Green Building & Manufacturing
Sustainable Architecture: Setting Sail In An Ecological 'Earthship'
ScienceDaily (Oct. 16, 2009) - Could sustainable architecture address pollution, climate change and resource depletion by helping us build self-sufficient, off-grid, housing from "waste", including vehicle tires and metal drinks containers? That's the question researchers at the University of South Australia address in a new paper appearing in the International Journal of Sustainable Design.
Martin Freney of the department of Art, Architecture and Design has taken a critical look at the work of architect, Michael Reynolds of Taos, New Mexico, USA, who has experimented with radical house designs, and construction techniques over the past three and half decades. Reynolds designs incorporate passive heating and cooling, water catchment and sewage treatment, renewable energy, and even food production.
Read More...
Can't Afford Solar Panels? Lease Them
Sunlight is free. But installing solar panels to heat your home is beyond the means of many Americans. If you live in California, Oregon or Arizona though - and other states starting next year - a bright idea can save you a bundle, as CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker explains. With rooftop solar systems costing $25,000-$50,000, even ardent environmentalists run for cover. And Kathy Nalty is not the greenest person on the planet.
She says she drives a gas-guzzler and doesn't buy much organic food.
But look on her roof. She's gone solar. In her typical suburban house, which she shares with kids and grandma, five TVs and four computers, her electric bill went from $200-$300 a month to just $59 a month. That's thanks to a hot idea sweeping the solar industry: leasing. Nalty gets solar panels free. The solar company charges her $100 a month for the 15-year lease, and state and federal rebates for new solar systems - worth a couple of thousand dollars - go to the company.
"My usage is down," Nalty says, and she saves so much on electric bills that she actually comes out ahead about $100 each month. "I kept thinking it was too good to be true," she said.
"Our biggest problem with customers was they didn't want to pay the upfront cost of solar," said Jim Cahill of SolarCity.
SolarCity, one of the first companies to start leasing to residential customers, says it's a win for the company, the environment, the consumer.
Read More...
Murphy: U.S. needs billions for infrastructure
The nation's infrastructure has decayed to the point that the country has no other choice but to fix and upgrade its grid so it can handle climate change, a growing population and globalization, said a leading national planning expert.
Tom Murphy, Urban Land Institute senior resident fellow, said the European Union, China and India have worked to bring their infrastructure systems up-to-date, while America's hasn't received a major boost since the 1950s. He spoke at the 2009 Global Trade & Transportation Symposium in Jacksonville. Murphy urged attendees to look at ways to cut down on gasoline use, pointing to the U.S.'s dependence of foreign oil, with much of it coming from unfriendly countries such as Venezuela and Russia.
Read More...
Obama Administration Will Remove Barriers to Home Energy Retrofits
WASHINGTON, DC, October 19, 2009 (ENS) - The emergence of a home retrofit market that would increase energy efficiency and cut home energy bills has been hampered by lack of access to reliable information, financing and skilled workers, finds a new report released today by Vice President Joe Biden.
The report, "Recovery Through Retrofit," is intended to build on the foundation laid in the Recovery Act to expand green job opportunities and boost energy savings by making homes more energy efficient, the vice president said.
"'Recovery Through Retrofit' is a blueprint that will create good green jobs - jobs that can't be outsourced, and jobs that will be the cornerstones of a 21st-Century economy," said Biden. "And, thanks to the Recovery Act's unprecedented investments in energy efficiency, we are making it easier for American families to retrofit their homes - helping them save money while reducing carbon emissions and creating a healthier environment for our families."
Read More...
BIM Ushers in a Culture of Collaboration
Before you ask yourself whether or not your company has money in the budget to purchase and implement a suite of BIM (Building Information Model) software applications, you should first ask yourself whether or not your company has a culture that supports collaboration. While some contractors and design firms have positioned themselves to win contracts where the owner mandates support for BIM technology, most firms are still trying to understand exactly what that means. In many cases, contractors and architects have a misconception that they can become BIM compliant by rushing out and purchasing software systems that boast support for 3D, 4D, and 5D. It's only after purchasing these software applications that reality sets in; they don't have an internal culture that supports the practical use of these tools.
Read More...
Another Bush/Iraq Blunder that U.S. taxpayers will pay for
US embassy in Baghdad faces $130 million repair bill after errors
It is the world's most expensive embassy, costing more than $700 million and designed to withstand earthquakes and insurgents. Yet only nine months after being opened, the US Embassy in Iraq is riddled with problems expected to cost more than $130 million to fix.
Nobody praised its architecture when it was inaugurated in January - think Milton Keynes on the Moon. The cube-like structure, topped with razor wire, is the size of Vatican City and features a supermarket and swimming pool. But the 2,000 or so Americans moving in believed, at least, that it would keep them safe and comfortable.
Not so. A report by a US Government inspector-general yesterday pointed to staggering State Department incompetence. The structure, measuring more than 100 acres, and supposedly self- sufficient, is facing an enormous repair bill. Plumbing mistakes, for example, mean that the deputy ambassador has sewage-scented air blown into his residence.
Read More...