This video of Blu Homes recently hit the Innovation Economy column of The Boston Globe. In This New House, columnist Scott Kirsner gives us a look at the folding prefab technology that Blu Homes uses for homes built in their Littleton, Massachusetts factory. The folding style of construction presents an interesting new wrinkle to prefab construction, and Blu is able to save transportation costs by shipping more house and less air.
If you read this blog, it's likely that you have at least a modicum of care for the natural environment. Like some of you, I grew to love everything about nature through hiking and camping and various Boy Scout activities. So after being approached by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, I jumped at the chance to give away a couple copies of DisneyNature: Earth. Drop a comment below, and we'll randomly choose 2 people for the giveaway.* Earth was just released on DVD and Blu-ray, and it looks fascinating.
In the mid-1980s, Amory Lovins, co-founder, chairman, and chief scientist of the Rocky Mountain Institute, built an efficient, 4,000 square foot home in Colorado. By today’s thinking, the home is a little larger than most greenies would prefer, but it was built to be 90% more efficient than a traditional home of its size. That’s pretty impressive, especially at a time when the panels on the roof of the White House were being taken down for “repair.”
If you haven't noticed, the big news today is Microsoft Hohm, a free online beta application that's rumored to launch sometime next week. Microsoft Hohm will be a web-based service that takes information about your energy use -- not just electricity -- and examines it to provide recommendations to save money and energy. Here's what you can do:
Transportation is inextricably linked with (green) buildings. And for a number of reasons -- peak oil, national security, price gouging, and concern for the environment -- the current oil-based transportation system is dying. Its death started with hybrids, and to a certain extent, continued with natural gas vehicles. With the advent of electrical vehicles, we will all witness the slow, prolonged, and painful death of oil-based transportation. Tonight Dateline NBC gave us a glimpse of the next generation of transportation in Tesla Motors. The future of electrical cars is bright, but let's be clear: it's complicated, too.
The urban space station is a project taking aim at local environmental health, one building at a time. Described by the designers as "parasite architecture," the semi-permanent structure sits atop any roof as it filters air, grows food, and re-uses organic waste for inhabitants.
[Video - 2:19] Noted green building expert Jerry Yudelson explains how the Obama administration will impact green buildings. In short, according to Mr. Yudelson, the Obama administration will make green buildings a permanent part of the economic, cultural, and financial landscape. Every new, large federal building will be LEED certified, and at least 25 (if not 35) states will mandate green certification for all new buildings. We'll see green measures for hundreds of local, state, and federal buildings, and a lot of money will be going into this area. And because of this, people will gravitate towards the green building industry -- we'll see green jobs and a boom of sorts.
We have four DVDs of this movie to randomly giveaway to commenters below, so if you'd like to win one, make sure to say something before midnight on Friday, January 16, 2009.*
Finally! A full-length feature for all us green building junkies! The Greening of Southie is an award-winning film that documents the journey of a green condo building from the idea of a legacy Boston developer all the way to the jungles of Bolivia, from the steel mills of New England to LEED Gold certification. The Macallen Building Condominiums, a sexy piece of contemporary architecture on the border of Boston and South Boston, was completed in 2007 by a committed team of builders. They submitted their process to scrutiny via the cameras of budding filmmakers Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis of Wicked Delicate Films.
Jay Leno's all about the green tech, I mean, his garage is running on wind and solar, and it powers approximately two-thirds of the place. So recently, he just put up this video demonstrating a new technology for rooftop wind applications. The Mag-Wind turbine is made by Enviro Energies and both Jay Leno and Ed Begley Jr. have their own versions on order. Naturally, Leno was excited to point out that his turbine will be bigger than Begley's, but in addition to that, you'll get an idea from the video how interesting the technology actually is. It's built using magnetic levitation technology that reduces friction, noise, vibration, and energy loss. Some other interesting aspects of the Mag-Wind System include:
IBM is becoming gradually more involved in the world of clean tech, so it's not surprising that their third annual "IBM Next Five in Five" includes a mention of solar power. The list includes five innovations that will change the way people work, live, and play over the next five years. Accordingly, IBM thinks energy saving solar technology will be built into asphalt, paint, and windows. Basically, with the advent of thin-film solar cells and advances in technology, everything everywhere will have solar cells and harvest energy. And the technology to do so will be affordable, too.
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