SPECIAL FEATURE
NFPA Journal®, November/December 2009
It's not easy defining "green." The concept seems to expand a little more each day, helped along by marketers pushing a plethora of consumer goods as "environmentally friendly." At its broadest, green is something that’s good for, or at least not detrimental to, the environment. Tighten the focus a bit, and green becomes synonymous with environmental sustainability, from how we manage our natural resources to our embrace of "clean" energy to the materials and processes we use to create our built environment.
It’s under that admittedly large heading that the five stories in our special "Safe + Green" package fall. Each piece takes a close look at the spot where sustainability bumps up against fire safety. Sometimes the news is encouraging, as in the opening story on the impact of residential fire sprinklers on our water supply. Elsewhere, as in the stories on green rooftops or wildland fires, the message is more cautionary. In every case, the intent is to underscore the need for the green movement to embrace fire- and life-safety principles in its philosophies, designs, practices, and materials. Only then can "green" be truly green.
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Supply Side
Just how easy is it to integrate residential fire sprinklers into a local water supply? |
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It's Not Easy Being Green
Green, or fire protection? A young F.P.E-in-training tries to square safety with all things eco. |
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Where The Green Things Are
For a glimpse of what's hot in the green movement, just look to your nearest rooftop. And that's the problem. |
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Nuclear Option
Whether or not we embrace nuclear power, NFPA codes will continue to help the industry remain as fire-safe. |
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More. Bigger. Costlier.
Our woman-on-the-ground for community wildfire safety files a dispatch from the front lines of the wildland-urban interface.
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*Illustrations: David Plunkert