Kroon Hall, the new home of the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, has been awarded Platinum certification, according to the Office of Public Affairs of Yale University. Kroon Hall was designed to use 81% less water and 58% less energy than a comparable building, helping it receive a total of 59 LEED points. With the help of a massive and beautiful solar array, about 25% of this building's electricity should be generated on-site, too.
Most address numbers probably don't have back lights, but I suppose if you're going to light them, you might as well do it with solar power and LEDs. That's how it's done with these Solar LED Address Numbers from Think Geek. The numbers turn on automatically and can last up to 10 hours on a full charge. Each number runs about $16. My place is in dire need of a number swap, so I guess these are now at the top of the list. What do you think?
Not much has changed since our last update on the Honeywell Wind Turbine, except WindTronics released this video showing the gearless blade tip system at work. It’s spinning nicely, and the company claims it can start generating energy at winds speeds as low as 2 mph (and up to 42 mph). The $5,995, soon-to-be-launched small wind turbine can produce up to 2000 kWh/yr in class 3 winds and up to 2752 kWh/yr in class 4 winds.
A couple years ago, I watched with caution as Philippe Starck announced plans to design residential scale vertical axis wind turbines. Everyone loves the idea of small wind — especially VAWT designs — but practical issues can sometimes preclude actual energy generation with these things. Nonetheless, after two years of research, it seems the French designer has some actual products to speak about. Speaking to a crowd in Milan, Starck unveiled two Revolution Air turbine models to be made by Pramac.
At IBS 2010 last week, CertainTeed announced their new EnerGen Photovoltaic Solar Power Roofing System, which is offered through a partnership with Energy Conversion Devices, manufacturer of UNI-SOLAR thin-film solar laminates. The EnerGen system combines lightweight UNI-SOLAR panels with traditional asphalt roofing shingles. The photos in this article show a 3.2 kW EnerGen system installed on the official governor's residence of Michigan.
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