Bele Cher this weekend

Bele Cher has been toned down a little this year and getting back to it's roots. All musical acts are free this year and the weather is supposed to be beautiful.

See the music lineup here: http://www.belecherefestival.com/elements/entertainment_grid/BC09%20Ent%20Sched.pdf

and make sure to check out the ultimate air dogs competition too.

http://www.ultimateairdogs.net/7.24_FN0X.html

Green Building Council analyses existing structures for sustainability

Existing structures break down like this ...

• 72% of electricity consumption,
• 39% of energy use,
• 38% of all carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions,
• 40% of raw materials use,
• 30% of waste output (136 million tons annually), and
• 14% of potable water consumption.

see another post about this here ...http://geospatial.blogs.com/geospatial/2009/07/sustainable-design-for-existing-structures.html

Google getting it's Real-Estate search on ...

looks like Google is building more real-estate into it's internet search. This time in Australia and New Zealand. I'd seen part of this search in the states a while back 

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/technology/biz-tech/google-wants-a-bigger-slice-of-the-realestate-search-business-20090706-da4l.html

I've done real-estate search in http://maps.google.com by putting in 'real-estate' in the search box and then click the 'Real-estate on Google Maps' link. From there you can search by price, size, # of baths and more.  Pretty cool....

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=&vps=3&jsv=165c&ie=UTF8&rq=2&mrt=realestate&ct=onebox&cd=1&cad=onebox

House of the week

Not green yet but primed to be upgraded. Great location ... downtown Asheville.

http://www.trulia.com/property/1081325077-26-Magnolia-Ave-Asheville-NC-28801

Asheville GO - Green Opportunities

Have you heard of Asheville GO?

Green Opportunities (GO) is dedicated to building a strong and just green economy in Western NC from the bottom-up through green-collar job training, community education, and green microenterprises.

Our core program, the Asheville GO Training Team, combines service-learning projects, life-skills training, support services, community college coursework and on-the-job experience to provide everything GO members need to launch successful green-collar careers.

http://www.greenopportunities.org/

Low Tech Solutions for Droubt - Green Drinks at BoBo Gallery

Come join Sherry Ingram at BoBo Gallery this Friday, June 5th to hear her explanation of droubt and ideas for reversing it. See here email below ...

With so much rain over the past month, it sure LOOKS like the drought is over.  Meteorological and agricultural drought certainly are, at least for now, and to some extent economic.  However, it is too soon to tell about hydrologic drought, and that may vary over the area based on how much rain fell within your sub-watershed, what the soils are made of, how receptive the use of the land is, how far below the surface the water table was, whether you have built simple small-scale earthworks to capture the rain and maximize infiltration, and whether your neighbors are capturing rain as well.  If you live in the forest, which infiltrates almost all the rain that falls, your drought may be over, but if you live in a city, most of your rain is sent away rapidly along roads and through storm sewers, and you are more dependent on moisture coming from outside of your area.   If you have not seen my explanation of drought and my ideas for reversing it, I hope you will join us this Friday, June 5, at 6pm for Green Drinks at BoBo Gallery, 22 North Lexington Avenue in Asheville.  Attached is a flyer to pass on or post, if you know someone else who might appreciate it.    We have been busy: Low-Tech Solutions for Drought at AB Tech, the start of the Eliada Homes Water Project, and a couple of tv appearances.  More details are given at our web site, www.WaterLinksPLLC.com.  Check us out!

How GIS plays into zero carbon real estate

Tools and data from the GIS world including elevation, slope and aspect models are essential to the new 'zero carbon' green world of building houses and real-estate. Learn more here ...

http://vector1media.com/vectorone/?p=2874