All right, I'll admit it. The fact that the Netherlands-based revolving-door manufacturer Boon Edam has a model that uses human power to generate electricity is mostly a gimmick. By entering or leaving through the NRG+ Tourniket, a generator built into the revolving door mechanism powers three LED spotlights in the ceiling of the door.
The last several weeks I've written about a number of common myths of green building. (Last's week's myth: solar panels are the best way to green a home.) Here's another: that the energy-conservation features and products we install are enough to ensure that our houses will be top energy performers.
Geoengineering. That's what they're calling some of the more high-tech proposals for solving the climate crisis.
An article in the UK version of Wired talks about a design for a skyscraper that would collect water in much the way plants do. The skin of the building collects rainwater, guiding it to storage cisterns below ground. It could then be used for toilets, irrigation, clothes washing, and other uses for which potable water is not required.
I've been following Sage Electrochromics for a long time. In 2006, BuildingGreen named SageGlass one of our Top-10 Green Building Products. It was the first practical, durable dynamic glazing that worked in exterior façade applications. This week, the company rolled out a new, much-higher-performance product.
Our April EBN feature article--"Passive House Arrives in North America: Could it Revolutionize the Way We Build?"--went online today. This was a fun article to research and write, because it put me in touch with my low-energy building roots.
The last several weeks I've written about common myths of green building: that it has to cost more to build green, that green building is mostly about materials, that
InPro Corporation was founded in 1979 as Institutional Products Corporation (IPC).
The last few weeks I've written about common myths of green building: that it has to cost more to build green, that green building is mostly about materials, and that
If you thought making substantive change by 2030 was a challenge, how about by 2014?
Years ago a friend and I borrowed my mother's minivan, left our small college, and drove west in search of the Great American Wilderness. For months we steered clear of cities in favor of National Parks and Forests, but as we passed through the Sierras we couldn't help but notice how close Death Valley is to that other American extreme: Las Vegas.
Our next feature article for Environmental Building News is on the Passive House standard for ultra-low-energy buildings--a standard that originated about 20 years ago in Germany. Excitement about Passive House in North America is resulting in some really cool products being introduced from Europe. One of those is the Zehnder line of heat-recovery ventilators (HRVs) and associated components.
If you've been following this blog for a while, you know that I wrote about urine-separating toilets last year. You'll also know that I'm rather enamored of the image at right. So you can imagine how gleeful I was when I discovered I had another reason to use it!
Ever since the premier of USGBC's two-day REGREEN workshop in Phoenix, AZ at Greenbuild last November, Annette, Rob, and I have been gearing up for a slew of green remodeling workshops across the country -- the REGREEN Roadshow.
