Photo Credit: Paul (dex)
Its been said that enough solar energy hits the earth every hour to power the world for years. Now imagine if every building could take advantage of solar energy without the cost of installing solar panels? For years, researchers have been trying to find a way of capturing solar energy without the expensive installation of solar panels. Recently, a team of scientists developed a transparent spray-on application that turns any surface facing the sun into electricity-producing space. Read more…
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The home of NBA’s Houston Rockets, The Houston Toyota Centre has recently earned certification through the US Green Building Council’s LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance Program. The venue becomes the only such one in Texas to be certified and joins Portland, Miami and Atlanta as the only NBA teams with green facilities. Read more…
Photo Credit: SunSD
If you are currently enjoying some summertime heat, a great way to spend the afternoon is by lazing around or in the good old swimming pool. Even without the summer weather, taking a dip or swimming laps is an enjoyable past time. However, chlorine has negative side affects on a person’s health, mainly affecting the respiratory system by causing increased rates in asthma and wheezing (and it turns some peoples’ hair green!). Luckily, an eco-friendly, European solution has been recently gaining some popularity in the United States. Read more…
Desertification
It is estimated that we will lose 1/3 of hearable land by the end of the century, mostly due to desertification. However, the problem is happening way too slow to reach the headlines in our fast-paced media society. Desertification threatens the livelihood of millions as the dunes of the Sahara move south at about 600 meters a year. Read more…
Rick Audet
The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) announced the launch of the LEED for “Neighborhood Development” green neighborhoods rating system. LEED is an internationally recognised green building certification system, which provides third party verification that a building or community was designed and built according to sustainability and efficiency standards. Read more…
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It seems astonishing that a group of nations built solely on the extraction and distribution of the very substance that has led too much of the demise of planet earth is going to build the world’s first carbon neutral city. Read more…
Photo Credit: Rene Ehrhardt
“This is about a different way of doing business,” said Jennie Nevin, a 31 year old who formerly worked as an investment specialist for Merrill Lynch. “It’s certainly different from Wall Street, where it was all about what you did. This is all about what we can do.”
What Ms. Nevin is referring to is a co-working space called ‘Green Spaces’ that is home to about 20 entrepreneurs (many of whom are in their 20’s) of environmentally centered start-up companies. The office, founded by Ms. Nevin and her partners (who are also very young: 29 and 30) opened in September in TriBeCa, New York and provides the perfect setting for green brainstorming. Another ‘Green Spaces’ was recently opened in Denver, Colorado and a third should be underway in Los Angeles in the near future. Read more…
Image Via The New York Times, SERA Architects
Imagine an 18 story (200 foot tall) building covered in vertical vegetation that changes with the seasons… Sound almost like a modern-day fairy tale, right? Well, in Portland, Oregon it’s more like a science that, in 2013, will become reality. The Federal Government is beginning a $133 million renovation on its main federal building that overlooks the downtown plaza. Thanks to Obama’s federal stimulus package last year, which promotes environmentally friendly projects, this federal building will soon be green in more ways than one. Read more…
H. Koppdelaney
New green technologies and the desire for sustainable living have become the resource for a new renewable energy project soon to be underway in 2010. The project is known as the Sahara Forest Project, a center that will work as a model for the development of larger scale green complexes intended to be built in deserts around the world. The idea is to provide a sustainable “oasis” for desert communities. Scientists are deliberating between arid sites in the Middle East, Africa, Australia, and the U.S. to be the first to host this experimental facility. As with most new green developments, the project has stirred up controversy amongst environmentalists and specialists. Read more…
While environmentally friendly building has become a worldwide trend, rarely is Asia a popular topic when it comes to green construction. The majority of the building in the region consumes more energy then those of developed countries- and therefore has a substantial environment impact. If buildings use more energy than any other sector as well as contribute to climate change, and China alone is said to currently be contributing over half of the worlds new floor space, eco-friendly features should be a major point of interest. Serving as a leader in the region, Tapei 101 of Taiwan (the world’s tallest completed building) will hopefully set a positive example of green construction in the Eastern part of the globe. Equipped with a solar powered roof and other green features, the skyscraper stands alone not only in height, but in its environmental characteristics. Read more…
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