If there's something we're seeing more of it's container projects.  And nothing brings out emotion like a shipping container project.  Some argue that the benefits of using containers for a structure's framework are negligible, if any, while others argue that container projects are too austere.  Or industrial.  Nonetheless, as long as you're building with old containers, we'll likely keep talking about the greener ones.  In the mean time, feel free to review the best of this year (click the text links for more images and information).

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We all know design will do a lot of the work in making a building green, but technology is important, too.  Over the past year, we've seen some interesting innovation in a broad category of articles we call building-related green technology.  Solar innovation is hot, and small wind — albeit heavily scrutinized — is doing some things also.  So, check out this retrospective on green technology in the built environment (click the text links for more images and information). 

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Notwithstanding all the factors hammering the real estate world in 2009, we had the opportunity to cover over sixty-two innovative green homes.  Forward thinkers all over the country, and the world for that matter, are finding ways to develop, renovate, design, and build greener homes in different ways.  Some are more affordable.  Some are more efficient.  Some are certified at the highest level.  Some are prefabricated in days.  They're all interesting and innovative.  Click the text links below for more images and information.

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Are you on Twitter yet?  If you're not, I hope you'll get there soon, because the conversation is good.  And the sharing is getting better, too.  You may have noticed we have a "retweet" button at the end of each article.  It's been fun to see how far and wide topics can spread with these buttons. 

Along these lines, if you're on Twitter, you may have noticed the roll out of lists.  It seems like a great idea and we're going to try to get more out of it.  We've built up the following lists and want to add friends of Jetson Green to the right category.  Drop a comment with your Twitter handle and the appropriate list group, and we'll add you to it. 

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In a few hours, the U.S. Department of Energy will announce final results of the Solar Decathlon at the National Mall in Washington, D.C.  The Solar Decathlon is a competition of 20 teams of college and university students to design, build, and operate the most attractive, effective, and energy-efficient solar-powered house.  There are 10 subjective and objective contests in these categories: architecture, market viability, engineering, lighting design, communications, comfort zone, hot water, appliances, home entertainment, and net metering.  At this time, the engineering and net metering contests are the only scores that have not been released.  Is the suspense getting to you yet?

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