I just noticed this translucent surface material on Inhabitat yesterday, and it looks interesting. Bio-Glass is a Coverings Etc product that the company claims is both 100% recycled and recyclable. Like many other products on the market, this one is made with recycled bottles. However, according to Building Green, the product is made with either pre-consumer or post-consumer recycled content, or mixture of both, depending on the color.
By looking at it, you wouldn't know that this home was built in 1709. Or that it was on the "most endangered" list of the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation. But this newly restored home is a model and showcase of what can be done when sustainability intersects with preservation (or, to be more precise, restoration). Located on nearly an acre lot in Connecticut, the Stone/Shelley House was completed recently by Gulick and Spradlin.
Sloan Valve Company, manufacturer of water-efficient plumbing products, including the AQUS greywater system, last summer installed two small wind turbines in Illinois from Aerotecture International. The Franklin Park headquarters building now has two 712V Aerotecture vertical-axis models. One is over the front entrance and another is over the employee entrance, while both are ballasted to the roof.
The Living Building Challenge, run by the Cascadia Green Building Council, is growing in popularity these days. Referred to as one of the most advanced green building rating systems in the world, it's growing, I believe, in part because of its rigor. The Challenge is performance based, which means a project has to perform as modeled for one full year prior to receiving certification. Currently, four projects (see below) are racing to be the first to obtain Living Building Challenge certification.
The University of British Columbia’s Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS) will be a candidate to be regarded as one of the greenest buildings in North America once it is completed. The building, which is presently under construction in Vancouver, is not only a superb example of sustainability in building design, but its purpose is to foster and accelerate sustainability and to bring together researchers, businesses, and nonprofits to work collaboratively on issues of sustainability.
Project Profiles
