Ciralight caught the attention of a few attendees at this year’s Greenbuild 2007 exhibition.  Their flagship product, SunTrackerOne, is free-standing, solar-powered, and completely self-contained.  SunTrackerOne has three mirrors that track and reflect the sun into buildings through a thermal barrier, light well, and diffuser.  It’s different than passive lighting because it collects more light and diffuses it more effectively throughout a building.  This lighting system is a major green innovation to keep an eye on, especially since Ciralight touts a seductive 15 – 35% return on investment on energy savings alone.

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There’s a new online video show hosted by Alex Pettitt called Mainstream Green.  Their videos are high-quality and super informative.  Sometimes, it helps to see how things work, so I love to show video as often as possible.  The video above is on recycling and deconstruction.  The deconstruction guy says the cost of on-site deconstruction is comparable to waste removal.  That’s a good.  Generally, people are self-interested and when it becomes profitable to do the right thing, more and more people will start doing the right thing.  Makes sense doesn’t it?

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With the price of oil at $95 a barrel, economists estimate that U.S. households will spend an additional $90 billion on costlier gasoline.   Estimating our population at 300 million, that’s an average of $300 per person.   Between my wife and I, that means we’re giving up $600 of our economic pie to the recently increased cost of transportation, on average.

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In China, there’s a massive exodus from the rural to urban areas, but it’s controlled because the country doesn’t have enough housing for everyone that wants to live in a city.  At the same time, urbanization accentuates the air and soil pollution problems.  So, Knafo Klimor Architects proposed an agro-housing project that blends agriculture and high-rise housing in one structure.  This agro-housing project brings the food-supply directly to the building, and to the extent that residents can realize the benefits of urban farming, there is a decreased reliance on transportation for agricultural products (shopping and delivery to stores).  Plus, with the building’s integrated water capture systems, the project has the potential to reduce water consumption and runoff.  Residents could make money off the crops, too. 

This agro-housing project is going to be built in Wuhan, China.  As you can see from the renderings, the building has quite the elaborate labyrinth to control water, air, and heat.  Structurally, it will be made with SIPs and a majority of the materials will come from steel, aluminum, and terracotta — all materials that can be recycled at the end of the building’s life.  Via Dwell. 

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• Donald Trump’s "Greatest Golf Course" hits bird bunker – seven bird species, and plenty of Scots, hold up $2 Billion development. 
• Morgan Stanley estimates that clean energy sources like wind, solar, geothermal, and biofuels could grow to as much as $1 Trillion a year by 2030. 
• Wind turbine on your roof?  Not so fast.  Obstacles include cost, output, noise, and even damage to your home (but even obstacles are surmountable). 
• It’s a Fab, Fab World – Modular homes are stylish and affordable. 
• Eco-friendly City Branding – Sacramento looking to become green.