Recognizing that GDP has significant limitations, Vermont has become the first state to formally embrace a "genuine progress indicator" as a metric of well-being.

With the tracking of a GPI, there may be more incentive to protect beautiful places like May Pond in northern Vermont.
Photo Credit: Alex Wilson

The second annual Slow Living Summit was held in Brattleboro this past week. Featuring such presenters as David Orr of Oberlin College, Woody Tasch, the founder of the organization Slow Money, and Charles Eisenstein, author of Sacred Economics, along with Governor Peter Shumlin, and Senator Bernie Sanders, the conference advanced alternatives to fast food, fast money, and the fast pace of life—with an emphasis on local food, local economies, resilient communities, and sustainability.

According to the Slow Living Summit website, slow living expresses the fundamental paradigm shift that is underway in this age, recognizing the transformative change from faster and cheaper, to slower and better—where quality, community and the future matter. It’s about slowing down and becoming more mindful of our basic connection with land, place, and people, taking the long view that builds a healthy and fulfilling way of life for the generations to come. It is about common good taking precedence over private gain.

While there were many inspiring sessions at the Slow Living Summit, I’ll focus here on just one: a session addressing alternative metrics of success: genuine progress indicators.

Innovative energy-savings products from the AIA National Convention this month.

The energy-saving Haiku ceiling fan in bamboo. Click to enlarge.
Photo Credit: Big Ass Fans

Last week, I wrote about a number of innovative window and glazing products I came across at the AIA Convention in Washington, DC earlier this month. Here are a few other products I came across with energy-saving features.

Haiku fans from Big Ass Fans

Despite the over-the-top company name, Big Ass Fans has been at the forefront of ceiling fan development for some years now. The company is known for it’s large, well, big-ass fans that are used in improving comfort in large commercial spaces—overhead fans that may have diameters of up to 24 feet. Now the company has introduced a line of smaller, residential-scale fans that work in homes.

Before getting into the specifics of the Haiku fans, it needs to be pointed out that ceiling fans don’t actually cool a space (i.e., lower the temperature). What they do is make a space more comfortable by evaporating moisture from our skin. If you are normally comfortable in a space at 75°F, with a gentle breeze you can be comfortable at 80° or even 82°F. Not only do ceiling fans not lower the air temperature, they actually raise the temperature slightly—from the waste heat generated by the electric motor (so turn that fan off when you leave the room!).

Glazing and window manufacturers showed off some highly innovative products at the 2012 AIA Convention in Washington, DC

Pythagoras Solar's new BIPV glass was one of two innovative glazing products on display at the Guardian booth at the AIA Convention. Click on image to enlarge.
Photo Credit: Alex Wilson

I just spent three days at the American Institute of Architects annual convention in Washington, DC, including a fair amount of time at the massive trade show there. I didn’t make it all the way through the acres of exhibits over the eight hours or so I walked the floor, but I saw some really interesting products. I’m highlighting here a few of the windows and glazing-related products I found.

SunGuard PVGU from Pythagoras Solar and Guardian Industries

Guardian Industries, one of the world’s largest glass manufacturers, showed off two new products at the show. One of these was a unique building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) glazing system developed by Pythagoras Solar and marketed by Guardian. Most BIPV Glazing systems have thin-film or crystalline PV cells integrated into the glass directly, so the visible transmittance and daylighting potential are significantly compromised. Pythagoras has developed a unique solution to this problem: an insulating glass unit (IGU) with integral bars of tiny PV cells  that intercept most of the solar energy striking the outside of the glass.

BikeSharing in Toronto. There are dozens of storage areas like this where members of Toronto's bikesharing organization can check out a bike.
Photo Credit: Alex Wilson

While challenging, it is possible to get away from our dependence on fossil fuels when it comes to our transportation needs

Last week I laid out some arguments on why we should wean ourselves from fossil fuels, and offered some suggestions of how we could go about doing that in our homes—by superinsulating, switching to oil- and gas-free heating, and converting to renewable electricity. Those steps certainly aren’t easy or inexpensive, but there’s a pretty clear path for doing so.

With transportation it’s a lot more challenging, particularly in non-urban areas where we’re more dependent on automobiles. Petroleum is uniquely suited to fueling our cars and trucks. Gasoline and diesel are highly concentrated fuels that allow a little to go a long way. They are liquid at the conditions where we use them without putting them under pressure, so we can pump them into our fuel tanks relatively easily and with (relatively) low risk.

What are the options if we want to get off fossil fuels?

Eliminating our use of fossil fuels is an admirable goal; how do we do that?

Eliakim's Way all-electric homes on Martha's Vineyard use roof-mounted PV modules to generate most (or all) of their energy needs on an annual basis.
Photo Credit: South Mountain Company

There are a lot of things not to like about fossil fuels. Most obviously, the burning of oil, natural gas, propane, and coal releases huge quantities of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, where it traps heat through the greenhouse effect. Fossil fuels were created over hundreds of millions of years when vegetation accumulated in oxygen-poor conditions and did not fully decompose before being trapped underground. Heat and pressure gradually turned that organic matter (and its stored carbon) into these various carbon-rich fuels. When we burn those fuels to heat our homes, generate electricity, or power our cars, the hydrocarbon reacts with oxygen, converting the stored carbon into carbon dioxide, which causes global warming.

But even if burning fossil fuels didn’t cause the release carbon dioxide and cause global warming (just for a moment, let’s say those climate change deniers were right), there would still be plenty of reasons not to burn these fuels.

The BuildingGreen office today. This historic building that once housed the drafting and tuning rooms of the Estey Organ Company, has unique slate-shingle siding. Photo: Alex Wilson. Click on image to enlarge.

Reflections on the founding of BuildingGreen and our evolution as a company.

Last week, I reflected on Earth Day and how concern for the environment inspired me in school and then led to my focus on renewable energy starting in the mid-1970s. This brought me to Brattleboro in 1980 to work for the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association, which I did from 1980 through 1985.

To continue:

Silent Spring, published 50 years ago, helped to launch the modern environment movement and inspired my career direction. Click on image to enlarge.

From early interest in conservation in the late-60s and being an Earth Day organizer in 1970, to my work with solar energy in New Mexico and then Vermont, I've followed a green career path.

Here's the same space with the SageGlass roof in the tinted state. Photo: Sage Electrochromics. Click on image to enlarge.

This atrium space at Ball State University has SageGlass in the glazed roof--shown here in its clear state. Photo: Sage Electrochromics. Click on image to enlarge.

The latest dynamic glazing from Sage Electrochromics allows variable tinting on demand.

Warm-edge glazing spacers play a significant role in creating the highest-energy-performance windows.

Edgetech makes the Super Spacer silicone foam glazing spacer, which is the most effective spacer for slowing heat loss. Graphic: Edgetech. Click on image to enlarge.

A state-of-the-art, multiple-low-e-coating Serious Window with xenon gas fill being installed at the Rocky Mountain Institute. Photo: Rocky Mountain Institute. Click on image to enlarge.

An in-depth look at the fascinating world of low-conductivity gas-fill for high-performance windows.