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<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=890282520-21112006>See below for another great story in today's Oklahoman
by John Sutter. The article is about the greening of Trattoria il Centro,
our host restaurant for Green Drinks. </SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=890282520-21112006></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=890282520-21112006>Join us for Green Drinks after work this evening
at the Trattoria (Main and Walker downtown). The fun begins at 5:30 p.m. -
we'll save a lemon basil martini for you!</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2>Jennifer Gooden</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2>Program Coordinator</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2>The Homeless Alliance</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV><BR>
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left>
<HR tabIndex=-1>
<FONT face=Tahoma size=2><B>From:</B>
osnboard-bounces@lists.oksustainability.org
[mailto:osnboard-bounces@lists.oksustainability.org] <B>On Behalf Of </B>Seneca
Scott<BR><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, November 21, 2006 2:14 PM<BR><B>To:</B>
ok-sus@lists.oksustainability.org<BR><B>Cc:</B>
osnboard@lists.oksustainability.org<BR><B>Subject:</B> [Possible Spam][OSNBoard]
Daily Oklahoman' s Sustainability News: GreenBuildings/Green
Restaurants<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV>
<P>Friends:<BR></P>
<P><BR>In the past two months there's been great coverage of
sustainability issues in the
Daily Oklahoman, especially on Sustainable OKC, a chapter of
the Oklahoma Sustainability Network. SOKC is doing some great work as they
prepare to host the 2007 OSN Annual Conference in April. Check out there
informal "Green Drinks" discussion which is held at Trattoria II Centro, Main
St./Walker Avenue, OKC 5:30pm today! For more information check <A
href="http://www.sustainableokc.org">www.sustainableokc.org</A> <BR></P>
<P>The articles are posted below, one is about green building in central OK
and the other discusses restaurants going green.<BR></P>
<P>Thanks,<BR></P>
<DIV>
<P style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"><FONT face="Geneva, Arial, Sans-serif">Mr. Seneca
Scott</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Geneva, Arial, Sans-serif" size=3>Trivestco Energy, Operations
Manager</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Geneva, Arial, Sans-serif">Oklahoma Sustainability Network,
President</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Geneva, Arial, Sans-serif">3271 E. 2nd St.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Geneva, Arial, Sans-serif">Tulsa, OK 74104</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Geneva, Arial, Sans-serif">918-576-9111</FONT></P>
<P><A href="mailto:chiefseneca@hotmail.com"><FONT
face="Geneva, Arial, Sans-serif">chiefseneca@hotmail.com</FONT></A><FONT
face="Geneva, Arial, Sans-serif"> </FONT></P>
<P>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</P>
<H3>Local restaurateur discovers it isn't easy being green</H3>
<P><BR>John David Sutter 11-21-06<BR>Staff Writer<BR><BR>The trash — onion
peels, cardboard boxes, bottles — piled up far faster than executive chef
Christine Dowd ever expected. </P>
<P>During the first week of business at her Italian restaurant downtown, the
waste accumulated so quickly that her employees filled a large green dumpster
three times to make room for the food waste constantly pouring out of the
kitchen.
<P>This wasn't Dowd's vision. And she was determined to change things — for the
greener.
<P>Trattoria il Centro is one of few restaurants in Oklahoma City adapting even
the most basic of environmental strategies to save waste, reduce energy
consumption and promote local foods.
<P>The gourmet restaurant is not up to green standards as defined by the
respected Green Restaurant Association. But Dowd said what's important is that
she is doing something.
<P>"They're doing it in California, they're doing it on the East Coast — there's
got to be a way we can participate," said Dowd, 39, who has been a chef in other
major cities, including the notoriously green Portland, Ore.
<P>And in a market like Oklahoma City where there's no certified green
competition, she's a bit of a trend-setter.
<P>Michael Oshman, founder and executive director of the Green Restaurant
Association, a nonprofit organization that helps restaurants go green and checks
their progress, said restaurants can be big polluters.
<P>"The restaurant industry is probably one of the toughest industries to try to
crack in terms of environmental change," he said. "Every restaurant is
completely different, and a lot of them are run by mom-and-pops, and they have
barely the resources to run their business, much less make it environmentally
friendly."
<P>Certified green restaurants now operate in 20 states, he said, but not in
Oklahoma.
<P>The ways restaurants pollute are more varied and numerous than most consumers
likely realize.
<P>Food waste is one piece of the puzzle.
<P>Restaurants dispose of left-over foods and oils, as well as the mountains of
packaging that go along with mass-produced goods.
<P>But there's also the issue of how far your food travels to get to your plate.
Food imported from overseas can carry a great environmental impact because of
the fossil fuels it took to fly the food to your plate.
<P>Trattoria il Centro is quickly becoming a hot-spot for local
environmentalists. The restaurant hosts a "Green Drinks" event each month for an
activist group called Sustainable OKC. They make a special lemon-basil martini
for attendees, and last month about 50 people gathered to chat about local
environmental issues.
<P>That event will be held again tonight, starting at 5:30 p.m., and is open to
the the public.
<P>And when that's all said and done, Dowd will only have to empty her dumpster
about once a week.</P></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>
<H3>Environmentally friendly techniques begin to catch on in city</H3><BR>By
John Sutter<BR>The Oklahoman 10-23-06<BR><BR>Environmentally friendly building
techniques are creeping toward Oklahoma City from the east and west coasts.
<P>The process may be moving more slowly than some environmentalists want, but
they say certified green buildings under construction in the metro area will
bring fresh energy to a cost-effective but underappreciated movement.
<P>“What we need, I think, is an icon building in Oklahoma City,” said Jennifer
Gooden, co-founder of Sustainable OKC, an environmental and social justice
advocacy group. “And we need someone to be the first poster child of green
building in Oklahoma City.”
<P>Block 42, a residential complex near downtown, and two buildings at Oklahoma
City University are vying for that iconic status - or at least for a chance to
get the ball rolling.
<P>The goal of green building is to build structures that create small amounts
of waste. They typically burn less energy for heating and cooling, are made of
materials produced at the expense of few fossil fuels, incorporate recycled
building materials, waste less water and are built to take into account their
natural environment.
<P>Proponents say owners of green buildings save money over time with lower
energy costs. They also help the environment, as the energy used to run
buildings accounts for 38 percent of the nation’s carbon dioxide emissions,
according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
<P>Only one building in Oklahoma - InterGen’s Redbud energy building in Luther -
is certified as green by the U.S. Green Building Council, which often is
referred to as the most respected inspection and certification program for
environmentally friendly buildings.
<P>Four buildings in the state are working toward Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design certification, said Taryn Holowka, the nonprofit group’s
spokeswoman. She said that’s few compared with most other states
<P>In 2002, only 38 buildings in the nation were certified green under that
leadership design standard. Now, 640 buildings have earned the accreditation,
and almost 5,000 are being built nationwide, Holowka said.
<P><STRONG>In need of education</STRONG>
<P>Local environmentalists say the only thing holding builders and architects
back from going green is a lack of education.
<P>Darren Faires, president of the Central Oklahoma Homebuilders Association,
agrees.
<P>“Its seems like Oklahoma is just one of those areas that just when it finally
catches on, it seems like a little bit of time has gone by,” he said. “I really
don’t have any experience with (green building) myself.”
<P>He added that he has nothing against the concept.
<P>Many builders don’t know how to work with new green techniques, and many
developers are skeptical of costs, the environmentalists say.
<P>“Builders build what they know how to build and what they’re comfortable in
building - and they hesitate to be the first on the block to branch out,” said
Bob Waldrop, a founding member of the Oklahoma Sustainability Network. That
leaves consumers with a “feeling of helplessness” because they don’t know how to
make the buildings themselves and don’t know who to ask, he said.
<P>Donney Dorton of Guaranteed Watt Saver Systems, a local green inspection and
planning group, said many builders don’t have time to learn.
<P>“Some of them haven’t found out about it. Some of them build a small number
of homes a year and have all the business they can handle and are working so
hard that they don’t really have time to look around and see what’s going on,”
he said.
<P><STRONG>OCU looks to environmental design</STRONG>
<P>Mark Davies, dean of the Wimberly School of Religion at Oklahoma City
University, hopes two campus projects change that.
<P>After a visit to Atlanta, Davies visited with officials at Emory University,
who said they recouped the costs of their campus’ green buildings in five years
and now are earning close to $1 million in energy savings.
<P>He said a dormitory project under construction at OCU will try to attain
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification, as will a building
for the college of arts and sciences that is in the design phase.
<P><STRONG>Block 42 banks on green</STRONG>
<P>Grant Humphreys, a local developer who wears a scruffy beard and drives a
silver Mercedes, is banking on a market for environmentally friendly housing.
His Block 42 complex of townhomes and flats will open to residents in September.
<P>He said he is spending less than 5 percent more on building costs for
structures that go for environmental design certification. That move will pay
off, he says, as increasing numbers of customers, even in Oklahoma City, will
start demanding green products.
<P>“Here, it hasn’t gotten as much traction, but it will,” he said. “With rising
energy costs and the (green) direction that everything’s going, sustainability
is going to be a major measuring rod for development in the future.”
<P>Block 42 is being built at NE 4 and Walnut Avenue. Parts of the project’s
energy-saving attempts are visible now. Concrete slabs are lined with a layer of
pink insulation. That keeps the floors warm even if the ground freezes.
<P>Parts of the design certification also deal with what kind of lifestyle a
building creates.
<P>Block 42 will have a half-acre of green space along NE 4. That space will
incorporate native plants that don’t need much water, Humphreys said. And the
area’s proximity to downtown, Bricktown and the Presbyterian Health Foundation
means it promotes a pedestrian lifestyle and, consequently, less smog.
<P>“It’s under the design philosophy of new urbanism, which means it’s
pedestrian friendly. You can walk to your convenience retail; you don’t have to
have a car - and that’s not ever been done in Oklahoma City.”
<P><STRONG>A range of options</STRONG>
<P>The U.S. Green Building Council’s environmental design certification program
is just one way for buildings to be friendly to the environment and save energy.
<P>Other programs - such as the Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star
program - deal solely with energy savings. Energy Star homes have taken off in
Oklahoma, said Dorton, of the green inspection and planning group.
<P>Dorton said much of that is because of federal and state tax credits given to
builders who choose energy-efficient homes.
<P>Other options are available for any homeowner.
<P>Waldrop, of the Oklahoma Sustainability Network, said a variety of products
are available to shade windows and insulate homes.
<P>Major changes are most cost-effective in the design phase, Waldrop said.
Homes can be situated, for instance, to use the sun’s rays for heat in the
winter and to block them out in the hot summer. That technique uses what’s
called passive solar energy.
<P>“We’re an ideal climate for passive solar heating in the winter because we
have a lot of sun and not a lot of cloud cover,” he said. </P>
<P>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</P>
<P> </P>
<P> </P></DIV></FONT></DIV><BR clear=all>
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