In January of this year, Frontline/World reporter Timothy Lesle published a three-part, video documentary on Huangbaiyu called "China: Green Dreams – A NOT SO model village."  Here’s a teaser intro to the report: "The village of Huangbaiyu in rural northeast China was supposed to be a model for energy-conscious design.  The initial project was to build 400 sustainable homes, a collaboration between U.S. architect William McDonough and the Chinese.  But something went awry.  [Timothy Lesle] traveled to the region to investigate."  I’m not going to tell the whole story — the series is quite compelling, and Mr. Lesle presents an honest perspective of Chinese urbanization. 

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I love the possibilities and ideas presented by the m-hotel from Tim Pyne.  That said, I can’t say there’s anything green about the concept (that is soon to be a reality) other than two things, possibly: (1) it’s a non-permanent structure (7-10 years) where the parts can be reused differently in the future and dismantled to make way for a different use on the site, and/or (2) it’s a prefab structure and prefab has the potential for green benefits such as material savings, lower construction waste, and minimized site disturbance, etc.  But still, it’s cool and innovative.  The m-hotel is designed as a series of steel-framed slot boxes that slide into the frame (which makes for easy dismantling in the future). 

The striped m-hotel as you see above is being considered for Sclater Street in London.  If approved, the hotel will have 32 units each measuring 16 x 36 feet (576 sf).  Work may begin as soon as this summer and should be complete by end of the year.  I can’t wait to see the finished product. 

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Just last week, Chicago architecture firm Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill was chosen to design the world's first positive energy, mixed-use building for the world's first zero-carbon, zero-waste, car-free city called Masdar.  As a "positive energy" building, the design aims to generate more energy each day than it consumes.  The 1.4 million sf headquarters shown above will serve as the centerpiece of Masdar City, which will end up being about a $22 billion development in Abu Dhabi.

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This is a brand spanking new video of the inspiring William McDonough speaking at the World Future Energy Summit in January 2008.  He wrote the book on this topic — and it’s made of plastic for a reason.  In the video, McDonough talks about taking action:  Less bad is not good.  Efficiency per se won’t cut it.  This is high quality, unmissable video.  You may find the following links helpful as you listen:

++Masdar – Zero Carbon, Zero Waste City in Abu Dhabi
++Office Building of the Future – Just Like a Tree!

Via scribe media.

In England, a handful of efficient demonstration homes have been built on the grounds of the Building Research Establishment Ltd, including “The Lighthouse,” which is the first net zero carbon house in the UK.  The house is also the first to attain level six in the Code for Sustainable Homes, which indicates that it is carbon neutral. The two-bedroom house is only 93.3 square meters (barely over 1000 sq. ft.) in a 2-1/2 story building.  The building has solar panels and evacuated solar tubes on its roof, as well as making use of passive measures with ventilation chimneys.  It also incorporates rainwater catchment as part of the building design.
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