Archive for category Green Buildings

Light Control Sheets “Self-Adjust” Solar Load, Can Make Home More Efficient

Posted by Benji Jerew in Green Buildings, Solar Power on May 17, 2013

One way to reduce the amount of energy in a building is to regulate solar load. The sun adds heat, which helps warm a home in winter, but isn’t so great in summer. In the winter, you could open the southern window shades to allow the sun to heat up the home and reduce the [...]

Iran’s Apartment No. 1 Built Entirely from Recycled Stone

Posted by Mike Sandru in Green Buildings, Green News, Recycling on May 8, 2013

Iranian city Mahallat is home to a thriving stone cutting industry. Even though the industry contributes nearly half of the city’s economy, it also generates a lot of waste stone from the cutting process. Tehran’s Architecture by Collective Terrain thus set out to put the so-called waste stone to use by constructing an apartment building [...]

Hamburg’s BIQ House is First Algae-Powered Building in the World

Posted by Mike Sandru in Green Buildings on April 12, 2013

Hamburg is now home to the first algae-powered building in the world. The BIQ House, as it is called, has a façade made of algae which react to differing environmental conditions to serve as a case study for renewable energy generation in urban areas while also providing “living” buildings that generate the power needed by [...]

200,000 Electric Vehicles with Vehicle-to-Building Technology by 2020

Posted by Benji Jerew in Electric Vehicles, Green Buildings on April 11, 2013

Building efficiency and energy consumption could be offset by smart building technology and backup power from electric vehicles. For the most part, when we think of an electric vehicle, we only notice that it takes energy from the power grid and allows us to travel from place to place. On the other hand, when properly [...]

Microalgae on Building Facade Produces Energy and Insulates From Noise

Posted by Mila Luleva in Biodiesel, Green Buildings on March 27, 2013

A new building facade technology by the firm Strategic Science Consult (SSC), promises to generate electricity and produce heat from algae. The green building is located in Hamburg, Germany, and it is one of the 16 buildings included in “The International Building Exhibition” – 2013, a multi-disciplinary, multi-million euro project funded by the government of Hamburg. The two [...]

Green Walls Reduce Urban Pollution, Boost Energy Efficiency

Posted by Mila Luleva in Green Buildings on March 26, 2013

Green walls have been acknowledged as one of the most effective ways to cut down city air pollution, improve building’s energy efficiency, reduce noise and at the same time give a warm green feel to the usually colorless city architecture. Imagine walking on the streets of a major city like Paris, battling your way through [...]

Are The Valley’s Green Corporate Office Buildings Overhyped?

Posted by Benji Jerew in Green Buildings on March 19, 2013

In a recent opinion piece by Lloyd Alter over at Treehugger, he points out some disturbing data regarding the employees themselves. Sure, the green buildings are fantastic, but parking spaces for better than 10,000 vehicles mean there is a lot more carbon being generated by these companies than we give them credit for. In fact, [...]

NREL’s New Energy Efficient Data Center Going Live

Posted by Benji Jerew in Green Buildings, Power Saving on March 13, 2013

With the growth of the internet and the inherent need for data storage, NREL’s new energy efficient data center makes perfect sense. Of course, who would you expect to install such a center except the National Renewable Energy Laboratory [NREL]? The role of the NREL isn’t only to develop renewable energy, but also more efficient [...]

The City of Shenzhen Tackles Environmental Problems By Building Self-Sustained Farmscrapers

Posted by Mila Luleva in Green Buildings on March 12, 2013

The city of Shenzhen, China, has found a solution to tackle raising CO2 emissions, increasing population and urban sprawl. The city officials announced that the French firm- Vincent Callebaut Architects is commissioned to conduct the so-called Shenzhen Asian Cairn Farmscraper project, which is expected to provide a sustainable solution to the pressing environmental problems of [...]

Eco-Friendly Tiny House Designed by Ambitious 12-Year-Old

Posted by Leigh Kim in Green Buildings on March 12, 2013

For her school project, Sicily Kolbeck, a 12-year-old student at HoneyFern School in Marietta, Georgia built a small eco-friendly house based on the tiny house movement that is sweeping the United States. Sicily discovered Deek Diedrickson’s Tiny Yellow House, Relaxhacks YouTube channel, and Kirsten Dirksen’s We, the Tiny House People documentary, and was inspired to [...]

European Spallation Source Particle Accelerator Smaller and Greener Than LHC (but more powerful)

Posted by Leigh Kim in Green Buildings on March 1, 2013

The European Spallation Source (ESS), as the structure will be called, has been designed with gardens, outdoor spaces to collect and soak up rainwater, and green roofs. The world’s largest and most advanced neutron-based Higgs boson, DNA, and molecular proteins research center, to be located in Lund, Sweden, will be designed by Henning Larsen Architects, COBE, and [...]

Google Expands Googleplex Offices in Green Fashion

Posted by Leigh Kim in Green Buildings, Green Designs on February 27, 2013

Google has long been envied for its spectacular work environment, and if the company’s vision comes to fruition, major changes to its environmentally friendly “Googleplex” in Mountainview, California will take place and be ready by 2015. Working with the Seattle-based architectural firm NBBJ to expand its current “Googleplex,” the company is planning a spectacular 1.1 [...]

7 Tips on How to Renovate Your Home Energy-Efficiently

Posted by Mila Luleva in Green Buildings, How to..., Power Saving on February 12, 2013

Renovating your home is always a pleasant activity, especially when the end result brings joy and comfort to the whole household. At The Green Optimistic, we would like to show you a few steps that will help you enjoy the benefits well into the future. Remaining true to ourselves, our tips to a better home [...]

Heilbronn House, a Sustainable Geothermal Home on the Edge of a German Forest

Posted by Mike Sandru in Geothermal Power, Green Buildings on February 7, 2013

Heilbronn House is a three story home designed by KM Architektur which boasts sustainable features such as a passive solar design, solar water heating and a geothermal energy system as well as being built using sustainable materials such as wood, glass and copper. It is a sterling example of an eco-friendly home but also enjoys [...]

Energy Roof Greens Existing Buildings and Improves Aesthetics

Posted by Leigh Kim in Green Buildings on February 6, 2013

It’s no secret that architects everywhere are now designing low carbon footprint buildings that either save energy, generate energy, or harvest rain in an attempt to conserve freshwater. Existing buildings, however, are being left in the dust, and architects are scrambling to find a way to retrofit these with green systems. Existing buildings have been [...]