NEXT MEETING, Wednesday evening, September 17, 2008, 6:30 - 9 PM (not Monday, September 8 as originally planned)
Speaker: Michael Anschel, presenting a talk on the Minnesota GreenStar Program

October speaker: Tim Eian, talking about the Passive House, a zero-net energy design

Location: Ramsey County Library, Roseville, northeast corner Hamline and County Road B, Community Meeting Room to the left as you enter the libary.
The library is one block south of Highway 36 on Hamline Road.

Meetings are Free and open to all.

NOTE: THE DATE OF OUR SEPTEMBER MEETING WILL NOT BE THE SECOND MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, AS PLANNED. THE NEW DATE WILL BE THE WEDNESDAY OF THE FOLLOWING WEEK, SEPTEMBER 17.

At our September 2008 meeting we will hear from Michael Anschel of Otogawa-Anschel Design-Build of Minneapolis who will discuss the Minnesota Greenstar program, our locally-based green building and remodeling certification program. The September meeting will be held at the Roseville library as usual, 2180 North Hamline, on the northeast corner of County Road B and Hamline, one block south of Highway 36.

Our October speaker will be Tim Eian, talking about the Passive House, a zero-net energy house design originating from Germany. Tim is an architect with TE Studio in Minneapolis. The date of the talk in October is to be announced.

Thanks to the folks at Great River Energy for giving us a tour of their new LEED Platinum office building in Plymouth for our August meeting, and thanks to Jim Cusack of UMR Geothermal for speaking to us that night about geothermal.

We also thank Kel Heyl, design/build remodeler with Studio Rebus, for presenting to us at our July meeting. Kel provided a detailed overview of his approach to remodeling projects that are green, healthy and sustainable.

During our June 2008 meeting we covered highlights of the annual conference of the International Institute for Bau-biologie^TM and Ecology (IBE) held this past April 19-20 in Nashville, Tennessee. This included research on the harmful effects on the human body caused by information-containing radio waves from cell phones and wireless Internet rounters (Wi-Fi). This topic was presented at the Bau-biologie^TM meeting by pioneering scientist Dr. George Carlo of the Safe Wireless Initiative and Chairman and Founder of the Science and Public Policy Institute.
You can see power point presentations from the speakers at the Bau-biologie^TM conference by going to the Bau-biologie website and click on "2008 Building Biology^TM Conference," or click here.

Our May speakers were Jason Montgomery and Todd McNurlin, Design and Engineering Consultants with Audio Video Planners in Oakdale. We learned about Integrated Home Control Networks and what they have to offer. We also discussed how Building Biology^TM suggests doing this in the safest way possible from an EMF exposure standpoint.

Join us at Perkins restaurant after the library closes at 9 PM for an informal contiuation of our discussion and networking. The restaurant is located around the corner from the library on County Road B (between Hamline and Snelling and across from the HarMar shopping mall.

The Mid-West Building Ecology Coalition is an informal gathering of people from Minnesota and surrounding states who are interested in learning more about healthy homes and offices from the perspective of Building Biology^TM. We meet once a month, normally on the second Monday of the month from 6:30 to 9 PM (check this page monthly for the exact date, or get on our reminder email list by sending an email to info@createhealthyhomes.com).

All of our topics focus on the ways in which the built environment affects the health of occupants.

For example, in July and August 2007 we heard a presentation on "Home Performance Testing for Remodelers," by Rick Wheeler of Residential Science Resources in Hampton, Minnesota (612-964-0032; rick.wheeler@residentialscience.com).

In March of 2007 we held a seminar featuring four speakers. They included:

 *Carole Hyder, author and Feng Shui expert
 *Sharon Oleson speaking about the latest on Radon
 *Chris Bell of Fairfield, Iowa speaking about M.U.M., a private university that has started the Sustainable Living Program to train students to build communities of the future -- green, healthy, sustainable, and cost-efficient
 *Spark Burmaster speaking on the latest on Radio Frequencies (from cell phones, wi-fi, cordless phones, etc.) and what we can do about them

Our February 2007 speaker was Curt McNamara of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Curt gave an inspiring talk on Biomimicry, pioneered by Janine Banyus. He also introduced us to the Sustainability Film series at MCAD.

Our January 2007 speaker was Rachel Maloney, proprietor of Natural Built Home. She spoke on non-toxic building materials, and during our meeting we had an opportunity to visit her showroom downstairs.

Once again, please send an email to Oram Miller at info@createhealthyhomes.com to be added to our email list. That way we know you are interested in coming and you will receive our reminder email with the topic for the upcoming meeting.