Buildings

Solar panels have been the topic of thousands of articles over the past couple of years. It seems like everyone is going pro-solar, but there is one thing that few people have addressed: Dirt. Solar panels glisten in the sun after first being installed, and make any building look modern, shiny and new when viewed from above. But after a little while, these panels reflect a little less and don't function as well. Tree branches hanging overhead drop sap onto anything below, flocks of birds leave behind a mess after spending the night overhead while dust, grime and mold adds to the layers of dirt already coloring the solar panels a splotchy brown. Dirt is a major problem with solar panels...

Few plants show up on the table in as many forms as the soybean. This hairy legume has been an important component of various foods and drugs in asia for over 5,000 years. In that time, it has been squeezed, pressed, boiled and engineered into soymilk, tofu, edamame, sprouts, flour, or vegetarian cheeses. Soybean oils are also found in soaps, cosmetics, plastics, clothes and biodiesel. Soy is everywhere and now we can literally surround ourselves with the stuff by using it as foam insulation in our homes. Insulation is appealing to homeowners because it reduces energy costs: A properly insulated home will stay cool in the summer and warm in the winter since the flow of heat...

Cities are hot: Filled with skyscrapers, traffic and hot pavement, heat simmers between buildings causing the "heat island effect". Stagnant heat is trapped in the narrow city gaps and air conditioners cooling the inside of buildings spill even more heat out the walls. Trees offering natural cooling and shade are minimal and soil that helps water evaporation (thereby cooling the area) is non existent. Replacing the trees and soil are dark streets that store heat and reach temperatures up to 70F (21C) hotter than lighter surfaces. Stifling heat is depressing (unless you're at the beach), and the added smog and clouds that form because of it, don't help matters either. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) states that...

The great mosque of Djenne looms over one of the larger marketplaces in Mali, Africa. On the flat brown flood planes, mud walls up to 24 inches thick bear the weight of what looks like a giant sand castle. Protruding from the structure are carefully placed wooden poles and ostrich eggs adorn the tips of the spires at the mosque entrance. A mosque has stood in the spot since the 13th century. This is quite a feat since the incredible structure is made from nothing more than sun-baked mud bricks and mud. The original mud used for the mosque fell to the ground centuries ago and the current structure has stood in its place since 1906, but the size and overall strength of the building proves...

Steam rises from the never-ending stretch of road ahead. What looks like water rolling over the street, is just heat escaping. Walking on the blacktop barefoot would leave anyone but a fire-walker grunting in pain. Our planet is covered with a web of streets and this cement absorbs and stores an abundance of the sun's energy. Researchers at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), are looking into ways of using this heat as yet another renewable energy source. They have already developed solar collectors that would transfer the energy into electricity. The ball started rolling with the president of Novotech Inc., Michael Hulen, who funded the research project meant to prove the efficiency of Novotech's patented heat absorbing design. Based in Acton, Massachusetts, Novotech is one of the biggest suppliers of infrared optical and semiconductor materials. WPI's research was presented at the Annual Symposium of the International Society for Asphalt Pavements August 18-20, in Zurich, but like...

Cement is good for hiding whatever lies underneath. Old mob movies bring to mind laughing goons pouring the wet grey slurry over an unlucky victim, while rotting garbage is buried underground and sometimes paved over. Cement is not seen in a positive light, especially not when it comes to the environment. The innovative mind of John Harrison thought up the idea of using waste (typically industrial and carbon) in cement, rather than simply producing cement to pave around it. Harrison, managing director at Australia's TecEco, founded a company with the goal of producing a building material with a positive environmental impact. Now a brand name, eco-cement is a limestone base (like all cements) mixed with magnesium oxide which is heated in a kiln and turned to powder. This powder will eventually be added to gravel and water to form cement. The magnesium oxide in eco-cement lowers the kiln...

Only an extreme libertarian would claim there is no role for government.  In the face of population growth, aging infrastructure, and myriad new, cleaner and more sustainable ways to deliver energy, water and transportation resources, there is much to be done by the public sector.  Green public works will create wealth and resource abundance.  Green public works must include massive new infrastructures and determining what these will be is a qualitatively focused and very subjective exercise - despite the advances of science.  In California, the self-proclaimed greenest state in the USA, what are these green infrastructure investments we should make? BUILD DESALINATION PLANTS - Upgrade California's existing coastal power facilities to also include desalination capability.  This would allow desalination plants to be more easily built since their construction would...

Nothing beats natural light. And nothing is more depressing than a gloomy room forced into darkness by the neighbor's wall. Windows help add warmth to any room, while the natural lighting allows homeowners to run around the house without the need to turn on as many lights. Not only that, but the ventilation provided by an open window slows the growth of the fuzzy green molds known for taking over the soggy windowless bathroom walls found in your first apartment and many dorms. Solatube International, founded in the early 80s and one of the first companies to design a tubular daylighting system, allows homeowners to bring natural light to any part of their home by running a flexible tube from their roofs to other areas of the building. Extra windows and skylights are a burden to install and can be incredibly costly. Not only that, but small bathrooms, centralized rooms and hallways may not have space or...

It is getting hard to keep track of all the credible companies delivering advanced structural building materials.  It's fine to call something "green" that has a high recycled materials content, low embodied energy, doesn't offgas unhealthy toxins, doesn't include toxic materials, and has superb insulation value, but this is only half the story.  Many of these products are interesting for two reasons that have more to do with the other green, the color of money; they cost less, and they require less labor to assemble. Here are some companies we've reported on before that fill the "green building block" criteria:  Perform Wall manufactures (approximately) 1′ x 1′ x 2′ bricks of a...

It isn't fog that rolls down the hill these days, but smog. Cars spill noxious fumes out their tailpipes and factories send plumes of smoke into the air. It has come to the point where holding your breath is the only solution when wandering across the street or between shops. These problems won't exist in Masdar, Abu Dhabi the world's first carbon neutral city. Launched in 2007, the completion of this highly ambitious plan will occur around 2020. No cars or any other polluting vehicles are allowed in the city, waste and water are recycled, while recyclable plastics and cement will be used during construction. It is estimated that up to 80% of water used during irrigation will be recycled: water seeps through the earth and while some is absorbed by the plants, the rest will flow into a collection area to be reused again later, while fencing used during construction will eventually be...