Green Building

Buildings

A home powered by spinach! - Home design has a photosynthetic, phototropic spinach skin surface and a vegetated roof system that filters storm water in. It also sports a vertical core with super-conductive photosynthetic plasma that allegedly generates 2x more voltage than ordinary solar cells. (EcoFriend; Feb. 7, 2008) (Winner of Cradle 2 Cradle)

A LEED Certified Spaceport - The world's first private spaceport is slated for New Mexico. Tourists and passengers will drive into the middle of the desert, where Richard Branson and others will literally burn rubber, mixed with nitrous oxide, to fire people into space for seven minutes at $ 200,000 a pop. (TreeHugger; Sept. 9, 2007)

London

Urbine = Urban Wind Turbine - To optimize power, some architects are integrating wind turbines into the design of tall buildings in such a way that the contours of the building envelope focus wind on to the turbine blades, much like the casing around a gas or water turbine. World Architecture News labels these: "urbines". (TreeHugger; July 30, 2007)

Net-Zero Skyscraper Planned in China - 300-meter tower on drawing board would require zero net energy to operate, using wind turbines, photovoltaic louvers, calibrated to automatically adjust to the sun’s angle and intensity. (TreeHugger; Apr. 19, 2006)

Swedish Tower to be Lit by LEDs/Renewables - The new Turning Torso residential tower in Malmö, Sweden, supplied with 100 percent locally produced renewable energy, is not only an architectural feat, but a state-of-the-art example of LED usage for residential lighting. (TreeHugger; Apr. 26, 2006)

Bank of America aspires to build world's most environmentally friendly skyscraper - Tower will include onsite 5.1 megawatt co-generation power plant; gray-water system that captures and reuses all rainwater and wastewater; and recyclable and renewable building materials. (Charlotte Business Journal; Sept. 24, 2004)

Biomimetic Building uses Termite Mound as Model - The Eastgate Centre in central Harare, Zimbabwe was designed to be ventilated and cooled entirely by natural means — biomimetically modeled on local termite mounds. Daily temperature swing of 10 to 14° C enables the passive cooling system in lieu of artificial air-conditioning. (TreeHugger; Aug. 7, 2006)

Green Sandwich Technologies - The Green Sandwich Building System cuts construction time in half using structural concrete insulating panels that provide the highest levels of energy efficiency. The superior insulation (R-40 performance) results in 40%-60% energy savings for heating and cooling systems.

Sustainable Homes - Safecrete AAC (autoclaved aerated concrete) is a lightweight masonry product with superior insulation characteristics, reducing heating and cooling costs by as much as half. AAC contains millions of tiny air cells and offers an array of benefits such as thermal mass, thermal inertia, whole wall coverage, and low air infiltration.

Strawjet - natural building material from straw - Strawjet Inc. produces a machine that gleans waste straw from fields, weaves it into cables, then, using a clay-cement material, binds the cables into building materials, such as blocks and beams. construction supervisor. (Mail Tribune, Oregon; May 28, 2006)

Tracking, Evaluating and improving green design - The Woods Hole Research Center, a green building design at the Gilman Ordway Campus in Massachusetts, will be providing detailed performance information for public perusal. (PhysOrg; May 2, 2005)
Green buildings, Green Server Farms? - Has IT evolved to the point where it can consider energy efficiency without sacrificing uptime or performance? APC's Richard Sawyer, says yes. (Slashdot; May 16, 2005)

Washington State Law Mandates Green Building - First state to require that new public buildings meet "green building" standards of energy efficiency, water conservation and other environmental standards. (Renewable Energy Access; April. 21)