Trim Tab v 24 The Water Issue – Winter 2015 issue of the International Living Future Institute’s quarterly digital magazine focuses on water, on “people and projects that are rethinking how water is used in the built environment…” Among its many good articles is one called Bertschi School: The Water Petal about the science …
Green Building Standards – this page on the US Environmental Protection Agency’s website allows you to compare characteristics of six green building standards: International Code Council’s 2012 International Green Construction Code (IgCC) ANSI/ASHRAE/USGBC/IES Standard 189.1-2011: Standard for the Design of High-Performance Green Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings (ASHRAE 189.1) ICC 700-2012: 2012 National …
Hierarchical Design & Solar Panels: A World Economic Forum Discussion – in this 3-min video clip Caltech materials scientist Julia Greer explains how hierarchical design can help create very light-weight materials – “up to 99% air, but that yet retain the high stiffness and high strength of their …
Shigeru Ban: Tamedia office building in Zurich completed – new seven-story office for Swiss media company sited along the Sihl Canal consists of an interlocking wooden structure within a glass skin. The architect was inspired by both the vernacular Swiss use of wood and techniques of Japanese joinery. The …
Infographic: Nine most unusual data centers in the world – take a graphic tour of data centers that are out of the ordinary because of siting (an abandoned nuclear bunker, a WWII anti-aircraft platform, inside a mountain), portability (using shipping containers), cooling methods (one uses the entire lower floor …
Hunnarshala, Bhuj, India, 2013 Winner – Hunnarshala is a group of architects and engineers that was formed in response to a major disaster in northern India. It “is based on legitimizing and giving dignity to the building artisan community that has been the repository of so much knowledge….” They work …
Diogene: A cabin designed by Renzo Piano and RPBW for Vitra – Diogene is a single-room prototype cabin, a minimalist house of 2.5 x 3 meters that “functions completely autonomously as a self-contained system and is thus independent of its environment.” Since his student days architect Piano has been fascinated …
“Piranha Etching” Could Push Nanowire Solar Cells Way Past Theoretical Limits – research in Holland is showing how to dramatically increase the efficiency of nanowire solar cells using ‘piranha etching’, a method of chemically cleaning the surface of the wires. The large surface area of nanowire tends to have …
Americans continue to use more renewable energy sources – press release from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory about their 2012 flow chart of energy use in the U.S. The “Rejected Energy” figure (upper right, in grey) has generated comment. Once again, wind power saw the highest gains, going from 1.17 …
RE-Powering Mapper – the U.S. EPA recently updated its RE-Powering Mapper, a map-based tool showing renewable energy potential on 66,000 contaminated lands, landfills, and mine sites across the country. Features include: Screening results for over 66,000 sites for solar, wind, biomass, and geothermal energy Search options by renewable energy …
Best Practices for Sustainable Construction – post on SustainableCitiesCollective has good links, especially for those working in the UK. Increased flood risk, increased risk of drought and more severe storms means making greater use of sustainable drainage systems such as: green roofs; rainwater harvesting; permeable pavements; infiltration …
Opinion: Bright Nights, Big Problems – recent opinion piece in National Geographic on the growing rarity of true darkness, due primarily to our unthinking use of artificial light. Because of the rapid growth of light pollution over recent decades, most Americans under 40 have never known real …
18 building resiliency proposals at city council – New York’s Urban Green Council, a chapter of USGBC (U.S. Green Building Council), has recently released their Building Resiliency Task Force Report. It consists of 18 post-Hurricane Sandy proposals for “making New York buildings and residents safer and better prepared for …
How Will Smart Cities Transform the Future? – post about Cisco Systems Smart+Connected Communities initiative. It combines data, technology, city services, and infrastructure into a network they say offers unprecedented opportunities (a “potential value of $14.4 trillion over the next decade“) for economic, social, and environmental sustainability. This is …
Center for Active Design: Resources – links to design guidelines aimed at architects, urban designers, planners, policy makers, communities, developers, and educators wishing to promote health “through the design of buildings, streets, and neighborhoods.” The original publication Active Design Guidelines has been followed with four supplements: Promoting Safety …
Mirror Duct System – post on Transmaterial about a duct system that’s lined with reflective aluminum mirrors which can “extend light as much as sixty feet inside a structure.” Developed by Tokyo-based Material House, Mirror Duct System is a completely passive technology that contributes to CO2 reduction by …
If you’re interested in energy requirements or ratings for buildings around the world, here are a few sites that can give you specifics. Each link is to one section within a larger website; those parent websites are all worth a bit of further exploration as well. Existing Policies, from BuildingRating.org – select …
Stockholm’s strawscraper will produce electricity from thousands of wind-agitated straws – skyscraper addition designed by Belatchew Arkitekter’s Labs studio applies piezoelectric technology via “hair-like material that harvests energy from the wind.” From the architect’s website: The straws of the facade consist of a composite material with piezoelectric properties that can …