Archive for the ‘Business’ Category
Monday, July 27th, 2009
For some people the act of walking in to a shopping mall during a huge sale makes them sort of shake like they are on crack and for me and my friend Mouse, walking into Scrap for the first time, it caused a similar reaction. How could I not have known about this place? True, the location could not be less in the middle of nowhere and in San Francisco that is quite a trick. But still, I have no excuse.
Scrap, which their pamphlet calls “a creative reuse center and workshop space” came about in 1976, way before recycling and Green became trendy, as a resource for artists and teachers. Scrap also set out to promote environmental awareness and creative reuse.
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Tags: landfill, non-profit, paper, recycle, reuse, San Francisco, scrap, textiles
Posted in Business, Eco-Entreprenuers, Resources, San Francisco | 1 Comment »
Friday, March 27th, 2009
Usually when people visit a winery, people look for various shades of white or dark red, but here our color paradigm might shift to say Green. The recently opened CADE Winery offers not only solar power and organically farmed winery but hopes to garner LEED Gold status and if so, would be the first Estate Gold LEED certified winery in the Napa Valley.
When visiting a winery, people’s olfactory system normally goes into overdrive but instead of inhaling the aromas of vanilla, rosemary, oak and sage here we took deep breaths of the air. As in indoor air quality. No stuffy AC here as the building relies on natural ventilation. Although the wines remain something to admire, we also dig the other green aspects. CADE utilizes 100% solar power and organic farming methods which both look so green and tasty.
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Tags: bicycle_racks, blue_jeans, cade, cade_winery, concrete_mass, electric_car, fly_ash, gold_status, hybrid_electric_cars, indoor_air_quality, land_trust, low_flow_showerhead, napa_valley, natural_ventilation, oak_cask, organic_farming_methods, solar_power, sustainable_cuisine
Posted in Business, Environment, Food, Programs and Standards | No Comments »
Friday, March 13th, 2009
The economy may be in the toilet but ones things for sure this time of year the Girl Scouts will be out in whatever city or rural town selling their cookies. Yes, they have expanded their selection from the basic chocolate chip to such flavors as Dulce de Leche but for $4 a box the economy would have to get real bad for people not to support the Girl Scouts and buy a box or two.
Here’s the thing that gets us. What then heck are these baked goods made from? These little morsels hardly come from just flour and sugar like cookies should be. Instead these little baked treats contain ingredients that would make Michael Pollen cringe. When little girls (or boys for that matter) hardly learn to bake they hardly reach for Palm Oil and TBHQ or Anhydrous Dextrose.
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Tags: baked_goods, chocolate_chip, cookies, dulce_de_leche, flavors, flour, girl_scouts, michael_pollen, palm_oil
Posted in Business, Food, San Francisco | No Comments »
Friday, March 6th, 2009
Perhaps bloggers need to be more visual and less wordy. Those were some of the first thoughts that crept into my head when I got wind of this new CCS (CO2 capture and storage) Web and interactive map from the Bellona Foundation.
Before even going further I had to check out Bellona, which we discovered is an Oslo, Norway based NGO that primarily functions as a nuclear watchdog focusing on developments in Russia. More recently they have moved into other sectors including technology and the environment. That’s where the colorful and helpful new CCS Web comes into play.
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Tags: bellona_foundation, ccs_projects, ccs_web, collective_heads, exxon_mobil, first_thoughts, including_technology, interactive_map, Maps, Norway, philanthropic_organizations, pretty_colors, splotch, storage_web, weyburn
Posted in Business, Technology | No Comments »
Friday, February 20th, 2009
With the recent “storm watch” as the local news stations like to dramatically call it, an onslaught of much needed snow hit the Lake Tahoe region and the ski resorts. Of course, we had to be on hand to check the falling beauty. So, it appears for now that Mother Nature got a late start in cooperating with the ski resorts. The questions remains, so what are the ski resorts doing on their end? How are they helping green cause and Mother Earth?
Tags: bluego, edgewood_creek, environment_zone, Heavenly_Ski_Resort, lake_tahoe, lake_tahoe_region, mother_earth, snow_cats, soil_erosion_control, stream_environment, tahoe_blue, watershed_protection, water_quality_protection
Posted in Business, Environment, Water | No Comments »
Friday, February 13th, 2009
What do get when you mix four of the Bay Area’s top green stars, a LEED certified location, lunch and corporate sponsor wanting to spread its green wings? The spirited Sustainable Symposium sponsored by Ace here in glorious San Francisco. The symposium, in short, brought some energetic and often useful ideas from the knowledgeable and spry panel (not to mention moderator and Chicago Ace Hardware store owner Lou Manfredini) and created solid dialogue in what could have been one of another “How to green this and that discussion.”
Tags: ace_hardware_store, eric_corey_freed, green_stars, hardware_store_owner, hot_water_heater, lou_manfredini, organic_architect, pharos_project, photovoltaic_panels, sophie_uliano, tankless_hot_water_heater, tankless_water_heaters, zem_joaquin
Posted in Business, Energy Efficiency, San Francisco, Water | No Comments »
Friday, January 25th, 2008
Last week as we overnighted in the LEED Gold Gaia Hotel in American Valley, we thought that we should take advantage of what everyone else in the region does – wine tasting. But we figured to be a little different. We hit a few wineries of varying organic, green, sustainable qualities and found a few surprises. First, get it out your head to tie “sustainability” to traditional wine making. As Winemaker Steven Canter at Quivira mentions, “There’s nothing sustainable about bottling wine in a glass bottle, corking the bottle, then shipping it all over the country.”
We scooted into the Madonna Winery tasting room during a quite Sunday afternoon. Located in the Carneros Region of Napa Valley, this family produced wine believes in organic farming, without the use of synthetic chemicals and is a proud member of CCOF (California Certified Organic Farmers). But when we asked the two servers if they served organic wine it was as if we asked for a tasting of Miller Lite. One gave this look of confusion and the other got a little condescending. Apparently, they do not make organic wine. According to the servers, that whole organic wine issue deals with the adding of sulfites and they think that serious winemakers have to use sulfites. Everyone gets to do their own due diligence as far as organic this or that but don’t make us feel like idiots for bringing up the question. (more…)
Tags: Carneros Region, CCOF, Dry Creek Valley, Duckhorn, Gaia Hotel, Healdsburg, LEED Gold, Madonna Winery, Napa Valley, Petite Sirah, Quivira, Sonoma County
Posted in Business, Energy & Fuel, Lifestyle | No Comments »
Friday, January 18th, 2008
We had heard a lot about the LEED Gold Gaia hotel in American Canyon (even we had to look up American Canyon and we live in San Fran) but we hadn’t actually visited it. Yes, we can only tell so much from a press release. The hotel, rather unassuming, sits right off busy Highway 29 just a short hop to both Napa and Sonoma Valley but once in the lobby or the rooms it’s not easy to hear any of the traffic. But onto the Green stuff. When checking in, it’s hard not to notice the kiosks with “green touch screens” which display how much water, electricity savings and how much CO2 the hotel emits. The overhead Solatube Tubular skylights represented an even more impressive aspect. Even on the cloudy day, the lobby had no artificial lighting, but you wouldn’t know it but the amount of natural light.
We got one of the choice rooms overlooking the man made lagoon which plays home to koi, frogs, various plant life and Artemis and Apollo (two impressive swans that live in the lagoon and strut their way around most of the hotel). By the way, the koi pond uses recycled water from the site which they clean and filter prior to entering the pond.
The sparten yet comfortable rooms offer lots of Green aspects. Small things like offering fair trade, organic coffee and not having those tiny shampoo bottles littering the bathroom made a big difference. Here they provide shampoo, lotion in bulk dispensers. We also like that all restrooms use recycled tiles and granite. While in the bathroom, we give wet kudos to the water saving low flow showerhead, which offer plenty of water pressure for one person (but not two, if you catch our drift).
We slept easy not only with a comfy, firm mattress but breathing easy with the low VOC paints were used throughout the rooms and rest of the hotel. It also helped us to know that solar panels provide 12% of the hotel’s electricity.
We know that a boutique type hotel needs a relaxing but unsustainable hot tub (yes, we partook and didn’t feel guilty) but we didn’t feel too keen about the microwave that inhabited our room but even with the little monster we felt pretty energized about our stay. It sure beats a stay in an unsustainable Motel 6.
We could very well come all the way to wine country without visiting some organic, sustainable and do we dare say biodynamic wineries. Stay tuned.
Tags: gaia_hotel, koi_pond, low_flow_showerhead, low_voc_paints, organic_coffee, san_fran, solar_panels, sonoma_valley, tubular_skylights
Posted in Business, Energy Efficiency, Materials, Programs and Standards, Water | No Comments »
Wednesday, October 18th, 2006
It’s not like we haven’t seen coupon books like this before in other cities (like Portland and Austin) but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be tickled green by San Francisco’s own Green Savings coupon book.
Green Zebra – San Fran’s Green version of those Entertainment coupon books recently hit the stands. You don’t have to be too bashful about using these coupons because the book only contains local green business (sorry Whole Foods) with a slew of restaurants, spas, shops and the like. Aside from the myriad coupons the book offers ideas about how create a Green Wedding, a list of Dirty Dozen produce, and our fave, a neurotic recycler quiz. Maybe it won’t hit the NY Times Top 100 Book List but who really cares when you can sip a free Green Zebra tomato martini at Bacar.
Tags: Austin, Bacar, Entertainment, Green Savings, Green Zebra, health, Martini, money, New York City, Portland, San Francisco, Whole Foods
Posted in Business, Eco-Entreprenuers, San Francisco, money | No Comments »
