And that’s pretty incredible.  It can be used for personal, business, or industrial applications.  The Power Pod arrives on a single flatbed truck and sets up in a day.  But what’s so special about it?  Well, it can outfitted with rooftop solar, the butterfly roof collects water for use in radiant floor heating, and the highly insulated walls (SIP R-28) keep the temperature just right.  Plus, there’s also the typical energy-efficient lighting, low-flow plumbing fixtures, and building performance monitoring system.  Keeping track of things helps to optimize efficiency.  And with the sculptural steel pier foundation, setup should be pretty quick, too. 

Can you feel the modern, green prefab-type options increasing?  Almost out of control?  Well, competition is good and this company is based in Lawrence, Massachusetts.  It’s not really practical to be shipping homes all the way across the country, so there’s going to be lots of options in places that demand this type of construction.  The working prototype, as you will see below, looks pretty good, too.  Via Treehugger.

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Quality modern, green projects just keep coming and there’s no stopping them.  Here’s a project called 12.5 Condos.  Why 12.5?  Well, there’s going to be twelve 3-story townhouse condominiums and one 2-story condominium.  Designed by Holst Architecture and built by Portland green builder Barrs & Genauer Construction, 12.5 will be located in the MLK corridor.  With construction expected to finish by the end of this year, 12.5 is going to be an awesome example of green construction.  At least 90% of construction debris will be recycled.  Materials will include FSC-certified wood, recycled content site and structural metals, low-VOC non-toxic products, and fly ash concrete.  Appliances will be Energy Star certified, toilets will be dual-flush, and the HVAC system will be ultra-efficient.  Count on the skylights to usher in natural light, and everything will be super clean and linear.  Extremely sustainable and extremely good looking.  Look for these condos at the corner of NE Knott Street and NE 7th Avenue in Portland, Oregon.  Prices starting from $295k and $375k. 

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There's an excellent interview by CNN with Ken Yeang, principle of the UK firm Llweleyn Davis Yeang.  Almost a year ago, I wrote about Yeang's fascinating Menara Mesiniaga building, and that article has been a popular one in terms of visitors.  Yeang is an ecological, architectural visionary designing in a way that blurs the boundary between the natural and human-built environments.  With eco-logical design, the goal is to build a structure with no pollution or waste.  And we're getting there, too.  To quote Yeang, "we'll see green buildings long before 2020 — I think the movement is intensifying. Within the next 5-10 years we'll see a lot more green buildings being built. Not just buildings but green cities, green environment, green master plans, green products, green lifestyles, green transportation. I'm very optimistic."  The green buildings pictured in this post are only a fraction of those designed by Ken Yeang.  If you're looking for more information, feel free to pick up his latest book: ECODESIGN: A Manual for Ecological Design. 

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1. 88% of new homes are crappy, greenhouse gas spewing energy hogs – meaning they don’t meet the comparatively weak Energy Star standards. 
2. Las Vegas golf courses are using better water-efficient landscaping to save over 1 billion gallons of water per year. 
3. Regency Centers is teaming up with the USGBC to implement a pilot program aimed at developing green shopping centers across the country (this is badly needed). 
4. Wells Fargo passes the $1 Billion mark in financing for LEED certified buildings with loans ranging from $10 to $225 million per project. 

Unless you’re completely oblivious to what’s happening on Earth, you know there’s a world full of concerts going on.  Live Earth.  With some things, I like to exercise a modicum of skepticism to make sure I know my feelings on the issue.  I was slow to come around to Live Earth.  I mean, I love a good concert.  I’ve seen DMB in concert multiple times.  I respect many of these artists for their tireless contribution to musicality.  But, I popped open the Live Earth Global Warming Handbook and here’s Tip #45: Take a Bath Together.  How am I supposed to take this book seriously?  What is this, some silly excuse to get it on?  Well, I kept reading.  Tip #45 talked about low-flow toilets and a future world with water shortages.  Water heating can take up to 25% of a home’s energy use.  I decided I should change my attitude and bought the book.  To take the words of one of the greatest musicians (and I mean musicality when I say that), John Mayer:

To the journalists who will lay in wait for the perfectly maligned moment of hypocrisy, you will probably find one if that’s how you want to spend your time. Just use this as a measuring stick; give Live Earth’s initiative at least as much benefit of the doubt as you’ve given to the iPhone, or a new Radiohead album…Sure, if I wanted to be cynical, I could pose the question as to what happens if the biggest concert on Earth takes place only to hear the world respond with a resounding "that’s nice, but have you seen the cat that plays piano on YouTube?" But all I feel going into Saturday afternoon is hope. And lots of it.

Point well taken.  I’m watching Live Earth highlights of what looks like Foo Fighters, Smashing Pumpkins, Ludacris, Jack Johnson, and maybe the Pussycat Dolls?  I’m also thinking this event should raise the world’s awareness of the low hanging environmental fruit.  Plastic bags, CFLs, Junk Mail, etc.  I’ve spent the last 2-3 hours reading through David de Rothschild’s Global Warming Handbook and there’s some good leads here.  Here’s some content relevant to the scope of Jetson Green,

Good Links:
++The 10 Easiest Ways to Green Your Home [MSN RE]
++Re-Thinking Energy in Homes [Live Earth Green]
++Green Construction Saves Money and Earth [MSNBC]