Orange County, CA Hits Pay Dirt With Clean-Tech Industry

 

 Ruina Morales, right, and Christian Taylor, chemists with Applied Power Concepts in Anaheim, use a machine to measure the purity of ethanol. The company is a partner of cellulosic ethanol producer BlueFire Renewables in Irvine. (Allen J. Schaben, Los Angeles Times / November 18, 2010)

The area is attracting many companies focusing on green energy and transportation. It already boasts about 300 such firms with 20,000 jobs, business groups say.
 
Besides beautiful beaches, Disneyland and the original "Real Housewives" TV show, Orange County might have a new claim to fame.

The fastest-growing segment of the county's economy is now the clean-tech market, according to government and industry officials. Hundreds of green companies are settling in the area, long known for its real estate development and medical device industry.

The number of clean-tech jobs in the county, currently around 20,000, is growing about 5% each year, according to the Orange County Business Council. There are now nearly 300 clean-tech companies in the county, according to trade group CleanTech OC.

"The notion that it's an old, stodgy county is long gone," said Mike Levin, CleanTech OC's co-founder. "It's large, diverse and politically not what you think. Orange County is extraordinarily well-positioned to be a center — if not necessarily the center — of the clean-tech industry."

Nearby green hubs such as Los Angeles, San Diego and the desert cities are feeding business into Orange County. The roster includes hybrid-electric vehicle company Fisker Automotive Inc., solar services company DRI Energy and cellulosic ethanol producer Bluefire Renewables Inc., all in Irvine.

FlexEnergy, a clean-power company, is upgrading to a 30,000-square-foot office in either Santa Ana or Irvine that will be triple the size of the original. T3 Motion Inc., a Costa Mesa company that makes a three-wheel electric vehicle, is getting interest from security agencies and police departments and even had a cameo in this summer's blockbuster film "Iron Man 2."

Quantum Technologies Inc., a diversified clean-tech company in Irvine, will use a $4.4-million loan from California regulators to build a solar-panel manufacturing facility. Similar projects have pushed clean-tech industry production in the county up 54% since 1995, according to research group Next 10.

The region is also packed with companies like Santa Ana-based QuantumSphere Inc., which makes materials and components for longer-lasting batteries and for reducing auto and power plant emissions.

QuantumSphere co-founder Kevin Maloney, a UC Irvine graduate, helped launch the business from his brother's small Costa Mesa warehouse in 2002. Government funds and tax breaks now abound for clean-tech firms, he said.

"Orange County is typically known more as a software, hardware and biotechnology area," he said. "But there's a shift now that's been happening, a thrust towards more clean-tech-related companies."

Several universities are helping fuel the growth. UC Irvine is home to the Center for Solar Energy, the National Fuel Cell Research Center and the country's most advanced fueling station for hydrogen-powered cars. Two students recently won $25,000 from the X Prize Foundation's Crazy Green Idea contest with their concept for a new energy-storage system.

Even clean-tech companies outside the state — such as energy storage company Ice Energy in Colorado and Chicago-area energy efficiency company Lime Energy— are setting up satellite offices in Orange County to tap the growth.

"Orange County hasn't been known over the years as a center of clean-tech as opposed to places such as the Bay Area or Boston," said Brian Kremer, senior research analyst for clean-tech at Roth Capital Partners in Newport Beach. "But we're discovering more companies here than we had originally thought."

Having several major clean-tech investors based in the county has also helped. One of the country's leading clean-tech investors, David Gelbaum of Quercus Trust, lives in Newport Beach.

"Because the political climate is different than in a lot of other areas of the country, the clean-tech emphasis here has to be on economic growth and job creation and national security," CleanTech OC's Levin said. "It doesn't matter whether your top concern is global warming or not."

Automotive designers have been active in Orange County for years, making the advanced transportation industry with its electric and plug-in vehicles a leader in the region, experts said. And the long history of aerospace in the county resulted in a local workforce trained in science and technology, fields that translate well for the clean-tech market.

But sometimes its simpler reasons that have helped draw clean-tech companies to the county, like less traffic congestion.

Steering clear of Los Angeles traffic was key for clean-tech developer 808 Renewable Energy of Huntington Beach, which is gearing up for an initial public offering in the next few months.

"And we can get a great office space for less here than in Beverly Hills," Chairman Patrick S. Carter said. "There's a little more breathing room. It's a different culture."
 

Article by Tiffany Hsu, Daily Pilot

Green Ideas That Made Millions

As more and more Americans go green, environmentally sustainable innovations are translating into big bucks for entrepreneurs.

Sure, going green feels great, but these five eco trailblazers are living proof that green business can also mean money in the bank, not to mention a lighter footprint for all.

Green moving with Spencer Brown

Rent-a-Green Box is the first zero-waste pack and move solution in America

Five years ago, product designer Spencer Brown was stunned after spending more than $800 on cardboard boxes and packing material to move his home office. After the move was finished, he was stuck with nothing but a pile of trash.

After being turned away from a recycling center because there was too much packing tape on his boxes, Brown was forced to drive to the landfill and toss his moving waste onto one of the many 40-foot piles of cardboard.

Through this shocking experience came Rent-a-Green Box, a zero-waste pack and move solution that is taking the nation by storm.

Brown’s ‘green’ boxes, called RecoPacks, are made of 100 percent post-consumer plastics and can be reused up to 400 times.

Rent-a-Green Box also distributes several other post-consumer moving necessities, including zip-ties made from bottle-caps and dollies made from aluminum cans.

Rent-a-Green Box rents, delivers and picks up the RecoPacks, which are now available in three sizes and four colors, and the company that once employed only Brown has gained international distribution and has recently begun franchising.

“If someone told me five years ago that I was going to own a franchise training facility, I would have laughed,” Brown says. “No one thought the idea of renting a green box would work, but I knew that people would love a convenient, cheaper and better way to move their stuff.”

Lyndon and Peter Rive bring solar to the city

SolarCity makes solar power accessible to everyone by eliminating up-front cost through a leasing system.

South Africa-born brothers Lyndon and Peter Rive knew they wanted to get into green business, but they wanted to choose the application that would make the greatest impact. Once they zoned in on solar power, there was no turning back.

They launched SolarCity in 2006, and immediately set out on their mission to make solar power accessible to everyone by eliminating up-front cost through a leasing system.

The Foster City, Calif. company has made a huge splash, expanding to five states and installing more than 8,000 systems in four years. To put that in perspective, only 75,000 systems have been deployed in the entire United States over the past 30 years, the brothers say.

With so many solar panels already installed, it’s time for a break, right? No way. The Rive brothers hope to install more than a million solar systems and have plans to expand SolarCity to the East Coast by 2011.

“At the current rate of adoption we’re not going to move the environmental needle,” says Lyndon Rive. “If we want to make an environmental impact, we have to do this fast. So, we want to keep expanding and bringing affordable solar power to even more people.” 

Kyle Berner and his all-natural ‘feel good’ flip-flops

Feelgoodz operates its business through the triple bottom-line model of People, Planet, Profit

After returning to the states from a one-year backpacking adventure in Thailand, recent college grad Kyle Berner knew he wanted to stay connected to the country. While he was visiting Bangkok for a wedding in 2007, fate stepped in – literally.

As Berner was crossing a busy Bangkok market, the strap of his flip-flop broke. His search for a new pair brought him to a vendor with a rubber tree display and a curiously comfortable flip-flop.

“When the vendor told me they were made from rubber trees, I was amazed, and I immediately tracked down the manufacturer and set up a meeting with them,” Berner remembers. “The next thing you know, I secured the exclusive distribution agreements for these flip-flops to be sold in America.”

Rights secured, Berner returned to his hometown of New Orleans, La. and started Feelgoodz in 2008 out of a shed in his parents’ back yard.

The company has since moved out of mom and dad’s house and has grown exponentially, selling more than 50,000 pairs of flip-flops in more than 200 retail locations in its first year.

The cradle-to-cradle business model of Feelgoodz ensures that the Thai rubber farmers harvesting the flip-flop’s natural material are paid fair wages and that disposal is sustainable through a grassroots recycling program that recycles any brand of flip-flop.

Feelgoodz also hopes to expand its recycling program in partnership with Soles 4 Souls and plans to launch a new sub-brand of boutique items made by Kenyan craftsmen from recycled foot-ware.

“There’s no end to this flip-flop,” says Berner. “We’re just going to keep running with it.”

Margarita McClure turns diapers into dollars

Margarita McClure is out to clean up the mess the 27.4 billion disposable diapers leave behind annually. Photo: Margarita McClure

New mom Margarita McClure hardly had visions of grandeur when she began sewing cloth diapers for her son in 2005. When her husband suggested she turn her diaper designs into a business, McClure decided to give it a try.

She sewed about a dozen diapers and put them up on eBay to gauge interest. When the first diaper sold for $26, McClure realized she had found something special.

After launching a website and finding an American sewing contractor, Swaddlebees was born.

“At first I thought I could sell a few hundred diapers per month and justify staying home with my son,” says McClure. 

“In the first month, we sold 2,000 diapers.”

The Knoxville, Tenn. company now sells its nontoxic and reusable diapers in more than 100 retailers, and although McClure has been approached by big-name retailers such as Walmart and Target, she prefers to sell her diapers in stores and baby boutiques owned by entrepreneurial moms like her.

“Over the years, I realized that we’re not just selling diapers,” McClure says. “We’re actually helping other women create revenues for themselves, and we’re helping other moms stay home to watch their babies by selling diapers.”

With Swaddlebees booming, McClure has also launched Blueberry Diapers, a fun and funky diaper line sure to please even the chicest eco-baby, and Pink Daisy, a premium line of reusable feminine hygiene products. 

Eric Hudson’s passion for toothbrushes

 

Preserve products are made from 100 percent recycled plastics and 100 percent post-consumer paper. By using recycled materials, saving energy, preserving natural resources and creating an incentive for communities to recycle.

Eric Hudson had an idea to redesign the toothbrush since he was a teenager, and when he coupled it with a desire to make a quality product out of recycled materials, there was no stopping him.

Hudson left his job as a management consultant to launch Preserve (aka Recycline) and take it straight to retail stores.

Preserve has since expanded to a full line of razors, kitchenware and food storage, all made from 100 percent recycled material.

Through Preserve’s take-back program customers can return Preserve toothbrushes and razors, which are reused to make park benches or porch decks through its Plastic Lumber program.

The company also recycles more than 100,000 pounds of plastics #5 every year through its Gimme 5 program and turns the plastic waste into kitchenware.

The total waste Preserve converts into personal care products and kitchenware each year is almost 10 times that, and Hudson partners with about five companies to secure the 1 million pounds of pre and post-consumer recycled plastic he needs annually to produce Preserve products.

Since launching in 1996, Preserve has seen a steady growth of about 50 percent per year, on average. Not too shabby for a company with a former staff of one.

“Ultimately we think we can be a global brand,” says Hudson. “It’s exciting to be where we are now, and it’s a real testament that people out there have an interest in products that reduce human impact on the earth.”

Article by Mary Mazzoni, Earth911

Sandia Announces Breakthrough in Nuclear Fusion Energy Generation

Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have announced a breakthrough that could lead to break-even nuclear fusion reactions within 2-3 years. The goal of nuclear fusion research is to make energy from sea water, producing only the harmless gas helium as a result of the fusion reaction. It is the holy grail of clean, sustainable energy, the same process that powers our sun.

The nuclear fusion efforts involve research at the cutting edge of physics, where one of the avenues of exploration goes by the name "Z-pinch" (which should gain the technique immediate street cred should it be successful). So what is a Z-pinch? And how could it power the future?

Pinching Atoms
The name Z-pinch derives from the early experiments in plasma pinch technology, in which the "pinch" occurred in a tube running along what physicists refer to as the Z-axis. The driver for the pinch is the Lorentz force, a phenomenon which can be seen in the example of two wires carrying electrical current in the same direction: the wires will pull towards one another. Instead of two wires pulling together, imaging a cylinder of charged plasma, in which the entire cylinder pinches at once. The "pinch" is the force that pushes the starting fuel, hydrogen isotopes, so close together that they actually fuse together into helium, releasing a nice dose of energy in the process.

While sounding good in theory, the Z-pinch method ran into a major obstacle: the faster you squeeze the plasma together, the faster it becomes unstable and breaks up. Further studies demonstrated that this effect is unavoidable. The instabilities, named "magneto-Rayleigh-Taylor [MRT] instabilities", are the target of the recent breakthrough at Sandia.

The Sea Monster of Nuclear Fusion
In their press release, Sandia refers to the MRT instabilities as the "sea monster of nuclear fusion." The image is telling. Mankind has finished braving the unknown seas, adventurously exploring distant continents, and ultimately learning that no sea monsters dot the map. Sandia researchers surely envision a day when the specters currently haunting the goal of safe, clean, fusion energy are mapped and understood.

The basis for the breakthrough by Sandia is the use of a solid aluminum cylinder, instead of a plasma cloud, to compress the fuel. Without going into all the complexities, older methods relied on a web of wires to initiate the pinch. Small imperfections in the surfaces of the wires were known to be a source of the MRT instabilities. But there was no way to controllably reproduce the imperfections, inhibiting study of the MRT instabilities. The aluminum cylinder can be etched to deliberately and predictably destabilize the system during the pinch.

The knowledge gained from studying the instabilities will be used to better simulate the pinch process in computer models, which will help physicists to better control the conditions of future Z-pinch experiments. The leader of the study, Daniel Sinars, believes that this could open the path to achieve a break-even fusion reaction in the next two to three years. Break-even is the point at which as much energy is generated by the fusion reaction as must be used to create the fusion conditions.

Currently, Sandia National Laboratory's Z-machine is the only facility seriously attempting to demonstrate nuclear fusion using the Z-pinch method. However, several facilities around the world continue research into other nuclear fusion methods. It is not time to give up on wind and solar yet, but the future of fusion is one step closer. 

Article by Christine Lepisto, Treehugger

SunChips War Spreads to Canada (Video)

In early October, Frito-Lay said it was scaling back its effort to replace the conventional packaging for its SunChips brand with a compostable, plant-based bag in the United States.

Consumers had raised a ruckus about the unusual noisiness of the new bag, which some said made it difficult to snack and watch television at the same time. In response, FritoLay scrapped the renewable bag for five of its six SunChips flavors.

In Canada, Frito-Lay has faced some of the same noise complaints over the new SunChips bag. But in a new video announcement, the company says that Canadians are just going to have to cope with the noise as they munch.

“There’s been some confusion about the SunChips compostable bag here in Canada,” Helmi Ansari, sustainability leader for Frito-Lay Canada, says in the video. “I’m here to set the record straight. SunChips is and always has been planning on keeping the compostable bag in Canada.”

“The trade-off is pretty clear. A little more noise, for a little less waste, and a little more green,” Mr. Ansari adds.

For Canadians who find the noise of the bag too much to bear, Mr. Ansari directs consumers to its Facebook page, where they can request a free pair of earplugs.

The Facebook page has inspired a lively discussion over the sustainable bag — and a few requests for earplugs.

“I love the chips and the idea behind the bag idea. But I do dislike the sound so earplugs would be great,” one visitor commented.

An administrator for the SunChips Canada page also addressed the question of why Canada will keep the sustainable bag and the United States, for the most part, will not. The difference came down to the number of customer complaints over noise.

“As with any new product, we’ve heard a lot of feedback from consumers and are considering this feedback as we make future improvements,” the administrator wrote in response to a question from a visitor. “We have not received the same levels of consumer feedback as our U.S. counterparts, so we will continue to use the compostable packaging for our 224g and 425g size bags.”

Article by John Collins Rudolph, NYT

Own or Contract Solar Power Plants? Utilities Need to Decide

Operations and Maintenance Costs are Part of the Decision 

Utility scale solar photovoltaic (PV) sites have a cost, and I'm not talking about the energy.
 

Sure, a utility could rely on a third party power purchase agreement (PPA) as it formerly did. But as they contemplate ownership of both central and distrib¬uted solar-based generation, they now must consider system performance, reliability, and asset management priorities.

The issue has drawn attention to require a closer look.

To that end, the industry's research arm, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), has released a white paper on the growing trend.  "Addressing Solar Photovoltaic Operations and Maintenance Challenges - A Survey of Current Knowledge and Practices" looks at what goes into this decision and how utilities are coping with the challenge.

"In short, PV asset ownership shifts the financial onus onto utilities," the report says.

I recently spoke to the point man involved in the creation of the report, Nadav Enbar, senior project manager for distributed renewables, power delivery and utilization.

"The fundamental rationale behind this report is that PV is growing and we are not moving back in time," he said. "As we look historically at the growth of conventional generation sources, we're seeing order-of-magnitude growth, with a similar trajectory for solar photovoltaic power right now."

Although state renewable portfolio standards are playing a part, some utilities are making a deliberate decision to add additional PV, Enbar said.

"The idea is that utilities are spending more on the technology whether they are mandated or not .and many are choosing to bring the assets under their own umbrella," he said.

The choice is pretty basic, but one which was easier to make when PV was a tiny part of the power generation system: a PPA offers lower up-front costs as electricity is bought from outside the organization but more expensive over the 15- or 20-year life of the contract. Some utilities are now favoring the longer view and incorporating the assets into their portfolios.

That decision entails another set of costs. "Utilities have to pay attention to the upkeep and maintenance of their assets base to bring the greatest amount of value in terms of electricity production but also to maintain a level of reliability," Enbar added.

Those expenses can range generally from1 percent to 5 percent of the all-in installation costs.

One utility that has gone this route is Southern California Edison, which started out by sending out its O&M but has now decided to bring it in-house. The scale of its commitment to PV made the decision a little easier. In 2008 announced its intention to own 500 megawatts. That in itself will support 23 full time employees.

A hybrid option is also starting to emerge in which the utility that is adding PV gears up its O&M by first outsourcing its functions for a couple of years while it gets its own staff trained from the third party it has hired. It can then transition its operations and maintenance to eventually becoming a utility function.

But there does not seem to be typical tipping point when the utility makes a decision to bring PV O&M in-house. Local conditions seem to be the determining factors: travel distances to sites, climate and season, ground versus rooftop systems, and even when the best time might be to roll a truck.

There's also the power market coming into play. Enbar said scheduling panel cleaning can be done just before the peak solar energy season to take advantage of the increased generation capacity.

In other words, the reasons are all over the map.

Article by Bill Opalka, RenewablesBiz

Plastic Debris Killing Adriatic Loggerhead Turtles

One in three loggerhead turtles in the Adriatic Sea has plastic in its intestine, according to researchers studying the impact of debris on marine life.

The shallow waters of the Adriatic are important feeding grounds for the turtles as they develop into adults.

But the sea-floor is one of the most polluted in Europe.

The team studied the bodies of dead sea turtles that had been stranded or accidentally caught by fishing vessels.

The impacts of debris on marine creatures are not entirely clear. But scientists have found that animals ranging from invertebrates to large mammals consume plastic waste and are concerned that it could damage their health.

For a turtle, just a few grams of debris can be fatal if it obstructs the gut.

The researchers from the University of Zagreb found that more than a third of the 54 turtles they examined had ingested marine debris of some kind including plastic bags, wrapping foils, ropes, polystyrene foam and fishing line.

One turtle had consumed 15 pieces of plastic, which almost filled its stomach.

Although the plastic weighted just 0.71g in total, they said it was enough to "probably cause the death of this individual".

Plastic can weaken the turtles by taking up space in the gut which would otherwise digest food.

Population Pressure

The shallow coastal waters of the northern Adriatic are one of the most important feeding grounds for loggerhead turtles in the Mediterranean. Here they are able to progress to feeding on the sea floor at a young age.

The southern Adriatic is also important in their development into ocean-going animals.

"It is important to know more about the Adriatic Sea in order to help loggerhead turtles across the whole Mediterranean." says Romana Gracan, one of the researchers involved in the study.

"The water temperature here suits them and because it is shallow they have the opportunity to feed on benthic [sea-floor] animals."

The concentration of litter on the sea floor is among the highest along European coasts, after the northwestern Mediterranean and the Celtic Sea.

The waste comes from the dense population of four million people who live along the coast and are joined each summer by 18 million tourists.

The sea is small and largely cut off from the rest of the Mediterranean, only joined to the Ionian Sea by the 70km wide Strait of Otranto.

Conservation Hope

Loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) are omnivorous feeders that feed at a variety of different depths.

Where the Mediterranean is too deep for the turtles to reach the sea floor, they feed on floating animals.

But in shallower coastal waters of the Adriatic they take the opportunity to feast on larger sea-floor animals. This brings them into contact with large amounts of debris.

The researchers say their study, published in the journal Marine Pollution Bulletin, is the first to address the problems caused by solid debris in the Adriatic Sea.

Chemical pollution in the Adriatic has been studied for more than 30 years and is already central to marine conservation in the Mediterranean.

The researchers hope that, now they have shown that the turtles are particularly vulnerable to plastic debris, more will be done to reduce it.

"Loggerheads are opportunistic feeders which will eat almost anything that is in front of them and plastic stays around for a very long time in the sea," says Dr Gracan.

"In the future we must think more carefully what we put in the sea." 

Article by Mark Simpson, BBC Earth News

South Africa Leads the Way in New Solar Technology

Fantastic new technology will revolutionize PV Solar!

South Africa is at the forefront of the development of new solar power technology that will offer consumers a cheaper and highly efficient alternative to standard solar panels.

The breakthrough technology is the result of over 13 years of research by the University of Johannesburg's Professor Vivian Alberts. His solar panels are made from a unique metal alloy that converts light into energy at a fraction of the usual cost.

Unlike standard solar panels that contain a 350 micron thick silicon layer, Alberts' panels make use of copper, indium, gallium, sulphur and selenium. The result is a revolutionary thin panel, approximately five microns thick (a human hair is 20 microns thick), that can be sold at a dramatically lower cost.

The elements used in Alberts' panel are all semiconductors making his technology far more effective in attracting heat.

"The technology has proved itself in the pilot-plant phase, without a doubt," Alberts told Engineering News in 2005 when the breakthrough was first announced.

Following his discovery,  Alberts and the University of Johannesburg formed the company Photovoltaic Technology Intellectual Property in 2005 (PTIP). The company has since entered into agreements with a solar energy investor in Germany known as Johanna Solar Technology. Currently work is underway on the establishment of a purpose-built plant where the solar panels will be built.

According to Engineering News, PTIP will be building a local manufacturing facility with South African investors that will produce 450,000 panels a year.

The South African venture has earmarked a site in Paarl, in the Western Cape, for the local solar panel plant and the project is in the process of securing financing.

Article courtesy of South Africa Good News

Upcycling in Urban Art

Ask Laura Bacon, collections assistant and art installer for public and museum displays in the Phoenix metropolitan area, about artists she knows with an eco-hue, and she will rattle off a list of standouts in the field, as recycling and reusing is a huge trend in the art world right now.

Cardboard is also a nice material to paint on,” says Luft. Here, a thrown-out blackberry pie box provides inspiration for a new medium upon which to paint

“I’ve heard of some art organizations declining an artist’s work because it is not made of recycled or reused materials.”

“Being green is instilled in our culture, beyond just choosing artists with ‘green’ work. The organizations I work for find a variety of ways to either recycle or donate the materials used in installations,” says Bacon.

In addition to recycling materials from an installation, upcycling is a popular way to incorporate reusable materials into artists’ work.

What is upcycling, you ask? According to Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things by William McDonough and Michael Braungart, upcycling is the practice of taking something that is disposable and transforming it into something of greater use and value.

A glorified form of reuse, if you will.

To some, it is an important distinction – upcycling is not recycling. Recycling, as we all know, is the process whereby materials are diverted from the landfill and broken down into their fundamental parts to be rebuilt through industrial processes into another plastic water bottle, another plastic bag, recycled cardboard, etc.

Upcycling, however, takes a material as-is and then utilizes it in a new form or medium, sometimes in a capacity starkly different from its original intention.

For example, artist Cameron Luft of Orcas Island off the coast of Washington state says his ten-year stint working at his family’s sanitation business as the recycling coordinator opened his eyes to the treasures people threw away, and inspired him to incorporate these materials into his artwork.

“Some of my favorite finds were discarded marine navigational maps that I used to paint on instead of canvas,” says Luft.

Luft also utilizes discarded paints and spray paints for use in coloring and surfaces. He says reincorporating paint into his work is especially rewarding because it is a hazardous material being diverted from the landfill.

Discarded clothing rounds out the upcycled mediums of choice for Luft. “Old clothing provides a nice material to paint on. It stretches like a canvas, but, depending on the material, can have a nice texture from the stitching as well as interesting colors form the dyed fabric.”

Upcycled art breathes new life into materials otherwise destined for a premature landfill grave.

Some art studios are even promoting exclusively upcycled shows, where the qualifying factor for entry is that pieces must fully incorporate trash or recycled materials. For example, Bragg’s Pie Factory – an art gallery in the historic and increasingly popular Roosevelt Arts District in downtown Phoenix – is hosting its 2nd Annual Trashy Sculpture Show this coming fall.

One person’s trash is another person’s treasure. Here, Luft uses a map in-lieu of brand-new canvas

Shows such as these not only help encourage artists to reuse materials, but they can help raise awareness and change perspectives on the possible new uses for materials thought useful only to a landfill.

Similarly, the upcycling, recycling and reuse trend in the art world can convey messages and themes on the nature and habits of a highly consumption-based society.

Austin-based contemporary artist Virginia Fleck incorporates green themes and reusable materials into her work.

According to Fleck’s website, her choice of media is plastic bags. By using plastic bags in her public art installations, she explores and analyzes the activity of consumerism as a spiritual encounter.

Crafting mandalas – non-religious tools for meditation typically composed of highly decorative, symmetrical patterns – she collages together “pieces of detritus from a consumerist society in a way that exposes the efforts of advertisers to influence the masses. The resulting works, each crafted from thousands of pieces of used plastic bags imprinted with familiar logos and slogans can be both humorous and unnerving,” according to her website.

Laura Bacon assisted Fleck in the installation of her work at a recent arts festival. After the show was over, disassembly included separating the materials into those to be recycled and those to be reused. “It was a huge installation, and we only had two bags of trash at the end of it all. Most of the trash came from feeding the crew,” Bacon says.

Not only does the reuse of materials reduce the material impact of such public art installations, but it can also provide other artists the opportunity to explore different mediums, textures and themes for their work.

According to Bacon, a local Phoenix artist utilized the non-recyclable netting that held together Fleck’s installation as the base layer for work exploring themes of identity and sexuality, demonstrating that the reuse of materials does not necessitate solely green-centric themes in artists’ work.

And, for a sometimes cash-strapped artist in a tough economy, Bacon suggests, “Going green is a great economic option. Reusing or choosing recycled materials quickly arises as a cost saving measure.”

Article by Jennifer Berry, Earth911