Solar Decathlon 2011, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) solar architecture contest, has wrapped up. While there is an overall winner, there are also winning teams for different topics (e.g. affordability, engineering, communications, home entertainment, and more). All of the winners are below, along with notes on why most of them won.
The serial entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson brought to life an international need and business opportunity centered on thermally upgrading existing buildings, the world’s biggest users of energy. NYC’s Empire State Building was able to reduce its energy use by 40% thanks to a retrofit. Sir Richard founded the “Carbon War Room” based in Washington D.C. to unite international entrepreneurs, business leaders, researchers, policy experts, thinkers, to focus on solutions, not rhetoric, in efforts to tangibly combat climate change while creating 1000’s of “green” jobs.
Top energy efficiency news of the past week or so (other than what we’ve covered):
Vertical farm concepts for the urban environment are not new, but now, a Swedish-American architectural design company (Plantagon) seems to have solved once of the biggest challenges of urban vertical farming: the need for uniform, sufficient natural light to provide even growth of vertically-farmed plants.
143 meters tall, rising above the crowd in Central London, Strata SE1 (or “the Razor” as it is popularly called, due to its sharp, angular design), is the first skyscraper in the world “to have electricity-generating wind turbines built into its core design ‘fabric’.” Michael Ricciardi of Planetsave … [continued]
By 2020, we will use more energy storing all of our virtual lives “on the cloud” than we will by flying in airplanes. As we all add more and more of all of our all-too-easily-uploaded data to humanity’s ever growing attic where all our virtual stuff is stored, the need … [continued]
Taiwan’s Taipei 101 was the tallest building in the world from 2004-2007. Now, it is looking to become the world’s tallest GREEN building. [social_buttons] The building’s owner, Taipei Financial Center Corp (TFC), is putting in $1.9 million to give this 101-story building a green makeover.
Abu Dhabi is going far beyond its borders to build a zero carbon footprint city in Masdar. Clean technology leaders from across the global are helping to build Masdar City, which is being designed to use only renewable power and convert its waste to energy. The innovative city of 40,000 … [continued]
umissgym: Is it just me, or is it hot in here? The social media craze has hit building automation, as the campus at the University of Mississippi will soon be broadcasting its energy consumption via Twitter and Facebook updates. In partnership with smart grid company SmartSynch, Ole Miss has created … [continued]
