their sauces >>>

Overall, we had a good eating experience. The sauces were great with the large-sized wings, and we felt good about supporting a chain restaurant that is headed in the right direction.