Community Archives - Page 6 of 8

CALIFORNIA CONSUMES

California is having one of the driest years on record, causing some of the worst drought conditions in recorded history. It’s so dry in California that in Jan. 2014, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. proclaimed a State of Emergency, and directed state officials to take necessary actions to prepare for and respond to drought conditions. In order to reduce water usage state-wide, The California Energy Commission prioritized water efficiency measures for faucets, toilets, and urinals to implement the Governor’s vision for all Californians to conserve water in every way possible.

California consumes about 443 billion gallons of water a year for flushing toilets and urinals, and running faucets. Reducing water consumption by establishing minimum efficiency standards for these appliances is a key component of California’s overall water and energy use strategies. Reducing water consumption is a key component of California’s overall water and energy use strategies.

How much water and energy can be saved?
The update to the standards for toilets, urinals, and faucets would save about 10.3 billion gallons of water, 30.6 million therms (Mtherm) of natural gas, and 218 gigawatt hours (GWh) a year when the standards are first in effect. By 2039 after the existing stock of water appliances are replaced, the savings increases to an estimated 105 billion gallons of water, 278 Mtherm of natural gas, and 2,100 GWh of electricity a year. This is a savings of more than three times the annual amount of water used by the City of San Francisco. In addition, the standards would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2 million tons of carbon dioxide annually.

SPOTLIGHT- The Northern Rift Innovation Games: WATER

Welcome back! It is time for our Spotlight series. Today we will be featuring a Los Angeles based online idea building platform, Northern Rift. We had the pleasure of interviewing Robert DePinto, the founder of Northern Rift and got to ask a few things surrounding their new Innovation Game: WATER.

Without further ado, let’s go right to the interview.

Tell us a little bit more about Northern Rift and how the Innovation Games started.

Northern Rift is an online idea building platform where people share their “hunches” & ideas and the community contributes to rapidly move those ideas forward to a better yes, or faster no.

We all have ideas – the problem is, we rarely know what to do with them. Sometimes we don’t even share them, and we think that is a waste of human creativity, and great ideas may never see the light of day because of it. Our mission is to unlock the hidden potential in every hunch & idea.

The Innovation Games started because “innovations” have to win a battle between competing ideas. That “battle of ideas” has rules, is time bound, and there are different outcomes. i.e. it is a game, hence The Innovation Games was born.

What is your roll in the organization and what interested you in wanting to create an idea building platform?

I’m the founder of Northern Rift. I’ve always been interested in human potential and especially how much of it is wasted / not fully utilized. In the late 90’s I built, (arguably) the first crowdsourcing platform in the world. We harvested the excess intellectual capacity of people from around the world to solve “specific” problems. From a business point of view, we made mistakes and after a few years of operation, ended up closing down. So i know what failure looks and feels like. Ouch! But importantly we learned a lot.

So, after 15 years and even with the many crowdsourcing & crowdfunding platforms, I still felt there was a lot more opportunity to value people’s creativity and ideas, so i came back to build Northern Rift. We’ve actually got 4 of the team from my first startup back. We “put the band back together” – it’s great!

Why the focus in water?

First, given SoCal is in a severe drought and we need ideas “now”, we felt it was a good fit for what we do – i.e. rapidly unleash the hidden potential in every idea. We felt we could actually make a difference to Southern California by engaging a wider audience in the discussion; to surface new ideas and drive them to a better yes; and accelerate innovation in water conservation.

Second, water is a global issue that touches everything from the oceans, through to the health & security of every living creature on the planet – it is all connected. (In January 2015, the World Economic Forum, named water as the number 1 risk factor, in terms of social devastation, in the world today.)

With our digital platform, we hope to tap into global resource pool, and have an impact where its needed around the world.

The drought has easily become the number one topic in the media. How does the Innovation Game bring to life this ever so talked about subject?

The average person can actually get involved in generating solutions. You dont have to be an “expert” to help create a solution. Anyone can submit an idea, or they can contribute purely by using their skills, experience, and perspectives to make an existing idea better.

We’ve already seen ideas that started as a simple 2 line “hunch” get contributed to by people who share the same frustration, and quickly that 2 line idea takes a life of its own and people contribute to make the idea more robust by adding tips on marketing, competition, pricing etc.

We are also seeing ideas are getting cross-connected. i.e. there is overlap in some ideas, and when you combine them, the value proposition gets even better and more compelling for people to test & adopt the idea.

The more people that contribute the better, because you start to get all types of interesting cross-connections, sparks of imagination, and even some truly crazy ideas – and we do need those as well 🙂

When all is said and done, will the ideas submitted by players come to life?

Great question. As part of the game, we are offering several things to improve the chance ideas getting into market and having an impact:

the winners of each round (top idea generators and top collaborators) get a short masterclass in “hunch-to-innovation” i.e. the path to take that seed idea and turn it into an innovation in market. It is not a silver bullet – however it does contain valuable tips and a high level “map” of what lay ahead for new innovators which can save time and a lot of pain.
the top ideas will get a visual prototype done. it is about visual storytelling, which significantly improves the idea and its ability to get noticed.
as the game builds we are getting interest, from government agencies, corporates, incubators & other startups. All of which might be able to take these to the next stage.
and finally, all the ideas are viewable on NorthernRift.com, and our facebook page, so people can engage, discuss & share into the future, so perhaps an idea will get picked up then.

Thank you so much Rob for taking the time to answer the questions and for being building a space were everyone can share ideas and help address a pretty important issue – the drought! If you want to take a look at some 80+ ideas already submitted, check out their Facebook page here. If you want to learn more about how to join visit their website here.

URINAL PROTOCOL ACCORDING TO DRE

H O O R A Y for Friday. To ring in the long weekend, we wanted to share our favorite urinal protocol video. Click on the image to redirect to hulu.com

Trust us, it’s well worth the click!! Wishing you a fantastic holiday weekend.

ENERGY COMMISSION APPROVES WATER APPLIANCE STANDARDS

After Jerry Brown’s mandatory water reduction, the state’s experts have been managing water resources to deal with effects of the current water scarcity and prepare for the years to come. As part of the solution, the California Energy Commission approved standards for water appliances in which will save more than 10 billion gallons of water in the first year. Over time, the water savings is estimated to reach 105 billion gallons per year – pretty amazing number!

The water standards approved by the commission, on April 8th require appliances to consume less water thereby using less energy. Toilets and urinals are required to use 1.28 gallons or less and 0.125 gallons or less . Faucets – being residential or public – are required to consume 1.2 gallons and 0.5 gallons or less per minute flow rate.

THE ECONOMICS OF CALIFORNIA DROUGHT

What happens when the country’s largest state runs low on water? The Golden State has been in the grips of historic drought conditions, and all the dryness has threatened not only the famous California lifestyle, but the state’s economically essential agriculture sector.

California is known for its coastal beaches, mountains, and desert. But the state’s most important economic region may be its Central Valley, one of the country’s most productive agricultural areas. Most of the tomatoes, lemon, pistachio and almonds in the United States are grown in the valley. However, the agricultural output demands a lot of water. While cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco can sustain themselves with less water, farmers in the Central Valley find it extremely hard to do so and be profitable at the same time. The lack of water is forcing California farmers to spend huge sums of money to keep their crops irrigated and thriving. In addition to irrigation, lack of water is also affecting the value of some farm land.

With that said, California’s dryness has had a national impact on food prices, as the cost of some U.S produce that primarily grow in the Golden State has increased. Nevertheless, the drought has become an opportunity to force the state to seriously focus and reform laws towards water supplies and overall consumption. California has always been a dry state, and things are not likely to change in that aspect. Even if the drought continues for another few years, through prudent conservation and measures we will adapt. Our relationship with water has shifted and new technologies have come to surface. It has brought about changes that were long overdue, and despite the state’s growing population, California’s per capita water consumption has been decreasing for the past decades.

WEEKEND LINKS: CALIFORNIA DROUGHT

Let’s high five the weekend! And all the rain Southern California has been getting since yesterday. As you may have noticed, our theme for the past week has been surrounding the drought. This is a topic is close to us and we will take any opportunity to discuss the options available for us to make a difference. In order, to keep the conversation going throughout the weekend, we rounded up a few articles around the web…

Holy Cow! Crops that use even more water than Almonds.

The 1976 – 1977 California Drought.

Innovation or insanity? Californians’ ideas for busting the drought.

100+ ways to conserve water.

Builders turn to ‘greywater’ at construction sites.

The grass IS greener in Hollywood.

Temple in West L.A. lets its landmark lawn turn brown.

8 cost-cutting lessons from California’s drought crisis.

How golf courses in California are saving to deal with the drought.

Here’s how much water it takes to make California’s craft beer.

Hope you have a great weekend! Cheers.

WHAT IS THE URBAN WATER EFFICIENCY POTENTIAL?

Californians are well aware of the current drought.

Even though we are constantly being reminded of the situation, it can seem overwhelming to try to understand the drought in a broader prospective and see the potentials for urban conservation and efficiency. Improving water-use is a key solution for the state’s short-term and long-term water challenges. From drought to unsustainable groundwater usage, California has a long list of water dilemmas, and there remains a tremendous untapped potential to increase efficiency. At home, in businesses, and in government.

Let’s start with recognizing where water use in urban areas come from. According to the California Department of Water Resources, cities and suburbs account for one-fifth of water withdrawals in current years. Mostly used in and around our homes, with residential water use accounting for 64 percent of total urban use. In addition, institutions, schools, hospitals and commercial buildings account 23 percent, leaving 6 percent to industry and manufactures. Even though, agriculture uses large amounts of water, when taking into consideration an urban largely populated area, homes and businesses are the real issue.

About half of California’s urban water use is outdoors, largely for watering landscapes, washing cars or sidewalk, and filling pools or spas – 70 percent in residences and 30 percent in commercial businesses. You can see the rates go up the further inland you go. There the weather is hot, dry and sometimes water is inexpensive. In more saturated areas such as Los Angeles County and the Bay Area, there are a number of aggressive water conservation campaigns. With that in state, the average per capita water use is low, and continues to decline as the drought prolongs itself.

After pinpointing how and where water is consumed, we are able to quantify the potential for improving the way we use the natural resource. There are plenty of new technologies and practices available in the marketplace as well as government policies and initiatives to tap into. Even though behavioral changes influence water savings, we like to focus on technological solutions. Education and awareness is always necessary. It comes hand in hand with change and offers a better landscape for implementing new solutions. So let’s not leave that aside even though our focus is on technological solutions.

First off, there are many ways to reduce water waste and improve efficiency at home. Over the past decade, we have seen homeowners paying more attention to leaks, upgrading old toilets to flow flow models, switching washing machines for ones with the EPA Water Sense labels on them. That includes, faucets and dishwasher as well. As for the outdoor usage, Californians have starting opting for water efficient plants, however there is still a lot that can be done! When it comes to commercial buildings most measures mirror residential conservation efforts, like installing waterfree urinals and low-flow toilets. However, some industries need to take a more specific look on certain aspects of the business. If you’re in the food industry, pre-rinse spray valves, ice machines, food steamers,etc would be your best bet. Office and commercial buildings should also focus on cooling and heating systems. They have the biggest potential for saving and there are plenty of new technology available for retrofitting.

Drought is always an opportunity to initiate clarification. The main issue we face, isn’t the drought itself but our perception of water use is the real problem. As important as water is to us, it is extremely easy to assume that our supplies are both reliable and plentiful. In spite of that, with recent changes that does not seem to be the case. Not only do we have to use less water in our day-to-day life, but we have to think of becoming more water efficient. There remains a tremendous untapped potential to increase water-use efficiency at home and at our businesses. It takes time, and a little bit of understanding. Nonetheless, we are in this together and creating healthy discussions is what will help us move forward.

If you want to continue the conversation head on over to our twitter account! Our handle is @shuttheflushup. Not an easy one to forget!

WHERE THE WATER SIPPERS AND GUZZLERS ARE IN CALIFORNIA

Californians use 196 gallons of water per capita per day, including all businesses except agriculture. But there are wide differences by community, and the moist coasts uses less water than the arid inland.

See below, water usage by selected cities per capita in gallons per day. Where does your city come in?

SAN MATEO HIGH SCHOOL FUNDRAISING

“Take that, California drought!” was San Mateo High School’s attitude when they initiated the Urinetown project back in January.

With the drought on their mind and a passion to change the future, students from both the theatrical production and Environmental Science class joined forces to create awareness and raise funds to retrofit the urinals throughout the school.

This is an incredible example of leadership within a community. Californians have been living through a major drought and it was only a matter of time for people to start fighting for a more sustainable way of living. This student run campaign in drought stricken region shows that sometimes you have to take matters into your own hands. Throughout the golden state, water districts have been encouraging residents and businesses to retrofit appliances, landscape offering rebates. However, it is not everywhere you are able to find such programs and cities need to be reminded that this is no longer an option. San Mateo does not have access to rebate programs and like fellow Californians, they have experienced first hand the severity of ongoing drought. Whereas in their case, the student body came together to help change. Students took lead of the future with hopes that city government will follow. Nothing short of amazing!

It all started with the Broadway musical, Urinetown. Followed by an Earth Day rally to generate more funds to retrofit all bathrooms in the school.

Because of student initiative and partnership Falcon helped retrofit the remaining waterfed urinals to waterfree. Giving San Mateo’s students what they so desired from the start: a more sustainable environment for the school.

Part of being a B Corp is giving back locally and when communities come together to generate good, we can’t help but feel excited. This is what propels us to work harder everyday. When you have people making it their mission to conserve water for both ourselves and future generations, it all makes sense. We are using the power of business to do good, and are extremely happy it reached San Mateo High. #BtheChange

EARTH DAY CELEBRATION

On Wednesday, we celebrated Earth Day at out L.A office. We started the day with our very first Twitter Party and we’re excited to say is was a success! Our B Corp friends at Badger Company created a collection of the conversation if you care to read. After the hour long online engagement, the Falcon team came together to BBQ and garden. Needless to say we had a great time!

As a part of our celebration we are pleased to announce the sponsoring of an upcoming Free Lots Angeles pop-up park, through the work of Kounkuey Design Initiative (we wrote a blog post about them here), a core member of Free Lots Angeles. The group will transform a vacant lot located in Downtown LA into a thriving community hub. The one-day only pop-up park will be hosted Saturday, April 25, 2015 and will feature adult and kids workshops, art installations, a Zumba class, live music and much more. We are focused on giving back locally and hope that this one-day park has a chance to become a permanent fixture for the community. Free Lots Angeles and KDI’s mission to improve underserved communities is commendable and we are honored to be part of it.

If you are looking for an Earth Day event to attend in Los Angeles, come join us from 10 a.m.–6:30 p.m. at Central Avenue and 41st Street in Downtown Los Angeles.

We’ll see you there!