October 2011
1 post
Nest | The Learning Thermostat →
Check out this awesome thermostat from one of the inventors of the iPod. It programs itself automatically by tracking how the occupants of the house set their thermostat, when they go to sleep and when they are away.
June 2011
1 post
“
Many of us here stir and strive in the spirit of applied hope. We work to...”
– http://blog.rmi.org/LovinsaddressesUCBerkeleyGrads(Video)
November 2010
2 posts
How Germany Got It Right on the Economy →
Interesting quote in this article on the strength of Germany’s economy and it’s manufacturing sector:
Germany’s economy is running rings around America’s. “What we have here is stakeholder capitalism, not shareholder capitalism”.
Cities take the lead on green building in US →
For several years now, the good news in the U.S. has come from local governments that are choosing not to wait for federal legislation to take the necessary action. In a three-year nationwide survey, the American Institute of Architects found that 138 cities that are home to more than 50,000 inhabitants had developed green building programs. This represents more than 53 million Americans in...
October 2010
1 post
Elevator dispatch
The latest issue of Canadian Facilities Management and Design (October 2010, sadly unavailable online) has an interesting article on elevator dispatch technology. The idea is that when someone approaches the elevator bank, they enter in the floor they want to go to on a console rather than a simple up/down button. The console then tells them which elevator to get on. The dispatch system optimizes...
September 2010
8 posts
World Habitat Day Oct. 4, 2010 →
Support Habitat for Humanity on Monday, October 4 - Designated by the UN as World Habitat Day:
Oct. 4, 2010, in recognition of World Habitat Day, Habitat for Humanity will raise awareness of the need for improved shelter and highlight Habitat’s priorities: the worldwide connection between human health and housing, and, in the United States, neighborhood revitalization. These themes echo the...
Management Plan Could End Brazilian Deforestation... →
Worldchanging shares a hopeful message about the Amazon rainforest:
“Market forces and Brazil’s political will are converging in an unprecedented opportunity to end deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon with 80 percent of the forest still standing,” said Daniel Nepstad, a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Research Center and lead author of the study. Since 2005, Brazil has reduced the rate of...
How Elon Musk Turned Tesla Into the Car Company of... →
Wired has a nice article on the history of Tesla, the new electric car company that demonstrated what might be possible by making it’s dashing Roadster:
The auto industry began to take notice of the little startup with the big ideas. In January 2007, GM unveiled a prototype electric vehicle called the Chevrolet Volt. In an interview with Newsweek, Bob Lutz, then GM’s vice chair, said,...
California Licenses World's Biggest Solar Thermal... →
California regulators have licensed what is for the moment the world’s largest solar thermal power plant, a 1,000-megawatt complex called the Blythe Solar Power Project to be built in the Mojave Desert.
Wow!
RMI: Giving GSA Retrofits More Bang for the Buck →
The importance of tenant involvement in energy savings is highlighted in this RMI article on energy saving retrofits of federal buildings in the US.
(via Instapaper)
World Green Building Week →
September 20-26, 2010 will be an action-filled week globally as it marks World Green Building Week. Countries around the world will hold events in major cities with the aim of raising the profile of green building.
(via Instapaper)
Green energy upgrade protects Ontarians from... →
Choosing to scale up green energy to replace the retiring Pickering nuclear station is more affordable for Ontarians than buying expensive replacement reactors, says a report released today by Renewable is Doable, an alliance of organizations including the Pembina Institute, the Canadian Environmental Law Association and Greenpeace. Last summer, Ontario suspended its purchase of two new...
From Washington to Mexico on 12.4 Gallons Of... →
Saving energy isn’t as hard as we think it is folks. Craig Henderson just made a trip in a light, aerodynamic car that looks fairly ordinary at 119.1 miles per gallon! The key innovation is the light weight of the car which is partly made out of carbon fibre. The kicker is that this car was completed in 1984. See also http://www.100mpgplus.com.
August 2010
2 posts
Penn State to Lead Team that will Pioneer New... →
Wonderful news.
Hope for Climate Legislation in a Prison of... →
Joe Romm has an excellent hopeful post on strategies to reduce global warming emissions in the absence of action from the entangled senate.
June 2010
2 posts
NREL: Energy Saving A/C Conquers All Climates →
An intriguing air-conditioning process that dries incoming hot, humid air using a desiccant and then cools the air using evaporative cooling is being refined by NREL:
The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory has invented a new air conditioning process with the potential of using 50 percent to 90 percent less energy than today’s top-of-the-line units. It...
Brian Skerry - Ocean Photographer →
A beautiful and haunting video about the ravaging of the ocean by humankind, followed by a hopeful lesson from the incredible success of marine reserves in New Zealand:
(Via Duncan’s Journal.)
May 2010
5 posts
RMI: Reinventing Fire →
I love this new concept from the Rocky Mountain Institute. They also have a video called Fuel without Fear that drives home a powerful point: how do we move to a new energy economy that doesn’t terrify us with it’s potential for damage.
Sylvania Intros Sleek Ultra Bright LED →
It seems as though I’ve been waiting for LED bulbs to become a reality for most of my life, and it’s exciting to see them start to hit the market. Can you image a lightbulb that only needs to be changed once every 10 years and uses 1/5 of the power of an incandescent bulb?
The Sylvania Ultra LED A-line 12-watt bulb is a second-generation retrofit product and has an estimated life...
The Crisis Comes Ashore →
Al Gore writes powerfully on the perils of climate change in the New Republic in a wide-ranging and thoughtful response to the recent crisis in the Gulf of Mexico:
It is understandable that the administration will be focused on the immediate crisis in the Gulf of Mexico. But this is a consciousness-shifting event. It is one of those clarifying moments that brings a rare opportunity to take the...
New Paradigm: Living Built Environment →
I like the simple beauty of the new mission for the Cascadia Green Building Council:
The new mission reads thusly: “to lead a transformation towards a built environment that is socially just, culturally rich and ecologically restorative.”
Professor sees red over ‘green building’ claims →
Dan Harvey, a professor of Environmental Studies at the University of Toronto rips into contemporary building design:
We suffer from brain-dead building design. We’re building all-glass condominiums, all-glass office buildings. The office buildings are hermetically sealed – they have entire glazing sections facing west with no external shading devices. These buildings are uninhabitable without...
April 2010
5 posts
Environmental disaster looms as Gulf oil spill... →
More on the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico from today’s Globe and Mail:
The oil slick could become the nation’s worst environmental disaster in decades, threatening to eclipse even the Exxon Valdez in scope. It imperils hundreds of species of fish, birds and other wildlife along the Gulf Coast, one of the world’s richest seafood grounds, teeming with shrimp,...
Officials Set to Burn Oil in Gulf Soon →
How long can we continue to argue that renewable energy is ‘too expensive’ and that offshore drilling is a viable long-term solution to energy independence:
Officials turned to the burning option when the slick of oil, released when a drilling rig caught fire 50 miles offshore and sank last week, drifted to within 23 miles of the ecologically fragile Louisiana coastline on...
E.P.A. Makes Its Case on Climate Change →
The agency lays out 24 possible indicators of climate change — from United States greenhouse gas emissions to tropical cyclone activity to bird wintering ranges — while tracing how they have shifted in recent decades. It lays out what is known, according to the agency’s survey of current science, and what remains uncertain.
Enormous solar potential in Ontario →
Queen’s University study shows amazing potential for solar power in Ontario on land considered to have little economic value.
2010 AIA COTE Top Ten Green Projects! →
The American Institute of Architecture announces its top ten green projects for 2010 on Earth Day.