Green Building : Jetson Green

[Video] William McDonough on Natural World Design

This is a brand spanking new video of the inspiring William McDonough speaking at the World Future Energy Summit in January 2008.  He wrote the book on this topic -- and it's made of plastic for a reason.  In the video, McDonough talks about taking action:  Less bad is not good.  Efficiency per se won't cut it.  This is high quality, unmissable video.  You may find the following links helpful as you listen:

++Masdar - Zero Carbon, Zero Waste City in Abu Dhabi
++Office Building of the Future - Just Like a Tree!

Via scribe media.

The 32nd Street Eco-Infill Home

Prefab company Eco-Infill and architectural services firm Studio H:T designed this modular, green home to be the first LEED certified, factory-built home in Colorado.  The 32nd Street home was built with two staggered modules with the top module jutting out the back to create a shaded patio.  It's quite the great looking home, and as you can tell with the rendering above, it's all done (took about 7 months total from start to finish).  A recent article about the home in Rocky Mountain News reports that the home cost about $325,000 to construct and $150,000 for the land, which equals about $176 psf.  Not bad in Colorado. 

The 2,700 sf home is currently in the process of seeking LEED certification.  Maybe I'll drive down and check it out sometime.  Looks pretty close to the rendering below, too.   

++First LEED Certified Factory-built, Modular Home in Colorado [PDF]

Put Your Name on a Hippo Roller

I just want to take a quick second to plug a good cause and introduce you to Project H Design, if you haven't already heard of it.  Project H Design was founded by the talented Emily Pilloton, Managing Editor of Inhabitat, as a charitable organization that supports, inspires, and delivers product design initiatives for Humanity, Habitats, Health, and Happiness.  Right now, Project H Design is working on a case study with Hippo Roller. 

Best of Green Home Design 2008 [PopMech]

Popular Mechanics just published their yearly article, the Best of Green Design, which is a showcase of about 16 products and projects for your home.  Click the image above to read the whole list. 

Lighthouse, UK's First Zero-Emission, Carbon Neutral Home

In England, a handful of efficient demonstration homes have been built on the grounds of the Building Research Establishment Ltd, including "The Lighthouse," which is the first net zero carbon house in the UK.  The house is also the first to attain level six in the Code for Sustainable Homes, which indicates that it is carbon neutral. The two-bedroom house is only 93.3 square meters (barely over 1000 sq. ft.) in a 2-1/2 story building.  The building has solar panels and evacuated solar tubes on its roof, as well as making use of passive measures with ventilation chimneys.  It also incorporates rainwater catchment as part of the building design.

The materials used include highly insulated, airtight building fabric which has been designed to provide generous daylight levels and includes effective solar control, together with integrated building services based around a platform of renewable and sustainable technologies. These include water efficiency techniques, renewable energy technologies, passive cooling and ventilation, as well as mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR).

Mod Green Pod Offers Burst of Hip Eco-Fabrics

Mod Green Pod offers a burst of modern fun to the eco-fabric market.  The company also produces wonderful wallpaper patterns.  Their fabrics are 100% organic fabric and the wallpaper is vinyl-free.  The fabric is hand silk-screened, which is an incredibly tedious and artful process.  You can view photos of the printing process at their site.  They currently offer 8 pattern choices in about 30 colors.  The signature prints are bold, colorful, and totally modern.

Green Building Emerges as Bright Spot in Troubled Market

In the tradition of the Worldwatch Institute's State of the World annual summary, Greener World Media producers of GreenBiz.com (among other websites), last month released their first annual State of Green Business 2008 Report.  Joel Makower and his team of editors examined multiple categories in the green business arena from alternative energy vehicles to toxic emissions to determine the true state of green progress.  Although the report provides a mixed review, green building was identified as one of the more tangible signs of forward progress.  This is especially important given the downturn in the construction economy.

According to the report, the “green [building] market, [expanding] for years, began soaring in 2007, as several marquee projects opened their doors and some big-time initiatives were born.”

Russia Tower, Largest Building in World with Natural Ventilation System [S2]

Foster + Partners has quite the pipeline of projects and this supertall skyscraper, Russia Tower, is one of them.  Russia Tower is expected to be the tallest building in Europe, and one of the tallest in the world, coming in at a whopping 2,009 ft tall, just behind Taipei 101 and Burj Dubai.  Even further, it'll be the largest building in the world with a natural ventilation system.  Foster + Partners designed the building with an "energy cycle" system, which is a hot water circuit that runs through the building distributing the energy to regulate temperature and heat water.  The energy cycle system is intended to chart new territory in sustainable architecture. 

Stanford Students Freak Over Eco-friendly Showers

Stanford is progressive in its commitment to the environment, so it's not surprising that they swapped out 1,827 showerheads in the dorms over Christmas for low-flow, eco-friendly ones.  The retrofit reduces water flow from 2.5 gallons per minute to 1.3 gallons per minute per showerhead, saving Stanford an estimated total of 12 million gallons of water per year.  And California isn't exactly gushing with surplus water supplies, so it makes sense, right?  Well, not so fast.  Students came back from Christmas break and flipped.  They absolutely flipped.  Letter and email writing campaigns.  Editorial columns.  Meetings with University officials.  Etc.

50 Greenest Cities, Green Renovation, Nature Design, + Green Building Trends [WIR]

Here's my list of links that you should probably read.  No internal link rehashing here.

• America's 50 greenest cities.
• Amazing green space rejuvenates neighborhood.
• Green building trends, as observed at IBS.
• Special Report - using nature as a design guide.
• Turbines are eyesores, so let's put them on the high seas.
• Number of buildings earning Energy Star grew 25% in 2008.
• Dept. of Energy chooses teams for 2009 solar decathlon. 

Bonus - Two-Part Series on Green Renovation:

• How to Save with Green Renovation.
• Green Ideas for Your Next Home Renovation.

*WIR = Week in Review; a Saturday showcase of excellent links.