All Faiths Food Bank in Sarasota Becomes More Resource-Efficient and Improves Indoor Air Quality During COVID-19 Building HealthCommunities Michelle Starr | March 5, 2021 All Faiths Food Bank has been relieving hunger in the Sarasota, Florida, community since 1989, and like other social service providers across the country, demand surged in 2020 as Covid-19 spread across the country. In fact, 49% of All Faith’s clients were new last year. In order to keep up with need, the food bank took a number of measures including increasing shifts, created pre-packaged ‘no touch’ boxes, started a drive-thru model, held mass distributions in key locations and partnered … Continue reading “All Faiths Food Bank in Sarasota Becomes More Resource-Efficient and Improves Indoor Air Quality During COVID-19” Read More Tags: COVID-19, Gooduse
Public Policy: Catalyzing the Regenerative Economy PolicyRegenerative Design Shane Totten, Catherine Butler Gunter, and Lisa Bianchi-Fossati | February 19, 2021 Part 2 of a three-part series on the Regenerative Economy. Click here to read Part 1 on Regenerative Design and Part 3 on examples of a Regenerative Economy. As the American population increased over the last 150 years, the cost of the “take-make-use-dispose” nature of the linear economy was not fully understood or appreciated. The economy generally thrived; the middle class grew as prosperity abounded for many. Yet, the evidence surrounded us – growing landfills, polluted ecosystems, economic disparity, and … Continue reading “Public Policy: Catalyzing the Regenerative Economy” Read More Tags: Green Infrastructure, Regenerative economy, Zero Waste
Southface Launches Qual-ee™ Blog Southface Staff | February 17, 2021 ATLANTA, GA—February 17, 2021—Southface Institute announces the launch of Qual-ee, a credential management software for energy raters. This new, cloud-based offering will simplify Home Energy Rating System (HERS) credential management for both the Southface Energy Rated Homes (SERH) Providership and HERS Raters alike. Qual-ee was created to fulfill the need HERS Raters in the SERH Providership have to access information about their Home Energy Rater certification in real time. Active HERS Raters are required under the Residential Energy Services Network … Continue reading “Southface Launches Qual-ee™” Read More Tags:
Coming Together to Restore and Protect Coastal Waters From Stormwater Pollution Events Sarah Mundell | February 16, 2021 Managing stormwater on coastal cities like Sarasota, Florida, is essential to preventing pollution and harmful impacts that runoff can have on coastal waters. Rainwater must be intercepted and purified by engineered or ecological systems to avoid transporting nutrients that would contaminate beachfronts, impair fishing and foster red tide. Experts at January’s Sustainability in Action Roundtable spoke about ways cities like Sarasota can and are addressing the problem from the source, whether from city streets, agricultural stockyards, transportation, suburban developments and … Continue reading “Coming Together to Restore and Protect Coastal Waters From Stormwater Pollution” Read More Tags: Green Infrastructure, Red Tide, pollution
Big Data Brings Efficiency to Electric Georgia Fleets Green Technology Southface Curator | February 11, 2021 With more people driving electric cars, there is a need for current, publicly available national data that provides insight on charging, driving patterns, and vehicle performance. However, for many city fleets, it can be expensive to manage a telematics program. Read the following article by our partner, Clean Cities-Georgia (CC-GA), and learn about an ongoing project that helps electric fleet operators understand how vehicles perform and report accurate cost savings associated with the zero-emission transition. Read more at fuelsfix.com Read More Tags: Electric Vehicle
City of Chamblee Adopts Sustainability Plan BlogCommunities Southface Staff | February 4, 2021 Atlanta, GA—February 4, 2021—Southface Institute joins planning consultant TSW today in congratulating the City of Chamblee, Georgia, on adopting the Chamblee Sustainability Plan. The city anticipates this plan will help it achieve Platinum status within the Atlanta Regional Commission’s Green Communities Program. This designation would place Chamblee in the top five percent of sustainable municipalities in the region and in the company of high-achieving Georgia cities like Decatur and Norcross. The Sustainability Plan was developed jointly by Southface and lead … Continue reading “City of Chamblee Adopts Sustainability Plan” Read More Tags: Urbanism
19 Nonprofits to Receive GoodUse Grants for Sustainability Upgrades BlogCommunities Southface Staff | January 27, 2021 ATLANTA, GA —January 27, 2021— Southface Institute is pleased to announce 19 new nonprofit partners selected for GoodUse, a grant program which guides nonprofits through resource efficiency upgrades to reduce environmental impact and save money that can be reinvested into core programming. With these upgrades, the organizations can save energy and water, improve indoor air quality, install modernized and efficient technology, reduce carbon emissions and lower utility costs. To date, GoodUse has served 161 communities in 27 states, helped save … Continue reading “19 Nonprofits to Receive GoodUse Grants for Sustainability Upgrades” Read More Tags: Gooduse
Paris Is Calling! Sustainability Organizations Ready as US Rejoins the Agreement Green BuildingRegenerative Design Sarah Mundell | January 20, 2021 As the United States recommits to the Paris Agreement, many cities, businesses and organizations that have never slowed down on climate action are gearing up to strengthen and multiply their efforts to create a healthy and resilient future for everyone. One such organization is Atlanta-based Southface Institute, leading the way toward a sustainable, equitable and healthy built environment for over 40 years. Shane Totten, Southface’s Director of Strategy and Impact, shares his thoughts about the importance of this step for the sustainability community and gives a glimpse into the nonprofit’s vision for a regenerative economy that … Continue reading “Paris Is Calling! Sustainability Organizations Ready as US Rejoins the Agreement” Read More Tags: Living Building Challenge, Paris Agreement, Regenerative economy
The Role of the Building Envelope in Controlling Disease Building Health Southface Curator | January 18, 2021 The COVID-19 pandemic is driving innovation in ventilation practices to reduce the spread of aerosols in homes and workplaces. As building owners seek solutions, building science experts are emphasizing the role of air barriers and other components of the building envelope. The following article explores how current building envelope methods perform in mitigating disease transmission. Read more at constructionspecifier.com Read More Tags: Building Science, COVID-19
The Regenerative Economy: Sustaining Society’s Future by Design Green BuildingRegenerative Design Shane Totten, AIA, BIT Pro | January 14, 2021 The Regenerative Economy: Sustaining Society’s Future by Design Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, the health of Western societies/economies has been measured by their year-over-year growth. Much of that growth has relied on harvesting readily available, cheap materials to produce products for a growing consumer base. Once those products are no longer needed or wanted, consumers simply dispose of them as waste. Not much has changed: This “take-make-use-dispose” behavior defines the essence of today’s global linear economy.[i] Historically, raw … Continue reading “The Regenerative Economy: Sustaining Society’s Future by Design” Read More Tags: Living Building Challenge, Regenerative economy
