Feb 2008
AGRO-HOUSING toward a more sustainable society
29/02/08 17:26 Filed in: Architecture
Full Article and Illustrated Projects by Knafo Klimor Architect.
Advantages of this innovative building typology:
Advantages of this innovative building typology:
- Produces food for tenants and the surrounding community.
- Produces organic and healthy food that is disease and fertilizer free.
- Creates an abundance of crops for self-consumption and sale for the neighbors.
- Requires no special skill set for greenhouse operation.
- Allows for flexibility and independence for the greenhouse working hours.
- Creates extra income and new jobs for the inhabitants in the building.
- Creates a sense of community and softens the crisis of migration to cities.
- Preserves rural traditions and social order.
- Creates sustainable housing conditions and reduces air and soil pollution.
- Improves the building’s microclimate and reduction of its energy usage (cooling and heating)
- Uses water from the existing high water table and recycles grey water for gardening.
Day to 'save energy and climate'
27/02/08 11:05 Filed in: Energy
Energy Saving Day, a 24-hour initiative aiming to reduce the UK's electricity use, begins on Wednesday evening.
A coalition of environmental groups, religious leaders and energy companies is asking people to curb climate change by turning off devices not in use.
The National Grid will monitor how much difference it makes to consumption, while power companies will identify customers wanting home insulation.
The BBC News website will be displaying results in close to real time.
Energy Saving Day, or E-Day, will be launched on the steps of St Paul's Cathedral in central London at 1800GMT.
Read Full Article BBC
World's Largest Solar Plant in AZ Hinges on US Congress
26/02/08 18:36 Filed in: Energy
America's prospects for a solar powered future just got much brighter.
The Spanish engineering firm Abengoa has announced that it's sealed a deal with the Arizona Public Service (APS) Company to build the largest concentrating solar plant in the whole world about 70 miles southwest of Phoenix, Arizona. It will be one of the first cases where a utility relies on solar power for its day-to-day operations.
And at a build cost of $1 billion, it will generate 280 MW of electricity and be capable of powering around 80,000 homes -- in just three years.
Read Full Article: solveclimate.com
Bamboo: It's Just Not So "Green"
24/02/08 08:35 Filed in: Fashion
The good news: this morning Plenty Magazine editor Jessica Tzerman was on CBS's The Early Show promoting eco-fashion, including a number of brands we love. The bad news: she provided misleading information about bamboo, saying that it's harvested and woven similarly to linen, and that it's "completely sustainable and renewable."
Bamboo is becoming more and more popular as a "green" fabric despite the flailing economy as this recent Women's Wear Daily article shows:
An ongoing interest in anything "green," combined with the fact that the higher end of the market seems to be holding firm, is providing accessories vendors with what they need to remain optimistic going into the 2008 season.
While numerous vendors agree that the economy is softer and demand in certain categories has flattened, they believe they can get a jump on the season by offering competitive prices, ensuring quick deliveries and, whenever possible, tapping into the trend for all things organic and eco-friendly.
"We introduced a bamboo scarf last fall that has been one of our premier products for the season," said Wesley Knitter, sales manager of Berkeley, Calif.-based Zazou, a maker of shawls, scarves and gloves.
"We've been one of the first to put bamboo scarves on the market, and we've seen demand get bigger and bigger."
Knitter attributes much of that to the going-green initiative that is taking hold in the arena of accessories. That view is certainly borne out by the fact that a new line of fingerless gloves, also in bamboo, sold out immediately.
Bamboo seems to be everywhere! It's clear that consumers are eating it up. But they aren't getting straight info, and the "green media" doesn't seem to be helping. Here's the skinny:
Textile expert Coral Rose explains that, contrary to what Jessica said on the Early Show, bamboo is not simply harvested and woven like linen. Rose points out that the fabric we see in the U.S. labeled as "bamboo" can't technically even be called that since it goes through a process that transforms it into rayon/viscose.
Read Full Article wearingthefuture.com
Tata aids air car launch
22/02/08 16:39 Filed in: Transportation
Tata is linked to European launch of the air propelled car
Plans by Indian car giant Tata Motors to produce a car this year powered only by compressed air have been delayed until further notice, but unofficial sources say Tata may have come to the rescue of the air car's french inventor MDI by investing $30 million in the project.
Tata originally signed the deal to use technology developed by French inventor Moteur Development International (MDI), in February 2007, with the hope of launching the new ‘air-car’ in India in 2008.
Read Full Article ClimateChangeCorp.com
Managed forestry offers hope of saving Amazon
18/02/08 21:48 Filed in: Enviroment
MONTE DOURADO, Brazil (Reuters) - Buzzing chain saws and heavy machinery hauling logs through the Amazon jungle look at first like reckless destruction. But a forestry project on the Jari River in northern Brazil is being hailed as a model for preserving the world's largest rain forest.
Evidence in January that the pace of Amazon deforestation has increased after falling for nearly three years renewed a fierce public debate over saving the forest. It also opened a rift in President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's government.
Loggers illegally clear vast swathes of forest for timber and farmland every year, wreaking environmental havoc while creating little long-term income.
But a handful of forest management projects have emerged as conservation models, extracting resources with little impact.
"Selling certified timber harvested in a sustainable way is the only solution for the Amazon," said Augusto Praxedes Neto, a manager at Brazilian pulp and paper company Grupo ORSA.
Full Article Reuters
Earth Hour
17/02/08 20:03 Filed in: Enviroment
It started with a question: How can we inspire people to take action on climate change?
The answer: Ask the people of Sydney to turn off their lights for one hour.
On 31 March 2007, 2.2 million people and 2100 Sydney businesses turned off their lights for one hour - Earth Hour. This massive collective effort reduced Sydney's energy consumption by 10.2% for one hour, which is the equivalent effect of taking 48,000 cars off the road for one hour.
With Sydney icons like the Harbour Bridge and Opera House turning their lights off, and unique events such as weddings by candlelight, the world took notice. Inspired by the collective effort of millions of Sydneysiders, many major global cities are joining Earth Hour in 2008, turning a symbolic event into a global movement.
Nanowires allow 'power dressing'
13/02/08 15:34 Filed in: Energy
"Power dressing" may soon have a very different and literal meaning.
Scientists in the US have developed novel brush-like fibres that generate electrical energy from movement.
Weaving them into a material could allow designers to create "smart" clothes which harness body movement to power portable electronic gadgets.
Writing in the journal Nature, the team say that the materials could also be used in tents or other structures to harness wind energy.
"Our goal is to make self-powered nanotechnology," Professor Zhong Lin Wang of the Georgia Institute of Technology and one of the authors of the paper told BBC News.
Read Full Article via BBC
Bloomberg slams U.S. energy law over corn ethanol
11/02/08 23:02 Filed in: Energy
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A new U.S. energy law will cause an increase in global food prices and lead to starvation deaths worldwide because it continues to promote corn ethanol, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Monday.
"People literally will starve to death in parts of the world, it always happens when food prices go up," Bloomberg told reporters after addressing a U.N. General Assembly debate on climate change.
"I think if America got rid of the importation duty on sugar-based ethanol, that's what would happen and I think the world would benefit from that," Branson told reporters.
Cuban leader Fidel Castro blasted the Bush administration's biofuels policy as "genocidal" in a series of articles last year, saying they threatened to worsen global hunger by pushing up prices for food crops used to make ethanol.
Read Full article via Reuters
"People literally will starve to death in parts of the world, it always happens when food prices go up," Bloomberg told reporters after addressing a U.N. General Assembly debate on climate change.
"I think if America got rid of the importation duty on sugar-based ethanol, that's what would happen and I think the world would benefit from that," Branson told reporters.
Cuban leader Fidel Castro blasted the Bush administration's biofuels policy as "genocidal" in a series of articles last year, saying they threatened to worsen global hunger by pushing up prices for food crops used to make ethanol.
Read Full article via Reuters
Efficien City
11/02/08 18:25 Filed in: Enviroment
EfficienCity is a virtual town, but pioneering, real world communities around the UK are using similar systems. As a result, they're enjoying lower greenhouse gas emissions, a more secure energy supply, cheaper electricity and heating bills and a whole new attitude towards energy.
While our government promotes the fallacy that we need coal and nuclear to keep the lights on, innovative councils, businesses and individuals are taking the leap into a cleaner, greener future with decentralised energy.
Read Full Article GreenPeace.Org.uk
Work starts on Gulf 'green city'
10/02/08 22:01 Filed in: Enviroment
Abu Dhabi has started to build what it says is the world's first zero-carbon, zero-waste car-free city.
Masdar City will cost $22bn (£11.3bn), take eight years to build and be home to 50,000 people and 1,500 businesses.
The city will be mostly powered by solar energy and residents will move in travel pods running on magnetic tracks.
Masdar City will be constructed in the desert on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi. The aims are to use only renewable energy sources, and to eliminate 99% of the waste stream. This artist's impression shows wind turbines on the edge of the city and public transport links running through.
Read Full Article via BBC
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SIX DEGREES’ On National Geographic TV
09/02/08 15:28 Filed in: Enviroment
National Geographic Channel is set to air “Six Degrees Could Change The World” based on the book by Mark Lynas, that will clearly show how the future is set to change, unless we change the way we live. Read More...
Knee dynamo taps 'people power'
08/02/08 06:42 Filed in: Energy
US and Canadian scientists have built a novel device that effortlessly harvests energy from human movements.
The adapted knee brace, outlined in the journal Science, can generate enough energy to power a mobile phone for 30 minutes from one minute of walking.
read full article via BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7226968.stm
Generate Energy with Fluxxlab’s ‘Revolution’ Revolving Door
07/02/08 07:28 Filed in: Energy
The designers at New York City based Fluxxlab studio have come up with an ingenious sustainable energy harvesting idea that makes you wonder why no one else has thought of it before. Their Revolution Doormanages to capture otherwise wasted human energy from the revolving doors we all see at various large buildings. If you think about it, this concept is quite similar to a turbine spinning somewhere deep inside a hydroelectric dam or within wind turbine to generate renewable electricity.
read full http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/02/07/generate-energy-with-fluxxlabs-revolution-revolving-door/
Our thoughts Next challenge: capture wasted human energy from the walk. Could someone make the sidewalks such as pressure sensitive floor to generate power?
Light Sculpture: Fixture Design March classes at 3rd Ward
07/02/08 07:14 Filed in: Organic Light Sculptures
Lighting is the most imporant part of your habitat: it illuminates your work, might keep you from sleeping and of course, sets the mood. In this class, students will learn the basics of building well designed, natural and energy-efficient eco friendly lighting. Using bamboo, LEDs and other materials, students have the option of constructing and leaving with one of the instructors designs, or of creating their own original light sculpture to bring home and put on the night stand.
The instructor will guide students from conception through construction, including building simple electronic circuits. Emphasis will be put on craftsmanship and attention to detail. Students can feel confident they will leave with a real, functional work of art.
Full article 3rdward.com
The instructor will guide students from conception through construction, including building simple electronic circuits. Emphasis will be put on craftsmanship and attention to detail. Students can feel confident they will leave with a real, functional work of art.
Full article 3rdward.com
Intel Becomes Largest Purchaser of Green Power in the U.S.
06/02/08 07:28 Filed in: Energy
Intel Corporation said today it will purchase more than 1.3 billion kilowatt hours a year of renewable energy certificates as part of a multi-faceted approach to reduce its impact on the environment, making Intel the single-largest corporate purchaser of green power in the United States, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The company said it hoped the record-setting purchase would help stimulate the market for green power, which should lead to additional generating capacity and ultimately, lower costs.
The purchase placed Intel at the top of EPA's latest Green Power Partners Top 25 list, and also at the No. 1 spot on EPA's Fortune 500 Green Power Partners list. The EPA's Green Power Partnership program encourages and recognizes voluntary green power purchases as a way to reduce the impact of conventional electricity use.
Read full article http://www.intel.com/pressroom/archive/releases/20080128corp.htm
The purchase placed Intel at the top of EPA's latest Green Power Partners Top 25 list, and also at the No. 1 spot on EPA's Fortune 500 Green Power Partners list. The EPA's Green Power Partnership program encourages and recognizes voluntary green power purchases as a way to reduce the impact of conventional electricity use.
Read full article http://www.intel.com/pressroom/archive/releases/20080128corp.htm
Green guide to 2008`s Super Tuesday Primary
04/02/08 11:04 Filed in: Politics
Welcome to the 2008 EnviroWonk Super (giga), Post-Bowl, Fat Tuesday Primary Scorecard. One of these five candidates will, in a year's time, be the President of the United State, so we've got to start asking them to think environmentally now. This scorecard is our attempt to keep things straight, and, as the field continues to narrow, and candidates do a better job of outlineing their positions, the scorecard will, likewise, change.
read full article envirowonk.com
World’s Largest Wind Turbine (7+ Megawatts)
04/02/08 09:25 Filed in: Energy
The world’s largest wind turbine is now the Enercon E-126. This turbine has a rotor blade width of 126 meters (413 feet). The E-126 is a more sophisticated version of the E-112, formerly the world’s largest wind turbine and rated at 6 megawatts. This new turbine is officially rated at 6 megawatts too, but will mostly likely produce 7+ megawatts (or 20 million kilowatt hours per year). That’s enough to power about 5,000 households of four in Europe. A quick US calculation would be 938 kwh per home per month, 12 months, that’s 11,256 kwh per year per house. That’s 1776 American homes on one wind turbine.
The turbine being installed in Emden, Germany by Enercon. They will be testing several types of storage systems in combination with the multi-megawatt wind turbines.
Read full article metaefficient.com
The End Of The Light Bulb
03/02/08 21:46 Filed in: Energy
There's a revolution going on in lighting. And some say it's about time.
Two hundred years ago, British scientists forced electrons through a strip of platinum and laid the groundwork for what would become the first incandescent light. In 1870s and '80s, Thomas Edison and several competitors put the bulb on a path to commercialization and changed the world...
...a more likely application is one being tried by Wal-Mart—lighting refrigerated food cases. Thieken says that LEDs work well in that application since they remain efficient in cold environments, can be dimmed easily when lighting is not needed, and require little maintenance.
Although LED household fixtures exist, Thieken predicts that new lighting applications are likely to be very different from the typical light bulb and will provide an opening for LEDs to rewrite the rules of how lighting is used.
Today, for most people who have electric lights in their homes, illumination still comes from electricity run through a wire filament, enclosed and protected in a glass bulb.
read full article www.pubs.acs.org
Electric Vehicle With Exxon Technology
03/02/08 08:42 Filed in: Transportation
Electrovaya.com is one of many companies out there trying to develop energy efficient consumer applications via its own spin of eco-friendly technology. This company's latest offering falls into the automobile category - it is called the Maya-300. The Maya-300 is described as your typical zero-emission, low-speed electric vehicle. It's powered by Electrovaya's "Lithium Ion SuperPolymer" technology with integrated battery management. This technology will reportedly allow this little vehicle to get up to 120 miles on a single charge, with its top speed being electronically regulated to 25 or 35 mph. This isn't exactly comparable to a traditional car, but for trips around town it might do the trick. It has an on-board battery charger which works with a standard 110v outlet.
Read full article ecogeek.org
Bamboo Replaces Steel in Green Buildings
02/02/08 11:07 Filed in: Architecture
GIRARDOT, Colombia (Jan. 30) - Forget steel and concrete. The building material of choice for the 21st century might just be bamboo.
This hollow-stemmed grass isn't just for flimsy tropical huts any more - it's getting outsized attention in the world of serious architecture. From Hawaii to Vietnam, it's used to build everything from luxury homes and holiday resorts to churches and bridges. full article news.aol