Here at R29, we love being green. It’s something we believe is at the heart of responsibility in this world. We have been tracking our recycling, print usage, and carbon footprint for several years now, and in doing so have found that one area we could improve upon is electricity usage.

For example, the average American household uses 908 kWh per month of electricity (source). The average household in Illinois uses less than that – about 728 kWh per month. Last year our average monthly usage was 1,856.5 kWh (and the year before that was even higher). Now, granted, we have more employees with more electricity demand than a household has, but we don’t think we necessarily need more than double the amount of electricity, do we?

There’s only one way to find out.

In order to do that, we recently purchased an electricity monitor to help us in this endeavor. If we can get real-time feedback on our electricity usage, it will be easier to change our habits and reduce electricity waste (and money!). Current Cost made it easy to get up and running with monitoring our electricity usage, which we’ve been doing for about the past 2.5 weeks. Our electricity usage data is automatically uploaded to the web every 5 minutes for us to view. Each day’s chart has been overlaid in the image above to give you the average idea of how our power usage goes. In the past two and a half weeks, so far we’ve learned:

1. Our programmable thermostat is indeed working (we weren’t so sure)
2. It seems most of the spikes in energy occur because of the air conditioning
3. We have about 600 watts of power always on. If we could eliminate that 600 watts, we could save about $560 per year (although we can’t completely eliminate it, we could reduce it if we find what’s causing the drain)

And so we begin our journey into electrical awareness and reducing our consumption. Will you join us?

• View our live electricity usage any time here
• Consider joining us in our endeavor – we’d love to hear how your office is reducing electricity usage.

Earth Day 2011 is tomorrow! We all are grateful for our planet; consider pledging an act of green at the Billion Acts of Green campaign. As a design firm, one green act to incorporate in your projects is calculating the impact of your print projects. Check out Neenah’s Eco paper calculator here. Or, pre-empt your paper choice with a greener option by doing a super quick search on your favorite brands here.

Looking for some green entertainment? This year is DisneyNature is releasing their third annual Earth Day film: African Cats. Disney will donate a portion of the proceeds to savannah preservation where the movie was filmed.

This year’s Earth Day nearly falls on the one-year anniversary of the BP Gulf Oil disaster, which was yesterday, April 20th. One year later, the communities are still struggling to rebound after the devastating disaster.  Here is a great collection of recent photos from the region. BP is suing Transocean, the operator of the rig that exploded. But, on a positive note, all the fishing waters have been reopened, and life is slowly returning to a more normal state.

How do you celebrate Earth Day? Any green news or tips we’re missing? We’d love to hear your thoughts!

Also, you can find out more about what Rule29 is doing to be green here.

Welcome to our 2010 installment of all things green at Rule29! If you haven’t been following along our green progress for the year, please check out our Green Thumb page for monthly reports on recycling and print usage.

We are happy to not only report our successes but be transparent about our challenges. The graphic above represents our little R29 forest that we’ve started over the past two years. So far in our tracking, we’ve saved 39 trees due to choosing responsible papers from our friends at Neenah and Appleton Coated. In 2010 alone, we calculated that we saved 13 trees, which amounts to 4,596 pounds of wood! While that may not seem like much compared to a whole forest, 6 of you readers would have all the oxygen you need for an entire year due to those 13 trees. So breathe easy.

Here is the full report:

While we are happy about our progress, you can see that we didn’t quite make most of our goals this year. We want to be honest about it, share our successes and challenges, and seek feedback, all in the hopes of working together for the greater good.

Here’s a category breakdown of the goals and the results (columns in the above chart, left to right):

• Recycled: This is the weight of the goods we recycled from the office during 2010. We weigh it every week before putting it out for collection. We exceeded our goal by 3 pounds!
• Cans: We didn’t make it near our goal of 687 cans. But hey, that’s not all that bad. Less pop consumed is better for us!
• Footprint: This is our carbon footprint. The high number is deceptive; in this column, lower is better. We finished too high due to the inclusion of more air travel this year, along with more water usage from a leaky toilet (which was promptly fixed upon discovery).

The next 5 columns all have to do with resources saved due to printing on papers with post-consumer recycled content and those made with renewable energy. We didn’t quite hit any of our goals, as you can see, and we will touch on that in the “What didn’t work” section below.

What worked in 2010:

• Our in-office recycling program reached an all-time high. Keeping recycling bins around and installing an easy-to-use tracking system (big scale and chart) has made recycling part of our culture at R29.
• Our aluminum can crusher is still going strong. We think it makes recycling fun.
• Using the improved Eco Paper Calculator from our friends @NeenahPaper. They even have a great Eco Calculator iPhone app!

What didn’t work in 2010:

• Creating extra work for employees and printers. We have had difficulty getting data on all of our print jobs returned to us. This is due to an extra step for both the employee and the printer to fill out a “green form”. We are revisiting this process to make it easier and quicker for both ends.

Overall, the green process at R29 is one that we are continually trying to improve upon. It is becoming more and more a part of our culture, and we are welcome to any ideas and suggestions you might have in your own endeavors. What green successes did you have in 2010?

A few months ago I was sitting on a plane, having already perused SkyMall twice, convinced I had to have five quirky new gadgets that I didn’t need. But before things got carried away, I put SkyMall down and reached for the National Geographic, looking for something more interesting and perhaps enlightening.

And, even though I honestly didn’t expect it, that’s what I found.

Electricity. I take it for granted. When I flip the switch, I expect instant light. When I wake my computer up, I expect its screen to cast that cool hue across the room. When I plug in the coffee maker in the morning, I don’t even consider the possibility of there not being enough electricity to power up my morning brew.

But I have to admit, I have no idea how electricity gets from point A to point B (or where or what point A even is). All I know is that I pay the bill, so it better be there. Which brings up an important point. In this digital age, why do they still have to pay someone to go out to your house and visually read that meter? Doesn’t that seem a little… pre-internet?

The article brought up the fact that meters are still the same basic technology that existed in the 1920s. And the grid that supplies all of our power hasn’t changed much since the ’60s. And we are pushing it to its limits.

Electricity is all about instantaneous supply and demand. It can’t be practically stored long term on large scale like a giant battery. So when you flip on your light switch, the power that instantly lights up the room was created a fraction of a second ago miles away. So there are actually people holed up in rooms with 30 screens monitoring and managing the real-time demand for electricity. If there’s not enough, they call to a nearby power plant to send more electricity. If there’s too much, power lines can overheat and dangerously sag, threatening short circuiting and power outages. That is exactly what happened in August 2003, if you recall, when there was a blackout from Ohio to New York City for days.

This tightrope balance is managed every day by power networks, and it has been that way for 50 years. Isn’t it time for a change – for a smarter system?

Cue the Smart Grid. You’ve probably heard about it by now. It’s a new system being introduced around the world that gives customers and power companies better data on electricity usage. This data allows customers to make better choices about when and how to use power, lowering their costs. And it streamlines the electricity system for power companies, so they are able to manage energy demand more efficiently and reliably. Sounds great, right? But the smart grid has had trouble gaining traction. For example, the grid has been introduced in Boulder, Colorado, but only about 10% of customers there have a smart meter. The reason is the high initial cost of replacing your old meter (about $200 according to the article). But this investment, shared by a whole city and eventually the whole nation, will pay for itself in time, not only monetarily, but also in the lower amount of CO2 emissions. Currently power production creates 38% of the U.S.’s total CO2 emissions, but a smarter grid could greatly reduce that percentage.

Maybe you knew all this. I don’t remember  learning this in school. Do you? I would encourage you to check out the smart grid and read the article to get the whole picture. And if the Smart Grid comes to a city near you, opt for joining it. As the number of power-hungry devices in our lives continue to increase, a more reliable power grid is the way to go for our future.

Although this eco index will not be ready for the public just yet, it kicks off a new beginning towards an eco-fashion future. This is really exciting when you think about the fact that the average American population sends 23.8 billion pounds of clothing and textile waste to landfills each year, and according to the Textile Recycling Organization 95% of that is recyclable. I also was reading that ILO estimates that there are 128 million child labourers between the ages of 5 and 17 worldwide, 126 million of whom are engaged in hazardous work, and 73 million of whom are younger than 10. That statistic is ridiculous, I sit and think of my young nieces and nephews and it makes my stomach sick.

Yet, like anything, there are always drawbacks.

Some steps I can handle and I can afford. From today until the day I die I have given up Polyester—never really liked it anyway! Polyester is not biodegradable, so everything we’ve dumped in landfills around the globe will be with us for about another 200 years. And because most polyester is blended with other fabrics, it has become difficult for the garments to be recycled into something else.

Measuring the environmental impact on apparel and footwear is very interesting and helpful. When shopping for simple t-shirts and pajamas I am “in” and will be interested in checking and comparing ratings on my purchases from Target. But when it comes down to the whole of my wardrobe I am not sure how well it will work for me personally. There is a point for myself when I can only go so far in becoming “green”. I turn lights off, I recycle like there is no tomorrow, only buy natural cleaning products, give clothing to Goodwill, and even recently invested in a rain barrel for watering my garden… but this is where I have to take a break and say,”Earth, I am sorry but in the name of fashion I must disobey the green laws and buy what truly makes me happy and what I can afford.”

If I do all that I can on every other aspect of saving the Earth can I cheat a bit with non-green fashions? I appreciate those that can and want to wear only cotton, hemp and sustainable clothing. I have searched online for shoes and clothing websites that design accordingly, but it is just not my style for the most part. Although I have found some super cute sites the problem is having the money to invest in the clothing. If they were not so pricey I would be able to conform to this, but the price tags are not for my budget. It makes you wonder if it is so important to live “green” why they make it so hard for the average american to afford to do so. Ecouterre is a very informative and super cool website to check out fashion trends and what is going on in the world. There is a long list of eco-conscious designers on the website and those out there that can afford to shop from them I can only hope to be there one day also!

Is there any pocket-friendly, fashion-forward, non-hemp clothing websites out there that I have yet to find? Share your favorite eco-fashion finds in the comments.

I know it’s taboo to talk about winter in the middle of a Chicago summer, but I am going to break my own rule and do it. Last year my husband and I bought a quaint 1920′s tutor style house in Elgin, an older suburb of Chicago. We were first time home buyers, which meant not only did we have a new mortgage to pay every month, but we also had to purchase some bigger ticket items to help maintain our small slice of Americana. We went ahead and got the lawnmower (great deal off Craigslist) and several other items, but we decided to hold out on the snow blower. Needless to say 3 shovels and seemingly 1,000 snow days later, we caved and got our little 5.5 horse power Honda.

As my husband was snow blowing our driveway one morning, I looked outside to see that each one of our neighbors was doing the same. I counted 7 snow blowers going up and down their respective drive and walk ways and then each retreat back into their homes. It was actually shocking to me that I had never noticed this before and a little disturbing that none of these 6 other snow blower owners had ever offered to help us out after seeing us over the past couple months with our little shovels.

By no means do I mean to hate on our new neighbors, as they have been more than generous as we have gotten to know them, but my point is more about wondering is it good or even right that we collect so much stuff and keep it to ourselves? Is sharing what you have a thing of the past? Do we really need all these snow blowers?

The answer, of course, is no. We don’t need all this stuff and the truth is we know it. In fact most of us have probably let out exasperating sighs when looking in our garages, basements, closets and at the cost we pay for storage spaces. (According to The Self Storage Association, there is over seven square feet of self-storage for every person in America.)

So we have a lot of things. Authors Rachel Botsman and Roo Rogers in their book What’s Mine is Yours suggest that there is a reason we have been collecting all these things. The 20th Century in the United States was defined by hyper-consumption. Credit, advertising and what we owned were the measures of value in society. So no wonder you have to rent storage space!

In the same book though, Bostman and Roo say that things are shifting and that the 21st Century is one of Collaborative Consumption. This means instead of measuring value in the gaining of things, value will be determined by reputation, community and what we can access. This idea has interesting implications across all areas of life, but especially around the stuff we own.

There are many reasons for this shift in thinking. The financial downturn is one, along with efforts to be more environmentally conscious. People and businesses are continually looking for ways to save money and reduce their footprint. In addition to these factors, faith and trust in big government and large corporations is beginning to wain and communities are starting to look inwardly to provide for themselves and their neighbors. For the first time in a long time, bartering is on the rise. So is sharing.

This brings me back my neighborhood of snow blowers. Be it for financial reasons or environmental, communities and groups of neighbors are starting to pool their resources to meet the needs of the group. From family style dinners to sharing of lawnmowers or other appliances people are sharing what they have.

And some people are even making a business of it. Remember all the stuff you have in your basement, closets, storage spaces that have been collecting dust for months? Years? You don’t want to sell it or give it away, but it could still make you some extra cash. Could be someone in your area might be willing to rent it from you. You’re not using it anyways right? Renting or loaning it out might be a good way to bring in a couple extra bucks.

The site NeighborGoods.net helps you do both of these and helps you find others to borrow or rent from.

Other sites are popping up all over connecting people who have something with people who need something. Craigslist and eBay are the big players we all know about, while Zopa (peer-to-peer lending), Swaptree (swapping goods) and Zipcar (carpooling) serve on a more personal/local level.

Sharing does have its risks (I’m sure you have already gone through all the reasons why no one is going to touch your stuff) but the reality is collaborative consumption is the way society is turning and like many technological advances there are some really big benefits.

Like most things, I suggest start small and be smart. If you don’t already, lend something you own to someone you know. And maybe borrow something from them. Set dates or a time frame for the loan so you know when you will be getting your property back and vise versa. As you become more comfortable and a little less attached to your things, possibilities are endless.

Let us know if this is something you’ve tried. What are the cons and pros you’re experiencing? Is there anything you wish you could borrow or lend?

One of our current interns, Dawn Bjork, is a lover of all things green and fashion related. We wanted her to write about her recent experience designing ecofashion clothing for the ReVamped show in Chicago. We think her work and ideas are quite amazing; please read about her participation and insight below!

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Just recently I was involved in a green fashion show called ReVamped. EarthShare of Illinois sponsored the event, and it was an amazing night! For those of you that do not know about EarthShare of Illinois, it is a non-profit organization that participates in public and private sector workplace giving campaigns on behalf of its member organizations. I was pretty amazed that I had never known until a few months ago about ESIL, seeing that they contribute to places that I visit and read about all the time, like Shedd Aquarium, Lincoln Park Zoo, National Wildlife Association, and more than 60 other organizations….they are pretty amazing.

The night was about celebrating and promoting the beauty of eco-conscious lifestyle practices. What was super amazing about the event was that it didn’t only promote some really cool fashion designers, it also awakened the guests to all sorts of green “things.” Eco-tools gave away some of the best make-up brushes that my eyelids have ever had swept across them, and they’re good for the earth! What I have found in my searches as I attempt to go as green as possible is a couple really cool sites that help show you the green life. EcoFashionWorld is a website that is the ultimate resource to all designers, brands, and stores in ecofashion. TreeHugger.com is also one of my favorites informing the world on eco-conscious practices. Along with them is Terracycle.net, which coincidentally supplied ReVamped with a gown made by designer Christina Liedtke that is being displayed at the Terracycle store in Times Square, made completely out of M&M wrappers (600 of them to be exact).

Although I was one of them, I must admit the designers’ concepts that were showcased were unbelievable. If we didn’t show that going green can be a fashion decision that stems to all angles of your life, I am not sure what would! Each designer spun their own story: Sarah Trutter made her pieces out of plastic garment bags, muslin and scrap fabric; while Sofia Vintage transformed vintage pieces into a new collection, bringing a completely new breath to old thrown out clothing. Ogi Merziers collection was also unbelievable. To construct one of her pieces, she collected empty chip bags and orchestrated a dress made from, well, someone’s garbage. I also went a completely different route and used old patchwork quilts and felted raw wool that came from one of the coolest animals on the planet, the alpaca. (On a side note, I was watching Jay Leno last night, and he had an alpaca on his show. The best part was that the alpaca master was speaking of how the alpaca could be a tremendous help in cleaning up the oil spill. He showed how the fibers soak up an enormous amount of the oil, and all that is needed is to shave the animals and soak it up. People may think I am crazy, but my love for the alpaca has now grown to an even higher level.) I also used cookie tins of old abandoned buttons that were forgotten and now have been given a new life.  Each one of us designers was inspired by and drew from the idea of bringing new life to what was garbage in someone else’s eyes.

Becoming green is definitely a trend right now; the question is whether or not it will be something that the world recognizes and realizes is life changing and could, if not done soon, be life threatening. This is one trend that in my book I hope is forecasted to last forever.

Are there any cool websites, designers, stores where you live that showcase the love for all things green? And don’t forget check out EarthShare of Illinois, become aware of their greatness for all that they do, and watch for next years’ ReVamped fashion show.

Don’t get us wrong. This is a tragedy. Oil has now washed ashore in Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi, and residents in Florida have complained of the smell from the burns that took place. An estimated 20+ million gallons of crude have leaked thus far, and it’s showing no signs of stopping any time soon. Every effort to stop the leak so far has failed, including a 4-story dome/cap and the Top Kill procedure (for a recap of April’s events, check out our previous post). Two relief wells are being drilled, which are supposed to be the magic bullet. However, until they are done in a few months, there are few options left to stop the leak. (The latest effort is known as the “Lower Marine Riser Cap,” and it involves cutting and removing part of the well in order to install a cap on it. We’re all crossing our fingers that it will work, but not necessarily holding our breath as it’s just been delayed by a stuck blade.)

But we’ve all heard the bad news, and everyone wants the oil to stop leaking. We could play the blame game all day long. Actually, that’s something that we’d like to toss around. Is BP really responsible for what happened? Here’s an analogy to think about, one from another recent debate:

Say you were driving down the road in your car, and suddenly you realize that the car in front of you has come to a quick stop and you need to as well. However, when you hit the brakes, they fail to work, and you slam into the the car in front of you. Who’s to blame? The driver? Or the person who made the brakes? Judging from the news lately, most people are blaming the latter.

So, let’s say that the car is the well and BP is the driver. BP owned the well, but another company owned the rig (Transocean Ltd), which was built by Hyundai Heavy Industries, and another company manufactured the equipment for the blowout preventer (Cameron International). So BP was “driving” this well when the rig exploded, which is what seems to have caused the leak to start. So are they really to blame for the malfunction? For the explosion that started it all? It seems like everyone’s hands are dirty in this mess. However, BP has claimed responsibility from the beginning and has put forth a giant effort to clean up. They’ve made it easy to file a claim, and have already paid 15,000 claims. Though it hasn’t been perfect, if  you’re looking for a more positive spin on their response, check out this article.

Either way, what matters right now is stopping the leak and banding together to make things better for the victims.

Here’s a small list we gathered of things you can do to help:

WHAT HELPS:

+ Visiting the Gulf. Only a few resort beaches are actually tainted. But the local economy is suffering tremendously because no one wants to go near the Gulf. The beaches and waters are safe for the most part, but if you still feel creeped out by jumping in the waters, hang out on the beach or dive in the pool. While BP is writing checks to those who’ve lost revenue because of the spill, the local economy in the Gulf was already suffering from the wake of bad hurricanes over the past several years. Take a trip, perhaps volunteer, but most importantly, spend locally in the Gulf states to help everyone out.

+ Donating to organizations like International Bird Rescue if you’re a wildlife lover. For a more complete list of organizations that are involved, check out this link.

+ Writing your representative in Washington to take more action.

WHAT DOESN’T HELP:

+ Boycotting BP Gas stations. BP actually doesn’t own the stations; they are privately owned and operated. Also, large oil companies trade their products worldwide, so you may not even get BP oil when you buy gasoline at a BP station. You are only hurting the local economy when you boycott the gas station.

Also, gasoline is only half the battle when it comes to oil. Only 19.4 gallons in a 42-gallon barrel of oil goes to creating gasoline. You are surrounded by the other products it creates: asphalt, shampoo, perfume, shoes, candles, toothpaste, golf balls, almost every type of plastic, and more. For more products, check out this link. Surprising, isn’t it? We are much more oil-dependent than we are aware.

A Few Random Resources:

Live Video of the spill and relief efforts

BP Twitter Spoof (just for comic relief)

Overall Updates from CNN

So, what do you think? Is BP to blame? What other actions can we as citizens take to help and to prevent this from happening again?

We like Salvage One. Located on 1840 W. Hubbard Street in Chicago the multilevel building is decorated with quirky chandeliers, strange odds and ends and things that you would definitely find in an old, abandon building garage sale. It is awesome. The strange items intermingle with beautifully restored furniture and stained glass makes the space sort of enchanting and wonderful. This environment does not come to being on its own, but through the tireless efforts of those with a mission to make this world a better, more beautiful place; a mission that resonates close to our hearts. It’s evident that they communicate this through the excellence in their work.

Something else we also really like is AIGA. You can find their logo sprinkled all throughout our website and on our promotional pieces and that’s because we are proud to be associated with them and a part of the organization. Much like Salvage One, AIGA is quirky and has its fair share of oddities, but also stands for things we find very important. Things like sustainability, professionalism and integrity within the design community and a willingness to engage in conversation all people from any walk of life. We like these things and we like being a part of an organization that is willing to talk about and take a stand for good.

Considering this, when we arrived at Salvage One on May 20th for the AIGA Annual Members Meeting it was like a delicious peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Some things just go really well together.

Rule29 has been a part of the AIGA since we started but the organization has been around for quite some time now. Started in 1914, AIGA is the oldest and largest professional membership organization for design. Designers across the country boast of membership and for good reason. Based in New York, AIGA provides opportunities for designers to interact with other designers, potential clients and employers, gain valuable information about the design industry and become more educated about related industry and trends just to name a few of the things this organization does. So it makes a lot of sense that all levels design professionals would want to be able to tap into these extensive resources. Last Thursday was just another opportunity among many to connect, be inspired and honor design and its designers in Chicago.

At this particular gathering Morningstar was honored with the AIGA Chicago Corporate Design Leadership Award. Morningstar CEO, Joe Mansueto, talked about the company’s early commitment to clean, structured design that empowers their clients to make better financial decisions. In contrast Kevin Lyons of Anomaly, formerly Creative Director of Urban Outfitters, shared his library on inspiration that ranged from beautifully destructive to straight up strange. Both share a deep appreciation for design and had been able to build industry leading companies that are supported by strategic design decisions. Their differences in style where quite evident but in this environment both belonged and were honored.

This is another element we appreciate about the AIGA, the opportunity to be challenged to be better. Better at design, better at communicating, better at strategical thinking and better at embracing new ideas. Being able to embrace ideas that are different than your own is an essential skill to have in your tool set, a skill AIGA helps to foster in its members by giving them the opportunity to be in close proximity with professionals from a variety of industries that understand the significance of design. This gives any designer an advantage if they chose to take it.

The night ultimately ended with tasty finger foods, wine/beer and the connecting and exchanging of ideas, which most designers agree go together perfectly like PMS 644 and 648 , or peanut butter and jelly. Whichever works.

There are several organizations in the Chicago area and across the country that help push their members to be better. What organizations are you a part of that challenge you to be better at your profession? We’d love to hear where your inspiration to exceed expectation comes from.

At a design firm, paper plays an important part in our daily activities. We use it for sketches, notes, comps, and eventually beautiful printed pieces. We place a great value on the importance of paper and are very aware of the amount we use. Not to mention the importance of energy. Now imagine if paper had another use beyond being a scratch pad for our crazy doodles; imagine if it could fuel our computers, lights, and coffee machine as well!

Scientists at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) have successfully coated paper with a solar cell. It’s all part of a suite of research projects aimed at energy breakthroughs. Think of an inkjet printer spitting out a report and then a solar paper to charge up your iPhone. Ok, that might be stretching it a bit, but still it’s a promising idea that could lower the weight of solar panels.

Here’s the current solar panel scenario with some very rough math: if you had a 60 watt solar panel to light up a room, all you would get would be one 60 watt lightbulb lit for an hour. That one solar panel would weigh 30 pounds (your average box of copy paper weighs 20 pounds). Imagine if a single sheet of solar paper could eventually do the same thing.

Unfortunately, this technology is still in the research phase and is years from making it into our homes. But it will be a great day when it does. What would you do with a solar cell on paper?

For more information on solar paper check out the article on cnet.