Buildings

When innovative buildings pop up in the news, no one is ever surprised to hear that the next architectural wonder will be built in the UAE. Dubai, Bahrain, and Abu Dhabi all seem to be competing in the green building department. The eventual goal is for buildings to generate much of their own energy. Burj-al-Taqa (translated to mean energy tower), which will hopefully break ground in Dubai soon, follows this principle and will supposedly be completely self-sufficient. Plans for its creation began in 2007 when the German architect Eckhard Gerber, dreamt up the design. Virtual images of the building popped up in hundreds of articles and we all wondered if this candle-shaped building would...

Sitting on a beach is the last thing most of us think about in the cold month of December, but it is an appealing escape. Beaches are the most popular destination spot and who could blame the millions of tourists whose tension is washed away by warm waves, exotic drinks and sunny skies. Nothing is ever perfect, though. The ocean may be too cold, and the sand is often scalding hot. It is just the nature of the beast and humans have to accept the fact that we cannot control everything. Yet, designers in Dubai may disagree. The Palazzo Versace Hotel, breaking ground on Dubai's coastline, is planning on creating its very own climate. The hotel's sand will never burn sensitive soles thanks to a network of heat...

Research teams at Clemson, UCLA and the University of Southampton in the UK are pioneering novel nanoscale sensors for detecting environmental toxins and other harmful airborne chemical and biological agents. At Clemson, researchers have developed nanoscale cantilevers that potentially could be placed in a handheld device and used for real-time chemical alerts in detecting harmful gases on the battlefield, in healthcare and even at home. The nanoscale cantilevers look like tiny diving boards under an electron microscope. Researchers have found that the cantilevers can vibrate much like a guitar string. By measuring the amplitude and frequency under different conditions, the scientists...

Venice floods more than one hundred times a year. At the beginning of this month, Venice was caught in another onslaught, as the sea level around the city rose higher than most people can remember. The last time locals and countless visitors had to wade through water this deep was over thirty years ago. It is floods like the most recent one that make it clear how important a flood barrier really is. Things were different a century ago when floods occurred at an average of ten times a year, but Venice has always been sensitive to changes in water levels because the city itself is built on hundreds of small islands. It doesn't help that Venice is sinking a few centimeters every year, as...

An apartment with a view is coveted property. After a hard day at work, sitting down in front of a panoramic window while sipping a glass of wine is a wonderful way to unwind. A decent view is hard to come by. Not only that, but when actually given options, it may be hard to decide between the ocean view, city view, west side, or east side facing apartments. The answer: Individual rotating floors. Just make a choice and viola! The apartment slowly turns to face whatever you are in the mood to see that day. Dubai, home to 1/3 of the world's cranes, is constantly expanding. High rise buildings, hotels and skyscrapers are popping up like daisies. The latest technology and newest ideas are...

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...