10 Dumbest Green Buildings On Earth

A section from our friends over at Green Options is a site called Green Building Elements and they have an article on their today about the 10 Dumbest Green Buildings on Earth. They take a look at several LEED buildings around the world and highlight the dumbest ones of all. They include a car dealer, a golf course club house (where they use tons of water and pesticides), an airport terminal, a gas station, a bottled water plant, and pretty much every new building Dubai, UAE.
I think the concept of the post is brilliant. It’s like the “old” adage where the person orders a dozen cheeseburgers with a diet soda. As more and more cities offer tax breaks and have mandates for LEED building, I’m sure we’ll see more and more examples of “dumb” green buildings. In all honesty, though, I think that any building that is built to be a healthy, green, LEED certified building is good. Who knows – it might not always be a Dunkin Donuts or a headquarters for a bottled water plant. Buildings emit the majority of CO2 – so even if there is irony in the purpose of the building – it’s not such a bad idea.
Source: Green Options, Green Daily

Our Earth Day weekend continued today. Instead of attending any events, we spent most of the day at home. It was over 70°F – which is amazing since it hasn’t been that warm since last October. So lets get the day started.
Deanna Glick
So you made a resolution to start recycling more or you think you’re doing a good job because you’re recycling all of your plastic containers. Great – I applaud your efforts. Question, though – do you know what plastics your garbage company actually accepts for recycling? Do you ever look at the numbers on all of your plastics? Have you ever wondered what the heck those numbers mean? 
Ever wonder how your recycling gets separated? Erin did. I was asked about this very subject, so now you get to hear about it, too. Most towns these days don’t have a different receptacle for each type of recycling anymore. You throw your plastics in with your glass in with your cardboard in with your newspaper. How does it magically get separated? The answer, my friend, is elves. Yes, tiny magical elves. Okay, so maybe not.
So maybe I wasn’t being all that green this past weekend. I hopped a flight to Providence, RI on Saturday morning to go see the Pittsburgh Steelers lose to the New England Patriots. My flight went from Midway in Chicago to BWI in Baltimore to PVD in Providence. I did buy a TerraPass to cover the carbon offset credits, but that doesn’t mean I necessarily feel good about it. Kinda like driving a Hummer and buying credits, so it’s okay. Most of my guilt from waste, however, hasn’t come from the flying, but from general garbage.