The Whole HOG: July 2012

Water-centric Green Design News

This July, we’ve got a HOG(podge) of happenings, both recent and upcoming. Find open doors, extra deals and an opportunity to win HOG tanks for your campus inside. See what our distributors (and exhibitors) have to say about green building too.

One of the largest commercial developments in North America, the Toronto-Dominion Center in Canada, is opening the door to all things green with the Green Portal, an online tool that charts the energy use of their buildings in real time. ELT Easy Green built a living wall using five HOG tanks cleverly hidden inside to commemorate the launch. Discover the details.

Sodastream opens the door to a reduced carbon footprint with a home soda maker that creates sparkling water at home. Read all about in our B.U.G. Design section. In the meantime, settle in with us for a good read and bring on the bubbly!

July 2012: Living Wall at the Toronto-Dominion Centre Launches the Green Portal

The Toronto-Dominion Centre (TDC) in Toronto, Canada is opening the door to all things green with the installation of a double-sided living wall by ELT Easy Green. The wall celebrates the launch of the Green Portal, an online environmental management tool for one of Canada’s largest commercial developments.

A living wall, installed by ELT Easy Green, marks the launch of the Green Portal for the six business towers of the Toronto-Dominion Centre. Check out more installation pictures by clicking on the image above.

The TDC is one of North America’s largest business communities with six buildings, 4 million square feet, and 21,000 office employees. Two of the towers have LEED© Canada Gold certification. The living wall installed in front of the Toronto-Dominion Bank Tower features ELT Living Wall Panels, three Rainwater HOG tanks, and a TurboRain solar powered irrigation pump.

The HOGs were the best fit, according to Greg Garner of ELT EasyGreen who managed the installation, because “the shape of the HOGS allowed for them to be placed inside the wall and in the base while keeping the dimensions as small as possible.”

One tank, installed horizontally in the basin, receives the water from the other four tanks (installed vertically side by side) and sends it to the solar irrigation pump. The HOG tanks, which are filled manually to maintain a steady water supply, solved the problem of finding an underground water source. A staff person fills the HOGs for the automatic irrigation system to run every other day.

As for the Green Portal, “The principle that says ‘you manage what you measure’ is now being effectively applied when it comes to sustainability best practice at Canada’s largest office complex,” says TDC General Manager David Hoffman.

The Green Portal shows a real-time dashboard-style display of building energy use for tenants and management to track and compare energy use and consumption among the Centre’s six towers.

July 2012: HOG(podge) of recent & upcoming events

Recent events
               
1) Permascape Designs brought       2) The City of Petaluma
HOG to the 1st Annual Long              sponsored a three HOG
Island Green Infrastructure Expo      giveaway at the Sonoma-
on June 21, 2012.                              Marin Fair held in Petaluma,
CA from June 20-24, 2012.

     Upcoming Events

3) GreenBuild in San Francisco  Meet Rainwater HOG’s Sally and Simon Dominguez at GreenB,uild, the largest green building show in the USA. The event will be held from November 14-16, 2012 at the Moscone Conference Center in San Francisco.

 

The Green & Main Pilot Project in Des Moines, Iowa.

4) Campus Rainworks Challenge   The United States Environmental Protection Agency has launched Campus Rainworks Challenge, a student design contest engineered to raise awareness of green infrastructure alternatives for stormwater management.

Our offer to participating student teams: incorporate Rainwater HOG tanks into a winning entry, and we will give you three HOG tanks.

Registration opens September 4 and ends December 14, 2012. Winning entries will be selected by EPA and announced in April 2013.

    Extra, Extra

5) Hey Bay Area, click on this coupon for 20% off WaterSense smart irrigation controllers from one of our California distributors, the Mill Valley branch of The Urban Farmer Store!

July 2012: HOG Distributors on Green Building

 Permascape Designs

Daly School elementary students gather in front of a two-HOG installation, supervised by Permascape Designs, at their Long Island school.

We must educate each day so that sustainable and environmentally friendly techniques become the new way of design and construction,” says Mark Scaramucci of Permascape Designs.

about HOG, Mark says:
“The Rainwater HOG is one of many new and innovative products that will change the way we live on this planet.”

 

Rogers Remodel

Architecture for Humanity featured the seven-HOG McKinley Elementary School installation, installed by Rogers Remodel, in their book: Design Like You Give a Damn 2.

I talk to everyone I can about ways to conserve, because I do think it’s that important that we make changes now, not only to save money but to save energy and water,” says certified Green Plumber Jamie Rogers of Rogers Remodel.

After installing HOGs at two schools, Jamie says:
“[HOGs are] a great hands-on demonstration about conservation for the kids.”

 

 

 

July 2012: B.U.G. (Beautiful.Useful.Green) Design

SodaStream

Sparkling or still, fizzy or flat? If you prefer your water carbonated then the SodaStream home soda maker is a refreshing alternative to bottled water and soda. Your water won’t fall flat with the SodaStream. And neither will the environment.

SodaStream in the Rainwater HOG office. It’s a glass half full kind of day.


Why is it beautiful?
Every time you use this ‘Active Green’ product to carbonate water at home you reduce your daily CO2 footprint. Use the soda mixes to make your own home brew. Feeling fancy? Try making a sparkling ‘shrub’ for a plum delicious change. Or simply drink your tap water, transformed.

Why is it useful? This affordable home tool uses minimal counter space in place of storage space for bottled waters and sodas.  One SodaStream carbonator makes 60 or 110 liters, equivalent to 170 or 310 aluminum cans. That means less packaging waste from cans and bottles, and less pollution caused by the transport of bottled beverages. And to complete the green cycle, when the the carbonator cartridge runs out, it can be refilled at any number of participating retailers (including Costco, Staples, Bed Bath & Beyond, and Target).

Why is it green? The carbon footprint of SodaStream is up to 80% lower than other carbonated soft drinks. The carbon footprint of a product or service is the total carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases emitted during its lifecycle, from its production to its final disposal. Something to bubble about, indeed.