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June 2007

Green Hotel To Be Built Into Chinese Quarry

June 28, 2007

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 [...]

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CleverCycles Store Opens

June 28, 2007

CleverCycles has opened a store in Portland, Oregon. This store specializes in selling bikes that can serve as replacements for cars. They offer Dutch cargo bikes (bakfietsen), city bikes, folding bikes and the Stokemonkey electric assist for Xtracycles (which we featured previously here). Clevercycle says their bikes “feature passenger and cargo capacity, plain-clothes comfort, all-weather [...]

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Rooftop Wind Turbine Prototype From Australia

June 27, 2007

Here’s an interesting wind turbine from an inventor in Perth, Australia. See the full press release over the fold..

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Human Wildlife

June 24, 2007

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.

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40,000 Homes Could Powered By Golden Gate Tidal Turbines

June 21, 2007

Tidal power could energize 40,000 homes in San Francisco. A study is being conducted to see if tidal power can be tapped by installing turbines on the sea floor below the Golden Gate Bridge. According to earlier studies, 40,000 San Franciscan homes could get clean energy from tidal turbines such as these. The California utility [...]

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Efficient Green Home by Wired

June 20, 2007

Wired Magazine has teamed up with LivingHomes to create an efficient green house called the WIRED LivingHome. LivingHomes is already known for designing cutting-edge, modern green homes. The 4057 square foot house will have a 4 kilowatt solar power system and be outfitted with efficient appliances. Green building materials will be used throughout. It will [...]

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Google To Spend $10 Million On Electric Cars

June 19, 2007

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. [...]

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Groningen City: 57% Of All Trips Are By Bike

June 19, 2007

The On the Level: Car Free Blog has an interesting first-hand account of the bike-friendly city of Groningen in the Netherlands. According to the report, 57% of all trips are made by bicycle in this student town. The city has just completed a new underground bike park at their railway station. The post continues:
The station [...]

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Solar-Powered Boat Sails Across The Atlantic

June 18, 2007

A company called MW-Line in Switzerland has been busy creating solar catamarans for tourism operations, where quietness and clean fuels are major pluses. Their Sun21, a 46 foot catamaran, was the first boat to cross the Atlantic on solar power alone. The Sun21 is actually a commercially available solar Aquabus C60, which holds 60 passengers.

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Green Roofs Around The World

June 16, 2007

I found a nice collection of intriguing green roofs by an Australian green roof group.

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Honda’s Silcion-Free Solar Cells

June 14, 2007

Honda has begun selling new thin-film solar cells in Japan. The solar cells are made with a compound of copper, indium, gallium and selenium (CIGS), rather than the conventional silicon. The cells are said to be “greener” because there is less carbon dioxide generated during their production. Some pundits believe that CIGS cells may become [...]

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Multifaceted Eco-Tower For Siberia

June 14, 2007

Woah, plans are afoot to build this tower above the skyline of Khanty Mansiysk in Siberia. Set high on a hill in a densely wooded area, the tower rises above two podium buildings each faceted like a cut diamond, reflecting and refracting natural light to illuminate the interior. It will be a mixed-use building, providing [...]

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25 Houses Under 3000 Square Feet

June 13, 2007

As the Small House Society points out, compact homes are efficient in many ways: they require less power, they require less maintenance, they require less materials to build, and they have smaller environmental footprint. Another advantage is that you can invest in land, rather than spend money building a huge home.

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Solar Decathalon Preview

June 12, 2007

The Solar Decathlon is a competition held every four years in Washington D.C. The next Decathlon will be held in October, and twenty universities from around the world will be vying to build this year’s most efficient solar house. I’ll definitely be there to test the bedsprings and scrutinize the efficiency of the homes. But [...]

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A Zero Emissions House

June 11, 2007

(1) Wind Catcher for summer ventilation (2) Solar Array for electricity and hot water (3) High Level of Insulation (4) Biomass Boiler
In the UK, various companies are building cutting-edge green homes as part of the Offsite 2007 Exhibition. Yesterday saw the official launch of a “zero emissions house” called the Lighthouse built by the Kingspan [...]

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Rapid-Charging Electric SUV Demonstrated

June 11, 2007

Recently, Phoenix Motorcars demonstrated their plug-in electric SUV that will go on sale in 2008. The SUV uses AltairNano’s fast-charge lithium-ion battery technology for power. The vehicle has a top speed of about 100 miles per hour, and its range is about 250 miles. Here’s a video of the SUV in action.

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World’s First Solar-Powered Phone: Now Available

June 7, 2007

We’ve seen prototypes for solar-powered cell phones, but now a Chinese company claims to have developed the world’s first commercially available solar-powered cellphone. The company says a scale-like solar panel on the top side of the phone can also be recharged by light from artificial sources. It can provide 40 minutes of talk-time after sitting [...]

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First 100% Solar Powered Community In California Opens

June 7, 2007

Solara is the first apartment community in California to be fully powered by the sun. The 56-unit apartment community, which opened yesterday, has some pretty impressive green features. The community has rooftop solar arrays that provide 140 kilowatts of power in total. The solar panels provide 100% power for the entire residential complex, and, on [...]

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The Midwest’s First Green Tower

June 6, 2007

The Roberts Tower, will be the first certified-green high-rise building in the Midwest. It has been designed to achieve a Gold LEED (Leadership in Energy Efficient Design) Certification by the US Green Building Council. The condos will have bamboo floors, high-efficiency insulated windows and efficient appliances. They will also use geothermal energy for heating and [...]

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First Japanese Solar Powered Condo

June 5, 2007

This condo complex, called the Grandia Solare, is said to be the first of its kind in Japan. Each apartment gets 1530 watts of solar power from the building’s roof. Apparently the solar cells are owned by a third-party, so the upfront cost of the panels was not passed on to the condo’s residents. The [...]

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