Nov 22, 09
Book Review - Installations by Architects: Experiments in Building and Design
Installations by Architects: Experiments in Building and Design, by Sarah Bonnemaison and Ronit Eisenbach (Amazon USA and UK.) Publisher Princeton Architectural Press says: Over the last few decades, a rich and increasingly diverse practice has emerged in the art world that invites the public to touch, enter, and experience the work, whether it is in a gallery, on city streets, or in the landscape. Like architecture, many of these temporary artworks aspire to alter viewers' experience of the...
Where are New Green Cities and How Can They Curb Asian Greenhouse Gas Emissions?
by Warren Karlenzig Masdar Headquarters, Masdar City, Abu Dhabi, United Arab EmiratesIn my previous post, I highlighted how growing Asian urbanization is expected to contribute more than half of the world's growth in greenhouse gases over the next 20 years. Now I will review what's being attempted in Asian cities and elsewhere in order to positively alter that disturbing forecast.The US and other Western nations are by no means immune from culpability in global...
Free Parking Isn't Free
By Seth Zeren When does a Prius have the same environmental impact as a Hummer? The 95 percent of the time it’s parked. Most people don't spend time thinking about parking spaces unless they're looking for one. But these 9' by 18' rectangles of urban real estate have a vast impact on North American communities. They affect the economy, land use patterns, the design of cities and even individual lifestyles. A small group of urban planners, economists, and community advocates are...
Straw Really Does Keep The Wolf From The Door
by Paul Rainger I'll huff and I'll puff, but we'll build that house up. Let's face it, until Kevin McCloud and Grand Designs came along, the reputation of straw houses was not good. Largely thanks to the tale of the Three Pigs, a story that, with hindsight, looks suspiciously like a piece of inspired viral marketing by the Brick Manufacturers Association. But that situation looks set to change this week, with work getting underway on Bath University’s pioneering project to build a...
Energy and Global Warming News for July 16th: British government puts clean energy in overdrive; solar power empowers Ethiopian village
Labour accelerates green energy revolution The government seized control of key levers in the energy sector today in an attempt to kickstart a stalling “green energy” revolution and head off the threats of global warming and a rundown in North Sea oil. Ministers plan to take over the allocation of electricity grid connections in order to favour renewable schemes, force the industry regulator, Ofgem, to tackle carbon pollution and pass laws to compel power companies to help...
Worldchanging Interview: Shawn Frayne
Shawn Frayne, president of Honolulu- and Hong Kong-based Humdinger Wind Energy, is a prolific inventor and innovator whose work has been inspired by the need for resourceful problem-solving in the world's most vulnerable regions. While working in Haiti, Frayne noted that providing wind power on a global scale would require hardware that's simpler and much cheaper than what we've got. In response, he teamed with aeronautical engineer Jordan McRae and mechanical engineer Dr. Kurt Kornbluth to...
What Would Nature Do?
Fresh Ideas from Janine Benyus on How We Can Learn from Nature When we emulate nature to solve human problems sustainably, we are practicing biomimicry. This discipline is one of our favorite ideas here at Worldchanging, as we see its great potential for helping the human-made environment function more like the natural environment. Biomimicry guru Janine Benyus discussed this idea and more with designers and architects at last week’s Living Future unconference in Portland, Ore., where she...
Get Smart
Embedded sensors and wireless networks will bring needed efficiency to our infrastructure One of the big emerging trends over the next few decades will be the marriage of information technology and infrastructure. We're going to start seeing a lot more "smart" everything -- smart grids, smart roads, smart factories, smart trains, smart cities, etc. The increasing use of sensors, lightweight communications networks, and sophisticated computer models to anticipate and react to changing...
Green:Net on SmartGrids, Hurdles and the New Networked Car
By Mary Catherine O'Connor At Earth2Tech's Green:Net technology conference Tuesday in San Francisco, Jesse Berst, managing director of Global Smart Energy, asserted that the smart grid is not nearly as difficult to define as many make it seem. But what will be difficult is clearing the hurdles to building out the smart grid quickly. He said the smart grid has three parts: smart devices, two-way communication (which makes those devices smart, and pulls and pushes the...
Coming Soon to a Body of Water Near You: Pollution Sniffing Robot Fish
If it looks like a fish and moves like a fish -- there's a chance it may be a robot. British scientists are ready to introduce five pollution-sniffing robots into the northern Spanish port of Gijon, according to Reuters. If this trial is successful, the scientists hope the seal-sized robots will be used in lakes, rivers and seas throughout the world. The scientists used biomimicry principles to design the carp-shaped robots to ensure energy efficiency, which will allow the robots to...
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