Sustain the Sphere by Nate Allen

Rainwater Harvesting

2008-11-07T20:33:00.001-08:00

With the help of UA students B2 has completed the installation of it's first rainwater catchment system. The system harvests roof runoff from Casita 100 in two 2500 gallon fiberglass tanks. The stored rainwater will supply water to a toilet and the landscape surround casita 100. I've provided more comments including installation photos and other design details. Check it out!

The B2 Bus

2008-11-07T11:01:00.000-08:00

I just set up a sister blog site specifically for the Biosphere 2 Shuttle. There are a lot of people involved in using the shuttle and hopefully this blog will help with coordinating the service more efficiently and successfully. Follow the link from this site and chime in.

Sustainability at Biosphere 2

2008-11-03T07:41:00.000-08:00

To get this blog going I thought I'd just give a brief overview of some of the projects that we've accomplished or are underway at Biosphere 2.

This past summer we finally got a recycling system set up. A special thanks to Steve Johnson at Waste Management for extending the service area out our way.

We also began a shuttle service between the U of A campus and Biosphere 2. This shuttle provides transport between campuses for students, staff, faculty, and others involved with B2.

B2 was selected as the subject for the annual UA School of Landscape Architecture design contest. Four student design teams competed to develop the UA Master Site Plan for B2. The students came up with some incredible designs and ideas. Stay tuned and I'll try and post some of the slides/videos.

Next weekend we'll be hosting a group of UA students to hold a workshop on active rainwater harvesting system installation. The student designed system will be the first of many rainwater harvesting systems as B2. This system will store ~5000 gallons of rainwater and will supply the irrigation water for the surrounding landscape and a toilet inside Casita 100.

Stay tuned there's more to come.

One Step at a Time

2008-11-02T12:32:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Sustain the Sphere, the online source for sustainability at Biosphere 2. I'll be checking in from time to time to keep everyone up to date on projects, events, and news relating to my work as Sustainability Coordinator for The University of Arizona, Biosphere 2.

Biosphere 2 has always been about sustaining life. In fact, at Biosphere 2 you can study life on a scale like no other place in the world. The challenge is, studying life inside the glass makes a pretty big impact on life outside the glass. So stay tuned and chime in as The University of Arizona develops ways to conduct leading research on sustainability, more sustainably.

Hopefully, we can manage our sphere in a way that helps you manage yours.