Fragile Earth

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DESIGN OF ZERO ENERGY COMMUNITIES

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An exciting new concept in sustainable urban and regional planning is the building of zero-energy communities. This is not a theoretical concept as one community has already done it. This community is the Island of Samso in Denwark. In size, it is approximately equal to the size of Nantucket. What Samso did was to implement an integrated system of alternative energy systems at the community level, with the entire community sharing in all the costs and benefits. District heating plants use straw waste to provide steam heat to buildings throughout the island. Biofuel fuel is used to replace the use of oil in automobiles. Wind turbines and solar photovoltaic sells are used to generate electricity. Improved methods of building construction and insulation have reduced the cost of heating and cooling buildings, while geothermal heat pumps which draw on the constant temperature of the underground air have proved to significantly reduce the cost of heating and air-conditionig buildings. Samso has been so successful that it now is a zero-energy community that exports energy to surrounding areas. Following are examples of renewable atlternative energy sources that can be used to help a community make itself into a zero-energy community.

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Biofuels

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Biofuels are plant materials or waste that can be converted to solid fuels or liquid fuels such as ethanol. Even food cooking waste oil can be collected and, after being filter, can be directly used as a fuel in specially converted biodiesel vehicles.

Geothermal Power

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Geothermal energy production is a renewable energy source that extracts the heat from the earth's interior. The cost of geothermal energy production is greatly dependent upon how close to the earth's surface are located geothermal vents. In locations such as Iceland and Hawaii where there exists active volcanic activity, geothermal energy is an attractive source of renewable energy. Pictured above is a geothermal power plant built in Iceland.

Solar Power Plants

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Solar power, or energy from the sun, is by the earth's most abundant renewable energy source. Unfortunately, while having great potential, last year solar energy production accounted for only 0.02 percent of the world's energy consumption. With concern about global warming, however, governments are providing financial incentives for solar energy production, which helps to create demand and bring down the cost of solar energy technologies. Also, new approaches for solar energy production are being developed, such as that illustrated above where solar rays are concentrated in a single collecting mirror that allows for the building of large solar energy power plants. Examples of such solar energy power plants include the 46 MW Moura solar power plant in Portugal, the 40 MW Waldpolenz solar power plant in Germany, and the 11 MW PS10 solar power plant (illustrated above) in Seville, Spain.

Wind Energy Farms

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Wind energy is another form of renewable energy. Modern wind turbines have become very efficient at transferring the energy of the wind to electricity. To demonstrate the potential of wind energy, electrical generation from wind turbines grew by 28.8 percent world-wide last year. Two innovative new uses of wind energy are: (1) specially designed new wind turbines that can be mounted on the roofs of urban buildings; and (2) the idea of creating a smart grid where wind energy can be exported from areas of high winds to urban areas needing the energy. Another innovative proposal is to build a grid of wind turbines in the upper midwest of the U.S. to provide cheap energy to extract natural gas from lands containing oil shale.

DESIGN OF SUSTAINABLE "GREEN" BUILDINGS

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The heating, cooling and lighting of our buildings accounts for 48 percent of all U.S. energy consumption. As such, building energy usage is the greatest contributor to green house gases and global warming. This will only increase as the world becomes more urbanized and the built environment represents a greater and greater portion of our environment. Stormwater runoff from buildings is also one of the greatest non-point sources of water pollution, while the manufacturer of synthetic materials used in the construction of buildings leads to hazardous waste and an increasing number of "sick" buildings. One example of a community that has made a commitment as part of its sustainable urban and regional planning to attempt to convert all buildings in the community to sustainable "green" buildings is the town of Greensburg, Kansas. After being devastated by a tornado, the town enlisted the support of various corporate sponsors and enlisted the help of the non-profit studio 804 of the University of Kansas to help rebuild the community with "green" buildings. Following is a discussion of methods of constructing "green" buildings so as to promote a more sustainable environment.

Green Roofs

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Green roofs are one of the most visible ways to build more sustainable, "green" buildings. A study conducted for Toronto, Canada estimated that the installation of green roofs on buildings could: reduce the heat island effect of urban areas by 1 to 2 degrees C, reduce smog alerts in cities by 5 to 10 percent, absorb CO2 emissions from automobiles and thus reduce green house gases, reduce the energy needs of buildings for heating and air conditioning, filter storm run-off and thus reduce water pollution, and expand recreational and open space in urban areas by creating roof-top gardens.

Solar Photovoltaic Panels

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Solar photovoltaic panels are used to convert the sun's energy into electricity. A converter is used to convert the electricity from DC to AC electricity. Any excess electricity can be stored in batteries or exported to the electrical grid and sold to the local electrical utility.

Solar Hot Water Systems

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Solar hot water systems are systems that absorb the heat of the sun to heat water for the use within a building.

Passive Solar

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Passive solar is any means to use the heat from the sun to provide for the heating or energy needs of a building without any means of mechanical assistance. The easiest method of passive solar involves the proper siting of a building to take advantage of the sun when it is at a low horizon or angle, but to provide shading when the sun is at its highest during the hottest part of the day. Another means of passive solar design is to build the floor of a building with some type of thermal mass such as concrete that absorbs the heat - and releases the heat at night when it is cooler.

Wind Turbines on Buildings

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Previously, wind turbines as an energy source were typically not located on building or within urban areas. With the concern about green energy and global warming, however, new technologies have recently been developed to allow wind turbines to be built on top of buildings -- and be able to deal with the shifting wind directions typical of urban areas. As such, wind turbines are increasingly a part of sustainable green buildings.

Recycled Cellulose Insulation

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Traditional fiberglass insulation is harmful to the environment both in its manufacturer and in its use. A more eco-friendly type of insulation is recycled cellulose insulation. The cellulose can come from such diverse sources as recycled newspapers or recycled blue jeans.

Geothermal Heating and Cooling

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Geothermal heating and cooling involves the use of ground source heat pumps to take advantage of the fairly constant ground temperature to reduce the cost of normal heat pumps to provide for heating and cooling. Wells are dug to a depth of typically 200 feet to obtain a source of air that is approximately 55 degrees year around. This reduces the need for cooling the outside air for air conditioning in the summer and for heating the outside air in the winter, and thus provides for a more efficient form of heating and air conditioning of buildings.

Natural Ventilation - to Vent Hot Air

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Another method of sustainable green building design is to incorporate means of natural ventilation into a building to vent hot air in the summer time, and thus reduce the need for energy used for air conditioning.

EXAMPLES OF SUSTAINABLE "GREEN" BUILDINGS

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Following are examples of "green" buildings incorporating sustainable design principles.

Sustainable Proposed Eco-Laboratory Building in Seattle, Washington

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One example of a proposed sustainable "green" building is the Ecolaboratory building to be built on the 7,200 square foot P-patch in the Belltown neighborhood of downtown Seattle. Conceived by Weber Thompson, it is proposed that the main living units of the building be constructed of recycled shipping containers. All water, including black and gray water, is to be recycled for the use of residents and landscaping water needs. Residents will be able to individually control the amount of their natural ventilation by the design of what are referred to as "earth tubes." Solar hot waters panels will provide for the heating of hot water. Also providing energy for the building will be photovoltaic solar panels, biomass conversion, and even hydrogen fuel cells - to generate electricity.

Eco-Laboratory in Seattle, Washington - Green Building

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Another illustration of the Eco-Laboratory building in Seattle, Washington, conceived by Weber Thompson.

Duke University's Sustainable "Smart Home" - Green Building

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To demonstrate how a sustainable home can be constructed, Duke University in conjunction with Home Depot has built a sustainable "smart home" demonstration. It has received a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) platinum rating, the highest level rating. It includes solar water panels for hot water heating, 18 photovoltaic solar panels that generate 3 kW of electricity, a vegetated green roof planted with sedums that are drought tolerant and capture and filter rainwater while providing roof insulation, rainwater collection for irrigation of the grass of the site, Energy Star appliances, and recycling of construction waste materials.

Environmental Nature Center in Orange County, California - Green Building

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An example of a sustainable green building that takes advantage of natural ventilation is the Environmental Nature Center in Orange County, California.

Proposed Independence Station Building in Oregon - Green Design

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The proposed Independence Station building claims that, when constructed, it will be the highest rated Platinum LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) building in the world. It will include almost all of the various approaches to green building design (green roof, photovoltaic solar panels to generate electricity, passive solar hot water heating, geothermal heating and cooling, rainwater harvesting, etc.)

Platinum Rated - Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, Arkansas

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The Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, Arkansas is the first presidential library to be designed green. When it opened, it received a silver LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) award, but has since been upgraded to the highest award level -- i.e. a platinum award. It has a green roof with approximately 90 different types of plants, solar panels, and includes a wetlands next to it that is protected as part of the library.

Living Roof of the California Academy of Science in San Francisco

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One of the best examples of a building design with a green roof is the "living roof" of the newly constructed California Academy of Science in San Francisco.

Costa Rica -- Green Building

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Above is the interior of the Celeste Mountain Lodge in Costa Rica.

BedZED Eco-Village

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The BedZED Eco-Village located in Wallington, South London, England is intended to be a zero-energy, carbon neutral community development. Opened since 2002, it is designed to house 100 families, community facilities, and office space for 100 workers. Developed by Peabody Trust in conjunction with Bioregional Development Corporation and designed by architect Bill Dunster, its homes are designed to use only 10 percent of the energy of a typical home.

The Brighton "Earthship" - Experimental Sustainable Green Building

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The Brighton Earthship is an experimental sustainable building near Stamner Park, Brighton, East Sussex, England. Its walls are made from recycled tires and it is built semi-underground to use the insulation properties of the earth itself. It includes a windmill and passive and active solar heating, as well as geothermal heating and cooling.

Brighton Earthship - Green Building

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The Brighton Earthship.

Greensburg, Kansas Arts Center - Platinum Green Building

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The first LEED (leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum rated "green building" constructed in the state of Kansas is the Greensburg, Kansas Arts Center. Designed by the non-profit 804 Studio of the University of Kansas and constructed as part of the rebuilding of the town of Greensburg after it was devastated by a tornado, the building has 3 Kestrel wind turbines that produce 600 watts of electricity. In the basement is a Xantrec converter that transforms the electricity from DC to AC electricity that is either used to provide electricity for the building, is stored in a bank of 12 batteries for future use, or is sold to the city. The building also has 8 photovoltaic solar panels on the roof that also produce electricity. Finally, the building also has three 200-feet deep geothermal heating and cooling wells that draw cool 55 degree air from the ground in the summer and use the same 55 degree air for heating in the winter. The building exterior incoporates passive solar design in the form of specially designed tempered glass that is 10 times stronger than a car windshield that blocks UV rays while the building floor consists of 4 inches of concrete to absorb and retain heat in the winter. Skylights in the roof provide natural lighting while sensors automatically turn off the lights in the center if no one is in a room. The roof itself is a "green" roof covered with sedum, a succulent plant that helps to absorb UV rays and thus keep the building cool in the summer. Similarly, the soil medium helps to keep the building warm in the winter and filters the rainwater which is collected from the building in 1500 gallon cistern, with the rainwater then used to water the native buffalo grass lawn. To further promote sustainability, the building itself is insulated with a cellulose insulation made from recycled newspapers.

SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORTATION

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Transporation accounts for twenty-eight percent of our current energy usage. This is primarily in the form of oil/petroleum products such as gasoline and diesel fuel. The use of such oil products adversely contributes to carbon emissions, and thus global warming. It also accounts for the primary sources of smog. As such, to design a more sustainable future requires us to rethink our current methods of transportation and new, improved methods to reduce air pollution and energy usage.

Non-sustainable Transportation

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The above photograph illustrates the non-sustainable nature of our current transportation system where our society is primarily dependent upon gasoline powered automobiles which dominant our cities and communities, creating air pollution and a dependence upon foreign oil.

Example of Non-sustainable Current Transportation

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Agove is another example of non-sustainable current transportation design.

Walkable, Pedestrian-Friendly Streets

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All transportation begins with pedestrians. At some point, we must get out of our cars or other means of transportation and walk from place to place. Unfortunately, not enough attention has been given in the past to the creation of walkable, pedestrian-friendly streetscapes. If we want to reduce air pollution and energy usage from transportation, however, we need to reclaim our streets to include a place for pedestrians.

Bicycling

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If we want to build more sustainable communities, we need to provide for every form of low-impact transportation, including bicycling.

Solar Cell Car

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One emerging method of reducing air pollution and energy usage from transportation are cars powered by solar energy cells.

Solar Car

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Solar Car

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Mass Transit

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Mass transit is another method that we can reduce air pollution and energy usage from transportation. Mass transit includes buses, trains and light-rail mass transit.

Baltimore, Maryland Light Rail Mass Transit

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Light Rail Mass Transit in Houston, Texas

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High Speed Train/Mass Transit in Taiwan

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Low Emission Electric Hybrid Cars

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Plug-in electric hybrid cars are still another way to reduce air pollution and energy usage from transportation. Electric hybrid cars are eco-friendly because they combine gasoline engines with electric batteries. The electric batteries are recharged by plugging in at night. When driving using the electric batteries as power, the cars emit no emissions. When combined with solar panels at homes to recharge the batteries, they present an eco-friendly car.

Toyota Prius Electric Hybrid Car

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Smart For Two Electric Hybrid Car

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AC Propulsion EBox Electric Hybrid Car

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Warren Buffett's BYD E6 Electric Hybrid Car

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Hydrogen Fuel Car Cars -- Zero Emission Vehicles (ZEV)

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The ultimate new green transportation technology to allow us to reduce air pollution and energy usage from transportation are hydrogen fuel cell cars. Using hydrogen fuel made from water and air, the only emissions from hydrogen fuel cell cars is water vaor.

Volkswagen Space Up Blue Hydrogen Fuel Cell Car

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Toyota FCHV Hydrogen Fuel Cell Car

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Mitsubishi Nessie Hydrogen Fuel Cell Car

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Mazda Premacy Hydrogen Fuel Cell Car

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Mercedes BlueZero Hydrogen Fuel Cell Car

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Hyundai Tucson FCEV Hydrogen Fuel Cell Car

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Cadillac Provoq Hydrogen Fuel Cell Car

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Ford Focus Hydrogen Fuel Cell Car

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Fiat Panda Hydrogen Fuel Cell Car

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Chrysler Eco-Voyager Hydrogen Fuel Cell Car

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BMW Hydrogen Fuel Cell Car

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Audi Hydrogen Fuel Cell Car

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Honda Hydrogen Fuel Cell Car

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Recents concern about the impact of global warming upon the world's climates and increased pollutiion and despoilation of natural habitats have introduced the concept of environmental and ecological sustainability as a criterion against which to judge all human activity. Sustainable design and urban and regional planning is the philosophy of designing and planning the human-built environment to comply with principles of economic, social and ecological sustainability. Originally first articulated as a criterion for urban design and planning back in the 1970's by Richard Hopper (then Hawaii's State Environmental Planning Coordinator) both in an article published in the magazine of the American Planning Association and as part of an effort he led to develop a "Quality Growth Policy for the State of Hawaii," sustainability is no longer a concept limited to the field of biology. Instead, as Hopper articulated back in the 1970's all natural and man-made systems have an inherent carrying-capacity that can either be: (1) used as a limit for growth; (2) ignored and exceeded with the consequence of thus degrading the system; or (3) expanded through new technologies and method of design and planning. As such, applying the concepts of sustainability and carrying-capacity to the design of our man-made built environment helps to protect the quality of both our man-made and natural environment.

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One of the first individuals to arouse concern about the impact that modern society was having on the environment was Rachel Carson in her book "Silent Spring." In her book, she described how chemicals such as DDT could have a cumulative negative impact that was not immediately recognized, and how we could use various animal species such as birds to predict the impact that chemicals would eventually have on humans. Meanwhile, in the 1970's, a group called the Club of Rome published a book titled "The Limits on Growth" that predicted some of the long-range negative impacts of increasing human population growth. The creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of various pollution control laws in the 1970's reflected the public's increasing awareness of the quality of the environment at that time. It is only recently, however, that the problems of global warming and climate change have caused the general public to be aware that the design and planning of our built-environment can either lock us into a pattern of energy wastefulness and pollution -- or can be part of the solution to increased energy conservation and pollution control. As a consequence, urban design and planning has come to the forefront of public policy in helping to find a way to a more sustainable future.

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One of the first principles of sustainable design and urban planning is to recognize that we are all connected, and what one of us does affects us all. As such, sustainable design and urban planning is about creating sustainable "communities." This means that we need to be concerned not only with the direct and obvious negative environmental impacts that can be traced to our individual actions, but that we also need to address the collective and cumulative impacts of our societal activities. That is where urban and regional design and planning comes in. Urban and regional design and planning is how we as a community or society can work cooperatively to build sustainable communities. Urban and regional design and planning consists of three components: (1) research to identify problems; (2) brain-storming through design charettes and other means to develop alternatives; and (3) public participation to reach consensus on proposed means of implementation. Urban and regional design and planning, however, does not replace the political process in making the ultimate decision on implementation actions such as revised zoning, public infrastructure funding, etc. What urban and regional design and planning does is to help promote informed decision-making and a long-range vision to guide development. In this context, what sustainable design and urban planning does is to include sustainability is a criterion to help guide development decisions.

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Sustainable design and urban planning is guided by several principles borrowed from biology or the natural environment. These include the concepts of: (1) connectedness; (2) renewability; (3) efficiency; (4) minimization of externalities or negative impacts; and (5) carrying-capacity. Urban planners and designers that are interested in achieving sustainable development and communities use a variety of new urban design and planning principles and techniques to help achieve these concepts or goals of sustainability. These include smart growth strategies, new urbanism designs, sustainable urban infrastructure, new green building codes and designs, and new strategies to bring the natural environment back into our urban man-made environment. Following is a discussion of some of these techniques, beginning with new technological and building-design techniques and ending with sustainable land-use management techniques.

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RECYCLING AND RESOURCE RECOVERY - Recycling and resource recovery is the other sustainable method of dealing with waste. In the 1970's, the U.S. EPA took the lead in helping to promote recycling and resource recovery. This included funding demonstrations of curb-side recycling and the construction of resource recovery plants that separated waste and burned what remained as a form of waste-to-energy. The U.S. EPA even funded the construction of a pyrolysis system which converted municipal garbage to oil. This was after the first Earth Day and the Arab oil embargo under the Carter presidency. Unfortunately, despite what other positive accomplishments that President Reagan might have achieved in helping bring about the end of the Cold War, Reagan eliminated the federal government's involvement in municipal garbage, including recycling and resource recovery programs, and furthermore eliminated all alternative renewable energy programs. Reagan even removed the solar panels on the roof of the White House that had been installed by President Carter. The consequence is that all the advancements in recycling and resource recovery since then have been undertaken by the individual states and municipalities. In this regard, while most cities in Europe and Japan have since then built waste-to-energy resource recovery plants as an alternative source of energy, the United States with its up-to-now cheap sources of energy has not built any new municipal waste-to-energy plants since the early 1980's (though industry has built many such plants). Instead, the focus in the United States has been our source separation and recycling. This still leaves, however, the greater bulk of municipal waste that has to be landfilled. As such, to make our cities and urban areas more sustainable and to decrease our dependence upon foreign oil, perhaps it is now time to renew our research and other efforts to find clean ways to convert waste to energy. One promising technique would eliminate all carbon emissions is plasmas gasification. Pyrolysis has also been used not to simply burn garbage, but to convert it to charcoal. The charcoal is then used in agriculture to enrich the soil. This has an added benefit of serving as a carbon sink to capture carbon and put it back into the soil.

WASTE MANAGEMENT, INCLUDING WASTE REDUCTION, RECYCLING AND RESOURCE RECOVERY

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WASTE REDUCTION -- Waste is the ultimate externality or pollution produced by humans and all other living organisms. In the past, humans have dealt with waste primarily by simply discarding it upon the land. As the world becomes increasingly urbanized, however, waste that is simply thrown away upon the land becomes a primary cause of disease and water pollution. Also, landfills generate methane, a gas that contributes more to global warming than carbon dioxide. Also, we have to use carbon fuels to transport garbage to more and more distant landfill locations from our urban cities. Finally, the more technologically advanced we become as a society, the greater percentage of our wastes that come from chemicals and thus are hazardous wastes. All of this requires a new concept where we need to learn to design our built environment in ways that eliminate waste (or that starts to look at what were traditionally wastes as renewable resources). Because of tough pollution control laws in developed nations, many companies are already doing this with their wastes. But we need to do a better job of waste reduction where we incorporate this as a "sustainability" criterion in everything we do.

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Above is a schematic diagram of a successful municipal solid waste resourc recovery/waste-to-energy plant being operated to process the waste of Fairfax County, Virginia and the surrounding jurisdictions in Northern Virginia. Ironically, Richard Hopper who had previously developed a "Quality Growth Policy" for Hawaii and applied the concept of carrying-capacity to urban planning, went on to serve as the Technical Assistance Coordinator for the Resource Recovery Division of the Office of Solid Waste of the U.S. EPA. In this role, he helped to encourage communities such as Fairfax County to implement recycling and resource recovery programs (i.e. before the federal government's recycling and resource recovery program was eliminated during the Reagan administration). This included his authoring numerous magazine articles and publications about resource recovery.

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GREEN ROOFS

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Green Roofs - A new approach to building sustainable urban environments are buildings built with green roofs. Actually, this is an approach that might have been utilized to help cool one of the first cities in ancient times -- i.e. the hanging gardens of Babylon. Green buildings help reduce the "heat island effect" created by all the concrete of our urban areas that cause cities to be hotter than the surrounding area. This, in return, reduces the need for air-conditioning and energy usage. Green roofs also can help to absorb carbon dioxide from the air. Both can help reduce global warming. In this regard, on Earth Day of 2009, the City of New York announced incentives and regulations to actually require the conversion of buildings to green roofs where there can be shown to be an economic benefit. Chicago is another city to aggressively promote the conversion of buildings to green roofs. What makes green roofs attractive today are new plastic membranes that are laid on the roof to collect the rain water run-off. A special soil is then put on top of the membrane in which plants are grown. The plants in turn absorb much of the rain water, thus reducing the stormwater runoff produced from the building. Above is an example of a green building built recently in Fukuoda, Japan.

VERTICAL FARMING

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Vertical Farming -- Another variation on a green building is known as "vertical farming." This is a new concept to build high-rise farms (i.e. food grown in specially designed high-rise buildings) so as to reduce the transportation costs of bring food from the countryside to cities. In the proposed building shown above, wind turbines are installed on top of the building to provide energy for the building. Instead of growing the plants in soil, the proposal is to grown the plants using aeroponics. This is an approach where plants are hung in the air and a fine spray containing water and nutrients is sprayed on the roots of the hanging plants. The proposal is to collect rainwater and to store it in water tanks to supply the water. After spraying the roots of the plants, the excess water is then collected and re-used.

SOLAR BUILDINGS

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Solar Buildings - Another approach to the design of sustainable buildings is to install on buildings either passive solar systems to reduce the energy needs of a building or active solar systems such as solar hot water systems or solar photovoltaic panels to produce electricity. Above is a photograph of the K2 sustainable apartments in Windsor, Victoria, Australia that are built with not only both passive solar and solar photovoltaic systems, but also are made of recycled materials and include rainwater collection on the roofs.

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GREEN BUILDINGS - A new approach to building sustainable urban environments are green buildings. Actually, this is an approach that might have been utilized to help cool one of the first cities in ancient times -- i.e. the hanging gardens of Babylon. Green buildings help reduce the "heat island effect" created by all the concrete of our urban areas that cause cities to be hotter than the surrounding area. This, in return, reduces the need for air-conditioning and energy usage. Green buildings also can help to absorb carbon dioxide from the air. Both can help reduce global warming. In this regard, there are several approaches to designing green buildings. One is to hang vegetation from the side of buildings. This is a particular attractive way to design parking garages to be more eco-friendly. For existing buildings, however, the preferred approach is to build green roofs. Not only can such green roofs reduce the heat of urban areas, but they also can catch and filter rain runoff, thus reducing the contaminated stormwater runoff that otherwise flows into our rivers and bays. In this regard, on Earth Day of 2009, the City of New York announced incentives and regulations to actually require the conversion of buildings to green roofs where there can be shown to be an economic benefit. Chicago is another city to aggressively promote the conversion of buildings to green roofs. What makes green roofs attractive today are new plastic membranes that are laid on the roof to collect the rain water run-off. A special soil is then put on top of the membrane in which plants are grown. The plants in turn absorb much of the rain water, thus reducing the stormwater runoff produced from the building. Above is an example of a green building built recently in Fukuoda, Japan.

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Another variation on a green building is known as "vertical farming." This is a new concept to build high-rise farms (i.e. food grown in specially designed high-rise buildings) so as to reduce the transportation costs of bring food from the countryside to cities. In the proposed building shown above, wind turbines are installed on top of the building to provide energy for the building. Instead of growing the plants in soil, the proposal is to grown the plants using aeroponics. This is an approach where plants are hung in the air and a fine spray containing water and nutrients is sprayed on the roots of the hanging plants. The proposal is to collect rainwater and to store it in water tanks to supply the water. After spraying the roots of the plants, the excess water is then collected and re-used.

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SOLAR BUILDINGS - Another approach to the design of sustainable buildings is to install on buildings either passive solar systems to reduce the energy needs of a building or active solar systems such as solar hot water systems or solar photovoltaic panels to produce electricity. Above is a photograph of the K2 sustainable apartments in Windsor, Victoria, Australia that are built with not only both passive solar and solar photovoltaic systems, but also are made of recycled materials and include rainwater collection on the roofs.

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NEW ENERGY-EFFICIENT BUILDINGS MATERIALS

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New Energy Efficient Building Materials -- Most individuals do not realize that the heating and air-conditioning of our buildings accounts for over 50 percent of all our energy usage. One way to reduce such energy usage and to make our urban environments more sustainable is to construct our buildings with more energy-efficent materials. This includes better insulation for our homes and using new types of glass to regulate the amount of light allowed into buildings based upon the season of the year. For the construction of the swimming stadium for the Beijing Olympics, this same concept of regulating the amount of sunlight allowed into the building was used - but instead of glass, the exterior of the building was constructed of a special plastic "bubble-wrap" that could be electronically controlled so as to allow or restrict light into the building.

WIND TURBINES INSTALLED ON BUILDINGS

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Installation of Wind Turbines on Buildings -- Another approach to making buildings more energy efficient is to install wind turbines on them to generate electricity. The most radical example of such wind turbines installed on buildings is for a building recently built in Bahrain as shown above. Meanwhile, a new innovative type of wind turbine for buildings has been invented by Bil Becker of Chicago who has designed a special type of DNA shaped wind turbines to deal with the variable direction of the wind on top of buildings. His wind turbines are being tested on several buildings in downtown Chicago.

2009-04-21T01:20:00.003-07:00

NEW ENERGY-EFFICIENT BUILDING MATERIALS -- Most individuals do not realize that the heating and air-conditioning of our buildings accounts for over 50 percent of all our energy usage. One way to reduce such energy usage and to make our urban environments more sustainable is to construct our buildings with more energy-efficent materials. This includes better insulation for our homes and using new types of glass to regulate the amount of light allowed into buildings based upon the season of the year. For the construction of the swimming stadium for the Beijing Olympics, this same concept of regulating the amount of sunlight allowed into the building was used - but instead of glass, the exterior of the building was constructed of a special plastic "bubble-wrap" that could be electronically controlled so as to allow or restrict light into the building.

2009-04-21T01:20:00.002-07:00

INSTALLATION OF WIND TURBINES ON BUILDINGS -- Another approach to making buildings more energy efficient is to install wind turbines on them to generate electricity. The most radical example of such wind turbines installed on buildings is for a building recently built in Bahrain as shown above. Meanwhile, a new innovative type of wind turbine for buildings has been invented by Bil Becker of Chicago who has designed a special type of DNA shaped wind turbines to deal with the variable direction of the wind on top of buildings. His wind turbines are being tested on several buildings in downtown Chicago.

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