Tag Archives: building
Wood as a Green Material
Man-made materials – glass, steel and concrete – carry the day in modern building design. Architects are fascinated by the possibilities offered by these material, we can build what was never possible before: structures of fantastical shapes, great heights, colossal spans. And in all the excitement, we let fall by the wayside one of the [...]
Top 5 Materials for your Green Home
If you’re designing your dream home and you like to keep an eye on your carbon footprint, you might be concerned about the impact of all your construction plans. But don’t despair! There are steps that you can take to limit your emissions and minimise the effect that your new home has on the environment. [...]
In Focus: Whole Building Energy Control
I just got back from Crestron Masters programming training where I learned about all of their new products coming out and currently available. Crestron got its start doing programmable controllers and touch panels for the AV industry. In the process they created some very versatile controllers that allow for control over some very disparate and [...]
Singapore: Eco-Home Growth Exploding
With the alarming rate of pollutants in the environment, everything is being substituted these days with its ‘eco-friendly’ version. Whether it is transportation, painting colours for children or the house constructing material, the smart minds of the world are trying their best to minimize the effect of green house gases in the environment as much [...]
Louisiana’s Solar Boom: Just Getting Started
Louisiana’s solar market presents a baffling study of what happens when market forces come face-to-face with ideology, geography and demographics. Like most of the country, Louisiana has benefited from the more than 40% drop in average PV panel prices last year. By most accounts, this trend will continue despite the US Commerce Department’s proposed tariffs [...]
In Focus: The Green Schools Alliance
In response to Mayor Bloomberg’s challenge to New York City (NYC) institutions to reduce their carbon footprint 30 percent by 2030, on October 11, 2007, 46 schools gathered at the Allen-Stevenson School in NYC to explore solutions to climate change. After this meeting, with support from the Mayor’s Office of Long Term Planning and Sustainability, [...]
3 Examples of Solar as Architectural Design
When people think of solar panels they don’t immediately think of beauty and innovative design. Instead they tend to picture ugly, blocky panels that have been awkwardly placed on the roof of a building. The bad thing about this is that the common perception of solar panels tending to be ugly is in fact a [...]
Solar + Nanotechnolgy: The Future of Energy
One of our Solar Energy World Facebook fans requested a blog post about solar power and nanotechnology. These two technologies combined could pave the way for even more efficient and cost effective solar power generation in the future. This post will give an overview of the concept of nanotechnology, and the effect that it may [...]
BIPV Solar Market to Quadruple
Concerns over aesthetics and performance have limited the uptick of solar installations using building integrated PV (BIPV), but that will change over the next five years, with up to 4.6 gigawatts (GW) in new capacity forecast, according to a new analysis. BIPV technologies will drive more than $2.4 billion in revenue by 2017, compared with [...]
London’s Greenest Building
There has been a conscious environmental movement over the past few years that has been picking up much steam in a wide variety of sectors. In 2009, the city of London saw an excellent environmental building addition, the 7 More London development next to Tower Bridge. Following its completion, 7 More was rated the most [...]
Energy Efficiency: Is It The Real Deal?
According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), peak electric loads in the U.S. are 20,800 MW lower than they would be without utility energy efficiency programs[1]. If it is correct it represents perhaps 100 power plants that did not need built that would have otherwise been required. Similarly, the EIA data shows that electric usage [...]
The World’s Lowest Emissions Building
One of Japan’s largest construction companies is making a bold claim. Shimuzu Corp. believes its new Tokyo headquarters emits less carbon dioxide per square meter than any other building in the world. Thanks to a myriad of energy efficiency technologies and renewable energy installations, the building (pictured below) uses only 38 kilograms per square meter [...]