Green Building Blog - Jetson Green

Kuwait's First LEED Tower To Be Crowned with Wind

KEO International Consultants has received word from the USGBC that its design for Sabah Al Ahmed International Finance Center (ICF) has been precertified at the Gold level under the LEED-CS green building rating system.  The 1.2 million sf, 40-story tower is the first building in Kuwait to be registered or precertified by the USGBC.  As you can partially tell from the renderings, the design includes four stacked courtyard atriums ranging from 8-13 floors each.  Three of the atriums serve the office portion of the building, while the fourth atrium serves the 200 key, 4-star business class hotel.  The tower generates part of its energy from a PV system, as well as from roof-mounted wind turbines.  You may be able to see the lattice-work of wind turbines at the crown of the building; I think they're the vertical axis, helical-type, but it's hard to tell with this one image.  We'll make sure to keep you posted ...

The use of wind turbines at the building's apex is similar to what's planned for Discovery Tower in Houston.  It'll be interesting to see these designs meet reality -- the media world will definitely have fun running video and stories of building integrated wind turbines.

Selsam Small Turbines - Just Right for Residential?

The bloggers at Engadget picked up on the Selsam small wind turbines, which look a lot like one of those amateur ham radio antennas we used to see on houses.  This small-scale wind solution is basically a single elongated shaft made of strong carbon fiber.  The carbon shaft holds rotors that range in size from 14-18 inches in diameter.  Apparently, the more rotors you have on a rod, the better output you get.  Invented by Doug Selsam, this 13-rotor small wind turbine can produce roughly 200 watts in 20 mph winds (or more in higher wind speeds).  It's currently being tested and developed in California, so who knows, we may just start seeing stuff like this on top of houses and buildings?

Wind Could Power 20% of US Grid by 2030

Here's some interesting news: a new Department of Energy report claims wind turbines could generate 300 gigawatts of electricity -- roughly 20% of the US electrical grid -- by 2030.  There's already a website in support of the news at 20%Wind.org.  The report doesn't necessarily predict the future of the wind industry, but it paints a picture of what a particular 20% wind scenario could mean for the nation.  The wind industry currently produces about 17 gigawatts of electricity, so we're talking about significant growth over the next twenty-something years.  That said, wind industry growth has been fierce in recent years and is on track to meet these numbers if growth holds pace.

Bahrain WTC Wind Turbines Actually Work! [S2]

Believed to be the world's first integrated, wind-powered mega structure, Bahrain WTC looks to be working.  The above video doesn't really say anything, but it doesn't need to: those twirling blades say everything that needs to be said.  Read more about Bahrain WTC here ...

Swift Small Wind Quietly Coming to Market in July

Swift Wind Turbine is a quiet, rooftop mounted wind turbine.  Unlike some designs you've seen previously, this one has an outer ring and five blades.  The outer ring acts as a diffuser -- the wind travels down the blades and is dispersed along the ring, therefore eliminating noise and keeping the turbine quiet.  The company estimates a noise of less than 35 decibels for all wind speeds.  The 7 foot diameter ring needs a roof line clearance of a couple feet and in good winds, can generate up to 2000 kWh of power (1.5 kW @ 14 m/s). 

Clean Technology Tower - Elegant Mix of Biomimicry, Wind Design + Solar Power

If you haven't noticed, Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill have been showing off some seriously green designs since leaving SOM* -- this building is another such example.  One of their newest projects, Clean Technology Tower, builds on principles of biomimicry and utilizes technology and building systems to interact with the surrounding environment.  As you'll notice from the renderings below, wind turbines are located at the building's corners to capture wind at its highest velocity as it accelerates around the building.  The number of turbines in the structure increases as you climb up towards the apex, where there's a veritable wind farm!  Also at the top of the skyscraper, where winds are at a maximum, is a domed double roof cavity that captures air for the wind farm.  The dome itself is also clad in photovoltaic cells that harness the sun's energy.

Located near public and private transportation, Clean Technology Tower will house roughly 1.8 million sf of office and 300k sf of hotel space.  Although I'm not sure of the green skyscraper's precise location, Smith + Gill promises unparalleled views of Lake Michigan and the Chicago River from the dome atrium.  Imagine working in a building where you can take the elevator to the top, watch the turbines whirl away, and see the entire city.  It doesn't get much better than that. 

Anti-Smog Design with Solar Drop + Wind Tower [S2]

Anti-Smog is a prototype project envisioned for a post-industrial area of Paris that aims to invent a new architecture -- auto-sufficient, depolluting architecture, reactive to its environment.  The Vincent Callebaut Architectures prototype relies heavily on building-integrated, green innovation such as vertical axis wind turbines, rooftop solar panels, and living walls and greenery.  The result is a design that not only borders on positive energy as a self-sufficient structure, but one that moves into a refreshing realm of natural architecture that can clean and replenish the surrounding air.

SMIT's GROW, Impressive Solar + Wind Applications

Green start-up companies are doing some crazy things, and this company here, SMIT, is certainly one to watch.  SMIT, an acronym for Sustainably Minded Interactive Technology, spent the last two years in R&D with this interesting approach to solar and wind power.  SMIT's GROW product has two iterations, GROW.1 and GROW.2, pictured above and below. 

GROW.1 (pictured above) is the original SMIT product that employs thin film photovoltaics with piezoelectric generators and screen printed conductive ink encapsulated in ETFE fluoropolymer lamination.  Inspired by ivy growing on a building, GROW.1 generates energy from both the sun and wind.

Discovery Tower Peaks with a Mini Wind Farm [S2]

Construction just began on what could be one of the most innovative office towers in the U.S.  Located at 1501 McKinney Street in Houston, Discovery Tower is a 30 story office building that will cost upwards near $300 million to build.  And as you can tell from the above renderings, the pinnacle was designed to have 10 wind turbines.  But that's not just some fancy, green add-on to an otherwise generic building.  Discovery Tower will be built to achieve LEED Gold certification from the USGBC. 

With construction set to finish in the second quarter of 2010, the Gensler-designed green skyscraper will have air filtration, water-efficient plumbing, and an energy efficient heating and cooling system, among other things. 

Windspire, One Step Closer to Cheap Small Wind!

We have to be skeptical with small wind because it's been so shady up until now, but Mariah Power is seriously poised to release their vertical axis wind turbine this spring for $3,995.  This is incredible news.  They just passed the ETL (safety) certification and also comply with UL1741 and IEEE 1547.1.  Translation:  the Windspire is safe to go to market.  But you'll notice that the Windspire features a new design, which is expected to produce about 1800 kilowatt hours per year in 11 mph average wind conditions.  That amount of wind power is roughly 25% of a typical household's energy. 

The Windspire has several features that make it a likely candidate to dazzle the market.