LEEDing in Santa Monica

Mar 30, 2010 No Comments by Leon Kaye

On March 20th the City of Santa Monica Green Building Program showcased six houses that were certified as LEED Platinum.  I was able to visit four of them, all of which were impressive.  What I appreciated the most was the effort put into these homes to make sure that the materials cooling and warming the [...]

construction and architecture Read more

A Non-profit that LEEDs

Dec 16, 2009 No Comments by Leon Kaye

The debate over climate change and energy independence is often divisive and polarizing.  First we must confront the apathetic and the nay-sayers, which has not been easy in the USA with the purported “Climate-gate” bruhaha and our concern over 10% unemployment.  The Obama Administration has not been very helpful with its “green jobs” rhetoric–I think [...]

business, construction and architecture, energy, transportation Read more

A Current Green Building in Ottawa

Oct 20, 2009 No Comments by Leon Kaye

As Ottawa’s population grows, districts once in decline are making a huge comeback.  Wellington Village, on Ottawa’s west end, was considered gritty and lacked shops and services earlier this decade.  Now, this neighborhood, where I’ve been staying the past week, is thriving.  Shops and restaurants have moved in, homeowners have purchased homes and beautifully refurbished [...]

International, air - land - quality of life, construction and architecture, energy Read more

Don’t LEED Astray

Oct 15, 2009 2 Comments

Recently a friend and I attended a day-long LEED workshop in Santa Monica.  The instructor was enthusiastic and knowledgeable (in fact, he stayed an extra hour to cover the material with us); the class small, providing a  great opportunity to cram in more information; and the venue was a LEED-certified silver showroom, giving us live [...]

Read more

Bleed Dodger Blue. Feel Sustainably Green.

Oct 05, 2009 No Comments

Rooting for the Los Angeles Dodgers is almost like begging for physical abuse in the Bay Area, where I grew up.  Well, now that my favorite adopted baseball team (I’m not abandoning the Oakland A’s, despite their recent sad performance), is the Dodgers, let me rave about this organization.  After all, with all the debate over energy [...]

Read more

Don’t Just be LEED; LEAD!

Aug 05, 2009 No Comments

Dear Pasadena Convention Center,

Thank you for being a great conference venue during a recent event I had attended.  You are located right in the middle of what’s fantastic about Pasadena, and I love the fact that you are walking distance from two Gold Line Stations.  During the conference, however, I noticed some slips that you [...]

Read more

Economies of Scale

Jun 04, 2009 No Comments

The problem with many renewable energy products is that they are just too expensive.  It’s not PC to say this, but in the end, market forces to matter.  Customers rule the market:  and like your economics professor would mention, get those two supply and demand curves to align, and then you’ve got a market.

Take the [...]

Read more