econic website updated

Sorry for the prolonged absence from the blog.

This is just a quick note to let you know that we've been working hard and that the main website, www.econic.co.za has been updated to show off some of the design projects we have completed over the years.

We'll be back soon with some more interesting news...

world building of the year 2009

For those of you who don't yet know it, the best building completed in 2009 in the world has been voted for, and it is not only "green", but it is right here in SA: the Mapungubwe Interpretation Center.












Designed by Peter Rich Architects, a South African firm which strives to promote "a truly sustainable African architecture, enthusiastically engaging in often long and complex political and consultative processes to ensure that the legacies of the projects last way beyond the buildings completion."

The Mapungubwe Interpretation Centre is situated at the convergence of the Limpopo and Shashe Rivers in the Mapungubwe National Park. This is the site of an ancient civilization linked to the Great Zimbabwe trading culture. This poverty relief project used ecological methods and materials.

"The project’s agenda extends beyond the presentation of the area’s history to awaken an understanding of the vulnerability of the local ecology. These objectives are manifested in the construction process of the Centre in which unemployed local people were trained in the manufacture of stabilized earth tiles and in building the vaulting."




I hope to see the building one day, but in the mean time, will have to admire the photographs...

Greenwashing!

A recent report by North American consulting firm TerraChoice Environmental Marketing has found that just 2% of self proclaimed green products make completely legitimate claims on their labels. The other 98% commit "greenwashing" sins, that is they mislead consumers about the environmental benefits of a product or the practices of a company.

Products in stores in the United States, Canada, Britain, and Australia were surveyed, 1,018 in total - everything from toothpaste to caulking to printers

“The good news is that the growing availability of green products shows that consumers are demanding more environmentally responsible choices and that marketers and manufacturers are listening”, said TerraChoice Chief Executive Scott McDougall.

“The bad news is that TerraChoice’s survey of 2,219 consumer products in Canada and the U.S. shows that 98 percent committed at least one sin of greenwashing and that some marketers are exploiting consumers’ demand for third-party certification by creating fake labels or false suggestions of third-party endorsement.”

TerraChoice created the "seven sins" of greenwashing:

• Sin of the Hidden Trade-off: A claim suggesting that a product is ‘green’ based on a narrow set of attributes without attention to other important environmental issues. Paper, for example, is not necessarily environmentally-preferable just because it comes from a sustainably-harvested forest. Other important environmental issues in the paper-making process, such as greenhouse gas emissions, or chlorine use in bleaching may be equally important.
  

A South African example: consumers are being urged to switch from incandescent lamps to the new low-energy equivalents (CFLs), but no effort has been made to educate or advise them of the mercury content or of the long-term danger these lamps pose to communities when dumped. Not one of the manufacturers, suppliers or retailers has made any effort to create a safe disposal facility for these lamps.

• Sin of No Proof: An environmental claim that cannot be substantiated by easily accessible supporting information or by a reliable third-party certification. Common examples are facial tissues or toilet tissue products that claim various percentages of post-consumer recycled content without providing evidence.
  

As there is no legislation controlling "green industry", many SA businesses and products are claiming environmental management compliance that can't be proved.

• Sin of Vagueness: A claim that is so poorly defined or broad that its real meaning is likely to be misunderstood by the consumer. ‘All-natural’ is an example. Arsenic, uranium, mercury, and formaldehyde are all naturally occurring, and poisonous. ‘All natural’ isn’t necessarily ‘green’.

Vague claims such as using the terms "organic", "environmentally friendly" and even "eco-safe" tend to give the impression that the product is safe and Earth-friendly when in fact it is not.

• Sin of Worshipping False Labels: A product that, through either words or images, gives the impression of third-party endorsement where no such endorsement exists; fake labels, in other words.

• Sin of Irrelevance: An environmental claim that may be truthful but is unimportant or unhelpful for consumers seeking environmentally preferable products. ‘CFC-free’ is a common example, since it is a frequent claim despite the fact that CFCs are banned by law. An environmental claim that may be truthful but is unimportant or unhelpful for consumers seeking environmentally preferable products. ‘CFC-free’ is a common example, since it is a frequent claim despite the fact that CFCs are banned by law.
  

• Sin of Lesser of Two Evils: A claim that may be true within the product category, but that risks distracting the consumer from the greater environmental impacts of the category as a whole. Organic cigarettes could be an example of this Sin, as might the fuel-efficient sport-utility vehicle.

• Sin of Fibbing: Environmental claims that are simply false. The most common examples were products falsely claiming to be Energy Star certified or registered.

Here in South Africa, it has taken us a while, but us consumers are finally realising the importance of selecting products and services that are environmentally friendly and have less impact on the Earth. We are still some way behind United States, Canada, Britain, and Australia, so it is not yet easy to be "green" or environmentally aware, but there are increasing numbers of people who will choose a product or even pay that little extra because it claims to be environmentally friendly.

Who should be policing "greenwashing"? The advertising industry, government, business chambers?

Sources: TerraChoice ; The Seven Sins of Greenwashing ; Mail & Guardian ; Earthfirst.com

Biomimicry

"Biomimicry is the process of learning from and then emulating Nature’s genius to create more sustainable designs. It’s studying a leaf to invent a better solar cell or an electric eel to make a better battery."

Organisms and ecosystems face the same challenges that humans do,but instead of destroying the environment in the pursuit of solutions, they meet those challenges sustainably. Blueprints, recipes and strategies for how to live gracefully exist in the more than 30 million species with which we cohabit our earth.

“Biomimicry introduces an era based not on what we can extract from the natural world, but what we can learn from it.” - Janine Benyus, the world renowned author of Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature and the Chair of the Biomimicry Institute


A few examples of Biomimicry:

• Fabric that gets its colour from structure—like the feathers of a peacock—rather than harsh chemical dyes.
• An efficient waste water treatment plant inspired by the way human kidneys process waste.
• Fans and propellers modelled after a natural logarithmic spiral that use 30-70% less energy.

In terms of Architecture, an example of Biomimicry would be learning from termites how to create sustainable buildings. When it come to termites & buildings, the first thing that comes to mind is that they destroy buildings, not help design them. However, the Eastgate Building, an office complex in Harare, Zimbabwe, designed by Architect Mick Pearce along with Arup Associates (Engineers), has an air conditioning system modelled on the self-cooling mounds of termites. The termites maintain the temperature inside their nest to within one degree, day and night (while the temperatures outside range from 3°C to 42°C). The Eastgate Building uses 90% percent less energy for ventilation than conventional buildings its size, and has already saved the building owners over $3.5 million dollars in air conditioning costs.












Further examples:
Fennell Residence - a floating home with a sweeping roof evocative of a nautilus shell
Architect:
Location: Portland
Designed: 2001
Completed: 2005









Quadracci Pavilion - opens and closes throughout the day like the wings of a butterfly, or the unfurling of a flower.
Architect: Santiago Calatrava
Location: Milwaukee
Completed: 2001










And probably the most famous recent example:
Beijing National "Bird's Nest" Stadium - inspired by a bird’s nest;
Architect: Herzog & de Meuron
Location: Beijing
Designed: 2003
Completed: 2008

Call for Action on Building and Climate Change

The recent (3rd to 6th March) 2009 Climate Change Response Policy Development Summit, held in Midrand, included a “Call for Action” in the building industry.

Few people realise that there is a large volume of research that shows that the buildings we live and work in, are a huge contributor to the global environmental crisis.

“Buildings and their construction account for nearly half of all the greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumed in this country (USA) each year. Globally, the percentage is even greater.”

South Africa, is not very different, with the buildings we occupy being responsible for approximately 22% of total greenhouse gas emissions in SA, and a further 5% for the production of building materials and 5% for the construction of the buildings. That’s a total of 32% of SA’s greenhouse gas emissions. The building industry therefore has the greatest potential of any industrial sector for delivering significant emission reductions. Add to this, the opportunity to create “green jobs”, the opportunity to start generating energy rather than just using it and the potential cost savings (as energy prices continue to skyrocket).

The building industry stakeholders who attended the Climate Change Response Policy Development Summit, made a call for action. This included that the National Climate Change Response Policy prioritising the building sector as fundamental to achieving significant greenhouse gas emission reductions, as well as providing support and investment incentives for building projects that reduce or eliminate emissions and improve the energy efficiency in existing buildings and new construction.

In order to achieve this, the building industry want to reform the Cleaner Development Mechanism to encourage investment, and want a mandate to develop specific measures for the building sector to achieve the above goals.

In short, the building industry realises that they have a major role to play in the environmental crisis and wants to clean up its act, but requires the platform to do so.