Recently a colleague of mine sent me an article about the spread of the PassivHaus concept from Germany toward the United States. A PassivHaus is one that does not require more than 15 kWh/m2/year. It differs from a traditional passive house because it is engineered to pre-heats incoming air, making it an “active” approach. It’s a fantastic concept that could significantly reduce our nation’s carbon footprint, lower our energy bills, and cause problems for mean petrostates around the world. This farsighted concept makes LEED seem quaint.

Look ma, no energy!

According to the National Capital Region Climate Change Report (Review Draft), residential buildings consume 33% of the energy in the National Capital Region (p. 46). Imagine if the City Council of Alexandria reserved a portion of Potomac Yards for PassivHaus’ only? Not only would Alexandria be will on its way toward achieving its goal in the Eco-City Action Plan that all new buildings by 2030 will be carbon neutral, it could generate tourism and inspire other municipalities to do the same.

City Council will be hosting a  Strategic Planning meetings where this issue could be brought to their attention. Consider attending the Land Use and Economic Development Workshop with Councilmembers Smedberg and Donley or the Health and Environment Workshop with Councilmembers Krupicka and Pepper on November 4, 2009 at 7:00 in room 2000 in City Hall.

What do YOU think Alexandria can do?

Just as a reminder, there will be a community gardening meeting from 6 – 7:30 p.m. at the Durant Center (1605 Cameron St) tonight.

Here is a great link on starting a community gardening. I would attend, but I am in Boston right now.

I may dress up as Eco-Man for Halloween because I’m surely not him in real life. Notwithstanding this fact, there are still small things I try to do to improve the environment and minimize my carbon footprint. Today for example, I canceled my subscription to Bazar magazine. Truth be told, I don’t know why I ever began to receive it in the first place; it just showed up in my mailbox one day. I’ve faithfully recycled them for several months now, but today I finally sent them an e-mail requesting cancellation.

I feel a little better, but I will miss covers like the one below. Tina Fey is absolutely stunning. I just may keep this one…

I Doubt the Dress is Eco-Friendly, but I Don't Care

Check out the calendar on the right hand side of the blog for more information about the Health and Environment Strategic Planning Session that will take place TONIGHT on the second floor of City Hall from 7:00-9:00 PM. Attending this will allow you to influence the development of the City’s next strategic plan.

If you can’t make the meeting tonight, there will be another one on November 4.

Remember, Metro is closing the Waterfront-SEU and Archives-Navy Mem’l-Penn Quarter stations; There will be no Green Line service at L’Enfant Plaza, but Orange and Blue line service at L’Enfant Plaza will not be affected. The closures will last from 10:30 PM on Friday, October 9 through Monday, October 12. Free shuttle buses will be available. For more information, click here.

A word to the wise: don’t get to L’Enfant at 10:29 PM and expect to get on the train. When they say they’ll close at a particular time, they may close earlier or later; it just depends on how they feel at the time.

The City of Alexandria JobLink department will be hosting a forum to spread the word about greening buildings, old and new, on October 29th at the First Baptist Church, 2932 King Street, Alexandria. Registration will run from 8:00 AM to 9:00 AM and the forum will finish at 2:30 PM.

First Baptist Church of Alexandria

 The target audience will be consumers wishing to reduce their home’s energy consumption, business people already in or wishing to get into the weatherization and renewable energy market, and trainers who specialize in energy audits and the technical aspects of greening buildings.

Since this forum will be relevant to a wide array of individuals, please consider passing this message to anybody you think may be interested in the program.

 The venue will hold up to 500 people and there is ample parking. DASH routes 5 and 6 pass the location.

 Further information may be obtained from joblink@alexandriava.gov

FYI – I posted a link to Alexandria’s eNews website on the right-hand side of the blog. I know that you already receive too many e-mails; we all do (I have over 1100 unopened e-mails sitting in my inbox as I type). However eNews does not lay seige to your inbox like other list servs. In fact sometimes I forget that I am still signed-up for it. But I appreciate the periodic updates. Now if I only had a smart phone, I’d be able to take all of that information with me…

Thomas Friedman’s column “Where Did ‘We’ Go?” is the most earnest appeal to classic civic virtue (and common sense) I’ve have read all year. I quoted the essence of the article below:

There is no more “we” in American politics at a time when “we” have these huge problems — the deficit, the recession, health care, climate change and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — that “we” can only manage, let alone fix, if there is a collective “we” at work.

Your correspondent sympathizes with Mr. Friedman’s sentiments and occasionally despairs, but when I see the sense of community that Alexandrians have I have to disagree. I’ve heard about individuals starting their own community gardens, those who independently retrofit their homes (at a significant personal expense), those who stubbornly refuse to purchase a car and ride public transit like it’s their job, and has witnessed my fellow commissioners dedicate countless hours to the betterment of our community, nation, and ultimately, world.

Maybe there is no “we” at the national level, but there is a “we” here. Don’t believe me? Volunteer Alexandria is sponsoring a clean-up of Douglas Cemetary on Friday, October 2 from 12:30-2:30. If you’re free, come help out.

Douglas Cemetery (adjacent to Alexandria National Cemetery) was named after

American Hero

noted abolitionist, newspaperman, and political activist Frederick Douglass. When it was established in 1896, it was one of the first Black American cemeteries in Alexandria. According to Volunteer Alexandria, volunteers “will be pulling weeds, trimming grass around headstones and laying gravel to enhance the walkway.”

Not only will this activity enable you to help the environment, participation will manifest your pride in Alexandria and our nation.

There is a lot of junk out on the Internet, especially on the blogosphere. But every once and a while I unearth a few nuggets. One of those nuggets is GreaterGreaterWashington. I’ve been following this blog for a while and I am consistently impressed with the breadth and depth of the content. The blog is “devoted to improving the vitality of Washington, DC and the walkable cities and neighborhoods in the Washington metropolitan area.” The blog has a team of contributors that focus on a wide variety of issues, but personally, I think their coverage of Metro is surpassed by no one. When I want to know what is going on with Metro, I go there first. This “big picture” blog is a fantastic resource to refer to if you’re looking to understand all of the intricate details and interest groups that support and hinder our movement.
Virescent operates at the other end of the spectrum – the individual. Although she isn’t as wonky as GGW, she makes up for it with her lighthearted and personalized writing style. She clearly understands that the everyday decisions private citizens make everyday play a crucial role in the greening of America. Impressively, each month Virescent establishes an green goal for herself and chronicles her experiences striving and struggling to attain her goal. She isn’t perfect (see February), but after all, who is? She actualizes her plans far more often than she fails and by doing so, she is becoming the change that she wants to see in the world; she doesn’t give lip service to environmentalism and just wait for leaders to make it easy to be a good ancestor. I especially liked her entry on purchasing carbon offsets for her trip to Kiwiland because it explored the importance of taking responsibility for one’s leisure activities without allowing oneself to become paralyzed with the glacial pace of change.

Kudos to both blogs – keep up the good work!

“During this four-day holiday, purchases of products meeting the Energy Star and WaterSense qualifications, such as certain energy-efficient appliances, will be exempt from the Virginia sales tax. Eligible products must be priced at $2,500 or less for each item, and be purchased for noncommercial home or personal use. For details, visit the Energy Star and WaterSense Qualified Products Holiday page.”

In other words, this is a perfect opportunity to stock up on CFL light bulbs so you don’t have to use a wasteful incandescent the next time one burns out or purchase a programmable thermostat for your home to save you even more money.