1. Wired to Sell – Smart-home technology is becoming increasingly available with a variety of conservation and convenience features. 
2. Why Big Houses? The average, new American home is 2,400 sf; experts weigh in on America’s fascination with bigger is better. 
3. Wind Energy White Paper "In Defense of Wind," by Dallas attorney Trey Cox outlines concerns about wind energy industry’s rapid and unregulated growth. 
4. Peddling Smart Growth – call your project "smart" – even when it isn’t – and get millions in public funds. 

Right now, the world’s largest wind energy conference and exhibition, called WINDPOWER 2007, is going on.  For those of you that can’t attend, here’s a link to the AWEA YouTube Channel and the AWEA Flickr Pool.  Good stuff.  Pictured above is the Skystream 3.7.  I’m a big believer in wind technology, especially small wind technology because it has the potential to power our lives on a renewable basis.  Think about the powerful combo of a plug-in hybrid car + home with solar panels + yard with small wind + thermal energy storage.  Here’s what happens.  During the night, you charge your car at home.  Then you drive to work.  At work, you charge your car again with solar/wind power.  The hybrid makes it happen anywhere in the middle.  We need to start mashing up renewable technology in a smart way.  Microgeneration.  Decentralization.  WINDPOWER 2007 is a big part of making this happen. 

Good Links:
++The Age of Windustry [EcoGeek]
++Inside WINDPOWER 2007, Part I [Green Options]

I’ve embedded a quick view from the first season of Building Green TV for PBS.  Kevin Contreras is the show’s host and he’s going to navigate viewers through a variety of different green building situations.  In addition to the episode above, you can catch some more at their newly redesigned website.  Coming June 2007. 

Recently, Paris-based architect Jacques Ferrier unleashed his "Hypergreen" mixed-use skyscraper concept, which was submitted for a project competition in Paris.  Hypergreen incorporates a curving lattice facade made of ultra-high-performance concrete that acts as the building’s primary structural system.  It has the look of steel, almost resembling some of Foster’s designs such as Hearst Tower or 30 St Mary Axe.  Measuring 246 meters in height, Hypergreen has the following green features:  geothermal heat pumps, photovoltaic panels, integrated wind turbines, earth cooling tubes, vegetated sky lobbies, a roof garden, rainwater recovery system, and flexible and adaptable floor plates.  The exoskeleton reduces the number of columns that make for odd floor plates. 

Good Links:
++Jacques Ferrier Architecture [Official Website]
++Green Skyscraper Will Have ‘Steel-like’ Concrete Skin [BD+C - PODCAST]

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1. North America sees the installation of +3M square feet of new green roofs in 2006– an increase of 25% over 2005. 
2. Home Depot launches $100M plan to support the development of 100,000 affordable, healthy homes, and the planting/preservation of more than 3 million trees over the next decade. 
3. Troubled Waters: drought, pollution, mismanagement and politics have made water a precious commodity in much of the world.
4. New proposed green building standard (Standard 189P) nears completion and is now open for public comment.