Stephanie Kinnear's blog

We already blogged the winners of last week's Solar Decathlon in Washington, DC on our front page. However, I just wanted to take a second to point everyone towards a very interesting and very related post over at EcoGeek. The post is "Green Roofs? How About Green Walls!"

EcoGeek offers links to a number of Solar Decathlon teams that incorporated green walls into their contest entry houses, and he argues that green walls might be the next big green thing because of the insulation potential and their ability to mitigate stormwater runoff.

Check it out!

We reported on the William McDonough designed Greenbridge project last month on our main page.

Just a brief update here: We recently learned that the site was cleared and ground was broken on the project on October 8. This has got to be exciting news for green building enthusiasts in the Chapel Hill, North Caroline area. The development promises all sorts of cool green technology and a beautiful design.

For more information, check out our original post.

Listen to McDonough talk about the project, as well his philosophies on sustainable design in this American Public Media piece that aired yesterday.

Via Inhabitat

Sorry for the late notice -- but any Building Green readers out there who live in or around the Scottsdale, AZ area should scap their plans for the weekend and head over to the 10th Annual Green Building Expo at the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts.

The Expo starts tomorrow and goes through Saturday.

Speakers include architect Ed Mazria (author of The Passive Solar Energy Book) and Sue Roaf, who will speak on "Adapting Buildings and Cities for Climate Change."

You'll get a chance to check out all the interesting exhibitors -- from Envirocar to Bonded Logic.

And, on Saturday, don't miss the Solar Cook-Off! Sounds like a good time to me.

I just freed up some space in my apartment because I desperately need a pseudo-office.

Now that the futon is gone, I'd like to replace it with a desk. Any suggestions out there on a good place to buy a green and affordable (and good looking) desk?

Anyone who is serious about learning first-hand about some seriously cool green building materials and techniques ... or, alternately, anyone who wants to work on their tan while building an "Earthship," take a look at this.

Earthship Biotecture is going to Jamaica and they're going to take trainees with them.

The project begins in February 2008 and ends three weeks later. For each week, Earthship will accept 8 trainees. The cost of the training is $350 (but does not include room & board).

It sounds like a fantastic opportunity to get your hands dirty on a super green project.

From Earthship Biotecture's site:

Earthship Biotecture creates buildings that...

• Heat and cool themselves naturally via solar/thermal dynamics
• Collect their own power from the sun and wind
• Harvest their own water from rain and snow melt
• Contain and treat their own sewage on site
• Produce food in significant quantities
• Utilize materials that are byproducts of modern society like cans, bottles and tires

For anyone who is looking to find a career in the "green sector," there is an interesting tidbit up on the Plenty Magazine website.

According to Plenty Magazine, there could be 35,000 new green jobs in America's future. How? The Green Jobs Act of 2007.

Plenty cites an article from the the Huffington Post:

This ground-breaking legislation will make $120 million a year available across the country to begin training workers (and would-be workers) for jobs in the clean energy sector. When the bill becomes law, 35,000 people a year will benefit from cutting edge, vocational education in fields that could literally save the Earth.

This isn't law yet but, hopefully, it's something to look forward to.