6 Eco-friendly Tips for the Christmas Season

The term “eco-friendly” and “going green” have been used over and over for different products, TV shows and practices. Over use of the term could lead to the danger of having its meaning lost. By understanding the true sense of the word and what it means to be eco-friendly, you can implement these practices that will lead to healthier living and a healthier lifestyle.

Primavera Residences, the first multi-awarded eco-friendly property in Mindanao, has been actively sharing basic eco-friendly tips that, for sure, will help us lead a sustainable lifestyle. And since it’s the season for giving gifts, we have compiled below a number of the best eco-friendly tips in which gift wrappers to use, eco-friendly presents to give, to ensure a guilt-free conscience in terms of eco-friendly issues. You might want to consider these tips in giving back to what nature has given us.

Eco-friendly tip #57: Plant a tree with a child

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“Take a walk in the woods, or plant trees which store CO2. Teaching our children to love and care for the planet is the most important thing we can do to ensure the future of human kind.”

Trees are essential to life and are the ground troops in making up an environmental frontline. Consider this the most eco-friendly gift you want to impart your kids as they grow.  Since we couldn’t get away with the apparent typhoons our country is experiencing, it is best to teach our kids how to better the future. Our existing forests and the trees we plant work in tandem to make a better world.

Eco-friendly tip #51: Share your mug

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“If your office provides disposable cups for beverages, eliminate for them by bringing in extra glasses and mugs from home. Post a note in the lunch/break room requesting that your co-workers do the same. Keep the mugs in the lunch room for anyone to use.”

Having your own coffee mug is way better than using the paper or Styrofoam cups. Toting your own could already help the environment by not adding to the styro and plastic piles we have in our landfills. For birthdays and for holidays, share the joy by giving reusable mugs as holiday gifts to your colleagues.

Eco-friendly tip #39: Buy local

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“Consider the amount of pollution created to get your food from the farm to your table. Whenever possible, buy from local farmers or farmers’ market, supporting your local economy and reducing the amount of greenhouse gas created when products are flown or trucked in.”

Since it’s time to buy groceries in bulk, might as well spend it with our local markets. Aside from its affordability, you might have given them the Christmas gift they have always wanted.

Eco-friendly tip #69: Wrap creatively

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“You can reuse gift bags, bows and event paper, but you can also make something unique by using old maps, cloth, magazines or even newspapers. Flip a paper grocery bag inside out and give your child stamps of markers to create their own wrapping paper that’s eco-friendly and extra special to the recipient.”

This is the best time to be conscious about wrapping our gifts. Since most of our gift wrappers end up in landfills, why not make use of your old papers to at least lessen the garbage piles we give our mother nature.

Eco-friendly tip #67 and 48: Consider buying a laptop and recycle old cellphones

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Young generation nowadays found enjoyment in technology and gadgets. In this Christmas season, why not give your old cellphones to your staff or house helpers. They surely will appreciate it.

Planning to give a gift to your children? Why not give them laptops instead of a desktop computers, aside from its convenience, laptops saves 90% energy than desktop computers.

 

Want more eco-friendly tips from Cagayan de Oro’s first and only eco-friendly property? Click here.

For more information, visit www.primaveraresidences.com or www.facebook.com/condoprimavera. You can also call 088-880-5002. 

Eco-friendly design strategies

inner courtyard

The Primavera Residences, ITPI’s first condominium in CDO, is one example of the company’s highly sustainable and efficient building design.

This two-tower mixed-use property has environment-friendly features, including an inner courtyard, as well as a cross-ventilation layout among the units that enhances natural airflow and light.

Shaded façades also minimize solar illumination on the windows and moderate the temperature inside each unit. Residents may reduce their use of air conditioning to as much as 32 percent.

Moreover, the building is designed to have photovoltaic solar panels to produce renewable energy for the common areas, and thus reduce the condominium costs for unit owners.

Primavera Residences is designed to target energy balance. On one hand, it reduces energy consumption. On the other, renewable energy features are applied to produce energy for the building itself.

ITPI hikes capitalization (published in the Business Mirror)

Location | Primavera Residences | View from Pueblo de Oro | Cagayan de Oro City

ITPI Corp (Italpinas Euroasian Design and Eco-Development Corp.) plans to increase its authorized capital stock to as much as P500 million from P50 million as the “green” developer looks for investors.

“We are about to increase capitalization of the company from P50 million now to anywhere from P250 million to P500 million because we are planning to take in new investors. So, we will invite equity investors. Some could be in real-estate business while other investors could be in the energy sector, as well,” said Romolo V. Nati, ITPI executive chairman and chief executive officer.

If possible, the new investor could come in by the first quarter of 2014. At the moment, ITPI is in search for a financial advisor, Nati added. The company is also reportedly contemplating to offer shares to the public either late 2015 or early 2016.

Nati is confident that the company will succeed with all its plans, adding that “business has been quite good.”

“We started small and now we’d like to expand because we are appreciated by the market. We need new investors to help us develop new projects,” said the official.

ITPI plans to expand its business in Cagayan de Oro and has allotted between P60 million and P70 million for this purpose. “We will launch a new project there and we plan to start construction of more than 1,200 units—from six mid-rise buildings and a tower—in the second quarter of 2014. We will do it in phases. All our plans are ready,” Nati said.

ITPI is in partnership with Constellation Energy Corp. (CEC), which holds renewable-energy service contracts with the Department of Energy for several geothermal, wind and hydroelectric projects all over the country. The ITPI-CEC tie-up has since expanded from green energy to green architecture.

All of ITPI’s property development projects feature sustainable designs and architecture. Its first project, the Primavera Residences, is a mixed-use eco-friendly condominium development in Cagayan de Oro City that incorporates many sustainability features. Its design features passive cooling techniques and it will be equipped with a photovoltaic or solar panel rooftop that produces enough electricity to power its common areas.

Tower A of Primavera Residences has an inner courtyard and a cross-ventilation layout designed to enhance natural air flow and light. Shaded facades sift sunlight’s entry through windows, moderating the temperature inside units, slashing air-conditioning costs by up to a third.

These features, coupled with its location—about 110 meters above sea level—also functioned to make the condominium typhoon-resistant, even helping it survive Typhoon Sendong, which hit Cagayan de Oro in 2011. The location saved it from massive flooding, while the energy-saving features helped mitigate the impact of the strong winds on the building. The structures have also been designed to withstand earthquakes even at high intensities.

Published Dec. 8, 2013 in the Business Mirror

Written by Lenie Lectura

10 Reasons Why You Should Invest in Primavera Residences in CdO

Primavera

Green building and sustainable architecture in a climate change-challenged world

YOLANDA REHABILITATION EFFORTS have attracted this Italian architect and expert on sustainable architecture and green building. He’s offering to contribute his skills to help rebuild Leyte and the other parts of Eastern Visayas that have been recently devastated by the super typhoon.

Watch how ITPI Corp. (ItalPinas Euroasian Design and Eco-Development) incorporates green building and sustainable architecture principles in its developments throughout the building life cycle.

http://www.slideshare.net/italpinas/itpi-sustainable-architecture-and-green-building

Watch a short video clip on how ITPI uses performance-based design software to design sustainable buildings: http://primaveraresidences.italpinas.com/using-performance-based-design-software-to-design-sustainable-buildings/

DoE, Japan agencies hold talk on energy efficiency in buildings

DOE

(Taguig City) The Department of Energy (DOE), in cooperation with the Japan Business Alliance for Smart Energy Worldwide (JASE-W), ASEAN-Centre for Energy (ACE), and the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry, Japan (METI), hosted a conference on energy efficient technologies that aimed to boost the implementation of energy efficiency in the building industry.

The “Conference on Energy Efficient Technologies in the Philippines (Business Sourcing and Matching Opportunities)” was held on 30 October 2013 at the Dusit Thani Manila, Makati City.

The said conference is part of the ASEAN-Japan Energy Efficiency Partnership (AJEEP), which seeks to establish cooperation on energy efficiency initiatives between the ASEAN and Japan.

Read more here.

 

– Media Group (DOE)

Featured on DOE.gov, 30 October 2013

On Sun Star: BPI grants P180-M to green development loan of Primavera residences

A RESIDENTIAL and condominium developer sees brighter prospects as lending institutions showed confidence to finance the construction of its expansion projects.

The Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) Family Bank recently granted P180 million green development loan to Italpinas EuroAsian Design and Eco-Development Corporation to partially finance the construction of its Primavera Residences Tower 2.

BPI which advances its Sustainable Energy Finance (SEF) by continuing to support the energy investments of its clients. In collaboration with International Finance Corporation (IFC), the four-year old innovative financing approach funds various efficient and renewable technologies all over the country.

Read the story here.

 

– Butch D. Enerio

Featured in Sun Star,  22 October 2013

Young engineers learn future trends at Primavera Residences

Around 120 civil engineering students from the Unified Students of the Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers – CDO Chapter paid a visit to Primavera Residences, the only eco-friendly condominium in Mindanao, to learn all about sustainable technology.

Engineering Students by the Pool
The students from the Unified Students of the Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers – CDO Chapter gather in front of the swimming pool

The students, who came from Capitol University, Mindanao University of Science and Technology, Xavier University and Cagayan de Oro College, gathered together at the Multipurpose Hall to listen to ITALPINAS Euroasian Design and Eco-Development Corporation (ITPI)’s Sales and Marketing Director, Ms. Gladys M. Echano, as she spoke about who ITPI was, its design philosophies and strategies and its projects.

“We want to highlight the role of sustainability in building for the future,” shares Ms. Echano. “Our resources are not infinite and one day, if we aren’t careful, they could run out. This is why our company focuses on sustainability – our first project, the Primavera Residences, has an inner courtyard and a cross-ventilation layout that encourages natural airflow and illumination. The shaded façades prevent the sun’s rays from directly hitting the windows of the units, which helps moderate the temperature inside. Primavera Residences is also designed to be equipped with solar photovoltaic panels. So not only do we aim to reduce overall energy consumption, we also aim to produce the building’s own energy as well!”

Future civil engineers after the seminar
The future civil engineers hold up their certificates and pose with ITPI’s sales and marketing director, Ms. Gladys M. Echano (second from left, in purple), after the end of the seminar.

The young civil engineers enjoyed the interesting session, which will be very helpful to them when they work on their own projects in the future. The event ended with a t-shirt design contest on sustainable living.

This event was organized by Primavera Residences in cooperation with RPM Realty.

 

 

On Business Week Mindanao: Primavera Residences, BPI to host business forum

BPI Family Savings Bank and Primavera Residences are hosting a Business and Investment Opportunity Forum in Cagayan de Oro City on Thursday (Oct. 17) at the Multi-Purpose Hall of Primavera Residences, 2nd Floor, Pueblo de Oro Business Park, Upper Carmen.

Dr. Jose P. Leviste, Jr. Non-Executive Chairman of Italpinas Euro-Asian Design and Eco-development Corporation (ITPI), owner-developer of Primavera Residences, said this forum is the first in the series of events being initiated in Region X with ITPI’s partner banks under the program dubbed as SOAR High! (Sustainable Opportunites and Advocacies in the Regions)

Read the whole story here.

 

– bwm

Featured in Business Week Mindanao, 13 October 2013