$40k energy savings for new U of I dorm. Go geothermal!

'Green' residence hall to be first for University of Illinois

Associated Press

11:08 AM CST, January 27, 2008

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - A $23 million residence hall under construction in Champaign will be the first at the University of Illinois to be certifiably green.

The eco-friendly features of the 262-bed Presby Hall include a geothermal system to heat rooms and water, water-saving plumbing, as well as environmentally friendly lighting and paint.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the building, expected to be the first U of I residence hall to receive certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, is planned for this summer.

The Champaign-based McKinley Presbyterian Church and Foundation, which owns the property, took the initiative in pushing for a green hall, the private foundation's director said.

"We wanted to be responsible. We wanted (the building) to be sustainable, and we wanted to give back to the world," Heidi Weatherford told The (Champaign) News-Gazette.

There are construction challenges.

One is the installation of the pricey, $650,000 heating system, which will use ground-source pumps to keep the building warm.

To install pumps and many miles of tubing, some old trees along a nearby street must come down, though new trees will be planted to replace them.

Weatherford said while the geothermal system is expensive, the costs will be recouped by the $40,000 in annual energy savings.

"The upfront costs are significant," she told The Associated Press Saturday. "But the financial payback is almost immediate." Factoring in the energy savings, Weatherford said, the heating system could pay for itself in about 10 years.

The Illinois Clean Energy Foundation recently awarded the foundation $100,000 to help pay for Presby Hall's green features.

The university itself has said it plans a major renovation of a cluster of residence halls called Six Pack, saying it hopes that project also will get the green certification.

It's all about peak oil, beeyatches.

Swiped from Treehugger...

In a rare moment of candor, Jeroen van der Veer, the chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell, acknowledged what many have long considered a forgone conclusion: the end of the oil era is almost upon us, and sooner than you might think. The Oil Drum retrieved an e-mail sent to all Shell employees in which the CEO admitted the obvious (emphasis ours):

"Regardless of which route we choose, the world's current predicament limits our maneuvering room. We are experiencing a step-change in the growth rate of energy demand due to population growth and economic development, and Shell estimates that after 2015 supplies of easy-to-access oil and gas will no longer keep up with demand."

He went on to criticize the sluggish response by policymakers to the coming energy crisis:

"Taking the path of least resistance, policymakers pay little attention to curbing energy consumption - until supplies run short. Likewise, despite much rhetoric, greenhouse gas emissions are not seriously addressed until major shocks trigger political reactions. Since these responses are overdue, they are severe and lead to energy price spikes and volatility.

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Rest of the article from TH here.
Read the original speech in its entirety here.
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While I'm not thrilled with future energy options including oil sands and nuclear, it is energizing and shocking to read that the CEO of Shell is acknowledging Peak Oil. Energizing because this means more skeptics may really start to look at alternatives to oil and shocking because, if Shell doesn't change its portfolio now, the CEO is admitting that they'll be out of business soon!

Bike luv from NYC

Link to a cute slideshow of bike fashion in NYC. Except... where the eff are their helmets?!?

Running update

As you may recall, I had to take some time off from running because I hurt my foot - maybe during my epic (for me) Christmas Day run. Well, I'm back to it now and trying to be ready for the Kaiser Permanente Half Marathon on February 3. I ran the course on Monday so I know I'll finish... just a matter of how FAST I run it. Sounds like quite a few friends are doing it... and if you're not ready for a half, there's also a 5k. Come on! Have fun running in Golden Gate Park!

Then you can fall asleep in the guacamole while you watch the Super Bowl.

Luxury on the cheap

Luxury can be tough when you're a student... easier when you've got friends who have mastered the art of San Francisco living.

1. Monday evening - after a long week of work and class, I joined friends NS and KP at Osento, a women-only bath house. It was relatively inexpensive (sliding scale or a punch card) for the experience. There were quiet, calm areas, a hot tub, dry sauna, wet sauna, cold plunge, outdoor shower (one of my favorite things EVER) and a little area where you can be outside on a private rooftop - naked! Big ups to NS and KP for showing me this little sanctuary in the Mission.

2. Lunch with Dine About Town. Ok, so $22 isn't cheap for lunch. But it is inexpensive for a well-prepared, three course meal. Dine About Town goes until the end of the month. My team at work enjoyed a beautiful lunch at Vitrine, in the St. Regis Hotel. (Exception - avoid the steak at the Cliff House - a friend went there recently and it wasn't good.)

Does this plastic make me look fat?

No, honey, it doesn't make your ass look big... the plastic is what's making our asses grow. At least, that's what some scientists have found - yet one more reason to cut down on our use of petroleum-based plastics.

Is plastic making us fat?

Researchers are exploring whether exposure to common chemicals during early development could set us up for a lifetime battle with the bulge

By Beth Daley, Globe Staff January 14, 2008

Being fat has long been seen as a personal problem, fixed only by struggling against the proliferation of fast food restaurants, unlucky genes, and a sedentary life.

But could something in the environment also be making Americans fat in epidemic numbers?

Animal studies in recent years raise the possibility that prenatal exposure to minuscule amounts of common chemicals - found in everything from baby bottles to toys - could predispose a body to a life of weight gain. The chemicals, known as endocrine disrupters, mimic natural hormones that help regulate, for example, how many fat cells a body makes and how much fat to store in them.

These findings have led some scientists to put forth a provocative argument: They say diet and too little exercise clearly are key reasons for the worldwide rise in obesity in the past 20 years, but they may not be the only ones. Food intake and exercise just haven't changed that much in that period, they argue. And while genetics obviously play a role - just think of someone you know who can eat three Big Macs a day and never gain an ounce - these researchers say it would be impossible to see such widespread genetic change in just two decades, giving them more reason to suspect the environment.

"This is a really new area . . . but from multiple labs on multiple levels we are getting preliminary data that all say the same thing: Chemicals can play a role," said Jerry Heindel, a program administrator for the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. "We know that nutrition and exercise are very, very important, but underlying that could be environmental exposures during development that alter your physiology, including how you respond to food and exercise."

Thousands of chemicals have come on the market in the past 30 years, and some of them are showing up in people's bodies in low levels. Scientists studying obesity are focusing on endocrine disrupters - which have already been linked to reproductive problems in animals and humans - because they have become so common in the environment and are known to affect fat cells.

My "niece," Izzy

I almost forgot... I promised my sister I'd put her new dog, Izzy up here so you can all admire her cuteness. Izzy is a Roodle, which is a mixture of a Rat Terrier and a Poodle. Only really, who wants their dog breed to involve rats? My sister tells people she's a mixture of terrier and Poodle, which makes Izzy a one-of-a-kind Toodle. She's 12 pounds, very kind and playful. And those are highlights, she's not going grey.

diploma!!!

hi friends. advice needed.

i'm filling out paperwork for my upcoming graduation, including the name that i want on my diploma. my high school and undergrad diplomas both read "first middle last." but professionally i use my middle initial, like first m. last. given that this is an mba, do i switch to "first m. last" or keep it the same as my other diplomas?

this is all with full acknowledgement that it doesn't matter at all. but i hesitated when filling out the form and thought that it may be an interesting time for comments.

word.

F. F. F. = bwahahahahaha

Just an update...I haven't run since my last post. I somehow managed to hurt my foot during my Christmas Day run and wanted to stay off of it for a while - which then turned into complete time-off with New Years (unexpectedly awesome) and a wedding in Austin (expectedly awesome). I'll get out there tomorrow. Hopefully I didn't lose too much of my cardiovascular endurance during my "rest."

In other news...
Gmail rocks. Especially because you occasionally get hilarious ads like this one: "Mike Huckabee in 2008 - www.mikehuckabee.com - Faith. Family. Freedom. Conservatives are choosing Huckabee"

Ha ha ha ha. I got this one when I was reading a message from the SF Department of Elections. Kirby will not be voting for Huckabee. Or any conservative. Or anyone who has a tagline with those three F words strung together.

Happy 2008!