The Guide To Efficient Living
With the temperatures falling outside you may not be getting on your bike as much as you’d like, especially if you haven’t stocked up on your wool clothing. So it’s the perfect time to catch up on your reading. As bike popularity is exploding, so are the number of books written about the love and… [Continue Reading]
Great ideas for sustainable development sometimes just remain abstract concepts – that is, until they’re put into practice where they can serve as a showcase for their real potential. Such was the case with Chicago’s Center for Green Technology, the country’s first LEED Platinum municipal building – and an inspiration for subsequent development both in… [Continue Reading]
Sharp is introducing a new range of solar-powered LED streetlights. These self-contained lights charge during the day, and switch on automatically when darkness falls. They can operate for 10 years straight without maintenance. They make use of new, high-intensity LED spotlights, which are ideal for public parks. The LEDs illuminate with a directed light and… [Continue Reading]
This hotel, designed by the Atkins groups, will be an outstanding example of incorporating a building into an existing site. The 400-bed resort is to be built near Shanghai in a 100 meter deep quarry. The quarry will provide protection from the weather, and reduce the energy needs of the hotel. The complex will contain… [Continue Reading]
This book, Human Wildlife, is an interesting survey of the fungi, yeasts, bacteria, worms and other creatures that inhabit the human body. Though sometimes hard to read, it’s certainly illuminating to know about the symbiotic relationships that the human body entertains, and well as the more parasitic ones.
Wow, this is great news for those of us who would like to see electric cars go mainstream. Yesterday, Google switched on the 1.6 megawatts solar roof on its corporate campus. The roof will provide about one third of the company’s electricity. Google also announced plans to accelerate the adoption of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.… [Continue Reading]
This is a hand dryer, made by Excel, that uses 80% less electrical energy than similar dryers. It uses a high velocity fan to dry hands faster (10-12 seconds) by blowing the water droplets off the hands. Hand dryers are more efficient than paper towels in public restrooms. Paper towels have a higher annual cost,… [Continue Reading]
VoIP (Voice Over IP) is telephone service which allows you to use your internet connection to make telephone calls. Instead of making calls through regular telephone lines, you place calls through a phone connected to your broadband service (e.g. cable or DSL). You can read about more VoIP technology here. Most people use VoIP save… [Continue Reading]
Foster + Partners have just been granted preliminary permission to start construction on this volcano-shaped superstructure in Moscow, which will be dubbed “Crystal Island”. In terms of efficiency monolithic buildings like this seem unnecessary, but the proposed dimensions are amazing: it will be 1,500 foot tall with 26,909,776 foot squared of floor space, that’s enough… [Continue Reading]
Air New Zealand and Boeing are secretly working to create the world’s first green aviation fuel, made of wild algae. The fuel is essentially derived from bacterial pond scum created through the photosynthesis of sunlight and carbon dioxide on nutrient-rich water sources such as sewage ponds.The company providing the biofuel is Aquaflow Bionomic Corporation. If… [Continue Reading]
Recent Comments: