What is a “Living Building”?

Ideas for the design of the Living Building at Georgia Tech

When hearing the term “Living Building” for the first time, I was reminded of my fourth grade class field trip to Chick-Fil-A Headquarters. We toured the corporate building, marveled at the car collection, including the Batmobile from Batman Returns, and learned about the history of Chick-Fil-A

The Grass is Getting Even Greener

Hi, everyone! I’m Amanda Schaefer, a second-year chemical engineering student, and I’ll be blogging about the Living Building at Georgia Tech and giving a student’s perspective on the Living Building Challenge and sustainability around campus.

Meatless Monday #1

Breakfast was easy. A piece of fruit and a toaster waffle and I’m out the door. Lunch was harder. Having class during the day, I typically grab lunch at the student center. I found myself quickly realizing that there are less vegetarian and meatless options than I originally expected. Chic-fil-a basically serves chicken sandwiches only, so that was out. Maybe I could have found a bean only options at Taco Bell but I wasn’t interested. Subway seems healthy, but I always order turkey sandwiches so what could I order there? I remember seeing their veggie patties there and decided against it. There was always a cheese pizza option upstairs, but that didn’t really appeal.

Meatless Monday

Meatless Monday is a sustainability movement that helps the environment and the health of it’s participants. Going meatless once a week may reduce your risk of chronic preventable conditions like cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity. It can also help reduce our carbon footprint and save precious resources like fossil fuels and fresh water. I have decided to participate in Meatless Monday for a month and document my experiences.

Energy Conservation in Daily Life

For the next week I am going to make a few small changes in my lifestyle to try and reduce unnecessary energy usage. One source of waste is merely leaving on lights and electronics that I am not using. Another source is phantom energy. This term refers to energy used by electronics and appliances that draw energy from a power outlet even when they are turned off. Some of the biggest uses of phantom energy are TV’s, electronics chargers, and game consoles. The best way to prevent yourself from using phantom energy is to unplug these things when they are not being used.